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S O F T W O O D D A T A B A S E O R M I A M I G A F I L E O R I N F O F I L E O R ANYTHING THE COMPANY CARE TO CALL IT! YES, THIS PIECE OF SOFTWARE HAS MANY NAMES, EACH TIME IT IS UPGRADED IT APPEARS THE COMPANY CHANGES ITS NAME, OR MAYBE A DIFFERANT NAME FOR EACH COUNTRY. THESE DOCS ARE EDITED FROM 4 DOCUMENTS I RECIEVED AND I THINK THERE IS ENOUGH TO USE THE DATABASE CORRECTLY. THIS TOOK ME 4 HOURS TO PUT TOGETHER, I HOPE IT IS USEFUL! Brought to you by PARASITE/LSD, Originally typed by ??? The scrollable Open directory in MiAmiga File II identifies MiAmiga File databases as files that have been named with the ".FLR" extension. If your databases do not have the .FLR extension, they must be renamed before they may be accessed in File II. Use the RENAME feature of CLI to do this. For example, RENAME "My Data" TO "My Data.FLR" issued from CLI will add the .FLR extension to the database named MyData. If this database is on a disk in the external drive, type RENAME "df1:My Data" TO "df1:My Data.FLR". Refer to your AmigaDos User Manual for complete details on how to use this feature. Creating a Data Disk You can store more information by keeping databases on a data disk that is accessed from the external drive. If you do not have an external drive, you obviously can not do this. To create a data disk you use the FORMAT feature of CLI. The following steps may be followed to create a data disk. Please refer to your AmigaDos User Manual for complete details. 1. Start system with MiAmiga program disk in internal drive. 2. Double click on MiAmiga File II disk icon seen in upper left corner of screen. 3. Double click on SYSTEM drawer icon. 4. Double click on CLI icon found in SYSTEM drawer's window. Now you should have a small CLI window on your screen. 5. Insert the disk that is to be the data disk in the external drive. Make sure this disk is write-enabled (hole is closed). You will be replacing the contents of this disk. 6. Type FORMAT drive df1:NAME "Data Disk" and press RETURN. The computer will then proceed to format your disk. Respond to any questions given you by the system. Once this process is complete, you will have an empty, initialized disk on which you can save databases. To store new databases on this disk, save them inside MiAmiga File II by prefixing the database name with df1: when you save it. For example, df1:MyData would be entered as the database name to save the new database MyData.FLR on the disk in the external drive. You may also copy any databases that you have already saved to a data disk. Once again you use CLI to do this. Use steps 1-4 above to get into CLI. Next use the COPY feature of CLI to duplicate a database on the external drive. For example, COPY "MyData.FLR" TO df1: will copy the database named "MyData.FLR" to the disk in the external drive. The "Save As" feature of MiAmiga File II may also be used to copy a MiAmiga File database from one disk to another. The database must already have the .FLR extension, however. SCROLLABLE DATABASE DIRECTORY MiAmiga File II has a scrollable database directory that may be used to quickly and conveniently open databases. In addition to showing database names, the scrollable directory shows database size in bytes and the date the database was last modified (uses date stored by AmigaDos with the file.) At no time is it necessary to enter anything from the keyboard. All actions are performed via the mouse. To open a database, click the mouse on its name as seen in the directory's list of file names. To search through a disk directory, first click the mouse on the "DIR" button. The program will respond by showing a list of directories rather than databases. To search through a directory, click the mouse on the name of the directory. When looking through directories and sub-directories MiAmiga File II displays the complete path name at the top of the directory display. You may retreat to a previous directory level by clicking the mouse on the name of the desired directory as it appears at the top of the display. To search a different drive such as "df1:" or "dh0:", you click the mouse on the "DRIVE" button. The program begins its search with "df0:". When you click on "DRIVE" again, the program switches to "df1:" (if "df1:" is available). When you click on "DRIVE" again, the program switches to "dh0:" (hard drive). If you click on "DRIVE" again, the program returns to df0:. Mail Merge List Creation and Save MiAmiga File II will create an ascii file using the complete data from each field in a list of full or selected records. You have complete control of the sequence of records, the number and placement of columns, and the selection criteria used to create the list. The mail/merge file is created in the format required by Scribble! for mail/merge. Each field's data is separated by a comma. Each record is separated by a carriage return. Although this file is designed to be compatible with Scribble! it may be used with little or no modifications in other programs. To create a mail/merge file, generate a list by selecting and sorting records in your database. Once the list is as you wish it to be, select Mail/Merge Save from the "File" menu. The program will respond by asking for a name it can use when it saves the Mail/Merge file to disk. By default, MiAmiga File II will provide this file name with a ".DAT" extension. This is to assist you in late identifying this file when in your word processor. Save As You may create a copy of your database with the "Save As" feature. Anytime you have an open database simply select "Save As" from the "File" menu to create a copy. The program will ask you for a name it can use when it saves the new database to disk. If a file already exists with the name you provide, the program asks you if you wish to replace it with the new file. Prefix your new file name with "df1:" to save it to an external drive. If you wish to save it to a sub-directory, prefix the file name with the correct path specification. For example, "df1:Databases/Personal/MyData" saves your file on df1: in the directory "Personal" that is a sub-directory within "Databases". The file is saved with the name "MyData.FLR" Enhanced Label Definition Originally the printing from the form only produced a 5 line mailing label. Now you may specify the maximum width of labels (30, 80, or 132), the number of lines between labels (1, 2, or 3), the number of labels per page vertically (1 or as many as will fit), and the number of lines on a label (5 or as many lines as you have defined field boxes on the data entry form). In addition, you can designate that labels are to be printed, you will get the title of your list and a page number at the top of each page. To define your labels select "Page Setup" from the "Print" menu before printing your labels. Ability to Name Ascii Print File Reports printed to disk may be given a unique name. Select "To Ascii File" from the "Print" menu. The program will ask you for a name it can use when it writes the file to the disk. The default extension used by MiAmiga File II for this file is ".TXT". Later this report file may be read into any word processor that reads ascii files. Faster Scrolling Through Databases The speed at which you can scroll through databases has been increased. This allows you to get from the beginning of your database to the end in less time than before. The scrolling is at least twice as fast as before. Improved File Status Information To view the status of the system and an opened database select "File Status" from the "Desk" menu. The program responds by displaying the opened file's name including path specification, the number of records in the file, the average size per record and the approximate number of records that will fit in memory given your average record size and available memory. In addition the program will now display the number of bytes available on your disk, the number of records that will fit on disk given your average record size, and whether or not your opened file will fit on the disk. Safe File Saving when Disk is Full Whenever you