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1 on 1 = 3!! TUTORIAL --------------------- 1. GETTING STARTED 2. OPENING MENU 3. X DOS 4. ADMINISTRATION 5. Command MODE 6. DOCUMENTATION 7. MENU MODE 7.1. HELP WINDOW 7.2. INFORMATION WINDOW 7.3. HELP 7.3.1. HELP BROWSE MODE 7.3.2. HELP MENU MODE 7.4. MOVING AROUND AND CHOOSING MENU ITEMS 7.4.1. UP AND DOWN IN LEVEL 2 MENUS 7.4.2. MOVING TO NEXT LEVEL 2 MENU 7.4.3. USING LETTERS TO CHANGE MENUS 7.4.4. CHOOSING MENU ITEMS 7.4.5. LEAVING LEVEL 3 AND 4 MENUS 7.5. CREATING A DATABASE 7.6. CREATING A PICTURE OF THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT 7.7. QUITTING MENU MODE 7.8. RESTORING A SAVED PICTURE 7.9. APPENDING DATA TO A DATABASE 7.10. EDITING A MEMO FIELD 1 7.11. CURRENT RECORD DISPLAY ON SCREEN 7.12. SPECIAL KEYS TO MOVE AROUND THE DATABASE 7.13. INDEXING YOUR DATABASE 7.14. REPORTING 7.15. POSITION TOP OF DATABASE 7.16. OUTPUT TO DIFFERENT DEVICES 7.17. EJECTING TO A NEW PAGE 7.18. SEEKING 7.19. EDITING 7.20. CREATE PICTURE 7.21. CLEARING DATABASES 7.22. RESTORE A PICTURE 7.23. NAME A DATABASE 7.24. CREATE A FILTER 7.25. CREATE A REPORT CONTROL FILE 7.26. RUNNING A REPORT 7.27. MODIFY A REPORT CONTROL FILE 7.28. RUNNING A REPORT 7.29. REMOVING A FILTER 7.30. CREATE AN INDEX 7.31. RUNNING A REPORT 7.32. NAME A DATABASE 7.33. DISPLAY 7.34. ORDER 7.35. SPECIAL SEEK KEY 7.36. SPECIAL BROWSE KEY 2 7.37. MACROS 7.38. CREATE A MACRO 7.39. CREATE A RELATION 7.40. MODIFY A RELATION 7.41. REPORTING RELATED FILES 7.42. COPYING DATABASES 7.43. SORT A DATABASE 7.44. CHANGING POSITION IN THE DATABASE 7.45. BROWSE MODE 7.46. REPLACE 7.47. DELETE 7.48. PACK 7.49. RECALL 7.50. STRUCTURE 7.51. CHANGING DIRECTORIES 7.52. COPYING FILES 7.53. SET 7.54. MODIFYING PROGRAMS 7.55. MODIFY FORMAT 3 1 on 1 = 3!! TUTORIAL --------------------- On the following pages is a tutorial for learning how to use 1 on 1 = 3!!. The conventions used are: 1. Categories are numbered and their descriptions are centered and underline. You do not type in any of this. 2. What you type in always appears on the left hand side of the page and a description of what is happening appears on the right hand side of the page. As we go further into the tutorial we will put more keystrokes on the left at one time. Take time to observe what each keystroke does. We have had to split up the input at times into multiple lines to fit it on the left. You do not, I repeat do not press {Enter} to get a new line just because the data you are inputing appears on a new line. The only time you do press {Enter} is when you see {Enter} on the left of the page. 3. Special characters are described within {} just like we did with {Enter} above. When you see this you type in the special character itself and not the {} or the description enclosed in the {}. 4. At times you will have to press two keys at once. An example of this is {Ctrl {End}}. In this case you would hold down the Ctrl key just like you would the shift key when you want upper case and while still holding down the Ctrl key press the key marked {End}. 5. In some cases you have a choice of different input. In these cases your options will be separated by '|'. As an example: M{Enter} | C{Enter} means you can either put in 'M' followed by {Enter} or 'C' followed by {Enter}. You do not do both. 6. {any key} means just that. Press any key. After you are taught how to create a database in the Menu Mode, you will be taught how you can take a picture of the current environment. This will allow you to take a picture at any time, leave 1 on 1 = 3!! to do something else, come back to the menu mode, restore the picture and continue in the tutorial where you left off. 4 If someone has already used the tutorial or you are going through it for a second time, when creating files you will be warned that the 'File already exists, do you want to delete (Y/N)'. Just answer 'Y'. 1. GETTING STARTED --------------- You will have to position yourself so that you are on the same drive as the \3!! directory. Mine is on the C drive so that is where I am going. You go to the drive your \3!! directory is on. C:{Enter} You will be position on the correct drive. CD\3!!{Enter} You will change directories to the one that contains the 1 on 1 = 3!! programs and files. 3!!{Enter} This is how you start 1 on 1 = 3!!. You will see the 1 on 1 = 3!! opening message and then you will get the Opening Menu. 'Menu mode' will be highlighted. 2. OPENING MENU ------------ {Down Arrow} The light bar will move down one. 'Command mode' will now be highlighted. If this does not happen check if your {Num Lock} key is on. If it is turn it off. {Down Arrow} The light bar will again move down one. 'Administration' will be highlighted. {Up Arrow} The light bar will move up one. 'Command mode' will be highlighted. {Down Arrow} {Down Arrow} The light bar will move down two. 'X DOS' will be highlighted. 3. X DOS ----- {Enter} This is one way to choose a menu item. You use the arrows to move to the one you want and then you type the {Enter} key. We have just chosen 'X DOS'. You will see what directory you are in and then the prompt '3!!'. We can now enter DOS commands. We can do any we want as long as 5 there is enough memory left to execute that command. DIR{Enter} You will get a directory of the \3!! directory. DIR 3*{Enter} You will get a directory of all files that start with '3'. {Up Arrow} You will see '3!! DIR 3*'. Using the {Up Arrow} will retrieve for you previous commands that you have put in. there is a memory for 50 commands. {Up Arrow} You will see '3!! DIR'. This is the previous command. {Right Arrow} {Right Arrow} {Right Arrow} {Right Arrow} I* You will see the cursor move to the right each time you press the {Right Arrow}. You can edit previous command lines. See EDITING LINES in the help mode for an explanation of how to edit lines. {Enter} The command will now be executed. You will get a directory of all files that start with 'I'. {Enter} Pressing {Enter} on a blank line in 'X DOS' returns you to the Opening Menu. 'Menu mode' will be highlighted. 4. ADMINISTRATION -------------- A This is the second method of choosing menu items. You press the first letter of the menu description. You have just chosen 'Administration'. You will see 'Enter M for monochrome, C for color'. This is where you tell 1 on 1 = 3!! whether you have a monochrome or a color monitor. I have a monochrome monitor so I am going to enter 'M'. You enter the correct one for your monitor. M{Enter} | C{Enter} You will now see, Enter R for read only, U for update. What this is allowing you to do is determine what updating capabilities a user of the program will have. If you enter 'R' this will mean that users will not be able to update 6 databases. Anytime they try to execute a command that allows updating of databases they will be informed that updating is not allowed. The users will not be allowed to use the command mode. If you enter 'U' then the users will be allowed to use all the commands in 1 on 1 = 3!!. We are going to enter 'U' because part of the tutorial is showing how to update. If you want yours to be read only you can come back latter and change it. U{Enter} You will be returned to the opening menu with 'Menu mode' highlighted. 5. Command MODE ------------ C You have just chosen 'Command mode'. You will again see '3!!' but this time you are in the 1 on 1 = 3!! Command Mode. Here you can enter any dBASE commands that you want or you can execute your dBASE programs using the 'DO' command. DIR{Enter} You will get a directory of the databases in \3!!. You will again get the prompt '3!!'. DISPLAY STATUS {Enter} You will get the current status. You will be prompted to 'press any key to continue' when the page fills up. {any key} You will get the next page of status information and the message again 'press any key to continue' {any key} You will get the last of the status information and then the prompt '3!!' {Up Arrow} '3!! DISPLAY STATUS' will be displayed. Just like in the X DOS Mode, while in the Command Mode your commands will be saved. By using the {Up Arrow} you may retrieve previous commands. {Up Arrow} '3!! DIR' will now be displayed. {Right Arrow} {Right Arrow} {Right Arrow} {Right Arrow} *.FOX{Enter} Again just like in the X DOS Mode you can edit your commands and then execute them. See EDITING LINES in the Help Mode. 7 QUIT | RETURN {Enter} You may get out of the Command Mode by using either the QUIT or the RETURN commands. You will be returned to the Opening Menu with 'Menu mode' highlighted. 6. DOCUMENTATION ------------- {Up Arrow} {Up Arrow} You can go either way. 'Documentation' should now be highlighted. {Enter} You have just chosen 'Documentation'. You will get a new menu. 