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1995-10-31
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PBase Lite Campaign Software
{.ob}Overview{.oe}
Pbase Lite is a political campaign database for tracking voters, their
issues and demographics. From this information you can produce walk lists,
call lists, mailing labels, and other reports.
{.ob}Versions{.oe}
The demo version of Pbase Lite limits you to a maximum of 250 people
in your database, the full version is unlimited. A Microsoft Windows version is
now being produced, and a full version that tracks contributions and prints
FEC/state reports is being planned. If you would like to order the full
version of Pbase Lite, please see Appendix B. If you would like your state to
be supported by a future version of Pbase, let us know.
{.ob}Requirements{.oe}
Since small campaigns don't have millions of dollars to throw around like
large campaigns, Pbase Lite will run even on simple systems. The minimum
requirements are an IBM-PC compatible with 640K RAM, 20 megabyte hard disk
drive, and an Epson/IBM compatible printer. A tape drive to backup your
databases is recommended, but not required.
{.ob}Installing{.oe}
{.ob}Starting{.oe}
Change to the PBlite directory and type pblite.
{.ch}
{.ob}Basics{.oe}
Help
Help is available at any time by pressing the F1 key. Pressing F1 from
inside a Help screen will bring up the Online Manual.
Online Manual
This manual is can be seen from Pbase by hitting F1 in any help screen.
Hitting F1 again will show you how to bring up the index and table of contents.
Saving {.ib}Saving{.ie}
When you are done editing a record, hit F10 to save the record.
Fields
Tab Move to the next field
Enter Save the information to the field
">" Fields {.ib}Fields,lookup{.ie}
Fields with a ">" sign after them are lookup fields. You can either type
in the value, or hit the down arrow on your cursor keys and you will be
provided a list of possible values. In some cases if what you want is not in
this list, hit "Esc" and you will be allowed to enter a new value. Other
fields like Honr, have their choices fixed.
If you added a new value to the list you must then choose it from the list
again for it to be entered into the field. If you want to change a value in a
field, enter spaces to clear it and the program will bring up the choose list
again.
Short Cuts {.ib}Keys, moving{.ie}
Use "Pg Up" and "Pg Dwn" keys to move through the different screens.
Use "Cntrl ->" and "Cntrl <- " keys to move though the records.
{.ch}
The {.ob}Menu{.oe}
File{.ib}Menu, File{.ie}
Next Screen View the next screen of the application
(Comments, etc.)
Previous Screen View the previous screen of the
application.
Screen Saver You can turn on a screen saver if you
are to be able from your computer for a
while.
Exit Leave the program.
Record{.ib}Menu, Record{.ie}
Next Record Get the next record (as entered) from
the database.
Previous Record Get the previous record from the
database.
First Go to the first record.
Last Go to the last record.
Search Search for a record.
Search brings up a search screen that
lets you search on number of fields from
the screen. Select the field, then type in
your search term and hit enter. If you
do type in a search term, you get a list
of values in the database that you can
browse.
Edit{.ib}Menu, Edit{.ie}
Add Add a new record to the database.
F-10 to save.
Edit Edit an existing record in the database.
Copy Copy the current record. F-10 to save.
Delete Delete the current record.
More{.ib}Menu, More{.ie}
View the others screens, in the Contact Manager you have:
Comments Free form window for comments
associated with the person.
Groups Groups or descriptions to associate with
people.
Voter Information Social/Demographic/Political data.
Volunteers Schedules for volunteers.
{.ch}
The {.ob}Contact Manager{.oe}
Person Record
This is the main screen of PBase Lite. Enter names, addresses,
phone numbers, and other contact information here. The record
is extensive enough to use not only for voters, but your own
personal contacts.
Special Fields:
"Last Contact"
The last date this person was spoken or written to. This defaults
to the date on which this record was recreated.
"Email"
If your contact has an electronic mailing address, enter it here.
"Status"
Status of this record or person. The status can be Active,
Inactive, or Unknown. You may want to use this if the database
is being used mainly for supporters or volunteers.
"Account"
If you do business with this person, you may have an account
number which you can track here.
"P"
Notice the P field in the upper right hand corner. This is the last
field you mark. This allows you to enter any character (a-Z,0-9)
to mark this for printing at a later time (see the PMark field in the
Reports section).
Comments
The Comments screen lets you enter free-form information
about a person. You can enter up 15 lines of information.
Groups
Groups lets you add any number of descriptions or groupings to
a person. This could be used to track answer from a poll for
instance by making each answer a group. You can enter values
here in the demo system, but there are not any reports in the
demo system provided to take advantage of it.
Voter Info
The Voter information screen tracks very specific information
about voters, including what political subdivision they are a part
of, sociological information,and issue interests.
The County, City, Precinct, Cong Dst, and Sch Dist, all apply to
where the voter is registered. Use these fields for Walk/Call
listings.
County, Origin, Sex, Party and Issues are required if you use
this screen. If you do not known, or do no wish to enter this
information, select "NA" or "A-NA" for the value.
