SPACE 2/SPACE - Library 2 - Volume 1.iso/apps/284/applic/database.doc

Text File | 1988-08-18 | 33KB | 661 lines

Instructions for the database program Copyright (c) 1988 by Eric B.
Lindros.


CONTENTS:

     System requirements............................2
     Description of program.........................2
     Controlling the program........................2
          Mouse.....................................2
          Menu......................................2
          Keyboard..................................3
          Window....................................3
               File name line.......................3
               Headings line........................3
               Work area............................3
               Arrow buttons........................3
               Scroll bars..........................3
               Marked record indicator..............4
          Dialog boxes..............................4
               The file selection dialog............4
               The field selection dialog...........5
               The subfield dialog..................5
     Operations.....................................5
          Loading an existing database from disk....5
          Creating a new database...................5
          Saving your changes.......................5
          Closing a database........................6
          Quitting the program......................6
          Working with records......................6
               Typing in changes....................6
               Inserting new records................7
               Deleting records.....................7
               Duplicating records..................7
               Clearing records.....................7
               Marking records......................7
          Working with fields.......................7
               Creating new fields..................7
               Removing fields......................7
               Changing display width of fields.....7
               Changing display order of fields.....7
          Utilities.................................8
               Sorting records......................8
               Searching for records................8
               Importing data.......................9
               Exporting data.......................9
               Encrypting records...................9
               Deleting groups of records...........9
               Unmarking all records................9
          Reporting.................................9
               Columnar.............................9
               Standard.............................9
               Text merge..........................10











                              Page 1


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

     This program will run on any Atari ST computer.   The  program
will  run  in  both  the medium  and  high  resolution  modes.   In
addition,  this program may be run from hard disk,  ram disk, etc.,
and from within folders.

DESCRIPTION OF THIS PROGRAM

     This  program is designed to manipulate information which  can
be organized into a variable number of records;  each record with a
set of common fields.   An example of this is a mailing list.  With
a  mailing  list,  there  is one record for  each  addressee  being
maintained on the list.  Some of the fields of a mailing list would
be last name, first name, street, city, state, and zip code.
     Not all information can be readily arranged into records  with
common  fields as could be done in the example of the mailing  list
above.   For  example,  if you wanted to have a mailing list  which
would  have a separate field for the first name of each  individual
at a given household, you would not be able to maintain such a list
with this program.   That type of application would require the use
of  a  more  sophistacated program  called  a  relational  database
management program.   Relational databases offer great  flexibility
in  the  organization of  information.   However,  they  are  often
difficult  to learn to use.   In addition,  they are usually  quite
costly.

CONTROLLING THE PROGRAM

     This  program  uses  many  of the features  of  the  Atari  ST
desktop.   For this reason,  control of this program should already
be familiar to you.   If this is the case, you may wish to skip the
instructions and dive right in by running DATABASE.TOS and  opening
the file SAMPLE.DAT.
     THE  MOUSE.   The mouse has four uses in  this  program.   The
first is the selection of menu items.   The second is the selection
of options in dialogs.  The third is the positioning of the editing
cursor  within the display area of the window.   The fourth is  the
control of the window display controllers.   Most of the time,  the
mouse  will  be  represented  on the  screen  by  an  arrow.   This
indicates  that  the  program  is  ready  to  receive  your  input.
However, when the program is busy, the mouse will be represented on
the screen by a bee.
     THE MENU BAR.   The menu bar is displayed as a set of headings
at the top of the screen.  For this program, the headings are File,
Edit, Fields, Utilities, and Reports.  Moving the mouse onto one of
these  headings will cause a box to drop down from  it.   This  box
will contain the choices for that heading.   You may select one  of
these  choices  by moving the mouse over it and clicking  with  the
left mouse button.   If you decide not to take any of the  choices,
you  may  move the mouse onto another heading or exit the  menu  by
clicking  the  left mouse button while no choices  are  highlighed.
Not all of the menu items will always be available.   When this  is
the case, the item will be displayed in the "shadow" mode.  In this
program, all items are available except when there is no file open.








