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F r e e F i l e
Version 1.0
A User Supported Filing System
(C) Copyright 1988
Stilwell Software Products
All Rights Reserved
Stilwell Software Products
1336 East Krista Way
Tempe, AZ 85284
(602) 820-4952
**** CONTENTS ****
USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE .................1
INTRODUCTION TO FREEFILE ................4
FREEFILE SPECIFICATIONS .................7
FILES ON THE FREEFILE DISKETTE...........7
GETTING STARTED ........................10
DEMO1 ..................................16
DEMO2 ..................................27
REFERENCE SECTION
ADD A RECORD ...................51
CREATE A NEW DATABASE ..........54
DELETING A RECORD ..............58
FORMAT OF THE DATABASE .........61
HELP ...........................62
IMPORT/EXPORT A DATABASE .......63
LIST/MODIFY FORMULAS ...........66
MODIFY A RECORD ................68
PRINT A REPORT .................72
PRINT OPTIONS ..................75
PRINT ORDER ....................78
QUIT ...........................81
REBUILD ........................82
SELECT CASES TO PRINT ..........83
SELECT A DATABASE ..............86
VIEW A RECORD ..................87
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY .........90
USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE
FreeFile is a "user supported"
program. What is meant by that is,
FreeFile is available to anyone who
wants to use it at a no cost (if you get
the program from Stilwell Software
Products we charge $10 to help cover the
cost of postage and handling). This
method of distributing computer software
allows you to try the program without
having to pay for it in advance. It also
allows you to freely share the program
with other users without the fear of
prosecution by the owner of the program.
If you find FreeFile of use you are
asked to send a contribution of $45 to
its author:
Stilwell Software Products
1336 East Krista Way
Tempe, AZ 85284
By sending a contribution you will
become a register owner of FreeFile.
You will received a printed copy of the
manual and will be eligible for support
from us. You will also receive a
program called REBUILD. The REBUILD
program will allow you to reconstruct
your database in the event it becomes
(1)
damaged from not terminating the program
in the normal way (e.g., if your power
goes out while you are in the update
mode you will need to run REBUILD before
you will be able to use your database
again). By contributing, you will also
enable us to send you information on
new versions of FreeFile as they become
available as well as other new programs
Stilwell Software Products will be
developing.
By contributing you will also be
supporting a means of software develop-
ment that will give you quality software
at a greatly reduced price.
You may receive a copy of FreeFile
by one of three methods. First, you can
send a $45 contribution to Stilwell
Software Products and we will mail you a
diskette which will contain the program,
the rebuild utility program (to be used
if you database ever "crashes"), and the
printed manual.
The second way is for you to send
$10 to Stilwell Software Products. We
will send you a diskette with the
program, and the documentation on the
diskette. You will not received the
printed manual, the rebuild utility (to
be used in the event of a "crash"), nor
will you be eligible for our support.
You may then use the software and make a
contribution later if you wish. Once
you mail the additional contribution to
Stilwell Software Products, we will send
you the printed manual, the current
version of the program, the rebuild
program, and will make you eligible for
support. The third way is to get a copy
of the program from your local IBM-PC
(2)
User's Group. You can use the program
and later make a contribution if you
wish. We will then send you all the
items listed above.
You are always free to make copies
of FreeFile and to share them with
others. You are not permitted to sell
FreeFile nor can you include it with any
product you are distributing. You may
not modify FreeFile in any way.
Regardless of how you get the
program, if you find FreeFile useful,
your contribution will be greatly
appreciated.
(3)
INTRODUCTION TO FREEFILE
FreeFile is a member of the type of
programs called "filing systems". This
type of program is at times called a
"database". We will use "database" and
"filing systems" to mean the same thing
for the purpose of the documentation.
A database is just a collection of data
(or records). In its simplest form,
FreeFile will do your filing for you.
You define what pieces of information
you want to store (these pieces are
called a "data field", or just a
"field"). FreeFile will store the
information you entered and then let you
print it in various different forms.
FreeFile is a database. You can
think of your database as being made up
of rows and columns, like a spreadsheet.
Each row is a record, and each column
represents each field (or piece of
information).
Your file (or database) will be
made up of a number of "records". A
record is a collection of pieces of
information. These pieces of informa-
tion are called "fields". A field might
be a person's name, or social security
number. A special feature of FreeFile
is its ability to use "computed fie-
lds". These fields are a lot like
formulas in a spreadsheet. For example,
you might want to define a field to be
the commission paid to a salesman in
your store. You could define a computed
(4)
field as "ITEM PRICE * .10". This
computed field will result in the price
of the item being multiplied by .10 (for
10%) and being entered in the field.
This is one of the many extremely
powerful features of FreeFile.
You can also "import" data from
other programs. This allows data from
another program to by put into a
FreeFile database. You can even import
data from a BASIC program if you like.
You can also "export" data from your
database to other programs (e.g., to
your spreadsheet program). Data to be
exported can selected (e.g., select only
cases where the Due Date > 09/01/85)
just as you would when you have FreeFile
write out a report for you.
FreeFile is menu driven. This
means that there are not a lot of
commands that you must learn to use this
program. Many people will be able to
use the program without reading the
manual or trying the demo exercises.
There is also a online help service
available from the Main Menu.
Probably the most significant
design feature of FreeFile is that
although it is loaded with many advance
features, these features will stay in
the background until needed. For
example, if you want to print data from
your database, select the print option
and select to print. You need not
specifically set any print options. You
might later decide that you would like
to change the order of the items on the
page, or select only certain items to be
printed, but that is always optional.
(5)
Once you are comfortable with the
program you might want to learn how to
do many of these more advance features.
It is not a program you are soon to
outgrow.
(6)
FREEFILE SPECIFICATIONS
FreeFile requires an IBM-PC, PC-XT,
PC-Portable, or PC-AT and the following;
(1) 256KB RAM, if using DOS 2.0 or
later.
(2) Either monochrome or color
monitor.
(3) At least one double-sided disk
drives (you can use a hard disk).
FILES ON THE FREEFILE DISKETTE:
FF.EXE - The actual FreeFile
program
FF.HLP - The on-line help file,
can be deleted from your work disk if
you need the space on your diskette.
COLOR.EXE - A utility program for
users of color monitors to set the color
of the screen.
NO-COLOR.FIL - Copy this file to
"COLOR.FIL" if you have a color graphics
card, but a monochrome display. This is
improve the appearance of the characters
on the screen.
DEMO1.DAT - A sample database.
Very basic (also includes files DEMO1.P,
DEMO1.HDR, DEMO1.IDX).
(7)
DEMO2.DAT - A sample database. A
bit more involved than DEMO1 (also
includes files DEMO2.P, DEMO2,HDR,
DEMO2.IDX).
OPTIONAL FILES:
READ.ME - Instructions on how to
print FF.DOC if it is on your diskette.
FF.DOC - Documentation file, (if
you did not get the printed manual) this
can also be deleted from your work disk
to give you more room on your diskette.
REBUILD.EXE - If you are a regis-
tered contributors to FreeFile you will
received this program to rebuild your
database if something happens to cause a
"crash" (e.g., the power going out).
FEATURES:
Maximum number of databases opened
at any one time is one.
Maximum number of indexes for any
one database is 10.
Maximum number of records in any
one database is 2 billion.
Maximum Record length is 1000
characters.
Maximum number of fields in a
record is 100.
Maximum Field length is 65 char-
acters.
Maximum number of sorts for the
print or export features is 100.
(8) Maximum number of compares for
print and export features is 25.
Maximum number of computed fields
(formulas) is 100.
Maximum number of calculated fields
on a report is 100 (numeric and computed
fields will be totaled at the end of the
report).
Comparison for date fields will be
sorted correctly (e.g., 01/01/86 will be
follow 12/01/85), and can be used in
computed fields (e.g., Start date - End
date).
Computed fields - similar to
formulas in spreadsheets.
FreeFile is an filing system for
the IBM PC. As you can see from the
list of features you will have the
ability to handle fairly complex data
storage and retrieval tasks.
(9)
GETTING STARTED
FIRST!! The first thing to do with
any software is to make a copy of the
original. You will probably want to
store the original and use only the copy
(the "work diskette"). This will insure
that you have a good copy of the program
should anything ever happen to your work
diskette.
TO MAKE A COPY. Put a blank
diskette in drive B and a diskette that
has the FORMAT program (supplied on the
DOS diskette from IBM) in the A drive.
Type "FORMAT B: /S" (don't type the
quotes).
This will format the diskette and
put a copy of the operating system on
your diskette. STEP 2. Remove from
drive A the FORMAT diskette and insert
the FreeFile diskette. Type "COPY *.*
B:" (don't type the quotes). This will
copy all the files from the FreeFile
diskette to your work diskette. We
suggest you put a write protect tab on
the FreeFile diskette if you have not
already done so, and store the diskette.
(To do this put a piece of tape, which
came with your diskettes, over the notch
in the upper-right corner of the
diskette). For additional information
on formatting a diskette and copying
files from a diskette see your DOS
manual. If you have a file called
FF.DOC on your work diskette (type "DIR
(10)
*.*" to find out), you might want to
delete after printing it out to make
more room on your diskette(you will not
have this file on your diskette if you
contributed $45 since you were sent a
printed version of the manual). You can
do this by typing "DEL FF.DOC".
If you have a color monitor on your
system you might want to first run a
program called COLOR. FreeFile is able
to determine if your system has a color
graphics card in it or not. If you do
have a color graphics card, FreeFile
will display the screens in color. If
you do not like the colors that FreeFile
uses you can run the COLOR program to
select different colors. To start COLOR
put the diskette that has the file
COLOR.EXE in your default disk drive,
and type the word COLOR. Press any key
to get pass the start-up screen. Then
just follow the directions given to you
by the COLOR program. The COLOR program
will create a file called COLOR.FIL.
This file must be on the same diskette
(and in the same directory) as the
FreeFile program. When FreeFile starts
it will search the current directory for
that file if you have a color graphics
card. If the file COLOR.FIL is not on
your disk, FreeFile will use the default
color values.
If you have a color graphics
card, but a monochrome display you will
need to copy the file called "NO-COLOR.-
FIL" to "COLOR.FIL". This will improve
the appearance of the characters on the
screen. The portable COMPAQ and the IBM
PC Portable both use this type of
configuration.
(11) You can delete the COLOR.EXE file
from your work diskette (you will want
to leave it on the original diskette)
once you happy with your selection of
the colors for FreeFile, or if you do
not have a color monitor, by typing
"DEL COLOR.EXE".
