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EasyCENSUS ========== Version 2.00 USER'S MANUAL Robert L. Mosher 106 Nawiliwili St. Honolulu, HI 96825 copyright (c) 1988 Robert L. Mosher All Rights Reserved Release date 14 Aug 1988 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= Introduction . . . . . . . . . . 3 Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Limitations. . . . . . . . . . . 3 Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Main Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Entry of Data. . . . . . . . . . 6 Report Module. . . . . . . . . . 8 Extract. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 ASCII file create. . . . . . . .11 Helpful Hints. . . . . . . . . .12 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . .14 2 Introduction ============ EasyCENSUS is a program designed to assist in creation of computer files of census data for the census years of 1850 and 1860. The program provides for data entry, for review and update of previously entered data and for the creation of indices, ASCII files of selected fields and subsets of a data base based on key searches. This program was inspired by a series of messages on the National Genealogy Conference, an electronic bulletin board carried throughout the United States by many local bulletin boards. These messages all related to getting a "grass roots" movement going of people voluntarily creating data bases of census data. Eventually, a significant data base would exist. Much of the credit for starting this effort goes to Henry Hoover, President of Computer Rooters of Sacramento, CA and Sysop of the Dynasty Bulletin Board in Elk Grove, CA. While designed to be easy to use, EasyCENSUS assumes a basic understanding of DOS command and file structures. EasyCENSUS is copyrighted (1988) by the author, Robert L. Mosher, and all rights are reserved. It is made available free of charge with the condition that any files or data bases of census information created with EasyCENSUS also be made available free of charge. This does not preclude a nominal charge to cover materials and mailing cost. WARRANTY ======== The author makes no warranty of any kind about this program, or its fitness for any particular purpose. The author, Robert L. Mosher shall not be liable for any damages resulting from the use of this program or for the programs failure to operate as specified or as desired by the user. Robert L. Mosher shall not be liable for any damage to data or property resulting directly or indirectly by the use of EasyCENSUS. LIMITATIONS =========== This system is NOT a professional product, and in addition to the statement in the warranty, I feel that it may be helpful to describe some possible missing features in the program and to give my rationale for why they are missing. COLOR, I made only minor provision for color, although I like color, I did not think it was worth the effort (or time) involved to set up the screens with nice windows, variable color settings, etc. When I redesigned the screen format for version 2.00, I found that it was useful to include the ability to change the colors in the update module. That module includes the ability to TEMPORARILY change the color settings. A future release will save the settings in the .OPT file so changes can be made permanent. 3 Also, there is no printer output, I assume you have an editor, word processor, or whatever to manipulate and print the ASCII outputs, and you can always use PrtScn if you need to capture a screen image. The EDIT checks within the system are limited, maybe even to the extent of being non-existent. FORMAT, releases prior to Version 2.00 used a single line data entry format that was a compromise between ease of data entry and ability to see prior/following entries while doing data entry. Version 2.00 contains a revised screen for data entry along with a display of up to 5 entries of following or preceding data (depending on mode) and have resolved this compromise. In a future release, I expect to used the revised screen format in other modules (Extract, ASCII file create, etc.). Operation ========= EasyCENSUS consists of a series of programs and files. The minimum files needed are: CENSUS.EXE Main Menu program CENSUS-M.EXE Data Entry/Update program CENSUS-R.EXE Report program CENSUS-E.EXE Extract program CENSUS-I.EXE Index program CENSUS.OPT File of program data These files should all have been on the disk you received, or in the file you downloaded. Other than to make sure that you have all the needed programs, initially, you do not have to worry about these files, to run the system just type: CENSUS The system will then prompt you with a series of menus, and/or allow screen data entry/review. On all menu's, to select an option, you may enter either the number of the option or the first letter of the option title. 