RUN FILE 1.0 is a database program for the C-64 and C-128 that's designed to do all the management tasks involved in keeping records such as mailing lists and inventories. The program requires a C-64 or C-128 and a 1541, 1571 or 1581 disk drive. A printer is optional.
After some set-up time, the main menu screen appears. The work area is in the top 22 lines of the screen, with program and database identification next, followed by the main menu command line and a message line.
The command line offers six options: Close, Edit, New, Open, Utils and eXit. To select a command, either press the capitalized letter in the command, or use the right-left cursor key to highlight the command, then press return.
There are some restrictions: You can't close or edit a database or execute the Print, Seq or Usr command unless you've opened a database first. Also, you can't open more than one database at a time, and you can't create a new database or exit the program if a database is open.
The New command creates a new database form. You'll be prompted to enter a filename from one to 14 characters long, and the program will automatically give the filename a .f extension. (Don't include the extension when you type in the filename.)
In the first 22 lines of the screen, you can define and fill up to 30 fields, each having a maximum length equal to the screen width minus 1--that is, either 39 or 79 characters. The total length of all fields in the record can be up to 254 characters, not including field names. As you type in text, use the delete key to correct mistakes.
To define a field, type its name (such as LAST NAME or STREET). To define the length of the field, press control/F to mark its start, press the space bar as many times as you want and press control/F again to mark the end. As you do this, you'll notice a field-length counter and a total-record-length counter at the bottom of the screen. You can use the delete key to shorten a field as you're defining it, but you can't use it to erase the field name. To do that, you must press control/D to blank the line out. The total record length will be adjusted accordingly.
Any time you press the enter key on a line, the part of the line that isn't highlighted becomes the new content of that line and the highlighted region becomes blank. For this reason, use the cursor keys to bypass lines you've already edited and wish to keep as they are.
When you're satisfied with the layout of the line, press return for the computer to accept it. If you press the cursor up-and-down key without pressing return, the line won't be accepted.
To accept the entire form on the screen, press the run-stop key in 64 mode or the escape key in 128 mode. The current field will be highlighted, and the following list of field types will appear at the bottom of the screen: Alpha, Key, Num and Special. You'll be prompted to choose a type for each of the fields in the form by pressing the capitalized letter of your choice.
You can select the Key attribute only once, and it should be assigned to the field that best distinguishes records from each other, such as record number, employee ID number or inventory number. If you don't specify a key field, the program will automatically assign the first field in the database to that purpose. Other fields can be assigned one or more of the other types--Alpha, Num and Special. You can cancel a field-type selection for the current field by pressing the capitalized letter again.
Alpha fields can contain upper- and lowercase letters A-Z and spaces. Num fields can contain ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 and spaces. Special fields can contain ! # $ % & ' ( ) * +, - . / : ; < > = ? @ [ ] ^ _ \ and spaces. Once you've set the types for the current field, press run-stop in 64 mode or escape in 128 mode to confirm them and go on to the next field. When you've specified a type for every field, the form will be saved to disk and you'll return to the main menu.
The Open command accesses a particular database and reads its form and index into memory. After you choose Open at the main menu, enter the name of the database you want. (Again, don't include the extension on the filename.) The first time you open a database, you must estimate the number of records you'll want to put in the file, so disk space can be allocated. This estimate by no means limits the number of records you can enter, as long as you don't exceed the maximum of 1000 records in 64 mode or 2000 in 128 mode.
After you've entered your estimate, an index file (with a .i extension on the filename) will be created, along with a relative data file (with a .d extension).
The Edit command lets you access, browse through and update records. When you enter Edit mode, the cursor appears on the first field in the form. Use the up-and-down cursor keys to move from field to field without disturbing the contents of the fields.
Edit mode provides the following function-key commands:
Find (F1)--A search function. Select (via the cursor keys) the field you want to search by, press return to highlight the field, then press the run-stop key in 64 mode or the escape key in 128 mode. Next, enter as much of the search string as is needed to make it unique, and keep in mind that the case of the letters is significant; then press return. If the search field is an index key field, the program goes directly to the matching record, if present, or to the next highest record. If the field you select isn't an index key field, the disk is searched for a match. When one is found, press return to find the next matching record, or press run-stop (C-64) or escape (C-128) to abort the search. While in this mode, you can press F8 to print the screen.
Write (F2)--Stores the record using the index key that's in the key field, along with all the other field data. In Write mode, you can change an existing field by typing over it, then pressing return and F2. Depending on the content of the index-key field at that time, a new record will be created or an existing one overwritten (if it has the same key field contents). After editing the last field you want to change, press F2 instead of return.
First (F3)--Displays the first record in the database, according to the index key value.
Last (F4 )--Displays the last record in the database, according to the index key value.
Next (F5)--Displays the next record in the database with an index key field greater than the current one.
Prev (F6)--Displays the previous record in the database with an index key field less than the current one.
New (F7)--Blanks out all data in the current form, leaving an empty form for entering new data.
Print (F8)--Prints the first 22 lines of the screen on the printer.
To exit Edit mode, press run-stop in 64 mode or escape in 128 mode.
To select a Utils command, use the cursor keys to highlight it and press return. You can press run-stop in 64 mode or escape in 128 mode to return to the main menu from Utils.
Dir--Displays the disk directory. In 64 mode, pressing the space bar once pauses the directory scrolling and pressing it a second time reactivates the scrolling. In 128 mode, use the no-scroll key to pause the display. When you're done with the directory, press return to go back to the form.
Dos--Issues DOS (disk) commands to the current drive.
Drive#nn--Changes the device number to nn, which is any number from 8 to 11. Just enter the number you want at the prompt and press return. If you enter a number that's out of range, the number won't change. The current device number is displayed on the Utils command line. The Drive command enables you to use multiple drives for your files.
Print--Produces hard copies of your data in report or label format. Report format prints all the data in a horizontal line, while label format prints one line at a time. The Print command lets you select fields in the order you want them printed, if your printer is device 4.
Seq--Creates a sequential file of selected fields, in the order you select them, and sorts them if you wish. The format of a Seq file is one field of data followed by a c
