Copyright: Copyright 1997-98 Elevate Software


Contents
DBISAM Customer Support System

Shipping Release 1.05

The DBISAM Customer Support System is designed to provide a fast and efficient method for Elevate Software customers to find information and workarounds to existing bugs and anomalies (referred to as "Incident Reports" in the system) as well as report any new problems that may be found with DBISAM.  It provides a structured and formal environment where customer problems are visible to all customers (even potential ones) and promotes the core ideals of customer service present at Elevate Software.  Bugs are not hidden from customers or "swept under the rug", they are recognized for what they are - flaws in the software that need immediate attention and resolution.  The Customer Support System is also consistent with Elevate Software's e-mail only support policy and hopefully provides a comfortable support environment for all customers. Please make sure that you take a moment to go through the Before You Begin topic before using the Customer Support System.

 Before You Begin

 Configuring E-Mail Options

 The Main Interface

 Searching for an Incident Report

 Adding a New Incident Report

 Printing an Incident Report or Listing

 Sending an Incident Report to Elevate Software

 Importing a New Incident Report Database

Did we miss anything that you were looking for ?  If so, please let us know so that we can add it to the online help and get it out to other users.

Delphi, BDE, Database Desktop, dBase, and Paradox are trademarks of Inprise Corporation (formerly Borland International)

Windows, Windows 95, Windows NT, Microsoft Exhange, FoxPro and Access are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation

DBISAM is a trademark of Elevate Software


Before You Begin

There are a few items to consider before using the Customer Support System.  Please read through the following notes to make sure that the Customer Support System is easy to use and hassle-free.

Issue	Notes

Support Data Files	The data file used in the Customer Support System is a DBISAM data file named INCIDENT.DAT that also uses the INCIDENT.IDX index file and the INCIDENT.BLB blob file.  This data file is opened exclusively within the Customer Support System and cannot be shared while the Customer Support System is open.  The Customer Support System is only intended for single-user use.

Copying an Incident Report to

a Text File	The Customer Support System provides a method of copying the current incident report to a text file.  This can be used in place of the automated e-mail methods (discussed next) when you are using a mail transport (such as Compuserve) that may not support the mail transport options provided with the Customer Support System, or if you simply wish to cut down on connect time charges by sending all incident reports as text file attachments in one e-mail message.

E-Mail Methods	The Customer Support System supports two types of e-mail methods for sending incident reports to Elevate Software:

E-Mail Method	Notes

MAPI	Microsoft Mail API  (present on most Windows 95 or Windows NT machines that have Microsoft Exchange or similar Microsoft MAPI applications configured)

If you do not  have the Microsoft MAPI application (for example, Microsoft Exchange) configured as the default mail transport and you attempt to use MAPI as the e-mail method in the Customer Support System you may get extremely bad results such as the machine locking up or other serious problems.  Please be sure to configure your Microsoft MAPI application as the default mail transport in Windows 95 or NT before attempting to send any incident reports.

SMTP	The standard Internet mail protocol for sending e-mail (used by applications like Netscape Communicator that don't fully support MAPI)

In order to successfully send incident reports via SMTP you must first connect to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and you must ensure that your SMTP Port and Server Name settings in the Options dialog are correct.

Sending Incident Reports	You can only send incident reports to Elevate Software that have not already been submitted to us.  If you see something in an incident report that is incorrect please let us know and we will be more than happy to correct the problem, there is no need to send the incident report to us again.

Modifying Incident Reports	Unfortunately only Elevate Software can make certain modifications to incident reports and that includes modifying incident reports that have already been submitted to us.  If you see something in an incident report that is incorrect please let us know and we will be more than happy to correct the problem.

Deleting Incident Reports	Unfortunately only Elevate Software can delete incident reports that have already been submitted to us.  If you see an incident report that should not be in the database please let us know and we will be more than happy to correct the problem.