Now you are ready to start the
program. To do that just type the
letters "FF". The first screen will be
the start-up screen (it has to copyright
notice on it). When you are ready to
continue you may press any key.
The first piece of information you
are asked for is the name of the drive
(and path if you are using pathnames)
where your database files can be found.
If you are on a two floppy drive system
you might want to keep your database
files on a separate diskette in the "B"
drive. If you are using a hard disk you
can either put the database files in the
same directory, or put them in a
separate "database" directory. Whatever
you decide to do, you will need to enter
that information at this point.
After enter the drive information
you will be transferred to the Main
Menu. The Main Menu offers you the
major options available to you. The
commands are divided in three major
categories (Data Entry, Query, System
Commands). Each of the three categories
are discussed briefly below. For more
detail, see the individual options in
the Reference Section later in this
manual.
(12)
DATA ENTRY. These options will
allow you to actually change the
information in an existing database in
some way. For example, you can add a
record for a new customer. You can also
modify (or update, or change) informa-
tion in your database. You might want
to select the Modify option to, for
example, change the commission rate of
one of your sales personnel. To delete
a record you will want to select the
delete option. You will be given the
chance to confirm that the record select
is in fact the record you wanted to
delete before the actual delete happens.
QUERY. These two options will not
actually alter the contents of the
database in any way. The first option
available here is the "View" option.
This will allow you to view a record.
You can select to view a record based on
a key, or select to view either the
first or last record in your database.
Once a record is displayed, you will be
able to browse through your database
by pressing either the "PgUp" key (for
the previous record) or the "PgDn" key
for the next record. The "Print" option
will allow you to send a printed copy of
your database to your printer or a disk
file. This option has many other
features available with it (see the
Print Option on the Reference section of
this manual).
(13) SYSTEM COMMANDS. There are seven
options that fall in this category.
First, there is the "Create" option.
This will allow you to define and create
a new database. You will need to create
the database before you can actually
enter any information. The next command
will list and allow you to modify any of
the formulas you are using in your data-
base. The third option will display the
format of your database. All the fields
names will be listed on your screen,
along with their type, length, and
whether or not they are a key field.
The fourth option is used to select a
database for use. The fifth option is
to import or export a database. You
would select this option to use data
from another program (import), or to
send data from FreeFile to another
program (export). The sixth option is
the Help option. A brief description of
all the options are available online
through this option. The last option in
this section is to Quit. Select this
option when you have finished your
work and you want to return to the
operating system. NEVER just turn your
computer off when you are finished
before selecting this option!
To select any of the individual
options press the first letter of the
option (this letter will appear high-
lighted on your screen). For example,
if you want to create a new database you
would press the letter "C" while you
are at the Main Menu. You will then be
shown a "Sub Menu" from which you can
select the desired action.
(14) The first thing you will need to do
is to "Create" a database. This means
to define all the fields that you will
be using. If you have never done
this before you might want to take a
look at the first demo exercise (it
follows this section). After you create
the database you can start adding
records to it. See one of the demos
for more information on how this is
done.
There are two more keys you should
know about before we get started with
the tutorials. The "Esc" key is used
throughout FreeFile to mean to exit from
the current screen and return to a
pervious menu screen. The second key
you should know about is the "Q" key.
When you have completed your work in
FreeFile you exit the program by
selecting the "Quit" command (press the
letter "Q") off of the Main Menu.
This manual is divided into two
sections. The first one is the tutor-
ials. The first tutorial will show you
how to set up a phone and address
directory database. Each entry for our
database will have the name of the
person, a phone number, address and date
of birth. The second tutorial will be a
bit more complex. We will set up a
database for a rental store. Following
the tutorial section is the reference
section. This section will provide you
with a detailed description of the major
options available in FreeFile.
(15)
DEMO1
DEMO1 is a sample database which
has been included to help you get a feel
for how a FreeFile database works.
DEMO1 is fairly basic while DEMO2 is
more involved. It is assumed that you
have already read the section called
"Getting Started". We will walk you
though each step of how DEMO1 was
created. If you wish, you can practice
by creating another database called
PHONE.
DEMO1 is a database for a telephone
and address directory. Here is how it
was created:
First, start FreeFile by putting
the diskette in your default drive and
typing the letters "FF" (for FreeFile -
don't type the quotes). You will be
asked to enter the name of the drive
where your databases will be located.
If you are on a two drive floppy system
you might choose to put your database on
a blank diskette on drive "B". To do
this, type "b:" (don't type the quo-
tes). You can press the ENTER key to
cause the databases to appear on the
current default drive and in the current
default directory.
Help. Once FreeFile is started
you will see the Main Menu. You can
select the help option by pressing the
letter "H". You will see the Help
(16)
Menu. You can select any of the topics
by typing in the number and pressing the
ENTER key. Once you have finished
reading the help text press any key to
return to the Help Menu. To return to
the Main Menu press the Esc (Escape) key
from the Help Menu.
Quit. When you have finished you
will need to select the Quit (by typing
the letter "Q") option from the Main
Menu. You must always select this
option rather then just turning your
computer off to prevent damage to your
databases.
Create. The first option we need
to choose is to create a database. This
is option "C". You will be asked to
provide a name for the database. This
name can be up to eight characters long
and must conform to standard PC-DOS
naming rules (can include letters,
numbers, and some special characters but
no blanks - see the DOS manual for
more information). You will not need to
provide an extension since FreeFile will
do that for you. When you have entered
the name for the database press the
ENTER key. The next item to be entered
is an optional description of the
database. Since it is often difficult
to create a meaningful name in the eight
letters that DOS limits you to, FreeFile
allows an additional 35 characters for
more information. Enter your descrip-
tion and press the ENTER key.
Four column headings will appear.
The headings are Field Name, Data Type,
Length, and Key. Enter the first field
(17)
name ("Name") and press the ENTER key.
The cursor will move over to the Data
Type column. Here we have four opt-
ions. They are "A" (for Alphanumeric -
and keyboard character), "N" (for
Numeric), "D" (for Date), and "C" (for
Computed). Press the "A" key and press
the ENTER key. The cursor will now move
over to the Length column. Enter "30"
and press the ENTER key. The cursor is
finally located at the last column,
labeled "Key". This column is for
whether or not we want to use this field
as a key field. Since we do want to
look up our friends phone numbers' and
address' by their names we will enter a
"Y" for this item.
If you find that you made a
mistake, you can edit any of the items
on the screen by moving the cursor to
that item with the arrow keys on the
number pad of your keyboard. You must
be certain, however, to see that each
item is entered.
You may now enter the remaining
fields.
Field 2: Name = Street Addr.
Data Type = A
Length = 30
Key = N
Field 3: Name = City
Data Type = A
Length = 15
Key = N
Field 4: Name = State
Data Type = A
Length = 2
Key = N
Field 5: Name = Zip
Data Type = N
(18)
Length = 5
Key = N
Field 6: Name = Area Code
Data Type = N
Length = 3
Key = N
Field 7: Name = Phone
Data Type = N
Length = 7
Key = N
The database is now defined. Your
cursor should be in the field number 8
and there should not be anything on that
line. If you press the ENTER key you
will get an Action Menu. This menu will
allow you to: continue with creating a
database definition (option 1), exit the
create mode without saving this defini-
tion (option 2), or to create the
database with the definition you have
provided (option 3). Option 3 is the
default option. If you just press the
ENTER key you will get option 3. You
may press the ENTER key at this time.
Add. Once your database is created
you will be returned to the Main Menu.
The first thing we need to do is to
enter some data into our database.
Select the "A" option to ADD a record.
You will now see the Add Screen. On the
top line of the screen is the name of
the database and the description. The
left side of the screen is the field
names. The brackets to the right of the
field names are for the actual data for
that field. The brackets are the size
of the field that you defined. The
lower part of the screen contains a
(19)
window. You can see that we are in the
"Insert" mode. You can change to the
"Replace" mode if you like by pressing
the "Ins" (Insert) key.
The reverse video cursor is on the
first field. This cursor marks our
position. You may now enter the name,
address and phone number of someone you
know. You will notice that your
computer will beep at you if you try to
type beyond the field length. The
computer will also beep at you if you
try to type an alphabetic character in a
numeric field (fields Zip, Area Code and
Phone are all defined as Numeric). If
you try to type a character in a field
that is already filled with information,
the computer will beep at you. You will
need to delete a character(s) or switch
to the "Replace" mode to enter data in a
full field. Enter three records (three
people).
When you have completed entering
data, press the Esc (Escape) key before
you have typed anything for the next
record. The Esc key will not add the
current record, if you have already
entered some data for that record, so
make sure that you press the Esc key on
a blank screen so that you will not
loose any of your data for the current
record. This will take you out of the
Add screen and return you to the Main
Menu.
View. Now we can view some of your
data. Select the "V" option (for View)
from the Main Menu. The View Menu list
all the key fields in your database.
You are asked to select one of these
(20)
fields to retrieve your data. Since we
have only one key (the field called
Name), all we need to do is to press the
ENTER key. The Action Menu at the
bottom of the screen displays the three
ways to retrieve a record. The first
way is for you to enter a keyed value
and FreeFile will try find the record.
You might enter the name "John Smith",
for example. The second way is to start
with the first record and "walk" towards
the end of the database, one record at a
time. The last way is to start with the
last record and to "walk" forward, one
record at a time.
For now, let's select option two
(find the first record). After select-
ing this option you will see the View
Screen. You database is sorted in
alphabetical order. We have selected
the first record based on the names your
entered. You can get the next record
by pressing the "PgDn" (Page Down) key.
You can get the previous record by
pressing the "PgUp" (Page Up) key. Once
you reach either the start or end of the
database you will not be able to
continue in that direction any longer
(your computer will beep at you and send
you a message).
Once you have finished viewing your
database press the Esc key. This will
return you to the "Key Fields" screen.
You could now select a different field
to start the search on, or select to
use the same field, but start at the end
of the database, for example. If you
press the Esc key again (while your on
the "Key Fields" screen) you will return
to the Main Menu. You may press the Esc
key now.
(21)
Format. Now that we are back at
the Main Menu we can demonstrate another
important feature of FreeFile. There
might be times when you have forgotten
whether you have defined a field as
alphanumeric or just numeric. You can
find out that information by selection
the "Format of Database" (option "F")
option from the Main Menu.
The Format Screen is very similar
to the "Create New Database" Screen.
