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dPROG Programmers Guide dPROG Programmers Guide Version 1.31 Version 1.31 August 1, 1988 August 1, 1988 Getting Started Getting Started Copyright 1987,1988 University Research, Inc. Copyright 1987,1988 University Research, Inc. 602 South 48th Street, Suite 229, Philadelphia, PA 19143 602 South 48th Street, Suite 229, Philadelphia, PA 19143 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS What is dPROG?.............................................3 How to use this manual.....................................4 Starting the dPROG system..................................5 The Help screen............................................7 Describing your system.....................................8 Designing a screen........................................11 Inserting and deleting columns............................13 Inserting and deleting rows...............................14 Using special characters..................................15 Centering lines...........................................17 Describe your fields......................................17 Saving your system........................................19 Exiting dPROG.............................................20 Creating the system.......................................21 Documenting your system...................................22 Installing your created system............................23 Working with your created system..........................23 Exiting your created system...............................23 Reordering fields.........................................24 Adding new fields to an existing system...................26 Deleting existing fields..................................28 Indexes and your system...................................30 What is University Research?..............................33 One last thing!...........................................35 INDEX.....................................................37 What is dPROG? ______________ dPROG is a dBase programming utility that allows you to generate screens, format files, validation files, databases, entire systems and their documentation with very little work. dPROG is composed of five main applications: the system integrater, the screen designer, the compiler, the documenter and the system converter. The system integrater (DPSYS) is a menu system which controls the use of the various functions. It also allows you to specify the paths used for input screen files, output systems files and executable modules. The screen designer (DPROG) allows you to design screens and if desired, build entire applications by drawing a screen and describing the system parameters and the fields on your database. The compiler (DPCOMP) converts your screens, system description, and field descriptions from DPROG into dBase III+ code. You will need either dBase III+, Runtime +, or a dBase compiler such as Clipper to run this system. The documenter (DPDOC) generates user documentation based on the information you described in dPROG. A user's guide tailored to your new system is one of the components. Using information you gave to dPROG, dPDOC tailors the manual to include the programmers name, copyright notice, system name and description, field names and descriptions, and more. The manual is a full walk through and users guide for the end user on how to use your system. The converter (DPCONV) uses files created by a background utility (DPCLIP) to convert your existing applications into dPROG systems. dPROG version 1.31 (this version) is distributed as "shareware". If you like this product, you should send $39.95 to University Research, Inc. In exchange for this, you will receive version 2.0 (which will not be distributed as shareware), printed manuals, and be registered to find out about future versions and other utilities developed by us. dPROG version 2.0 expands the capabilities of version 1. Version 2 allows 64 fields on a screen, screen painting and coloring, line copies within the screen designer and more. Version 2.0 is currently available. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 3 dPROG version 3.0 is in development. It will allow the use of up to 8 files, and enable you to develop relational applications. It will also have several other major enhancements over version 2.0. Version 3.0 should be available October 1988 for a small upgrade charge for all registered version 2.0 users, or available at a higher price for new users. Some Notes __________ dBase III+ and RUNTIME+ are trademarks of Ashton Tate Clipper is a trademark of Nantucket How to use this manual ______________________ This manual is designed to help you understand and use the dPROG system. If you follow each step exactly as written, it will demonstrate how an actual system is developed. This manual is broken up into sections on: Starting dPROG, the help screen, etc. Under each section there are steps describing procedures and the proper responses. What you should do is left justified, the computer's response is directly following and indented. Please try to follow each step in order to better understand the system. If you have any questions about the terms used check, the glossary in the dPROG reference manual. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 4 Starting the dPROG system _________________________ Type DPSYS and press carriage return The main system menu appears. See below. ............................................................................. . dProg Menu . . System Control . ............................................................................. . . . . . F1. dProg . . Screen design, file/field definition. . . F2. dPCOMP . . System compiler. Generate a system from your screen.. . F3. dPDOC . . System documentation generator. . . F4. dPCONV . . Convert a clipped screen into a system. . . F5. Set system parameters . . Change defaults . . F10. Exit to DOS . . Quit to system . . . . .......................................... . . .Copyright 1987 University Research, Inc.. . . .......................................... . . . ............................................................................. Function keys F1-F5 and F10 each control a system function. F1 Starts dPROG the screen designer. This will allow you to create your screens and describe the fields used on each screen. F2 Runs the compiler, this will convert the screen you designed with dPROG into dBase source code. F3 Runs the documentation generator. This program will create a custom users manual for your new system. F4 Starts the conversion program. To use this program you must first 'clip' a screen from an existing application using dPCLIP. The file generated by dPCLIP can than be converted using dPCONV to a screen file for the dPROG system. F5 Allows you to set the system parameters. With this function you can change the drive and path used for the input screens, output programs, and dPROG system programs. F10 Exits the system and returns to DOS. