Shareware Overload

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EDB Version 3.1 Copyright (c) 1984 & 1988, Ken Brant EDB is an Easy to use menu driven Data Base program. IF YOU FIND IT USEFUL, SEND A DONATION OF $10.00 OR WHATEVER YOU THINK IS FAIR TO THE AUTHOR AT THE ADDRESS BELOW. Your comments and suggestions are invited. EDB is a User Supported program. To promote further development and improvements to EDB and other inexpensive quality software, support the concept of Shareware and Freeware. I WILL SEND YOU A FREE COPY of the EDBFORMS program, when I receive your donation of $10.00 or more. EDBFORMS lets you print forms and reports from an EDB Data Base File. You can use it to print Address Lables, W-2 Forms, Checks, etc. With EDB FORMS, you can print most any form. Permission is granted to make copies and distribute EDB.EXE and EDB.DOC, but they may not be resold under any circumstances without prior written approval of the author. Ken Brant 621 Galerita Way San Rafael, CA 94903 Enhancements in version 3.1 are: 1. Added Dynamic Memory Allocation for file data. 2. Substantially increased the record capacity. 3. Improved Display performance. 4. Added Directory/Path, Defaults to *. for easy viewing. 5. Displays Memory Available and Remaining Record Capacity on Menu. 6. Use the Escape Key to exit from Display option. 7. Use the Escape Key to exit from Match option. 8. Hold down any Key to exit from Print option. 9. Use Pg Up Key to back up one screen in Display option. EDB Version 3.1 Copyright (c) 1984 & 1988, Ken Brant Page 1 EDB is an Easy to use menu driven Data Base program. It provides all the options to Define, Create, Extend, Save, Load, List, Print, Sort, Search and Update a database file. The Main Functions which can be selected from the Menu Screen are: EDB V 3.1 Copyright (c) 1984, 1988 - Ken Brant <C>reate a new file or Extend the current File <L>oad a File from Disk <S>ave the File to Disk <F>iles Display the Directory <D>isplay Display the File on Video Screen <P>rint Print the File on the Printer <E>dit Edit: Change or Delete a Record <O>rder Sort the File <M>atch Find all Matching Records to any Search String <Q>uit Exit the Program To run the program, type EDB. The Menu Screen is displayed. Memory Available and the Remaining Record Capacity are displayed along with the Menu so you always know how many new records can be added to the file. To select a menu option type the first letter of the option. A complete description of each option on the Menu Screen follows: Create: ------- Create is used to define a new data base file. When creating a new file, you define the file characteristics to EDB. EDB will prompt you for the information it needs to Create the data base: 1. File Name is the name of your data base. Some examples are: CHECKS.JAN CHECKS.FEB MEMOS ADDRESS.LST INVTY INVTY.OLD 2. Field Name: Each record contains one or more fields. Field names are used for headings on displays and reports. Make them brief but meaningful. Examples of Field Names are: Check No., Date, Payee, Amount, Name, Street, City, Phone Number, etc. Each field has the following characteristics: a) Field Type. The choices are: A: For alphanumeric data. The field can contain letters or numbers. Use "A" for dates, check numbers, age, names, ZIP codes, phone numbers, descriptions, etc. I: For Integer fields which are to be totaled, but have no decimal places. DO NOT use "I" for numeric fields like ZIP code, phone number or social security number. Use "A" unless you want EDB to total the field. n: The number of decimal places. The field will contain numeric values with decimal places. Use 2 for money amounts. Fields with decimal places will be totaled. EDB Version 3.1 Copyright (c) 1984 & 1988, Ken Brant Page 2 b) Field Length. Just enter the length of the field. It must be at least as long as the Field Name you chose. If you have a field that is one character long, but its Filed Name is longer, Field Length must be increased to the length of Field Name, or the Field Name should be shortened to one character. Otherwise the columns on the display will not line up under the Field Names. The request for the Field Names, Field Types and Field Lengths is repeated until you press the (RETURN) key in response to the prompt for another Field Name. When you have described all of the fields, you will be asked to enter the file data, field by field, record by record. When you have finished entering the data in the file, or you want to stop entering, simply press the (RETURN) key instead of entering the data for the next record. In Create mode, the program automatically saves the file. After a file has been Created it will continue to be the Active file until you Create another file, Load another file or Exit from the program. The Create function is also used to Extend an Active file. That is, you can add more records to the end of a file. To Extend a file, it must be the Active file (the file that has just been Created or Loaded). If you select the Create function when a file is Active, the program will ask if you want to Create a new file or Extend the Active file. To Create a new file, enter a "Y" in response to the question. If you press any other key the program will allow you to Add more records to (Extend) the Active file. Files: ------ When you select Files, "Enter Path name:" displays on the screen so you can choose which drive\sub-directory to view. To select the current drive:\sub-directory and list all files matching wild card "*. " just press the enter key. You may enter a drive:\path\wildcard to select any sub-directory you want. The selected Directory Listing displays, and 'Waiting...' displays at the bottom of the screen. Press any key to proceed to the Menu screen. Load: ----- When you select the Load option, it automatically selects the FILES option first, so you can see the names of the files you have. After the selected sub-directory is displayed, enter the name of the file you want If the file exists, it is Loaded into memory, and the Menu screen displays. If the file can not be found, the prompt: "'filename' does not Exist! To Return to Menu without Loading a file, PRESS (RETURN) or Enter a File Name :" displays. (In this context 'filename' is the name you entered). When a file is Loaded it becomes the Active file. EDB Version 3.1 Copyright (c) 1984 & 1988, Ken Brant Page 3 Save: ----- When