The field names are on the left, and
there are columns for the Data Type,
Length, and Key. You cannot change any
of this information, it is just for
viewing. If you have many fields
defined in your database not all will
fit on one screen. You can use the PgDn
and the PgUp keys to move to the next or
previous screens.
When you have completed examining
the format, press the Esc key to return
to the Main Menu.
Modify. The Modify option is
similar to the View option except the
Modify option will allow you to actually
change some of your data, while the View
option does not permit this. Select the
"M" option (for Modify) from the Main
Menu. The Modify Menu list all the Key
fields in your database. You are asked
to select one of these fields to
retrieve your data. Since we have only
one key (the field called Name), all we
need to do is to press the ENTER key.
The Action Menu at the bottom of the
screen displays the three ways to
retrieve a record. The first way is for
(22)
you to enter a keyed value and FreeFile
will try find the record. You might
enter the name "Robert Shaw", for
example. The second way is to start
with the first record and "walk" towards
the end of the database, a record at a
time. The last way is to start with the
last record and to "walk" forward, a
record at a time.
For now, let's select option two
(find the first record). After select-
ing this option you will see the Modify
Screen. You database is sorted in
alphabetical order. We have selected
the first record based on the names your
entered. You can get the next record
by pressing the "PgDn" (Page Down) key.
You can get the previous record by
pressing the "PgUp" (Page Up) key. Once
you reach either the start or end of the
database you will not be able to
continue in that direction any longer.
You can move the reverse video
cursor either up or down to select the
desired field. When you reach the end
of the record you will be transferred to
the next record. Select one of the
fields to be modified. Make some change
and press the ENTER key. Your change
will be recorded in the database.
Your changes will in made in the
default mode of INSERT unless you select
the REPLACE mode. If a field is already
full and you try to insert an additional
character your computer will beep at
you. If this happens to you either
switch to the replace mode (by pressing
the "Ins" key), or delete a letter(s)
with the "Del" key.
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Once you have finished modifying
your database press the Esc key. This
will return you to the "Key Fields"
screen. You could now select a diffe-
rent field to start the search on, or
select to use the same field, but start
at the end of the database, for exam-
ple. If you press the Esc key again
(while your on the "Key Fields" screen)
you will return to the Main Menu. You
may press the Esc key now.
Print. Our last exercise for this
demo session is to print out a report.
To print a report you will need to
select the "P" (for Print) option from
the Main Menu.
The first screen will be for the
selection of previous reports. FreeFile
will allow you to save your report
formats if you change any of the default
settings. Since we want to print a
report with all the default settings you
will want to select option "2" (create a
new file).
The next menu is the Print Action
Menu. This menu will allow us to print
the report with the current settings
(option 1), change one of the default
settings (option 2), change the order
(option 3), or select certain cases to
be printed (option 4). You will want to
select option 1 (we will take all the
default print formats).
If your printer is not ready, you
will receive a message from FreeFile and
be told that you can press Esc (the
escape key) to cancel the print request,
or press any other key once your printer
is ready. While the printer is printer,
(24)
you may stop the printer by pressing the
Esc key. Once the printer has stopped
you may press the Esc key again to
cancel the print request, or press any
other key once you are ready to have the
printer continue.
At the end of your report you will
notice a section called "Summary". This
section will contain the date the report
was printed. It will also contain the
sum of all numeric and computed fields.
You can see in DEMO1 you will get a sum
for the fields Zip, Area Code, and
Phone. Of course, the sum of these
three fields is not meaningful, but you
will want the sums of many of the fields
that you define as numeric or computed
in the databases you will create in the
future. The last line of the Summary
section is the number of records
printed, and the total number of records
in your database. In this example, we
have chosen to print all the records for
the database, so the two numbers will be
the same. If you had selected to print
only certain records (by selecting
option 4 from the Print Action Menu),
these two numbers might not have been
the same.
If you have a printer that prints
only 80 columns you may have noticed
that your information does not all fit
on one line. FreeFile allows several
ways of dealing with that problem.
FreeFile has a "Print Type" called
"Snapshot". If you select this format,
each field will appear on a new line and
each record will start a new page. This
format is very similar to the data entry
screens you used to add and modify the
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data. Another way of correcting this
situation is to change the page width to
be 80 rather than the default of 132
characters. In Demo2 we will examine
the print format options in greater
detail and show you how you can change
the appearance of your reports.
(26)
DEMO2
DEMO2 is a sample database which
has been included to help you get a feel
for how a FreeFile database works.
DEMO2 is a bit more involved than DEMO1
was. It is assumed that you have
already read the section called "Getting
Started". We will walk you though each
step of how DEMO2 was created. If you
wish, you can practice by creating
another database called RENTALS.
DEMO2 is a database for a rental
business. Here is how it was created:
First, start FreeFile by putting
the diskette in your default drive and
typing the letters "FF" (for FreeFile -
don't type the quotes). You will be
asked to enter the name of the drive
where your databases will be located.
If you are on a two drive floppy system
you might choose to put your database on
a blank diskette on drive "B". To do
this, type "b:" (don't type the quo-
tes). You can press the ENTER key to
cause the databases to appear on the
current default drive.
Help. Once FreeFile is started
you will see the Main Menu. You can
select the help option by pressing the
letter "H". You will see the Help
Menu. You can select any of the topics
by typing in the number and pressing the
ENTER key. Once you have finished
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reading the help text press any key to
return to the Help Menu. To return to
the Main Menu press the Esc (Escape) key
from the Help Menu.
Quit. When you have finished you
will need to select the Quit (by typing
the letter "Q") option from the Main
Menu. You must always select this
option rather then just turning your
computer off to prevent damage to your
databases.
Create. The first option we need
to choose is to create a database. This
is option "C". You will be asked to
provide a name for the database. This
name can be up to eight characters long
and must conform to standard PC-DOS
naming rules (see the DOS manual for
more information). You will not need to
provide an extension since FreeFile will
do that for you. You can use the name
RENTALS. When you have entered the name
for the database press the ENTER key.
The next item to be entered is an
optional description of the database.
Since it is often difficult to create a
meaningful name in the eight letters
that DOS limits you to, FreeFile allows
an additional 35 characters for more
information. Enter your descrip-
tion and press the ENTER key.
Four column headings will appear.
The headings are Field Name, Data Type,
Length, and Key. Enter the first field
name ("Item Rented") and press the ENTER
key. The cursor will move over to the
Data Type column. Here we have four
options. They are "A" (for Alpha-
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numeric), "N" (for Numeric), "D" (for
Date), and "C" (for Computed). Press
the "A" key and press the ENTER key.
The cursor will now move over to the
Length column. Enter "50" and press the
ENTER key. The cursor is finally
located at the last column. This column
is for whether or not we want to use
this field as a key field. Since we do
want to use the name of the item rented
to find rental information, we will
enter a "Y" for this item.
If you find that you made a
mistake, you can edit any of the items
on the screen by moving the cursor to
that item with the arrow keys on the
number pad of your keyboard. You must
be certain, however, to see that each
item is entered.
You may now enter the remaining
fields.
Field 2: Name = Date Rented
Data Type = D
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 3: Name = Dt. Due Back
Data Type = D
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 4: Name = Daily Rate
Data Type = N
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 5: Name = Amount Due
Data Type = C
Formula = (Dt. Due Back -
Date Rented + 1) *
Daily Rate
Length = 8
Key = N
(29)
Field 6: Name = Rented To
Data Type = A
Length = 30
Key = Y
Field 7: Name = Street Addr.
Data Type = A
Length = 30
Key = N
Field 9: Name = City
Data Type = A
Length = 15
Key = N
Field 9: Name = State
Data Type = A
Length = 2
Key = N
Field 10: Name = Zip
Data Type = N
Length = 5
Key = N
Field 11: Name =Phone
Data Type = N
Length = 7
Key = N
Field 12: Name = Return Date
Data Type = D
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 13: Name = Actual Due
Data Type = C
Formula = (Return Date -
Date Rented + 1) *
Daily Rate
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 14: Name = Amount Paid
Data Type = N
Length = 8
Key = N
(30)
The database is now defined. Your
cursor should be in the field number 15
and there should not be anything on that
line. If you press the ENTER key you
will get an Action Menu. This menu will
allow you to: continue with creating
a database definition (option 1), or
exit the create mode without saving this
definition (option 2), or to create the
database with the definition you have
provided (option 3). Option 3 is the
default option. If you just press the
ENTER key you will get option 3. You
may press the ENTER key at this time.
Add. Once your database is created
you will be returned to the Main Menu.
The first thing we need to do is
to enter some data into our database.
Select the "A" option to ADD a record.
You will now see the Add Screen. On the
top line of the screen is the name of
the database and the description. The
left side of the screen is the field
names. The brackets to the right of the
field names are for the actual data for
that field. The brackets are the size
of the field that you defined. The
lower part of the screen contains a
window. You can see that we are in the
"Insert" mode. You can change to the
"Replace" mode if you like by pressing
the "Ins" (Insert) key.
The reverse video cursor is on the
first field. This cursor marks our
position. You will notice that your
computer will beep at you if you try to
type beyond the field length. The
computer will also beep at you if you
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try to type an alphabetic character in a
numeric field (daily rate, zip, phone,
and amount paid are all defined as
Numeric). You will not be able to type
anything in a field defined as a
computed field (amount due, and actual
due are computed fields). Computed
fields are "entered" by FreeFile. If
you try to type a character in a field
that is already filled with information,
the computer will beep at you. You will
need to delete a character(s) or switch
to the "Replace" mode to enter data in a
full field. Enter three records (make
up three items that where rented). You
might notice that after entering the
data for daily rate, and return data,
the next fields (amount due and actual
due) were entered by FreeFile. These
fields are the computed fields.
When you have completed entering
data, press the Esc (Escape) key before
you have typed anything for the next
record. The Esc key will not add the
current record, if you have already
entered some data for that record, so
make sure that you press the Esc key on
a blank screen so that you will not
loose any of your data for the current
record. This will take you out of the
Add screen and return you to the Main
Menu.
You can select the View option
(press the "V" key while at the Main
Menu) to view your records. Return to
the Main Menu by pressing the Esc key
twice.
List/Modify formulas. You can at
any point list all the formulas in your
(32)
database. These formulas can be
modified as well if you find a need to
alter one or more of them. Remember
that you can use the left and right
parentheses to change the order in which
the formula is computed. You can also
use any of the following four arithmetic
operators: +, -, *, /. Formulas can be
up to 55 characters long.