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 5 Lets get started using dPROG. Press F1 The dPROG introduction screen containing the copyright notice appears. To exit the introduction screen press carriage return, otherwise this screen will automatically disappear after 10 seconds. Press carriage return A blank design screen appears on the screen of your computer. Stop for a moment and look at this screen. The bottom line is called the status line. It contains information about the function of the program. Any questions or error messages generated while designing a screen appear here, as well as any replies you may make to questions. Notice on the left side of the status line 'R: 1 C: 1 L:80' appears. This tells you the cursor is in row 1, column 1 and the screen lock column (more about that later) is column 80. On the right of the status line is 'F1 = HELP'. This is a reminder that if you press F1 the help screen will appear. If you are using version 2 of the program, also on the right is a literal 'PAINT OFF' showing that the screen painting function is currently off. The color of the 'PAINT OFF' is white on black indicating that painting will be white foreground colors on a black background. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 6 The Help screen _______________ Press F1 A help screen appears (see below). The function keys are listed with a description of their functions. In the center of the screen is a reminder that if you press F1 again you will get to the special character set. Below that are indicators which show that you can repeat the last character by pressing Ctrl and PgUp, PgDn, right arrow or left arrow. To exit from the help menu you would press Esc. ............................................................................ . dPROG PROGRAMMER HELP . ............................................................................ . Help key (this screen) . F1 . F2 . Set Lock Column . . Insert a Line at Cursor . F3 . F4 . Delete a Line at Cursor . . Create/Extend a field . F5 . F6 . Change a field's attributes . . Set Color . F7 . F8 . Turn Paint on/off . . Copy line . F9 . F10. Dir/Save/Load/Quit/Clear/Parms. ............................................................................ . To select from Special character set. Press F1 again. . ............................................................................ . To repeat the last special character selected: . ............................................................................ . Press Ctrl and . PgUp = Repeat UP . PgDn = Repeat DOWN . . . = Repeat Right . = Repeat Left . ............................................................................ . . . dPROG dBase development system version 1.31 (c) 1987 University Research . . To register and receive version 2.0 send $39.95 + $5.00 S/H to: . . University Research Inc. . . 602 S. 48th St. . . Philadelphia, Pa. 19143 . ............................................................................ Press Esc The help screen disappears and is replaced by the screen design screen. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 7 Describing your system ______________________ You will now describe some general information about the system you are about to build. Press F10 "Clear Dir dOs Load Parms Save Quit" appears on the status line and dPROG waits for a reply. The choices are: clear all work done so far; show a directory of the existing systems; exit to DOS and return; load an existing system; create or change this systems parameters; save this system; or quit to DOS. Press P This indicates that you wish to change this systems parameters. The system information screen appears (see below). The cursor is positioned at system name. The system name is normally the name of the screen which you loaded from disk, but for a new system it defaults to 'WORK'. ............................................................................ . dPROG PROGRAMMER . . DEFINE SYSTEM INFORMATION . ............................................................................ . . . System Name: Copyright Date: . . . . Programmers Name: . . . . Copyright Holder: . ............................................................................ . System Description . . . ............................................................................ . To define Files and Indexes press F10 . ............................................................................ . Modules . ............................................................................ . PRG ADD CAL DIS FMT FND HLP INT LAB . . MM PUB REP REP SRT STO UPD VAL . . REL . . . ............................................................................ Change the system name to 'MAILLIST'. This is the name of your new system. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 8 Change the copyright date If the copyright date is correct; leave it alone, otherwise change it to the year you wish. Press return The cursor moves to Programmer's name. Type in your name Notice that the Copyright holder changes to your name. If you wish a different copyright holder (such as the company you work for) change the copyright holder field. Move to the System description area and type in 'Test mailing list system'. At the bottom of the screen is a series of three letter codes. This section allows you to specify which modules will be created by the compiler. For the time being, leave these alone. Notice the line that reads 'To define Files and Indexes, press F10'. Press F10 A new screen marked Define File's Information appears. ............................................................................ . dPROG PROGRAMMER . . DEFINE FILE'S INFORMATION . ............................................................................ . . . Database Area: . . . . Database Name: Index Name: . . . ............................................................................ . . . If you were describing this database file to someone, instead of calling . . a database you would call it _________________________. . . (membership list, A/R file, movie catalog, etc.) . . . . Given this, each record on the file is a ____________________. . . (member, invoice, video tape, etc.) . . . ............................................................................ . ........................................ . . .. (c) 1987 University Research, Inc. .. . . ........................................ . ............................................................................ Type 'MAIL' If you are using version 1, you can only have one file. You have named your database MAIL. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 9 Move the cursor to the Index Name area and type 'MAIL' The name of the index file for this database will be MAIL. Press Return You are about to answer the line which reads "If you were describing this database to someone, instead of calling it a database you would call it a _________________". This parameter will be used in the documentation module to describe the file. Type 'mailing list' Since this is a mailing list, that is what we will call it. Press Return You are now on the line which reads "Given this, each record on the file is a ____________________." If this file is a mailing list what is each record? If you are a company, this might be a customer. If you are a club, this might be a member. Type 'member' This will also be used in the documentation to describe what each record is. You have now described all of the general system parameters for a single file system. When finished press Esc to exit from this screen and return to the screen design screen. Press Esc You are returned to the screen design screen. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 10 Designing a screen __________________ The cursor is currently in row 1 column 1, the top left corner of the screen. The status line on the bottom of the screen shows R:1,C:1. Type 'IDNO' (without the quotes). IDNO appears in columns 1 through 4 in the first row of the screen. This is a screen constant. This is a screen literal which will always be displayed when this screen is used. Press space The cursor moves one space to the right. R:1 C:6 appears on the status line showing that you are in row 1 column 6. Press F5 A small block appears on the screen. This is a field block. A field is a place where variable data will be placed. This data may come from a database file or be calculated from other data. Since this field contains only one field block, it is currently only 1 position in length. Press left arrow The cursor moves onto the field block. On the status line at the bottom of the screen F: 1 L: 1 appears on the right side. This indicates that this is field number 1 and has a length of 1 position. Press the space bar The computer beeps and the cursor does not move. You cannot put screen constants (letters, spaces, special characters, etc) on a field. The computer is reminding you of this. Press right arrow The cursor moves to the right one space. It is now no longer on the field block, but next to it. The status line shows R:1 C:7 and the field information disappears. Press F5 four times The field is now 5 field blocks long. Whoops, we missed. I wanted the field to be only four positions long. To shorten an existing field, press the backspace key at the end of the field or press the Del key from within a field. Press Backspace The last field block of the group is erased and the field is now only four positions long. Press Return The cursor moves to the next line. The status line shows R:2 C:1. You are now positioned under the screen constant IDNO. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 11 Type 'NAME' (without the quotes) NAME appears on the screen under IDNO. You have generated another screen constant. Press space This places a space after the screen constant NAME. Press F5 until you have 30 field blocks You can stop every once and a while and check the field size by putting the cursor on one of the blocks in the field and looking at the L:nn field on the status line. If there are too few, put the cursor after the last block and continue pressing F5. If there are too many, press backspace or Del to remove some of the blocks. Press carriage return The cursor goes to row 3. Type 'ADDRESS' and a space. ADDRESS appears on the screen. Press F5 30 times to create another field This field will contain the first line of the address. Press carriage return Go to the next line. Move the cursor to just under the first block of the field ADDRESS. By using the space bar or the right and left arrow keys, move the cursor to under the first block of the field ADDRESS. The status line should read R:4 C:9 Add another field of 30 field blocks You have just added the second address line field. Move the cursor to row 5 column 29 You are about to add a 10 byte field for the zipcode. Create a 10 position field for zipcode It should align with the end of the fields above it. Move the cursor to row 5 column 26 You are about to add a 2 position field for State. Create a 2 position field for state. Move to row 5 column 9 You are about to add a 16 position field for City. Create a 16 position field for city That is the last field for this screen. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 12 Inserting and deleting columns ______________________________ You are about to learn how to insert and delete columns on the screen. Press Home The cursor moves to row 1 column 1. The status line reflects this. Move the cursor to the first block of the ID field. The status line should indicate row 1, column 6. Press Ins The field for the ID number moves one space to the right. The Ins key moves any data from the cursor to the lock column one position to the right. Any screen constants being forced past the lock column (normally column 80) will be lost. Press Ins twice more to place the field block over the address field. The field block aligns itself over the address field blocks. Move the cursor to the NAME field. You are about to move the NAME field over the ADDRESS field. Press Ins 4 times. The NAME field moves over the ADDRESS field, but one position too much. Next you will use the Del key to pull the field back to the left. Press Del The NAME field moves back to the left one position. Your screen should now have the fields aligned. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 13 Inserting and deleting rows ___________________________ Press Home The cursor is back at the upper left of the screen. Press F1 for the HELP screen. Notice that the help screen says that F3 inserts a line. Press F3 You have just inserted a line at the top of the screen and pushed the remaining lines down one. If there was a line at the bottom of the screen it would have been pushed off the screen and lost forever. Also notice that all function keys work from either the screen design screen or the help screen (with the exception of F1, more about that later). If you had pressed F3 on the design screen it would have inserted a blank line just as it did from the help screen. If you can't remember which function key inserts a line (or any other function) press F1 for help. A function key pressed on the help screen (except for F1) will act upon the screen design screen. Press F4 This deletes the line you have just inserted. The F4 key will delete a line and remove any fields on that line. Press F3 We needed that blank line, this will put it back in. Move the cursor down to row 2 You are in front of 'IDNO' Press Ins twice You moved the line over two positions to the right. Move the cursor down another line We are going to move this line over 2 positions too. Press Ins twice The line with 'NAME' moves over two positions. Keep doing this for the remainder of the lines containing data. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 14 Using special characters ________________________ Press Home The cursor moves to row 1 column 1 Press F1 for HELP The HELP screen comes up. Notice the line that says 'To select from Special character set. Press F1 again'. Press F1 again A screen labeled 'dPROG Special Character Set' appears. Notice the cursor is on a character that looks like the upper left corner of a box made up of double lines. Look at the bottom of the screen where it tells you to move the cursor and press return to choose a character. Press carriage return The upper left corner of a double lined box appears on the screen design screen. This is the special character you said to copy. Also notice that the cursor has moved right one position. Whenever you insert a character from the special character set the cursor "drops" the character on the design screen and moves one position to the right. Press F1 twice You get to the special character set again. Press right arrow You moved the cursor from the box corner character to the horizontal double line. You are about to select the horizontal double line. Press return to select this character The double line appears on the design screen next to the corner box character. You are building a double lined box around the screen you just designed. You could keep hitting F1 twice and pressing carriage return to continue forming the upper part of the box, but this would take a long time. Next we'll learn to repeat characters. Press Ctrl right arrow Keeping the Ctrl key pressed, press the right arrow key (on the numeric keypad). This repeats the last character selected and moves the cursor to the right. Notice that a second horizontal double line appears and the cursor moves to the right one position. Continue pressing Ctrl right arrow until you get to row 1 column 41 (watch the status line) You have drawn the upper line of a double lined box. Press F1 twice The special character set appears again. Move the cursor to the upper right corner of a double lined box. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 15 Press return You have drawn the top of a box. Move the cursor to R2 C42. You are ready to draw the side of the box. Press F1 twice The special character screen appears again. Point at the vertical double bar. Press carriage return The side of the box starts forming. Because the cursor moved to the right, you must position the cursor down one line and left one column. Move the cursor to R3 C42 You are ready to draw the side of the box. Press Ctrl PgDn until you get to R7 C42 You have drawn the side of the box Get the lower right side of the box from the special character set. Place it on your screen. Finish drawing the box around your data. The Ctrl PgUp key repeats the last character selected and moves up one line (row). The Ctrl left arrow key repeats the last character selected and moves the cursor to the left. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 16 Centering lines _______________ Move the cursor to the top line of the box You are about to center the box containing your data on the screen. Press Ctrl C Hold the Ctrl button and press C. The line centers on the screen. Move down to the next line Press Ctrl C The next line centers. Continue with the remainder of the lines containing data. Press Home Move the cursor to the top of the screen. Press Ctrl R This displays a ruler on the currrent row. Press Ctrl R to remove it. Press Ctrl R Remove the ruler. Press F3 Remember that the F3 key inserts lines. You will now push the box lower on the screen to center it vertically. If you push the box down too far, press F4 to delete the blank line. Describe your fields ____________________ Now that you have drawn the screen and built the fields you need to describe the fields. You can name the field and describe where the data comes from (file or calculation). If the data comes from a file, you must specify which file and the type of data (numeric, logical, date, character) contained in this field. If it's numeric, how many decimal positions are needed. You may also specify the low and high ranges for the data, describe any calculation for this field, and give editing and initialization data. Move the cursor to the first field block of the IDNO field. We are about to describe the IDNO field. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 17 Press F6 A screen titled 'Define Field's Data' appears (see below). This field allows you to describe this field. ............................................................................ . dPROG PROGRAMMER . . DEFINE FIELD'S DATA . ............................................................................ ............................................................................ . Field Number: __ Same As: ___ Field Name: _______ . . File/Display/Calc: _ Type: _ File Name : ________ . . Decimal Positions: _ Edit: _________________________________ . . Low Value: ________________ High Value: ________________ . ............................................................................ . Description . ._________________________________________________________________________ . ............................................................................ . Picture . ._________________________________________________________________________ . ............................................................................ . Initial Value . ._________________________________________________________________________ . ............................................................................ . Calculation . ._________________________________________________________________________ . ............................................................................ Stop for a second and look at the screen which has just appeared. Leave the FIELD NUMBER alone, press return or tab. Leave the SAME AS field alone, press return or tab. The cursor moves to FIELD NAME. We will now change the name of the field from F_1. Type 'IDNO' and press return. F_1 changes to IDNO. The next field we will change is description. Press return or tab until you reach the description field. Type 'Customer Number' The description changes to Customer Name. This is the last change needed for this field. We will now go to the next field. Press PgDn The data for the next field (Name) appears on the screen. Change the field name to 'NAME' and the description to 'Customer Name' Press PgDn The field changes to address line 1 dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 18 Change field name to 'ADD1' and description to 'Main Address Line' Press PgDn and change the field name to 'ADD2' and the description to 'Second Address Line' Press PgDn Notice that the next field being displayed is the zipcode field. This is because we entered the fields in zipcode, state, city order. We will fix the ordering of these fields later. For now we will set the field name and description. Change name to 'ZIPCODE' and description to 'Zip, Zip+4, or other format' Press PgDn The state field displays. Change the name to 'STATE', and the description to '2 digit state', and in the picture field type in '!!'