Loadstar 224/224.d81/t.manual3

Text File | 2022-08-26 | 8KB | 269 lines

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           D A T A T O O L


SEARCH FOR TEXT

 The search will be done in the
worksheet including all data, text
and settings, but not in any other
item of the main menu. For example:
you will be able to search for a BASIC
text sequence stored somewhere in the
worksheet, but not for a text sequence
stored in the loading section, or
somewhere else.

 The instruction for searching text is
limited to 80 characters. Pass over
will be ignored without error message.
There is no particular search for
numbers and ranges, but you can search
for a number or a part of a number as
well. Don't search for a certain
layout, because the search looks at
numbers the way they are shown in
input-mode, without care about layout
setting.

 No wildcard characters are available.
You can only search for the (part)
text you specify. Letter case is
significant!

 When Search is on, you will move from
one found subject to another using
<CRSR left/right>. If you have chosen
the Replace option, movement is the
same, but in this case you may press
<RETURN> in order to replace the text
found by the text you set as
replacement and to move on forward.
If the replacement text is empty, the
text found will be deleted.

 You always have the option to exit
the search and to stay in the present
cell by pressing the <BACK-ARROW> key.


SORT DATA

 First, you have to choose between
sorting from lower to higher value
(ascend) or from higher to lower value
(descend). Secondly, you choose the
column that will be decisive, whether
Number or Text type. Then you may
start.

 The system will sort data-rows. If
there are any other rows (e.g. BASIC,
Res, Label, Pause) in between, the
sorting process will not disturb this
arrangement, but the data-rows will be
sorted blockwise. Empty rows are
sorted last, no matter which sort
order is set. But if a row contains
something, an empty decisive column
will be counted as the very lowest
value.

 If you want to sort more then one
level (represented by several
columns), you have to sort the lowest
level first. The sorting routine will
keep the rank as far as the decisive
column holds an equivalent value.

 Be warned, that sorting a very large
worksheet will take a good while. You
can interrupt the process using the
<STOP> key, without endangering the
data.


LOAD FILES

 An important restriction has to be
told first: Datatool is unable to
access tape, because memory locations
for tape access are occupied by the
system itself.

 There are two different ways of
inputting data from disk. The first
one is to Load a native "DT" file,
which was stored as a Datatool file
before. You just have to key in the
filename. In case the filename
consists of spaces at the start or at
the end, the length of the filename
can be fixed with quotation marks,
otherwise overhanging spaces will be
cut. (If you don't remember the
filename exactly, press f8, view the
directory and copy the filename using
the buffers.) Then press <RETURN> at
the Okay cell to load a worksheet,
including all settings in all menu
items. The system will check if the
file is valid, and inform you if it
isn't.

 You can also Import data from any
source on disk. This option simply
consists of three BASIC code
sequences. They will be executed in
order to open a file, to input row
data, and to close the file. Similar
to running the worksheet, the opening
code is executed once, the import row
code is executed in any data row or
result row from 1 to 999, unless the
I/O status changes because the end of
the file is reached or an error
occurs. Finally the code for closing
the file is executed.

 Example: You want to import the
directory of your game disks, in order
to print the content nicely, to sort
files by name, to build up a database,
or anything of that kind.

 First, you prepare the worksheet. You
designate a sequence number for disk
and file in column A, assigned to
variable n, numeric type, 6 characters
width, 2 fixed decimal places. It will
hold the disk number in the integer
part, and the file number in the
decimal places. Variable na$, which
stores disk and filename, will be in
column B. Variable bl containing the
number of blocks goes in column C. And
finally variable ty$ will show the
file type in Column D.

 After the design of the worksheet is
settled, you turn towards the code for
inputting data from disk. This is
written in the Import section of the
Load menu.

 In the sequence for opening a file,
you open a channel for reading the
directory "$" from disk, and fetch the
first two bytes of the loading address
without using it.

 The main task for importing row data
uses GOTO statements. Therefore you
have to number the lines. The lines
numbered from 2 to 8 concern the way
already existing data in the worksheet
are treated. If you want to collect
more then one directory in the
worksheet, you have to consider that
the code for importing rows is called
from row number 1 to the end of file.
BASIC line 2 observes the present load
of the worksheet and counts the
highest stored disk or file number in
variable h. If a row is empty,
variable n will contain zero, and the
process of inputting the directory can
start. Otherwise the code sequence is
aborted in line 4.

 Line 6 sets the new disk number to
the highest number counted until now,
plus 1 for the new disk. The lines of
the directory, respectively the file
numbers on one single disk, are
counted in variable f, added in the
two decimal places behind the point of
variable n. At the first line of the
directory, containing the disk name, f
will be zero. The following directory
entrys will be counted up in BASIC
line 8.

 BASIC lines 10 to 90 are based on the
program example in the 1541 users
guide. Line 10 passes two bytes, line
20 fetches two bytes containing file
length. Line 40 builds a numeric value
using the ASC function with a CHR$(0)
in variable c$ to prevent an error.
Line 50 checks if the end of the
directory is reached. If yes, the
disk-/file counter is cleared to the
pure disk number, the string "blocks
free" is added, and the sequence is
ended. (You don't have to bother about
the latter because the changed I/O
status will stop the repetition of the
code automatically.) Line 60 waits for
the opening quotation mark, line 70
collects the filename into variable
na$ until the closing quotation mark
appears. Line 80 passes spaces, line
90 collects the file type in variable
ty$.

 This code sequence will be repeated
while reading entry by entry from the
directory, and each entry is passed on
to the worksheet in the form of the
variables n, na$, bl and ty$, stored
to a new row each time. If the I/O
status changes, because the entire
directory is read, the BASIC-cell for
closing the file is called. Well, this
one is easy -- just close the open
file.

[NOTE]: This example is the Run It for
this file. This time, after
the data and program load
(automatically), Press <F5>,
scroll down to the bottom [OK], and
press <RETURN>. (On the 1581 LOADSTAR
disk, you may have some strange
results because of the number of files
in the directory.)


 After importing a few directories,
you are free now to process the data
in any way you like. (Hopefully your
game disks are not too much, because
at about roughly 50 disks the memory
will be filled.)

 This example was quite elaborating,
but it gives an idea of the
versatility of the input option. You
can import data from a wordprocessor,
for example, or you can set up
temporary files for exchanging data
between worksheets, using the export
option described next.

 Please keep in mind that importing
data, unlike loading a native file,
will not change any existing data in
the worksheet, until the variable
assigned to a specific column is
changed by your import row code. You
can add data to an existing worksheet
by inputing from disk any time, but
you have to be careful concerning the
handling of variables assigned to
columns.

 FK