Archiver is a database program for the Archimedes. It has been written
especially for indexing magazines, journals or books although it can be
applied for indexing almost anything. It is a multitasking RISC-OS
application utilising the Interface module. An entry consists of four text
fields and two topic selections from a preset list. A thrid optional topic
can also be used.
2. Getting Started
Double-click on the Archiver icon or an Archiver file to load the
program. Its icon will appear on the right-hand side of the icon bar. The
supplied file contains data on all the issues of Archimedes World for 1992.
When the file is loaded, to browse through the records, choose 'Browse' form
the icon bar menu or click with Adjust on the Archiver icon. The browse
window will appear. Click on the left and right arrows to move through the
records. In the goto submenu of the browse menu (click Menu over the browse
window) are options to move to the first item, last item, next and previous
items.
3. Using the find function
By choosing 'Find item' from the browse or icon bar menus or by clicking
on the Archiver icon on the icon bar with select, the find window will
appear. To find text in one of the four text fields of each item type it intothe top text entry box. To choose the field that the search will look at, click on the respective button in the list to the right of the text box. The search is not case sensitive and will search for the string within the text field (so you could enter only part of a string like 'A5000'). Below the textentry boxes are two other text boxes. By clicking on the cross next to one ofthese boxes, it will become ungreyed. To switch it off again, click on the tick and it will turn to a cross and the box will become greyed.
When the box is ungreyed, clicking on the arrow to the right will bring up
a menu of topics. Choose a topic from the menu and it will appear in the
box. When a box is ungreyed, Archiver will only look up items with
that topic. This is the same for both boxes, even though they have different
entries.
The optional topic is at the bottom of the dialog box. When this is
selected, only items with that topic selected will be looked up. When
it is not selected, any item will be looked up, regardless of whether
it has the optional topic selected or not.
When the search has been selected, click on the find button. The hourglass
will appear, showing the percentage of the search completed. When the search
is finished, a window will appear containing the matches found.
By leaving the text entry box blank, searches can be performed for
items with particular topics.
4. Setting options
The way searches are performed can be controlled from the options dialog
box, on the icon bar menu. Here, you can choose whether you want the matches
shown, or just informed when the search is finished, and if you want a log
file created.
A log file is a text file containing all the matches found in a search. It
is saved into a directory inside the !Archiver directory. It can be saved
in two formats. To open the log file directory containing the saved log
files, choose 'Show logs' from the icon bar menu.
5. Adding, editing and deleting items
To add a item, choose 'Add item' from either the icon bar menu or browse
window menu. Fill in the text boxes and choose two topics from the lists (as
in the find dialog box). Finally, select the optional topic if it applies.
Click Select over the add button and the item will be added to the end of
the file. If you choose 'Add item' from the browse window menu, the insert
button will be ungreyed. If you choose this, the new item will be inserted
infront of the current one displayed in the broswe window.
To edit a item, make sure it is displayed in the browse window and choose
'Edit item' from the browse window menu. Alter the item and click on the
add button.
To delete a item, make sure it is displayed in the browse window (as for
edit item) and choose 'Delete item' from the broswe window menu.
6. Creating a new file and customizing
To create a new file, open the dialog box from the file menu on the icon
bar menu. A large window will appear.
To create a new file like the current one, choose Copy. The details of the
loaded file will appear in the appropriate places. Choose Create new file if
you want to keep it the same, otherwise continue reading...
To alter or add topics to the lists, type them into the two big white
boxes on the left side of the window. To use an optional topic, type it into
the text box marked 'optional topic'. Below this are four text boxes. These
contain the names to be used for the fields when entering data. Below this
are four options. These control which fields are cleared when entering a new
item, so for example, you could set it so when you create a new item, the
page number and item title fields are cleared, but the date and magazine
fields are left intact from the last entry.
By clicking on the reset button, all text boxes are cleared, and options
cleared.
To create the new file, click on 'Create new file'. To cancel the dialog
box, click on 'Cancel'.
Information about the file can be changed/entered in the info dialog box