'Index' will be highlighted. This is where you print out your documentation from. If you were to choose 'Index' you would be asked to enter the number of spaces to indent. This is different for each printer. I suggest you try 5 to start. We are not going to do this now. {Down Arrow} 'Help' will be highlighted. {Enter} Choosing 'Help' allows us to print out the documentation. You will be asked for the start page. If you do not have a printer attached enter 0 for the starting page number. 2{Enter} We are going to start from page 2. If you want the full document enter 1. Again if you do not have a printer, enter a 0. You will be asked 'Enter the end page'. If you do not have a printer enter 0. If you want the full document enter 999. 4{Enter} We asked it for pages 2 through 4. If you want the whole document put in pages 1 through 999. You will now be asked to 'Enter the number of spaces to indent'. Again this depends on your printer. Try a few pages at different settings. 5{Enter} We have indented ours 5 spaces. The pages you chose will now print. After it finishes printing you will be returned to the Documentation menu with 'Index' highlighted. Q 'Quit' returns you to the opening Menu with 'Menu mode' highlighted. 8 7. MENU MODE --------- M We have chosen the 'Menu mode'. We could of done the same thing by pressing the {Enter} key because 'Menu mode' was highlighted. It will now take from 10 to 40 seconds to load the menu control file. You will then be presented with a number of menu choices across the top of the screen. 'Name' will be highlighted. On the bottom of the screen is a box with information in it. It will say 'Welcome! ...'. This box is your Help Window. You will see as we go through the different menu items that this will change to describe the current menu item. 7.1. HELP WINDOW ----------- {Enter} Just like in the Opening Menu, pressing {Enter} on an menu item will choose that item. What you should now see is the 'Name' pull down menu with the first item, 'Database' highlighted. Also notice that the Help Window at the bottom of the screen has changed to an explanation of naming a database to correspond to the currently highlighted menu item. If there is a corresponding dBASE type command for the current menu item, the syntax for that command will be the first thing you see in the help window. It will then go on to explain the command and how to use it. 7.2. INFORMATION WINDOW ------------------ {F4} Notice that pressing the {F4} removes the Help Window and puts in its place an Information Window. This contains a lot of information that will be filled in as you use the program. {F4} Now the bottom of the screen is blank except for a double line in the middle and a one line explanation of the current menu item. Latter when we have an active database, the current record will show in this window. {F4} Now we get a list of the special keys we can use while we are in this menu. Let's leave this screen on for a while since we will be using these special keys. 9 7.3. HELP ---- 7.3.1. HELP BROWSE MODE ---------------- {F1} One of the keys described on the bottom of the screen is the {F1} key. Next to it says Help. The {F1} key is your key to help. You will notice that you now have the same information on your screen that was in the Help Window before we started switching the screens. You are now in the Help Browse Mode. If there is more information on this command you can get it by pressing {Page Down}. {Page Down} You get another page of information on naming a database. {Page Down} And then some more. You will notice that this topic ends and you get the next one. We have used our browse mode to let you browse through the help file. It is really an on line book. {Page Up} You can go back to previous pages. Try using the {Up Arrow} and {Down Arrow} to scroll a line at a time. 7.3.2. HELP MENU MODE -------------- {Esc} The {Esc} gets you out of the Help Browse Mode and puts you in the Help Menu Mode. You will see on your screen a list of topics you can choose to get further information about. {Right Arrow} The light bar moves to the right one topic. {Down Arrow} The light bar moves down one topic. Try using the four arrow keys. Try the {Home} and {End} keys. R The light bar moves to the next topic that begins with the letter 'R'. R Again the light bar moves to the next topic that begins with the letter 'R'. {Enter} This is the way you choose a topic. You move the light bar to the one you want and then press {Enter}. Sound familiar. You should now be back in the help browse mode for the topic you 10 have chosen. Again you could browse around using the {Page Down} and {Page Up} keys. {Esc} You are returned to the Help Menu Mode. If you wanted you could choose another topic to look at. We are going to move on now. If you want, stay here and look up some of the topics. HELP is a good one to start with. Also please come back here as we are going though the tutorial for further explanations about what the current menu item we are using. {Esc} Pressing {Esc} while the help menu is on the screen will return you to where you called for help. We are back at 'Name' 'Database'. 7.4. MOVING AROUND AND CHOOSING MENU ITEMS ------------------------------------- 7.4.1. UP AND DOWN IN LEVEL 2 MENUS ---------------------------- {Down Arrow} The top line of topics, Name, Create, Modify, etc. are considered level 1 menu items. The menu we are now in is considered a level 2 menu item. Just like in the opening menu the {Down Arrow} will move the light bar down one item. {Up Arrow} And the {Up Arrow} will move the light bar up one item. 7.4.2. MOVING TO NEXT LEVEL 2 MENU --------------------------- {Right Arrow} The {Right Arrow} closes the current pull down menu, moves to the next one to the right, opens that one and positions on the first menu item. {Right Arrow} Again we move over one pull down menu to the right. {Left Arrow} The {Left Arrow} closes the current pull down menu, moves to the next one to the left, opens that one and positions on the first menu item. 7.4.3. USING LETTERS TO CHANGE MENUS ----------------------------- E Pressing a letter that matches one of the letters on the top menu causes the current pull down menu to close and the one corresponding to the letter you pressed to be opened. You should 11 now be in the 'Extra' menu with 'Command mode' highlighted. It does not matter whether you use upper or lower case. 'e' would of done the same thing. {Down Arrow} {Down Arrow} 'Directory' should now be highlighted. 7.4.4. CHOOSING MENU ITEMS ------------------- {Enter} Again we can choose a menu item by pressing {Enter} while it is highlighted. You now get another pull down menu with choices of what kind of directory you want. {Enter} This is a level 3 menu. We chose to get a directory of databases. {any key} You are returned back to the menu. 2 All pull down menus are numbered. You may choose a menu item by pressing the corresponding number. We have chosen '*.IDX' {any key} 0 0, that is zero not the letter O, You are prompted to put in the mask for the directory you want. *.fox{Enter} We get a list of all files with the extension '.fox'. {any key} 7.4.5. LEAVING LEVEL 3 AND 4 MENUS --------------------------- {Right Arrow} | {Left Arrow} | {Esc} Notice on the bottom of the screen, 3 keys are marked 'Previous menu'. In order to get out of a level 3 or level 4 menu without executing the command or option that is highlighted you have 3 choices, {Right Arrow}, {Left Arrow} or {Esc}. Press one of those 3. 12 7.5. CREATING A DATABASE ------------------- C We jump over to the 'Create' pull down menu. 1 We choose 'Database'. Again we could have just typed {Enter}. You will get a screen with the names of files across the top and the cursor will be positioned on the bottom line. You will see this screen when executing many different commands. In this case what it wants is the name of the database we are going to create. MAIL{Enter} We have named ours 'MAIL'. If there is another database by this name we would get a warning message and have a chance to change our mind. If we don't then the old database would be deleted. You will get a screen with a help box on the top explaining the different editing keys you can use. If you don't see this help box try pressing the {F1} key. Below that you will see columns marked field name, type, width, and dec. Number 1 will be highlighted. This is where you enter information about the different fields that make up your database. FIRST_NAME Field name is where you give a name to each field. The name must start with an alpha character. It can be up to 10 characters long and contain alphabetic, numeric and underline characters. If you fill up all 10 characters as we did here, the computer will beep at you and go on to the next field. {Enter} Since FIRST_NAME is a character field we choose the default by pressing {Enter}. 