The Guided Tour ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ When you first start up Starbase3 you will always have a "menu- bar" along the top of the screen. On this bar are four pulldown menus: SHOWS, REPORTS, ADMIN, and EXIT. The first menu, SHOWS, will be highlighted when you first start the program. You can select any one of the pull-down menus by clicking the mouse pointer on it, or by using your cursor control keys for left and right and then pressing [Enter]. <> SHOWS ÄÄÄÄÄ This menu is the main database selection menu. When you want to look up information from a specific Trek Show, the program first wants to know from you what order to list it in. When you select the listing order and hit [Enter], you will then be presented with the next menu which will wait for you to select a specific Trek series. The items that appear on the SHOWS pull-down menu are: < by Stardate> By Stardate This selection will invoke a table browse list which will display ALL Trek episodes in chronological order of Stardates. All episodes that do not have a known Stardate will appear at the top of the list. Any Stardate that has a small letter "e" beside it such as "46900.0e" is an estimated Stardate only (see Episode Information Screen fields). Note: this selection will not ask you for a Series selection after you hit [Enter], it will go straight into a table listing of ALL Trek episodes. < by Title> By Title All of the episodes will be listed in alphabetical order of their titles. Titles are listed for only one series selected from the Series choice list, which will appear after you hit [Enter] on Title. < by Season Number> By Season # All of the episodes are listed in order of their television season number. There is a secondary sort order listing the episodes within the season by their order of appearance or episode number. This table listing will only display for one series at a time. < by Episode Number> By Episode # All of the episodes for the selected series are listed in the order in which they aired. This listing is directly related to the air-date or satellite up-link date. This table listing will only display for one series at a time. < by Tape Number> By Tape # Many of you that watch Trek will also tape many of your favorite episodes. Through your own tape numbers you can keep track of which tapes contain which episodes. This table will list your tape numbers in alphabetical order for the series you select from the series selection table. You will notice with your new program that many of the episodes contain tape numbers already, these are just provided as an example and can be changed to reflect your own tape numbering system. But just so that you understand how the existing numbers were created, here is an explanation. I always buy T-130 VHS tapes. These tapes will each hold three TNG shows easily as long as the commercials have been edited out. Each show is approximately 42 minutes long with the remainder of the hour used for commercials. With simple arithmetic, 3 x 42 = 126 minutes. You should have four minutes to spare at the end of the tape. I then number the tape with something like TNG-26C. The TNG tells me what series is on the tape; 26 means it is the 26th tape; and C means that this episode is the third on the tape. Of course I only use the A, B, and C within Starbase3; the tape is actually labeled "TNG-26". < by Production Number> By Production # This is the number that is assigned to an episode by the production company. Early episodes of Trek, especially TOS did not follow a consistent pattern for production numbers. Later Trek series such as TNG and DS9 followed a sequence where the production number ran in parallel with the episode appearance number. (e.g. DS9 - Prod#: 422; Epi#: 22). TOS numbers start at 1 with no prefix number; TAS numbers start at 1 with the letter "A" to designate Animated; all TMP use the abbreviated movie title such as TWOK (the second movie); TNG starts with 100; and DS9 starts with 400. The only exception to these numbers are with pilot episodes, which sometimes use a 700 number. This table only lists one series at a time. Series Selection Table ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ After you select one of the show sort orders from the SHOWS menu, you will be asked to select a Series that you wish to view or edit. Note: This table will not appear if you select the Stardate order. Even though all of the episodes are stored in one large database, this Series table will display only the episodes from the series you select. Their are three ways to select a series from the list given. If you use the keyboard, simply use the arrow keys to highlight the series and then hit [Enter]. Or you can highlight the series and the hit [Alt-S], which pushes the [Select] button below the list. If you use a mouse, you can click on the series which will highlight it and then click on the [Select] button. Or you can double click the series with your mouse. If you want to back up to the SHOWS menu again, press the [Esc] key or hit [Alt-C] or click on the [Cancel] button with your mouse. The Browse Tables ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Once you have made a Series selection or you have selected the Stardate list from the SHOWS sort list, a "browse table" will appear which will list the episodes in the order you requested. Depending on the selection you made from the SHOWS menu, each browse table will appear a little different. Every browse table will have common features such as an empty left hand column (used for tags), the title of the episode, the season number, and the episode description window on the bottom. The function buttons [View/Change], [Insert], [Delete], [Search], and [Exit] are also common to each table screen. Let's break this screen down into its functional parts: The Main Table window is made up of several columns, each row contains key information on each episode. If you have chosen the Stardate table you will see episodes from ALL the Trek productions, however these are easily distinguished from the column that displays the Series abbreviation letters. The "Tag" column at the left is used for tagging a specific