Getting Started

  1. Download
    You can download the latest version of the Food Diary at wsims.com/cweissha/fooddiary
  2. Install
    To install the program, simply unzip into any folder.
  3. First time use
    When you first run the program you will need to setup your user file. Each user of the program will have to follow this step to setup a user profile. The first time you run the program, a "New User" wizard will run to help you create your user profile. If you want to create a new user file you can re-run the wizard by selecting File/New User. Once you have created your profile you can edit your settings from within the program.
  4. Save your file
    Once you have completed the "New User" wizard you will be prompted to save your user file. Pick a location and hit ok. The next time you run the program this file will be loaded by default.

Starting with the USDA database

The following is only necessary if you want to use a different version of the USDA database than the one that came with the program.
  1. Download
    You can download the latest version of the Food Diary at wsims.com/cweissha/fooddiary. You should download the version that doesn't have a datafile since that will be generated as part of this procedure.
    You also need to download the version of the USDA database you want to use. Make sure you get the full ASCII version. The program can't read the other versions of the database. This is publicly available at the USDA's web page: www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data as a zip file www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR17/dnload/sr17.zip
  2. Install
    To install the program, simply unzip the program zip into any folder. You also need to unzip the USDA database to a directory. This should be a different directory than you are using for the program.
  3. First time use
    The first time you run the program, a "New User" wizard will run. You should simply cancel out of this wizard since you will have to re-run it after installing the USDA database.
  4. Import the USDA database
    Under the 'Advanced' menu select 'Import USDA Database'. Pick the directory that you unziped the database into and wait. You will then be prompted for the name of the data file to save this to. Use the default. If the process was successful you will have the foods listed in the USDA food tree.
  5. Setup your user
    Select File/New User to run the "New User" wizard to create your user profile.
  6. Save your file
    Once you have completed the "New User" wizard you will be prompted to save your user file. Pick a location and hit ok. The next time you run the program this file will be loaded by default.

Upgrade to USDA database version SR17

If you download the full version of the FoodDiary v1.3.3 or later, you will get version 17 of the USDA database. If you already have created a user and want to keep that data, you should only download the new executable instead of the full version. The program can continue to use version 16 of the USDA database (which came with all prior version of the FoodDiary program).
If you are a new user, or if you are willing to lose your previous data file, then you can download the full version with version 17 built in and create a new user (see above).
If you have created a user and want to keep that data, but want to upgrade to version 17 of the USDA database then you should follow these steps.
  1. Download
    You can download the latest version of the Food Diary at wsims.com/cweissha/fooddiary. You should download the executable only version. You also need to download the sr17 update text files from the USDA. This is publicly available at the USDA's web page: www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR17/dnload/sr17dnld.html as a zip file http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR17/dnload/sr17upd.zip
  2. Make a Backup
    Make a copy of your data files (yourname.day and userfoods.dat).
  3. Install
    Unnzip the program zip into your existing FoodDiary program directory. This will overwrite your existing executable. You also need to unzip the USDA update file to a directory.
  4. Update the USDA database
    Under the 'Advanced' menu select 'Update the USDA Database'. Pick the directory that you unziped the update file into and wait. This will apply the updates from the USDA to your data file.