attempt to save a file and there is not enough space on disk, the program will display a message saying that the disk is full. When this occurs, either "Save As" your file to another drive containing a disk with more room or remove some information from the database. Unique Mouse Pointers MiAmiga File uses 3 mouse pointers. One mouse pointer replaces the standard Intuition arrow and is usually active. A second mouse pointer is in the shape of a wrist watch followed by 2 dots. This pointer indicates that the program is doing something and that you should wait until it is finished before clicking the mouse or pressing the keys. The third pointer is a column boundary mover pointer that becomes active whenever you place the mouse over the boundary of a column. The purpose of this pointer is to alert you that you may change the size of the column at the time the pointer appears. New Databases Saved with .FLR Extension When you save a database for the first time, the program asks you for a name it can use when it writes the file to disk. In order for the program's scrollable open directory to recognize this file, it must have an ".FLR" extension. For example, if the name of your file is to be "MyData", it would have to be "MyData.FLR" for MiAmiga File II to include it in its list of files displayed in its open directory. Rather than having to remember to do this, the program will add the ".FLR" extension automatically to any new database name you enter that does not have it already. Delete Database Inside Program Databases may be deleted from the disk while inside MiAmiga File II. This allows you to remove unwanted databases from your disk without entering CLI. Use this feature with caution. Once a database is deleted, it is permanently removed from your disk. To delete a database, first open it via the "Open" command from the "File" menu. The program will ask you if you are sure you want to delete the database. If you respond, "Yes", the database will be deleted. Rename Database Inside Program The name a database has been saved to disk with may be renamed while inside MiAmiga File II. This allows you to change the name of a database without entering CLI. To rename a database, first open it via the "Open" command from the "File" menu. Next select "Rename" from the "File" menu. The program will then ask you what name you wish to rename the database to. You may cancel or change your mind and not rename the database by clicking on "Cancel". Horizontal Overflow On Lists MiAmiga File II allows you to print all columns on your list. Previously, any data that would not fit within the paper width was truncated. In order to see columns outside the width of your paper you would have to move these columns around to the left side of the list and reprint. Now you have the option of having the program print the entire width of your list. MiAmiga File II accomplishes this by printing multiple sets of your report. Each set will contain as many columns as will fit within the paper width. By placing these sets side by side, you can see the entire width of your list. The Horizontal Overflow option is enabled via the "Page Setup" menu item in the "Print" menu when selected from the list screen. Repeat Data Entry When entering information that contains similar data to that already entered in a previous screen of data, you now have the option of having the program retrieve that data and enter it as new information. This is an option that may be enabled and disabled at will from the "Options" menu. When "Repeat Data Entry" is checked, you simply press the RETURN key to repeat data previously entered. If a field is not to be repeated, use TAB instead of RETURN key to advance to the next field. Calculations A major new feature of MiAmiga File II is its support of calculated amount fields. With this feature you can define complex formulas containing math functions on AMOUNT field types defined in your database. These formulas may contain nested levels of operation via parenthesis. Math operators that are allowed are: + (addition), -(subtraction), *(multiplication), and /(division). Calculated fields may be stored and searched for just like other fields in your database. To define a calculation, choose "Define Calc" from the "Column" menu. You will be prompted for a name and a calculation formula. The name you enter will be the name of the column containing the calculation. To change a calculation already defined, click the mouse on the column name of the calculation to be changed and then select "Define Calc". The name and formula already entered will be displayed so that you can change it. To delete a calculation, click the mouse on the name of the column to be deleted and select "Delete" from the "Column" menu. MiAmiga File II will ask you if you are sure you want to delete the column before it deletes it. Import Foreign Database The "Open Ascii" feature of MiAmiga File II can be used for several purposes. One important use is to convert a database created in another database, or even one from another type of computer, into a MiAmiga File II database. To use this feature you must first have a file on the Amiga disk that contains only ascii (printing) characters. In this file, each field of data must be separated with a comma or tab. Fields containing imbedded commas must be surrounded by quotes ("Santa Barbara, CA"). Each line or record of data must be ended with a return or return/linefeed combination. The name of the file should include a ".DAT" extension. for example, Newdata.DAT. Next you define columns in MiAmiga File II that agree in number and type with the data in your ascii file. Once these columns are defined, you might want to save this MiAmiga File II database to disk. Next choose "Open Ascii" from the "File" menu. MiAmiga File II responds by displaying a scrollable open directory listing the .DAT files. The scrollable open directory is the same one used for opening MiAmiga File II database. The difference is that now you will be selecting .DAT files instead of .FLR files. Next click the mouse on the name of the .DAT file you wish to import. The program will then open the file, and begin to convert data into the columns you have defined. MiAmiga File II ensures the integrity of its database by editing each field read for correct type, syntax, and length. It also ensures that each record contains the same number of fields. When finished with the conversion, MiAmiga File II displays the converted list. You may then save this new database. Return Key Exit Dialogs As a convenience to you, most dialog boxes now allow you to press the RETURN key to end the dialog instead of requiring you to click the mouse on the OK button. If return is permissible, the button activated by the return will be drawn in BLUE text instead of the usual BLACK. User Defined Memory Configuration Each time MiAmiga File II is started, you have the ability to designate the percent (either 100, 75, or 50) of available RAM (NOTE. Don't confuse this with disk space.) that the program may use to store your data while a database is open. The greater the percent, the greater the number of records that may be stored. If your machine has external memory, you may even designate whether internal or external memory is to be used. The program defaults to using 100 percent. With this feature it is easier to have more than one program RAM resident at the same time. Previously MiAmiga File would grab ALL available memory as soon as it was started. Print Screen The "Print One Screen Only" menu item from the "Print" menu may be used to print only the number of records that appear on the screen. For a list screen this is a maximum of 12 lines. For a label screen this is 1 label. The print criteria may be specified as in other reports with the "Page Setup" item under the "Print" menu. Set System Date/Time At any time you have the ability to conveniently set the system's date and time. This is done with just clicks of the mouse - no entry is required from the keyboard. Select "System Date/Time" from the "Desk" menu. MiAmiga File II responds by showing a dialog box with a