. The picture !! is a dBase function which will convert any data inputted to upper case. If you do not know about dBase pictures, there is an explanation in the dPROG reference manual. Change the Edit field to %%FIND(STATE,STATE) This causes the finished application to look up the state the user entered on a database named STATE using an index named STATE and only allow records which exist on the STATE database to be allowed into this field. The STATE database is distributed with the dPROG system. Press PgDn The city field shows. Change the field name to 'CITY' and the description to 'Customer's city' You have now finished the last field. There is other field description information which you did not fill in, but instead took the default. Later we will see what these other values do. Next you will save your system and create the programs and files needed. Hang in there, we are almost done. Saving your system __________________ Now that you are finished describing your system, you need to save it to disk. Press Escape You return back to the design screen dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 19 Press F10 A message "Clear Dir dOs Load Parms Save Quit" appears on the status line. and dPROG waits for your reply. Press S A message appears on the status line saying 'A:MAILLIST'. Remember when you set the system parameters, you told the dPROG that the system name was MAILLIST. The default screen name is the system name you typed in. Press return A screen file (MAILLIST.SCR), field description file (MAILLIST.FLD), binary image file (MAILLIST.BIN), print image file (MAILLIST.SPR), and system parameter file (MAILLIST.SPM) are created. The status line blinks 'SAVING'. If there are any problems, a message will appear on the status line. You have now saved your system description. Press Esc The design screen returns. Exiting dPROG _____________ Now that you are done, you will exit back to the dPSYS menu or DOS. Press F10 A message "Clear Dir dOs Load Parms Save Quit" appears on the status line. and dPROG waits for your reply. Press Q This causes you to quit dPROG and exit to the dPSYS menu. If you had made any changes to the screen or parameters without saving, you would have been asked if you are sure that you wish to quit. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 20 Creating the system ___________________ In this section you will build the programs and databases needed for the system you have described. From the dPSYS menu type F2 or from DOS type DPCOMP and press return This starts the system compiler. A screen displays showing two questions with defaults (see below). ............................................................................ . dPROG COMPILER . . Create Systems Programs . ............................................................................ . . . System: ________ . . . . Replace Database: _ (If one exists) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PRESS F1 TO COMPILE, F10 TO QUIT . . . . .................................... . . .(C) 1987 University Research, Inc.. . . .................................... . . . ............................................................................ The first field is 'SYSTEM'. This is the name of the system you wish to generate. The default is the last system you worked on with dPROG. The second question is 'REPLACE DATABASE? (If one exists)'. The default is 'N'. If you are making modifications to a screen design and wish to keep the existing data on your database, leave this alone. If you wish to create a new empty database, change this to 'Y'. If there is no database, one will be created no matter what you enter here. Below the questions is the line 'PRESS F1 TO CREATE SYSTEM, F10 TO EXIT'. If you press F1 the system will be generated. If you press F10 you will exit to DOS having done nothing. Press F1 A list of programs and databases display as they are created. When DPCOMP is done, you are returned to DOS. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 21 Documenting your system _______________________ Now that you have created your system, you will need a users manual for the end user (or yourself) on how to use your new system. Rather than having a generic manual on disk, there is a dPROG program which will create a user manual for you. You will now run that program and create the users manual. From the dPSYS menu press F3 or from DOS type DPDOC and press return A screen appears (see below) asking three questions. You have to specify the system to be documented, the input doc file, and the output device. Notice that all three questions are filled in. ............................................................................ . dPROG DOCUMENTER . . Print System Documentation . ............................................................................ . . . System: ________ . . . . Input Doc File: UGUIDE.DAT . __________ . . . Output Device: LST___________________ . ___ . . . . . . . . . . . . . PRESS F1 TO PRINT, F10 TO QUIT . . . . . . .................................... . . .(C) 1987 University Research, Inc.. . . .................................... . . . ............................................................................ The default system is the last system you worked on. The default doc file is 'UGUIDE.DAT'. The default output device is 'LST:'. You may change any of these (for example to print to disk change the output device to 'A:name'), but for now we will leave these alone. Below the questions notice the line 'Press F1 to print, F10 to exit'. If you press F1 the printing will start. If you press F10 you will exit without printing. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 22 Press F1 The manual starts printing on your printer. Installing your created system ______________________________ You will now need to copy the files needed to use your system to a work floppy. If you have a two floppy system, place your dPROG program disk into the A drive and a blank formatted floppy into the B drive, otherwise just place the blank formatted floppy into the B drive. Type 'COPY dp*.bin B:' and press return The default screen images copy to the B drive Type 'COPY maillist.* B:' Your new system copies to the B drive. Type 'COPY work.