                              Page 2


     THE KEYBOARD.   Whenever text input is required,  the keyboard
must be used.  The position where the text will appear is indicated
by a small black rectangle called the text cursor.   When a key  is
pressed, a character is inserted at the location of the cursor, and
the cursor moves one position to the right.   If the delete key  is
pressed,  the character under the cursor will be removed,  and  the
remainder  of  the text line will be shifted one  position  to  the
left.   If the backspace key is pressed,  the character to the left
of  the  cursor will be deleted and the cursor will  be  moved  one
position  to  the left.   The position of the cursor  may  also  be
changed by pressing the arrow keys.
     THE WINDOW.   A window is a graphic device used for  "looking"
into part of a work area.   In the case of this program,  the  work
area  is all of the information in the open database  file.   Often
the  entire file cannot be displayed at once.   Through the use  of
the window controls, you may control which part of the work area is
to be displayed.   In this program, the window will be showing only
while  a  file  is  open.   The window  of  this  program  has  six
components.   These are the file name line,  the headings line, the
display area, the arrow buttons, and the marked record indicator.
     At  the top of the window is the file  name  indicator.   This
will display the complete path of the file which is currently open.
     Directly under the file name line is the headings line.   This
line  will  display  the  field names  which  are  currently  being
displayed.   If  only part of a field is being displayed,  or if  a
field  has a display width which is narrower than the  field  name,
part of the field name may not be visible.
     The largest part of the window is the display area.   However,
the  display  area is usually just a small part of the  work  area.
Each  row of the display area represents one record.   One  way  to
change  which part of the work area is being displayed is to  press
the arrow keys until the text cursor moves out of the display area.
In addition,  the display area may be moved by using the mouse  and
the scroll bars or arrow buttons.
     There  are two scroll bars on the window.   One is called  the
vertical  slider  and the other is called  the  horizontal  slider.
These  are represented by a white rectangle on top of  a  polka-dot
rectangle.    The  size  of  the  white  rectangle  indicates  what
proportion  the  display  area is to  the  work  area.   Also,  the
position  of  the white rectangles indicate what part of  the  work
area is being displayed.   Clicking with the left mouse button on a
polka-dot  region  cause the display to move by one  page  in  that
direction.   In addition,  the white box may be "dragged."  This is
accomplished by moving the mouse over the white box,  pressing  the
left  button and,  while keeping the left button down,  moving  the
mouse  until a shadowed outline of the box appears where you  would
like the display area to be.
     Another  means of moving the display area is by  clicking  the
mouse on one of the four arrow buttons.   These are represented  on
the  screen by boxes with arrows in them.   The arrow  buttons  are
located  at the bottom left,  bottom right,  and top right  of  the
window.











                              Page 3


     The final part component of the window of this program is  the
marked record indicator.   This is located immediately to the  left
of the display area.   Records may be marked for special  treatment
by  moving  the  mouse into the marked record  indicator  area  and
pressing the left mouse button.   When a record is marked,  a small
black  rectangle  will be showing in the indicator.   To  unmark  a
record,  simply click with the right mouse button in the  indicator
area next to that record.
     DIALOG  BOXES.   Often the program will need more  information
than  can be provided through use of the menu.   When this  is  the
case, the menu item will be followed by an elipsis, indicating that
further  dialog  will  be  required.   When such  a  menu  item  is
selected,  a dialog box will appear on the screen.  Within a dialog
box,  there may be three main types of objects.  These are prompts,
editable text, and buttons.  Prompts will usually give an extremely
terse explanation of how the information is to be  used.   Editable
strings take keyboard input.   An editable string is indicated by a
text cursor.  Buttons are usually indicated by text surrounded by a
box.   However,  sometimes  a button will just be  text.   Also,  a
button  may have a heavy box around it.   This indicates that  that
object  will be selected if the return key is  pressed.   Selecting
objects is usually accomplished by moving the mouse of the  desired
object  and  clicking with the left mouse  button.   At  least  one
object in each dialog will cause the dialog to terminate when  that
object is selected.  These exit objects will usually be buttons and
will most often be labelled "OK" and "Cancel."
     In  this program,  there are three dialog boxes  that  deserve
special  attention.    These  are  the  file  selector,  the  field
selector, and the subfield dialogs.
     The file selection dialog is used to find and select  existing
files.   There are two key components of the file selection  dialog
box.  The first of these is the search path.  Initially, the search
path  will  be the equivalent of the folder you were in  when  this
program was executed.   In addition,  the path will end with "\*.*"
The asterisks are wild cards.  The first asterisk tells the program
to look for any file name.   The second asterisk tells the  program
to look for any file extension.   Another type of wild card is  the
question mark.  A question mark tells the system that any letter in
the  question mark's position is all right for a  match.   You  may
modify  the  search  path to look  for  only  certain  files.   For
instance,  if  you  only  wanted to select  from  the  files  whose
extensions began with the letter 'D', you would end the search path
with "\*.D??"  If the path you want is on another disk  drive,  you
may  quickly  changes  drives  by  clicking  on  the  appropriately
lettered  button  located along the right side of the  dialog  box.
The other key area of the file selection dialog is the file display
box.   This box will contain a list of the files which matched  the
search path.   Clicking with the left mouse button on a file in the
file display box will cause that file to be selected.   If the file
name  is preceded by a black diamond,  then the name is actually  a
folder  name.   Selecting  a folder will cause that  folder  to  be
opened and the files within it to be displayed.   If there are more
files than will fit in the file display box,  you may display these
by  clicking with the left mouse button on either the up  arrow  or
down arrow.