calendar. Click on the current year. Next click on the current month. The program will respond each time by drawing the appropriate calendar. Next click on the current day. To set the time, click the mouse on arrows to set either the hour or minute. As the date or time is changed, the program also displays the complete date and time at the top of the dialog box. Saved Report and Label Formats Via Views MiAmiga File II "Views" provide a powerful, convenient, and fast way for you to save and retrieve ways in which you commonly look at your database. For example, if you have several different report and label formats which you use to print reports or query information with, you can now save these definitions and recall them whenever desired. Things automatically saved in each view include: Column widths, Column placements, Column show/hide information, date and numeric display formats, column justification, page setup parameters, form definitions, view title, and last but not least, sort sequence. A scrollable open directory allows you to open any saved view. When the view is opened, the database it is defined for is automatically opened (if not already open). Next, the database is automatically sorted, if necessary. The list and form definition will be exactly as it was when you saved the view. Views may be renamed, deleted, and given a title. Views take up very little space on your disk because no data is stored with the view. Finally, you may Save As a view or resave a modified view at any time. Enhanced and International Date Display Formats Dates may now be displayed in a variety of useful formats and include: 1)Month/Day/Year, 2)Year/Month/Day, and 3)Day/Month/Year Months may displayed as: 1)numeric, 2)month abbreviation (ie. Jan), and written month (ie. January). Years may be displayed as either a 2 digit year (87) or 1987. Separator characters include /.,- and space. Even the day of the week may be displayed as either an abbreviation or written in full. MiAmiga File II calculates the day of the week based upon the date you have entered. Therefore, 11/5/86 would result in Wednesday. Because the date formats pertain to one date at a time, you may have a different date format for each date column in your file. Enhanced and International Numeric Display Formats Numeric "Amount" and "Calc" type fields may be displayed in several useful formats. Numeric formats include: "99,999.99", "99.999,99", and "99 999.99". Also the $ currency symbol may be changed to be any one of 15 other international currency symbols. Because the numeric formats pertain to one column at a time, you can have a different display format for each amount or calculation column in your file. Default Date and Numeric Display Definitions For your convenience the default values for the date and numeric display formats mentioned above may be saved. For example, the default currency symbol may be changed to the British pound instead of the U.S. dollar. Then whenever an amount field is defined, the pound currency symbol will be used as a default. This is also very useful in standard ways of displaying dates. SOFTWOOD FILE IISG ADDENDUM Graphics SoftWood File IIsg displays IFF picture files created in the various painting and digitizing programs available on the Amiga. These pictures may be in any of the screen resolutions and colors supported by the Amiga. Hold and Modify (HAM) pictures allowing up to 4096 colors on the screen at the same time are also supported. Special animation effects in the form of color cycling are also displayed. Up to four different color cycles per picture, each with its own color range and direction is possible! To store pictures in your database you must first define one or more columns of type "Picture" in which you will later enter picture data. Do this by selecting "Define Data" from the "Column" menu. You may have "Picture" type columns with other types of columns in your database. Up to 32 columns may be defined per database. Entering pictures in your database is just as simple as entering names or any other type of data. All you do is enter the name of the file on disk that contains an IFF formatted picture. To save memory, the pictures are not stored in the database - only their names. File IIsg will read compressed picture files as well as uncompressed ones. When the program reads a compressed file it will automatically uncompress it before it displays it. Pictures may be stored in either manual or automatic mode. In manual mode, simply click the mouse on the name of the picture you wish to see from the list on the screen. Automatic mode is initiated via the "Slide Show" menu selection in the "Options" menu and shows each picture in your list. The automatic mode may be stopped at anytime. There are special menus available which allow you to conveniently go forward and backward through columns and rows on your list when showing pictures manually. Sound: Sounds digitized by sound digitizers such as Future Sound and Perfect Sound may now be stored and managed as data (other digitizers may be used too as long as they create IFF files). Stereo sound files created by Perfect Sound are also supported. Digitized sounds can take up a lot of room on your disk. Most playback programs only allow you to play sounds that will fit in internal memory. File IIsg, however, has a special buffering scheme that allows you to play any sound that will fit in either internal or external memory. To store sounds in your database you must first define one or more columns of type "Sound" in which you will later enter sound data. Do this by selecting "Define Data" from the "Column" menu. You may have "Sound" type columns with other types of columns in your database. Up to 32 columns may be defined per database. Entering sound into your database is just like entering data. All you do is enter the name of the IFF file on disk that contains a digitized sound. Just as with pictures, only the names of the files containing the sounds are stored in your database. The actual sound is only loaded into memory when it is to be played. Sounds are played in either manual or automatic mode. In manual mode, simply click the mouse on the name of the sound you wish to hear. Automatic mode is initiated via the "Sound Show" menu selection in the "Options" menu and plays each sound in your list. The automatic mode may be stopped at anytime. There are special parameters you may assign to each sound that control how many times it is played and at what volume. You specify these parameters within parenthesis after the name of the sound file. For example, Bugs (c2v8) will play the "Bugs" sound file two times at a volume of level 8. A repeat count of 0 will cause a continuous repeat of the sound until you stop it by clicking the left mouse button. Slide, Sound, and Movie Shows Slide Show, Sound Show, and Movies are activated from the "Options" menu. A Slide Show shows pictures, a Sound Show plays sounds, and a Movie shows pictures and plays sounds together. Movement is from left to right top to bottom. A typical scenario is as follows: you have your database defined with 5 columns. The first column is a picture, the next two are sounds, the fourth is another picture, and the last is a sound. When movie mode is started, the program begins by showing the picture in the first column. Next, while the picture is showing, it plays the sound in the second column. When it finishes playing the sound, it plays the sound in the third column. When it finishes with this sound, it removes the picture and shows the picture in the fourth column. Next it plays the sound in the last column. Once this sound is finished it goes to the next row which contains 5 more sounds and pictures and processes them. Using the selection and sorting capabilities of the database, only the desired records are included in the 0movie. Phone Dialing Phone numbers entered into these columns defined as type "Phone" may be dialed by the computer. To dial a number, you click the mouse on the number to be dialed while holding the phone receiver up to the speaker on the left side of the monitor. The program will play