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.IF DSK1.C3
.CE 2
*IMPACT/99*
by Jack Sughrue
TI-BASE: Part One
.IF DSK1.C2
EXHILARATION!
You know that dizzying,
exhilarating feeling you get when
you've trudged all morning up a
mountain path and have come out of
the brush at the crest. You can look
back from that peak and see how far
you've come and look ahead to see how
far you've yet to go.
It's a wonderful, spirit-lifting
kind of feeling as you stand there
breathing in that rare air. You've
come to a definite point in your
life, but the journey's far from
over.
Well, I felt a little like that
today after spending just four hours
with a program called TI-BASE. I
feel I have scaled new heights with
my TI, but I realize I have a long
way yet to go.
TI-BASE opens up creative and
critical USER possibilities in a way
nothing else has ever done for the TI
with the possible exception of
FUNNELWEB and TI-ARTIST. (I know
GRAPHX is wonderful. It's the art
program I teethed on. And BA WRITER
is great. And don't forget
_________. [Fill in the blank with
your favorite.]
But TI-ARTIST (by Chris Faherty
of Inscebot) has become the TI
World's standard against which all
art products for our machine are
judged. Can the pictures be
converted? Is the drawing/painting
program compatible? And so on. Can
new enhancements be made for it (such
as DISPLAY MASTER, ARTIST EXTRAS,
ARTIST COMPANIONS)? And, equally
important, is it used productively by
the VAST majority of users? No
question, TI-ARTIST has, justifiably,
become the most productive art tool
for the 99.
FUNNELWEB (by Tony McGovern and
his son Will) has had a parallel
experience as a modified disk
operating system for the 4A, an
environment that is centered around
the combined functions of
word-processing, assembling, and disk
managing. It has become the single,
most-used disk program for the TI.
Again, justifiably.
Now comes TI-BASE.
It, too, will become - without
question - THE database tool for
normal users to astound themselves
with and for geniuses to create
unlimited enhancements and templates.
TI-BASE is an open-ended data system
that includes, in passing, text and
disk management packaging for
incredible convenience. Yet it also
allows such freedom of
personalization that it is
mind-boggling. The only thing I can
equate it to is DBIII+ for IBM. And
that sells for about $800 and comes
with piles of disks and a 500+ page
manual. And, if you look in any
bookstore's computer section, you
will find loads of books on how to
use DBIII+ (or any of the earlier
ones in the series). Colleges and
night schools offer courses on just
the use of DBIII+.
And here's the rub. INSCEBOT
(P.O.^Box 291610, Port Orange, FL
32027) provides THEIR masterpiece on
two SSSD disks and one of those is a
tutorial disk. Their manual is a
mere 40 5x7 pages.
What this means is 1) that a
genius created this extremely compact
base and 2) that the manual is in no
way complete for those who want to
dive deeply into this remarkable
piece of software. I can picture all
kinds of companion disks being
created for TI-BASE by users
world-wide, starting with disks of
templates. I can also picture all
kinds of things being written for it,
starting with tutorials.
Let me catch my breath here a
minute. You're probably getting the
impression I LIKE this program. LIKE
is not a strong enough word. You'll
see why in a moment.
But first let me explain that
Chris Faherty's father, Dennis, is
the brilliant creator of TI-BASE.
Now we have another father-son 4A
genius team, like the McGoverns.
Dennis has been a data-processing
professional for almost a quarter
century. It's apparent on TI-BASE
that he brought all his expertise and
experience to this software.
To tell you the truth, when I
first read the manual I panicked. I
didn't (and still don't) understand
such things as the following
paragraph:
"The CASE directive allows
selective processing of directives.
CASE directives are included between
DOCASE and ENDCASE directives. Each
CASE is examined sequentially. The
first case which resolves to 'true',
will be executed. Execution will be
continued until a BREAK directive is
encountered. Execution will then be
discontinued until the ENDCASE is
encountered."
That's as bad as it gets.
I'm sure people who use databases
with regularity at work will find
that paragraph a piece of cake. I
don't.
My database experience (except to
watch others on the DB series on the
IBM and, once in a while, to play
with the base part of APPLEWORKS) has
been strictly TI: DB 300/500, PR
BASE, CFS, and a few other disks and
modules. All of which were good for
some things but were not
user-friendly and were very limiting.
I didn't feel creative using them.
None of them seemed to be able to do
the kinds of things I had pictured in
my mind. What TI-BASE does best is
let you create EXACTLY what you want
in an easy and direct way.
The best way to explain this, I
think, would be to run through my
very first application.
