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 .CE 2

    *IMPACT/99*

     by Jack Sughrue

     

     TI-BASE: Part One	

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     EXHILARATION!

     You know that dizzying,
 exhilarating feeling you get when
 you've trudged all morning up a
 mountain path and have come out of
 the brush at the crest.  You can look
 back from that peak and see how far
 you've come and look ahead to see how
 far you've yet to go.

     It's a wonderful, spirit-lifting
 kind of feeling as you stand there
 breathing in that rare air.  You've
 come to a definite point in your
 life, but the journey's far from
 over.

     Well, I felt a little like that
 today after spending just four hours
 with a program called TI-BASE.  I
 feel I have scaled new heights with
 my TI, but I realize I have a long
 way yet to go.

     TI-BASE opens up creative and
 critical USER possibilities in a way
 nothing else has ever done for the TI
 with the possible exception of
 FUNNELWEB and TI-ARTIST.  (I know
 GRAPHX is wonderful.  It's the art
 program I teethed on.  And BA WRITER
 is great.  And don't forget
 _________.  [Fill in the blank with
 your favorite.]

     But TI-ARTIST (by Chris Faherty
 of Inscebot) has become the TI
 World's standard against which all
 art products for our machine are
 judged.  Can the pictures be
 converted? Is the drawing/painting
 program compatible? And so on.  Can
 new enhancements be made for it (such
 as DISPLAY MASTER, ARTIST EXTRAS,
 ARTIST COMPANIONS)? And, equally
 important, is it used productively by
 the VAST majority of users? No
 question, TI-ARTIST has, justifiably,
 become the most productive art tool
 for the 99.

     FUNNELWEB (by Tony McGovern and
 his son Will) has had a parallel
 experience as a modified disk
 operating system for the 4A, an
 environment that is centered around
 the combined functions of
 word-processing, assembling, and disk
 managing.  It has become the single,
 most-used disk program for the TI.
 Again, justifiably.

     Now comes TI-BASE.

     It, too, will become - without
 question - THE database tool for
 normal users to astound themselves
 with and for geniuses to create
 unlimited enhancements and templates.
 TI-BASE is an open-ended data system
 that includes, in passing, text and
 disk management packaging for
 incredible convenience.  Yet it also
 allows such freedom of
 personalization that it is
 mind-boggling.  The only thing I can
 equate it to is DBIII+ for IBM.  And
 that sells for about $800 and comes
 with piles of disks and a 500+ page
 manual.  And, if you look in any
 bookstore's computer section, you
 will find loads of books on how to
 use DBIII+ (or any of the earlier
 ones in the series).  Colleges and
 night schools offer courses on just
 the use of DBIII+.

     And here's the rub. INSCEBOT
 (P.O.^Box 291610, Port Orange, FL
 32027) provides THEIR masterpiece on
 two SSSD disks and one of those is a
 tutorial disk.  Their manual is a
 mere 40 5x7 pages.

     What this means is 1) that a
 genius created this extremely compact
 base and 2) that the manual is in no
 way complete for those who want to
 dive deeply into this remarkable
 piece of software.  I can picture all
 kinds of companion disks being
 created for TI-BASE by users
 world-wide, starting with disks of
 templates.  I can also picture all
 kinds of things being written for it,
 starting with tutorials.

     Let me catch my breath here a
 minute.  You're probably getting the
 impression I LIKE this program.  LIKE
 is not a strong enough word.  You'll
 see why in a moment.

     But first let me explain that
 Chris Faherty's father, Dennis, is
 the brilliant creator of TI-BASE.
 Now we have another father-son 4A
 genius team, like the McGoverns.
 Dennis has been a data-processing
 professional for almost a quarter
 century.  It's apparent on TI-BASE
 that he brought all his expertise and
 experience to this software.

     To tell you the truth, when I
 first read the manual I panicked.  I
 didn't (and still don't) understand
 such things as the following
 paragraph:

     "The CASE directive allows
 selective processing of directives.
 CASE directives are included between
 DOCASE and ENDCASE directives.  Each
 CASE is examined sequentially.  The
 first case which resolves to 'true',
 will be executed.  Execution will be
 continued until a BREAK directive is
 encountered.  Execution will then be
 discontinued until the ENDCASE is
 encountered." 

     That's as bad as it gets.

     I'm sure people who use databases
 with regularity at work will find
 that paragraph a piece of cake.  I
 don't.

     My database experience (except to
 watch others on the DB series on the
 IBM and, once in a while, to play
 with the base part of APPLEWORKS) has
 been strictly TI: DB 300/500, PR
 BASE, CFS, and a few other disks and
 modules.  All of which were good for
 some things but were not
 user-friendly and were very limiting.
 I didn't feel creative using them.
 None of them seemed to be able to do
 the kinds of things I had pictured in
 my mind.  What TI-BASE does best is
 let you create EXACTLY what you want
 in an easy and direct way.

     The best way to explain this, I
 think, would be to run through my
 very first application.