15{Enter} We enter 15 for the number of characters to allocate for this field. The computer skips over dec which is number of decimal places which doesn't apply to character type fields and goes to line 2. LAST_NAME {Enter} Since we did not fill up the field we had to press {Enter} at the end. We have split up name into two fields so we can do sorts and look ups on the last name. {Enter} Again we choose the default, character. 13 20{Enter} We allocate 20 characters for the last name. ADDRESS1{Enter} {Enter} 30{Enter} We create an address field that is 30 characters wide. ADDRESS2{Enter} {Enter} 30{Enter} We have found that it is good to have at least 2 address lines. Some times you need a c/o line or the address actually takes up two lines. CITY{Enter} {Enter} 20{Enter} We set up city with 20 characters. How large to make any of the fields comes with experience and knowing your data. Don't worry if you make a field too large or too small, it's easy to change latter on. STATE{Enter} {Enter} 2{Enter} ZIP{Enter} {Enter} 10{Enter} That takes care of the name and address. PHONE{Enter} {Enter} 12{Enter} Even though phone is made up of numbers we put it in a character field because it isn't numbers we will do any math on. BIRTH{Enter} {Space Bar} Pressing the {Space Bar} in the type field causes the description to change from 'Character' to 'Numeric'. {Space Bar} Pressing it again you get date. {Enter} Since that is the type of field we are creating we press {Enter} to select it. Notice what happened. The width column got the number 8 and we went down to the next field. All dates take 8 characters. SALARY{Enter}N Typing 'N' in the type column is another way of choosing numeric. You go right to the width field. 10{Enter} We make the salary field 10 characters wide. 14 This time it stops in the 'dec' column. It wants to know how many digits after the decimal place we want to keep. 2{Enter} We tell it two decimal places. CUSTOMER{Enter} L For our customer field we put a type of 'L'. This is a logical field. It means you can only keep T for True or F for false in it. It defaults to 1 character wide. We are going to use it to note if this person is a customer or not. NOTES{Enter} M For NOTES we create a memo field. This defaults to 10 characters. This is not how many characters we can store in the NOTES field. In a memo type field you can store up to 64,000 characters. {Ctrl {End}} Remember to hold the {Ctrl} key like a shift key and at the same time press {End}. We tell the computer that is all the fields we want to define. The computer says 'Press ENTER to confirm. Any other key to resume.' {Enter} We are finished for now. The computer creates the database and asks if we want to enter data now. 7.6. CREATING A PICTURE OF THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT -------------------------------------------- N{F3} No, we'll do it using the append command latter. We're back out to the menu. The {F3} key switches the what is displayed at the bottom of the screen in the opposite direction from the {F4} key. Press the {F3} key until the Information Window with the word Database in the upper left hand corner is on the screen. Notice how it tells us the name of the current master database. We will now use Create Picture to save information about the current environment. This will allow you to then go out of 1 on 1 = 3!! at any time by creating a picture of the environment before you leave. Then when you come back into the Menu Mode you can recover that environment and continue the tutorial from that point on. C4 We choose create picture. We are asked for the 15 name of the output file. PLACE{Enter} We name the picture PLACE. Now lets get out of 1 on 1 = 3!!. 7.7. QUITTING MENU MODE ------------------ Q We are now at the 'Quit' menu. Just doing this does not get us out of the Menu Mode. You now have to choose 'Quit' by hitting {Enter} or pressing '1'. 1 We are now back to the opening menu. Q Now we are all the way out of 1 on 1 = 3!!. If you want take a break now and come back to the tutorial latter. Any time you do take a break you should follow the sequence starting with create a picture. 3!!{Enter} {Enter}{Enter} We're going on. We should be in menu mode with the Name menu pulled down. 7.8. RESTORING A SAVED PICTURE ------------------------- 5 We choose Name Picture. And the system asked for the name of the picture file we want to restore. {Up arrow}P The {Up Arrow} should highlight the first file at the top of the screen. Pressing 'P' should move the highlight to the 'PLACE' file. {Enter} We choose the PLACE file and are returned to the main menu. {F4} The information window should be on your screen. It should tell you the master database is MAIL.DBF and the picture file is PLACE.PIC. We are back where we were when we saved the picture. 7.9. APPENDING DATA TO A DATABASE ---------------------------- U2 Let's jump over to the 'Update' menu and choose 'Append'. We get a screen with a Help Box on 16 top telling us the editing keys we can use. Again if you do not see the Help Box press the {F1} key. Down the left side we see the field names we have just entered and to the right of them a place to enter data. Frank{Enter} Rogers{Enter} That's me. I always like to try and get my names and addresses in upper and lower case. It's harder to type but looks better when you put it on a label or merge it with a letter. I on I Computer Solutions, Inc{Enter} 26 Finchwood Dr. {Enter} You could leave a place for company name and title in your database. What we have is just a sample. When you fill up a field like I did with my company name it will automatically go to the next field if you have set confirm off. The default is that confirm is on so you have to put in the {Enter} key even when you fill up a field. Trumbull{Enter} CT{Enter} 06611{Enter} 203-375-0914{Enter} 04/22/44{Enter} Now that you know my birthday you can send me a card. 1000000{Enter} I'm allowed to dream a little, aren't I. F{Enter} You may not have to put the enter in when you fill up a field like this if you have set confirm off. {Ctrl {Page Down}} We are now at the NOTES field. This is a special type of field called a memo field. By pressing {Ctrl {Page Down}} we go into the edit mode of this field. At the top of the page is a help box with the editing keys we can use. If you do not see the help box try pressing {F1}. We can put anything we want in here. Its just like a word processor. 17 7.10. EDITING A MEMO FIELD -------------------- The quick brown fox{Left Arrow} {Left Arrow} {Left Arrow} Notice how the cursor moves backwards under each letter. These special keys we are using now work for input anywhere in 1 on 1 = 3!!. {Del}{Del}{Del} The delete key deletes the character above the cursor. The 'fox' should be gone now. hat{Back Space} {Back Space} {Back Space} The {Back Space} key is the one on the right side of the top line that has a large left arrow on it. It is used to delete the character before the cursor. cat{Left Arrow} {Left Arrow} {Left Arrow} Rat Notice how we type over the letters that were there before. {Left Arrow} {Left Arrow} {Left Arrow} {Ins}large {Home} {Home}{End}{End} {End} The {Ins} key changes it so that anything we type in will now be inserted. Pressing it again would switch back to overwrite. The {Home} and {End} keys are used to skip from one word to another. Below is one of the few places in the tutorial where you get to type things that are on the right of the page. Type it in just as I have it. Do not use the {Enter} key until the end. went to find the circus to make his fortune in this world. But it wasn't to be. On the way he met an even larger brown cat. A hungry brown cat. {Enter} Notice how it automatically wraps the line as you get near the right hand margin. Notice when you did put in the {Enter} that it made a '<' mark on the right hand margin. You only use the {Enter} at the end of paragraphs. {Up Arrow}{Up Arrow} 18 {Down Arrow} You can use all four arrow keys to move around. You should now be on the beginning of the second line. {Ctrl N} {Ctrl End} insert a new line. {Back Space} {Del You can delete paragraph markers just like any other letter. {Ctrl K}B {Ctrl K}B reformats the current paragraph. {Ctrl K}F Notice on the top line how the word 'Find?' came out. This is how we search for strings. large{Enter} The cursor stops right before the word 'large'. {Ctrl K}L {Ctrl k}L finds the next occurrence of our search string. {Ctrl K}L We get a message '** Not found **'. {Ctrl T} This deletes the next word. smaller {Page Down} {Enter}And the rat ate the cat. {Enter}{Page Up} {Page Down} and {Page Up} move you a whole page of data if you have that much. Go ahead and type something in while I do some more myself. Practice is the only way to learn. Try out all the keys. You really can't hurt anything. This person has the potential of becoming one of our best customers. Someone should be contacting him every month. Tell hi}+m how good his product 1 on 1 = 3!! is and don't forget to send a card on his birthday.