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PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIAN VERSION 3.11 (C) 1987-1990. All rights reserved. by Soft - Slick 1511 E. Lexington Circle Columbia, MO 65203 (314) 445-2025 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION INSTALLATION GETTING STARTED ADD A CITATION DELETE A CITATION EDIT/BROWSE CITATIONS SEARCH CITATIONS SORT CITATIONS PRINT REPORTS UTILITIES Changing files Changing data drives Appending files Creating files Deleting files Renaming files Deleting all citations Outputing ASCII files Change ASCII code for printer Change length of keyword Toggling between color and monochrome Exit to DOS Exit utilities EXIT EXAMPLES AND HINTS FOR USING PL EXAMPLE 1, Literature cited EXAMPLE 2, Checking for duplicates EXAMPLE 3, Multiple-level search EXAMPLE 4, Backing up files EXAMPLE 5, Changing file structure EXAMPLE 6, Keeping *.DBT files small DATABASE EXCHANGE CUSTOM PROGRAMMING ********************************************* * * * WE HAVE MADE EVERY EFFORT TO MAKE OUR * * SOFTWARE EASY TO USE AND ERROR FREE. * * HOWEVER, THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES, EITHER * * EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY * * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS * * FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ASSOCIATED WITH * * THIS SOFTWARE. ANY SUCH WARRANTY IS * * HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. THESE * * PROGRAMS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" * * BASIS, AND USERS ACCEPT THE FULL * * RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR EFFECTIVE, WISE, * * AND INTELLIGENT USE. PROFESSIONAL * * LIBRARIAN MAY BE USED ON ONE COMPUTER * * ONLY UNDER THE TERMS OF THE SINGLE-USER * * LICENSE AGREEMENT. A SEPARATE COPY MUST * * BE PURCHASED FOR EACH COMPUTER ON WHICH * * IT IS INSTALLED. DOCUMENTATION AND DISKS * * MAY NOT BE COPIED IN ANY FORM EXCEPT TO * * INSTALL ONE COPY OF THE PROGRAM ON ONE * * COMPUTER. * * * ********************************************* PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIAN 3.11 Documentation and Tutorial This is the documentation for Version 3.11 of Professional Librarian by Soft-Slick. The software is really so easy to use that for now, you can type 'PL' and begin to use it. If you have had the program for any length of time, you have probably done this. Play with the few citations on the example database until you see what the programs do. Then delete them if you wish and begin to add your own citations. INTRODUCTION Professional Librarian (PL) has become what we feel is a very good compromise between the needs of users and the limitations of computer hardware and software. Each citation consists of several fields which most people would choose when constructing a citation database and totals a little over 500 bytes. Citations are stored in files which are limited, for all practical purposes, only by disk space. 512K RAM is needed for exiting to DOS. A hard disk and 640K RAM is recommended. PL is "menu-driven" making it very easy to use but also very powerful. By using light-bar menus, selections may be made by typing the number of the choice or by placing the light bar over the appropriate number with the UP or DOWN ARROW keys and pressing ENTER. In general, pressing the ESC key will take you back to the previous menu or the main menu without altering any data. INSTALLATION The following files are needed on the program drive: PL.EXE, PL.MEM, PL.FRM, and PL2.FRM. The data disk needs to have the file: PLEXAMPL.DBF and PLEXAMPL.DBT or another pair of example files from the original disk and future *.DBF and *.DBT file pairs. *.DBT files contain abstracts and need to be in the same location as their corresponding *.DBF files. The program drive may be a subdirectory on a hard disk or may be on a floppy disk. Use the DOS copy command to copy the appropriate files to a working disk, and file the original disk in a safe place. GETTING STARTED The best way to learn a new program may be to jump in and try it. Of course, you will make a few mistakes that may do something funny or not so funny to your data. Probably the next best way to learn is to go through some form of a tutorial. This manual is arranged in the form of a tutorial to walk you through each step of the program and explain what happens as you press the keys. After typing 'PL', a copyright notice appears and will disappear after you strike another key. (If you need to go directly to the utilities you can press ESC. PL will remember the data file and data drive from the last time it was used. If either of these does not make sense to the program when you start it, PL will go directly to the utilities so that you can tell it which file or which data drive to use. If you are in the utilities routine, you will have to exit to get to the main menu.) Then the following Main Menu will appear telling you the current data drive and citation file and offering you a choice of several ways to work with your citations. ╔════════════════════════╗ ║1. Add a citation ║ ║2. Delete a citation ║ ║3. Edit/Browse citations║ ║4. Search citations ║ ║5. Sort citations ║ ║6. Print reports ║ ║7. Utilities ║ ║0. EXIT ║ ╚════════════════════════╝ ADD A CITATION The first choice lets you append citations to the existing database using the following set of fields. Author -> Date -> Title -> Citation -> Number -> Subject 1 -> Subject 2 -> Subject 3 -> Subject 4 -> Notes -> Abstract - (By pressing F1) You also will be told which record you are about to add to the database. A record consists of several fields of information such as AUTHOR, TITLE, etc. Fields are kept somewhat short to conserve space and help keep the programs running quickly. It is wise to fill in these fields as carefully and fully as possible to take advantage of the full power of PL. The SUBJECT fields should be used for key words that do not appear in the TITLE field. SUBJECT fields act as one long field but are broken up here for visual clarity. As biologists, we usually put taxonomic names in a SUBJECT field to aid in taxonomic searches, for example. We number all our reprinted articles and file them in numerical order. This makes the NUMBER field very important because it is usually the quickest way to find an article. Locations of articles in journals or in other places such as a campus library may be noted in the field for NOTES. A blank field for the AUTHOR or ESC will exit back to the Main Menu. UP and DOWN ARROW keys or ENTER will move between fields. LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys will move one space in a field. Editing may take place before adding other citations. If there is anything in the AUTHOR field, the PGDN key will advance you to the next record. Pressing F1 will get bring up the ABSTRACT field. Here it is possible to use our mini-word processor to store up to 64K bytes of information which will "tag along" with each citation. Within the ABSTRACT box, wordwrap and scrolling is supported. Pressing ENTER at the beginning and end of an abstract may make it more readable if it is output as an ASCII file (more on that later). After typing the abstract, exit by typing CTRL-W to save the abstract or ESC to exit without saving it. The record will not be saved if the AUTHOR field is blank even if there is something in the abstract. DELETE A CITATION The second choice lets you delete records, one at a time. If you choose to delete a record, the computer will prompt you for the record number. It will then show you the citation, and ask you to confirm that this is indeed the record you wish to delete. If it is, just type a 'Y' followed by ENTER; if not, type 'N', and you will be prompted for another record number. If the record number you type in does not exist, you will be notified and asked for another number. ESC will exit. EDIT/BROWSE CITATIONS When you wish to edit or browse citations, you have a choice of a field-oriented or citation-oriented approach on the next menu. ╔══════════════════════╗ ║ BROWSE CHOICE MENU ║ ║ ║ ║ 1. Quick Browse ║ ║ 2. Edit/Browse ║ ║ 0. EXIT ║ ║ ║ ╚══════════════════════╝ By choosing Quick Browse from the Browse Choice Menu, the field-oriented approach is used. Several citations are viewed at the same time but only certain fields. Use the ARROW keys or PGUP and PGDN to move through citations and fields. Quick Browse may be used for editing or adding citations. Press ENTER to allow editing of the highlighted field, and type the desired changes. The INS key works to toggle insert on and off. Press ENTER again or UP or DOWN ARROW keys to save changes and move to an adjacent field. Press ESC to not save changes. When at the bottom of the file a new citation may be added in a similar fashion. Press ENTER for each field and type the appropriate text. Abstracts may not be added or edited using Quick Browse. Quick Browse offers a very quick way to delete one or more citations. Press the DEL key to flag the highlighted citation for deletion. This may be done to any number of citations. To exit Quick Browse, press ESC. When exiting from Quick Browse, all the flagged citations will be deleted, and you will be returned to the Browse Choice Menu. The second choice on the Browse Choice Menu is a very efficient full-screen editor showing one citation at a time. The program will prompt you for the record number you wish to start with and will allow you to move to records on either side by using the PGUP or PGDN keys. UP and DOWN ARROW keys will move you through the fields of a record. To edit, simply type the correct characters into the appropriate field. ESC will exit back to the Main Menu not saving changes made to the current field but saving changes made to other fields. The INS key may be used to insert characters in a field. CTRL-W will allow you to select a new record number to edit. If you want to edit the ABSTRACT field, press F1. ESC exits the ABSTRACT without saving, and CTRL-W exits with changes saved. ESC exits back to the Browse Choice Menu. SEARCH CITATIONS When your database gets large, the fourth choice from the Main Menu will be of great use for finding certain citations. The program will ask on which field you would like to conduct a search with the following menu. ╔════════════════════╗ ║FIELD SELECTION MENU║ ║ 1. By author ║ ║ 2. By title ║ ║ 3. By subject ║ ║ 4. By number ║ ║ 5. By citation ║ ║ 6. By date ║ ║ 7. By all fields ║ ║ 0. EXIT ║ ╚════════════════════╝ Then PL will prompt you for the character string you wish to find. The length of the keyword may be changed in the utilities routine to be discussed later. If a match is found in the database, another menu will appear telling you how many citations were found and giving you