episode or set of episodes. These can then be used later when you want to print out a report on a subset of the episodes. < Tagging Records> Tagging Episodes You can tag specific episodes for various uses such as reports or exporting to a file. When you a Tag an episode, a small checkmark will appear in the first column in the browse table. Each of the tagging operations can be accessed directly with its own short cut key, or selected from the TagHelp pulldown. Press [Alt-H] to access this menu. All of the operations and their shortcut keys are here. For example, [Alt-T] tags a single record, [Alt-F] toggles the tag on a single record, [Alt-G] untags all records, etc. < Locator Field> Locator At the top of the Main Table is a Locator field that will be labeled with the name of the sort procedure you selected from the SHOWS menu. If you type in specific information here, the table will scroll to the closest match. For instance, if you were using Title sort orders in The Original Series and typed in the episode "The Cage", the table would scroll to this selection. < Cursor Keys> Cursor Keys You can scroll through the table manually by using the up and down arrow keys, as well as the [PgDn] and [PgUp] keys. If you hold down the [Ctrl] key and hit the Page Down key the table will go to the last selection at the bottom of the table. If you hold down the [Ctrl] key and hit the [PgUp] key you will be returned to the top of the table. < Updating Episodes> Updating Episodes Highlighting any one of the episode rows with either the Locate field or by clicking on it with the mouse and then hitting [Enter] will cause you to enter the Episode Information Screen. This will be discussed more later. < Browse Buttons:> Along the right side of this screen are a set of function buttons as listed below. These buttons are used with the mouse or you can select the button by holding down the [Alt] key and pressing whatever underlined character appears on the button (and then pressing [Enter]). If more than one item has the same underlined letter, just keep hitting the letter (still holding the [Alt] key down) until your selection is highlighted. < View / Change> [View/Change] - This button when pressed or selected will take the currently highlighted episode on the browse table and enter the Episode Information Screen populated with the information from that episode. You can then edit or review the information on this screen. < Insert> [Insert] - This button when pressed or selected will create a new episode information entry screen where you can append a new episode to your database. < Delete> [Delete] - This button when pressed or selected will take the currently highlighted episode on the browse table and enter an episode information screen populated with the information from that episode. However, every field will be locked, and the message "Select OK to delete" will appear on this screen. If you hit [Enter], the episode will be deleted from the database. If you decide not to delete this episode you can hit the [Esc] key and you will be taken back to the Browse Table. < Search> [Search] - This button is used for Query By Example (QBE). It will present you with a special episode information screen where you can enter the search parameters for a full query (See QBE, below). < Exit> [Exit] - This button will take you back to the previous pull-down menu screen. Conclusion ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Now for the sake of our Guided Tour, go back to the SHOWS menu and select Episode # from the list; then select The Next Generation from the series list. You will now be presented with a Browse table that will list all of the TNG episodes in the order in which they aired. Now highlight Episode # 16 which is "Too Short a Season". Press [Enter]. <> The Episode Information Screen ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ You are now in the Episode Information Screen, the heart of this functional database. The populated fields for this episode provide you with many interesting facts about the selected episode. Using the [Tab] key or the mouse you can navigate through this screen and edit any of the information, append to it, or view other secondary screens as listed along the bottom. Let's go through each field and discover how they may be used. < Title> Title Field Every episode or movie has a title. As you input information into this field you may discover that the first letter is automatically capitalized without your having to hit the [Shift] key. Many fields operate this way. If you discover that it is imperative that the first letter be small, the only way to do this to override the program is to place the [CapsLock] on and hit the [Shift] key as you type the letter. Then simply turn the [CapsLock] off to resume. < Episode> Episode This is the order of appearance number that the episode aired. It should not be confused with the Production number. < Planet> Planet This field can be used to record the planet that was visited during this episode. If there are more than one, than you can record these in Other Points and simply place the name of the first planet visited for the episode in the Planet field. < Parts> Parts This gives you a multiple choice of 1 to 3 parts. Only DS9 has given us a 3-part episode as of yet. But new series may present us with more. The selections here are called "Radio Buttons". By using the [Tab] and [Space] keys to select, or the mouse, you can record the number of parts for an episode. This will automatically default to 1-part in a new entry and in most cases you can simply bypass this field. < Season Number> Season # This is simply the season number that your episode selection appeared in. Normally there are anywhere from 20 to 26 episodes per season. The season number does not apply to the Motion Pictures. < Rating> Rating This is a personal selection where you can rate the episode on a scale of 0-10. Most of the episodes supplied with the program will have a rating of 5, which can be changed to your own personal rating. < Production Number> Production # This is the number applied to an episode from the Production Studios. There is generally a sequence to the Production numbers, however they do not always parallel the episode numbers. < Stardate> Stardate A very unique feature to this database. This field displays the first Stardate mentioned or displayed in the episode; normally it is give at the beginning of an episode in the "Captain's Log, Stardate .....". The earlier Trek episodes did not have any order to the Stardates; it was only during the newer series that the production staff saw a value in creating more consistent Stardates to reflect more accurate and consistent timelines. < Estimated?