Crawly Crypt Collection 1/crawlyvol1.bin/apps/database/zap/zap_card.doc

Text File | 1998-02-12 | 21KB | 529 lines

        Zap_Card v.2T                                        June 18, 1988








                       ZAP_CARD - AN ELEMENTARY CARD FILER

                              by J.Andrzej Wrotniak



        INTRODUCTION

             This  program will allow you to create and manipulate  simple
        card  files,  to  store,  retrieve  and update  various  kinds  of
        information.  Zap_Card is not a full-featured database,  but it is
        adequate  for  many simple tasks,  as e.g.  cataloguing  books  or
        records, or collecting references to literature.

             On the other hand, Zap_Card is, I believe, much easier in use
        than  a regular,  even simple,  database program.  My 11-year  old
        friend is using it (after 15 minutes of explanation) to maintain a
        catalog of his father's compact disk collection. This is a utility
        program, not a way of life.

             Reading  this documentation before using the program  is  not
        really necessary. You may decide to quit reading, run Zap_Card and
        learn it on the go:  the help screens and occasional referring  to
        the documentation should suffice.



        SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

             Zap_Card will run on any Atari ST computer,  in monochrome or
        color  (medium resolution).  It was not tested on a Mega  ST,  but
        there is no reason it should not run on one.



        CONTENTS OF THIS PACKAGE

        The following files are included in the set:

        - ZAP_CARD.PRG - the executable program;

        - ZAP_CARD.RSC - the resource file;

        - ZAP_CARD.DOC - the documentation you are reading now;

        - CLASS_CD.CFI - a small example data file (not encrypted).

        The  resource and data files (not the program itself!)  should  be
        placed  in  the folder \ZAP_CARD\ created in  the  same  directory
        (root or folder) as ZAP_CARD.PRG, e.g.




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        Zap_Card v.2T                                        June 18, 1988


        B:\ZAP_CARD.PRG
        B:\ZAP_CARD\ZAP_CARD.RSC
        B:\ZAP_CARD\*.CFI

        or, if you are using a hard drive:

        E:\MISCPROG\ZAP_CARD.PRG
        E:\MISCPROG\ZAP_CARD\ZAP_CARD.RSC
        E:\MISCPROG\ZAP_CARD\*.CFI



        LEGAL NOTICES

             Zap_Card is a copyrighted program.  However,  the  executable
        files of Zap_Card (versions up to and including 2Z) may be  freely
        used  and distributed for non-commercial purposes - as long as  at
        most a reasonable medium/copying/mailing fee is involved.  If  you
        distribute the program, please pass along also this documentation.

             The above permission includes the rights to post Zap_Card  on
        electronic bulletin board systems or networks and to distribute it
        via  user groups.  This does not,  however,  include  the  vendors
        selling "public domain" disks for $10 and more (which is more than
        the wholesale price of many Atari ST programs).

             The  program  was coded in the OSS Personal  Pascal  v.1  and
        later recompiled using Version 2 of this compiler.  The executable
        code contains library routines copyrighted by OSS and CCD and used
        with their permission. The resource file was produced with the RCS
        from Atari. Guinness supplied the beer.

        Disclaimer:  After using Zap_Card  for more than a year I have all
             reasons  to  believe  that the program is free  of  bugs  and
             glitches. Still, in this age of everybody suing everybody for
             everything,  I  have to state that using  Zap_Card,  you  are
             doing it at your own risk.  I am giving you the rights to use
             this  program,  but  I am not responsible for  any  harm  and
             losses the use (or misuse) of Zap_Card may cause.



        GETTING STARTED: FILES AND PASSWORDS

             You  run  Zap_Card by double-clicking on its  icon  from  the
        desktop  (sorry,   no  "Install  Application"  option  here).  The
        Password  Panel  will show up.

