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Frostbyte's 1980s DOS Shareware Collection
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STEVES
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DBFAST.ZIP
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READ.ME
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1988-04-27
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Changes made to dBFast not in the current manual.
-> Set Softseek on/Off
This will allow you to search for a record, and if the exact
record is not found will return the next record in sequence.
This will not effect the Set Relation To sequence. If exact
records are not found in the related files those file will
still be set to EOF() = .t., FOUND() = .f., and RECNO() =
Number of records + 1.
-> Insert command
The only option we support in the INSERT command group is
INSERT BLANK. In most situations it is probably smarter
and faster to use an Index however, for those of you who
do use this occasionally we have provided this version.
It doesn't matter which way you include it in your program.
-> The standard LIST/DISPLAY is changed so that if you specify
TO PRINTER it will do an automatic page break after every 60 lines.
-> In the PACK command we ask if you are sure just as in all other
commands that do irretrievable operations on the files. You can
disable this by just setting Safety Off, or at the end of the
command line put the HIDE modifier. For example, PACK &&& Hide.
-> Set Talk Off/ON
This command differs from dBASE in that it does not
automatically display the results of all store's, etc. The
results are the same as if you had included the HIDE option for
each command that does display anything. (If you set Talk OFF.)
-> Deleted records
In both EDIT and BROWSE a deleted record is denoted by
the asterisk '*' next to the first field on the
screen. And, as in dBASE you can toggle the Deleted Mark
on and off by continuing to press ^U.
-> Insert On/Off
To turn the insert mode on and off you press the Ins key just
like you normally would. However, instead of putting a
message at the top or bottom of the screen dBFast will
change the cursor size. In regular mode the cursor is
just a single or small line. In insert mode the cursor will
be approximately twice that size or 1/2 the size of a
full block cursor.
-> Set Filter To
Is only supported in the mode in which the expression is stated
at compile time.
-> Types of Indexes and how you search for them.
If you created an index as a numeric or date index then the field
used in either a Find or Seek must be numeric or date. You can
search for a numeric field with either a numeric or date field and
vice versa. However, you cannot use a character field in either
situation nor can you use a numeric or date field to search a
character index.
-> On escape/error/key note:
You can only use the DO command in conjunction with the ON command.
For example -> ON ERROR DO ERR_OPT WITH X,Y,Z is legal, however,
ON ERROR ? "ERROR" is not.
-> New command - SET EXPRESSION <expression> TO <field>
This is the same as the typical dBASE usage as:
for_spec = 'X = Y+1'
DISPLAY ALL FOR &for_spec
The same code in dBFast will look as follows:
SET EXPRESSION x = y+1 TO for_spec
DISPLAY ALL FOR for_spec
Note that we don't put an ampersand (&) before the field
for_spec. dBFast will evaluate any expression field when
used, however, if it is a macro field (preceeded with an
ampersand) then the program will try to find a matching
field in the field buffer.
You can also do other things with this same expression. For
example, the following:
x = 10
set expr x * 5 to y && Sets the expression into the field Y
? y && In this case the value printed is 50
x = 40
? y && In this case the value printed is 200
Note that we didn't have to re-execute the expression itself. All we
did was change a value in the expression. This will also work just as
well with a complex expression or if multiple values change in the same
expression. This should solve the problem with needing to evaluate
expressions during runtime. The only change you would make in your
code is to use the SET EXPRESSION command where you would normally just
use the STORE TO or simple '=' command. The rest would work just like
you are use to. The catch is that you cannot imbed macros within the
expression. It has to be fields or constants only.
At this time you cannot yet use imbedded macros in a field.
You can, however, add the line which will create the field
name and then pass dBFast the new name as a single
macro. For example, if you have a field called
BUDGET and there are actually 12 elements in this
'pseudo-array' BUDGET11 to BUDGET22 (we use this
form of 11 to 22 to keep from having to do another
line). The total field name could be created by
doing the following:
fld_name = 'BUDGET' + str(month+10,2,0)
@ 1,1 say 'Enter budget amount ' get &fld_name
Note the ampersand (&) before the field (&fld_name) above. In
this case we wanted to get the actual field not just the name.
You could also have used the command:
SET EXPRESSION 'BUDGET' + str(month+10,2,0) TO FLD_NAME
earlier, and then just before the @..say..get command
do:
MONTH = month(date())
@ 1,1 say 'Enter budget amount ' get &fld_name
Or any other similar command.
Another variation of this same routine is:
USE filename
X = field(1)
@ 1,1 say X get &X
Note that in the say portion above the first time X is evaluated
the program will print the name of the field within the file. The
second time, or &X, the program will use the field value. Also
note that we didn't use the SET EXPRESSION command here. Since
'X' will have the entire field name and no expression needs to be
evaluated we DO NOT use the SET EXPRESSION command. This would also
work in the situation where you want to use a macro for the EQUAL
or STORE .. TO command. For example:
if choice = 1
x = 'A1'
else
x = 'B1'
endif
&x = 100
In this example if choice = 1 is .T. then A1 will be set to 100,
otherwise B1 will be set to 100. If you do try to use the SET
EXPRESSION command when the field name is just a single constant
you will get a runtime error.
We have tried to make dBFast much more versatile in its use of
macros. We hope this will help. You are encouraged to experiment
with their usage. If it won't work the program will tell you.
What this version doesn't include:
-> This release of dBFast does not allow CHAIN'ing with parameters.
A future version will allow parameters and multi-level chaining.
-> Extended memory is not used in this version.
Other Extras:
We have included 3 files on the disk. These are: DS; EDIT;
and BROWSE. There is a .PRG and .EXE for each. These are simple
programs but can be used as utilities.
DS will display the structure of a file name you enter.
EDIT will edit a file, doesn't use indexes.
BROWSE will browse a file, doesn't use indexes.