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OS/2 Shareware BBS: InfoMgt
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English.inf
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OS/2 Help File
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2000-04-07
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24KB
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581 lines
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
dBase Info is viewer for DBF (dBase III+/IV, FoxPlus, FoxBase) files with some
basic functions (GOTO, FIND, SUM, MIN, MAX, AVG...). Existing file can be
converted into System Data Format, ASCII text and HTM format.
dBase Info only reads values from DBF file (no changes are written to file).
dBase Info has Language support for English, Croatian, German, Polish, Swedish
and Spanish. If you want to add your Language support visit my site and
download Translation tool (translat.zip).
To start dBase Info from Desktop:
1. Double-click on dBase Info icon
2. Drag and drop object (DBF file) on dBase Info icon
3. Double click on DBF file
To start dBase Info from command line:
1. dbfInfo.exe
2. dbfInfo.exe File (where File is DBF file you want to edit - name with or
without extension)
How to get help
Status line
Most of windows and dialogs in dBase Info have status line in the bottom
of dialog. If you move pointer over control (button, checkbox, radio
button, list, entry field ...), you'll see short description of action
you can perform if you press this control.
Manual
Detailed explanation and instruction about dBase Info can be found in
this manual. Colors and styles used in manual:
Bold - title, some important information ...
Blue - link to related topic in this manual
Red - warning, caution
Pink - button or other control that should be selected to do described
action
Contacting the author
If you need more help, and can't find it here, or you think some
important information is missing in this manual, contact me
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Installation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
REXX MUST BE INSTALLED ON YOUR SYSTEM TO RUN DBASE INFO AND INSTALL PROGRAM.
Installation program (Install.exe) enables you to:
Install dBase Info to selected drive / directory.
ReInstall dBase Info after you copied files to other drive / directory
and refresh existing values in USER (OS2.INI) and objects on Desktop,
UnInstall dBase Info - remove specific values from USER (OS2.INI) and
destroy objects on Desktop.
Files in archive dbfinfo096.zip:
File name Description
Install.exe Install / UnInstall program required!
INSTALL.INI Install / UnInstall - configuration file required!
dbfInfo.exe dBase Info - program required!
ENGLISH.INI dBase Info - ENGLISH language file required!
CROATIAN.INI dBase Info - CROATIAN language file
GERMAN.INI dBase Info - GERMAN language file
ITALIAN.INI dBase Info - ITALIAN language file
POLISH.INI dBase Info - POLISH language file
SWEDISH.INI dBase Info - SWEDISH language file
SPANISH.INI dBase Info - SPANISH language file
FastIni.dll Library for fast access to INI files recommended
English.inf dBase Info - English manual (this file) recommended
English.ipf dBase Info - source file for manual
Polish.inf dBase Info - Polish manual
Swedish.inf dBase Info - Swedish manual
Spanish.inf dBase Info - Spanish manual
Install.ico Install / UnInstall icon
dbfInfo.ico dBase Info - icon
Folder1.ico dBase Info folder - icon
Folder2.ico dBase Info folder - icon
file_id.diz dBase Info - short description
Unzip files from archive dbfinfo096.zip to empty directory, start Install /
UnInstall program (Install.exe) and select action: Install or UnInstall.
Anm: if you run dBase Info program (dbfInfo.exe) before installation,
Install / UnInstall program will start.
DO NOT unzip archive in ROOT DIRECTORY!
Related topics:
Install
UnInstall
Settings
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1. Install ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
After you pressed Install button, you'll see Copyright notice, License
agreement and Disclaimer. Read this carefuly and press I agree button if you
want to install dBase Info.
Install procedure will do following:
1. add dBase Info's specific values in USER (OS2.INI) file,
2. create dBase Info's folder and programs objects on Desktop,
3. write default values to dBase Info's INI file (DBFINFO.INI),
You can install dBase Info:
to suggested directory (c:\DbfIn096),
to current directory - where you started Install program (press Current
button),
to other drive/directory (press Other button, then select
drive/directory),
to new directory (enter name for new directory - Install program will
create new directory and copy files to this directory).
Anm: If you selected current directory as target directory for
installation and dBase Info is already installed in this
directory, current settings in DBFINFO.INI file will be
OVERWRITTEN with default settings.
Install program can create only ONE directory - for example: you can
create c:\Newdir, but not c:\Newdir1\Newdir2.
DO NOT select ROOT DIRECTORY as Installation directory!
If Install program find files in directory where you want to install
dBase Info, they will be OVERWRITTEN.
If you copied dBase Info to new drive/directory, start Install / UnInstall
program again, and select Install. Program will write new values in USER
(OS2.INI) file, and refresh objects on Desktop.
