Is there any way I can printout my actual screen(s) so I can provide my family a "How To" Guide for using my Pronto?

If your CCF is designed intuitively enough, you should'nt have to!

That's the beauty of these Remotes . . . you can create a series of Panels/Buttons that will allow even a complete novice (even someone who can't read!) to use a very complex system . . .

With one remote and NO instruction book.


Having said that . . .

Making a screenshot:

In ProntoEmulator

Press the PRINT SCREEN button on your PC.

The currently displayed screen of ProntoEmulator is saved as a Windows bitmap file.
A message appears with the location where the screenshot is saved. If ProntoEdit is installed in C:\Program Files\, the screenshots will be saved in C:\Prontoscreens.

ProntoEmulator saves up to 100 screenshots before it starts using the same filenames again.

    MIKE

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Making a screenshot in ProntoEmulator

4Press the PRINT SCREEN button.

The currently displayed screen of ProntoEmulator is saved as a Windows bitmap file.
A message appears with the location where the screenshot is saved. If ProntoEdit is installed in C:\Program Files\, the screenshots will be saved in C:\Prontoscreens.

ProntoEmulator saves up to 100 screenshots before it starts using the same filenames again.

actually if you reopen Prontoedit it starts from 00 again.

Actually, Anthony, I just cut and pasted that from the help file in prontoedit 4. Thanks for correcting it.

Mike:

With all due respect:
(and I mean that in the most literal and respectful sense)

I find that no matter how intuitive the user interface, there's one thing you can never overcome. I call it "assumed ignorance," or AI for short.

People with AI have a specific reaction when they look at something they don't understand. They immediately decide that since they don't currently know how to do a thing, that thing is beyond their capacity to learn or understand. Without stopping to consider how hard or easy it might be to learn, they start their learning experience with the assumption that any attempt to educate themselves will inevitably end in failure.

No matter how easy your remote control is, many people will experience an AI attack the minute they see it. However, most AI sufferers respond very well to step-by-step instructions, especially when the instructions are (a) written in very large text, (b)illustrated, and (c) one page or less.

Incidentally, there are several variations of AI that every professional installer is sure to have encountered:

ILLiToMT: It Looks Like Too Much Trouble -- ILLiToMT sufferers jump to the conclusion that any new method is invariably more complicated than the method they already know.

ISHaToDoT: I Shouldn't Have To Do This --ISHaToDoT sufferers automactically decide that, since they have to learn something they don't already know, that there must be some simpler method that somehow, they'd pick up by osmosis.

GiMMOStuB: Give Me My Old Stuff Back -- GiMMOStuB sufferers conclude, without pause, that this newfangled thing has no benefit over their old turntable and 8mm projector.

CaSEDoT: Can't Somebody Else Do This? -- CaSEDoT sufferers make no attempt to learn something new, but instead call for a family member to perform the function for them.

ITIF: I Threw It in the Fireplace -- self explanatory

But Dale my experience is most AIs won't read anything, be it a sheet of paper or a book

I once diagnosed an extreme case of AI when a client told me during the first meeting that they had trouble operating their home security system, car radio, sprinkler system, microwave oven, cell phones, answering machine, etc. I purposely spec'ed the simplest equipment on the planet, including a Yamaha single disc CD player with only (7) buttons on the front panel... POWER, OPEN/CLOSE, PLAY, PAUSE, STOP, <<, >>.

I thought I'd be A-OK, but I'd underestimated the severity of AI. This is the Actual Conversation (you just can't make this stuff up) while standing directly in front of the CD player:


AI: “Ooohhh... this one looks complicated! What do I do?”

ME: “To play a CD, you need to make sure the CD is turned on first. If the display is not lit up, push the POWER button.”

AI: Pushes the POWER Button, turning the CD off.

ME: “The CD is off now, you’ll need to push the POWER button again to turn it back on.”

AI: “But that just turned it off!

ME: “Yes it did, but the POWER button turns the CD On AND off.”

AI: “Ooohhh... this isn’t going to be easy is it?” Pushes the POWER button and turns the CD on.

ME: “To put a CD in, push the OPEN/CLOSE button to open the CD drawer to load your CD.”

AI: Pushes OPEN/CLOSE and loads her CD. “Now what do I do?”