4 The Main Menu looks like this: EasyCENSUS Version 2.00 ------------------------------------------------------------ Main Menu Copyright 1988 by R.L.Mosher ------------------------------------------------------------ OPTIONS: 1 - Enter/Update census data 2 - Report census data 3 - Defaults - change 4 - Year change to 1850 5 - Program information 6 - Quit Select option > NOTE: Enter option number or first letter of option title. These choices are fairly obvious, options 1 and 2 call up the data entry and report modules and will be discussed later in the documentation. Option 3 - Change Defaults, allows you to change the names of the files used in the EasyCENSUS System. As the default (contained in the CENSUS.OPT file), all files use the name CENSUS with a suffix denoting the purpose or use of the file. These are: .DAT - denotes census data file .KEY - denotes census index file .TXT - denotes text or ASCII file .EXT - denotes an extract of the census file .NEW - denotes an update of the census file The Change defaults screen: EasyCENSUS Version 2.00 ------------------------------------------------------------ Change disk default settings Copyright 1988 by R.L.Mosher ------------------------------------------------------------ OPTIONS (change file names): CURRENT NAMES ======= ===== 1 - Census data file CENSUS.DAT 2 - Index file CENSUS.KEY 3 - Extract file CENSUS.EXT 4 - ASCII file CENSUS.TXT 5 - Update file CENSUS.NEW 6 - Return to main menu Select option > File suffixes cannot be changed 5 You may change the filename, CENSUS, to whatever you like, but you cannot change the suffix, within the EasyCENSUS system. You can, of course, using DOS commands rename the files anyway you like outside of EasyCENSUS. See the discussion on naming files and use of EasyCENSUS in the section on Helpful Hints. Option 4 - Year change on the Main Menu allows you to change between the two census years, 1850 and 1860. Selection of this option changes the year as indicated and writes the new year to the .OPT file. The CENSUS.OPT file is important and must be present. It is used to pass filenames, year, etc. between the modules of EasyCENSUS. When you start using several files for different sets of census data, you may want to save the .OPT file with the database, and copy it from there to where you keep the programs whenever you use a particular data set. ENTRY or UPDATING OF DATA ===== == ======== == ==== This is why this program was written, to provide a tool for anybody to use to create a database of census data. If each of us does a little and shares what we do, we can provide a usable means for applying the power of our computers to our genealogical research. Version 2.00 includes a revised screen display area that solves a compromise made in earlier versions. The Data Entry Module first checks to see if the file specified in the .OPT file exists, if not the program assumes you are creating a new file. If the file does exist, EasyCENSUS asks if you want to edit the file, add data to it, or create a new file. Be careful!! The "new" option erases any existing data in the filename.DAT file. If you are working with multiple files of census data, make sure you have a good naming convention and do make backups of your important files. The "add" option does just that opens filename.DAT and adds new records to the end of the file. "Edit" allows you to update (including delete or insert records) an existing file. There are no menus in the Data Entry Module, just the above question, and the Data Entry Screen. The screens for both 1850 and 1860 are very similar, the differences being the existence of a Post Office field and a Personal Property field for 1860. The system provides for automatically writing to disk and allows editing of the entry before writing to disk. The screens used vary slightly for different functions, but all follow the general format of having three areas: a DITTO area at the top, data entry area in the middle and a display of coming or prior records in the lower portion. Let me first describe the data entry area, and then cover the upper and lower screen sections. The data entry area is just that, it is blank for new data entry or contains existing data during editing. After 6 entering data in a field, hitting a return moves the cursor along the data fields. Hitting return on the last field (REMARKS) causes the program to ask if you want to save the record, hitting a y for yes (or Y or a CR) results in the record being written to disk as entered or modified if in edit mode. You can also use the cursor keys to move around from field to field on the screen. The following is a sample screen in Edit mode: EasyCENSUS Version 2.00 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Edit existing census data for 1850 Copyright 1988 by R.L.Mosher ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIXED or 'DITTO' fields State: IL County: WHITESIDE Enumeration Date: 26AUG Page: 375 Town: DISTRICT 37 Dwelling: 1 Family: 1 Lastname: SMITH Sex: F Race: Place of birth: MA ----------------------------------------------------------------- DATA ENTRY/UPDATE AREA County: WHITESIDE Enumeration Date: 26AUG Page: 375 Town: DISTRICT 37 Dwelling: 1 Family: 1 Lastname: WARE First LUCY A Age: 19 Sex: F Race: Occupation: R.E. Val: Birthplace: MA Mar/Sch/Ilit: / / Remarks: ----------------------------------------------------------------- IL WHITESIDE DISTRICT 37 375 1 1 WARE JOSEPH 17 M MA 26AUG IL WHITESIDE DISTRICT 37 375 6 6 DAGGET JANE D. 36 F MA 26AUG IL WHITESIDE DISTRICT 37 375 6 6 NEWHALL ELISA 15 F MA 26AUG IL WHITESIDE DISTRICT 37 375 6 6 NEWHALL ELLEN J. 18 F MA 26AUG IL WHITESIDE DISTRICT 37 375 9 9 HOLT AARON P.41 M PHYSICIAN 800 EasyCENSUS program options S)earch N)ext E)dit C)omment I)nsert D)elete F)inish Q)uit On the screen, this display uses highlighted text to make the data fields show up better, which can't be shown in this manual. You can also (temporarily) change the colors and highlighting to your preference by entering an X. The program displays the current settings for foreground, background, and the foreground and background for flashing message areas. This option is not shown on the screen, and the changes are not changed permanently. In later releases, the .OPT file will be modified to provide a method to save color changes. The display changes slightly in the data area and in the options shown at the bottom of the screen depending on the function being performed. The commands for each function are self-evident. The DITTO fields shown at the top change with each record entered in the Entry mode, while in Edit mode, they are changed by entering a Cntl-D. In both Entry and Edit mode, placing the curser on a field and hitting either a single (') or double (") quote changes the current value to the value in the DITTO field. This is of obvious value as these fields often repeat for several census entries. In edit mode, this is useful if you have to make several indentical changes. In edit mode when you hit a Cntl-D 7 to change the values, they are changed to the values in the current record shown in the data area. On all fields, except for the first name and age, you may also use the quotes in lieu of a CR. This is allowed to speed up data entry as many entries (primarily children in a family) are identical for all values after age. In fact, since a common situation is that the remaining fields of an entry AND the first seven fields of the next entry are the same, I have added a function that is NOT shown on the screen. On the age field (after entering the age) or any subsequent field, entering a PgDn instead of a CR, causes the remaining fields to be duplicated from the prior record, and starts the next record by duplicated the first seven fields. The cursor is then positioned on the Firstname field to begin data entry. Note that often, even if the Lastname is not the same, it may be faster to use this option and then backup one field and enter the Lastname. The lower portion of the screen (immediately above the command summary) shows up to five records. In Entry mode, these are the prior five records entered, and in Edit mode, these are the next five records in the file to be reviewed. These are not in a structured format, the fields are simply concatenated and the left 80 characters displayed. REPORT MODULE ====== ====== The selection of option 2 - Report census data from the Main Menu allows for four functions, viewing the file, indexing, extracting, or creating an ASCII file of selected fields. EasyCENSUS Version 2.00 ------------------------------------------------------------ Census Data Display for 1860 Copyright 1988 by R.L.Mosher ------------------------------------------------------------ OPTIONS ======= 1 - Scan file 2 - Extract file create 3 - Index file create 4 - ASCII file create 5 - Field size change (for ASCII file) 6 - Main Menu 7 - Quit to DOS OPTION DESIRED> The Scan option allows you to examine the data in your file. You may scan forward only, and the screen displays up to twelve (12) records, then redisplays for the next twelve. The screen also redisplays any time the header data changes. 