the correct tones normally generated as the phone's button are pressed. In addition to the tones for digits 0 - 9, the "*" and "#" symbol tones are also produced. Delays starting at 1 second can be specified by including "&" for each 1 second delay desired, and "+" for each 10 second delay. The delays are handy for long distance services in which you must pause between sets of numbers. Note. In order to use the phone dialer, you must have a touch tone dialing service. The tones generated by File IIsg can only be recognized by phones equipped to process these tones. Page Setup: The Page Setup menu item and dialogue window allow you to specify parameters that determine the way a list or label page is to appear. Line values are set one line at a time, character values are set one character at a time. It is possible, for example, to have an 88 line page with left margin of 10 characters, right margin 246, top margin at line 4, bottom margin at 6, print spacing at 8 lines per inch, and printed in Fine pitch. In addition, these settings are made independently for list and label reports, and are saved on disk so you don't have to reset them each time you run the program. Although these settings modify the Workbench preference settings, they only do so temporarily while printing occurs. Once printing is completed, the preference settings are reset to their original values. Print Options: The Print options menu item and dialogue window allow you to specify parameters that determine the way a list or label report is to be created. These parameters are specified separately for list and label reports and are saved to disk so that you will not have to reset them each time you run the program. Default Runtime Parameters: The program now provides a way of saving the settings that you normally use when running the program. Once set these parameters may be reset or overriden at anytime. The default open directory is beneficial for those of you who store databases on a separate disk or directory than where your program resides. For example, your program may be on df0: and your database on df1:. By setting df1: as a default open directory, whenever you choose "Open" from the "File" menu, the program will immediately list databases found in df1:. Enhanced Views: Views now include the items mentioned above in page settings, print options, and default runtime parameters. This allows you to have a completely different operating environment (if desired) for each view or use of a database. Whenever a view is opened, the current page setting, print option, and default runtime parameters are replaced with what is saved in the view. Keymap Support: All data entry now supports keymap settings and allows for accented characters. Keymaps are specified by the Workbench tool "SetMap". Compatibility: All databases created in earlier versions of the program, namely MiAmiga File and SoftWood File II, may be used in this new version without conversion. If you are upgrading from MiAmiga File, you will have to rename any databases you have created that do not have the ".FLR" suffix appended to the file name. For example, if your file's name on disk is "MyData", it must be renamed to "MyData.FLR" in order for it to be recognized as a database in the new version. SoftWood File II and File IIsg automatically appends this suffix to files when you save them for the first time. Start MiAmiga File Start MiAmiga File from the Workbench disk by double clicking on its icon. This instructs the system to begin MiAmiga File. When MiAmiga File databases exist, you may also start by double clicking on a database icon. List Window Upon starting, the first screen to apppear is the List Window. It is from this window that you will: create a database, search for desired information, sort, and access the MiAmiga File's Form Window Form Window Once a database has been defined, the Form Window may be accessed. Use this window to enter data into the database. Menu Bar At the top of the screen is a menu bar which will allow access to many of MiAmiga File's features. To view the menu bar and available menu titles, press the button on the right side of the mouse. To view a menu title's items, continue holding the mouse button down and glide it on to the desired menu title. All of the functions belonging to that menu will appear. You can choose the desired function by gliding the mouse down and releasing the mouse when that function is highlighted. As a shortcut some menu items may be selected by pressing the right Amiga key and a letter key simultaneously. The letter seen to the right of these menu items is the letter to be used. For example, Amiga-N will select the New Column item from the Column Menu. Dialog Boxes Occasionally, you will need to supply the computer with a little more information to allow it to complete a specific command. In such cases, you will either be asked to do something or to add additional information. This will be done from a MiAmiga File dialog box. A dialog box requires you to respond to it before you can continue. For example, if you wanted to delete a record in your database, a dialog box will appear on your screen to warn you about what you are about to do, and ask if you are sure you want to do this. A dialog box will also appear to warn you of an error, ask you to change disks or to let you know what the system is doing. Scroll Bars On the right and bottom of the List Window, and the left and right of the Form Window are areas called scroll bars. A scroll bar consists of four parts: 2 arrows, an elevator bar, and an elevator shaft. On a List Window, the right scroll bar allows you to peruse your data base - the bottom scroll bar allows access to columns (fields) not in view. On a Form Window, the right scroll bar peruses through the database, and the left scroll bar accesses areas of the form not in view. Backup Disks Information which you have stored on your disk is extremely valuble to you. Therefore it is very important that you create backup files to ensure against possible loss of data. We recommend that you save your work every fifteen to thirty minutes and that you create a backup disk at least once a day. Once you have made your backup disk, keep the original in a safe place and use the backup for everyday use. Quitting MiAmiga File Do not turn off the computer while still working on your file. In order to quit MiAmiga File, select Save (to save the latest version of your file) and then select Quit from the File Menu. CHAPTER THREE CREATING MIAMIGA FILES Types of Fields In this chapter we will create a sample file for a health club. DURKIN'S HEALTH CLUB needs to keep track of their members name and address, length of enrollment, price they paid per membership and their weight and height when they joined. The first step is to open a new file. This is accomplished in one of two ways; when you first load your MiAmiga File program or by selecting New from the File menu. Now that we have our file, the first stage in building a new database is to choose the types of fields we wish to use. MiAmiga File allows us a choice of eight different types fo fields, which are as follows: ALPHA: This field will accept letters and spaces only. It is used to help reduce the number of input errors. AMOUNT: The amount field will accept numbers and decimal points. This field can also provide dollar signs, commas and up to two decimal positions. DATE: Dates must be entered in this format: MM/DD/YY. TEXT: This field is the most commonly used, because it accepts all letters, numbers and symbols. For example, it could be used with an address field which may contain a number. (i.e. 525 Wentworth) TIME: Time is entered in this format: HH:MM, either AM or PM. You can enter time in military format and it will auto- matically be converted to AM/PM. YES/NO: This field is used for yes/no responses. It is very useful for statistics, surveys, etc. PHONE: This field will accept the characters; (), hyphens and a period. i.e. (805)966-5884. ALPHA/: Uses alphabetic and numeric characters and spaces. NUMERIC In our sample file we need to set up twelve new fields. In