a choice of what to do with them. ╔════════════════════════════╗ ║ 2 citation(s) found ║ ║ SEARCH/EDIT MENU ║ ║1. Simple browse/edit search║ ║2. Search/print to a file ║ ║3. Search/print to screen ║ ║4. Search/print to printer ║ ║5. Delete citations ║ ║0. EXIT ║ ╚════════════════════════════╝ This menu will give you the choice of browsing and editing records in the usual screen format, outputing selected citations to disk file, screen, or printer, or deleting those citations. If you choose to browse and edit, the first occurrence of that string in that field will appear on the screen. ARROW keys will move you through the fields for editing. PGDN will move you to the next record with that string in the appropriate field. ESC will get you back to the Field Selection Menu. When sending the successful searches to a file, PL will ask you for a file name for the new file showing you a directory of the *.DBF files on the data drive, their size and date of last update. (Pressing ESC will bring you back to the Field Selection Menu.) You will be able to use this new file by responding 'Y' to the next prompt. Otherwise you would have had to go to the utilities routine to switch files. If you choose to delete those records found, you will be asked if you are sure you want to delete those records. ESC or ENTER will get back to the Field Selection Menu. SORT CITATIONS The fifth choice from the Main Menu will send you to a menu of fields on which you may sort a database. ╔════════════════════╗ ║FIELD SELECTION MENU║ ║ 1. By Author ║ ║ 2. By Author,Sub ║ ║ 3. By Auth,Year ║ ║ 4. By Auth,Sub,Year║ ║ 5. By Number ║ ║ 6. By Subject ║ ║ 7. By Sub,Author ║ ║ 8. By Sub,Year ║ ║ 0. EXIT ║ ╚════════════════════╝ After choosing the appropriate fields, you will be asked for the bounds of the first key field. ╔══════════════════╗ ║Enter keywords for║ ║desired bounds ║ ║ ║ ║Starting -> ║ ║Ending -> ║ ║ ║ ║Press Enter for ║ ║no bounds ║ ╚══════════════════╝ For example, if you want citations sorted by AUTHOR for first authors whose last names begin with 'A', begin by selecting '1.' from the Field Selection Menu. Then when asked for bounds, type 'aaaa' for the first bound and 'azzz' for the second bound. Leaving both bounds blank will sort all citations. Leaving only part of a bound blank will tell PL that you are looking for bounds with blank characters. After sorting, you will be asked what you want to name the new sorted file and if you want to use it right now. PRINT REPORTS The sixth choice allows printing of lists of citations. Simple reports may be printed to the screen or to the printer. A more complete report with more information in each field can also be sent to the printer by selecting the wide report. ╔══════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ REPORT SELECTION MENU ║ ║ 1. Simple report (80 Col) to screen ║ ║ 2. Simple report (80 Col) to printer ║ ║ 3. Wide report (132 Col) to printer ║ ║ 0. EXIT ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════╝ This would be used primarily to locate certain citations in your file by their NUMBER. The reports are limited to one line per citation with enough of the citation printed to recognize it as the one you wanted (hopefully). UTILITIES The seventh choice sends you to the Utilities Menu and into the most powerful part of PL. ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ UTILITIES MENU ║ ║1. Change files (Current file:WILD) ║ ║2. Change data drive (Current:C:) ║ ║3. Append a file onto current file ║ ║4. Create a new file ║ ║5. Delete a file ║ ║6. Rename current file ║ ║7. Erase all citations within current file║ ║8. Print current file to disk (ASCII) ║ ║9. Set ASCII code for condensed print ║ ║10. Change length of keyword in search ║ ║11. Toggle color on/off (off) ║ ║12. Run DOS command ║ ║0. EXIT ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════╝ If you choose to change files, a catalog of files appears, and you will be able to select the name of the file you want. The first file name in the catalog will appear in the highlighted box. If this is not the file you want, use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to place the desired file name in the box, then press ENTER. Instead of using the ARROW keys, files names can be quickly changed by typing the first letter of their file names. When more than one file begins with the same letter, just press that letter until you see the correct file name, then press ENTER. Use ESC to exit without changing files. If you choose to change data drives, you will be prompted for the letter and a colon. ESC will exit without changing drives. A file may be appended to your current file by the third choice on the Utilities Menu. You will be asked to select the file you want appended. This is done the same way as in changing files to work with. Use ARROW keys or first letters until you see the correct file name, then press ENTER. ESC will exit without appending any file. Files may be created or deleted by selecting either the fourth or fifth choices from the Utilities Menu. In each case, you will be shown the current catalog of files and asked the name of the file you want to create or delete. To create a file, you must type the new name. To delete a file you select the file name as you did to change or append files as discussed previously. Press ESC to exit without creating or deleting files. The