"fishOrder" is a program for producing a document using the Revised Common Lectionary and related data.
(Revised Common Lectionary copyright (c) 1992 Consultation on Common Texts admin. Augsburg Fortress. Reproduced by permission.)
It's based on the idea that in any regular 'Order of Service', 'Pew Sheet', etc..., there are three types of information:
Permanent information that hardly ever changes;
Information that changes every week, but is predictable;
Information that changes every week but is not predictable.
"fishOrder" provides for permanent information with a small number of templates.
Most of "fishOrder" is about storing and managing predictable information, as fields that are merged with a template to produce a document.
When the base document is generated, it is opened in an editor, where you can add the unpredictable information.
Templates can be edited and/or created to suit local requirements.
Templates and documents are '.rtf' files, small and very portable.
Automatic three year calendar that is generated the first time you run "fishOrder". Automatically updated the first time you run "fishOrder" in a new year.
When run, automatically shows the current information for next Sunday.
Alternates can be viewd and selected.
Hymns can be chosen from defined collections so their title is included in the document.
Hymn collections can be either hymn books or folders containing lists of titles, e.g. a folder of slides.
Any file/document on the computer used as a resource for this occasion can be associated with this Lectionary day.
All alternate choices, hymn and document associations are stored and shown the next time this Lectionary day occurs.
Screens in "fishOrder" show the current information in the body of the screen on the left.
On the right, is a column of buttons that provide facilities to manipulate the information on the left.
These buttons are ordered so that the ones towards the top are usually used before the ones towards the bottom.
Screens in "fishOrder" automatically adjust their size to fit the information they contain.
The main screen does not do this, however it's size can be adjusted by dragging it's edges.
Changing the size of the main screen is permanent, (until it is dragged to a different size).