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1993-03-02
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STARBASE 2 INSTALLATION
For best speed and results it is recommended that this program be
stored in it's own directory on your local hard disk drive. Your config.sys
file should have FILES=30 minimum. This program will work faster in
a 386 or 486 computer at 33MHz or more. If you can swap the entire
program into a RAMDISK it will work even faster yet. Copy all of the
following files to the designated directory.
STARBASE.EXE the main program
STARBASE.DOC this documentation
.DAT all files with this extension contain the episode data
.MEM all files with this extension contain episode
descriptions
.K-- all files with this extension + number are the key
files used to sort and search through data
README.1ST registration and notes
--------------------------------------------------------------------
STARTING THE PROGRAM
Type: STARBASE <Enter>
The program will take a moment to get started as it loads up the
database information. You will notice a message displayed across the
bottom of the screen "Opening <database name> for Single Access".
Then the Title Screen will appear with the name of the program and the
version number. Simply hit <ENTER> to move on.
------------------------------------------------------------------
THE MAIN MENU
Starbase 2 has a similar menu to it's predecessor except there are many
more items to select from. The entire program is menu driven.
We won't go into every menu choice since many of them operate exactly
the same way. As a tutorial, we step through a couple of the choices. A
note should be made here: if you want to "back up" from a choice, simply
hit the <Esc> key; this will either take you to a previous screen or back
one field in a record.
Using the arrow keys will move you up and down through any menu or
table. Try it here.
Now move the highlight to the Episode Title selection. Press <ENTER>.
THE DATA TABLE
You will now find your screen filled with table information. The table
will have a scrolling list of all Episode Titles in alphabetical order.
The highlight bar will be covering the first line in this table. Many of
the tables within the program will be like this one; the only difference
will be how the data is sorted. The other type of table like the one under
Director is a Search Table, but we will get to that later.
Within the top section of the table you will see a field area with a
flashing cursor. This field is a "Locator field". If you know the name of
the episode you are looking for, you can type in the first few letters of
the title here and the table will automatically go to the first match. You
can also search for the title by using the arrow keys to scroll through
the list. Once you have located the episode you are searching for, simply
hit <Enter> to view the episode information.
To enter a NEW EPISODE, hit the <Insert> within the Data Table and
a blank record form will appear for you to fill out.
To delete an existing episode, simply highlight the episode within the
Data Table and hit the <Delete> key. The episode information form will
appear for you to view as a confirmation; if you are sure you want to
delete this information, hit <Enter>, otherwise hit <Esc> to abort.
EPISODE INFORMATION SCREEN
All of the episode information on the screen is pretty much self
explanatory. But I will review a couple of the fields and functions that
may not be so obvious in their meaning.
Episode #/Production Code: These 2 fields are similar. The Episode # is
based on the order in which the episode is aired. For example, "A Matter
of Perspective" was the 62nd episode to ever have been shown. The
Production Code is the number assigned by Paramount Studios and is
usually equivalent to the episode number + 100.
Video Tape #: This is here to allow you to track episodes in your own
personal library. If you have assigned numbers to your video tapes, you
can enter the number here. I have included many episodes with example
numbers from my own library. For example, ST021C indicates the
episode is on tape 21 in the third (C) position on the tape. You are
welcome to adopt this coding system if you like. I generally use BASF
T-130 tapes which allow me to tape 3 episodes per tape (A, B, & C)
without commercials.
First Satellite Uplink Date: This is the date that Paramount uploads the
episode to television networks for the first time. It is generally done via
satellite on the Saturday prior to the station releasing it for public
viewing. If you normally see the show on a Friday night, the uplink will
have taken place the Saturday prior to this day. Some geographic
locations get the episode via satellite the following day (Sunday) during
the second uplink. The episode information should contain the Saturday
date since this is the earliest possible opportunity anybody has of seeing
the episode.
Rating: This is an area for your own personal rating. It is based on a
scale of 0 - 10. If you really like an episode, give it a high rating such as
9 or 10. There are some samples listed from my ratings of episodes. I
never have given an episode a 10 rating, although one has hit 9. This
choice can be edited as can all others.
Planet Visited: As it says; if you can catch the name of the planet they
visited on that particular episode, type it in here. Sometimes they visit
more than one planet; there should be enough room to input 2 planet
names and separate them with a "/" mark.
Alien Races: (encountered) in this episode. I try to only put in different
races or an alien that has its culture emphasized for that episode. Much
of this information is still incomplete.
Key Character(s) Portrayed: is not a searchable field, it is here only as
a matter of reference. If the story line seems to concentrate on one or
two characters, put their first names here.
Directed by: is the name of the Director for that episode.
Episode Description: is a completely contained word-wrap editor where
you can enter the description of the particular episode in your own
words. You can put personal comments here too, as you may notice I
have done in some cases.
Guest Cast: Hit the <F2> key and you will be shown a pop-up table of
the guest stars featured for this episode along with the name of the
character they portrayed. You can hit <Insert> to add a guest, or
<Delete> to remove one. If this is a first time entry, the data entry box
will pop-up and wait for you to input a name. Hit <Esc> to abort.
Episode Writer: Hit the <F3> to display the writers for the episode. The
same rules apply here as with the Guest Cast.
