NRIS FORMS Version 2.02 General Information
=============================================

NRIS Forms 2.02  is a revision to the original
National Register of Historic Places (NRIS) Forms
program available at the NRIS FTP site
ftp.nr.nps.gov/nrisforms.

Version 2.02 includes new features and both major and
minor bug fixes.  All known bugs have been fixed. 
The program and documentation should now be
considered revised to include the changes below. 

Forms Software Versions
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The forms software is available in its native
version and in a Run-Time version.

The native version requires that Access97 has
already been installed on the target computer.  It
will not run on a computer that has other versions
of Access installed.

The Run-Time version will run on a computer
independently of any installed versions of Access. 
It does not require any version of Access.

Forms Installation
---------------------------------------------------
Installation of Forms requires that one of the two
different Forms installation programs be downloaded
from the FTP site.  The selected program must then
be executed on the computer on which Forms is to be
installed.

Forms_Install.exe is much larger and will install all
files required for the native version of Forms.  It
must be downloaded in its entirety before it can be
run on a target machine.

Forms_Install_RunTime.exe is considerably larger.  It\
must be downloaded in its entirety before it can be run
on a target machine.  It does not require an
internet connection after it has been downloaded.

New Features
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1)   Installation is now Web-driven  using a
     software installation program (Wise).

2)   NRIS Forms is now agnostic with respect to the
     configuration of your computer so there should
     be no installation nightmares.  There are well
     known problems running different versions of
     Microsoft Access and/or  Microsoft Access
     runtime versions on the same computer.  NPS has
     licensed the Sagekey technology to deliver a
     product that will run irrespective of which
     version(s) of Microsoft Access are or are not
     installed.

3)   Users have correctly pointed out the limitations
     of Microsoft Access when it comes to producing
     the kinds of complex, highly formatted documents
     often characteristic of National Register
     documentation.  Cutting and pasting between any
     word processing program and Access removes most
     basic formatting such as bold or italics that
     may be essential for clarity's sake. 

     To remedy this, the installation program
     provides word processing continuation sheet
     templates in both Microsoft Word and Corel
     WordPerfect.  Any Continuation section of the
     National Register form can be created in a word
     processing format and attached to the rest of
     the form produced from the Forms program.

Major Bug Fixes
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1)   National Register Bulletin 16 refers to the need
     to enter many categories such as area of
     significance in their order of predominance. 
     Upon production of a form the Access program
     then resorted these same categories
     alphabetically.  And ordering field has been
     added to enter ranking within these categories
     to preserve the order you choose.

2)   Tighter standards are imposed upon NRIS Forms
     fonts and the sequence in which the Access
     program produces continuation sheets. 

3)   Native American tribes are now entered as free
     form text to accommodate variations in spelling
     and the addition of new tribes.

Minor Bug Fixes
---------------------------------------------------
1)   These are too numerous to mention and are either
     cosmetic or small changes sprinkled here and
     there to make the program more functional. 


John Byrne
National Register Database Administrator
NRIS_Info@NPS.gov or John_Byrne@NPS.gov
July, 2005