MiAmiga File these fields will appear as columns. In order to add new fields we need to select New from the Column menu at the upper portion of our window. By pressing Amiga N you will achieve the same results. Our screen will display a dialog box. On the line titled Column Name, type in the name of the first field. If you make a mistake, the backspace key will delete the previous character. Next, let us select the Alpha field type by clicking on the box next to the word Alpha. Once the column is set up correctly, click on the OK box at the bottom of the dialog box. Once you have added records to your file you will not be able to change the field type. You can however add new fields and or delete an existing field. The second field we need to add to our record is address. This field will incorporate numbers, letters and possibly special symbols. Again, we need to select New from the Column menu. Enter the name, Address, on the line Column Name and select Text as the Column Type. Click OK to add this field. Remember with MiAmiga File you have up to thirty-two fields available. If and when you use all fields, the New Option from the Column menu will be turned off. When you delete a field from your record the option will available once again. At this point let us add the remaining columns or fields to our record. Column Name Column Type City Alpha State Alpha Zip Code Text Amount Paid Amount Date Joined Date # of years Text Height Text Weight Text New Membership Yes/No Phone Phone Scrolling the Input MiAmiga File offers three different ways of scrolling or looking through the work you have entered into your database. You will have noticed, by now, that you cannot view all of the fields you have added to your record at once. The horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of your screen can be used to view the remaining or previous fields in a record. To view your record quickly, place the pointer inside the white box and drag it across your screen. The second and third scroll bars are located at the right and left sides of your window. The one on the right is used to view individual records in your file. The one on the left is used to scroll the form. They are used in the same manner in which the horizontal scroll bar is used. Changing a Field To change a field name, position the pointer in the box at the top row containing that field and click. Highlighting a Field Name If you do not have records on this file, you will be able to change the field name and field type. To make this change go to the Column menu and select Change. The dialog box that appears on your screen is the same as when you initially set up this field. If you have already added records to your file, the only change available is to change the field name. Changing A Field Name Type in the new field name, Names and click on the OK box. Sometimes, however, we need to change the field type even if we have added records to our file. To accomplish this, we need to create a new field with the field type desired, and input the information from the old field to the new field. Upon completion of transfering the information to the new field, delete the old one. Deleting Fields The first question to ask yourself is, "Do I really want to erase the information in this field?". If you have decided yes, the next question is, "Have I copied the information in a backup file in case I need it at a later date?" The reason for these precautions is that once you delete a field or column, you have lost the entire file. Fields can be deleted by clicking on the box at the top of the column. Click on the column titled Weight. When it is highlighted go to the Column menu and select Delete. MiAmiga File will ask you if this is what you really want to do. Select "yes" since this may be a touchy subject with some members. Moving Fields MiAmiga File allows you to rearrange your list of fields even if you have added, changed or deleted records in your file. This is done by placing the pointer in the field name box at the top of your window and holding down on the button. You will notice that the entire column will be outlined in a heavy line. At this time drag the column to the desired position and release the button. Now, let's experimint with the Amount Paid field. Position the pointer in the box at the top of the window, press and drag it in front of the field, # of years. Your entire file has now been rearranged to accommodate this change. Changing the Column Width Occasionally we will need to adjust the width of our fields. For example, our address field needs a little more room to accommodate all of its information and our # of years field is too large. Column width can be lengthened or shortened to display more or less of the field you are working with. To change the width of a column, place the pointer on the dotted line between columns and hold down the button. This will automatically adjust all other fields in your record. Saving Your File Now that we have defined the fields of the records in our new database file, it is important to give it a unique file name and save it. To do this go to the File menu and select Save or press Amiga-S. MiAmiga File will display a dialog box asking you the name of the file you wish to save. Let us name our file Members. Enter the file name with an .FLR extension to allow MiAmiga File to identify it as a file. The next time you save, MiAmiga File will automatically save the updated version on your disk. Again, remember to make a backup! Changing Your File Now that we have created a new file, given it a unique file name, saved it and made a backup copy, let's make a few changes. As stated previously, you can add to, delete or rearrange your record in number of ways. In our file "Members.FLR" let's add the weight field again. CHAPTER FOUR Building A FileOverview This chapter describes and illustrates the way you enter, edit and save records in your file. We will discuss the differences between the form and list formats, and you will learn how to obtain information about the fields and file you are working with. Forms vs Lists In the previous chapter, we introduced the list format. You selectd this format from the Options menu at the top of your window screen. This format showed you some of the fields or columns in your record. The remaining fields could be viewed by using the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the screen. In chapter 6 we will see that the list format is also used when we wish to view some or all of the records in our file. The form format, on the other hand, is what we use to enter new data into our file. To get to the form format go to the Option menu and select Form. Your window will display the fields of your record and the data you have entered. The ability to rearrange the layout of the form format, is another of MiAmiga Files' special features. In our sample record, you may not be able to view all of your fields at once. Therefore, you may wish to place two or three fields on one line. This is accomplished by placing the pointer on the field name and dragging it to the location of your choice. In our sample file try this by placing the zip code on a different line from the city and state. You may have noticed that you cannot view the entire line of data at once. MiAmiga File allows you to lengthen or shorten any of your fields. Position the pointer on the right line of the field box titled "address" and drag it to the right to lengthen it. To shorten a field, place the pointer on the right line of the field box labeled "city"and drag it to the left. Do this with state, until you are able to view the entire line of data. In the next section we will show you how to view the remaining fields of your record. The Left Scroll Bar In the form format, as in the list format, we may have more fields in our record than the window can display at one time. MiAmiga File utilizes a third scroll bar to view more of the form. The vertical scroll bar at the left of your screen is used in the same manner as the one on your right. By placing the pointer at the arrow on the bottom of the bar and clicking, you