Visual Rental Pro
The Next Generation of Reservation Management Software
32 bit, multiple user, network ready system
By M/K Software, Inc.

How to create WINZIP zip files

Please note that in Visual Rental Pro, the BACKUP option on the UTILITIES menu creates a winzip zipfile for you. This zipfile contains a copy (in compressed format) of all the DATA files used by VRP. And the backup option names the zipfile using the current date in the filename so that you can quickly determine what day the backup was made. Winzip is a popular file compression program (there is no affiliation between M/K Software and Winzip). Winzip is used to take copies of one or more files on your PC or network and compress them into one single winzip file. This is useful for sending files as attachements to emails because you can send just one file instead of many and because winzip compresses the files, the file you send is considerably smaller so it will take less time to email. In fact, some files may be too big to email if uncompressed. But with Winzip, this is usually not a problem. Zipfiles are also a convenient way of making backups of files as well. If you do not have Winzip installed on your PC, visit http://www.winzip.com to download and install an evaluation copy. Once installed, Winzip can be launched from the Windows start button: You may have to use the "Programs" option of the Windows Start button to launch Winzip as shown below: When starting, Winzip may prompt you for the following: 1) "I agree" screen: reply YES 2) Classic or Wizard interface: select Classic 3) "Tip of the day" screen: close tip of the day screen Next, the Winzip screen is displayed: To create a winzip file, Winzip wants you to first name the file you wish to create. And then you add files to the zipfile. To create a new winzip file, click on the NEW button on the toolbar. The following screen is displayed: This "New Archive" screen is asking you to name the file (the "File name" prompt) and what folder (directory) that you wish to save the file into. Near the top of this New Archive screen is the word "Create" with a folder name across from it. In this example, the user is creating a new zipfile called MyNewZip.Zip and is saving it into the "temp"folder. Notice that the "Add dialog" checkbox is checked. After naming the file and selecting the folder to save the file to, click on the OK button. The Add screen is then displayed: The ADD screen is where you select files to add to the winzip file you named on the previous screen. Notice that the folder name to the right of the word Add near the top of the screen iin this example is called DATA. Winzip remembers where you added files from the last time a zipfile was created. If you had not run winzip before, you will have to navigate to the DATA subdirectory of RENTPRO in order to locate the data files. After locating the DATA directory, make sure to select the MAXIMUM setting for the COMPRESSION option. Next, click the <add with wildcards> button to add all the files in the selected folder. You can also select individual files by doubleclicking on the files you wish to add. Multiple files can be selected at the same time but single clicking on the first file you wish add and, while holding down the SHIFT key, click on other files. When done selecting files, click the add button. After files have been added, the following winzip screen is displayed: You can add more files to the zipfile if you like by clicking on the ADD button on the toolbar. If you need to remove certain files that you have already added to the zipfile, simply click on a file in the list of files and press the DELETE key. You will be prompted to confirm the delete. Click the DELETE button. When removing files from a zipfile, you are NOT deleting files from your PC. Instead, you are simply removing the file from the zipfile. Once all the files that you wish to add to the zipfile have been added, you can close Winzip. At this point, the zipfile you created can be attached to emails or it can be saved to disk for backups.

How to extract/unzip WINZIP zip files or....
Restoring from a zipfile backup

As noted above, a zipfile is simply one file containing compressed COPIES of multiple files. In this case,
the files in a zipfile are the data files used by Visual Rental Pro. At some point, you may find it necessary
to perform a restore from one of these backup zipfiles. The following information describes the process of
extracting / unzipping a zipfile back into the DATA subdirectory of Visual Rental Pro.

Some notes about restoring from a backup:

1) Extracting zipfiles requires that you have the program winzip installed. If you do not have winzip, visit
http://www.winzip.com to download the program.

2) The zipfile contains a snapshot of your data at that point in time that the backup was made. If you are
going to restore a backup, you are replacing your current files with these older files. For example, you make
a backup Monday morning. And Monday afternoon, after using the program for the day, your hardware fails and
you have to restore from the Monday morning backup. Data entered/updated after the backup was made will be
lost when the monday morning backup is restored.

3) Before restoring a backup, make ANOTHER copy of your data files for safekeeping. Granted, the DATA files
are going to be overwritten with the backup files, but its best to make yet another copy of the files. Consider this
your "pre-restore" backup.

4) If you are using the UTILITIES | BACKUP option of VRP, the backup file is, by default, created/saved on the PC
that the user is using. This means that if you are using VRP in a networked environment, multiple users can run
the backup option, which would create zipfiles on the PC that ran the option.

5) All users must be out of VRP in order to restore backup files.

The first step in extracting a zipfile is to locate the zipfiles. By default, VRP creates these zipfiles
on your PC in the folder C:\BACKUP. Of course the user can save the backups to another folder or
these backup files can be copied to another PC or to a CD burner, among other options. The example
shown below assumes that the zipfiles are stored in the C:\BACKUP folder on your PC.

Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the C:\BACKUP folder on your PC. To start Windows explorer, right
click on the Windows Start button and select Explore:

In the left scroll window of explorer, locate the BACKUP folder off of the C drive, as shown below:

You will notice in the image above the the files are listed in columns, with the file name, size, type, and
modified date. If Windows Explorer lists the files in a different format, simply click on the View menu
of Explorer and click the DETAILS option.

The backup winzip files are creating using the month and date that the file was created. When you have
identified the file you wish to restore from, simply doubleclick on the file. This will start Winzip. Winzip has
both a CLASSIC and a WIZARD interface. The user can chose to work with either interface. The screen
images shown below are using the CLASSIC interface. To change the interface in use, click the OPTIONS
menu, Configuration option, Miscellaneous tab and select which interface to use.

The second step is extracting the zipfile. To begin the extraction process, which will overlay the current
VRP data files with those from the backup file, click on the Extract button on the toolbar. The extract screen
will be displayed.

You must locate the DATA subdirectory of Visual Rental Pro before you run the <extract> option. Use the
'Folders/drives' scrolling window in the middle of the screen to locate the following folder:

C:\Program Files\Visual Rental Pro\Data

To locate this folder, first expand the C drive, as shown below:

Next, locate the Program Files subfolder (directory):

Under the Program Files folder, locate the Visual Rental Pro folder, and finally the DATA folder:

Having selected the data folder, you will notice that the "Extract to" combobox in the top left corner of the
extract screen is reflecting the folder that you have chosen to extract the zipfile to:

In the screen above, the "Overwrite existing files" checkbox is checked. This will prevent the "file exists, do you
want to overwrite it" message from being displayed when you extract the file.

Finally, click the <extract> button in the top right corner of the screen to extract the zipfile.

M/K SoftwareP.O. Box 1152VA Beach VA23451

info@rentalpro.com

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