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HHSEARCH
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1990-07-11
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8KB
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146 lines
┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ HELP SEARCHING FOR COMPUTER PERIPHERALS │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Important Notes:
1. When you perform a search, the items selected by
your search criteria will be listed in PRICE order,
beginning with the best (lowest) price at the top.
2. Be SURE to see the hints section at the bottom of this
window.
3. You may find information using any part of the
product description. (You cannot, however, search
on the amount of the price.) You can even search on
part of a word, like "Pana" for "Panasonic". Simply
enter into one or all of the text lines (as shown
below) words that will be in the product
descriptions you want to call up.
The search window provides up to 3 sets of text segments you
may use. For example, if you want to see a list of 20mhz
(20 megahertz) computers that have 1mb RAM (1 megabyte or
1024K of volatile memory), you would enter:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓║
║▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ S E A R C H ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓║
║▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓║
╟──────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢
║ ║
║ TEXT 1 > 20mhz░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║
║ ║
║ TEXT 2 > 1mb░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║
║ ║
║ TEXT 3 > _░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║
║ ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Notes: If you had entered nothing and just touched enter at
the TEXT 1 > line, a non-selective listing would
ensue, i.e. everything in the category would list in
order of price (lowest price first). When carefully
scrutinizing options, this isn't a bad idea.
It doesn't matter which you enter first. You could
have just as easily entered 1mb and then 20mhz.
Searches are case insensitive. It doesn't matter
whether you use upper or lower case.
After you touch ENTER in TEXT 1 > the cursor jumps
down to TEXT 2 >, etc. Note that the cursor is now
waiting in TEXT 3 > awaiting further selections. Just
touch enter after your last selection and the search
will begin.
Common sense prevails in choosing text to search
on. The database must assume that it will find a
string of data in the database exactly like you key
it in (except for capitalizing). So, if you're
searching for a KXP4450 Panasonic and get no
matches, it may be in (backwards) as Panasonic
KXP4450. You could:
A. Try again as Panasonic KXP4450 (which works)
B. Enter only 4450 and browse through the resulting
listing to see how it looks in the database or
C. Enter Panasonic on one line and 4450 on another.
Then, regardless what order they come in, you'll
find your machine. This is the example shown
below:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓║
║▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ S E A R C H ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓║
║▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓║
╟──────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢
║ ║
║ TEXT 1 > kxp4450░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║
║ ║
║ TEXT 2 > panasonic░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║
║ ║
║ TEXT 3 > _░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║
║ ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
THE REASON THIS WORKS IS THAT EACH LINE'S DATA
IS TESTED SEPARATELY AGAINST THE DATABASE. If
the data for each line you fill in is found in
the database, that item will be listed.
Be careful about placing spaces between model
prefix and number (like KXP 4450 or KXP-4450).
This will usually frustrate you because the
database typically leaves out punctuation
between model name and number.
════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Editing Features: You may use the left and right arrow keys,
tab key and the backspace key to move around within a
selection modifying or correcting your text. You may even
use the up and down arrows to jump from selection to
selection, say from TEXT 3> back up to TEXT 2> to correct an
error. However, this requires that you move back down to
the last selection box (TEXT 3 >) when you finally hit enter
to let the system know that you're really through modifying
the data and to begin the search.
The editor also has an insert and writeover mode. The
default is writeover which means that if you use the left
arrow key to move left and then enter a letter, that new
letter will be written over the previous character there.
Touch the INSert key and the bottom line will inform you that
you are in insert mode. Now when you enter a letter, any
text to the right of it is moved to the right. To turn
insert off again, just touch the INS key again to toggle it
back off.
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ H I N T S ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
GENERAL HINTS:
If you are seriously looking for the best configuration for
you, don't make your searches too restrictive. It's better
to make restrictions minimal (which means more items will be
listed) and spend some time paging through them. FREQUENTLY
you can find, for example, a VGA monitor and VGA video card
for much less by buying them separately from different
vendors. So if you search for and look at only combinations
(example:monitor AND card together) you could miss a good
buy.
The alternative consideration is handling and freight. If,
for example, you find a them separately for only $20 less
than they are available for together, the two separate
freight and C.O.D. charges will probably make that small
additional cost of buying them together a good investment.
Touch ESCape to exit or PgUp to review.