I have a collection (mostly
paperbacks and flea-market specials)
of books by P.G.^Wodehouse, who is
the funniest writer you ever lived.
He wrote 97 books. He also wrote
285 short stories, 33 musicals, 18
plays, over 200 songs, and an untold
number of essays and reviews. He
holds the Guinness Book of Records
for having five of his musical
comedies running simultaneously on
Broadway. There have been dozens of
books written about him and there
have been collections of earlier
works into first-time anthologies.
Plus, he wrote movies and had many
that were based on his works. There
were numerous television and radio
series in this country and England
(many introduced by Wodehouse), and
there were records and tapes made of
many of his works.
In short, he was a prolific writer.
I had piles of his works and needed a
data base to find out what I did and
did not have. In addition, many of
his works were published under two
(and sometimes three) different
titles: American, British,
paperback.
I wanted a database that would
let me put his works in order by
publication date, by title, by
bibliographical assigned number, by
type (hardbound, paperback, tape,
video, etc.), by special series (the
Jeeves books, the Blandings Castle
books, etc.), by first editions (for
the few I had), by ownership (did I
or didn't I own a particular book
under any title), and, most
importantly, by comments. I wanted a
large comment block that would give
me alternative titles, plot
summaries, main characters, whether
this was the fifth in the Blandings
series, and so on). And I wanted to
sort these in all different ways. I
wanted to be able to display any
combinations of fields together (such
as alphabetical title along with
ownership or publication order with
special series and titles and media
type). And, of course, I desired the
capability to print out in any
combination of fields and in any sort
order. And instantly.
Now that doesn't seem like too
much to ask, does it?
However, I've never been able to
do it with any of the databases for
the TI, whether cartridge, disk, or
RAM.
I also wanted to be able to house
the database in the RAM of my Myarc
512 or any drive of my choice on
disks named anything of my choice.
I wanted to be able to change
column structure, line length, and
spacing at will from INSIDE the
program. I secretly wished for the
ability to initialize disks of any
configuration, catalog disks, and
copy files ALL WITHIN THE PROGRAM so
I wouldn't lose the base in memory or
the screen I was working on.
It stands to reason that I would
like to Edit and Append and Display
and Find and Sort and Print and Move
files at will.
Well, if I tell you that I never
found a database for the TI that
would even begin to approach this
dream of mine, you would not be
surprised. I fiddled and manipulated
every base I could find to BEGIN to
handle some of these very simple
wishes of mine. For years! To no
avail.
Within four hours today I did all
of the above and much, much more.
And I didn't even begin to tap the
potential of this remarkable program.
I didn't even try the incredible
mathematical possibilities or the
manipulation of variables. I didn't
even get a chance to TRY one-third of
the stuff in the manual. I haven't
even tried the tutorial disk yet.
(Maybe that'll tell me about those
DOCASE directives and such.)
But I had, for the first time, my
P.G.^WODEHOUSE database. I had
hardcopies of 10 different
configurations of the fields. I'm
still aghast with the ease and speed
(TI-BASE is 100% assembly) with which
I created and filled this file.
Don't get me wrong; there ARE
limitations to TI-BASE. But nothing
that would effect me in the
slightest.
The limits are 255 characters per
field (the basic item, such as title
or publication date); 17 fields per
record; and - get this! - 8,192
records per database! (THIS is
limiting????) And absolutely NO LIMIT
on the number of databases you may
create.
As prolific a writer as Wodehouse
was, his works are just a tiny drop
in the bucket to TI-BASE.
Now you can use your database for
your checking account. Exactly the
way YOU want it (as the numericals
will handle your math work). Or you
can develop the ultimate address book
or a series of interrelated files.
TI-BASE will let you have up to 5
DATA BASES OPERATING AT THE SAME
TIME!
Before I get carried away, I want
to say three things: first, I'll do
the Wodehouse tutorial in the next
IMPACT column step-by-easy-step;
second, all you need is one
single-sided drive and 32K with XB,
E/A, or MM, though the higher
configurations make things, as
always, a bit easier; and, third, the
price of this masterpiece is only
$24.95 (plus $1.50 S&&H) or a few
dollars less if purchased by user
groups in group orders of any size).
This is THE best buy of the year for
TI owners with disk systems. You may
order from Inscebot (above) or
Texaments; 53 Center St.; Patchogue,
NY 11772 or charge 516-475-3480.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Jack Sughrue, Box 459,
E.Douglas, MA 01516]
If any newsletter editor prints
these articles please put me on
your mailing list. Thanks - JS
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