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1993-03-18
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A few tips on getting the most out of BIBL...
o If you have several databases, give the one you use most often
a name that sorts first in the list of your databases...that
will cause that database to display first in your selection
pick-list and can be activated by simply pressing RETURN
(or hitting escape). You can specify a database on the
command line, if desired: e.g., C:\BIBL>BIBL DEMO [return]
would load the demo database as the program started.
o Be sure to put a hyphen between terms used in your keyword
field. BIBL considers anything with a space on either side
of it a 'word' when indexing. BIBL will index up to 9 'words'
in the keyword field.
o If you need to vary the order of fields in a particular
report, use User-Selects option under export. With this
option you specify which fields are included in a report,
the order in which they appear within a given entry, and
the order in which entries are sorted.
o If you're running BIBL under Microsoft Windows (3.1),
the SAVE option (enabling you to dump to disk any
individual record that's displaying) changes to
the CLIP option. Clicking on CLIP (or pressing C)
will copy the record to the Windows clipboard...where
you can paste it into any other Windows application.
The author, title, publisher and notes fields
are copied. Should you lose the PIF file included
with BIBL, enter 460 in the RAM required field when
creating a new one.
o You can link text files to BIBL records (just put
the full path name for the file in the LINK: field).
When a record displays, if there is a linked text
file, a [ T ] appears on the record. Press L and
BIBL will show you the file. BIBL defaults to using
its built-in ASCII viewer (capable of browsing files
of any size). If your linked file isn't ASCII, be
sure to install an external editor (under Maintenance)
so the files will appear in their proper form. Note
that using an external editor for linked files
requires that you store the full path name in the
record's LINK: field (so the external program can
find it!).
If you are using the registered version of BIBL, you
can link IMAGE files to records in your database. If
you want to use PCX image files (we recommend them),
you can use the utility program BIBLPCX as your
viewer. Just add the path to BIBLPCX.EXE in your
BIBL.INI file....you'll have a seamless way to display
PCX files. Any viewer can be used but it must accept
a file name on the command line--since BIBL will call
the program and pass along the name of the linked
image file.
When a record has an image file attached, a [I]
marker appears in the lower left corner of the
record display. When a text file is attached,
a [T] appears. BIBL bases the file type on its
extension (PCX,GIF,TIF,IMG, or WPG yield an [I],
any other extension, a [T]).
o Note that when you search without using an indexed
field (that is, you search by publisher, location,
full record or boolean), BIBL will first scan the
entire database and note the matching records. You will
then see the matches and be able to move quickly
between them.
o If you want to sort your database by author (and within
author, by title):
(1) run the BIX output option from the Export menu
(2) use 'make a database' under the Maintenance and
create a new (empty) database.
(3) via ASCII import under Maintenance, import the
BIX file created in step (1) into your new database.
Database is now sorted. You can delete your original database
if desired.
o Enter data into your records just as you'd like it to appear
in subsequent export files (e.g., enter Smith, John A. for the
author, not John A. Smith).
o Data is stored in UPPER CASE in the various BIBL index files,
but you may use any case when entering search requests. Your
input is converted to upper case before comparison with the
index is made.
o If you should experience a problem with a particular database,
run the BRX program to rebuild the file.
o If you're using the REGISTERED version of BIBL, you might
want to experiment with various HEAP= settings in BIBL.INI.
The default is HEAP=20000. If you have sufficient free
RAM, you can increase this number and improve BIBL's
performance. Here's are the results of a benchmark we
ran on index rebuilding (386/25 PC w/ 600K free RAM at
the DOS prompt) with 1043 records in the test database.
HEAP=20000 4 minutes 20 seconds to rebuild the index
HEAP=45000 2 minutes 15 seconds
HEAP=110000 1 minute 25 seconds
HEAP=200000 55 seconds
If you have sufficent EMS memory available, you can ignore
the HEAP= entry in BIBL.INI. With 600K EMS memory, BIBL
completes the same rebuild shown above in 1 minute 7 seconds
(pretty close to the HEAP=110000 value).
If you want to use conventional memory instead of
EMS (for example, perhaps you only have 250K of
EMS available), enter the line EMS=No in your
BIBL.INI file. Then set the HEAP= line to control
conventional RAM usage.
o If you find you need to make massive changes to a particular
database (more than you can easily handle with BIBL's find
& replace function), remember you can dump a database to a
BIX file (option J under Export) and then process the
resulting ASCII (BIX) file with a word processor. Be
sure to save the BIX file as an ASCII file (see note
about WordPefect below). When you've finished, just import
the data back into a NEW database and when you're sure it
went well, delete the original.