current file may be renamed by choosing the next menu selection. You will be prompted for a new name after you are shown the current catalog of files. ESC will cause the current name to be retained. Citations may be deleted from a file by the seventh choice. You will be asked if you are sure you want to do this. Press ESC or 'N' to exit without erasing citations. An ASCII file may be output to disk by selecting the eighth choice on the Utilities Menu. This file could then be retrieved by most word processors, inserted into a document, and edited to become a literature cited section, for example. PL shows you a catalog of *.TXT files (from previous ASCII output) and *.DBF files. You will then be asked to name the new *.TXT file to be written to disk. If you want to write over an existing *.TXT file, just name it the same name. The following menu will appear next to prompt you for order and choice of fields. ╔══════════════╗ ║ FIELD ║ ║SELECTION MENU║ ║ 1. Author ║ ║ 2. Date ║ ║ 3. Title ║ ║ 4. Citation ║ ║ 5. Number ║ ║ 6. Subject ║ ║ 7. Notes ║ ║ 8. Abstract ║ ║ 9. End ║ ║ 0. EXIT ║ ╚══════════════╝ As you choose which fields to use, a listing of your choices for output will appear on the screen. When you are satisfied with the field selection, press '9.' to end the field selection. PL will then produce the *.TXT file as you specified. Records will begin with '\' so that they will be easier to discern visually or with a search function on your word processor. Beginning and ending the ABSTRACT field by pressing ENTER may also be of some help in visually breaking up the long character string which is produced by this utility. Pressing ESC will stop whatever part of the process you are about to do. The ninth choice allows you to change the ASCII code for condensed print for your particular printer so that the wide report can be printed. You will be prompted for the code. To leave the ASCII code the same, press ENTER or ESC. Choose the next selection to set the length of the keyword for the search routine. You have a choice of values from 1 to 10. Longer keywords help you find much more specific citations. Shorter keywords may be very useful for certain codes embedded in the number or other field, however. Pressing ESC will exit without changing length of the keyword. The eleventh choice toggles back and forth between color and monochrome. After changing, the program must go to the Main Menu before the color change takes effect. The twelfth choice allow you to exit to the DOS environment to execute DOS commands or use some other application program. PL remains loaded in memory so that by typing 'exit', you will be returned to the Utilities Menu. The final choice gets you back to the Main Menu. You will find that with these utilities you can do many creative things that were not possible with earlier versions of PL. EXIT The last choice on the Main Menu is '0.' and lets you leave the program, saving all your changes on the database. EXAMPLES AND HINTS FOR USING PL PL will prove very useful after you get a considerable number of citations input into a citation database. For example, I have a fair number of photocopied or reprinted articles on my shelves which are related to my area of research expertise. I took the time to type them in myself which made me remember some articles that I had forgotten about. By using PL, I placed them into a form that the computer could search so I would not have to "thumb" through the stacks anymore. EXAMPLE 1, Literature Cited.--After all citations are typed in, it is a fairly simple matter to produce a literature cited section for a manuscript. The file output from PL will need only minor editing which is much preferred over completely new keyboard input. Here is how I do it. I never use '*' in my NUMBER field. But in the citations that I want to use in a literature cited section, I place '*' in the first space of the NUMBER field using the INS key. Then I go to utilities to set the length of the keyword for searching to '1.' This lets me use the search routine to find and make a file consisting of just those citations which were "flagged" for inclusion in the literature cited section. I then go back to the utilities to output the database file into the appropriate ASCII file. The next step is to exit PL and use a word processor to edit margins, spacing, and punctuation, etc. in the ASCII file to meet a specific journal style for literature cited. Of course, less time will be required overall if citations are typed originally in conformance to the most likely to be used journal style. At some later time, I go back into PL to delete the database file resulting from the search and edit NUMBER fields in the original database file as needed. EXAMPLE 2, Checking for Duplicates.