                              Page 4


     Similar in appearance to the file selection dialog box is  the
field  selection dialog box.   Like the file  selector,  the  field
selector  will  present  you  with a  box  containing  all  of  the
available choices.  If the are more fields than may be displayed in
the box,  you may click with the left mouse button on either the up
arrow  or  down arrow to change which field  names  are  displayed.
Clicking with the left mouse button on a field name will cause that
field to be selected.
     Sometimes  when working with fields,  it is desirable to  work
with  just  certain portions of the field.   Take as an  example  a
mailing  list which has "City,  State  Zip" combined all  into  one
field.   If you wanted to work with just the State or zip (assuming
that they always have the same number of characters),  the subfield
dialog box would allow you to do this.  There are two parameters to
a  subfield.   The  first  of these is the  maximum  width  of  the
subfield.   The  second  is  the  offset of  the  begining  of  the
subfield,  which may be measured from either the left or the  right
side  of  the data elements in the field.   If a  data  element  is
narrower (starting from the offset) than the width,  the  remainder
of  the subfield will be blank.   Using the field described in  the
above example,  if you wanted to sort by State,  you would select a
width of 2 and an offset from the right of 8.

OPERATIONS

     WORKING  WITH FILES.   The functions which operate  on  entire
files are selected from the File menu.  These are the operations of
opening,   creating,  saving,  renaming,  and  closing  files.   In
addition,  the  operation of exiting the program is  located  under
this heading.
     LOADING  A  DATABASE  FILE.   To load  and  open  an  existing
database file from a disk drive, select the Open... option from the
File  menu.   If there is already a file open,  it will  be  closed
automatically.  Next, you will be presented with the file selection
dialog box.   See above for directions on using the file  selector.
When you have selected a file,  the program will make sure that  it
is a database file.   If it is not,  you will be told that the file
is  of  the wrong type,  and the window will be  closed.   If  this
happens, you may repeat the process, but with a different file.
     CREATING  A NEW DATABASE FILE.   To begin a new  file,  select
Create... from the File menu.  If a file is currently open, it will
be  closed.   Next,  a single blank record will be created and  you
will  be asked for a name and display width for a field.   You  may
make  as many fields as you like,  but there must be at least  one.
Don't  worry about getting the field names and widths  just  right.
They can easily be changed latter on.
     SAVING A DATABASE FILE.   Until saved,  all changes made to  a
database file are only temporary.   This is because the entire file
is held in the computers volatile RAM while it is being worked  on.
If you press reset or have a power outage while working on a  file,
the work you have done since the last save will be lost.   For this
reason,  it is a good idea to periodically use the Save option from
the File menu.   In addition,  you may use the Save as..  option to
change the open file's name and save it under the new  name.   This
will leave the original disk file unchanged.   The Save as.. option
is useful for creating a database file which is a subset of another
file.