Select the "L" option from the Main
Menu. You will then see a list of all
formulas for the computed fields in your
database. Select the formula to be
modified by moving the reverse video
cursor either up or down (with the up or
down arrows) until the desired formula
is highlighted. The default edit mode
is INSERT. In this mode all the
characters you type will be inserted
into the formula. If you want to change
the edit mode to REPLACE, press the
"Ins" key. You may also use the "Del"
and the Backspace key. Press the ENTER
key when you have finished with the
modification and you what to save the
changed formula. Press the Esc key if
you want to cancel the changes you made
to this formula. The Esc key will also
return you to the Main Menu.
Let's make the following changes to
our formulas. Our example formulas in
the rental database are a bit tough on
the customer. We insist that the
customer pay for two days when s/he
picks the item up on a Saturday and
returns it on a Sunday, for example.
Let's say that we want to change our
policy and if a customer picks the item
up on a Saturday and returns it on a
Sunday we want to charge him/her for
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just one day. The reverse video
cursor highlights the first formula to
be changed. The first formula will
appear in the window on the bottom
of your screen. Move the cursor over to
the part of the formula that says " + 1"
(put the cursor under the space before
the plus sign), and press the Del
(delete) key four times. This will
erase the " + 1". Press the ENTER key.
Now move the reverse video cursor down
to the next formula by pressing the down
arrow. Locate the portion of the second
formula that say " + 1" and delete that
part of the formula. Press the ENTER
key. You must press the ENTER key to
actually make any of the changes you
want. If you press the Esc key before
pressing the ENTER key your changes to
that formula will not become effective.
Once your changes are made and the ENTER
key pressed, press the Esc key to return
to the Main Menu. Select the View
option to see the effect of your
changes.
Delete a Record. There may be
times when you would like to delete a
record from your database. Maybe you
found that you have entered the same
information twice. To delete a record
you will need to select the "D" (for
delete) option from the Main Menu. The
first screen you will see displays the
key fields. These are the fields that
FreeFile can use to retrieve data from
your database. They are the path, or
roadmap, that FreeFile will use to find
your data. You must select one of these
fields. For this demo, we will delete
(34)
the first record based on the Item
Rented. Since that is the field that is
in reverse video, all you need to do is
to press the ENTER key.
The next option to be selected is
how you want to search the database for
the desired record to be deleted. You
can search by the key, select the first
record, or select the last record. We
want to find the first record, so you
will need to select option 2.
The delete screen will display the
database name and description (if you
entered one when creating the database)
on the top line. To delete the current
record, press the ENTER key. You will
be asked to confirm that this is the
record you want to delete. Type a "Y"
(for "yes") if you do want to delete the
current record. Type a "N" (for "no")
if you do not want to delete this
record. Press the "Y" key at this
point.
Once you confirm the delete action,
the data part of the screen will
disappear, and all that will remain will
be the field names. Press the "Esc" key
to return to the Main Menu, or press the
"PgUp" (Page Up) key to go to the
previous record, or the "PgDn" (Page
Down) key to go to the next record.
Should you decide you do not want
to delete the current record you may
press the "Esc" (Escape) key to return
to the Main Menu. The Esc key can also
be used once you have finished deleting
a record(s) and you are ready to return
to the Main Menu. The first Esc key
will return you to the menu to select
(35)
the key field. Another press of the Esc
key will return you to the Main Menu.
Print a Report. Now we want to
print a report. If you are not at the
Main Menu return to there now (you can
do this by pressing the Esc key until
you reach the Main Menu). Select the
Print option by pressing the "P" key.
The screen will have any print files you
might have on the same disk with your
database. We want to create a new print
file so you will need to press the "2"
key.
Change Options. You will be at the
Print Action Menu. Select option "2"
("Change options"). FreeFile will
display the Print Option Menu. The
first change we want to make is to
change the print type (option 4 and 5).
The default print type is for "list-
ing". The default will print a new line
for each record printed. We want to
change that to print a new page for each
record (this is the "Snapshot" option -
number 5). This option will print out a
report that looks somewhat similar to
the screens you used to enter the data.
Select option 5 now by pressing the "5"
key. Press the Esc key to return to the
Print Action Menu. Press "1" to print
the new report. You will be asked if
you want to save this report format.
Press "N" (for no). Your printer should
start printing.
For the next report we will want to
return to the Print Option Menu. Press
the "2" key from the Print Action Menu.
This next report we want to print a
(36)
listing report, but we want it to print
on our screen rather on our printer.
Select option "4" to return to the
"listing" print type. Next, press
option "2" to cause the report to be
printed on the screen. Press the Esc
key to return to the Print Action Menu.
Select "1" to print, and press "N" when
asked if you want to save the print
format.
You can see that it is very
difficult to read this report. That is
because we have instructed FreeFile to
print each record on one line, and each
record is 195 characters long. Since
our screen can only display 80 char-
acter, the line "wraps" making it
difficult to read. It could be that we
don't really need to see all the
information in the database, perhaps
only a few fields are needed on the
report. Return to the Print Action Menu
and we will try to solve this problem.
Change Order. The option "Change
Order" (option 3) deals mostly with
sorting a database. You can change the
order in which fields appear on a
report, as well as the sorting of the
actual data. The "Change Order" option
also allows you to select certain fields
for printing. The default is that all
fields will be printed. We now want to
print a report listing of all the items
ever rented and the date those items are
due back. Here is how you would do
that:
Select option 3 from the Print
Action Menu. The reverse video cursor
will be positioned under the column
(37)
labeled "SELECT FIELD" for the first
field. Since we want to select this
first field we will leave it alone and
move to the next field by pressing the
down arrow. Since we don't want to
select the second field you will need to
type the letter "N". Move it to the
next field by pressing the down key.
Since we also want to include the field
called "Dt. Due Back" we will leave the
value as "YES" and move down to the next
field. Change the remaining values in
the SELECT FIELD column to be "NO".
Return to the Print Action Menu by
pressing the Esc key. Press the "1" key
to select to print. Answer "N" when
asked if you want to save the print
format. Since we had change the print
location previously to be our screen,
the current report will print on the
screen. We now have a report of the
items rented and their due dates.
Return to the Print Action Menu by
pressing any key after the report has
printed.
We can easily change the order of
the fields on the report. Select the
"Change Order" option (option 3) from
the Print Action Menu. The column
labeled "PRINT" is the order that each
field will be printed. The default is
that the first field will be printed
first and the second field will be
printed second, and so on. We currently
have two fields selected to be printed.
We now want to have the field "Item
Rented" to be printed second and
"Dt. Due Back" to be printed first. To
make that change, enter a two under the
PRINT column for "Item Rented" and a one
(38)
under the PRINT column for "Dt. Due
Back". This will cause "Item Rented" to
be printed after "Dt. Due Back" since
item rented has a greater value for the
column PRINT then does "Dt. Due Back".
To print this new report, return to the
Print Action Menu by pressing the Esc
key. Select the print option, and
respond "N" to the question about saving
your report format.
Return to the Main Menu now by
pressing the Esc key until you have
reached it. This will clear all the
report format out and return them to
their default values.
Our next exercise will be to print
a blank line between each record, and to
print some fields on separate lines.
First select the "P" option from the
Main Menu. You will be given the chance
to select a previously defined report
format, or to create a new file. We
want to create a new report format, so
select option 2.
At the Print Action Menu you will
want to select option 3. Move the
reverse video cursor over to the column
labeled "LINE NBR.". The default
setting is to print all fields on the
same line, therefore all fields have the
same relative line number. Change the
first field to line 2 (this will cause
a blank line to be printed before each
new record). Move the reverse video
cursor down to the next field by
pressing the down arrow. Change the
value in field two to 3. This will
cause Date Rented to be printed on the
line following Item Rented. On the same
(39)
line as Date Rented we also want to
print Dt. Due Back, Daily Rate, and
Amount Due. You many change the value
in the LINE NBR. column for these fields
to be 3 also. We want the data for the
field Rented To to appear on the next
line, so change the value in LINE
NBR. for Rented To to 4. Street
Addr. will be on the following line, so
make that value a 5. City, State, Zip,
and Phone can all appear on line 6. The
last three fields, Return Date, Actual
Due, and Amount Paid, will be printed on
line 7. In summary, the values for the
column LINE NBR. should be 2, 3, 3, 3,
3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7.
Press the Esc key to return to the
Print Action Menu. If you want to print
your report on your screen rather than
the printer, you will need to select
option 2 from the Print Action Menu and
make that change at this point.
To print our new report, select
option 1. Respond with a "N" when asked
about saving the report format to disk.
You might noticed that the headings for
the fields are not printed above each
field that we printed. That is because
we selected to print the fields on
different lines rather than on the same
line. This report looks rather messy as
the result. This report points out the
advantage of using the print type of
"Snapshot" described earlier in this
demo. In the Snapshot, fields can be on
separate lines, but each field is
labeled with its name. There may be
times when you will want a report like
the one you just produced, but when you
need to print fields on separate lines,
the Snapshot print type is usually best.
(40)
Return once again to the Main Menu
by pressing the Esc key until you
have reached it. This will clear all
the report format out and return them to
their default values. We now want to
print out a report of all rental items
that have not yet been returned. If you
have entered a date for each record in
your database for the field Return Date
you will need to select the Modify
option form the Main Menu and remove the
data from one or two of your record (you
remove the date by positioning the
reverse video cursor over the Return
Date field and pressing the Del (delete)
key until the date disappears). After
removing a date from one of the records,
return to the Main Menu.
Select the "P" option for our last
print exercise. Select to create a new
report file when given that option. At
the Print Action Menu you will need to
select option three. We want to print
only three fields in this report. The
fields are Item Rented, Dt. Due Back,
and Actual Due. Enter a "N" (for NO) in
the column for SELECT FIELD for all
other fields. Press the Esc key when
finished.
Once you have returned to the Print
Action Menu you will want to select
option four (select cases). The first
report we want is a listing of all items
where the return date is not entered
(the item has been rented but not
returned yet). Move the reverse video
cursor down (by using the down arrow)
until it is positioned over the field
called Return Date. Press the ENTER key
(41)
to select that field. The next item is
to select the relationship used in the
comparison. We want to select a case
when the value is "equal" so we can just
press the ENTER key. If you wanted one
of the other relationship operators to
be selected you would move the reverse
video cursor left or right with the
arrow keys and press Enter to make your
selection.
The next item is the value to be
compared. Since we want to select the
cases where there is no entry we will
enter the value "0" (don't type the
quotes) and then press the ENTER key.