you select the Save option, EDB gives you the opportunity to change the name of the file. It displays the prompt "Is 'filename' the file name you want (Y/N)?". To prevent accidental destruction of another file with the same file name, the program checks the current drive\sub-directory. If a file with the same name exists, EDB displays the prompt: "'filename' already Exists. OK to save (Y/N)?". Display: -------- When you select the Display option, the Active file is displayed on the screen. The first 19 records are displayed and the 'Waiting ...' prompt displays at the bottom of the screen. Press any key and the next 19 records are displayed, and so on. Use the PgUp key to back up a screen at a time, unless you are on the last screen. To escape back to the Menu at any time press the Esc key. If fewer than 20 records are left to display, a Total Line is displayed. The Total Line displays the sums of each of the Integer and decimal fields in the file. With very large files there will be a noticeable delay before the total line displays. When 'Waiting...' displays at the bottom of the screen. Press any key to proceed to the Menu screen. Print: ------ When you select the Print option, the Active file is printed on the Printer. First, the paper advances to a new page to insure that the listing starts at the top of the page. Then the file is listed, each record on a new line. A Total Line is printed at the end of the listing To abort printing hold down the space key. If you have a large print buffer, holding down the space bar will not stop the printer until the buffer empties. Edit: ----- When you select the Edit option, EDB prompts you to enter the Key of the record to be changed or deleted. The "Key" is the record number which displays on the left hand side of the screen when using the "Display" option. When you enter the Key, the record will be displayed so you can verify it is the one you want to change or delete. The prompt "Enter <C>hange, <D>elete, or Press any other key to Return" is displayed on the screen. To Change the record, enter "C". To Delete the record, enter "D". To Return to the Menu screen without Changing or Deleting the record press any other key. When you select "C" for Change, you are given the option of entering new data for each field, or pressing (RETURN) to leave the field unchanged. The process is repeated for each field in the record. When you have finished the last field, the Menu screen is displayed. EDB Version 3.1 Copyright (c) 1984 & 1988, Ken Brant Page 4 Order: ------ When you select the Order option, a list of Field Names is displayed, and you are prompted to select the number of the field to sort by. After you select the field, the prompt "Ascending or Descending? enter (A/D)" is displayed. Enter "A" for Ascending Order or "D" for Descending Order. It may take several seconds for the sort to finish, depending entirely on the the number of records in the file and the speed of your micro-processor. For a file of 200 records, it could take 5 to 10 seconds. For a 2000 records, it may take 3 minmutes. When the sort is finished the Menu screen is displayed. Match: ------ The Match option prompts you to enter a "Search Field". A "Search Field" can be any part of any field. For example, if you want to display all the records in the file which have the letters "SMITH" in any field, enter SMITH as the Search Field. Note, letters must Match exactly. Capital letters must be entered as capital letters and lower case letters must be entered as lower case letters. The Search Field of "SMITH" will not match with mixed case letters like "Smith". When the Match function finishes, the 'Waiting ...' prompt is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Press any key, and the Menu screen is displayed. The Esc key functions the same as for the Display option. Quit: ----- When you have finished with the program and your database files, enter "Q" to Exit from the program. The prompt "Save the File (Y/N)?" is displayed on the screen to make sure you do not forget to save the file. This is important if you have made any changes or you have deleted any records. If you want to save the file enter "Y" otherwise enter "N". The program is ended. EDB Version 3.1 Copyright (c) 1984 & 1988, Ken Brant Page 5 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO REMEMBER: 1. To Add more records to the file it must be the Active file. Use the Create option and press any key except "Y" in response to the prompt. If there is not enough memory to add any more records a a message is displayed to that effect. The Menu Screen displays the Memory Available and Remaining Record Capacity. 2. To Delete records from the file, use the Edit option, enter the "Key" of the record to be deleted. When the record is displayed and you verify it is the one you want to delete, press the "D" key. 3. To Load files from, or Save files to a disk other than the default drive and sub-directory, just precede the filename with the drive and path name of the sub-directory you want. For example, if the default drive is A: and you want to save your file which is named PHONE# in sub-directory DATA on drive C: be sure to resopnd "N" when asked if PHONE# is the FileName you want. Then when asked to enter a new file name, enter C:\DATA\PHONE#. 4. If you happen to select the Display, Print, Edit, Order or Match option before you have Loaded or Created a database file, the Directory Listing will display on the screen, and you will be asked to "Enter File Name", so one can be Loaded. 5. For fast execution, this version of EDB stores the data base in dynamically allocated memory. EDB will use all available memory, up to 640K. Depending on how much memory it can get, EDB will handle from 750 to 4000 records of 125 bytes. It is limited to 16 fields. If there is enough interest, the author will consider developing a version with maximum records limited only by disk capacity. 6. Both "Display" and "Print" options list the fields in the exact order in which they were defined by the "Create" option. When you send your registration and $10.00 to the author, you will be sent a copy of the EDB FORMS program. EDB FORMS lets you print forms and reports from any EDB Data Base File. You can use it to print address labels, W-2 Forms, Checks, etc. With EDB FORMS, you can print most any form, provided you have the information in an EDB Data Base.