{Enter} {Enter} 12/12/87{Enter} Had a good talk with Frank. I think we got him.{Enter} OK, I'm back. I hope you played around while I typed. It's the only way to learn. Notice I did not press {Enter} at the end of each line. That's done automatically for you. Only press {Enter} when you want to start a new paragraph. {Ctrl {Page Up}} | {Ctrl W} Save what you have just put into the memo field. If you didn't want to save it you would 19 press {Esc}. Notice there are two ways to save you memo information. {Enter} Since that was the last field you will get a new record that is blank. Why don't you continue and enter a couple of records on your own. It will make the rest of the exercises more meaningful. Try to get at least 5 records in. {Esc} Do this when you get a new blank record after you have put in your last record. This will bring you back to the main menu. 7.11. CURRENT RECORD DISPLAY ON SCREEN -------------------------------- {F4} The screen on the bottom changes so that the current record is showing. Notice the record number on the left. I know you have at least 5 records. It should be the record number of the last record since you were appending. The system keeps a record pointer to the last record you did anything with. 7.12. SPECIAL KEYS TO MOVE AROUND THE DATABASE ---------------------------------------- {Home} While you are on any menu item {Home} moves the record pointer to the first record. You do not have to have the record showing on the bottom of the screen either. The same thing will work if you have any of the other screens showing. {+}{+} {+} moves the record pointer ahead one record at a time. {-}{-} {-} move the record pointer back one record at a time. If you do it real fast you will not see the second record. {End} {End} moves you to the end of the database. These four keys can be used any time you are on any menu item. Of course you also need an active database. 7.13. INDEXING YOUR DATABASE ---------------------- A1 Let's put our database in order so it's easier to work with. We're going to index it. Indexing is creating a separate file that keeps 20 information on the order of the database based on a field or a combination of fields. You will get a familiar, I hope, screen that is asking for the name you want to give your index file. MAIL{Enter} I named my MAIL. You will now get a screen that looks some what the same except there are field names across the top of the screen instead of file names. You will be seeing this type of screen with other commands so let's explore how it can be used. What it is asking for is what fields do we want to index on. We could just type in the field names we want but there is an easier way. {Up Arrow} Pressing the {Up Arrow} highlights the first field name. Does this look familiar? Remember when we were in the Help Menu? Go ahead and play with the arrow keys. L This should move you to the LAST_NAME field since that is the only one that starts with 'L'. L That doesn't seem to do anything because there are no more field names that start with 'L'. If there was then the light bar would move. {Enter} We have selected LAST_NAME since that was the one that was highlighted. Notice how it writes it out on the bottom line for us. + We are going to make an expression by combining LAST_NAME with FIRST_NAME. The '+' is the operator for concatenating two fields. {Up Arrow} That moves us back up to select another field. F{Enter} We select FIRST_NAME. Notice how it puts it on the end of the line at the bottom of the screen. {Enter} We tell the computer that our expression is ready and the computer creates the index file. {F3} You should now have the formation Window on the bottom of the screen. If you don't keep pressing the {F3} until you get it. Notice it tells you what the current database and index files are. It also has other useful information. Lets leave the Information Window on for a while. 21 7.14. REPORTING --------- R We go over to the 'Report' menu. 5 We pick 'Sum'. We get another pull down menu with choices on it. Notice that the Information Window at the bottom of the screen has changed also. When this menu is on the screen it will give you information about what choices you currently have active. 1 We tell it to go ahead and execute the current command. You will be told how many records are summed and given a total for the salary field. Sum only works on numeric fields. If your database doesn't have any numeric fields you will get an error message if you execute this command. {any key} 61 This time we get an average of all salaries. {any key} 11 You will get a list of all the fields in the database except the memo fields. Notice the way the data wraps around to fit everything. {any key} 121 We are going to build a field list with selected fields. We have seen this screen before. {Up Arrow} This moves the light bar to the first field. {Enter} We select this field. The computer lists it on the bottom line and then highlights the next field. This should be LAST_NAME. {Enter} We want this field also. This time the computer puts a comma after the last field on the bottom line and the a space followed by the field we have just chosen. It then moves the light bar to the next field. P{Enter} The next field we want is PHONE. C{Enter} And then customer. {Esc} That is all the fields we want. Pressing {Esc} 22 puts the cursor on the bottom line. We didn't have to enter this data the way we did. We could have typed it all on the bottom line if we wanted to. {Enter} This enters this as the current list and returns us to the menu. Notice how it now tells you what choices you have made on the bottom of the screen. 1 Execute the list command. Notice how we now get the fields we have selected. {any key} 51 We now try to sum our fields. You will get an error message that it is 'Not a numeric expression'. If you create a field list for summing or averaging you can only have numeric fields in it else you will get an error message. {any key} {any key} 133 We are going to specify which records and in this case we specifying Next. We are asked to enter the number of records. 3{Enter} We say 3 records. 1 We execute the list command. If there are 3 records left including the current record to the end of the database we will get 3 records listed. If not we will get how records there are. If we are positioned at the end of the database we will not get any records. {any key} 11 Keep doing this until you do not get any records listed. {any key} 7.15. POSITION TOP OF DATABASE ------------------------ P5 Go over to the 'Position' menu and choose 'Top'. This is another way to get to the start of the database. We could of used the {Home} key. R11 Go back to the 'Report' menu and execute 'List' again. You will get the first 3 records if you have put in a least 3 records. 23 {any key} 7.16. OUTPUT TO DIFFERENT DEVICES --------------------------- 8 'Output' gives you a chance to send your output to any device you want. If you will look at the Information Window you will notice that only the screen is turned on. If you have a printer turn on output to the printer by pressing 3. 3 Turns on output to the printer. 5 Selects output to a file. You get the familiar file selection screen. MAIL{Enter} I select an output file of 'MAIL'. If you have noticed I have used the same name for the database, the index and now the output file. The reason we can do this is that 1 on 1 = 3!! appends a different extension for each different type of file. If a file by that name does exist we will get a warning and a chance to change our mind. Now look at the Information Window. It tells you what devices we are going to print to and the name of the output file. {Esc} Leave the output menu. 11 Print a list to all the devices. {any key} 131 We now specify all records. 4 We want to select records based on some selection criteria. We get our Field Selection screen. Lets pick everyone with a salary greater then $75,000. We could type SALARY > 75000 right on the bottom line but we're lazy. {Up Arrow} sS{Enter} The first 's' gets us STATE. The second 'S' gets us SALARY. Notice it does not matter if the 's' is upper or lower case. The computer has entered SALARY on the bottom line. > 75000{Enter} We put in the rest of the formula. Do not put commas in your numbers when entering them. 1 Again we execute the 'List' command. This time we only get those people who have a salary 24 greater then $75,000. {any key} 7.17. EJECTING TO A NEW PAGE ---------------------- 9 If your printer is on it will go to a new top of page. 846 {Left Arrow} Turn off output to the printer and to the file. 7.18. SEEKING ------- P1 We are going to look for a record based on our index. We invoke the 'Seek' command. The computer asks us to enter the key to look up. Rog{Enter} We enter part of the name we are looking for. The computer will find the first name that starts with 'Rog'. If there is a 'Roggs' and a 'Rogers' it will stop at 'Rogers'. If it does not find any name that starts with 'Rog' we will get an error message. Since we did not get any message the computer found someone. 