You enter zero rather than a space since
Return Date is defined as a date field,
and date fields, like numeric fields
have a value of zero when they are
"empty". If we were trying to select an
field that was "empty" and defined as a
alphanumeric field we would just hit the
ENTER key without typing anything else
to indicate "nothing".
The next item ask for the "Logical
Connector". This is how each of your
relationships will be connected. You
can define up to 25 relationships for
each report. We do not want to add any
other conditions for the selection so we
will move the reverse video cursor to
the word "NONE" and press Enter.
We will return to the Print Action
Menu. Select the print option (number
1) and respond "N" to the question about
saving your print format. There are
several things you might have questions
about in this report. First, the field
Actual Due might look with something
like "********" (this will depend on the
(42)
actual data you entered). This is
because the length of the result of the
computed field is greater than what we
defined the length of the field. If
FreeFile tried to print out the field,
it would run into the next field on the
report. The data is still save, it is
just not being printed out (a Snapshot
will correctly print out the data).
You might also noticed that the
value of the sum of Actual Due (in the
Summary at the end of the report) is a
large negative number. This might at
first appear to be an error. In fact it
is exactly what we asked for. In our
formula we said that the value of Actual
Due is equal to "(Return Date - Date
Rented) * Daily Rate". When FreeFile
finds a date field in a formula it
converts the date to a Julian date. For
example, the date 10/01/85 is converted
to 85274. If the Date Rented was
10/01/85, and the Return Date was 0 (the
item was not yet returned) and the daily
rate was $25.00, the result would be
-2,131,850.00. All the items called for
in the formula are entered, the computed
field's value will not appear to be
correct.
Return to the Main Menu by pressing
the Esc key until you have reached it.
This will clear all the report format
out and return them to their default
values. Now we want to print a report
that will list all items rented when the
Dt. Due Back is greater than today's
date. Select the "P" option from the
Main Menu and then select to create a
new report file. Pick option 3 to
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change the order to select only fields
Item Rented, Dt. Date Rented, and Due
Back. Return to the Print Action Menu
by pressing the Esc key.
Select option 4 (Select Cases) from
the Print Action Menu. Move the reverse
video cursor to the field Dt. Due Back.
Press the ENTER key to select that
field. Move the reverse video cursor to
the "greater than" sign ( ">" ) when
asked for the Relationship. Enter the
word "Today" for Value to be Compared,
and press Enter. This will get the
system date from your computer (you will
have had to correctly entered the date
when you started your computer for this
to work properly). Move the reverse
video cursor to NONE when asked for the
Logical Connecter.
Select the print option (number 1)
when returned to the Print Action Menu.
Respond "N" when asked if you want to
save the report format. Your report
will list all items rented which are due
to be returned in the future (if you
have entered any future dates when you
were adding records to your database).
If you try to print your report
again before returning to the Main Menu
the selection criterion you entered will
remain in effect. If you return to the
Main Menu, or select option 4 (Select
Cases) then FreeFile will be reset to
select all cases.
Import/Export. The Import/Export
options serve two general purposes; (1)
Transfer of data to, or from, other
programs, and (2) Modify the structure
of your FreeFile database. The first
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purpose is to either take some of your
data from a FreeFile database and
convert it to a format that some other
program can read and use (e.g., a
spreadsheet program, or another database
program). The second general purpose,
modify your FreeFile database structure,
will be deal with in this demo.
Want we want to do is to change the
length of one of the fields in our
Rentals database, and to add one addit-
ional field onto the end of the database
(you can only add fields to the end of a
database). Return to the Main Menu if
you have not already have done so by
pressing the Esc key until you have
reached it.
The first thing we need to do is to
export our Rentals database so that we
can then import the data into the new
database structure. Select the Import-
/Export option from the Main Menu
(Option "I" for Import). Select option
"2" (Export a database) from the
Import/Export Menu. You will be given
the Export Menu. Notice that this
menu looks very similar to the Print
Menu. You can select to change the
order (option 2), or select cases
(option 3). These options will work
just like they do when you print a
report. You can select only certain
fields to be exported and only certain
cases, for example. We will want to
select all fields, and all cases so we
will not want to change any of the
default values.
Select option "1" (Export a
database) from the Export Menu. You
will be asked to enter a name for the
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export file. You will need to enter the
full name (including drive name, path
name and extension, if any of these
values are used). Be certain that you
have enough room on your disk for the
exported file. You may want to use a
filename like "EXPORT".
Next, we need to create the new
database. This is option "C" from the
Main Menu, select this option now. You
will be asked to provide a name for the
database. This name can be up to eight
characters long and must conform to
standard PC-DOS naming rules (see the
DOS manual for more information). You
will not need to provide an extension
since FreeFile will do that for you.
You can use the name RENTAL-1. When you
have entered the name for the database
press the ENTER key. The next item to
be entered is an optional description of
the database. Since it is often
difficult to create a meaningful name in
the eight letters that DOS limits you
to, FreeFile allows an additional 35
characters for more information. Enter
your description and press the ENTER
key.
Four column headings will appear.
The headings are Field Name, Data Type,
Length, and Key. Enter the first field
name ("Item Rented") and press the ENTER
key. The cursor will move over to the
Data Type column. Here we have four
options. They are "A" (for Alpha-
numeric), "N" (for Numeric), "D" (for
Date), and "C" (for Computed). Press
the "A" key and press the ENTER key.
The cursor will now move over to the
Length column. Enter "50" and press the
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ENTER key. The cursor is finally
located at the last column. This column
is for whether or not we want to use
this field as a key field. Since we do
want to use the name of the item rented
to find rental information, we will
enter a "Y" for this item.
If you find that you made a
mistake, you can edit any of the items
on the screen by moving the cursor to
that item with the arrow keys on the
number pad of your keyboard. You must
be certain, however, to see that each
item is entered.
You may now enter the remaining
fields.
Field 2: Name = Date Rented
Data Type = D
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 3: Name = Dt. Due Back
Data Type = D
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 4: Name = Daily Rate
Data Type = N
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 5: Name = Amount Due
Data Type = C
Formula = (Dt. Due Back -
Date Rented + 1) *
Daily Rate
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 6: Name = Rented To
Data Type = A
Length = 30
Key = Y
Field 7: Name = Street Addr.
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Data Type = A
Length = 30
Key = N
Field 9: Name = City
Data Type = A
Length = 20
(Note: This is the field
length we are changing,
the value in the old
database was 15.)
Key = N
Field 9: Name = State
Data Type = A
Length = 2
Key = N
Field 10: Name = Zip
Data Type = N
Length = 5
Key = N
Field 11: Name =Phone
Data Type = N
Length = 7
Key = N
Field 12: Name = Return Date
Data Type = D
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 13: Name = Actual Due
Data Type = C
Formula = (Return Date -
Date Rented + 1) *
Daily Rate
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 14: Name = Amount Paid
Data Type = N
Length = 8
Key = N
Field 15: Store Number
(Note: This is the field
we are adding.)
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Data Type = N
Length = 3
Key = N
The database is now defined. Your
cursor should be in the field number 16
and there should not be anything on that
line. If you press the ENTER key you
will get an Action Menu. This menu you
will allow you to continue with creating
a database definition (option 1), or
exit the create mode without saving this
definition (option 2), or to create the
database with the definition you have
provided (option 3). Option 3 is the
default option. If you just press the
ENTER key you will get option 3. You
may press the ENTER key at this time.
The last step is to Import the file
you exported in the first step above.
Return to the Main Menu if you have not
already have done so. Select the "I"
option (for Import). Select the "1"
option from the Import/Export Menu.
Enter the filename you provide FreeFile
when you exported the file in the first
step. Your file will now be imported.
You can examine your new file by
selecting the "View" option from the
Main Menu.
Select a database. The only
remaining option yet to be used is the
"Select" option. Examine one of your
records in your new database by using
the View option. Return to the Main
Menu and enter a "S" (for Select). You
will be given a list of your databases.
Choose the Rentals database (the first
database created in this demo). Now
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view the same record in the original
database. You will use the Select
option to switch from one database to
another. You can now select your
Rental-1 database again and return to it
if you like.
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A D D A R E C O R D
USAGE: Allow a new record (collection
of information) to be entered into your
database. For example, you would select
this option if you have just started to
market a new product, and you want to
add it to your product list database.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu. The add screen will
display the database name and descrip-
tion (if you entered one when creating
the database) on the top line. The
field names will appear along the left
side of the screen. A reverse video
cursor will appear for the first field.
This is to represent your location. You
can move this reverse video cursor up
and down with the arrow key. Type in
the desired information and move to the
next field by pressing one of the
following keys; the ENTER key, the tab
key, or the down arrow. Continue
entering information for each field
until you get to the last field. Once
the information for the last field is
entered, move the reverse video cursor
down (by using the ENTER key, tab key,
or down arrow), and the current record
will be stored in your database and you
will be given a blank screen to enter
the next record.
The type of the field will appear
in the bottom window. You will not be
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allowed to enter alphabetic characters
in a numeric field.
FreeFile supports full screen
editing. This means that you can move
freely around the screen any change any
of the information you have entered on
the screen. The "Up" and the "Down"
arrows will move you to the previous and
the next field respectfully. The the
"back tab" (Shift-Tab) and the "tab"
will do the same thing.
The default data entry mode is the
insert mode. This mode will allow you
to type a character and cause all other
characters to move over one place to the
right. When the field is full, you will
not be allowed to insert any more
characters (your computer will "beep" at
you). You can switch to the replace
mode by pressing the "Ins" (insert)
key. Once in the replace mode you can
return to the insert mode by pressing
the "Ins" key again. You can also use
the "Del" (delete) key to delete
characters as well as the backspace key.
Should you decide you do not want
to add your current record to the
database you may press the "Esc"
(Escape) key to return to the Main
Menu. Remember though, the Esc key
tells FreeFile to cancel what you are
currently doing, so the current record
will not be added to the database.
Once you have completed entering
the last record to be entered during
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this session, press the Esc key. Be
certain to do this while you are either
on a screen where you have not entered
any data yet, or on a screen where you
do not want to keep the information you
entered on your database. The current
data will not be added to your database
if your press the Esc key. After
pressing the Esc key you will be
returned to the Main Menu.
REMARKS: You must have "created" your
database before you can add a record to
it. If you have not already selected a
database when you choose this option,
you will be provide with a list of
databases on your disk. You can select
one of the databases you have created
before, or you can choose to create a
new database.
(53)
C R E A T E A N E W
D A T A B A S E
USAGE: Before you can add any records
to your database you must first "create"
the database. This process will define
the fields you want to use, their size,
and how they actually will be used (as
numeric, date, alphanumeric or compu-
ted).
