Handy Randy

The Handheld Random Number Generator
for PalmOS

Users Guide

Version 2.2
September 2005

Installing Handy Randy in Your Palm

Whether you downloaded the software from our Web site or received it in the mail, you should have a file called HandyRandy.prc on your computer or floppy disk or CD. If you do not have the file HandyRandy.prc, you cannot proceed. If you do, here's how to install it on your Palm handheld device:

From a Macintosh:

Select the HotSync menu from the "Instant Palm" menu on the upper right of your menu bar; in the sub-menu, select Install Handheld Files. Click on the Add To List button. Locate and select the file HandyRandy.prc, and click Add File, then click the close box to close the "Install Handheld Files" window. The next time you HotSync your Palm, the programs will be downloaded.

From Windows:

Using the Install software that came with Handy Randy: As part of the download or on this diskette or CD you should see a program named Install (Install.exe) in the same folder as the Handy Randy software (HandyRandy.prc). Double-click on Install, and it will copy all of the files to a new Handy Randy Software folder in the Add-On folder of your Palm folder on your computer, and at the same time will perform all the steps to install the software in your Palm, except for the final step of performing an actual HotSync. When you do your next HotSync, the software will be installed in your Palm.

If the procedure above does not work for some reason, try the "manual" procedures described in the next few paragraphs; if those don't seem to apply to your setup, please consult the manual that came with your handheld device (Palm, Handspring Visor, Symbol SPT, etc.), which contains instructions on installing applications into the handheld

Using current Palm desktop software: Try this first: Double-click on the file HandyRandy.prc. If your system is correctly configured with the latest Palm software, a window labelled "Palm Install Tool 3.0" (or perhaps higher) will appear. Check that the user name displayed is the name of the unit on which you are installing the software, change it if it isn't, and click on OK. A new window labelled "Palm Install Tool" will appear with a list of software to be installed in your Palm, which should include HandyRandy.prc. Click on Done to show you are done, then on OK to confirm. The next time you HotSync your Palm, the programs will be downloaded.

If the method in the previous paragraph didn't work, try this: Start your Palm desktop software. Click on the Install button. Check to make sure the User name displayed at the top of the Palm Install Tool window which appears is the user name of the Palm handheld device on which you want to install the software; if not, select the correct user name. Now click on Add. Using the file browser which appears, locate and select the HandyRandy.prc file, and click Open.Now click on the Done button, and then on OK. The next time you HotSync your Palm, the program will be downloaded.

Starting the Application

From the Applications window on your Palm, look for the icon labelled Random which looks like this:

Entering Your Serial Number

If you have registered the software, and have obtained a serial number from Stevens Creek Software, you enter the serial number by tapping on the word *Unlicensed* on the top right of the screen. When you do, you'll see this screen appear:

Use Graffiti (or the on-screen keyboard) to enter your serial number (supplied to you by Stevens Creek Software); when you're done, tap on the OK button. If you enter an incorrect number, the software will let you know. If necessary, tap on the Cancel button to dismiss the Enter Serial Number screen. When you have entered the Serial Number correctly, you'll see the word *Unlicensed* disappear from the main screen.

If you run into a problem, this probably means that when you provided your Palm username to Stevens Creek Software, you did so incorrectly. To find the name, tap on the Applications icon in the lower left of your Palm, then tap on HotSync. Look on the upper right corner of the screen. Write down the name which appears there exactly (including case, i.e., whether the letters are upper-case letters like THIS or lower-case letters like this) and email it to Stevens Creek Software technical support and wait for a new serial number to be provided to you. If you ever uninstall the software and need your serial number again, you can get an online reminder on the Stevens Creek Software support page.

Configuring the Software

Once you have licensed Handy Randy, the main screen of the program looks like this:

Once you have configured the software, all you'll need to do is to tap the Draw a Number button to have Handy Randy pick a random number for you. Configuring the software is accomplished by tapping the Setup button, which will bring up this screen:

Don't allow duplicates is a checkbox which you can check or not as you choose. If you check it, Handy Randy will never select any random number more than once. Of course, this means you have the possibility of "running out of numbers." If you get to that point, Handy Randy will let you know that it has selected all the numbers, and that you can't select any more. You can change this setting while you're in the middle of picking numbers. That is, you could select the first 50 numbers with Don't allow duplicates checked, then return to the settings screen, uncheck the setting, and then select more numbers with duplicates allowed.

