In order to do a search of the database records, you need to specify the search |Icriteria. |IThat's just a fancy way of saying that you need to tell the program exactly what you want to search for. The |BBAUG|B database program provides you with a great deal of flexibility in specifying the criteria with which to search.
To search for a particular member by |Iname, |Ienter the person's name in the |BFirst:|B and |BLast:|B fields of the |HPERSONAL INFO|H area of the screen, then click on the |HBEGIN SEARCH|H button to begin the search. If you don't know the exact spelling of the person's name, you can enter a partial name in the field. The program will find all records that match the string you entered. This method of searching will work for all of the text fields, so you can do searches based on partial city names, phone exchanges, zip codes, etc.
Another useful feature of the search function is that you can look for members with similar interests or hardware configurations to your own. To do this, leave the text fields blank and just click on the buttons next to the topics you wish to search by in the |HHARDWARE|H and/or |HINTERESTS|H sections of the screen, then click on |HBEGIN SEARCH|H. The program will find all users whose interests match those you specified and show them to you one by one.
An almost infinite number of search criteria combinations are possible by entering partial strings in the text fields and clicking on various topic buttons. For example, you could do a search for all members with the first name of |I"Charles" |Ithat live in Reading, have a modem, and are interested in animation and video. And if you want to make sure you don't miss someone who entered their name as |I"Charlie", |Iyou can cover all the possibilities by entering only |I"Char" |Ior |I"Ch" |I(just in case he may have entered |I"Chuck" |I) as the search string in the name field.
When entering a string in one of the text-entry fields, you can instruct the program to only find records which |Iexactly|I match the string you entered by punctuating the string with a vertical bar, "|". The vertical bar is entered by holding down the shift key and pressing the backslash key simultaneously. (The backslash key is the one found immediately to the left of the backspace key.)
For example, suppose you want to search the database for all members whose last name is "Smith". Entering "Smith" in the last name field, then clicking on |BBegin Search|B will cause the program to display all records with last names beginning with the characters S, M, I, T, and H. However, you will also be shown records with names like "Smithman", and "Smithson", and any other name that begins with "Smith".
To restrict the search to include only those whose name matches "Smith" exactly, enter the name as follows:
Last: SMITH|
^
Note the vertical bar at the end. This tells the program to only look for exact matches. Names like "Smithman" and "Smithson" will be excluded because they don't match the string entered.
Once you have specified your search criteria, click on |BBegin Search|B to tell the program to start looking for records which match your criteria. If any are found, the entire record will be presented to you on a display that is similar to the review screens used in the |BAdd|B and |BUpdate|B functions. The only difference here is that at the bottom of the display you will find 3 gadgets, labeled |BNext Record|B, |BQuit/Abort|B, and |BPrint Record|B.
Choosing |BNext Record|B will tell the program to display the next matching record, if there is one. If there are no more matching records, you will receive a message to that effect, then be asked if you wish to conduct another search. Selecting no at this point will return you to the Main Menu.
Choosing |BQuit/Abort|B will tell the program that you no longer want to search the database, and you will be returned to the Main Menu.
Choosing |BPrint Report|B will invoke the report-printing subroutine, sending the record you are currently viewing to the printer. Once the report is sent to the printer, the program will automatically continue with the search, looking for the next record which matches your search criteria. This feature allows you to produce a hardcopy of all matching records, although you will have to click on |BPrint Record|B each time a matching record is displayed.
|HNOTE:|H The only way to exit from the |BSearch Criteria|B screen is by clicking on |BBegin Search|B. Because this display is controlled by a FORM icon, only 2 actions can be specified, and both are being used by the |BHelp|B and |BBegin Search|B, so I couldn't figure out how to put a QUIT option on this screen. I tried to put an interrupt here for this purpose, but apparently AmigaVision disables interrupts while within a FORM. If you find yourself at the |BSearch Criteria|B screen and you wish to get out of it, click on |BBegin Search|B and when presented with the first matching record, you will be able to quit the function from there. If anyone has any suggestions on how to handle this a little better, please let me know.
Feel free to experiment with the search function. Since you're only reading records from the database, there's no chance of doing any damage to the files. If you think of anything that's missing or could be added to make this function work smoother or more intuitively, please let me know.