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu. You will first be
asked to name the database. This name
needs to be a valid "DOS" name of up
to eight characters. You will not need
to enter an "extension" for the filename
- FreeFile will do this for you. Since
it is often times hard to make a
meaningful name in 8 characters you will
given the chance to enter an optional
description of the database. This
description can be up to 35 characters
long.
You can move around on the screen
and change any column's information if
you find that you have entered something
incorrectly. The TAB key will take you
to the next column to your right and the
SHIFT_TAB key will take you to the
previous column. The UP and DOWN arrows
can be used to move from row to row. Be
careful not to leave any of the items
blank. Each item will be needed to
create your database successfully.
Field Name. Next, you will need to
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enter information on the various fields.
The first item you will be asked for is
the Field Name. This name can be up to
12 characters long. You may use
alphabetic or numeric characters.
Spaces may also be included, but each
field name must be unique.
Data Type. The field's data type
refers to how the field will be used. If
you define the field as NUMERIC,
FreeFile will provide you with a sum
total of the values of that field when
it makes a report. Also, you will be
prevented from typing any other char-
acter but numbers. DATE type fields
require the format month/day/year
(mm/dd/yy). ALPHANUMERIC may contain
any types of characters. COMPUTED
fields are formulas. These formulas are
very similar to those used by spread-
sheet programs. Once you select a
field to have the type of "Computed",
the window on the bottom of your screen
will request that you enter the form-
ula. In this formula you may reference
other fields names (but they must
already be defined), numeric constants
(e.g., 100), or the keyword "TODAY".
You can use the left and right paren-
theses to change the order in which the
formula is computed. You can also use
any of the following four arithmetic
operators: +, -, *, /. For example, if
you have defined a field as "Total
Sale" and you would like to compute the
5% commission on this field for each
record in your database you could create
a computed field with a formula like:-
"Total Sales * .05". Computed fields
(55)
will have their values displayed on the
add, modify, delete and view screens.
These values will be rounded when there
are two consecutive zeros after the
decimal point, otherwise the entire
value will be displayed.
Computed fields, like numeric
fields, will have their values summed
and printed in the Summary section of
every report.
Length. The length of DATE fields
must be 8. NUMERIC fields should be no
longer than 15 to insure proper arith-
metic. ALPHANUMERIC fields may be up
to 65 characters long. Total record
length can be no longer than 1000
characters. The present record length
will be updated in the bottom window
each time the length parameter is
entered.
Key. Keys are how the database
will sort the data. Every database
needs to have at least ONE key field.
You may have no more than 10 keys. You
do not need very many keys since
FreeFile will allow you to sort the
database on any field when you want to
print. You will want to have enough
keys to make it easy to access your
database on one hand, yet if you have
too many you will be wasting space on
your disk, and be increasing slightly,
the amount of time it takes to store a
record. In general, most applications
can get by with between one and three
keys.
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Exit. When you have completed
defining the fields for your database
you will want to exit. The cursor will
need to be on the first blank line
following the field listings. The
cursor should be in the column labeled
"Field Name". Press the ENTER key with
this column blank. You will see a
menu in the bottom of your screen. This
will allow you to (1) Continue defining
your database, (2) Exit from this
screen without creating a database, or
(3) Save/Exit - save the database
definition and exit. This last option
(3) will create the database for you.
REMARKS: After creating the database
you still cannot print anything until
you enter some records. You must go
to the ADD screen to enter your data.
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D E L E T I N G A R E C O R D
USAGE: Allows a record (collection of
information) to be deleted (removed)
from your database. Select this option
when you need to delete a record from
your database. For example, to remove a
product from your product database.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu. The first screen
you will see displays the key fields.
These are the fields that FreeFile
can use to retrieve data from your data-
base. They are the path, or roadmap,
that FreeFile will use to find your
data. You must select one of these
fields. If you called the first field
in your database "name", for example,
and you want to view the database
in terms of your customers' names, you
will want to select that key field. The
first keyed field will be displayed
in reverse video. To select a keyed
field, move the reverse video cursor
either up or down (with the up or down
arrow keys). Once the desired field is
in reverse video, press the ENTER key.
The next option to be selected is
how you want to search the database for
the desired record to be deleted.
You can search by the key, select the
first record, or select the last
record. If you want to delete a
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customer record and you have a key for
the customer name, for example, you will
want to select the "name" key field and
then select to find the record by a
key. You will then be asked to enter
the key value (this is the actual name
your are searching for, e.g., "Smith's
Hardware Store"). In this case it will
be the customer name. You will then be
given a delete screen for you to
examine. If there is not an exact match
(upper and lower case letters will be
interpreted as the same), a "beep" will
sound, and the screen will display the
closest match.
You can also select to start with
the first or last record. This option
will allow you to "browse" through the
database until you find the record you
want to delete. Once you find the
desired record, you can select to
delete that record.
The delete screen will display the
database name and description (if you
entered one when creating the database)
on the top line. The field names
will appear along the left side of the
screen. A reverse video cursor will
appear for the first field. To delete
the current record, press the ENTER
key. You will be asked to confirm that
this is the record you want to delete.
Type a "Y" (for "yes") if you do want to
delete the current record. Type a "N"
(for "no") if you do not want to delete
this record.
(59) Once you confirm the delete action,
the data part of the screen will
disappear, and all that will remain will
be the field names. Press the "Esc" key
to return to the Main Menu, or press the
"PgUp" (Page Up) key to go to the
previous record, or the "PgDn" (Page
Down) key to go to the next record.
Should you decide you do not want
to delete the current record you may
press the "Esc" (Escape) key to return
to the Main Menu (you will need to press
it twice).
REMARKS: You must have "created" your
database before you can delete a
record. If you have not already
selected a database when you choose this
option, you will be provide with a list
of databases on your disk. You can
select one of the databases you have
created before, or you can choose to
create a new database.
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F O R M A T O F T H E
D A T A B A S E
USAGE: To display all the field names,
the data type of each field, the length
of each field, whether or not each
field is a key or not, and the size of
each record. For example, if you are
uncertain if you defined a specific
field as a numeric field or not.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu (option "F"). The
screen is very similar in appearance to
the "Create a Database" screen. The
first column is the field names. Next
is the data type for each field (alpha-
numeric, numeric, date, or computed).
The third column is the length for each
field. The last column is the whether
or not the field is being used as
a key. In the lower window is the size
of the record. You can use the "PgDn"
(Page Down) and the "PgUp" (Page Up) to
move to the next, or previous screen.
REMARKS: You must have "created" your
database before you can display its
format. If you have not already
selected a database when you choose this
option, you will be provide with a list
of databases on your disk. You can
select one of the databases you have
created before, or you can choose to
create a new database.
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H E L P
USAGE: To get assistance with one of
FreeFile's commands.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu (option "H"). After
selecting the option,the Help Menu will
appear. Select one of the help topics
by entering the topic number and
pressing the ENTER key.
REMARKS: This option is always avail-
able from the Main Menu. The file
FF.HLP is the help file and must be on
the default drive.
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I M P O R T / E X P O R T A
D A T A B A S E
USAGE: Can be used to transfer data to,
or from, other programs, or to modify
the data structure of your FreeFile
database. The import feature is to
bring data into FreeFile. You can bring
data from any program that supports the
DIF (Data Interchange Format) struc-
ture. The export feature allow you to
pass data from FreeFile to any program
that support DIF. For example, you have
a dBASE II database that you want to
bring the data into FreeFile to be used.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu (option "I"). The
first screen will ask you to select to
import or export a database. The
following paragraphs will describe those
options.
Import. This option can be used to
bring data from other programs into an
empty database in FreeFile, or to
bring data into a FreeFile database that
already contains data. After selecting
this option, you will be asked to
enter the filename for the incoming
data. You will have to enter the full
filename including drive name, path
name, and extension if applicable. The
reason for not using the default drive
and path name is that you might have the
incoming data in one directory and the
FreeFile database in another. After
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selecting the filename a message will
appear on the bottom of your screen
informing you that the data is being
imported.
Data can come from any source that
creates DIF files. Each record in a DIF
file must end with a carriage return.
String fields (which may contain commas
and spaces) are enclosed with double
quotes. Fields within a data record are
delimited by commas. Most program will
support exporting data with the DIF
structure. For example, if you have a
dBASE II file to import into FreeFile
you would enter the following command
from within dBASE: COPY TO [output
filename] DELIMITED WITH ". The double
quote at the end of the command tells
dBASE to use the double quote to delimit
the fields.
Export. This option copies data
from FreeFile to a disk file so that it
can be used by other programs. Once
you select to export your database you
will see the Export Menu. This menu
allows you to (1) Export the database,
(2) Change order, and (3) Select cases.
Options 2 and 3 work just like they do
on the print menu (see sections entitled
"Print Order" and "Select Cases to
Print" for more details). These options
allow a great deal of flexibility in
exporting your data. You can, for
example, select to export only certain
fields, change the order of the fields
to be exported, or select only certain
cases to be exported.
The exported file is a DIF file
(see the import section for a discussion
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on the DIF data structure). Programs
that except DIF files should be able to
work with this file with no problems.
When you select option "1" (to
start the exporting of the data), you
will have to enter the full filename
including drive name, path name, and
extension if applicable, for exported
file being created by FreeFile. The
reason for not using the default drive
and path name is that you might want to
put the exported file in one directory
and the FreeFile database in another.
REMARKS: You must have a database
created and selected before you can
import data into it, or export data from
it. You can also use these two options
to change the structure of your data-
base. You can export a FreeFile
database and then create a new database,
perhaps with added fields, or fields of
different sizes or data types, and
import the data back to FreeFile. If
you are adding new fields, they will
need to follow all the old fields.
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L I S T / M O D I F Y F O R M U L A S
USAGE: To display or alter any of the
field you have defined as being "com-
puted" fields. For example, you may
find that you have incorrectly entered a
formula to multiple a field by 100 when
you meant to multiple it by 10.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu. The first screen
will display all the formulas for the
computed fields in the database. You
can use the left and right parentheses
to change the order in which the formula
is computed. You can also use any of
the following four arithmetic opera-
tors: +, -, *, /. Formulas can be up to
55 characters long.
Modify. Select the formula to be
modified by moving the reverse video
cursor either up or down (with the up or
down arrows) until the desired formula
is highlighted. The default edit mode
is INSERT. In this mode all the
characters you type will be inserted
into the formula. If you want to change
the edit mode to REPLACE, press the
"Ins" key. You may also use the "Del"
and the Backspace key. Press the ENTER
key when you have finished with the
modification and you what to save the
changed formula. Press the Esc key if
you want to cancel the changes you made
to this formula. The Esc key will also
return you to the Main Menu.