Draw X number(s) per draw is the way in which you can have Handy Randy draw more than one number at a time. So if you want to select 100 random numbers, you can just enter 100 in the field provided. When you return to the main screen, the button which used to be labelled Draw a Number will now be labelled Draw Numbers, and when you tap it, Handy Randy will draw 100 numbers at once (or however many you asked for). If this number is set to 1, then Handy Randy draws one number at a time.

Play sounds turns on or off special sounds that play when numbers are drawn (specifically when only one number at a time is drawn; the sound is automatically suppressed when multiple numbers are drawn at the same time).

Draw names ... lets you configure Handy Randy to select not numbers but names from your Address Book. If you check this box, names will be randomly selected from the chosen category in your Address Book (or from the entire Address Book if "All" is selected). In this mode, the Valid Ranges information (described in the following paragraphs) is ignored.

Valid Ranges is the area of the screen where Handy Randy displays the possible numeric ranges in which you want to allow random numbers to be selected. You can have up to six different ranges. The total number of numbers in all the ranges combined must be less than 32767.|

To add a new range, tap on New and you'll see this screen:

Enter the minimum number and maximum number for the range that you're adding. The minimum number allowed is 1; the maximum number is 99999999.

To modify a range which is displayed, tap on that range with the stylus. It will be highlighted (changed to white letters on a black background). Now tap on Modify and the Numeric Range screen (above) will appear with the old range filled in. Modify the numbers, and tap OK.

To delete a range, tap on it to highlight it, and then tap on the Delete button.

Ranges are automatically sorted and "de-overlapped." So if you have one range that's 1-100 and another that 200-300, and you enter a new range of 50-250, you'll end up with one range that goes from 1-300.

Generating Random Numbers

After configuring the software, you'll return to the main screen. Just tap on the Draw a Number (or Draw Numbers, if you have specified drawing more than one number per tap) button and the random number (or numbers) in your allowed ranges will be selected and displayed. You can use the scroll arrows at the lower right to scroll through all the numbers you have drawn. Note that newly drawn numbers are added to the BOTTOM of the list, and that the list runs from the top of column 1 (the oldest number), down column 1, to the top of column 2, and so on to the bottom of column 3 (the most recently drawn number).

Under some circumstances, after you draw the numbers, they will be more useful to you if they are in numerically sorted order. Just tap the Sort button and the numbers are sorted:

Note that you cannot "unsort" the numbers, so do not press the Sort button if you want to retain the original order of drawing.

When you want to start a new drawing, tap the Reset button and all the numbers will be erased (you'll be given a chance to confirm that that's really what you want to do). Note that Handy Randy remembers your drawn numbers until you reset them, so you can leave the program to run other Palm applications and then return to Handy Randy without losing anything. Of course these numbers do take up memory on your Palm, so if you draw a lot of numbers you'll probably want to erase them when you're done with them.

Cancelling

When you draw multiple numbers, and especially when you're in the "No Duplicates" mode, selecting the numbers may take a long time. For this reason, the Draw Numbers will change to read Cancel whenever you are drawing 5 or more numbers. If you tap on the Cancel button, the drawing of numbers is aborted. The numbers drawn up to that point will be displayed, and are completely valid, the only thing that happens is that Handy Randy stops before selecting as many random numbers as you had specified. The random number draw will also abort prematurely (intentionally so) if you push the power off button, or any of the other "hard-coded" buttons (the Applications, Menu, Calculator, and Find buttons).

Selecting Random Names

For some applications, you may find it desirable to select names rather than numbers. Once you configure the Handy Randy settings as described above, the Draw a Number button will change to read Draw a Name, and tapping it will do just that:

Note that the most recently drawn name is at the BOTTOM of the list.

Printing

Handy Randy can not only select random numbers or names, it can also print them out for you, if you have a copy of PalmPrint software, also from Stevens Creek Software. Assuming that you have a copy of PalmPrint installed, configured, and functioning on your Palm, you simply need to select Print from the Options Menu in Handy Randy. All of the numbers you have drawn will be printed out in a columnar format (five numbers across if you're using standard 8 1/2" wide paper). You can also use this method to transfer the numbers to another computer instead of printing them to a printer; see the PalmPrint manual for details.

For Support

If you have any problems using Handy Randy, you can contact Stevens Creek Software in one of the following ways:

If you lose this manual, you can find this same information on the "About" screen of Handy Randy (tap on Menu, then on About Handy Randy in the Options menu).

Licensing the Software

The unlicensed version of Handy Randy operates three times; after that it won't draw any more random numbers. If you haven't yet licensed your copy of Handy Randy, you can do so in one of the following ways: