The enclosed Xtension is a fully working copy of LinkUp! that will allow you to evaluate all of its functions. It is, however, restricted in the number of markups, updates and index/table of contents entries that you are able to implement
By way of illustration, we have included a file , LinkUp! Demo (page from electronics catalogue) that contains some pre-marked codes that are linked to a Demo Database. Install LinkUp! by copying it to your Quark program folder, as you would for any other Xtension, and copy the demonstration files to the folder of your choice.
Enable LinkUp! from the Utilities menu, and you may then switch on the LinkUp! palette from the View menu, which provides a short cut to marking new codes within a document. Open LinkUp! demo, zoom onto area of the page outlined in red, choose Generate Database update, and pick the Demo Database as the source file to see LinkUp! do its stuff. Note Updates inside red box, as well as "Special Offer Line"
Note that the link to the external database is dynamic - if you change the text of a marked stock code, then it will only update if you have selected a new code that also exists in the database. If it doesn’t, then any associated fields will be replaced with their respective ‘Absent’ values (where defined in the Configure Links dialog). (N/A database values are for "None Available" price breaks, POA for "Price on Application")
A brief introduction to using LinkUp!
Marking Up
To mark up a document in preparation for update, you must first identify a piece of information that would normally remain constant in your external database - for example the stock code, in a stock database, the company name for a register of customers or the ISBN number of a book in a book list. This would become the Record ID for LinkUp!
To markup information, you would first highlight a text entry that corresponds to this field and mark it as a Record Id either from the LinkUp! menu or the floating palette. You would then highlight any text that relates to this Id and that you wish to update from the database - a price for a stock item, or the name of the managing director of a company, for example. This information should then be marked as a field (see below).
LinkUp assigns an internal number to each Record Id that you mark, which is then also assigned to the fields. This means that you should preferably mark the fields that belong to a record ID immediately after marking the ID itself. This way it would automaticaly assign ID's correctly. If you marked all the ID’s and then all the fields, all of the fields would end up being associated with the last ID. If you do wish to assign a field to a particular ID, click on the ID first, and check the ‘Retain ID’ box in the dialog that appears. Any subsequent fields will now belong to that particular ID
Defining Fields
You can define a new field at any time, by choosing the appropriate menu entry. The field name is not significant to LinkUp! - you can use any name that is symbolic to you.
Configuring Links
The first stage to configuring a Link is to identify the database that you want the field updated from. This is achieved with the ‘Select Database’ button.
When a database has been selected, it is then possible to pick one of its fields to associate with one of the fields defined within LinkUp!. Note that it is possible to associate different fields with different databases in this manner.
You are also able to indicate a Prefix and Suffix that LinkUp! will include with the data that it takes from the database when updating a field. Defining a prefix of ‘£’ and a suffix of ‘ each’ will place an entry in your document of ‘£3.50 each’, assuming that the database held the value of 3.50 for the field.
The Absent setting is used if LinkUp! is unable to match the record id in the external database file. Left empty, it would leave the field with current value.
Performing an Update
Select Generate... Database Update, and then indicate the external database that you wish to update from. Additional options will allow you to create a proof list, or to restrict the update to a certain section of the document. You can also ask LinkUp! to show you all the changes that it is going to make, which you can then confirm individually. Note that only the fields that are linked to this database, AND which have their Update Field box checked in the Configure section will actually be updated.
External Database Format
LinkDB, the external database processing utility, requires that any external database is in ASCII file format, whose first record contains the field names instead of data. These field names are used for reference only by LinkUp! and so need not match the actual field names in your database application, although often it is preferable that they do. Options to configure field and record separators and delimiters within LinkDB should be checked to ensure that they match your ASCII database file. The first field in the ASCII file must contain the ‘key field’ that relates to LinkUp!'s record ID and the file must have a type TEXT before LinkUp! will recognise it.
Note that the database file generated by LinkDB is accessible only by Linkup! from within Quark.
Index/Table of Contents
You can embed Index/Table of Contents information anywhere in a document, by marking any piece of text in the appropriate area. You will then be prompted to fill in a form, depending on which of the options you selected. Up to three different index entries can be associated with a single marking, although it is quite legitimate add further index entries at the same location if necessary. Each entry can have two levels - the sub level is optional.
A table of contents entry requires that you indicate a level at which it should be treated. Level 1 corresponds to the largest document division (eg chapters). It is up to you how many of the remaining levels you assign - each further level is a sub-division of its predecessor. It is possible to decide that one level is used to mark, for example, tables or figures within a document and to produce a list solely of entries at that level - in this case, resulting in a list of tables (or figures). It is best to use the higher level numbers for this type of markup.
To actually create an index or table of contents, you have to firstly export the information from your document. This is achieved with either Generate Index or Generate Table of Contents. (There are couple of marked up entries in a Demo Document).
You must then run the Index/TOC application, which will allow you to choose multiple exported files to combine into a single Index or Table of Contents document. This document will be an ASCII file, suitable for loading with the Get Text option from Quark’s file menu. Note that you should check the include style sheets box. You can then edit the style sheets that are created as required. (set indents, typeface, etc. as well as Tabs and leader characters)
For further information on the use of LinkUp!, contact M C Research Ltd in UK on 44 (0) 268 419207,
or your local branch of Xchange in USA on (303) 2299773 .
or Xchange International in UK on 44 (071) 637 2966