--This is not as straight forward as it sounds. In looking at other peoples' databases, I see more duplicate citations than I would expect. Even when typed by the same typist, the exact citation often differs by several characters. Strict conformance to some specific citation style will help simplify the situation. When I get ready to input several articles into my file, I check them against a printed list of the citations already in the database or use the Quick Browse function. I usually sort the file by AUTHOR and DATE first. If I am going to input only a few new articles, I might use the Search function on the Main Menu before typing it in. After I have a large file, I use printed reports or Quick Browse to look for suspect duplicate records. I usually sort on AUTHOR and DATE then look at TITLEs. Duplicates stand out quite plainly. Duplicate citations may be flagged for deletion. I sometimes use the citation-oriented Edit/Browse routine to visually check for changes to the screen as I press PGDN to go through the records. As the screen changes from one citation to the next, back-to-back duplicates are easy to spot. Single duplicates may be easier to delete using the Delete function on the Main Menu. When more than one duplicate record is found, they should be deleted one at a time starting from the bottom of the file so that record numbers do not change or else by flagging them for deletion using Quick Browse. EXAMPLE 3, Multiple-Level Search.--If I want to search for articles from a certain AUTHOR on a given SUBJECT, I can easily find them. First, I search for the AUTHOR, making a file of the successful records. I switch to that file and perform the second-level search on it. EXAMPLE 4, Backing Up Files.--When using any program, copies of data files should be kept at all times, that is unless you like to do work over again. As a rule of thumb, I try to back up often enough so that I do not regret having to redo some work. For me, that is every 20-30 minutes of work. In terms of PL, this might be most important on data entry of new citations as other combinations of citations might be contained in existing files. I use the DOS COPY command to copy *.DBF, *.DBT, and *.TXT files to floppy disk. For large files, the DOS BACKUP command will work as will many other backup utilities available. Some of these also reduce the size of files as they are being copied. PL's sort routine will also break up large files quite easily and is very useful for backing up large files. When using the sort routine, PL asks for bounds to use while sorting. As an example, I might specify bounds so that citations by AUTHORs whose last names begin with A-L be output to one file while those from M-Z be output to a second file each of which could fit on a diskette. The main thing to remember is to backup data files in one way or another and keep the original program disk in a safe place. EXAMPLE 5, Changing File Structure.--PL uses the industry standard database management files (dBase III+). We impose further restrictions by defining field names and lengths. The results were essentially what our users wanted with fields kept to a length so that not much extra space was retained. The main reason for maintaining standard file structure is so that our users can exchange citation databases. If the list of authors I want to type is too long to fit in the AUTHOR field, I continue it in the NOTES field. I find that most of the articles in my files fit nicely into the given file structure. However, some users still want more space in certain fields. This can be accomplished by at least two different methods. We will gladly customize your copy of PL for a reasonable cost. The second method involves use of any of several software products that can modify dBase files, including dBase and generally less- expensive products from their competitors. These products have utilities for changing structures of *.DBF files. Files to be used by PL must have the same field names. However, allowing the fields to be longer usually will not cause major problems with PL. The main thing that you will notice is that the data entry screens will not be quite so nice, but they will function. EXAMPLE 6, Keeping *.DBT Files Small.--Abstracts are stored in memo fields in *.DBT files which correspond to *.DBF files with the same name. Everything that you ever type in that file plus quite a bit of control code information will stay in the file even if you delete or edit abstracts. This is an unfortunate artifact from dBase file structure. However, it is possible to keep *.DBT files relatively small using this simple hint. Copy the file to a new file then back again (or delete the old file and rename the new one). This cleans up the deleted or edited excess information that would normally stay in the *.DBT file and keeps it smaller. DATABASE EXCHANGE Registered users also will be eligible for a database exchange system. After organizing their own libraries, some users will find that they have a fairly comprehensive list of citations in their field of expertise and interest. This might be especially true for several professionals working together to build research libraries. Soft-Slick will act as brokers for your citation databases working on a percentage basis. Contact us at 1511 E. Lexington, Columbia, MO 65203, (314) 445-2025 if you are interested in our currently available databases or if you would like us to market yours. CUSTOM PROGRAMMING PL handles citation databases very efficiently. However, to enable the database exchange, fields must be of standard size. If you find that the fields we use are not suitable for your purposes and you are not interested in participating in the database exchange, let us know. Also, if you like the way the program works, but have a different application, we would like to know. We would love to work with you on new applications or custom programming to meet your database needs. As always, our services are available for a modest price.