are able to view the remaining fields of the form. Again, if you wish to view the form a little faster, place the pointer in the box of the scroll bar and drag up, to see the top of the form or down to view the bottom. Entering Information in the Form Format At this point, if you are not at the beginning of your record, scroll back with the left scroll bar to the top of the form. We are now ready to enter our first record. The first field which you see, is the name field. The first half of the field will state the field name, the second half is where the I-beam will automatically appear. Type in the last name, and first name of your first member (i.e. Nelson, C), and then press the Return or Tab key. You will notice that by pressing the return or tab key, the I-beam proceeds to the next field. In our sample file this is the adress field. Start typing in the address for C Nelson as follows; 1234 Hubbard Lane. If your address field is too short, MiAmiga File will scroll the information for you. We have discussed previously in this chapter how to lengthen, shorten or move fields within the format. After you have entered the information for address, fill in the remainder of your record as follows: Field Information City Grants Pass State Oregon Zip Code 12345 Amount Paid 500.00 Date Joined 07/26/86 # of Years 4 Height 5'11" Weight 165 Renewed Yes Phone (805)123-1234 It is always a good idea before adding a record to your file to check its contents. To do this simply scroll back to the top of the form and review your work. Adding Records to Your File Now that you have checked your work, you are ready to add this record to your file. This is accomplished ineither of the following ways; Place the pointer at the box on the bottom of your screen labeled "accept" and press the button,or If you are in the last field of your record, just press the Return key. What About Errors We mentioned above, that you should check your record to be certain the information you entered is correct. There may be a few times when you will notice an error or two in the way you entered your data. There are a couple of options available to you to remedy this situation. For example, you have just entered the data in the last field of your formated record and you discover an error in the name field. By pressing the Tab key, MiAmiga File will bring you back to the beginning of your record. You have also noticed that you put the height of the first member in the height and weight fields. The information on his weight has been lost and therefore you need to create a blank field. By pressing Tab or Return you will leave the field blank and MiAmiga File will bring you to the next field in your record. After you have made the corrections to your record, place the pointer in the Accept box at the bottom of your screen and click. The other options on the bottom of your screen are; delete, new and undo. The delete command erases the entire record from your file. A dialog box will appear to ask if you are sure you want to do this. The new option is another way for you to proceed to a new format. The undo command is used to change information in a field which you may have entered incorrectly. Now that you have made the changes to your records and accepted them to your file, it is time to save the newly created file. Have I Saved My Records There is a difference between accepting a record and saving a record. When you accept a record, it is saved in memory but not on the disk. To save records permanently, go to the File menu and select Save. You should save and backup your file as soon as possible to ensure against loss of information. The Abandon Feature This option is reached by going to the File menu and selecting Abandon. It is used to eliminate any records you may have added, changed or deleted by mistake. You will, however, lose all of the unsaved changes you have made to your file. The Abandon Feature will also close the file automatically, and you will have to go to the file menu to reopen the original file. A dialog box will appear and ask if you are sure about this action. Characteristics of Your File To obtain information on the file you are working with, go to the File menu and select Status. A dialog box will appear. As you can see, the information in this box is specific to the file you are working with. It provides the file name, the number of records in the file, the average size of each of the records, and the approximate number of records that the file will hold. The percent unused refers to the amount of storage still available for use. To return to your file, press OK and MiAmiga File will bring you back to the record you were working with. CHAPTER FIVE Output - Printing Your FilesOverview The purpose of this chapter is to present the different aspects of output processing. We will discuss not only the activities of moving data to and from memory, but also the characteristics of output options available to you. This chapter is divided into five sections. The first concerns the characteristics and format of Labels. The second section describes Listings and the third discusses Screen Prints. Combining MiAmiga File files with your word processor, is the subject of the fourth section. Finally, the last section describes printing your text files. Printing Labels The first step in printing labels, is to return to the Form format. In chapter four we discussed the different ways of changing the format of the form. Reviewing some of these changes will assist us in printing our labels. When printing labels, we need to place all of the information we need to print on the first five lines of the form. Any information below the fifth line will not print. In our sample file, Members.FLR, the form of our record was created as follows; Name | Nelson, C Address | 1234 Hubbard Lane City | Grants Pass State | Oregon Zip Code | 12345 Amount Paid | 500.00 Date Joined | 07/26/85 # of Years | 4 Height | 5'11" Weight | 165 Membership | Yes Phone | (805)123-1234 We could leave the record in this format because, all of the data needed to print a name and address label is incorporated within the five line limit. If we wanted a more conventional format for name and address labels, we would have to make a few changes. You should keep in mind, when making these changes, that MiAmiga File will print the first thirty characters of each line. Let us experiment with the format, and change the form to conform to the standard name and address label. Name, of course, is fine in the number one position. You may want to lengthen or shorten the field by placing the pointer on the right line of the field box, and moving it to the right or left or by adding a first name field to you record. Next, create a blank line by moving the address field down one line. To do this place the pointer in the left side of the field box, click and drag the field down. Again, as with the name field, you can lengthen or shorten this field to the desired length. Now, create another blank line. The next three fields; city, state and zip code, can all be placed on the fifth line. You can leave city in the same position it is in and drag state and zip code up respectively. MiAmiga File will automatically place one space between fields for you. If you desire a larger space, simply adjust the field to the right or left. If there are any remaining fields within these five lines, and you do not wish them to be printed, move them down below the five line limit. Upon the completion of entering your data, you have two different output options available. The first is to put the file out to the printer. To do this, select To Printer from the Print menu. The second choice is also selected from the Print menu. To print an ASCII File, select To ASCII Disk File. Printing Your Lists In order to print your labels in the last section, you had to return to the form format. Likewise, when printing lists, you need to return to the list format. Your printed file will look exactly the way it appears on the screen. You can delete, move and change the width of the columns to suit the desired output. You have two