Configuring E-Mail Options

To configure the e-mail options for the Customer Support System please complete the following steps:

1	Select the File option from the main menu

2	Select the Options... option from the File menu

3	This will bring forward the Options dialog

Once the Options dialog is visible you may right-click on any control to receive help on that particular area of interest.


Select Mail Transport
Use these radio buttons to select the type of e-mail transport you would like to use for all outgoing incident reports.  The two available options are MAPI and SMTP.


SMTP Options
SMTP Internet mail transport options.


Options OK Button
Click on the this button save any changes made to the options and close the options dialog.


Options Cancel Button
Click on this button to cancel any changes made to the options and close the options dialog.


The Main Interface

The main interface of the Customer Support System consists of the following areas:

Area	Notes

Main Menu	Contains all of the menu options available in the Customer Support System

Toolbar	Contains buttons for quick access to the common features of the Customer Support System.  Holding the mouse pointer over any particular button will show a hint that indicates the purpose the button. The toolbar also contains a series of navigational buttons for navigating the incident reports using the mouse as well as adding, editing, and deleting incident reports.

Browse View	Shows a read-only, tabular view of the incident reports.  The following is a list of the available navigational keystrokes while the browse view is active:

Keystroke	Notes

Tab	Move between fields or, if on the last field in a record, move to the next record

Home	Move to the first field in a record

End	Move to the last field in a record

UpArrow	Move to the prior record

DownArrow	Move to the next record

PageUp	Move one page of records prior to the current record

PageDown	Move one page of records after the current record

Ctrl+Home	Move to the first record

Ctrl+End	Move to the last record

Detail View	Shows a one-at-a-time view of the incident reports that allows you to modify the details of a given incident report.  The following is a list of the available navigational keystrokes while the detail view is active:

Keystroke	Notes

Tab	Move between fields

PageUp	Move to the prior record, any changes made to the current record will be automatically posted

PageDown	Move to the next record, any changes made to the current record will be automatically posted

Status Bar	Displays appropriate status messages and information based upon the current action taking place.


Main Browse Tab
Read-only browse view for navigating incident reports in a tabular fashion.


Main Status Bar
The status bar will display messages regarding the current operation as well as instructions on how to navigate the incident reports.


Main Tab Selection
Use the tabs to select either the Browse view (grid) or the Detail view (edit fields).  The Browse view is read-only while the Detail view will allow you to add new incident reports and modify existing incident reports that have not been submitted yet.


Searching for an Incident Report

To search for an incident report in the Customer Support System please complete the following steps:

1	Select the File option from the main menu

2	Select the Search... option from the File menu

3	This will bring forward the Search dialog

Once the Search dialog is visible you may right-click on any control to receive help on that particular area of interest.


Search Parameters
Specifies the search parameters for the current search.


Search First Button
Click on this button to find the first record matching the search parameters specified.  The first matching record is made current regardless of the current position in the incident reports.


Search Next Button
Click on this button to find the next record matching the search parameters specified.  The next matching record is found by searching sequentially from the current position in the incident reports.  If a match is not found a message will be displayed indicating so.


Search Cancel Button
Click on this button to cancel the search operation and return to the current incident report.


SMTP Port Number
Specifies the port number you connect to on your outgoing (SMTP) mail server.  This port number is usually 25.


SMTP Server Name
Specifies your SMTP server name for outgoing incident reports. You can this information from your Internet service provider or your LAN administrator.


SMTP Sender Name
Specifies the name of the sender of all outgoing incident reports via SMTP.


SMTP Sender Address
Specifies the e-mail address of the sender of all outgoing incident reports via SMTP.  Please make sure that this e-mail address is correct and not mangled in any way or Elevate Software will not be able to acknowledge the submittal of the incident report.


Search Field
Specifies the field in the incident reports you wish to search on.


Search Value
Specifies the value you are searching for.  In order to account for differences in entries, try not to make the search value too exact.  For example, instead of searching on "DBSYS.EXE", try searching on just "DBSYS".