8 EasyCENSUS Version 2.00 ------------------------------------------------------------ Census Data for 1850 Copyright 1988 by R.L.Mosher ------------------------------------------------------------ State(2) County Town/Township Post Office Enumeration Date IL WHITESIDE CLYDE 20JUL SC Birth PG DN FN Lastname Firstname Age XL Occupation R.E. Pl MSI Remarks 1 468468 HEATON HORACE 36 M 1000 CAN 3753 3 GILBERT CHARLES S.9 M 0 IL 3753 3 GILBERT MELINDA 3 F 0 IL 3755 5 SHIVERLY HENRY 6 M 0 IL 1 3755 5 SHIVERLY SAMUEL 2 M 0 IL 3758 8 FRARINGSIFRANCES 1 F 0 IL NAME? TOGGLE COMMANDS: PgDn (or RETURN) = Next Screen : Q = QUIT Note that this view of the data suffers from the compromise on space versus content mentioned in the Introduction, so that fields may overlap if they exceed the display space allowed. The only functions are to hit PgDn or Return for the next screen, or Q for Quit and return to the Reports Menu. EXTRACT ======= The more useful functions of the Reports Module are the Extract and ASCII file creation abilities. First, the Extract function creates a subset of the census data file in the SAME format by making "key" compares on selected data fields. EasyCENSUS displays a similar screen to that used for scanning the file, but with field numbers in place of data values, i. e. State is 2, County is 3, etc. You specifiy the fields by number to be used for selection and then enter the key to be used for each field. 9 EasyCENSUS Version 2.00 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Census Data for 1 Copyright 1988 by R.L.Mosher ----------------------------------------------------------------- State(2) County Town/Township Enumeration Date 2 3 4 19 SC Birth PG DN FN Lastname Firstname Age XL Occupation R.E. PL MSI Remarks 11 112 6 7 8 9 10 11 23 14 15 17 890 21 SOUNDEX = 22 FIELD> ? Enter numbers of fields to be used to select records Hit RETURN after each field Q to Quit & Specify Keys, B to change prior field selection C to Cancel without creating file The Extract is an "OR" type search in that if ANY field matches it's key, the record is selected. Multiple keys may be used by specifying the same field more than once. For example, to select all MOSHER's and HEATON's in the file, we would specifiy the Lastname field twice and enter MOSHER as the key for one and HEATON as the key for the other. The comparison is of the "contains" type, i.e., if the field selected contains the key, then it is a match. If spelling is uncertain, you could specify multiple spellings, for example, select Lastname twice and give the keys: MOSHER and MOSIER or you can also specify SOUNDEX code. If you select Soundex code as a field, EasyCENSUS asks for the name desired and automatically calculates the Soundex code for that name. INDEX ===== The index function produces a Lastname Index. This is a limited index and requires further refinement to be a true index. For this reason, it is in ASCII format and can be further manipulated with an editor or word processor. The index is simply the fields Lastname, Page Number, and Township, written to disk every time the Lastname or Page Number changes. To be a useful index, the output file, filename.KEY should be sorted on lastname and duplicates eliminated or combined. I find the Index most useful in conjunction with the Extract function described above. For example, if I am interested in 6 names in Whiteside County, I can create an Extract census file of just those names, and then index the extract file giving an index of where those names are found in the actual census. 10 ASCII File Create ===== ==== ====== The ASCII file functions creates an file with as many lines as you have entries in the filename.DAT file, but with only specified fields. This can result in a large file and, like the index function, is most useful in conjunction with the Extract function to first reduce the file down to the records of interest. The operation is very similar to the Extract function in that you specify the fields to be written to the file. In addition to the record fields, EasyCENSUS will also create and write to the file the Soundex code if selected. The ASCII file function uses predetermined field sizes for the output file but these may be changed with the Field Size Change option. These may be larger or smaller than the actual data values. The standard field sizes are: Year 4 characters State 2 Township 15 Post Office 15 Enumeration date 7 Page 4 Dwelling 4 Family 4 Lastname 26 Firstname 15 Age 3 Sex 2 Color 2 Occupation 10 Value of R.E. 6 Personal Prop. 6 Place of birth 4 Married in year 2 School in year 2 Illiterate 2 Remarks 10 The program also adds one blank to the first four items, State, County, Township and Post Office. The other fields are sized one position more than the expected largest value to allow for a space between entries. FIELD Size Change ===== ==== ====== Used in conjunction with the ASCII output file above, this option allows you to customize the field sizes based on your data and your own needs. The screen is fairly straight forward, and uses abbreviations and numbers to identify the fields to be changed. 11 EasyCENSUS Version 2.00 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Change field sizes for ASCII file Copyright 1988 by R.L.Mosher ----------------------------------------------------------------- CURRENT SETTINGS ======= ======== P D F L F A S C O R P B M S I E R G N N N N G E O C E P I A C L N M E X L C R R H K Field num. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Field size 5 5 5 26 15 3 2 2 10 6 6 4 2 2 2 7 10 Field num. to change? Enter 98 to change header field sizes (State, county, etc.) Enter 99 to return to Reports Menu Note that the field numbers do NOT agree with other selection screens such as the Extract or ASCII file creates. You just enter the number of the field to change, for example, to change LastName, enter 4, the system will prompt for the revised field size which must be greater than zero and less than 100. HELPFUL HINTS ======= ===== Although, you are free to name your files as you see fit, let's take a little time to discuss the naming of files and the possible uses of EasyCENSUS. First, it is recommended that you use some sort of structure in your filenames. If you are going to have 10 different county census files, you DO NOT want them to all have the same name! I recommend that you use the 2 digit state abbreviation, followed by a 2 digit county abbreviation, followed by the year of the census; thus, the 1850 census of Whiteside County, Illinois becomes ILWS1850 with the appropriate suffix depending on whether the file is the basic data, an extract, index, etc. Note that you do not enter the file suffixes, they are automatically appended by the program. This convention serves for the primary purpose of data entry and provides a name that tells something about the file and is unlikely to be duplicated. (You may need to use care on county abbreviations in states with lots of counties.) If you are using EasyCENSUS to assist in searching and analysing a data base you or someone else has already created, you may want to consider using some different names for your files, particularly for the extract, index and ASCII files. The real power of EasyCENSUS is in its ability to assist in finding and analysing records of interest. As an example, lets say you are working with the file mentioned above, ILWS1850, and are interested in the MOSHER family who moved from Canada to Clyde 12 Township sometime before 1850. You also know that Mrs. MOSHER's maiden name was HEATON and that her family also moved from Canada. We can create a smaller census file of just the records we are interested in by using the Extract ability of EasyCENSUS. First let's change the defaults and call the extract file CANADA then in the Extract option of the Report Module, we specify the fields, LastName, LastName, and Place of Birth to be used as selection fields. Note that Lastname was selected twice. Then we give as keys for these fields: MOSHER, HEATON, CAN. Since the extract is an "OR" function, this creates a subset of the ILWS1850 file under the name CANADA.EXT with all Whiteside county residents in 1850 who were named MOSHER or HEATON, or who were born in Canada. We than leave Census Helper, and using DOS, we rename this file to CANADA.DAT thus making it useable by EasyCENSUS as a data file. Now, we can use the ASCII file function to create a file we can further sort and analyse on a word processor or editor by changing our defaults to use CANADA.DAT as our data file and selecting the ASCII file option of the Reports Module. If our CANADA file is still unmanageably large, it could be further screened down with the Extract function. The use of the CENSUS.OPT file could be "customized" for advanced users of the EasyCENSUS. For example, if you have several data files kept on floppy disks, one file per disk, and you wish to run EasyCENSUS from a floppy in your A: drive with the data in the B: drive, you could create with an editor a CENSUS.OPT file that looks like this: 1860 Version 2.00 B:ILWS1860 B:ILWS1860 B:CENSUS B:CENSUS B:CENSUS The above file indicates that the data file and any created files are on the B: drive. You could then create an batch file called ILWS1860.BAT that contained: COPY B:CENSUS.OPT A: A:CENSUS and save this file on your disk in drive B: along with your datafiles. Then when you wanted to run EasyCENSUS against the data for Illinois, Whiteside Co., 1860 census, you would just put the program disk in drive A:, the data disk in drive B:, and type B:ILWS1860 The system would then run your .BAT file, copy the .OPT file relating to the data files on the disk in drive B: to the A: drive, and then run EasyCENSUS. 13 CONCLUSION ========== I hope you enjoy EasyCENSUS, and if you find any errors, or have suggestions for revisions, send them to me the address shown on the cover page. You can contact me to find out if you have the latest version. I can be reached via electronic mail as B.MOSHER on GENIE or at user ID 72407,2651 on CompuServe. If you use EasyCENSUS to create files of census data, please share them freely with other genealogists (and send me a copy, too!). 14