choices when creating a printed report. To print on the 11" wide computer paper, select 132 columns from the Print menu. If you are using the 8 1/2" size paper, select 80 columns from the Print menu. If your printer can accomodate both sizes, be sure to place the correct form in the printer. Using the sample file, as an example, create a printed report for all of the members in the health club. Leave the height and weight fields off the report and move the new membership field in front of the # of years field. The first step is to "Hide" the columns; height and weight. This is done by clicking on the field name, height, at the top of the window, going to the column menu and selecting Hide. This column will be grayed out on your screen to let you know it will be hidden from the printed report. Now, do the same with the weight field. Next, we need to move the field, new membership, in front of the # of years field. To move a column, place the pointer in the field name, hold down the button and drag to the desired location. If you are using 8 1/2" paper, your printed report will appear as it is in the window. As we discussed in the labels section, you have your choice of two output files. The first, a printed report, is selected from the print menu with the To Print option. The remaining file is an ASCII File. This option is also selected from the print menu. Note: If you have an amount field in your file, (Amount Paid in our sample file) MiAmiga File will total the field at the end of the report for you. If the total amount of the fields is greater than the computation capacity of MiAmiga File a question mark will appear in that field. Printing One Screen Only MiAmiga File will print one screen of information whether it is in the form or list format. You can still rearrange the columns of the list, or fields of the form, in any way you need. After customizing your screen, press Amiga (the right key) Help to print. CHAPTER SIX Accessing and Updating Your InformationOverview This chapter concerns the structure and design of MiAmiga File. It has two major sections. The first section discusses the information in the form format. We will survey this because it will help us to structure and evaluate our individual records. In the second section, the information in the list format is discussed. This discussion includes: sorting, hiding and showing columns, changing numeric format and other topics that lead to the criteria for evaluating and designing an effective file. Accessing A File To help explain all of MiAmiga Files features, let us go to the file menu and select Open. The sample file which we created in the previous chapters will be listed. To open our file, Members.FLR, type in Members.FLR and click OK. Now that we are in our file go to the options menu and select Form. This will bring up the form format and allow us to work with some of the records we previously created. The Form Layout As we explained in chapter four, the form format is used to enter new data into our file. Once the data has been entered, accepted and saved permanently on your disk file, you are able to scan it any time you access the file. To accomplish this, click the number of the record in the left margin you wish to examine. All of the fields in that record will be shown. If there are a few fields in your record which are not shown, use the left scroll bar to view the remainder of the record. If you need to center or include any editing features for an entire field, you will have to go to the list format to structure these changes. Making Changes in Form Format Once you have accessed your record in the form format by choosing the number of the record in the left margin, you are ready to update it. In our sample file Members.FLR, you may need to extend a membership, delete a record (due to an expired membership) or change an address field for one or more of your members. You will see the I-beam in the first field of your record. In our file we may need to change the address of one of the members. By pressing the Tab or Return key, you will move to the text field. To delete the information already in this field, use the Backspace key. Now you are ready to enter the new address. If you check your work and discover an error, click the Undo button at the bottom of your screen. Remember that when you click the Undo button, it will return the record to the original data that has been stored there. After you have updated all the information in your record, go to the bottom of your window and click Accept. The next change in our sample file, is to delete an entire record. Again, choose a record from the file for this purpose. After you have examined the record and are sure that this membership has expired, go to the bottom of the window and select Delete. A dialog box will ask if you are sure of this action. In this section, you have learned how to view your records in the form format and how access one or more of them in order to update your file. The form format does not allow you to sort your records, center your columns or edit amount fields. This is accomplished in the next section under the list format. Remember that any changes you make to your records have to be accepted and then saved permanently to your disk file. In section two, we will discuss how to examine and modify the existing records in your file using the list format. To go from the form format to the list format, place the pointer on the bottom of the form (except on the boxes) and click. SECTION TWO, THE LIST FORMAT Overview Section two deals with the structure and organization of your files. We will discuss five main topics, starting with Columns. The second topic is the use of the grid and how to turn it on and off. Third we will be showing you how to title your file, and therefore have a title on each of your printed reports. The fourth and fifth topics deal with the selection process and sorting of the records in your file. Columns Hiding and Showing In chapter five, when we printed our sample file, we explained how to hide specific files. This was done on two fields, height and weight. To hide any specific field from the actual printed report, click on the field name at the top of the column and select Hide from the Column menu. If at this point we would like to show the column of height, we would click on the field name again and Select Show from the Column menu. There are two other choices in the column menu dealing with the hiding and showing of columns. Hide All can be used when you wish to display a couple of fields. By selecting this option all the fields will be grayed out (hidden from the printed report) and you can select the few columns you wish to show by clicking on those specific fields. Show All will exhibit all the fields once more. When you select the Hide option, MiAmiga File will automatically adjust your columns on your printed report. In our sample file, we have an amount field. We need to display this field with dollar signs, commas and two decimal positions. To change the format of the Amount Paid column, click on the field name and select Format from the column menu. A dialog box will appear on the screen. The format option allows you to place dollar signs, commas and zero, one or two decimal points. The dollar sign will be placed in front of the amount. Commas are automatically placed between every three digits and the decimal point is placed in one of the three positions you choose. Rearranging MiAmiga File provides for maximum flexibility when displaying your information in your window and on a printed report. The ability to change the width, hide a specific field and or move several fields around, allows you to be extremely creative in producing customized final reports. You can move one or more fields in your record. To move a field, place the pointer in the field box name you wish to move, hold down the button and drag to the new location. Changing the width of a field is done by placing the pointer on the dotted line between fields and dragging to the right to lengthen the field or to the left to shorten it. Remember, once you change your record