ME: “Push OPEN/CLOSE to close the drawer.”

AI: “But that just opened it!

ME: “Yes it did, but the OPEN/CLOSE can open AND close the CD drawer.”

AI: “Aaahhh... this is getting complicated!” Pushes OPEN/CLOSE to close the CD drawer.

ME: Seeing a pattern, but I’m still patient. “To play the CD now, just push the PLAY button.”

AI: Pushes PLAY and the music begins. “Ooohhh... This is exciting! OK, now how would I stop it?”

ME: With a straight face. “You would push the STOP button.”

AI: “What if want it to play again?”

ME: Still with a straight face. “You would push the PLAY button.”

AI: “Don’t they make anything simpler than this?”

ME: I’m thinking of the “My First Sony” portable CD player I gave my blind 97-year-old grandmother for Christmas that was tougher than this to run. “Not that I know of.”

AI: Points to the last (2) remaining << & >> buttons and asks, “What do ALL these other buttons do?”

ME: Fantasize about saying “Nothing”, but actually say, “They skip one song forward or backward.” I’m not about to delve into the advanced concept of HOLDING the buttons down for forward or backward scan.

AI: “WOW!… I think this is all I can absorb in one day. Maybe we can go over those sometime later.”

ME: “No problem. You’re doing great! We’ll have time later when you’re comfortable with this to work on the other stuff.”

That was in 1992, and (1) decade later AI is still not “comfortable”. I was telling this story in a bar once, and a car salesman at my table knew exactly who it was just from the conversation. AI traded cars yearly only because they were all “too complicated” to work, and thought a new model might be better. The security company says this house has broken new ground in false alarms. We make service calls to change batteries in the remotes. The sad part is AI is great person and wants to “upgrade” the system, but I’m dragging MY feet. I’m just not sure it’s possible to charge enough to cover the service calls & general “facetime” required for anything new.

Perhaps we should update my term, since it's quickly becomming a noun:

AI: Assumed Ignoramus

This is fairly close to real conversation I had with an AI back in the days when you still frequently saw monochrome computer monitors:

AI: What's the difference between a monochrome monitor and a color one?

Me: Well, a monochrome monitor is sort of like a black and white TV, except that it shows the pictures from your computer.

AI: So I can watch TV on my computer?

Me: (Back then, TV on your computer was a distant dream) No. A computer monitor shows the images that your computer produces, but on a monochrom monitor, the picture is green or orange instead of full-color.

AI: So I'll only see green and orange?

Me: No. There are two kinds of monochrome monitor. Some are green, some are orange.

AI: So what's the difference between a monochrome monitor and a color monitor?

Me: A color monitor shows pictures in color, much like a color television.

AI: But you said I can't watch TV on my computer.

Me: You can't. But the computer can create color images instead of just black and white ones.

AI: Well what's the difference?

Me: (Suddenly thinking I might have misunderstood the question) Oh... well, a color monitor is much more expensive than a monochrome monitor. Is that what you mean?

AI: Don't try to sell me something I don't want. I just want to know what the difference is.

Me: Uh... I don't sell anything. Sorry if that came out wrong. Um.. A color monitor shows computer images in full-color, while a monochrome monitor shows them in a single color.

AI: Wait a minute. You just told me that monochrome could be either green or red. (note the color change here)

Me: Yes, but you have to choose. As I was saying, you can choose a green screen or an amber screen, which looks orange.

AI: What's the difference?

Me: Between?

AI: The green and the red!

Me: They don't make red. They're green or orange, which most people refer to as Amber.

AI: Look, I'm not stupid. I just want to know what the difference is.

Me: (Stuck in the "like a TV" groove, and terrified to bring in a different analogy) Between monochrome and color?

AI: (angrily) Yes!

Me: A monochrome monitor shows shades of gray only. A color monitor shows all the colors in the rainbow.

AI: Except Green and red.

Me: No, a color monitor can show green, red, and amber. It can show all the colors.

AI: Then why would I need a monochrome monitor?

Me: Yes, color is probably best.

AI: Okay. This didn't have to be so difficult. Why didn't you just say that?

Me: I apologize. I kept misunderstanding your question.

AI: Whatever. Now tell me about these new color printers.

I still have my amber VT102 sitting in the closet. :-)