Please note that all searches are case-insensitive and matches are found using "contains"  logic.  For example, if you were to search on the Keywords field for the word "DbSys" you would be presented with the first record in which the Keywords field contained "DbSys".  The search would not be case-sensitive, so if a record in which the Keywords field contained "DBSYS" were present, it would also be considered a match.


Adding a New Incident Report

To add a new incident report in the Customer Support System please complete the following steps:

1	Select the File option from the main menu

2	Select the New... option from the File menu

3	This will add a new incident report

Once you have added a new incident report you may select the Details tab (if currently in the Browse view) to select the Detail view and modify the contents of the new incident report.  To save the new incident report just click on the Post button (represented by a check mark) on the navigator panel on the toolbar or hit the PageUp or PageDown key.  To cancel adding the new incident report just click on the Cancel button (represented by an X) on the navigator panel on the toolbar.


Sending an Incident Report to Elevate Software

To send an incident report in the Customer Support System to Elevate Software please complete the following steps:

1	Select the File option from the main menu

2	Select the Send option from the File menu

3	Depending upon the e-mail method you have selected in the Options dialog the your MAPI mail application (such as Microsoft Exchange) will bring forward a mail dialog or the SMTP mail progress dialog will be brought forward

If you are using a mailer that does not support MAPI or SMTP such as Compuserve mail, or if you simply want a text file that contains the current incident report please complete the following steps:

1	Select the File option from the main menu

2	Select the Copy To Text File option from the File menu

3	The Customer Support System will then ask you to provide a name for the text file that will be created from the current incident report.   Type if the name or select it from the list of available text files provided in the dialog and then click on the Ok button to proceed with creating the text file.

Please use the appropriate methods necessary based upon the chosen e-mail method to determine whether the incident report has been successfully sent to Elevate Software.


Printing an Incident Report or Listing

To print an an incident report or listing in the Customer Support System please complete the following steps :

1	Select the File option from the main menu

2	Select the Print option from the File menu

3	Select the desired option from the Print menu

4	Select Current Incident option to print a detailed reported of the current incident report, or select the Listing option to print a listing of incident reports based upon a given set of criteria

5	If you have selected to print a listing of incident reports then the Report Settings dialog will be brought forward, otherwise the Print dialog will be brought forward to immediately print the current incident report.

Once the Report Settings dialog is visible you may right-click on any control to receive help on that particular area of interest.


Importing a New Incident Report Database

To import a new incident report database into the Customer Support System please complete the following steps :

1	Select the File option from the main menu

2	Select the Import option from the File menu

3	This will bring forward an Open File dialog where you can select the appropriate database to import (available from Elevate Software's web site)

Note

 	Please note that executing this process will replace all incident reports in the Customer Support System. If you have incident reports that you have added but have not submitted via e-mail yet, you should not execute this process.


About Program Icon
The program icon for the Customer Support System.


About Version Information
The current version information for this copy of the Customer Support System.


About Close Button
Click on this button to close the About box.


Details Reported By
The person reporting the current incident.


Details Reported On
The date the current incident was reported on.


Details Report Release
The release of DBISAM to which the current incident report applies.


Details Resolution
The resolution of the current incident report.


Details Resolved On
The date the current incident report was resolved.


Details Fix Release
The release of DBISAM in which the current incident report was resolved.


Details Area of Product
The area of DBISAM in which the current incident report applies.


Details Severity
The severity of the current incident report as it applies to the usability of DBISAM.


Details Keywords
Key words that summarize the contents of the current incident report.


Details Description
Describes the current incident report in detail.


Details Notes
Notes from Elevate Software regarding the current incident report and it's status or resolution.


Report Order By
Select the field to use in ordering the current listing report.  This field determines what the From and To values represent when limiting the current listing report to a range of values.


Report From Value
The first value to use in limiting the records in the current listing report.  Leave this empty to start at the beginning of the incident reports based upon the field selected for ordering the listing.


Report To Value
The last value to use in limiting the records in the current listing report.


Report Start Button
Click on this button to start printing the current incident listing.


Report Cancel Button
Click on this button to cancel printing the current incident listing.