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DATAKEEP.DOC
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1991-04-11
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DATAKEEPER
by Jeff Napier of Another Company
Datakeeper fills a huge niche in the computer world that has
existed for a long time. For business people, scientists,
students, housewives, CEOs homeowners, everyone, there has
always been a need to quickly jot notes into a computer, then
have fast and simple access when the information is needed.
Keeping your appointment schedule in one file, the notes for
the book you are writing in another file, an address in
another, your sister's birthday in another, Fred's phone
number in yet another, and so on does not make any sense.
Yet, until now, that is how it's been done.
This program is is possibly the fastest-to-use,
easiest-to-use, most free-form database in the world! Not
only that, it is specially designed to run on any
IBM-compatible computer. A hard disk makes it run much
faster, but is not necessary. This program is particularly
suited to laptop computers in the field. The student can
enter notes between classes, the salesman can take orders as
the customer speaks, the writer can develop a character or
jot down interesting bits of speech as they occur, the
researcher can take a laptop and Datakeeper to the library,
the cook can locate a recipe while working at the kitchen
counter.
So that you can experiment with this program without having
to enter lots of your own data first, we have provided a fun
database file for you. After you play with it a bit, you can
rename or delete our database file and start your own.
To start the program type DATAKEEP and press [Enter]. The
sample database file we have provided contains interesting
facts and stories about animals. Try finding info about
dogs, clams, dinosaurs, any kind of animal you like. Not
every animal will be in the database, of course, but you are
sure to find some interesting ones with a few tries. To do
it, select FIND INFO from the main menu, then simply type the
name of any animal you want to know about. Later, you can
delete or rename our database, and create your own.
As you'll see, the basic operation of the program is so easy
that instructions won't be necessary. Therefore, this is more
of a hint file for more advanced operation.
As with all software, make a back-up copy and keep the
original safe. Datakeeper writes to the disk, so do not use
a write-protected disk for your working copy.
The program automatically uses a single datafile called
DATABASE, which must be on the same disk in the same
directory as the program. (Actually, you can use any file
located anywhere, but this is the default setting.)
The first choice is FIND INFO. To use it, simply type in the
word or part of a word you would like to use as a key word to
search for.
For instance, if you are looking for horse, type HORSE and
press [Enter]. You can type just enough of the word to make
it unique from other words in the database. You can type HOR
and press [Enter]. But if you also have notes on
HORticulture, you'll get those too.
After Datakeeper finds the first note matching what you are
looking for, you have some choices indicated on the bottom
line of the screen. You can press [Enter] to find the next
matching note. You can press [Esc] to cancel the search. You
can press [D] to delete the last note found. Careful, once
its gone from the database, it's gone! And you can press [C]
which will find all further notes and scroll them past your
eyes without stopping. This is good if you just want to see
how much is there without reading it, or if you know there
are only a few short notes. But how do you then read them -
the ones that scrolled away?
After the search is done, Datakeeper automatically makes a
file called RESULTS. You can use any file reading program or
word processor to read the file called RESULTS.
Specifically, RESULTS is a file consisting only of the notes
matching what you were looking for. If you do another search,
the previous results file is wiped out and a new one created.
Another way to deal with scrolled away notes is to narrow
your search. Look instead for HORSE-DRAWN and you'll only
get notes with the words horse-drawn in them. Note: So far
as Datakeeper can tell, horse-drawn is not the same as horse
drawn. If it was written with a dash, and you look for HORSE
DRAWN without the dash, the note will not be found.
However, Datakeeper is not case sensitive. HORSE, HoRSe,
horse are all the same word.
Dates can be a problem unless you always enter them the same
way. This is important because it makes a neat and simple
scheduler. If you type in your appointments as they develop,
you can then type in the date and get your schedule. For
instance:
On Monday, April 4, you might type:
4-29-92 Get Amy at the airport 2pm.
On Tuesday, April 5, you might type:
4-29-92 Fred here at 8 am to rototill the garden.
On Wednesday, April 6, you might type:
4-29-92 Make sure to order new printer ribbons.
Then, on April 29, You search for 4-29-92 and you get:
4-29-92 Get Amy at the airport 2pm.
4-29-92 Fred here at 8 am to rototill the garden.
4-29-92 Make sure to order new printer ribbons.
And there, without any trouble at all, is your schedule!
What? You want it in order? No trouble, use your word
processor on the file called RESULTS and put these lines in
the proper order.