     I have a collection (mostly
 paperbacks and flea-market specials)
 of books by P.G.^Wodehouse, who is
 the funniest writer you ever lived.

     He wrote 97 books.  He also wrote
 285 short stories, 33 musicals, 18
 plays, over 200 songs, and an untold
 number of essays and reviews.  He
 holds the Guinness Book of Records
 for having five of his musical
 comedies running simultaneously on
 Broadway.  There have been dozens of
 books written about him and there
 have been collections of earlier
 works into first-time anthologies.
 Plus, he wrote movies and had many
 that were based on his works.  There
 were numerous television and radio
 series in this country and England
 (many introduced by Wodehouse), and
 there were records and tapes made of
 many of his works.

 In short, he was a prolific writer.
 I had piles of his works and needed a
 data base to find out what I did and
 did not have.  In addition, many of
 his works were published under two
 (and sometimes three) different
 titles: American, British,
 paperback.

     I wanted a database that would
 let me put his works in order by
 publication date, by title, by
 bibliographical assigned number, by
 type (hardbound, paperback, tape,
 video, etc.), by special series (the
 Jeeves books, the Blandings Castle
 books, etc.), by first editions (for
 the few I had), by ownership (did I
 or didn't I own a particular book
 under any title), and, most
 importantly, by comments.  I wanted a
 large comment block that would give
 me alternative titles, plot
 summaries, main characters, whether
 this was the fifth in the Blandings
 series, and so on).  And I wanted to
 sort these in all different ways.  I
 wanted to be able to display any
 combinations of fields together (such
 as alphabetical title along with
 ownership or publication order with
 special series and titles and media
 type).  And, of course, I desired the
 capability to print out in any
 combination of fields and in any sort
 order.  And instantly.

     Now that doesn't seem like too
 much to ask, does it?

     However, I've never been able to
 do it with any of the databases for
 the TI, whether cartridge, disk, or
 RAM.

     I also wanted to be able to house
 the database in the RAM of my Myarc
 512 or any drive of my choice on
 disks named anything of my choice.

     I wanted to be able to change
 column structure, line length, and
 spacing at will from INSIDE the
 program.  I secretly wished for the
 ability to initialize disks of any
 configuration, catalog disks, and
 copy files ALL WITHIN THE PROGRAM so
 I wouldn't lose the base in memory or
 the screen I was working on.

     It stands to reason that I would
 like to Edit and Append and Display
 and Find and Sort and Print and Move
 files at will.

     Well, if I tell you that I never
 found a database for the TI that
 would even begin to approach this
 dream of mine, you would not be
 surprised.  I fiddled and manipulated
 every base I could find to BEGIN to
 handle some of these very simple
 wishes of mine.  For years!  To no
 avail.

     Within four hours today I did all
 of the above and much, much more.
 And I didn't even begin to tap the
 potential of this remarkable program.
 I didn't even try the incredible
 mathematical possibilities or the
 manipulation of variables.  I didn't
 even get a chance to TRY one-third of
 the stuff in the manual.  I haven't
 even tried the tutorial disk yet.
 (Maybe that'll tell me about those
 DOCASE directives and such.)

     But I had, for the first time, my
 P.G.^WODEHOUSE database.  I had
 hardcopies of 10 different
 configurations of the fields.  I'm
 still aghast with the ease and speed
 (TI-BASE is 100% assembly) with which
 I created and filled this file.

     Don't get me wrong; there ARE
 limitations to TI-BASE.  But nothing
 that would effect me in the
 slightest.

     The limits are 255 characters per
 field (the basic item, such as title
 or publication date); 17 fields per
 record; and - get this! - 8,192
 records per database! (THIS is
 limiting????) And absolutely NO LIMIT
 on the number of databases you may
 create.

     As prolific a writer as Wodehouse
 was, his works are just a tiny drop
 in the bucket to TI-BASE.

     Now you can use your database for
 your checking account.  Exactly the
 way YOU want it (as the numericals
 will handle your math work).  Or you
 can develop the ultimate address book
 or a series of interrelated files.
 TI-BASE will let you have up to 5
 DATA BASES OPERATING AT THE SAME
 TIME!

     Before I get carried away, I want
 to say three things: first, I'll do
 the Wodehouse tutorial in the next
 IMPACT column step-by-easy-step;
 second, all you need is one
 single-sided drive and 32K with XB,
 E/A, or MM, though the higher
 configurations make things, as
 always, a bit easier; and, third, the
 price of this masterpiece is only
 $24.95 (plus $1.50 S&&H) or a few
 dollars less if purchased by user
 groups in group orders of any size).
 This is THE best buy of the year for
 TI owners with disk systems.  You may
 order from Inscebot (above) or
 Texaments; 53 Center St.; Patchogue,
 NY 11772 or charge 516-475-3480.

     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     [Jack Sughrue, Box 459,
 E.Douglas, MA 01516]

  If any newsletter editor prints
  these articles please put me on
  your mailing list.  Thanks - JS

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