             Pressing  Return  (or clicking on [Done]) will  continue  the
        program  without  a  password.  If  you  choose  a  password  (any
        combination  of  characters,  with  case  significant),  the  file
        created  by  the program will be accessible only  after  the  same
        password is used.

             When you enter a password, it remains fixed for the length of
        the program run;  during that run you will be able only to  create
        new  password-protected files,  access old files created with  the
        same password, and access files created with no password.


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        Zap_Card v.2T                                        June 18, 1988



             After the Password Panel, a file selector will appear, so you
        may  choose an existing card file from the \ZAP_CARD\  folder,  or
        create  a  new one by typing its name in.  Files  created  with  a
        password are denoted with extension CFC,  those without password -
        by CFI.

             And  finally you will find yourself in the Main Panel  (if  a
        new  file is being created - the Header Panel,  but just click  on
        [Continue] to exit it). Here is where the fun begins.



        THE MAIN PANEL

             This is where you will spend most of your time with Zap_Card.
        All basic functions of the program are accessible from  here,  and
        the [Help] button will bring up a screen with a brief  description
        of available options.

             Most  of  the  panel  is  occupied  by  the  card   template,
        consisting of three header lines (smaller box at the top), 10 text
        lines  (larger  box below) and six keyword indicators  (below  the
        text  box).  The  discussion of keywords will be  postponed  until
        later.  The  card template also contains the card number  and  the
        date  of  its creation (or the current date,  if the  template  is
        empty).  Total number of cards in the file is displayed at the top
        left of the panel.

             The  three  header lines may contain  any  information  which
        will be used for sorting and searching of cards,  as e.g.  author,
        title and publisher in case of a book catalog.  The 10 text  lines
        may  contain any other information supplementing the  header,  but
        the  program  does  not make any use of it.  (In case  of  a  book
        catalog you may write there,  for example, a short summary of each
        book).

             The  three  short lines just to the left of  the  header  box
        should contain the header descriptors,  as e.g.  "Author", "Title"
        and "Publisher". To enter the header descriptors, you click on the
        [Headers]  button,  which  will bring you into the  Header  Panel.
        When you have your header descriptors typed in, return to the Main
        Panel  (by clicking on [Continue]) - your card file is  ready  for
        use.



        TYPING IN CARDS; SORTING ORDER

             When you create a new file,  an empty blank will be displayed
        first. You may fill it with the information as you like. To recall
        a  blank  card  when a filled card is  displayed,  just  click  on
        [Blank].

             Filling  cards  with  text  is  pretty  straightforward.  The
        information  is  just typed in,  moving between lines is  done  by
        using the keyboard arrows,  and some degree of editing is possible
        by use of Backspace and Delete keys.


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        Zap_Card v.2T                                        June 18, 1988



             In addition to the normal ASCII characters,  a Control-C  key
        combination  may  be used in the header  lines  (a  right-pointing
        arrow  will  show on screen).  When the program  sorts  the  cards
        alphabetically,  each header line is treated as if it started from
        this arrow, so that Isaac =>Asimov will precede Arthur =>Clarke in
        your  book catalog.  Without the arrows whole lines are  compared.
        Only the first arrow in each header line is significant.

             The  cards in your file will be always alphabetically  sorted
        by their header lines. Sorting is done by comparing the top header
        lines  for all cards;  when those are equal - the middle ones  are
        compared,  and  finally - the bottom ones.  The text lines  (large
        box) are not used for sorting.

        Example:

             Arthur C. Clarke
             The Songs of Distant Earth

             Isaac =>Asimov
             Foundation

             Arthur =>C.Clarke
             Rendez-Vous with Rama

        Yes, this is right. "Arthur" precedes "Asimov" in the alphabetical
        order; we've forgotten the arrow before the first "Clarke"!



        ADDING, REPLACING AND DELETING CARDS

             When  your  card is ready,  it can be added to  the  file  by
        clicking on the [Add] button.  The card will be inserted into  the
        proper  place,  according to the alphabetical order  as  described
        above.