Related topics:
UnInstall
Settings
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2. UnInstall ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
If you don't like dBase Info and want to remove it, start Install / UnInstall
program and select UnInstall. When you finish this procedure, you can delete
all files from directory where you installed dBase Info.
Obs! Do not remove files without UnInstall procedure.
If you did it, destroy dBase Info 0.96 folder and remove following values from
USER (OS2.INI) file, in Application ToolsByGoran:
dbfInfoWorkDir
dbfInfoINIfile
dbfInfoVersion
Related topics:
Install
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. dBase Info Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
To open dBase Info menu click on menu item or press Alt button and underlined
character in Menu bar (for example : Alt-F for File menu)
File menu (following menu items are also available as buttons in dBase Info
page)
Open Open new DBF file via standard FileOpen dialog. You can select
drive, directory and file. Double-click on file name, or select
file name and press Open.
Recent Open recent files (last opened). Select file from list, and
press Open button, or double-click on file name.
Save As Save DBF file as SDF (System Data Format), ASCII text or HTM
file.
Help Show help for dBase Info.
Exit Exit program.
Action menu (following menu items are also available as buttons in Browse and
Form page)
Go to Go to selected record in DBF file.
Find Find string in selected field in DBF file.
Math On numeric fields, following can be calculated: SUM, AVG, MAX
and MIN. If DBF file has no numeric fields, this menu item is
disabled.
Settings menu
Settings Configure dBase Info
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Pages in Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
dBase Info Page
General information about DBF file are displayed - type, size, creation date,
filelds, number of records, active and deleted records, record length ...
On the right side of page is group of pushbuttons (following actions are also
available in File menu):
Open Open new DBF file via standard FileOpen dialog.
Recent Open recent files (last opened).
SDF Save this DBF file as System Data Format (SDF) file.
Text Save this DBF file as ASCII file.
HTM Save this DBF file as HTM file.
Help Show help for dBase Info.
Exit Exit program.
Browse and Form Page
In Browse (table) view, selected file is displayed in a table - Records in
columns and Fields in rows. Records can be scrolled up and down (in group of
10 records) using pushbuttons (First, Previous 10, Next 10, Last) or you can
Go to selected record. Fields can be scrolled left and right using horizontal
scrollbar.
In Form view, selected record is displayed in a simple form - Field name:
Field value in single row. Records can be scrolled up and down (one by one)
using pushbuttons (First, Previous 10, Next 10, Last) or you can Go to
selected record. If there are more fields in record, they can be scrolled up
and down using vertical scrollbar.
On the right side of page is group of pushbuttons (following actions are also
available in Action menu):
Find Find string in selected field in DBF file.
Math Perform some calculations on selected numeric field.
Help Show help for pages in Notebook.
Exit Exit program.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Following can be changed in dBase Info configuration:
Date Format
Use one of date formats to display date fields:
yyyy mm dd - for example: 1999-10-03 (this is default format)
yyyy Mon dd - for example: 1999-Oct-03
dd mm yyyy - for example: 03-10-1999
dd Mon yyyy - for example: 03-Oct-1999
mm dd yyyy - for example: 10-03-1999
Mon dd yy - for example: Oct-03-1999
You can select one of following separators between, year month and date:
none, blank, hyphen(-), dot(.) or slash (/). Default is hyphen.
By default year is displayed in 4-digit format. If you want 2-digit
display of year, unselect 4-digit year (century) checkbox.
Numeric Format (thousand separator)
Use thousand separator to display numeric fields. Options are: none,
blank or comma (,). Default is comma.
Fonts
Select fonts to use in dBase Info:
Proportional Font (variable width) - default is 9.WarpSans (default) and
Monospaced Font (fixed width) - default is 10.System VIO
To change font Open Font Palette and drag and drop selected font on
selected area (blue text on white background).
Anm: if you change Font, set width of dBase Info window too.
Recommended fonts (and font size) are:
Proportional: 9.WarpSans, 10.Tms Rmn (and smaller), 10.Helv (and
smaller)
Monospaced: 10.System VIO, 10.Courier (and smaller)
Language
Select one of languages in the list to use in dBase Info. Default is
ENGLISH.
Miscellaneous
Show deleted recs Display records marked as deleted in DBF file.
Default is yes.
Recent files Show last opened files (0-9). If you set number
of files to 0, Recent menu item is disabled.
Width Set width of dBase Info window between 500 and
screen width. Default is 500.
Height Set height of dBase Info window between 500 and
screen height. Default is 500.
Save position on exit Default is yes.
When you finished, press Save Settings to save changes and load new settings,
or Default Settings if you want to discard all changes and load default
settings.
Anm: If you changed selected language, exit dBase Info and start it again to
accept all changes.