Shift-F7 to Print This Screen: when activated will BUILD the report,
and then ask you if you want to send it to the Printer, Disk File or
Screen. If you select Printer, select the port from the list it provides and
hit enter. A Disk File will ask you for a name of the file you wish to
created to store the information under in ASCII text format (great for
BBS uploads). The Screen selection will display the episode info in
ASCII text format on the screen. Hit <esc> to abort.
PRESS F8 FOR MORE INFORMATION: By hitting the F8 key at any
time, the present information on the screen will be saved and you will
be shown the second Information screen. Try it and see what happens.
The second information screen contains a box at the top with the basic
episode information contained within. The rest of the screen is
comprised of 2 boxes which display "Points of Interest" and episode
"Observed Bloopers". These information boxes are comprised of non-
word-wrap lines of text, they will not move to the next line if you reach
the end with inputting text. You must hit <Enter> to move through each
line or press <F8> to exit the screen. Once out you will be returned to
the Data Table. You may then hit <Insert> to add another episode, or
<Esc> to return to the Main Menu.
SEARCH TABLES
Several of the Menu choices will ask you to first enter some data to
search for. These Menu Choices include Guest Star, Character, Writer,
and Director. The Planets/Aliens Menu choice contain 2 Search Tables
accessible through a sub-menu.
Let us look at Guest Star. Select this from the main menu. As soon as
you go to the empty table screen you will be shown a small pop-up
window. In here you must type a "string" of characters to search for. If
you type in the name John, and then hit <Enter>, the program will
search through the Guest Star Database and locate all those people that
have the word John somewhere in their name. The selection is not case-
sensitive. Try it.
It will list 20 or more findings that match the string "John". Some of
these are as follows:
Alexandra Johnson
One Zero
Georgann Johnson
Admiral Gromek
John Anderson
Kevin Uxbridge
John de Lancie
Q
Leonard John Crofoot
Prototype Lal
These are just a few examples; notice how the word "john" is embedded
into some of these names, yet they are still listed. This is how the
search works. If you want to find a specific actor/actress and you know
their exact name, type in the whole name. If you want to find every
actor/actress who have the letter "z" in their name, type in z. The more
specific you are, the more specific the search will be.
All of the Search Tables work this way. It is great when you turn on the
TV and the show is on and you want to know the name of the episode
or the name of an actor/actress that played a specific part. I like finding
out if the actor/actress has been in more than one episode, and several
have.
REPORTS
There may be times that you wish to generate print-outs of specific
episodes or create text files for uploading to BBS's or importing to word
processors for manipulation. The REPORT generator should handle
most of these functions.
The REPORTS selection from the Main Menu will take you to a sub-
menu which will contain various choices.
If you simply require information to be printed for your own personal
use, you may select the item that fits your needs. These general reports
usually contain personal information such as the Rating number you
assigned to a particular episode and/or the Video Tape # in your library.
The Full List under the EPISODES selections will not include a
description of each episode. Use the other Sub-menu choice under
"Special".
If you elect Single, a pop up will request input. Some selections have
lookup tables (such as Episodes) available through the hot-key <F5>.
You can scroll through the lookup table and hit <Enter> on your choice.
Once you have found your choice, a window will pop-up and Build the
Report. This window will show you the number of pages and lines in the
report. It will then ask you for a destination for the report. The choices
will be Disk File, Printer, and Screen. If you choose Disk File it will
then ask you to input the name of the file. You should specify the
complete path otherwise it will create the file in your current directory.
This file will be in ASCII text code, perfect for importing or using in
uploads to BBS's. Once you have the name of the file inputted, you hit
<Enter> and the display will ask you to hit <Enter> again to Print the
file. This does not mean it will be printed on you printer, it simply
means it will be printed to the file specified. A progress bar will show
you the status of your file creation from 0 to 100%.
If you send the report to a Printer, you will be asked to select a port
from a given list. Once selected, you will be told to hit <Enter> to print
the information. The Progress Bar will display the current status of your
report. Once it reaches 100% your print-out should be coming out of the
printer.
If you send the report data to Screen, the display will change to text
only mode and display the information to you. This is great for alternate
lookups.
The Guest Stars, Single, will ask you for a name as in the Search Table
described earlier.
The Personal Ratings, Partial, will ask you for a number and only give
you a report on that number. So if you want to list all of your favourite
episodes on one page, and you have decided that the best episodes rate
10, then simply input 10 and press <Enter>.
The Video Tape Library will give you a full report of all your episodes
on tape in List form; or you can get a single tape info with a description
of each episode on that tape. Labels is a single line report that will give
a lookup option to find the name of the episode. It is best to use only the
Printer and Disk File destinations here. If Printer is selected as the
destination, it will print the Episode number, Title, and Stardate on one
line. Good for sticky labels. You will have to experiment a little with this
choice.
SPECIAL
This is another sub-menu that is used to create reports for special use
such as importing or creating upload files for BBS's. They do not contain
personal information such as Video tape numbers or Ratings. The same
rules of operation apply here as in the earlier report creations.
Happy inputting!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Star Trek & Star Trek:The Next Generation are registered Trademarks
of Paramount Pictures Corp.
Copyright (C) of all episode titles by Paramount Pictures Corp.
All rights reserved.