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The 640 MEG Shareware Studio 2
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The 640 Meg Shareware Studio CD-ROM Volume II (Data Express)(1993).ISO
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bibl76.zip
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BIBL.HLP
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1992-09-24
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8KB
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165 lines
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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 have a mouse, you can close this screen by clicking
on the small box in the upper left corner. Clicking on the
'scroll bars' will move through this file. The same is
true for the internal file viewer (V on the Main Menu).
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 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 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 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 only export file that will contain the
value field is the BIX file. If you need a printout
with value (for example, for insurance purposes), print
the BIX file out with a word processor. You can also
ask BIBL to put value in an export file created under
the User-Selects option.
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 processors.
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.
BIBL/NET - A Novell (2.x or later) specific LAN version
of BIBL. Supports full locking security during
operation and offers other network-specific
features. Evaluation version (SHAREWARE) supports
up to 5 simultaneous users. Registered version
supports 1 - 50 simultaneous users. We now
have a LANTASTIC (MSNet) version as well.
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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