If you find bug in program, or if DrRexx screen pop up with SYNTAX ERROR
message, select Settings from Menu, and press Default settings button, exit
program and start it again. You will loose your settings, but program should
work.
Related topics:
Install
Troubleshooting
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Save dbf file as ... ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
DBF file can be saved in several file formats. To do this, press one of buttons
on the right side in dBase Info page (SDF Text HTM), or select Save As submenu
in File menu.
If Default radiobutton is selected, then:
all records with all fields are written, ordered as in DBF file (no sort),
output is written to file in file directory of DBF file, with same name
(extension is changed to SDF, TXT, or HTM).
You can select range (start and end record) and directory and name of output
file.
If Custom radiobutton is selected, then you can select:
range (start and end record) and directory and name of output file,
select fields to be written, in order as in Included list, and sorted (No sort,
Ascending or Descending),
System Data Format
This procedure writes SDF (System Data Format) file from exisiting DBF
file. This file format is useful if you want to create new DBF file, and
append records to DBF file from this SDF file.
If you select Write PRG file, PRG file is written too. This PRG is source
file for Clipper 5.3 program (when you compile and link this program, and
start it, new DBF file will be created from SDF file).
ASCII text
This procedure writes text file from exisiting DBF file. Numeric and date
values are written in selected format (in Settings dialog).
If you select Field name checkbox, in first line are written field names.
If you select Break pages, after selected number of lines program will
write Formfeed character ('0C'x). If you select Field name checkbox, in
first line of new page are written field names.
HTM
This procedure writes HTM file from exisiting DBF file. Numeric and date
values are written in selected format (in Settings dialog).
If you select Field name checkbox, in first row of HTM table are written
field names.
You can select Table border in range 0 to 9.
If you select Negative red, negative numeric values will be displayed in
red color.
If you select Wrap long field, long values will be displayed in few lines
(program will try to display whole table width in browser's window).
If you select Write rec number in first column of each row will be
displayed record number.
Anm: If you select Custom option, program needs more time to perform action
(reorder fields, sort records and write file), so be patient.
If any of selected files already exists, program overwrites it without
warning!
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Action ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Go to record
Enter record number and press OK button. Press Cancel button, if you
don't want to do this. Selected record will be displayed in Browse and
Form page.
Find string in field
Select field name in the list and enter string you want to find in
selected field in ALL records. You can select one of following options:
Exact match to find string exact as in field's value.
Partial (first chars) to find leading characters in field's value.
Partial (anywhere) to find string anywhere in field's value.
For example if you want to find string test:
If you selected Exact match, only test will be found (not Test)
If you selected Partial (first chars), test, testing ... will be found
If you selected Partial (anywhere), test, testing, mytest... will be
found
Anm: If you are searching value in NUMERIC field, enter search criteria
WITHOUT thousand separator (for example: 1253.50, not 1,253.50)
If you are searching value in DATE field, enter search criteria
WITHOUT date separator, selected date format and/or 2-digit year
(for example: 19981003, not 1998-10-03 or Oct 03 98)
Searching is ALWAYS CaSe sensitive
Math operations
You can perform mathematical operations on NUMERIC field. To do this,
select field name in the list, select range (first and last record) if
you want. Result is:
SUM - total for all (or selected) records.
AVG - average for all (or selected) records = SUM/number of all (or
selected) records.
MAX - biggest number in all (or selected) records.
MIN - smallest number in all (or selected) records.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. Translation tool ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Language support for dBase Info (buttons text, messages, frames text ...) is
stored in Language INI files (ENGLISH.INI, CROATIAN.INI, etc.) and source of
help file (this file - English.inf) is file English.ipf.
If you want to add your Language support visit my site and download
Translation tool (translat.zip).
To create new Language INI file:
1. Select source language (one of languages in the list).
2. Press New language! button, to create new language file. SOURCE LANGUAGE
will be copied to new language file.
3. Enter language name, comment, your name and email adress (REQUIRED!).
Then press OK - start translation button.
4. Sections (pages in Notebook) are: Menu, Hint, Message, Button, Frame and
Help. Overwrite text with your text.
5. When finished, select your language in program and try it.
To change existing Language INI file:
1. Select your language (as source language and your language).
2. Change comment, your name and email adress if you want, then press OK -
start translation button.
3. Sections (pages in Notebook) are: Menu, Hint, Message, Button, Frame and
Help. Overwrite existing text with your text - press Write changes button
after EVERY CHANGE.
4. When finished, select your language in INI editor and check changes.
Important!
Press Write changes button after EVERY CHANGE to save changes. If you don't
press this button and go to next item, changes WILL BE LOST!
When you create new Language INI file, program will write new Key to file
DBFINFO.INI, Application Language, where:
- Key name is name of new language
- Key value is "English.inf" - it is default help file for dBase Info.