7.19. EDITING ------- U1 We now go back to the 'Update' menu and pick 'Edit'. Notice we get the same choices as we did for 'List', 'Sum' and 'Average'. If you get the Information Window on the screen by using {F4} you will find that the same field list and selection rules are in effect. Those rules did not affect the 'Seek' command so we may not find the person that 'Seek' did. 1 We execute 'Edit'. Unless Frank Rogers was the first person in your file you will not have him on the screen. The reason for this is that we have specified All records. This means that Edit will start with the first record that meets the selection criteria. {Page Down} Use {Page Down} until you come to the record with the infamous Frank Rogers. We want to change the salary and that is not part of the list. 25 {Esc}13521 First we specify which records to be the default. For Edit this is the current record. Then we go into build a field list. This time we start with a list on the bottom of the screen. {Up Arrow}SS{Enter} {Esc}{Enter}1 We add salary to our list and then exit and execute edit again. {Down Arrow} {Down Arrow} {Down Arrow} {Down Arrow} Four {Down Arrow}'s bring me to the salary field. 35000{Enter} I take a little cut in pay. {Esc} If you are already out of the Edit Mode ignore this {Esc}. R11 We do our list again and I am no longer on it. {any key} 7.20. CREATE PICTURE -------------- C4 Using the 'Create' 'Picture' we can save a snap shot of which databases, indexes and other information are in effect at this moment. That way we can latter load that snapshot and be right back where we started. We get our screen that is asking us for a file name. MAIL75{Enter} We use the name MAIL75 to indicate it's association with the MAIL database and that we have a selection at $75,000. You can create your naming conventions anyway you want for files. You are allowed up to 8 characters. 7.21. CLEARING DATABASES ------------------ N1 We have gone into 'Name' 'Database'. We get our familiar screen for entering file names. {Enter} We press {Enter} without naming a file. This is the way you clear out all databases, and options. If you will use {F4} to look at the 26 Information Window you will see nothing is defined. 7.22. RESTORE A PICTURE ----------------- 5 We are already in the 'Name' menu. We select 'Picture'. We get our Select File Screen. This time we want to pick an existing file. And there it is on the top of the screen. {Up Arrow}M Moves the light bar to the first file. In my case 'M' move the highlight right to 'MAIL75.PIC' which is the one I want. If you have other files then move the light bar to this one. {Enter} Choose that file. You will notice from the Information Window that the MAIL index and database have been restored. R1 Going to 'Report' 'List' we see that which records, field list and selection rules have been restored. 1 We execute the 'List' command just to see that the same thing happens as before. {any key} 7.23. NAME A DATABASE --------------- N1 We do 'Name' 'Database'. We get our File Selection Screen with a list of databases on top. {Up Arrow} The first database is highlighted. We move to the file 'MAIL.DBF' M You can move their the way I do by pressing 'M' or you can use your arrow keys. {Enter} I select this file. I get another File Selection Screen. This time it is asking me for the #1 index file. Since I want to access my records by last name.. {Up Arrow} M{Enter} I choose the file MAIL.IDX and now it's asking me for INDEX #2. You can have up to 7 index files for one database active at one time. We 27 do not have any more for this one at this time. {Enter} {Enter} on a blank line tells the computer there is no more index files for this database. We end up back at the menu. You will notice that the options we had in effect before for this file will be gone. Every time you 'Name' a 'Database' all option are cleared. 7.24. CREATE A FILTER --------------- C3 We now choose 'Create' 'Filter'. A filter looks just like the rules we used in 'Specify selection rules'. The difference is that these rules affect all commands where 'Specify selection rules' only affect some commands. When a filter is in effect it will seem like the current database only contains records that pass the filter test. For example if under choices you specified next 2 records it would mean the next 2 records that pass the filter test. Again we have our File Selection Screen. MAILU60{Enter} The file name I give it is MAILU60 to signify salaries under $60,000. Now I get my Field Selection Screen. SALARY < 60000{Enter} I decide to type the whole thing myself. Notice the Information Window now shows this filter in effect. R11 I execute a listing. You should at least get my name. Remember we cut my salary. {any key} 7.25. CREATE A REPORT CONTROL FILE ---------------------------- C5 We pick 'Create' 'Report'. We are asked for a name for our report. MAIL{Enter} Our favorite name. We now get a screen we have not seen before. At the top there is a list of fields in our database. We are positioned in a large rectangle with the words 'Page heading:' above us. {F1} We now have a Help Box on the top of the screen 28 with editing characters we can use instead of the list of field names. {F1} We get our list of field names back. MAILING{Enter} LIST{Enter} {Enter} {Enter} This box contains 4 lines and it if for the report heading. What ever we put in here will be centered above our report. {Enter} 1{Enter} {Enter} {Enter} We leave the page width at 80, change the left margin to 1, leave the right margin as 0 and leave the lines/page at 58. {Enter} N{Enter} Y{Enter} {Enter} We do not want double spaced, we do not want to page eject before printing, we do want page eject after printing and we do not want plain page. Plain page means that page numbers and the date are suppressed and the page heading is only printed on the first page. We should now be on a new page with it asking for 'Group on expression' CUSTOMER{Enter} This means we want to group by customers and non-customers. It now wants to know the description we want when we get a different group. CUSTOMER BREAK{Enter} You will see this at the top of each group. {Enter}{Enter} We do not want a summary only and we do not want to page eject after each group. {Enter}{Enter} We do not want to sub-group within this group. We now get a new page. This is the page for describing what information we want in each column. You can put in a field name or an expression. TRIM(FIRST_NAME)+' '+ TRIM(LAST_NAME){Enter} You can use all the dBASE type functions to create expressions. 29 30{Enter} We change the default width to 30. If when the report is created the name is bigger then 30 characters it will wrap to the next line. {Enter}{Enter}{Enter} NAME{Enter} You get 4 lines for the column headings. If the expression is alphabetic it will be left justified. You will notice that a layout of the report is created right above the 'Contents' box. STATE{Enter}{Enter} {Enter}{Enter}{Enter} STATE{Enter} The next field I put in is STATE. I leave the default width of 2 and then enter a column heading of STATE. We then go to a new page. {Page UP} Lets go back to the page with STATE on it for a minute. You will notice that the width has been changed to 5 even though we left the default of 2 in. What has happened is it has been changed to fit the column heading STATE we put in. {Page Down} Moving right along. PHONE{Enter}{Enter} {Enter}{Enter}{Enter} PHONE{Enter} SALARY{Enter}{Enter} 0{Enter}{Enter} We decide we do not want any decimal places in reporting SALARY and that we do want to total on this field. Numeric fields get their column headings right justified. {Enter}{Enter}{Enter} SALARY{Enter} {Ctrl {Home}} After putting in SALARY we decide we really wanted CUSTOMER to be the first item on our report. {Ctrl {Home}} brings up a menu that allows you to jump to different parts of the report definition. F This gets us to the first column. We could of used a number of {Page Up}'s to get here also. {Ctrl N} {Ctrl N} is used to insert columns. CUSTOMER{Enter}{Enter} {Enter}{Enter}{Enter} CUS.