WordPerfect Users: If you use WordPerfect to make your
changes, be sure to save the BIX file using CTRL-F5 not F7!
BIBL won't import a BIX file that's saved via the F7 key
(since F7 saves the file as a WordPerfect (extended Ascii)
document!
o You can use the LABELLED OUTPUT option (under EXPORT) to backup
your database and the ASCII Import function to read it back
into your database. Since the labelled output file contains
only the data in each field (not the extra spaces or the empty
fields), the file is often 50% smaller than your *.DAT file.
o You can also back up your database with any of three
third-party archiving programs: PKZIP.EXE, LHA.EXE or
ARJ.EXE. If you have one of these packages, just
put the program in your BIBL subdirectory (or in a
subdirectory that's in your DOS path). BIBL will use
the program to create an archive backup of your
active database and index files (Maintenance menu).
o When you want to transfer records from one database to
another you can use the 'T' (for Transfer) option when
the record you want to move displays. This writes a
copy of the record to the ASCII file, TRANSFER.BIX.
(the BIX extension stands for BIBL Import/eXport).
Each time you press 'T' the record displaying is
ADDED to the TRANSFER.BIX file. When you have put all
the things you want to move into TRANSFER.BIX, use
ASCII Import to read these records into another database.
Tip: If you want to move a lot of records that have
something in common, use the [F]ull search option on the
search menu. Then you can move through the matches by
pressing F or B and transfer the desired records by
pressing T when they display.
o Registered Version: You can select a group of records
to transfer to another database by using the BIBLIOGRAPHY
export option and choosing Labelled (BIX) output. If
desired, BIBL will also delete records from the original
file after creating the BIX transfer file.
o You may modify field labels and field names if desired.
Registered version allows you to rename Author, Title,
Publisher, Location and Subject fields. Shareware version
allows modification of Location field only. BIBL.DOC
gives complete details...
o Registered version: If you want to create a bibliography
but select the fields to be included in the export file
(as you can do with the User-Selects option under the
Export menu), try this:
1. Run BIBLIOGRAPY under Export Menu and select Labelled
Output.
2. Create a new database, select it as your active file,
then import the BIX file created in step one.
3. Now go to Export menu and pick User-Selects.
You final report will contain only those records that
'matched' the search text you used to create the
bibliography file in step 1.
o Don't use a $ in your entries for the value field. Just
enter the value as a decimal number (e.g., 29.95 for
$ 29.95). BIBL will attempt to convert strings that
contain $'s into numbers but why introduce a problem?
Note that the value field is included in a BIX file.
If you need a printout with value (for example, for
insurance purposes), print the BIX file out with a
word processor. You may also ask BIBL to put the
value field in an export file created under the
User-Selects option (option M under Export).
o GMUtant OnLine BBS (703) 993-2219 is your source for updates.
You may also obtain BIBL updates via 'anonymous' ftp from
gmuvax2.gmu.edu (in the library directory).
o Other BIBL related products:
BIBL286 - a version of BIBL compiled expressely for
80286/80386/80486 processors. Included with
registered version of BIBL.
MAKEBIX - Convert ERIC, PsycInfo, MEDLINE, AGRICOLA,
ABI-INFORM downloads into BIBL records. Also
processes NOTIS OPAC (5.x or later) screen
dump files. Creates a BIX file suitable
for import into BIBL. Included with
registered version of BIBL.
BIBLPCX - utility program for viewing PCX files when
linked to a BIBL record. BIBLPCX supports
scrolling the image file and uses conventional,
XMS, EMS, or disk memory to provide a
virtual buffer for fast operation. Included
with registered version of BIBL. Shareware
version of BIBL does not support image files.
BIBL/NET - A multiuser version of BIBL (for NOVELL or
NETBIOS networks (please specify)).
Supports full locking security during operation
and offers other network-specific features.
Databases created by single-user version
of BIBL are compatible with BIBL/NET.
Two versions: 50 simultaneous users.
100 simultaneous users.
o Any ASCII file named BIBL.HLP can be displayed in place of
this file. Just be sure to create the file using an ASCII
word processor (e.g., a programming editor like QEDIT).
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