You can use a little bit of code after you get a feel for how
Datafinder works. For instance, after the phone number of
each member of you volleyball team you can put vvv. Then have
Datafinder search for vvv and you get a neat phone list of
the team.
The second item on the main menu is ADD DATA.
The second choice on the main screen is ADD DATA. Select
this if you want to put new notes into the database. There is
no limit to the number of notes your database can have, and
there is no limit to its overall size, but each note cannot
be more than 16 lines by 68 characters. The ADD DATA option
will not let you exceed this size. If the rare case occurs
where you need more room for your note, divide it in two and
make sure the same key words (which you may want to use to
find the note) appear in each part. You can end your note by
pressing [Enter] or [Esc]. If you press [Enter] the note will
be saved to the database file on disk. If you press [Esc],
the note will be canceled. You cannot have any blank lines in
the note, because blank lines is how Datakeeper keeps track
of the end of one note and the beginning of another. If you
need to simulate a blank line for some reason, a single
character will make it a non-blank line. For instance, if I
-
wanted it to appear that there was a blank line above...
To make a new paragraph, simply press the [space bar]
until you have moved the cursor onto the next line.
These are the only controls besides the backspace key. This
note adding facility is purposely limited to keep the program
simple, small and fast. But there is another way to enter or
edit notes. You can use any word processing program in ASCII
mode to do surgery on the database file. Make sure the lines
are 68 characters or less and that each note is no mare than
16 lines long. Use a blank line between each note, but no
blank lines within notes.
The third choice on the main menu, called OPTIONS, is the
power section for advanced users. Here, you can customize
Datakeeper to your own way of doing business.
Most items in the OPTIONS menu will make sub-menus pop up.
Select EXIT or press the [Esc] key to exit from each
sub-menu to return to the previous level. The options you
have selected from the sub-menus will last as long as the
program is running.
The first option on the list is MAIN FILE. You can select
this item to change the disk, directory and/or file
Datafinder will research. For instance, you might be an
author who is doing a book on the history of the United
States. You're likely to have an awful lot of notes. And,
being the popular author that you are, you also have a lot of
friends' phone numbers and addresses to keep track of. And,
being an author, you don't have enough money for a hard disk,
so your huge database file takes awhile to search from a
floppy disk. If you divide it into two files, Datakeeper
will work faster. In a way, this is counter to the concept
of simplicity around which Datafinder is designed, but there
are times where having several separate database files may be
necessary.
The next option is OUTPUT. Here, you can turn on your
printer to capture your results. You can also change the
file into which results are written. Normally, Datakeeper
makes a new RESULTS file each time it does a search, but you
might like to create a file of a different name, or put it on
a different disk or in a different directory.
Within the OUTPUT menu is also the option of changing the way
Datafinder uses your monitor. Normally, Datafinder pauses
between each found note until you press a key. If you switch
from the default 'PAUSE' to 'CRUISE,' Datafinder will work
much faster when you are finding lots of notes, but you won't
be able to stop the notes on the screen. You'll have to see
the notes on the printer or in the RESULTS file.
The next Option is color. Use this to change the colors, or
the way Datakeeper looks on monochrome monitors.
If you don't like the sound effects, (I find them enjoyable,
but I can see how they might seem annoying to others in a
quiet office) select SOUND and the sounds will automatically
be toggled off. (The menu will then say 'Toggle sound on'
because this is what you would do if you selected SOUND
again.)
It might be too much work to have to reselect your custom
files and color choices every time you start Datafinder.
SAVE is how you keep all you carefully selected options in
effect for every time you use Datakeeper. By selecting this
option, a file is created on the disk called DATAKEEP.CFG.
Whenever you start Datakeeper, if it finds DATAKEEP.CFG, it
will use your chosen options instead of it's defaults.
If you ever do something terrible, such as turn all the text
and backgrounds green so that you can't see anything on the
screen, and then accidentally save the settings to disk,
simply delete DATAKEEP.CFG. Then Datakeeper will return to
it's original colors and file choices.
As supplied, DATAKEEPER comes with a little batch file called
DK.BAT. This is so you don't have to type DATAKEEP every time
you want to start the program. Just type DK and it will
start.
Problems
========
No RESULTS file: Disk is full or write-protected.
Nothing found: What you were looking for was not in the
database you searched. Perhaps the file is missing or the
MAIN FILE option has been changed to another name. Perhaps
you misspelled when writing to the database or when choosing
what to look for.
Screen is hard to see: Change the colors option to something
more suitable for your monitor.
- Jeff -
d.b.a. ANOTHER COMPANY
February 28, 1991
503-846-7884
