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Software Vault: The Gold Collection
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Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO
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1993-06-09
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SDI Print - Version 1.0
March, 1992
SDI Print version 1.00 is designed to print-out, in an easy-to-
read format, a SS Death Index .GED file - from the Family History
Center's Family Search program - it is NOT designed to work on
any other .GED files - and has been tested with their versions
1.07 and 1.10 - later versions of the Family Search Program may
place verbiage at a different location in the .GED file and
possibly confuse SDI Print. If so, please contact me and the
necessary changes will be made at once.
You can choose any combination of printing, limited viewing,
and/or creation of a delimited ascii text file and/or "standard"
database file.
Written in Clipper, it will create .DBF files which are naturally
compatible with today's common database managers. The .DBF
extension is the default. The default for the text files is .ASC
although you can designate whatever extension suits you.
SDI Print began as a series of programming experiments and there
are some features that could be added as well as a user interface
which could be a bit more friendly. Future versions may well
follow the IGI255 format but the potential release date is
unknown at this time.
Installing the program - SDI Print may be run from a floppy disk
with very small .GED files but for speed and larger .GED files
please use your hard disk. Make a directory called SDIPRINT and
copy SDIPRINT.EXE to it. Place your .GED files in the this
directory as well.
Running the program - Type SDIPRINT at the DOS prompt to begin
the program. A file selection box will be presented which will
list all the .GED files found in the current directory. A file
spec parameter may be included at start up. For example, typing
SDIPRINT *.* will over-ride the *.GED default and ALL files in
the current directory will be shown.
File Selection - A new path to your .GED files may be designated
while in the file selection part of the program. Press F5 and
designate a new path...NOTE...you MUST include the ENTIRE path
INCLUDING file spec...i.e...
D:\SDI\*.*
the following will show no files...
D:\SDI
A blank path and file spec will default to *.* of the current
directory. There's no error trapping so make sure you type a
VALID DOS path WITH file spec or there will be no files listed.
NOTE: This "path" is only used to READ the SOURCE file. Text and
.dbf files you generate will be created in the CURRENT DIRECTORY!
(c) 1992 - Patrick C. Deatherage - All Rights Reserved - Page 1
SDI Print - Version 1.0
File deletion is possible by hi-liting the desired file and
pressing the DEL key. A warning box will appear. Press the DEL
again a second time to delete the file. Pressing any other key
at this time will cancel the delete request.
Output - there are 5 formats hard-wired. The first, "Do not send
to printer" is a limited screen view. The second defaults
*theoretically* to 80 spaces per page, the next two to 132,
compressed. The last will prompt you for a 132 vs 160 spaces per
page. The 132 printout will shorten some of the fields. The
program is hard-wired for an Epson LQ-2500 or equivalent. If
your printer doesn't respond properly, force it ahead-of-time
into the needed mode.
Again, you CAN create a text file AND .DBF file AT THE SAME TIME
as well send it to the printer. Any combo of the 3 is allowed.
For example, you can create a text file and .dbf file but *don't
have* to send it to the printer. The names will list on the
screen with an optional pause every 20 or so which allows you
limited verification of what's happening. When the screen pauses
you may press ESC to abort the process, press N for non-stop
processing or any other key to continue the next screenfull. If
you select continuous processing you can press ESC during the
listing to cancel the process.
If you select to create a text file (or .dbf) you will be
prompted for a file name. The text file is theoretically hard-
wired for alpha characters only and attempts to catch and correct
invalid DOS names but no guarantees...the .dbf file name check
isn't quite in place yet so please use a valid DOS file name.
A warning box will appear if a file exists by the name you enter.
You will then be prompted whether or not you want to overwrite
the existing file, add to it or forget the whole thing and start
over. Although you don't have the ability to "tag" a group of
files and process them all at once, this add-to ability does let
you create one large .dbf or text file from one or more .GED's...
Use any delimiter you want - the normal quote (") is the default.
Use a space in the delimiter field to create a fixed-length text
file. A fixed-length text file takes a bit longer to create.
If you would like a different format for the text files, contact
me and a custom creation can probably be made rather easily.
NOTE: The program does not check to see if a delimiter was
previously used when adding to ascii files. It is possible to
create an ascii text file with a delimter and then add to it
using spaces which uses fixed field lengths. You can end up with
a strange looking text file if you're not careful.
Make sure you glance at your "tags" to see what's set before you
begin processing...they can be confusing at times - suggestions
for improvement are welcomed!
(c) 1992 - Patrick C. Deatherage - All Rights Reserved - Page 2
SDI Print - Version 1.0
Instead of reading the .GED file directly, the program is wired
to create a temporary file and work from it...this slows things
down somewhat but will hopefully allow processing of .GED files
that might have been read and saved as text files with a variety
of word processors...it's been tested with raw .GED files (direct
from the SS Death Index program without any manipulation) and
files combined with Berg's LIST.COM - with no ill effects. When
the program finds the first TRLR line it stops, so when combining
files externally, be sure and take out the middle trailers. If
you encounter problems, contact me and solutions can be found.
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
PLEASE NOTE:
Slow is secondary to the size of the work file generated. A
temporary work file by the name of SDI.DBF will be created and
unfortunately it becomes quite large rather quickly. Close to 3
times the size of the original .GED! Therefore if you start off
with a 250k .GED file you'll need almost an additional 740K just
for the program to set up the work file...fortunately the ending
size of the .dbf and text files you may want to create WILL be
MUCH smaller than the original .GED - much.
A low-level file reading routine is being considered which should
speed up processing drastically as well as solve the space
"problem". Check future releases for this upgrade.
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
There's no charge for the program...it is being released as
Freeware, NOT public domain or shareware - that means basically I
retain the rights to the program but anyone is more than welcome
to it for personal use only...as usual, there's no warranties
implied or expressed...use at your own risk.
As usual there's a lot that can be done to this thing in general
but just wanted something to print out my files...Hope you find
it useful...
Have A Good One!
later...patrick.
(c) 1992 - Patrick C. Deatherage - All Rights Reserved - Page 3
SDI Print - Version 1.0
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
Program corrections:
02.25.92 - Even though path was re-set, file selected would not
be read using that path...corrected and released as
beta .91
04.01.92 - Cosmetic, included some screen verbiage to remind that
the new path must include file spec...hi-lite and hit
enter etc...Included wait and any key option to screen
print with counts and percentage. Released as beta
.93
04.12.91 - Modified code to use 'delete <filename>' vs 'run erase
<filename>' routine. A Compaq user was having the
program hang with a run error when trying to erase the
work file. This may have to be reversed but possibly
the problem was actually lack of disk space? Special
thanks to Jim Carwile.
Added a 'continuous/pause after each screen full of
names select option' when no print is selected. This
allows the user to create large .dbf or text files
without having to babysit the keyboard. Re-worked the
order of module sdi4.
Decreased length of work file line to 60 (from 80) to
save space (15-20%?) - will possible chop off the end
of the occasional extremely long entry but well worth
the space savings. Released as beta .94
04.22.91 - Various comestics, end-of-file list pause, print
prompt box (style 5). FHC print options were not
updating .dbf and text files properly - as well as the
print out-put -fixed. Added over-write/add routine to
.dbf and text files. Released as beta .95
03.07.92 The Family Search Program began adding additional
verbiage to the .GED file on its versions after 1.08
and this would be printed instead of the locality
information. Corrected. It is still possible that
future versions of the Family Search Program will
change their verbiage and create the same problem.
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
(c) 1992 - Patrick C. Deatherage - All Rights Reserved - Page 4