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REMARKS: You must have "created" your
database before you can list/modify the
formula from that database. If you
have not already selected a database
when you choose this option, you will be
provide with a list of databases on
your disk. You can select one of the
databases you have created before, or
you can choose to create a new data-
base. If the database you selected has
no computed fields, the screen will
inform you of that and you will be
allowed to return to the Main Menu by
pressing the Esc key.
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M O D I F Y A R E C O R D
USAGE: Allows a record (collection of
information) to be modified (changed).
Select this option when you need to
alter a piece of information that is
already stored in your database. For
example, to change the billing address
of one of your customers.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu. The first screen
you will see displays the key fields.
These are the fields that FreeFile
can use to retrieve data from your data-
base. They are the path, or roadmap,
used to find your data. You must select
one of these fields. If you called the
first field in your database "name", for
example, and you want to view the
database in terms of your customers'
names, you will want to select that key
field. The first keyed field will be
displayed in reverse video. To select a
keyed field, move the reverse video
cursor either up or down (with the up or
down arrow keys). Once the desired
field is in reverse video, press the
ENTER key.
The next option to be selected is
how you want to search the database for
the desired record to be changed.
You can search by the key, select the
first record, or select the last
record. If you want to modify a
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customer address and you have a key for
the customer name, for example, you will
want to select the "name" key field and
then select to find the record by a
key. You will then be asked to enter
the key value (this is the actual name
your are searching for, e.g., "Smith
Hardware Store"). In this case it will
be the customer name. You will then be
given a "Modify" screen for you to use
to update the data. If there is not an
exact match (upper and lower case
letters will be interpreted as the
same), a "beep" will sound, and the
screen will display the closest match.
You can also select to start with
the first or last record. This option
will allow you to "browse" through the
database until you find the record you
want to modify. Once you find the
desired record, you can move to the
information that needs to be altered and
change it.
The modify screen will display the
database name and description (if you
entered one when creating the database)
on the top line. The field names
will appear along the left side of the
screen. A reverse video cursor will
appear for the first field. This is to
represent your location. You can move
this reverse video cursor up and down
with the arrow key. Type in the desired
information and move to the next field
by pressing one of the following
keys; the ENTER key, the tab key, or the
down arrow (do not press "Esc" since
this will cancel the corrections you
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have mode to this field). You can
continue to enter information for each
field until you get to the last field.
Once the information for the last
field is entered, move the reverse video
cursor down (by using the ENTER key, tab
key or down arrow), and the current
record will be updated in your database
and you will be given the next record in
your database.
The type of the field will appear
in the bottom window. You will not be
allowed to enter alphabetic characters
in a numeric field.
FreeFile supports full screen
editing. This means that you can move
freely around the screen any change any
of the information you have entered on
the screen. The "Up" and the "Down"
arrows will move you to the previous and
the next field respectfully. The the
"back tab" (Shift-Tab) and the "tab"
will do the same thing.
The default data entry mode is the
insert mode. This mode will allow you
to type a character and cause all other
characters to move over one place to the
right. When the field is full, you will
not be allowed to insert any more
characters (your computer will "beep" at
you). You can switch to the replace
mode by pressing the "Ins" (insert)
key. Once in the replace mode you can
return to the insert mode by pressing
the "Ins" key again. You can also use
the "Del" (delete) key to delete
characters as well as the backspace key.
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Should you decide you do not want
to modify the current field you may
press the "Esc" (Escape) key to return
to the Main Menu. Remember though,
the Esc key tells FreeFile to cancel
what you are currently doing, so the
current field will not be modified
(though changes made to other fields
will be accepted).
Once you have completed modifying
your database, press the Esc key. Be
certain to do this while you are either
on a field where you have not altered
any data yet, or on a field where you do
not want to keep the information you
altered on your database. After
pressing the Esc key you will be
returned to the Main Menu (you will need
to press the Esc key twice).
REMARKS: You must have "created" your
database before you can modify a
record. If you have not already
selected a database when you choose this
option, you will be provide with a list
of databases on your disk. You can
select one of the databases you have
created before, or you can choose to
create a new database.
(71)
P R I N T A R E P O R T
USAGE: Allows information from your
database to be printed on paper, your
computer's terminal, or to disk. Can
also be used to generate mailing
labels. For example, you want a listing
of all your customers, their addresses
and their outstanding balances.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu. The first screen
you will allow you to select the format
for the report from one you had used
previously and had saved to disk. This
will save you from having to change a
lot of parameters on complex reports.
This first screen will allow you to (1)
"Select a file", or (2) "Create a new
file". We will examine both of these
options.
Select a file. This option will
allow you to choose one of the prev-
iously created print format files on the
screen. You can select the print format
file by moving the reverse video cursor
either up or down (with the up and down
arrows) until the desired file is high-
lighted. When you are ready to make
your selection, press the ENTER key.
Create a new file. Select this
option when you do not want to use one
of your existing print formats. See
the sections on "Print Options", "Print
Order", and "Select Cases to Print" for
more information.
(72)
Once one of the above options have
been taken, you will see the print
sub-menu. This menu will allow you to
(1) "Print", (2) "Change options"
(see "Print Option" section), (3)
"Change Order" (see "Print Order"
section) and (4) "Select Cases" (see
"Select Cases to Print" section). You
may select the Print option (option
number "1") to start printing, or may
select to change one or more of the
print parameters.
If you are new to FreeFile you
might want to just take the "Print"
option from the Print Menu. This option
will make certain assumptions about what
you want and print out the report.
Although FreeFile has a lot of power and
flexibility, the program is also very
easy to use. When you are ready to
Print out a report, select the print
option. It could hardly be easier.
Many applications will never need to
adjust any of the print options. But if
you find that you do, you can select to
change many of the print parameters to
"taylor" your report to your needs.
REMARKS: You must have "created" your
database before you can print a report.
If you have not already selected a
database when you choose this option,
you will be provide with a list of
databases on your disk. You can select
one of the databases you have created
before, or you can choose to create a
new database. Your print format files
(format files you saved on disk) must be
(73)
on the same drive and directory as your
database. Once FreeFile has started to
print, you may press the "Esc" (Escape)
key to cause the printing to pause. At
that point, you may select to cancel the
printing, or to continue printing.
A "Summary" section will appear at
the end of each report. All numeric and
computed fields will have their values
summed. These values will be rounded
when there are two consecutive zeros
after the decimal point, otherwise the
entire value will be displayed.
(74)
P R I N T O P T I O N S
USAGE: Allows you to change one or more
of the print parameters. Select this
option when the default print parameters
do not meet your needs. For example,
you want to have your report print on
your screen rather than on your printer.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Print Menu. After selecting to
change the print options (option "2" on
the Print Menu), FreeFile will display
the "Print Options Menu". The following
are a description of the various options
available from this menu.
(1) Print Location - Printer. The
default print location is the printer.
The reports will be sent to your
printer when this option is selected.
Any type of PC printer will work with
FreeFile.
(2) Print Location - Screen. If
you do not have a printer, or if you
just want to see the report on your
screen before you send it to your
printer, select option two ("2").
(3) Print Location - Disk. This
option will direct the report to be
placed in a file on your disk. You will
be asked for the filename once you
select the action print option from the
Print Menu.
(75)
(4) Print Type - Listing. The
listing print type is the default. This
type instructs FreeFile to print a new
line for each record. Field names will
appear as headers for each column
of data.
(5) Print type - Snapshot. This
option will instruct FreeFile to print a
new page for each record. Each field
will appear on a separate line. The
field name will appear to the left of
the data for that field. This is very
similar in appearance to FreeFile's data
entry screens.
(6) Lines Per Page. Number of
lines per page. Default is 52 lines per
page.
(7) Page width. Number of columns
per page. Default is 132 columns per
page. If your printer does not print
132 columns, you will want to change
this to a smaller number, e.g., 80
columns.
(8) Starting Column Location. This
is the first print position for your
report. The default is the first
column. If you would like a margin of
10 characters, for example, you will
need to change this field to 10.
(A) Spaces between the fields. The
default is three spaces between each
field on the report. Change this item
if you would like either more or less
spacing between the fields.
(76)
(B) Print Labels. FreeFile
supports printing of mailing labels.
The default for this item is NO, that
you are not going to print labels.
To change it, press "B", then press "Y"
(for yes). You will then see the Label
Menu. You can select the number of rows
per label (the default is 5) and the
width of the label you will be printing
(the default is 35). The default label
size is for 3 1/2" by 15/16" labels.
(C) Enter Report Title. Each
report will print a title on the first
line of each page. If you do not enter
a report title, FreeFile will use
the optional description of the database
if you have entered that. If you do not
want to use the database description
for your report title select this option
and enter a title for the report.
Report titles can be up to 35 char-
acters long.
REMARKS: If you want to use any of the
report formats you changed the next time
you print a report, you will need to
save these report formats before you
start to print (FreeFile will ask you if
you want to save the formats before
printing).
(77)
P R I N T O R D E R
USAGE: Allows you to change the order
of the printed report and the physical
appearance of the report. You can
select to include or omit fields,
arrange the print order of the fields,
break up a print line, or sort the
report based on any field. For example,
you would use this menu to generate a
sorted report based on your customer
list with zip code being the sort field.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Print Menu. After select-
ing to change the print order (option
"3" on the Print Menu), FreeFile will
display a screen displaying all the
field names, whether or not each field
is a key, and information on field
selection, print sequence, line number,
and sorting. Each of these items are
described below. Select any item by
moving the reverse video cursor with any
of the four direction arrows located on
your numeric keypad.
Select field. The default is for
all fields to appear on the report.
There will be times where this is not
what you want. To omit a field,
position the reverse video cursor under
the column label "Select Field". Move
the reverse video cursor to the line for
the field you want to omit. Press the
"N" (for "NO") key so that this field
(78)
will not be selected. Press a "Y" (for
"YES") to change any field from not
being selected to being selected.
Print. This option is the print
sequence for each field in your data-
base. The default is to number the
first field in your database as the
first field to be printed (1), and to
increase each number by one with each
field. The valid entries range from 1
to 99.
Line Number. This is the relative
line number for each field in a record.
