Smeal Quint
Configure Shift Schedule

If one of the sample .ini files installed with ShiftCal (or available for download on the Shift Schedules page) matches your schedule, make a copy of the file and rename it to "shiftcal.ini". Instructions on how to do this can be found here.

If you have to create a shift schedule from scratch, we suggest you use the CalMod utility. Even if you have experience modifying shift schedules, we urge you to give CalMod a try: it peforms basic validation of user input to confirm that the settings are consistent.

Creating or Editing the Ini File with CalMod

When CalMod starts, it looks for a file named "shiftcal.ini". If the file is found, it is loaded and checked for internal consistency; if not, a new (empty) shiftcal.ini is created.

To create a shift schedule, the user must enter the following information:

- Number of Platoons: enter a number from two to six
- Days in Rotation: enter the number of days in a complete work cycle
- Start Date: enter an arbitrary start date (first of the month is good)
- Shift Rotation: beginning on "Start Date", enter the platoon on duty for each day of an entire rotation

Click on the "Set Colors" button to display the color selection buttons. There is one button for setting the color of the background and of the "leading and trailing" days, and a button for each platoon.

For each platoon, the user specifies two colors: the "platoon" color, and the "inverse" (contrasting) color.

The "inverse" color should be light (typically white) for dark colors like red or blue; it should be set to black (or another dark color) for light foreground colors like lime or yellow.

Valid colors are those which correspond to Windows(tm) named colors: (e.g. Red, Blue), to Windows(tm) desktop properties (e.g. Background, Highlight, etc.), or to "additive" colors described by combining hexadecimal values for red, green, and blue (RGB).

The name of the selected foreground and background colors are displayed above the Background button in the format "Forground Color / Background Color".

At the present time, RGB colors must be defined by manually editing the .ini file; see RGB for details.

An extensive discussion of the elements of the [Shift Schedule] section appears in the documentation, which is availble for download.

For further information, contact Tech Support.



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Coolidge, Arizona
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