In section (Page) Help are stored titles of topics in English.inf and they are
used as parameter when you press Help button in dBase Info. You should
translate this section only if you want to translate source help file
(English.ipf). Then items in Help section should be identical as translated
titles in new IPF/INF file.
Anm: After you added new Language support to dBase Info, I would appreciate
if you send me new INI file, so I can include this file in next version
of dBase Info.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Translate help file ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
To translate help file you need IPF compiler.
If you want to translate English.ipf to your language, after you finished
translation, make changes in Application "Language" in file DBFINFO.INI.
For example:
when you translated ENGLISH to MYLANG (where MYLANG is your Language),
MYLANG.INI file is created. When you translated English.ipf to Mylang.ipf
and compile Mylang.ipf, Mylang.inf file is created.
Edit in DBFINFO.INI:
change in Application Language, Key MYLANG, Value English.inf to
Mylang.inf.
Be sure you also translated Help section in MYLANG.INI. In section (Page) Help
are stored titles of topics help and they are used as parameter when you press
Help button in dBase Info. Translate this section only when you translated
source help file (English.ipf).
Anm: After you translated help file, I would appreciate if you send me new
IPF/INF file, so I can include this file in next version of dBase Info.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Limitations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
"Classic" vs. Object Rexx
dBase Info can run under "Classic" or Object Rexx. If you have Object
Rexx installed, performance is significantly slower (loading time is
about 3x longer, etc.)
FastIni.dll
FastIni.dll is library for fast access to OS/2 INI files. As dBase Info
stores all information in DBFINFO.INI and Language INI file (settings,
language support ...), it is recommended to use this file (copy it to
directory in LIBPATH statement in CONFIG.SYS, or keep it in dBase Info's
directory). dBase Info can run without this library, but performance will
be slower.
Speed
Loading time and operations depend on your computer's speed, RAM and size
of DBF file. For smaller files (less than 10000 records) speed is
acceptable.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Troubleshooting ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
If you find bug in program, or if DrRexx screen pop up with SYNTAX ERROR
message, try this:
1. READ THE MANUAL please - maybe you find some useful information :-)
2. If dBase Info is still running, select Settings from Menu, and press
Default settings button, exit program and start it again. You will loose
your settings, but program should work.
3. Edit DBFINFO.INI with INI editor and delete Application (section)
General.
Then start dBase Info again - program will load default settings. You
will loose your settings, but program should work.
DO NOT delete dBase Info's related Keys and Values in USER (OS2.INI) file
(Application: ToolsByGoran) !
4. Visit my Home page to see if there is any bug fix or update.
5. Send me a message with following information:
- OS/2 version (and FP) you are using,
- Rexx ("classic" or Object Rexx),
- dBase Info version you are using,
- description of bug or error (and SYNTAX ERROR message from DrRexx
dialog).
I will try to help you and correct error.
Related topics:
Install
Settings
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Copyright and contact ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Author Goran Ivankovic
Address Ulica Josipa Poduje 8
HR-52100 Pula
Croatia
email duga1@pu.tel.hr
Home page http://redrival.com/os2util/
dBase Info is free software but it is not public domain. The author retains
all copyright to the application and all files within it.
You may use dBase Info yourself and you may distribute it to others so long as
all files are left unchanged. You may not distribute dBase Info in any way
which leads to your making a profit from it. This means that you can only
charge enough to cover the costs of media, postage etc. involved in
distribution. Also you may not use it as an incentive to buy something else.
If you are in any doubt you should contact the author.
The author's permission must be obtained before dBase Info is included on a
magazine disc and P.D. libraries. You should, as a matter of courtesy, inform
the author when you are planning to distribute the application and send one
copy of magazine disc to the author.
The author makes no representations about the accuracy or suitability of this
material for any purpose. It is provided "as is", without any express or
implied warranties. The author will assume no liability for damages either
from the direct use of this product or as a consequence of the use of this
product.
Thanks to all users for ideas, comments, corrections, suggestions and bug
reports.
Special thanks to:
Klaus Staedtler
translated dBase Info to German
Francesco Loffredo
translated dBase Info to Italian
Przemys╨ÿaw Pawe╨ÿczyk
translated dBase Info to Polish
BjФrn SФderstrФm
translated dBase Info to Swedish
Eduardo Vila EchagБe
translated dbase Info to Spanish
OS/2 is Trademark of International Bussines Machines Corporation
DrDialog is Copyright of International Bussines Machines Corporation
FastIni.dll is Copyright of Dennis Bareis - OS/2 Developer in Australia
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Author Goran Ivankovic
Address Ulica Josipa Poduje 8
HR-52100 Pula
Croatia
email duga1@pu.tel.hr
Home page http://redrival.com/os2util/