{Enter} CUSTOMER is now inserted. {Ctrl {Home}}S We call up the menu again and issue a 'S' for 30 save. We are back to the menu. 7.26. RUNNING A REPORT ---------------- R31 We execute the 'Report' command. It is asking for the name of the control file. Since we just created it notice it already has the name on the bottom line. {Enter} We press {Enter} to start the report. What is this? 'ERROR IN COMMAND' 'Improper data type in group expression.' I don't think it likes to have logical field for grouping on. Let's go back and fix it. {any key} {any key} 7.27. MODIFY A REPORT CONTROL FILE ---------------------------- M4 'Modify' 'Report'. We are asked for the name of the file. Again the correct on is already on the bottom line. {Enter} We get the same opening screen as when we created the report except this time our data is there. {Page Down} This will get us to the Group on screen. IIF(CUSTOMER, 'YES','NO') We use the dBASE IIF function to convert this expression to 'YES' if CUSTOMER is true and to 'NO' if CUSTOMER is false. This starts to show the power of 1 on 1 = 3!! but it also shows that it takes quite a bit of learning to harness all that power. Let's change what's printed on the report also. {Enter}{Enter} {Enter}{Enter} {Enter}{Enter} IIF(CUSTOMER, 'A CUSTOMER', 'NOT A CUSTOMER') {Enter} {Ctrl {End}} Another way to save a report control file. Let's try our report. 31 7.28. RUNNING A REPORT ---------------- R31{Enter} And there's are report. There is a good chance you are getting too many breaks on CUSTOMER. That's because if you are going to break on a field you should have your database ordered by that field. First lets get rid of the filter so we have all of our records. 7.29. REMOVING A FILTER ----------------- {any key} N4{Enter}Naming a blank filter file removes the active filter. 7.30. CREATE AN INDEX --------------- A1customer {Enter} We name our index file customer. CUSTOMER{Enter} We index on the CUSTOMER field. 7.31. RUNNING A REPORT ---------------- R31{Enter} This time our report will be organized correctly. First we will get a group that aren't customers and then we will get a group that is customers. The salary should be totaled for each group and there is a final total. {any key} 7.32. NAME A DATABASE --------------- N1{Up Arrow}S {Enter} As a present to you we have included a database with the states and their postal abbreviations. You have picked the database STATE and it should now be asking for the first index file. STATE{Enter} We pick the index named STATE. This is ordered by the state name. You are now being asked for another index file. STATECD{Enter} This index file orders the database by the postal code. You are now being asked for the third index file. You can index a file with up to seven indexes. We only have two. 32 {Enter} We tell the computer that's all the indexes by hitting {Enter} with no index file. You will notice in the Information Window that the two indexes are shown. 7.33. DISPLAY ------- R21 We go to the Report menu and choose Display. Notice how you only get one state. That is the default for the Display command. {any key} {Enter}3 {Enter}1 This time we specify All. Notice how the list stops after the page fills up. This is another difference between List and Display. Also notice how our list is ordered by state name. When you have more then one index, the first index you enter becomes the primary index and that is the order the data will be accessed in. 7.34. ORDER ----- {any key}{any key} {any key}A3 We have now moved over to the Arrange menu and picked Order. The computer should be asking us to enter the order number. This is a way to tell the computer to use one of the other index files we have specified as the primary index. 2{Enter}R11 We tell it to make the second index the primary index. We then go back over to the Report menu and List. If you looked real fast you will have noticed that the listing came out in order by postal abbreviation. {any key} 7.35. SPECIAL SEEK KEY ---------------- {F4}... Press {F4} until you have a window at the bottom of the screen with '[Alt U]' in the upper left hand corner. This is a list of special keys you can use to execute some of the commands from any where in the menu with one keystroke. {Alt S} This is one of those special keys you can press any time you are at a menu item. This one does 33 the same thing as the Position Seek command. It should be asking you to enter the key to look up. NY{Enter} Since we have set Order to the second index which is based on the two character postal abbreviation, we can now look up records based on that abbreviation. If you don't have the Record Window on the bottom of the screen, press {F3} until you get it. Did we find the New York record? Try out your state. 7.36. SPECIAL BROWSE KEY ------------------ {Alt Z}1 Another special key. You will of gone into the Browse mode. This one does not allow updating but does allow you to look through your whole database. We will browse through the Browse mode a little latter. {Esc}{F5} Another way to get into the browse mode. This one allows updating. You can tell I think the Browse mode is pretty good. You can get into it four different ways. {Esc}A3 0{Enter}R11 This time we went over to the arrange menu and changed the order to 0. This is telling the computer not to use any index in accessing the database. When the listing comes out it will be in the order that the records are in the database. We keep on coming back and listing or displaying our file. Let me show you a short cut that you can use here and anywhere that repeat the same sequence of characters over and over again. 7.37. MACROS ------ {any key}{F2} Your screen should of gone blank except for the message Enter Macro Key, F2 to End. What we going to do is redefine one of the keys on the keyboard so it will play back a set of keys that we record. What the computer wants right now is which key we want to redefine. {F9} We are going to redefine the {F9} key. You will now get the message, Enter Your Macro, F2 to End. Before we came in here we went through the scenario of what we wanted to do. We wrote 34 those keys down. {Esc}{Esc}{Esc} {Esc}{Esc} R1311 Why the 5 {Esc}s? We may want to invoke this macro from anywhere. The one restriction is you must be at a menu item. Since we could be at a level 4 menu when we invoke it or a level 2, the 5 {Esc}s force us to be at a level 1 menu each time before the rest of the macro is invoked. R gets us to the Report menu. 1 will choose list. 3 will choose Specify which records, 1 will choose All, and 1 will Execute the List command. {F2} {F2} ends the definition of this key. You again get the message Enter Macro Key, F2 to End. We could define another macro at this point if we wanted to. {F2} That is the only one we will define this time. You should be back to the menu item where you called macro from. {F9} If all went well you should of gotten a List of the database. Let's save the handy macro. 7.38. CREATE A MACRO -------------- {any key} C7LIST{Enter} We have named this macro LIST. You can now call it back at any time by using the Name Macro menu. Let's get our MAIL database back again. 7.39. CREATE A RELATION ----------------- N1MAIL{Enter} MAIL{Enter} {Enter} We have used the Name Database to get our MAIL database and our MAIL index. Now let's create a relation between our MAIL database and the STATE database. C2MAIL{Enter} We choose Create Relation. Of course we name our relation MAIL. Now we get a screen with the fields from our MAIL database and we are asked to enter the key expression. What the computer is looking for is what field of data from this database can it use to look up the state in the STATE database. 35 {Up Arrow}S {Enter} This should of selected the field STATE and put it on the bottom line. {Enter} Since this is the full expression we choose it by hitting {Enter}. We are now asked for the related database name. {Up Arrow)S {Enter} This should choose the STATE database. We are now asked for the related index file name. This means, what index for the STATE database can I use to look up the 2 character state code. STATECD{Enter} We choose STATECD. You could use the {Up Arrow} and then move to STATECD and {Enter} to do the same thing. You will now get a screen that describes any relationships in effect. The key field should be STATE, the related database file should be STATE.DBF, the related index file should be STATECD.IDX. Down on the bottom of the screen you should see: Enter number to change, 0 to save, 2 to add a relation. If you wanted to modify a relation you would enter that relations number. You would then be able to change any of the 3 fields. To remove a relation you just put in a blank key field name. Let's add another relation. 