The default is for all fields to have a
value of one ("1"). This will result in
all fields being printed on the same
line (if you take the default print type
of "listing" - if you choose snapshot,
each field will appear on a separate
line regardless of this setting). The
valid responses for this option range
from 1 - 99. EXAMPLE: Print "First
Name" and "Last Name" on one line, then
print a blank line, then print the
person's "Street Address". Select "1"
for the line number for First Name and
Last Name. Select "3" for Street
Address. Omit all other fields by
selecting "N" for Select Field options.
If you want a blank line before the
first name, print that line on "2" and
the Street Address on "4".
Sort. You can sort on any field in
your database. The default is to sort
your database for the report by the
first keyed field, but this can be
easily changed. You can also combine
(79)
fields to sort. The lower the value you
assign to the sort option, the more
important that field will be in the
sort. For example, if you put a "1" in
the sort option for "City" and a "2" in
the sort option for "Last Name",
your database will be sorted by city,
and then within city, by last name
within that city. That is, all the
Smiths from Chicago will print out
together and all the Smiths from Phoenix
will print out together. You can select
to sort any fields and any combination
of fields up to 255 characters long.
Method. This is the sort method.
The default is ascending (A's before
B's, etc.). Press the "A" key for
ascending sort, "D" for a descending
sorts.
REMARKS: If you want to use any of the
report formats you changed the next time
you print a report, you will need to
save these report formats before you
start to print (FreeFile will ask you if
you want to save the formats before
printing).
(80)
Q U I T
USAGE: To exit from FreeFile and to
return to the operating system.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu (option "Q"). After
selecting this option, any open files
will be brought to a normal close, and
any data not yet written to your disk
will be written.
REMARKS: You must always exit from
FreeFile by using this command. If you,
for example, turn your machine off
rather than exiting with the Quit
option, you might damage your database.
If this happens, you will have to use
the REBUILD program before you will be
able to use that database again.
This option is always available from the
Main Menu.
(81)
R E B U I L D
USAGE: To repair damaged database
files. A database file that was in use
when your computer is turned off will
usually need to be rebuilt. FreeFile
will inform you when you try to use a
file that is damaged that you will need
to use the Rebuild program.
DESCRIPTION: Rebuild is a separate
program that is available to all users
of FreeFile who donate $45. To start
Rebuild, put the diskette with the file
REBUILD.EXE in your computer. Type the
word REBUILD to start the program.
Press any key to move pass the Start-Up
screen. Enter the name of the database
needing to be rebuilt (use the full
drive name and path name if the database
is on a different drive or in a diffe-
rent directory). Your database files
will be repaired.
REMARKS: You must always exit from
FreeFile by using the "Quit" command.
If you, for example, turn your machine
off rather than exiting with the Quit
option, you might damage your database
and have to use this option. If you are
not a registered user of FreeFile you
will need to send in your $45 to get
this program.
(82)
S E L E C T C A S E S T O
P R I N T
USAGE: Allows you to select specific
records to be included on your printed
report. For example, used to select all
customers who live in Chicago.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Print Sub-Menu (option "3").
The "Select Cases" screen has the
field names on the left side of the
screen and the selection parameters on
the right side.
Select a field. You select a field
by moving the reverse video cursor
either up or down with the arrow keys.
Once the field name is highlighted,
press the Enter key.
Relationship. After selecting the
field, you will need to define the
relationship to be used in the compari-
son. The options are; "=" (equal),
"<" (less than), ">" (greater than),
"<=" (less than or equal to), ">="
(greater than or equal to), or "<>" (not
equal to). You can select any of
these options by moving the reverse
video cursor either left or right until
the desired relationship is high-
lighted. Then press the Enter key.
Value to be Compared. This will
be the value to be compared against the
(83)
selected field to see if the record is
to be selected or not. If you defined
your field as a "date" field you can
enter a date here to be compared
against. For example, you might want to
select all records of individuals who
birthday falls on January 1, 1960. If
that was the case you would enter
01/01/60 for the value to be compared.
You can also use the keyword TODAY to
represent today's date if you have
defined the field to be compared as a
"date" field (you will need to have
entered the correct date when you
started your computer for this to work
properly).
Logical Connector. The options
for this item are "AND", "OR", and
"NONE". Select the AND or OR options if
you are going to enter another field to
be tested. Select the NONE option if
you are not going to enter any more
fields to be tested. If you wanted to
select, for example, only customers that
lived in New York City AND had an
outstanding balance of $1000 or more,
you would need to select the AND
connector. If you wanted any customers
who lived in New York City OR any
customer who had an outstanding balance
of $1000 or more, you would need
to select the OR connector. You can
make up to 25 different comparisons for
any one report.
REMARKS: If you want to use any of the
select cases formats the next time you
print a report, you will need to save
these formats before you start to print
(84)
(FreeFile will ask you if you want to
save the formats before printing). If
you try to print your report again
before returning to the Main Menu
the selection criterion you entered will
remain in effect. If you return to the
Main Menu, or select option 4 (Select
Cases) the FreeFile will reset to select
all cases.
(85)
S E L E C T A D A T A B A S E
USAGE: To select a previously created
database. To you choose this option
when you are not currently working on
any database, or when you want to
change from working on one database to
another. For example, you are working
on your customer database and now
you want to check an item in your
inventory database.
DESCRIPTION: This option is selected
from the Main Menu (option "S"). The
first screen will display all the
databases you have created on your
disk. You can select one of these
database by moving the reverse video
cursor up or down and then pressing the
ENTER key once the desired database has
been highlighted. You can change your
default drive, and/or, path name, by
selecting option 3 and entering the new
drive, and/or path name.
REMARKS: Any work done on any active
database when you selected this option
will be saved before the new database
will be made available to you. If you
want to change from one database to
another, you must select this option
to do so.
(86)
V I E W A R E C O R D
USAGE: Allows a record (collection of
information) to be viewed (examine).
Select this option when you need to
view a portions of your database but do
not need a printed copy. For example,
you need to check to see if you current-
ly have a particular product in your
inventory.
DESCRIPTION: This option ("V") is
selected from the Main Menu. The first
screen you will see displays the key
fields. These are the fields that
FreeFile can use to retrieve data from
your database. They are the path, or
roadmap, used to find your data. You
must select one of these fields. If you
called the first field in your database
"name", for example, and you want to
view the database in terms of a cust-
omer's name, you will want to select
that key field. The first keyed field
will be displayed in reverse video. To
select a keyed field, move the reverse
video cursor either up or down (with the
up or down arrow keys). Once the
desired field is in reverse video, press
the Enter key.
The next option to be selected is
how you want to search the database for
the desired record to be changed.
You can search by the key, select the
(87)
first record, or select the last
record. If you want to view a specific
customer's address and you have a key
for the customer name, for example, you
will want to select the "name" key field
and then select to find the record
by a key. You will then be asked to
enter the key value (this is the actual
name your are searching for, e.g.,
"Smith's Hardware Store"). In this case
it will be the customer name. You will
then be given a "View" screen for you to
examine. If there is not an exact match
(upper and lower case letters will be
interpreted as the same), a "beep" will
sound, and the screen will display the a
closest match.
You can also select to start with
the first or last record. This option
will allow you to "browse" through the
database until you find the exact record
you wanted.
The view screen will display the
database name and description (if you
entered one when creating the database)
on the top line. The field names
will appear along the left side of the
screen. A reverse video cursor will
appear for the first field. If you have
completed viewing your record and you do
not want to go to the next record, you
can press the "Esc" key twice. This
will return you to the Main Menu.
REMARKS: You must have "created" your
database before you can view a record.
If you have not already selected a
database when you choose this option,
(88)
you will be provide with a list of
databases on your disk. You can select
one of the databases you have created
before, or you can choose to create a
new database.
(89)
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
FreeFile and the documentation are
distributed "AS IS" and without warran-
ties as to performance. Any statements
by the author do not constitute warran-
ties and shall not be relied on by the
user in deciding whether to contribute
to the author.
FreeFile is distributed without any
express or implied warranties what-
soever. Because of the diversity of
conditions and hardware under which this
program may be use, no warranty of
fitness for a particular purpose is
offered. The user is advise to test the
program thoroughly before relying on it.
Any liability of the author will be
limited exclusively to product replace-
ment.
If you have any questions, or
comments, please write to:
Stilwell Software Products
1336 East Krista Way
Tempe, AZ 85284
(90)
**** INDEX ****
Add 19, 51
Change Print Options
36
Change Print Order
37
Color monitor 11
COMPAQ 11
Computed fields 4
55, 66
Contribution 1
Create 17, 54
Create print file
72
Damaged database 82
Data Type 18, 55
Database 4
Date fields
84
Delete a Record 34, 58
DEMO1
16
DEMO2
27
DIF 63
Export 44, 64
63
FEATURES 8
FF.HLP 62
Field 4
Field name 18, 54
Format 22
Format of the database
61
Formulas 4, 55
66
Help 16, 62
Import/Export 44
63
Key 18, 56
Labels 77
Length 18, 56
Line Number 79
Lines Per Page 76
List/Modify formulas 32
66
Logical Connector 84
Modify 22
Modify a record
68
Modify formulas 32
66
Page width 76
PHONE 16
Print 24, 79
Print a Report 36
72
Print Labels 77
Print Location - Disk 75
Print Location - Printer 75
Print Location - Screen 75
Print options
75
Print order
78
Print Type - Listing 76
Print type - Snapshot 76
Quit 17
81
REBUILD 1
81, 82
Records 4
Relationship 83
RENTALS 27
Report Title 77
Select a database 49
86
Select a Field 83
37
Select a print file
72
Select case 83
Select field 78
Sort 79
Sort method 80
Spaces between the fields 76
Starting Column Location 76
Today - keyword
84
User supported 1
Value to be Compared 83
View 20
87
Warranty
90
**********************
* INVOICE *
**********************
Stilwell Software Products
1336 East Krista Way
Tempe, AZ 85284
DATE Invoice #85216
***************************************
PRICE
FreeWord a word processor,
SSP's SPELL, a spelling checker,
and documentation
$49.00
FreeFile a database
and documentation
$45.00
FreeCalc an electronic
spreadsheet, The FreeCalc Auditor,
and documentation
$47.50
PC-USAGE a utility program
to help you track your PC usage
$24.95
PC-TRIVIA an electronic trivia
game for and about the IBM PC
$29.00
MATH SCHOOL an arithmetic
drill program for children
$15.00
dMAX a dBASE II utility
to compress program files
$35.00
6.5% Arizona Sales Tax
(Arizona residents Only)
________
TOTAL $ ________
***************************************
You may keep this invoice for your
records.