                              Page 5


     CLOSING A DATABASE FILE.   When you are finished working on  a
database file and wish to go on to something else,  it is necessary
to  close the currently open file.   This may be done by  selecting
Close from the File menu.   First, the program will check to see if
you have made any changes to the database since it was last  saved.
If  any changes have been made,  you will be asked if it is  ok  to
abort  the changes.   If your answer is no,  then the Close  option
will terminate and you will then be able to select the Save option.
Otherwise,  the entire file will be cleared from RAM and the window
will  be  closed.   It is not necessary to explicitly  execute  the
Close  option.   This is because Close is automatically  called  by
Open..., Create..., and Quit.
     QUITTING  THE  PROGRAM.   When  you  are  finished  using  the
program,  select  the Quit option from the File  menu.   This  will
return you to the GEMDOS desktop.  It is recommended that you leave
the  program in this way (as opposed to pressing reset  or  turning
the  power off) because the program will first check to see if  any
changes have been made to a database file since its last save.

     WORKING  WITH RECORDS.   Probably the most import aspect of  a
database  management program is its ability to make changes to  the
records  in a database file.   This program provides a  variety  of
functions to accomplish that task.   Updating existing  information
and  entering  new  records  may be  accomplished  by  use  of  the
keyboard.   In  addition,  the menu option under the  Edit  heading
allow  insertion,  deletion,  duplication,  and clearing of  entire
records.
     All   textual  information  is  normally  entered  using   the
keyboard.   Characters  are  inserted at the location of  the  text
cursor and characters from the position of the cursor to the end of
the  data element are shifted to the right.   Characters which  are
shifted  past the display width boundary of a field  become  hidden
but  are not lost.   When the cursor moves past the  display  width
boundary of a field, data entry becomes effective in the next field
to the right.  If there are no more fields to the right, data entry
becomes  effective  at  the first field of  the  next  record.   In
addition to the keys which produce printable characters, the follow
keys have the listed effects:
     <Return> Clear field under and to right of cursor, and move to
the next field to the right.
     <Delete>  Remove  character under cursor and  move  characters
that are to the right of the cursor one position to the left.
     <Backspace> Move the cursor one position to the left and  then
delete the character under the new cursor position.
     <Left arrow> Move the cursor one position to the left.
     <Shift><Left  arrow>  Move the cursor to the begining  of  the
current  field.   If  the cursor is already at the  begining  of  a
field, it will be moved the the begining of the previous field.
     <Right arrow> Move the cursor one position to the right.
     <Shift><Right  arrow> Move the cursor to the begining  of  the
next field.
     <Up arrow> Move the cursor up one record.
     <Down arrow> Move the cursor down one record.  Moving past the
last  record will cause a new blank record to be placed at the  end
of the file.
     In addition,  the cursor may be position by clicking with  the
mouse in the desired location.






                              Page 6


     INSERTING NEW RECORDS.   Selecting the Insert option from  the
Edit  menu  will cause a new blank record to be  place  immediately
before the record under the text cursor.
     DELETING RECORDS.   Selecting the Delete option from the  Edit
menu will cause the record under the cursor to be removed from  the
file.  This option will not work if there is only one record in the
file.
     CLEARING  RECORDS.   Selecting the Clear option from the  Edit
menu will cause the record under the cursor to become blank.
     DUPLICATING RECORDS.   Selecting the Duplicate option from the
Edit menu will cause a new record to be inserted immediately before
the record under the text cursor.   This new record will then  have
the contents of the next record copied to it.
     MARKING  RECORDS.   It is often desirable to work with just  a
few of the records within a database.   For example, you might want
to  print labels from a mailing list,  but only for the people  you
plan  on inviting to your next wild bash.   This  program  provides
just  such a capability.   To mark a record for special  treatment,
click with the left mouse button next to the record in the far left
side  of  the screen.   A black rectangle will  indicate  that  the
record is marked.   To unmark a record,  click in the same location
with the right mouse button.