* B:' Since you named your database work, you must copy the database file(s) to the B: drive. Type 'COPY DPSORT.* B:' The sort/select subsystem copies to the B drive. Working with your created system ________________________________ Read the MAILLIST SYSTEM GUIDE documentation manual you just printed and work your way through your new system. Exiting your created system ___________________________ From the Main Menu, Press Q This exits your system, quits dBase, and returns to DOS. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 23 Reordering fields _________________ You may have noticed that when entering and updating data with your system that you had to enter zipcode then state then city. This order should have been city, state, zipcode. The problem is that you entered the fields in zip, state, city order when you created your system. In this case this is a problem, but you might want a special ordering of the data in your system. This feature allows you to order the fields in a different way than you have them displayed on the screen. For now though, lets fix the order of the city, state, zip fields. Restart dPROG You can start dPROG from DOS by typing DPSYS, pressing return, and then pressing F1. You can also start dPROG by typing 'DPROG' and pressing return from the DOS prompt. dPROG starts. Press return (or wait 10 seconds) for the intro screen go away. The screen design screen appears. Load your existing system. In order to change the system, you will have to reload it. Press F10 The Clear, Dir, ... message appears on the status line. We want to reload an existing system so we will choose Load. Press L The status line asks for the filename. Type A:MAILLIST We want to reload the MAILLIST program. The program loads and the screen you built displays. Move the cursor to the city field. We will look at the fields that are out of order. Press F6 This displays the field attributes. Notice that the field number for city is 7. Press PgUp This displays the field attributes for State. Notice that this field number is 6. Press PgUp Zipcode appears. Notice that the field number is 5. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 24 Think! We want city to be field 5, state field 6, and zipcode state 7. We need only change the order of fields 5 and 7. To reorder a field you need only change the field number on the screen being displayed. The field is the moved to that position and all fields with a higher order are pushed down 1. Therefor, to fix this ordering we need change field 5 to field 7 and the other fields will be reordered. We then need to exchange fields 5 and 6. The following example demonstrates this: City = 7, State = 6, Zip = 5 Go to zip and press 7. Zip becomes 7, city and state move back 1. City = 6, State = 5, Zip = 7 Go to City and press 5. City becomes 5, and state moves down 1. City = 5, State = 6, Zip = 7 Type 7 for the field number The fields reorder. City is now 6, state 5, and zipcode 7. Move to City and press 5. City is now 5, State 6, and Zipcode 7. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 25 Adding new fields to an existing system _______________________________________ You will add 3 new fields to demonstrate numeric data entry and calculations. Position the cursor to under the CITY field We are about to add 3 new fields. Press F5 8 times A new field of length 8 is created. You have just added a new field to the existing system. Move right one space We will add another field. Press F5 8 times You have created another field. Move right one space and press F5 8 times Your third new field. Move the cursor to the first of the three new fields You will now change the field descriptions of the fields you created. Press F6 The field description screen shows. You will make this field the amount of money sent from the customer. Change the Field Name to SENT, the type to N (numeric), decimal positions to 2, description to Amount Sent, picture to 99999.99 and the initial value to 0. Press PgDn You move to the second new field. This field will contain the dollar amount received for their order. Change the Field Name to ORDERED, the type to N (numeric), decimal positions to 2, description to Amount Ordered, picture to 99999.99 and the initial value to 0. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 26 Press PgDn You move to the third new field. This will be the difference between the amount sent and the amount ordered. Change the Field Name to Diff, the File/Display/Calc field to C (to define a calculation field that is not on the database), the type to N (numeric), decimal positions to 2, description to Difference, picture to 99999.99, and the calculation field to SENT-ORDERED. This causes this field to be calculated from the Sent and ordered fields. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 27 Deleting existing fields ________________________ Next we will change the NAME field to 3 fields, first name, middle initial, and last name. Move the cursor to column 59 You are going to set the lock column to allow you to modify the fields without having to redraw the box. Press F2 The lock column changes to column 59. Notice the change on the status line (L:59). Move the cursor to the NAME field This is field 2, length 30. See the F:2 L:30 on the status line. Press Del to shrink the NAME field to 13 positions You will change this field to first name. Move the cursor to column 44 You are about to add a middle initial field. Press F5 You have added the middle initial field. Move over one column You are about to add the last name field. Press F5 13 times This is the last name field. Position the cursor on the first name field You need to change the field names for the new fields and move the middle initial and last name fields to positions following the first name fields. Press F6 The field description screen appears. Change the field name to Fname Press Esc Your design screen returns. Move the cursor to the middle initial block. Press F6 The field description screen appears. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 28 Change the field name to MI Next, change the field number to 3 This causes the field MI to be after the Fname field. Press Esc Your design screen returns. Move the cursor to the last name field. Press F6 The field description screen appears. Change the field name to Lname. Next, change the field number to 4 This causes the field Lname to be after the MI field. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 29 Indexes and your system _______________________ Your old system was kept in no specific order. We will make the new system keep the data in order by last name, first name and middle initial. Position the cursor to the Fname field Make this the second part of the key (the first part is Lname.) Press F6 and move the cursor to the File/Display/Calc field. Change the File/Display/Calc field to 1 to specify the second part of the key. Keys are numbered from 0 through 9. The first part of a key is 0, the last part is 9. Change File/Display/Calc to 1 Press PgDn The MI field displays. We will make this the third part of the key. Again, the third part of a key is part 2. Change File/Display/Calc to 2 Press PgDn The Lname field displays. We will make this the first part of the key. The primary part of the key is 0. Change File/Display/Calc to 2 This changes the last of the key parts. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 30 Rebuilding your system ______________________ Now that you are done modifying your system, you need to save it to disk. Press F10 A message "Clear dOs Dir Load Parms Save Quit" appears on the status line. dPROG waits for your reply. Press S A message appears on the status line saying 'A:MAILLIST'. Press return A screen file (MAILLIST.SCR), field description file (MAILLIST.FLD), binary image file (MAILLIST.BIN), and system parameter file (MAILLIST.SPM) are created. The status line blinks 'SAVING'. If there are any problems, a message will appear on the status line. You have now saved your modified system description. Exiting dPROG _____________ Now that you are done, you will exit back to either the dPSYS menu or DOS (whichever you started from). Press F10 A message CLEAR,DIR,LOAD,PARMS,SAVE,QUIT appears on the status line. dPROG waits for your reply. Press Q This causes you to quit dPROG and exit to DOS. If you had made any changes to the screen or parameters without saving, you would have been asked if you are sure that you wish to quit. Rebuilding the system _____________________ You will need to rebuild the programs and databases needed for the system you have changed. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 31 Type DPCOMP and press return This starts the system compiler. A screen displays showing two questions, with defaults. The first field is 'SYSTEM'. This is the name of the system you wish to generate. The default is the last system you worked on with dPROG. The second question is 'REPLACE DATABASE? (If one exists)'. The default is 'N'. Since we have changed the number and size of fields and added indexes, you will need to change this field to Y. Below the questions is the line 'PRESS F1 TO CREATE SYSTEM, F10 TO EXIT'. If you press F1 the system will be generated. If you press F10 you will exit to DOS with nothing done. Change the Replace Database field to Y. Press F1 A list of programs and databases display as they are created. When DPCOMP is done, you are returned to DOS. Documenting your system _______________________ Now that you have modified your system, you will need a new users manual for the end user (or yourself) on how to use your new system. You will now print a new users guide. Type DPDOC and press return A screen appears which asks three questions. You have to specify the system to be documented, the input doc file, and the output device. Notice that all three questions are filled in. The default system is the last system you worked on. The default doc file is 'UGUIDE.DAT'. The default output device is 'LST:'. You may change any of these (for example to print to disk change the output device to 'A:name'), but for now we will leave these alone. Below the questions notice the line 'Press F1 to print, F10 to exit'. If you press F1 the printing will start. If you press F10 you will exit without printing. Press F1 The manual starts printing on your printer. This ends the Getting Started manual. For more information on how to use specific features of dPROG, consult the reference manual. Remember that version 1.31 is shareware. To receive version 2.0 which allows 64 fields, screen painting and coloring and other features, you need to register. Please fill out the form below and send $39.95. Thank you. Site licenses are also available. For information call or write. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 32 What is University Research? University Research is a small company formed to develop and market dBase accessories, produce various newsletters and perform consulting services for local companies. In our products, we develop applications that help computer users at a low price. With our newsletters we try to impart useful and timely information in a concise manner. As consultants we promise to develop applications to your specifications, on time and within budget. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 33 Send to: University Research, Inc. Order Form 602 South 48th Street Suite 229 Philadelphia, Pa. 19143 Please send: Copies Price Total Registration and copy of version 2.0 ___ x $39.95 = _________ (includes version 2.0 and printed manuals) Shipping and handling ___ x $5.00 = _________ Pennsylvania residents must add $2.40 (6%) State sales tax. ___ x ______ = _________ Total Sent _________ Site licenses are available for a flat $500.00 per building, please write or call for more information. Name : _______________________________________________ Company: _______________________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________ : _______________________________________________ City : ____________________ State: ____ Zip: ________ Day Phone: _____________________________________________ Eve Phone: _____________________________________________ ORDERS OUTSIDE THE US: Use a check drawn on a US bank in US dollars. Otherwise add $10.00 for collection. Please send $10.00 for non-US shipping. C.O.D. orders please call (215) 472-5050. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 34 One last thing! _______________ Even if you don't order a copy of dPROG version 2, we would like to keep in touch with you. Please take a few moments and tell us what we did wrong, what you liked, and what you need. If we use any of your ideas, we'll send you a free copy of our next product, and in any case we'll put you on our mailing list and keep you informed about what we do. Without your input, we don't know where we stand. Send to: University Research, Inc. Order Form 602 South 48th Street Suite 229 Philadelphia, Pa. 19143 Name : _______________________________________________ Company: _______________________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________ : _______________________________________________ City : ____________________ State: ____ Zip: ________ Day Phone: _____________________________________________ Eve Phone: _____________________________________________ Have you ever done consulting, contract programming, written an application and sent it to a BBS, or in any way tried to make money with your computer? [ ] YES [ ] NO dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 35 What I liked about dPROG! _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ What I didn't like about dPROG!!! _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ What I would like to see developed. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ If you need more space, use the reverse side of this paper or continue on other paper. Thank you for your input. dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 36 INDEX INDEX !!........................................................19 %%FIND....................................................19 .BIN......................................................20 .SCR......................................................20 .SPM......................................................20 .SPR......................................................20 Calculation...............................................17 Centering lines...........................................17 Character.................................................17 Clear......................................................8 Compiler..................................................21 Copyright date.............................................9 Copyright holder...........................................9 Ctrl C....................................................17 Ctrl PgDn.................................................16 Ctrl PgUp.................................................16 Ctrl R....................................................17 Ctrl right arrow..........................................15 Date......................................................17 Decimal positions.........................................17 Default doc file..........................................22 Default output device.....................................22 Default system............................................22 Define Field's Data.......................................18 Define File's Information..................................9 Del.......................................................13 Delete....................................................13 Description field.........................................18 Design screen..............................................6 Designing a screen.........................................6 Dir........................................................8 DOs........................................................8 DPCOMP....................................................21 DPDOC.....................................................22 DPROG......................................................6 DPROG introduction.........................................6 DPSYS......................................................5 Edit......................................................19 Error messages.............................................6 Esc........................................................7 Exit......................................................20 F1.........................................5, 14, 15, 21, 23 F1 = HELP..................................................6 F1 twice..................................................15 F10..........................................5, 8, 9, 19, 20 F2.....................................................5, 21 F3.................................................5, 14, 22 F4.....................................................5, 14 F5.........................................................5 dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 37 INDEX (cont) INDEX (cont) F6........................................................18 Field block...............................................11 FIELD NUMBER..............................................18 Field size................................................12 File/Display/Calc.........................................30 Files......................................................9 FLD.......................................................20 Function keys..............................................7 Function keys F1-F5 and F10................................5 Help screen................................................7 Home..................................................14, 15 Index Name................................................10 Indexes....................................................9 Initialization data.......................................17 Input doc file............................................22 Ins.......................................................13 Insert....................................................13 L:nn......................................................12 Load.......................................................8 Lock column............................................6, 13 Logical...................................................17 Low and high ranges.......................................17 LST.......................................................22 Numeric...................................................17 Order.....................................................24 Painting...................................................6 Parms......................................................8 PgDn......................................................18 Pictures..................................................19 Programmer's name..........................................9 Q.........................................................20 Quit.......................................................8 Reference manual..........................................32 Registration..............................................34 Repeat characters.........................................15 REPLACE DATABASE?.........................................21 Ruler.....................................................17 SAME AS...................................................18 Save.......................................................8 SAVING....................................................20 Screen constant...........................................12 Screen constants..........................................11 Screen literal............................................11 Special character set..................................7, 15 STATE database............................................19 Status line............................................6, 11 SYSTEM....................................................21 System description.........................................9 System information screen..................................8 Systems parameters.........................................8 Type of data..............................................17 dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 38 INDEX (cont) INDEX (cont) UGUIDE.DAT................................................22 University Research.......................................33 Users manual..............................................22 Variable data.............................................11 dPROG dBase Programmers Guide. Getting Started. Page 39