> Estimated? This is a radio button that can be activated by pressing the space bar or clicking on it with the mouse. In many cases the Stardate is not given during a particular episode, (especially in DS9) so it becomes necessary for those of you that want to follow some sort of time line chronology to make an estimated guess as to the correct Stardate. If you don't know what the Stardate for an episode is, and you enter a guesstimate into the Stardate field, you can activate the radio button to show that this date is a guess. In browse tables, you can distinguish actual Stardates from the estimated Stardates since a small letter "e" will be displayed to the right of the date. < Tape> Tape This field can be used to display your Tape number that the particular episode is stored on. A great way to keep a running catalog of all those VHS tapes. The numbers that are already shown in the database can be changed to whatever numbering convention you use for your tapes. < Air Date> Air Date This field displays the first date that the episode aired. With the older series' this date was the first date you could have possibly seen the episode anywhere in the world; with the newer series this date is the first satellite uplink date to the television/cable networks. In the case of satellite uplink dates, the episode would generally air to the public during the following week. < Director> Director These two fields display the First and Last name of the director for this episode. < Description> Description This is a note field where you can input a complete description of the episode. This field contains word wrapping features similar to those found in word processors. < Guest Stars> Guest Stars This is a selection button which also displays a list of the stars already in the database. All of the guest stars are actually contained within a separate database but are linked to the particular episode where they appeared. If you wish to add/edit names in the guest star database, simply press this button, and make your selections from the next screen. There is also a scroll bar at the side of the guest star list window which can be used with a mouse to display names that have scrolled out of the window. If you wish to view all of the guest stars for all of the shows, go to the ADMIN menu off of the menu bar and select Guest Stars. < Bloopers> Bloopers This is a note field which is similar to the description field where you can input anomalies and bloopers from the episode. The field is activated when you press the button and will appear as a window over the episode information screen. You can always tell if there is anything in this field by a small checkmark that appears to the left of the button. < Other Points> Other Points This is a note field which is similar to the description field where you can input any interesting points or other notes about the episode. The field is activated when you press the button and will appear as a window over the episode information screen. You can always tell if there is anything in this field by a small checkmark that appears to the left of the button. < Writers> Writers This is similar to the Guest Star list. A list will appear displaying the writers and you can add or delete names form the list. You can always tell if there is anything in this field by a small checkmark that appears to the left of the button. Ok and Cancel Buttons ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ When you are finished doing any editing to any part of an episode make sure you always exit via the [Ok] button. Otherwise your edits will not be saved. If you decide you do not want the changes to take place, simply hit the [Cancel] button. <> Information Searches or Query-By-Example (QBE) ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ All of the episode or guest star searches work in a similar way using a form of Boolean Logic. Many screens contain a button that can be pressed that will activate a "search template". When you enter this template you will immediately notice that it is similar to the Episode Information Screen. The empty fields can be populated with any information you wish to search for; however, in most cases you will utilize no more than one field at a time. For example, if you were to select the description field within the template and type in the word "wave", you will be prepared to search the entire database for all instances of the word "wave". But first you must tell the program that the Description of the episode "Contains This". You do this with the following button. Search Help When you select the [Search Help] button within the search template, a list of radio buttons will be presented to you. Select the one that most fits the type of search you are performing. These buttons represent the Boolean Logic portion of the search. In the case of our example, you would select the button labeled as "Contains This". The program would then know to search the entire database for all instances of the word "wave". Performing the Search When you are ready to conduct the search, you would simply press the [Ok] button. The program will then ask you what you wish to do with all of the matches it produces in the search. You can start the search by hitting [Select], or go back to entering the search criteria by hitting [Cancel]. Once you have chosen [Select], the search will commence. A "progress bar" will indicate the current status of the search. You will also notice that the progress bar will tell you the number of instances it has located. This number is for the ENTIRE database of ALL Trek shows; the actual number for