     WORKING  WITH  FIELDS.   Functions  which  effect  fields  are
selected from the Fields menu.   These operations include  creating
new fields, removing fields, changing the name and display width of
a field, and changing the display order of the fields.
     CREATING NEW FIELDS.  Selection of the More... option from the
Fields  menu  will allow you to create new  fields.   You  will  be
presented with a dialog box which will request the name and display
width  of  the new  field.   Any  printable  characters,  including
nothing at all,  is valid for a field name.   The display width may
be  between  1 and 255.   This value only effects the way  data  is
displayed  within  the  display window.   Text  which  exceeds  the
display width is valid but will not be displayed.   After you  have
entered the field name and display width and pressed the OK button,
the  program will make space in the file for the additional  field.
This can sometimes take a few seconds, depending mostly on the size
of the file.
     REMOVING FIELDS.   Selection of the Delete...  option from the
Fields menu will allow you to delete an existing field.   The field
selector dialog box will be presented to you.   If you change  your
mind and decide not to delete a selected field, don't worry because
you will next be asked if you really want to delete the field.   If
you  answer yes to this prompt,  the field will be removed and  all
data in that field for each record will be lost.
     CHANGING  FIELD  DISPLAY WIDTH.   Selection of  the  Modify...
option from the Fields menu will allow you to change both the field
name  and display width of a selected field.   Or,  you may  invoke
this  function by clicking with the mouse on the field name in  the
headings line of the menu.
     CHANGING  FIELD  DISPLAY  ORDER.   Fields  will  initially  be
displayed  in the order of their creation.   However,  the  display
order  of two fields may be swapped by selecting  the  Rearrange...
option from the Fields menu.   You will be presented with the field
selector  dialog  box twice.   The two fields you  select  will  be
interchanged in their display order.






                              Page 7


     UTILITIES.   This  is  a general category of  functions  which
don't  fit very well into any of the other  categories.   Functions
grouped   under  the  Utilities  menu  heading   include   sorting,
searching,  importing  and  exporting  data,  encrypting,  deleting
groups of records, and unmarking all records.
     SORTING  RECORDS.   When lists are put in a particular  order,
finding certain information becomes very easy.  For example, If you
want  to  call  Gern Blanstein on the phone,  you  might  begin  by
opening  your  directory to the B's.   But could  you  imagine  the
trouble  you would have if the names were simply in the order  that
they  were entered into the phone company's  database?   You  would
have to look at every name until you happened upon Gern  Blanstein.
No,  that wouldn't do at all.   So, you get your phone listing from
the  phone company pre-sorted by last name and  first  name.   But,
what if your six year old child takes a phone message for  you  and
totally botches the name.   In addition,  the phone number only has
six  digits!   Rather  than calling the  several  hundred  possible
numbers that may have been the original number, wouldn't it be nice
to have a phone listing that was sorted by phone number?   Then you
would  only  have to check the numbers against the ones  of  people
that you know.  The directory is an excellent example of a database
file  (albeit a very large one.)  Just as sorting makes good  sense
for a directory,  it makes good sense for just about every database
file.   This program will allow you to sort your database files  by
any field you choose.  However, you may only sort by one field at a
time.   If  you want to sort a list by first and  last  names,  for
example, you would need to first sort by the first name and then by
the last name.  The rule to follow here is to sort by fields in the
reverse  order of their importance to a  particular  ordering.   An
important  thing to consider when sorting is that all sorting  will
be  done based on the ASCII value of the characters in the text  of
the  fields being sorted.   If the text is always  alphabetic,  the
sort will have the results you might expect.  On the other hand, if
the sorted fields contain numbers of a ununiform width,  they  will
not  normally  be  sorted by their numerical  value.   Here  is  an
example:
     7634.52                       0.0023   the lowest ASCII value
     93.45    ----> sorts to ----> 26497.3
     26497.3                       734.52
     0.0023                        93.45    the highest ASCII value
Yuck!!   The answer is to align the numbers by their decimal point.
Specifically:
     7634.52                           0.0023
       93.45  ----> sorts to ---->    93.45
    26497.3                        26497.3
        0.0023                      7634.52
This is a little more like it.   But even with this stunt, negative
numbers will not be sorted correctly.

