Electronic Bookshelf/Electronic Bookshelf.iso/sb3/sb3.txt

Text File | 1994-07-22 | 38KB | 848 lines

<<Introduction>>

<What is Starbase3>
What is Starbase3?
──────────────────
Simply put:  Starbase3 is a Star Trek(R) Database.

More specifically, it is a Star Trek(R)  Database of all aired
episodes and movies.  Contained within its data files are the
details of every episode ever created for the world of Trek; in
many ways it is like a written book, a type of "compendium on
disk."  Like a book, the program contains a covering title page,
a table of contents, pages of information, and various indices to
help you find what you are looking for more quickly.  Starbase3
is divided into separate sections according to the Series:  The
Original Series, The Next Generation, The Motion Pictures, etc.;
these could be compared to the chapters of a book.  Each section
or series can then be queried for specific information via preset
tables or by other on-line tools and utilities.  One such tool
called Query by Example, or QBE for short, can search the entire
contents of our "electronic book" for anything we desire, right
down to a single word or letter (e.g.:  "Q").

The program "shell" is used for nothing else but viewing and
manipulating the data that is contained on the pages within the
database.  As new episodes are broadcast over the airwaves, you
can add them to Starbase3 and continue to add more details as
they become available.  And as the world of Trek expands into
other new productions (e.g.  "ST:  Voyager"), you can increase
the number of databases within Starbase3 as well.

To become more familiar with Starbase3, I suggest you read this
procedure manual and take the  guided tour before you begin
appending and editing the existing data.  Follow the procedure in
the next section carefully to get the program installed to your
hard drive; perform the setup options, and then proceed with the
Guided Tour.

Have fun and Welcome Aboard Starbase3!

<Installation and Setup>
Installation and Setup
──────────────────────
Starbase3 requires an IBM  PC or compatible, with at least a
80286 CPU or better (386 recommended), one high density (1.44MB)
floppy drive, 2MB of RAM (minimum, 4MB recommended), a hard drive
with approximately 2MB of free space, an EGA/VGA monitor, and a
mouse.

The program is self extracting via the INSTALL file on the disk;
simply place the diskette in your floppy drive and type INSTALL.
The automatic installation procedure will ask you a few questions
such as where you want to place Starbase3 on your hard drive,
modify your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, and which files
you wish to load.

<Running Starbase3>
Running Starbase3
─────────────────
Once the program has been installed you are ready to explore and
test the data.  For those of you that have older PC's such as
386SX or less, it may be a wise idea to disable the opening
graphics.  Starbase3 is started with the file SB3, but you can
select one of the following switches to give you a different
startup screen.

     SB3

This will start Starbase3 and display the opening graphics
screen.  On a slow machine, the screen may take up to two minutes
to draw.  Once it is finished, it never gets redrawn during your
current session in the program.  You will also notice the
pulldown menu along the top of the screen with the first menu
highlighted.

     SB3 /G

This will start the Starbase3 program without the opening
graphics.  This screen will come up much faster and only display
the Pull-Down Menu bar along the top of the screen.  Everything
else will work the same way.

     SB3 /T

This will start Starbase3 with an entirely different look.  This
is the non-graphics mode.  It does everything with text and
color.   If you are having trouble viewing Starbase3 with the
previous two modes, try this one, it may work.  This mode also
tends to work better on monochrome or LCD laptops.

If you experience any difficulties with this installation
procedure or startup of the Starbase3 program, please call the
BoxSoft Technical Support number at [phone].

<Main Menu>
The Guided Tour
───────────────
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 Menu>>
SHOWS
─────
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.

<Episodes:>
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.

<Select Series>
Series Selection Table
──────────────────────
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.

<Browsing the Episodes:>
The Browse Tables
─────────────────
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>
Conclusion
──────────
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].

<<Updating Episodes>>
The Episode Information Screen
──────────────────────────────
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.

<Fields:>
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>
Ok and Cancel Buttons
─────────────────────
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.

<<Query By Example>>
Information Searches or Query-By-Example (QBE)
──────────────────────────────────────────────
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 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>
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>
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 Menu>>
REPORTS
───────
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:>
Episode Information
───────────────────
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 Redirection:>
Report Outputs
──────────────
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>
Custom Reports
──────────────
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 Menu>>
ADMIN
─────
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>
Regulars
────────
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>
Guest Stars
───────────
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>
Series
──────
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>
Export / Import
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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.

<<History of Starbase3>>
The History (or Evolution) of Starbase3
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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

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Star Trek(R) is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures Inc.