Since there can only be one of the screens for each person, you
can not use "Add" more than once. If you try to add two voter
records for one person you will get an error saying "the key
already exists".
Always remember to hit F-10 to save this record when you are
through editing.
Volunteer Info
If the person is a volunteer, use this screen to record the day of
the week, date, time and amount of hour the person
volunteering. If you use the Search feature, then it Alt-B for the
Brief view. This will allow you to browse all the information.
Always remember to hit F-10 to save this record when you are
through editing.
{.ch}
{.ob}Reports{.oe} {.ib}Reports{.ie}
Reports allow you to print out, save to disk or view a search.
Two fields are common to all reports:
Output This field lets you select where you want
the report printed. The default is PRN.
You can chose PRN (default printer),
LPT1,LPT2,CON (screen), DSK (disk).
If you choose DSK, you must specify a
file name in the File field.
File See above.
Full Report
This report prints all of the available information about a person.
The filter (entry fields) allow you to select persons of a particular
Name, Party, Precinct, School District, Issue, or a person whose
record was marked for printing. If you do not specify a value
for a field, that field will be ignored with the following exceptions:
Party You must enter a party name or select "NA"
if you want it ignored.
Issue You must enter an issue, or select "A-NA" if
you want it ignored.
Walk/Call
This report prints either a walk or a call list of people who match
one or more of the following: City, State, Precinct, Cong. Dist,
School Dist, Party, Street, or between a high and low street
address. The following fields are required:
Party You must enter a party name or select "NA"
if you want it ignored.
Walk/Call If you select walk (W) it will give you an address
but no phone number. Call (C) will give you a
phone number but no address.
By selecting a starting and ending address for a particular
street, you can make individual walk or call lists for you
volunteers.
Label
This report print a mailing label, selected by the following:
Cong. Dist, School Dist, Precinct, Party, or Print Mark (PMark).
Any of the fields can be left blank with the following exception:
Party You must enter a party name or select "NA"
if you want it ignored.
The report is designed to print on one-accross, tractor fed labels,
on a Epson/IBM compatible printer.
LasLabel
This report print labels on a HP compatible laser printer
using Avery labels. This report is not available with the
demo version.
{.ch}
{.ob}Utilities{.oe}{.ib}Utilities{.ie}
Occupation Data
The job list you used for the "Occup" field of the contact
manager. The description field is not necessary, but it is
recommended.
County Data
The county list used for the "County" field of Voter Information
screen. Sizes and County seat are not required.
Issue Data
Your Issue list used for the Issues fields of the Voter information
screen. The "Code" field is not used now, you can use it if you
wish.
Zip Data
The Zip code list used by the contact manager. Enter the Post
Office in the description to help users associate a zip code
number with a location.
Group Data
The Group database allows you to associate any number of
descriptions with a person. This program allows you to maintain
the group names and their descriptions.
Fix Programs
If you a power loss, computer virus or other computer problem,
your database could become damaged. First you should always
backup your database after use. But if you haven't or have
done lots of work since the last backup you can try the database
fix programs.
We recommend you backup your data before running this in
case you change your mind. After backup choose the database
you want to fix. When the screen appears, hit F10 twice and it
will start. Hit "Esc" to exit at any time.
The fix programs will also purge deleted, or lost records. If you
deleted a lot of records you may want to run this program.
{.ch}
{.ob}Setup{.oe}
Printer Setup{.ib}Setup, printer{.ie}
Run the printer install program to select your printer. The
default is Epson FX If you printer does not appear on the list
you can add your printer if you known the codes your printer
uses for underline, boldface, etc. Otherwise Epson for a dot
matrix, and HP Laserjet for a laser or ink-jet printer should work.
To add a printer driver for a printer not in the list, select Add,
type in the printer name and hit F-10 to save. Then hit Item
and a box will appear with fields for ID, Print Style, and fields for
activating and deactivating codes. PBLite uses these IDs and
Print Styles:
ID Style
B Bold
I Italic
N Normal
U Underline
Use these ids and put the code to activate the style for your
printer in the activate field, then put the code to turn it off in the
deactivate field. Hit F-10 and this setting will be saved.
Screen Setup{.ib}Setup,screen{.ie}
This will allow you to change the color of the background and
displayed fields as well as turn on "snow" checking (usually not
needed). Use "Esc" to save and exit this program.
Backup{.ib}Backup{.ie}
This program will store the current copy of your database and indexes to
the SAVdirectory. You can then backup these files up using your tape
drive, disks or other backup method.
Restore{.ib}Restore{.ie}
This program will restore the version of the database you saved with the
Backup command. Warning: doing this will overwrite the current
database, destroying any new data you enter since you used the
Backup command. If you want to restore a database that you saved on
tape or elsewhere, simply restore into the SAV directory, run PBase Lite
and select the restore command.
{.ch}
{.ob}Appendix A: Computers and Campaigns{.oe}
{.ch}
{.ob}Appendix B: Ordering Information{.oe}
{.ch}
{.ob}Appendix C: Database Fields{.oe}
{.ch}
{.ob}Index{.oe}