     SEARCHING RECORDS.  If you would like to find an occurrence of
a  particular  set of characters,  you may do so by  selecting  the
Search... option from the Utilities menu.  You will be prompted for
a  line of text which will be the target  value.   Next,  searching
will  commence  at the record following the record under  the  text
cursor.   All fields are checked to see if they contain the  target
value.   If a record is found that contains the target  value,  the
text cursor will be moved to the begining of that record.






                              Page 8


     IMPORTING  AND  EXPORTING DATA.   Nearly  every  program  that
manipulates  data  files has its own peculiar disk format  that  it
keeps the files in.  This causes a problem when you are  trying  to
get   data  from  one  program  to  work  with   another   program.
Fortunately,  there  are a few data formats that have  been  fairly
widely  adopted  for just such an exchange of data.   If  you  have
another  program that you would like to have interchange data  with
this  program,  check to see if your other program can  import  and
export data in the following format:
     "element1","element2", ... "elementN"
     "element1","element2", ... "elementN"
     etc.
where elements 1 through N represent one data element per field per
record.   Textual  elements  are enclosed in  quotes,  but  numeric
elements  need not have quotes.   Also,  elements are separated  by
commas.   If  your  program can handle this format,  then  your  in
business.   Just  select the Import data...  and/or Export  data...
option from the Utilities menu.
     ENCRYPTING  AND DECRYPTING RECORDS.   If you keep  information
which  you  would  like to ensure  remains  confidential,  you  can
further these ends with the Encrypt...  option under the  Utilities
menu.   While encrypting, you will be prompted for a sentence to be
used  as the key.   This can consist of any  printable  characters.
Make  sure  you  choose  as a key  something  you  will  definitely
remember.  After choosing a key, the screen will show your database
as  a bunch of strange characters.   You should now save and  close
the file.  To restore the file to a legible form, simply repeat the
exact same process using the same key.
     DELETING GROUPS OF RECORDS.  Sometimes deleting records one at
a time is just too clumsy.   When this is the case, you may want to
consider  the  Delete marked option in the  Utilities  menu.   This
function  will tell you how many records are marked and ask you  if
you really want to delete them.
     UNMARKING ALL RECORDS.   Selecting the Unmark all option  from
the  Utilities  menu  will cause all records to be  placed  in  the
unmarked state.

     REPORTING.  Manipulated data in memory is fine, but a database
file's  most convenient form is on paper.   In  addition,  a  fancy
report can be very impressive.   Unfortunately,  database  programs
which  provide sophisticated reporting are often difficult to  use.
On the other hand, this program's reporting facilities are anything
but  sophisticated.    However,   the  end  reports  can  be  quite
satisfactory.   The reason is that you have the option to send  the
report to a disk file.  Then, you may use a word processor, such as
1st Word,  to tailor the raw report to your exact needs.   This has
the advantage that rather than having to learn a difficult database
reporting method,  you may use a simple reporting method and a word
processor that you already know how to use.
     There are two basic types of reports that you may run on  this
program.   One is a columnar report,  and the other is a text merge
report.
     A  columnar  report has all of its data arranged  in  vertical
columns.   Each record printed takes one line in the  report.   The
data  elements are printed with a width that you specify using  the
subfield dialog.  If an element is too short to fill this width, it
will be padded to the right with spaces.  Also, an additional space
will  be  placed between each field.   A special type  of  columnar
report  is  the  standard  report.    Rather  than  specifying  the
subfields  you want printed,  the standard report just assumes  you



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want  all  fields  printed in their display order  and  with  their
display width.   The standard report is the easiest report to  run,
and most closely resembles a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get report.
     A  text  merge report is one that merges  information  from  a
database file with an existing text file.   An example of this is a
report that fills in the spaces of a form letter.   Mailing  labels
can also be generated using a text merge report.  The first step in
running  a text merge report is preparing the necessary text  file.
You  may use any word processor to prepare your text file.   It  is
usually  best to save the text file in ASCII.   In 1st  word,  this
means turning the word processor option off.   For each place  that
you want a data element inserted into your text file,  simply place
the  two character combination /?.   For example,  a file  to  make
mailing labels might look like this:


/? /?
/?
/?, /?  /?


Then,  when  running  the text merge report,  you would  select  as
replacement fields:  first name,  last name,  street,  city, State,
zip.







































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