your search may be less since it is filtering specifically on the Series you have selected. The number found will be correct, even though the total records to search is always the same. Once the search is complete, the program will ask you if you want to "Go to the first tag?". Reviewing Search Results You will notice when you have been brought to the first tag that the left hand column will have a checkmark in it. You can then enter the Episode Information screen and make your changes or view the information. If you want to go to the next tagged record, go back to the browse table and then hit [Alt-N] or select this command from the TagHelp pulldown menu. <> REPORTS ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Back on the main menu bar, the next selection is a Reports menu. From this menu you can select different reports that are prepared automatically for you or you can create customized reports in a few easy steps. Episode Information ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ This selection off of the reports menu will give you another menu with a couple of choices. These choices will determine the format of your report. < List> List This report format will list the episodes for a selected series in short form, or what I call a "Quick-list". It will list only the specifics of each show without any descriptions, bloopers, etc. < Details> Details This will create a report format that will list everything about the episodes including the descriptions, bloopers, point of interest, etc. There may be other reports available for you to chose from, but they were not available at the time this manual was printed. Report formats are constantly changed, replaced, and added. The number of report formats you have with your program will depend on the date and version of your program. Report Outputs ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ The reports can be sent to a printer, the screen, or even a file. When you select a report format the program will ask you to select a series first. Once selected you will be asked where you would like the report to be sent. < Printer> Printer Output The program will need to know where to send the report. The default is LPT1 since this is the standard printer connection. But you can also choose another LPT port, or a COM port if your printer works on serial mode. < Screen> Screen Output You can send the entire report to the screen if you do not have a printer or you just want to view the information. Simply click the radio button that says Screen and the report will be shown for you on the screen. < File> File Output If you want to use the report in other programs or a wordprocessor, you can send the report to a file. When you select the File radio button, the program will ask you for a file name. You can type in the file name (eight characters max.) and also include a full DOS path. The file is converted to ASCII type text which can then be used in all of the most popular word processors. If you are a member of any local or corporate BBS such as CompuServe, Genie, America On-Line, etc., you can use these ASCII files to upload seasonal episode lists for others to view and keep as reference. With the use of Customized Reports you can create lists or reports that address specific requirements. Custom Reports ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Through the use of the QBE feature of Starbase3 you can create custom reports. If you perform a search on a specific word in the database, all of the episodes that contain a match will be tagged. These tags show up in the Browse tables as small checkmarks. If, immediately following a search, you move over to the REPORTS menu and select a report format, the program will ask you for a series and then ask you where to send the report. You can select a printer, a file, or the screen. As well, you can specify that Only Tagged items appear on the report. If, for example, you chose to search for all TNG episodes that have in their description fields the word "wave", the search will reveal three episodes (as of July '94). These three TNG episode will have tags placed on them. When you then go to the Report menu and select TNG, and also specify Only Tagged Episodes, three episodes will appear on the list. If you send the list to a file, you can then use it within a word processor or to upload to your BBS. <> ADMIN ÄÄÄÄÄ The ADMIN menu is located off of the main menu bar. It serves as a type of secondary input area as well as a type of utility area. There are currently five choices on this menu. The first three are more input facilities for the Regular Characters, the Guest Stars and the Series. The last two choices, Import and Export are the utilities. Regulars ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ If you select this menu option, you will be asked to first select a series from the Series List. Once the series is selected you will be taken to a table listing all of the current stars of the show with their respective roles. The buttons here work the same as the Guest Star area or the Writers. You can add new regular characters as well as update existing ones. You can also keep notes on each character. Guest Stars ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ This is the master listing or browse table of all the guest stars that appeared in all of the Trek shows. There are currently over 1500 appearances. When you select Guest Stars from the menu you will be taken into a browse table similar to those in other parts of the program. Each guest listed will have an associated show and role name. By highlighting a specific guest name and hitting [Enter], the guest entry fields window will open to reveal any information on this guest. The Guest Star browse table also comes equipped with a [Search] button that allows you to find any character by any known piece of information. The table is normally arranged in alphabetical order of the guest stars last names; if you wish to locate a guest star by their character or role name, simply use the search template provided, input the name into Role Name and switch the "Contains This" button in the [Search Help]. Series ÄÄÄÄÄÄ When