High Voltage Shareware/high1.zip/high1/DIR2/DBLTE12I.ZIP/UPDATE.DOC

Text File | 1993-12-23 | 10KB | 181 lines

9/30/93 - 12/21/93

dbLite Version 1.2e-i

Most editing features of the record edit window are now available in the
memo edit window.  Alt-Ins, Alt-Del, F5/Alt-N, PgUp, PgDn, etc. now work.

Alt-B to buffer the record and Alt-O to output the buffer now work
in the Note Window.  This allows for copying of notes from record to
record but additionally allows for the use of templates for the note
window.

Exiting the note window without saving editing changes is now
possible by Esc to the Note Menu and selecting the Return/Abandon
Changes option.  Please note that when you open a note, a pointer is
created and applied to your record to help it locate its associated
note.  Even if you leave the note blank, a space is taken in the dbn
file for the note and the pointer is written in the record.  You will
notice that if you open a new note you won't be able to exit the program
without saving even if it is blank.  To kill a blank note, copy the
contents of the record to the buffer, Alt-B.  Now delete the record,
which also also deletes the note.  Insert a blank record at that spot
and copy the buffer contents back to that record with Alt-O (output
buffer).  You now have your record back and it does not have a note any
more.  I know this is a "work around" but the intention of dbLite is
simplicity and basic functionality WITHOUT manuals thick as your fist
and a program size requiring 14 megabytes of disk space and decision
trees 14 rows complex.

A tutor file is now included which serves as an introduction to the
program for new users.  It is called Intro.dbl.  It is now 25 records,
including 25 lengthy notes.  Going through the records and reading the
notes should help explain most of the features of the program without
recourse to reading the manual.  It is not a substitute for the manual
but it is a minor enhancement to it.

The command line will accept a direct request for a data file upon startup.
DBLITE INTRO, will override the default data file and directly load INTRO.
Therefore you can either choose a color combo for menus other than the
default, OR you can load the data file of your choice.  Naming a file
which does not exist will create a new file.  This only works for files
located in the directory to which you are pathed.  Filenames and
pathnames are not honored.

For a long time I have used the program to keep track of names,
addresses, phone numbers, etc.  Once in a while I print those new
entries to labels and put them in my DayRunner.  If you start from
scratch, you can print ALL your records as labels and apply them.  After
a few weeks, open your book next to the program (after sorting records
into alpha order) and compare what is new.  If you clear your
capture.dbl file (delete or rename it) then as you come across NEW names
which do not currently appear in your book, or CHANGED addresses,
phones, etc. which should be replaced, capture those new entries (F4)
into your capture file.  Once you have gone through all records, load
Capture and tell the program to print all.

So why is this advice in update?  MY problem has been that I have
occasionally overflowed the 5 lines which the main record window
contains.  I have legitimately used the memo window which gave me 4 extra
lines to use for things like extra contact people and fax numbers and so
on.  What I needed was a way to print this information to a label. If I
am putting this information into my DayRunner when I don't have access
to my computer then I probably am going to need the memo info at some
point in time.  I didn't want to add a routine to just print memos
because most of my records don't need memos and I would print a lot of
blank labels.  Printing them one at a time would be tedious.  It also
meant adding more code to a program which is now pushing 150K and is
about physically as big as I would like it to be.  So if I need to edit
out blanks before printing and I need to batch print them and if they
are not printed in the same sequence as the rest of the records, since I
have eliminated blanks, how do I make sure I can identify which record
the memo belongs to?  Do this and not add much code.  What was needed
was a work-around.  Thus was born the [Alt]-[,] command.  That's hold
down the alt key and press comma.  Why this combo?  Well I didn't want
experimenters playing with the keyboard to get this particular
combination because you need to be prepared to use it and not use it
accidentally.  So how do you prepare?

1.  Make all necessary updates and changes to the data file.  It should be
    totally updated.  For proper identification later on, it will be
    helpful to have the first line of your record be its main key.  That
    is if it is names and addresses, Line 1 would be the name.