2{Enter} Notice we again get our screen with field names. The difference this time is that the fields from the state database are also listed. You can tell which ones are from the state database because they are preceded by 'STATE->'. {Up Arrow}CCC Notice that although code from the STATE database is preceded by the alias 'STATE->', the computer still matches on the field name. {Enter}{Enter} We choose STATE->CODE. This goes down to the bottom line and we pick it as our expression. 3!!_MENU{Enter} 3!!_MENU{Enter} We don't really have another database to relate to but we can use this as an example. Notice the information about our new relationship. Also notice on the bottom line that it now says 3 to add a relation. 0{Enter}E9 We save our relationship and go over to Extra and do a Status. We can see here what files we 36 are using and what relationships are set. {any key} Notice the database in workarea (select area) 9. This is the database that the Help System uses. 7.40. MODIFY A RELATION ----------------- {any key} {any key}M2 {Enter} This time we go to Modify Relation. We choose the relation name MAIL. We now have the screen that shows the relations. 2{Enter} We are going to modify the second relationship. You will have the screen with the field names on it. On the bottom line will be STATE->CODE. {Ctrl Y} Hold the Ctrl key and press Y at the same time. STATE->CODE should disappear from the last line. {Enter} Putting in a blank key expression is how you delete relations. The second relation should be gone from the screen. 7.41. REPORTING RELATED FILES ----------------------- 0{Enter}R121 We save this relationship and go to Report Specify fields. We now have a choice of fields from both database. {Up Arrow} {Enter}{Enter} SSS{Enter}{Esc} We choose FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, STATE->STATE {Enter}1 We get a listing. Notice how the full state name appears. 7.42. COPYING DATABASES ----------------- {any key} A5{Enter} Now we will make a copy of our database. Notice you have the same choices as for list. We have already specified certain fields. The computer is looking for the name of the new database we are going to copy to. MAIL1{Enter} We choose MAIL1. The computer executes the Copy command. Let's save a picture of our environment and go and look at that file. 37 {any key} C4MAIL1{Enter} N1MAIL1{Enter} {Enter}{F9} Remember the {F9} macro. You should have a list of the database. It should look just like our last list from the MAIL database. Let's bring back our picture and try a sort. 7.43. SORT A DATABASE --------------- {any key} N5MAIL1{Enter} A4{Enter} The computer wants to know what field you want to sort on. STATE->STATE {Enter} We are going to sort on the full state name from the related STATE file. We get a message enter A ascending, d Descending. A{Enter} We put in A for ascending. Now it want to know if we want to ignore case. It means do we want to sort on all upper case or do we want to separate by upper and lower case. Y{Enter} We want it all sorted on upper case. Now it is asking us for another sort field. zip{Enter} a{Enter}Y{Enter} We sort on zip within state. Again it is looking for a sort field. {Enter} Now it wants to know the name of the new file. MAILSORT{Enter} And it goes ahead and sorts it. Now lets turn our index off and see what the different position commands do. You will be familiar with some of them because they do the same things as some of the special keys. {any key} 7.44. CHANGING POSITION IN THE DATABASE --------------------------------- A30{Enter} P5 We go over to a\Arrange and set Order to 0. Then we go to Position and choose Top. Make sure the Record Widow is on at the bottom of the screen. If it's not use the {F4} to get it on. Notice 38 that the current record is now number 1. 6 When we pick Bottom the current record becomes equal to the number of records. 72{Enter} When we do a Goto we are asked to Enter the record number. We choose 2. Notice at the bottom we are now at record 2. The Goto command is not affected by indexes. The same thing would of happen if we had an index. It would of gone to record 2. 41{Enter} When we pick skip we are asked to enter the number of records to skip. We skip one so we are now at record 3. 4-2{Enter} You can skip both ways. We asked it to go back two records so we should now be at record number 1. 2 The Locate command is used to find a record that meets a test. You must specify selection rules to use it. It is up to you whether you set any of the other options. 4 We pick Set selection rules. We are asked as before to enter the rules we want. STATE='CT' {Enter} This should find all records with a state of 'CT'. 1 We execute the Locate command. If we don't get an error message it means it has found a record that fits our rules. Notice what record it stopped at. 3 We use the Continue command to find the next record that meets the Locate rules. If it does not find any more that meet the rules you will get a message. Keep on pressing 3 until you get the message that no more records are found. The Browse command under Position does not allow updating. Let's go over to Update to use the browse there. 7.45. BROWSE MODE ----------- U31 Since the last thing that we did positioned us at the end of the database you should be in the 39 Browse mode positioned at the end of the database. {Page Up} You should now be at the top of the database with all your records showing unless you were really ambitious and typed in many records. If so page up until you get to the start of the database. Bill{Ctrl Y} {Enter}Jones {Ctrl Y}{Enter} {Ctrl Y}{Enter} Notice when you do the {Ctrl Y} the rest of the field is erased. In the ADDRESS1 field the whole field is erased. When you hit the {Enter} in the ADDRESS1 field the cursor goes down to the ADDRESS1 field of the next record. Where did the rest of the record go? We have to use panning to get to it. {Ctrl {Right Arrow}} {Ctrl {Right Arrow}} Depending on what will fit on the screen, panning will bring up more fields from the record. You should now have ADDRESS1 and ADDRESS2 on the screen. {Ctrl {Right Arrow}} {Ctrl {Right Arrow}} You should now have all the fields from CITY through CUSTOMER on the screen. The cursor should be on CITY. {End}{End} {End} moves you to the next field. {Up Arrow} This moves you to the same field in the previous record. {Home} This moves you to the previous field. {Ctrl {Left Arrow}} This pans you to the left. {Ctrl {Left Arrow}} {Ctrl {Left Arrow}} {Ctrl {Left Arrow}} {Ctrl {Left Arrow}} Let's pan all the way to the left until FIRST_NAME is on the screen again. {Ctrl {Home}} This pops up a menu at the top of the screen. The first four work exactly the same as the 40 commands in our Position menu. fiNd works the same as Seek. You pick these by typing the capital letter in each command or moving the lite bar and pressing {Enter}. L2{Enter} We have chosen Lock and entered 2 for the number of fields. What this does is lock the current left most 2 fields on the screen so that no matter how you pan they will remain on the screen. {Ctrl {Right Arrow}} {Ctrl {Right Arrow}} {Ctrl {Right Arrow}} Try it out. Notice how FIRST_NAME and LAST_NAME remain on the screen. {Ctrl {Home}}F STATE{Enter} This time when we call up the menu we ask for Freeze and enter STATE for the field. Now the cursor should be in the STATE field and only the state field should be highlighted where before the whole line was highlighted. {Enter} The cursor goes to the next line and remains in the STATE field. That what Freeze does. It freezes the field you can enter data into. This works great when you have a lot of changes to one field in the database. {Esc}321 We go out of Browse and then right back and choose Build a field list and Fields. This is a different field list then you got with the other commands. Notice you only have fields from the master database. You cannot browse through more then one database at a time. {Up Arrow}{Enter} {Enter}{Enter} C{Enter}{Enter} B{Enter} {Esc}{Enter} 310{Enter} We choose the full name, ADDRESS1, CITY, STATE, and BIRTH. Exit the Field Selection Mode, choose Width and enter 10 for the maximum size of browse field. What this means is the largest field will only take up 10 characters on the screen. 1 Now when we Execute Browse we can see more fields. Even if the whole field does not appear we can still update it. 41 Frank{Enter} Frankensteinwiches {Enter} Notice the way the field scrolls to allow you to put in data. Look at the highlighted bar at the bottom of the screen. To the right of the one with Rec in it are two more columns. They are blank except if you have insert on. Then the second from the right has Ins in it. {Ctrl U} Now look at the second column from the right in the highlighted bar on the bottom. It should have 'Del' in it. What we have done is mark this record for deletion. {Ctrl U}{Ctrl U} This keeps on turning deletion on and off. It should now be on. {Esc}31 We used {Esc} to get out of Browse and then came right back in. Notice that the changes we made to the first record did not take. This is a common mistake. If you make changes to a record and {Esc} out before you go to another record, those changes will not be recorded. {Page Down} {Page Down} {Down Arrow} If you go past the end of the file you will be asked 'Add new records?