a new series is announced for Trek it becomes necessary to add another show to our database. This selection will allow you to create new series databases. You will be presented with a table listing of all the current shows and by hitting [Insert] you can add a new show. You are not allowed to delete a series that has associated episodes. You must first delete all of the episodes for that series, then you may return to delete the series itself. This is a safety feature to help prevent you from making a BIG mistake. Export / Import ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ If you do not update your database with new episode information as it comes out, such as will be the case when the next season of DS9 starts and the new Voyager series starts, your database will fall behind and will require many hours of data-entry to catch up. However, if you know someone that has up-to-date Starbase3 data, you can always have them go through there episode listings, tag the episodes you are missing and export the data to a file. They do this by using the Export feature here. You will then use this file and select the Import function to bring in the new episodes to update your database. If you receive an exported file that contains some episode data that you already have, don't worry about this overwriting your existing data, the Import feature will only add episodes that are not currently in your database. <> The History (or Evolution) of Starbase3 ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ The Starbase programs were started about three years ago when I was learning a new programming development language called Clarion Professional Developer. I needed to learn this program for my job in the Canadian Government as a Network Support specialist; when I became faced with the task I decided the best way to learn was to "learn by example". I decided that the database had to be something that I could use later, something that would prove to be an invaluable reference. Many of the tutorials that were out at the time for this language dealt with creating Contact Manager programs and telephone and address databases. These are alright, but I was tired of them, so I looked elsewhere. My involvement on CompuServe in the Science Fiction Forum, Star Trek section was quite extensive at the time and I was involved in many discussions about The Next Generation. Many discussions started with the phrase: "There was an episode that dealt with... I can't remember the name but...." or "So & so played the Ferengi on the third episode, not the fourth...I think." There were many facts about specific episodes that would get mixed up, misquoted, or totally forgotten. At the time, there were very few references available to consult. Jim Shaun Lyon, the section leader for the Star Trek section, had put together an "Armchair Guide" for the Next Gen episodes. This guide was put together very well and was constantly referred to by many of us involved with TNG discussions. However, it was still not enough. So I decided to create a database that would track the episode information of TNG that could be used by the members of CompuServe. This program was released to the members as Starbase1. It was well received by the members of the SciFi forum as well as several other forums on CompuServe. Because of its popularity I decided to upgrade the program and include several new features that would allow tracking even more information on the TNG episodes. I released this program, Starbase2, as a shareware version. But the plans were already underway to produce another version that would include ALL of the Trek shows. The response was tremendous; I received letters from around the world and many of them were asking for a version that would include more features, better searching facilities, and more facts. A new version of Clarion Database Developer was released and started developing Starbase3 in this new format. But the program started to become even more complex than I had ever anticipated. With the help of Clarion programmer Evan Ross of ProtoWare Corporation. I was able to create the framework for Starbase3, however many bugs cropped up and the program had to be redesigned several times. Within four months we had a working program and at that we started to input the data. I decided to put a team of friends together to help me complete the program since it was already eight months overdue. I first recruited my wife Diana to start some of the initial data-entry; from their I asked a close friend, Diane Ferguson, to help out with the data-entry. The two worked feverishly to get all of the data and facts into the program. Diane's husband, Bob, came on board to help with marketing advice and promotions. During the programming phases of Starbase3, Evan decided to incorporate the use of a programming tools developed by Mike Hanson of BoxSoft Development Inc. This programming tool called the Super Templates was used to enhance many of the features of Starbase3 including the powerful QBE feature. During this development, Mike Hanson himself became involved with the project and eventually took over the duties as primary programmer for Starbase3. Progress on Starbase3 dragged along for several months while we worked out bugs and continued to add episode information. The inputters poured over vast amounts of reference materials which included books, magazines, and video tapes. But at times this was not even enough. Through CompuServe I recruited the help of several people to help track down information. One of these people, Lee Whiteside, proved to be an excellent reference when he downloaded actual press releases from Paramount Studios. These press releases gave us all of the correct spellings of names, episode synopses, titles, etc. Finally in June '94 we were actually able to announce a tentative release date for the program. With a lot of work we would be able have a working program for delivery by July 18th, 1994. I hope you enjoy your program as much as we have enjoyed putting it together. G. Mros ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Star Trek(R) is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures Inc.