you must save the updated version to disk in order to make a permanent change. Don't forget to back it up! Text Alignment Each of the columns in your list can be aligned in one of three ways. When choosing one of the three options, it is customary to stay with that choice for the entire field. In our sample file, we can experiment with the different options. To change the alignment on any field, click on the field name on the top of the column and select one of the three options; left, right or center, from the Column menu. On the name and address fields, select Left from the Column menu. You will notice that these fields will automatically be left justified. Finally, select Center from the Column menu for the fields; Height, Weight, New Membership and Phone. You will notice that these four fields are now centered within their respective columns. Operating the Grid MiAmiga File provides a useful grid for entering data in columns and rows. This will automatically appear in the window when you select List from the options menu. To turn the grid on or off, go to the Options menu and select Grid On/Off. This option will provide both functions. Although the grid is presently in the off phase, you are still able to alter the width of your individual fields. Place the pointer on the right side of the field you wish to alter and glide to the left, to shorten your field, or to the right to lengthen it. Naming Your Window When we created our sample file, we needed to provide MiAmiga File with a unique file name. This file name is used whenever we need to access the file. When you open the sample file, you will notice that the file name automatically appears in the top of your window screen. In printing a file, we may wish to be more specific as to the contents of the report. MiAmiga File provides another option in the file menu for this purpose. To change the name on the top of the screen, go to the File menu and Select title. With a maximum of forty characters, type in the name of the report and click the OK button. The new title will appear at the top of the window, and will be printed on your report. This, however, does not change the name of your file. After printing this report, go to the file menu and save your changes permanently on your disk. Selecting Groups of Records MiAmiga File provides two types of selection for records. The first of these is the ability to choose by example. In choosing by example, you set up specific guidelines which have to be met. The second option is to choose by range. The range is set in terms of a beginning and ending point in your field. If you are not satisfied with the conditions you have chosen, you can reset the conditions of the field by selecting them again. By Example In our sample file we want to locate all of the members with a membership of four or more years. Setting the guidelines for selecting groups of records is accomplished by choosing By Example from the Select menu. First click on the field name; # of years at the top of the column, the field name will be highlighted to let you know this is the field you are working with. Next, go to the Select menu and choose By Example. MiAmiga File will provide a dialog box to prompt you for specific information. The first line of the dialog box has an In and Ex box, meaning include and exclude. The include box will incorporate the records that meet the criteria you set up. The exclude box, on the other hand, will not list the records which meet the required criteria, but will list all of the other records in your file. In our report we will click the In box, because we wish to list all of the members who meet the criteria. The next line of information is provided by MiAmiga File. This is the field name you choose from the list on your window. The field that should appear here is; # of years. Now we need to select the conditions we want to meet. MiAmiga File has the following conditions to choose from; equal to (=), not equal to (<>), less than (<), greater than (>), less than or equal to (<=), greater than or equal to (>=), and contains (*). If you are searching for a particular string of characters, contains will locate and display all of the records which contain them. The condition we need to set is, greater than or equal to (<=) in order to accomodate the criteria of four or more years. Click on this box. The following line is where you will type in the specific information. This field will accept both alpha and text field types. For our purposes type in the number 4. When you click the OK button, MiAmiga File will automatically list the selected records on your window. By Range Selecting groups of records by range is the second option available for use. In our file, let's select the Amount Paid field to see how many members have paid fees between 500 and 600 dollars. After you have highlighted the field name, Amount Paid, go to the Select menu and choose By Range. MiAmiga File will display another dialog box. You will notice that by range option also displays an In and Ex choice in the first line. These options operate in the same manner as in the By Example format. In our list we want to include all of the members who have paid between five and six hundred dollars, therefore we need to click on In. The next line is again where the field name will automatically appear and should be the same as the one we highlighted earlier. If Amount Paid does not appear here, click on the cancel button and begin again. The next two lines will set the range. On the first line, is from, you will type in the low value of your search. If this field is left blank, MiAmiga File will automatically begin at the lowest value. On the second line, through, you will type the high value of the search. In our file the from value is 500.00 and the through value is 600.00. When entering information in these fields do not use dollar signs or commas. Once the criteria is set, click on the OK button. Full vs Selected List The above example will provide us with a Full List of all the members who fall in the five to six hundred dollar range. We can narrow the list down by adding the previous criteria of four or more years as a member. This will provide us with a selected list of our records. To return to the full list, select Full List from the select menu. Sorting MiAmiga File has two types of sorts. The first, single column sort, will sort a field in an ascending or descending order. To sort fields within fields, you have the option of choosing a progressive sort. Single Column Sorting In our file, Listings.FLR, we need a list of all our members in alphabetical order. To accomplish this we first have to go to the name field, Name, on the top of the column. The next step is to proceed to the Sort menu and select Single Column. Next, we have the choice of providing an ascending or descending sequence of our records. Because we would like the list in alphabetical order, we will click on the Low To High choice. A check mark will indicate that this option has been activated. If we needed a descending sequence, we would choose from High To Low. You will notice that all of the records are listed in alphabetical order with a number for each record in the left hand column of your window. Progressive Sorting Progressive sorting means that we are sorting a field within another field. With MiAmiga File this is done by first choosing a single field to sort. In our file let's choose the city field. Highlight this field by clicking at the top of that column. Now, go to the Sort menu and select Single Column and Low To High. Single sort must be done prior to a progressive sort. Next, we would like an alphabetical listing of our members within each city. To begin a progressive sort, go to the Sort menu and select Progressive. Now, go to the column heading titled; Name and highlight it. Return once more to the sort menu and, once again, select Low To High. Progressive sorts provide you with a more detailed output of your entire file. You can locate specific information faster and more efficiently. To begin another progressive sort, repeat the instructions above. end.