(Y/N)' If you want you can add new records in the Browse Mode N{Esc}3 Just a quick explanation of the other options in the Browse mode. Lock is the same Lock you got when you used the menu within Browse. Follow determines whether the cursor will follow a record when you change part of the index expression. Append determines whether you can append to the database using browse. Modify determines whether you can update during browse. The Browse under Position is set to No modify. 7.46. REPLACE ------- {Esc}4631 This time we choose Replace. Again as in many commands you can specify different options. The field list option has no effect on this command. We clear out the old options and then set records to All. The default if we don't do this is the current record. 1 We Execute the command and it asks us to enter 42 the field to replace. CITY{Enter} Let's move everyone. It now asks for the expression to replace with. Read about expressions in the Help Documentation. Simply it means for here we have to enclose our character strings in quotes. 'Trumbull'{Enter} And it asks for another field. STATE{Enter} "CT"{Enter} It doesn't matter which quote you use as long as you use the same one on both ends. BIRTH{Enter} CTOD('04/22/44') {Enter} We have to convert our character dates to dBASE dates. {Enter} Just {Enter} in response to the field request gets the command to execute. 31{Page Up} Checking it out in the Browse mode. Every one now lives in Trumbull CT and has a birthday of 4/22/44. 7.47. DELETE ------ {Esc}5311 Delete is used to mark records for deletion. It does not actually delete the records from the database. We have specified all records. If you do not specify the default is only the current record. 7.48. PACK ---- 7 Pack is the command that removes all records marked for deletion from the database. You will be told how many records are marked and asked if you want to display them. Y{Enter} We get a display of the records to be deleted. In this case it is all the records. {any key} N{Enter} We are asked if we really want to delete these records. We change our minds and say no. 7.49. RECALL ------ 43 61 Recall removes the delete mark from records. Since we have already specified all it will be done for the whole database. The default just like for Delete is the current record. 7 Now when we do a pack we are told that there were no records marked for deletion. {any key} 7.50. STRUCTURE --------- E8 Structure gives you a description of the current database. 7.51. CHANGING DIRECTORIES -------------------- {any key} 4\{Enter}39 Change directory will allow you to change to another directory and make that the current directory. The only one I'm sure you have is '\' so I have gone there and done a full directory. {any key}{Esc} 4\3!!{Enter} And back to \3!!. 7.52. COPYING FILES ------------- 6 We choose copy. We get a full listing of all the files in \311. {Up Arrow}P Keep on pressing 'P' until PLACE.PIC is highlighted. {Enter} PLACE1.PIC {Enter} We name the new file PLACE1.PIC. We now have two identical files. Rename works the same way except you only end up with one file by the new name. Erase deletes the file you choose. Command mode is the same Command mode as in the opening menu except you cannot execute dBASE type programs from there. You can execute programs that have been compiled with FoxBASE+. Execute DOS is also the same as the one you execute from the main menu. The difference is you will have less memory to work with. If you 44 only have 512K you may not be able to use this command. 7.53. SET --- S Set allows you to set a number of different options. 7 More gives you even more Set options. Read about them in the Help Manual and in your dBASE books. 7.54. MODIFYING PROGRAMS ------------------ {Esc} M7 Modify Program asks you for the name of your program. MAIL{Enter} It will automatically add the extension '.PRG' to the file name. It will also delete any file by that name with the extension of '.FOX' or '.III'. We are put in the file edit mode. This edit mode follows the same rules that were used in editing a memo field. Using {F1} you can toggle a help screen at the top of the page on and off. This help screen will tell you the different editing keys you can use. SET TALK OFF {Ctrl W} This saves our work. {Ctrl {Page Up} would of done the same thing. Modify a file works the same way but it assumes a '.TXT' extension and does not automatically delete any files. Modify Database, Filter, and Label work the same way that the corresponding Create commands did except you start out with data. 7.55. MODIFY FORMAT ------------- 8MAIL{Enter} We are going to create a screen format to use with the Edit and Append commands. To do this we have to use some Dbase commands. The '@ <x location>, <y location> SAY <character string>' will print the character string at the x,y location we specify. The '@ <x location>, <y location> GET <field name>' will allow a place on the screen for inputing information into the database field. Type in the following just as I have it. 45 @ 2,4 SAY 'ENTER FIRST NAME' @ 2,25 GET FIRST_NAME @ 4,4 SAY 'ENTER LAST NAME' @ 4,25 GET LAST_NAME {Ctrl W} This will save our format and bring us back to the menu. {Alt 1} This will bring up the first menu, the Name menu. There is a chance that if you do not have enough memory left that you will have a problem with this. 6MAIL{Enter} We choose the MAIL format file. {Esc} This returns us to the previous menu. {Home}{Alt E} First we use the special key to get to the start of the database. Then we use another special key to invoke the Edit mode. Notice how we now only have the two fields and they are on a formatted screen. {Esc}8{Enter} We go back into the Modify Format. {Page Down}{End} {End}{End} Move to the end of the listing and type in what I have below. @ 6,4 SAY 'ENTER ADDRESS 1' @ 6,25 GET ADDRESS1 @ 8,4 SAY 'ENTER ADDRESS 2' @ 8,25 GET 'ADDRESS2' {Cntrl W} {Alt E} If you have typed just what I put in you will get the following error message: ERROR IN COMMAND Syntax error. @ 8,25 GET 'ADDRESS2' press any key to continue... The problem in this case is that be have quotes around the field name. I wanted you to see what type of error message you would get if you made a mistake in your coding. 46 {any key} 8{Enter} Go down and remove the quotes from around the ADDRESS2 FIELD on the GET command line. then go to the end of the listing and continue with what I have below. @ 10,4 SAY 'ENTER CITY/ST/ZIP' @ 10,25 GET CITY @ 10,48 GET STATE @ 10,53 GET ZIP @ 12,4 SAY 'ENTER PHONE' @ 12,25 GET PHONE PICTURE '999-999-9999' @ 14,4 SAY 'ENTER BIRTHDAY' @ 14,25 GET BIRTH PICTURE '@D' @ 16,4 SAY 'ENTER SALARY' @ 16,25 GET SALARY VALID SALARY > 10000 .AND. SALARY < 100000 @ 18,4 SAY 'IS THIS A CUSTOMER' @ 18,25 GET CUSTOMER A number of comments. After GET PHONE we have PICTURE '999-999-9999'. This means that on input numbers will be expected and the '-' characters will be put in automatically. After GET BIRTH we have PICTURE '@D'. This will format the input screen to accept a date. Lastly after GET SALARY we have VALID SALARY > 10000 .AND. SALARY < 100000. The valid clause allows you to check that input meets specified criteria. There is much more to setting up format files but I will leave this to a good book on dBASE. {Ctrl W} {Alt A} {Alt A} is another special character you can use to execute the append command from anywhere in the menu system. Go ahead and input some more records. Try to put in some salaries below 10,000 or over 100000. {Esc} Well that is the end of our journey together. I say this over and over in each document but one more time will not hurt. Please write and tell us how we could make this tutorial better. The experiences of someone who knew nothing or very little about databases would be very helpful to us. Where did you get lost? What was confusing? Which parts did you find good? Answers to these questions can help us make a better product for you. Thank you. 47 ********************************************************** * * (c) COPYRIGHT 1987 I on I Computer Solutions, Inc. * All Rights Reserved * ********************************************************** dBASE III and dBASE III PLUS are trademarks of Ashton-Tate. FoxBASE+ is a trademark of Fox Software. 48