2.  Sort your records into proper order.

3.  Save your work. (F7)

4.  Use [Alt]-[,] (while in EDIT MODE - no menu visible)

5.  What has happened is the last four lines of your record have been
    swapped with the four lines of your memo.  The first line has been
    retained which then allows you to identify to which record the memo
    belongs.  Scroll through the records, deleting all the records which
    have lines 2 - 5 as blanks.  This is easily accomplished with the F9
    key from the menu mode.

6.  Once you have killed the blanks, follow your normal print routine to
    print labels.  Tell the program that you want to print All Labels.
    You will be able to match up your memos with your records by matching
    line one as you paste them into your book.

7.  Now exit the program WITHOUT SAVING YOUR WORK.  It is true
    toggling Alt-[,] will move memos back to the memo window and move
    records back to the record window, BUT your 2-5 record lines will
    have been truncated to 20 characters.  So unless you only use the
    first 20 characters (highly unlikely) you should just quit and don't
    save your work.  If you are afraid of messing up just copy your dbl
    and dbn data files to a backup before you try this.  Remember to
    keep the associated dbn (note file) WITH the dbl (data file) and
    copy and restore them TOGETHER.

I have made some other rather subtle changes in the program.  Since its
inception the program has deleted records and moved to the next record
after deleting.  Deleting several records in a row was a pain, so I have
finally changed this feature and you can delete several records in a row
without starting at the last record you wanted to delete and working
backwards.  It now deletes smoother.  Pasting the results of a math
calculation always occured at column one.  Now it will paste a math
accumlation at the cursor position, even if it is now column one. It
seemed that you should be able to PgUp and PgDn from a memo window, which
now works.  If you are editing memos only you will have to press F11 to
get back into the memo window from the next or previous record but it does
make it easier to view memos and edit them.

Version 1.2g

Changed the appearance of the program.  This is a "designer" look which
I wanted to try out.  Comments from old users of the program are
welcomed.  Even though it lacks the colors of the old version, I think
it has improved the program screen's object and color unity and thereby
given the program have a more professional appearance.

Version 1.2h

I like to use address records from my address file to use on letters.  In
Windows if you are running in enhanced mode ( you will need more than 2
megs of ram to do this ) you can run any DOS app in a sizeable window and
you can cut and paste text from the screen into Word.  So the drill is to
switch from Word to dbLite, open the Windows edit menu, select mark text,
mark it on the screen, then select copy text to get it into the clipboard
then paste it into the document as the address.  But what if you're using
a computer with 2 megs and you can't go enhanced?  Now you can, in a sense,
"capture" an address from dbLite to be used in another document.  Alt-F
will write the focus record as a five line file.  Then you can load it
into almost any application as a file.  The syntax for the file name is
the first four letters of the file (address = ADDR) plus the record
number up to 999 ( 1,000 and 1,001 will be truncated to three numbers )
plus the letter R for record.  The first record in your address.dbl file
when Alt-f'ed will produce a 185 byte file called ADDR1R.TXT.  You get
five lines of 35 characters plus carriage returns and line feeds for
each line.

Next, if you can make a file out of a record, why can't you make one out
of a note?  So, if you hit Alt-F while in your note window, it too will be
made into a file of its own.  It will be named just as the above
describes, except it will use N for note instead of R for Record, i.e.
ADDR1N.TXT. This be your currently edited note, saved to disk as a file.

At the request of a user the search command will now search out requested
text (numbers?) in memos as well as in records.  The requested text will
be on the information line and if it is in a memo, that will be indicated
so that if you don't see it in the record window you will know it is in
the memo.

Added 200 more records to the maximum. 1201 is the maximum record total
now.  This should have little effect other than to give you more cushion
on your record totals.  It uses more memory but it should still run in
well under 640K.  If you experience problems, drop me a note.  I fixed
two goofy bugs in the calendar, which blew up if the date was in December
and with the box surrounding the memo window which disappeared through
a certain sequence of keystrokes.

Today's version 1.2i, is being released in time for Christmas, 1993.
I hope that this program finds you and your family in good spirits and
health and from all of us to all of you out there in binary land:

                        MERRY CHRISTMAS !
                        _HAPPY HANUKKAH !

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