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1994-11-05
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Documentation for the NOTES EDIT Utility
Title: NOTES EDIT Utility, Version 1.2 (May 4, 1993)
Keywords: PAF NOTES EDIT PERSONAL ANCESTRAL FILE MS-DOS
IMPORT EXPORT
Summary:
EDIT NOTES consists of a pair of utility programs (GETNOTES.EXE
and PUTNOTES.EXE) and a DOS .BAT file that permit the editing of
Personal Ancestral File (PAF) NOTES2.DAT data using your favorite
text editor. These utilities can also be used as stand-alone
programs for the import and export of notes text between
NOTES2.DAT and DOS text files.
Background:
The NOTES EDIT utilities were written in frustration with the PAF
notes editor which lacks many features of a standard text editor.
Most damaging was the lack of a block move/copy command, the
inability to insert a new line in the middle of a line of notes,
the difficulty of importing external text files into the middle
of a set of notes, and numerous other limitations.
I personally used a number of satisfactory editors in my daily
work including WP (Word Perfect), PE (a scaled down version of
WP), and the Microsoft editor. I wished to be able use these to
edit PAF notes.
There are several useful notes manipulation utilities available
as shareware on Compuserve. These include PAFNOT and FRASC
written by Steve Cannon, and IMPORT by Jack Chandler. However,
these do not support the full cycle of external PAF notes
editing: retrieval, editing, and storage back in NOTES2.DAT.
Description of NOTES EDIT utilities:
+--------------------+
| GETNOTES.EXE |
| |
| Read notes from |
| an individual |
| into a text file |
| with file name |
| equal to RIN |
| |
+--------------------+
|
|
|
+--------------------+
| EDIT |
| |
| Edit those notes |
| using your |
| favorite text |
| editor |
| |
+--------------------+
|
|
|
+--------------------+
| PUTNOTES.EXE |
| |
| Move the edited |
| file back into |
| NOTES2.DAT |
| |
+--------------------+
The NOTES EDIT Utilities consist of two programs:
GETNOTES.EXE
PUTNOTES.EXE
The normal sequence of for using the NOTES EDIT Utilities is
shown by the preceding block diagram.
Step 1: The first step is the running the GETNOTES program
which will create a text file containing the notes for a
specific individual. The RIN of that individual is entered
in as a parameter to the program.
Step 2: The text file can then be opened and edited using
any text editor. Once editing is complete, the information
MUST be written out as an ASCII file by the text editor. It
must not be saved in a specialized word processor format or
the results are unpredictable.
Step 3: The final step is to write the text file containing
the modified notes back to NOTES2.DAT using the PUTNOTES
program. PUTNOTES will handle all processing related to
deleting the original notes, extending the NOTES2.DAT file
if necessary, reallocating previously deleted records, and
finally writing the new notes text to NOTES2.DAT.
NE Batch File:
To make the above sequence of programs easier to run, a batch
program, NE.BAT (NOTES EDITOR Batch File), is provided. This
batch file (or script) permits the desired sequence of programs
to be run from the entry of a single command. To edit the notes
for an individual whose PAF RIN number is 254, type:
NE 254
The result is that your editor will be initiated using a text
file contain the specified note text. When you exit from the
editor (after saving the file you are editing, of course), the
modified notes text is restored to the NOTES2.DAT file by the
PUTNOTES program.
The NE batch file assumes that you are in the same directory as
your PAF files. In this is not the case, you must enter the NE
command with two operands. The second operand will be the name
of the directory in which the PAF files are located. For
example:
NE 254 \smith\paf
Configuring NE to Reference Your Text Editor
You must modify customize NE to refer to your text editor. To do
this you must change the first line of the NE.BAT file. This
first line initially will look like this:
set editor=EDIT
The example is configured to use the EDIT program, which on my
machine invokes the Microsoft editor. Using any text editor,
change the word EDIT to the name of your text editor, for example
to invoke the Microsoft WORD editor located in the UTILITY
directory, the first line must be changed to:
set editor=\UTILITY\WORD
A Helpful Hint: Setup a Hotkey or macro to Exit the Editor
I found it useful to program my text editor with a "Hotkey"
(single keystroke macro) which terminates my notes editing
session by saving the notes as an ASCII file and exiting the
editor.
Running GETNOTES and PUTNOTES Alone
The NOTES EDIT Utility programs can be run as individual
programs. GETNOTES will export a set of PAF notes into a text
file. PUTNOTES will store any text file as PAF notes. These two
utility programs have three parameters:
1. RIN number
2. PAF directory if different from current directory
3. Text File name if different from the RIN number is in a
different directory from the current directory.
An example:
GETNOTES 11 \SMITH\PAF ROBERT.NOT
REVISION HISTORY
Version 1.0: Loaded 28 Feb 1993
Initial release.
Version 1.1: Loaded March 19, 1993
Contains a minor fix to the NE.BAT file, line 6 where "goto putnote"
should have been "goto putnotes". Also the deletes of the
working files in lines 12 and 15 have been changed to delete all files
with a file name equal to the RIN. This will delete a backup file copy
of the notes if one was created during the editor session.
Version 1.2:
This version contains fixes for a bug that caused invalid note chain
pointers and duplicate cross references. This situation occurred
occasionally when notes were added that were smaller than those they
replaced. This is a rare situation and I only received one mention of
this problem from a thoughtful user. This problem, if it occurred, could
be fixed by "frchk -f".
This version will also ingest a final note line without
a line feed character following it. (GETNOTES)
This release contains logic to ensure that no unprintable characters in
the text file get loaded into NOTES2.DAT.
Version 1.3
This version corrects an error that somehow crept into the NE.BAT file.
The statement that executes the PUTNOTES program incorrectly referred to
program PUTNOTE, which, of course, cannot be found causing a "Bad Command
Or Filename" error.
Version 1.4
This version ensures that the RIN number specified as the first parameter of
either the GETNOTES and PUTNOTES command line is not greater than the biggest
RIN in INDIV2.DAT.
A check is also made to determine if the specified individual has been
deleted. If he/she has, the program is terminated.
DISCLAIMER
The NOTES EDIT Utilities are offered without charge as freeware
with no guarantee of reliable operation or any claims to that
effect. You use these programs at your own risk. The PAF
NOTES2.DAT file have a complex organization that can be easily
damaged beyond repair by programs such as the NOTES EDIT
Utilities. The NOTES EDIT Utilities are new software, written in
January of 1993. It is recommended that at all times you make a
backup copy of your .DAT files (at least NOTES2.DAT and
INDIV2.DAT) prior to using the NOTES EDIT Utilities. If your
files are corrupted, your uncorrupted versions can be restored
from the backups.
After all that negative talk, it should be said that these
programs were written by a professional software developer, and
have been tested carefully. They have been in daily use on my
own PAF database without problems for about a month (written Feb
21, 1993). I got bored with taking backups and no longer do so.
If you can document any problem with these programs, I would like
to hear about it along with copies of the PAF files concerned.
Please send me E-Mail on Compuserve, 71034,1301 or conventional
mail to:
Jonathan Paul
56 Calera Canyon
Salinas, CA 93908
(408) 375-6561
If you find these programs useful, I would appreciate hearing
from you.