             When  you  are modifying an existing card,  a  choice  exists
        between [Add] and [Replace].  The latter will just modify the card
        in  the file,  while the former will add the modified  one,  still
        retaining the original.

             Clicking  on the [Delete] button will discard  the  currently
        displayed card from the file (a confirmation will be requested).

             Actually,  all these operations are performed on the copy  of
        your card file kept in the computer memory.  They will not  affect
        your  file  on  disk  until it is  overwritten  on  your  explicit
        request.  Thus,  if you make a series of mistakes,  you may always
        exit the program (or re-read the file from the disk using  [Open])
        without  saving the modified file,  and the original  will  remain
        unchanged.







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        Zap_Card v.2T                                        June 18, 1988


        ADDING KEYWORDS TO CARDS

             Quite often you may want to assign one or more keywords to  a
        card.  For  example,  possible keywords in your book  catalog  may
        include MATH,  SCIENCE,  HISTORY,  REFERENCE,  SCI-FI, HORROR etc.
        (type of book),  XVIII,  XIX,  XX (century),  ENGLAND, US, FRANCE,
        GERMANY,  POLAND (country of origin) and other possible attributes
        in  one or more possible categories.

             The keywords could be,  in principle,  just typed in into one
        of the header lines (as only the header lines are used for  search
        operations).  This is not the best solution,  as it would  require
        remembering the exact spelling of each keyword;  the program would
        not know that SCIFI, SCI-FI and SF mean the same thing.

             This  is why in Zap_Card you chose the keywords from  a  pre-
        defined menu.  To get there, click on the [Keywords] button on the
        Main Panel - enter the Keyword Panel.

             The Keyword Panel displays a series of 40 keyword buttons. At
        the  beginning  they are empty.  You may define  new  keywords  by
        clicking  on [Add],  remove existing ones by [Delete]  and  modify
        them  by [Replace].  In each case another dialog box will  appear,
        and  you  have  to  type the keywords  in  there.  To  exit  these
        secondary  (or  tertiary) dialogs,  just click on  [OK]  (or  type
        Return) with nothing typed in.

             The keywords,  as you will notice, are limited to 6 character
        each  because  of  screen  space  limitations.   This  should  be,
        nevertheless,  sufficient for meaningful mnemonics.

             The  keyword  buttons  can  be  selected  or  deselected   by
        clicking.  The  selected  ones become a part of the  current  card
        itself and will appear in the card template of Main Panel.



        BROWSING AND SEARCHING

             The  single  up- and down-arrow buttons will move  us  to  the
        previous or to the next card in our file,  while the double  arrow
        buttons  will  cause  a jump to the first or  to  the  last  card,
        respectively.

             Zap_Card  will  also perform a search for a card  (or  cards)
        selected by given  text strings in the header lines  and/or  given
        combination  of  keywords.  Clicking on [Find] will bring  up  the
        Search Panel with a search card template.

             The  search  template consists of only the header  lines  and
        keywords  - the large text box is irrelevant here,  as the  search
        operation does not make any use of it.

             If  you  type  anything  into a header  line  of  the  search
        template,  then  only  the  cards  with  a  matching  text  (case-
        insensitive)  in  this  line will be selected.




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        Zap_Card v.2T                                        June 18, 1988


             In  our example book catalog,  a template with "mov"  in  the
        first header line will select all books by Asimov (but also all by
        Moviansky,  if you have any there),  and one with "mov" in Line  1
        and  "Found"  in Line 2 - all of Asimov's Foundation  series  (but
        also Moviansky's Lost and Found).

             There is a [Keywords] button here as well, used to set up the
        keywords for search (the Keyword Panel again).  Buttons [AND]  and
        [OR] allow to choose between the two possible ways of looking  for
        the keywords:

        [AND]  - select only the cards containing all the shown keywords;

        [OR]   - select the cards containing any of the shown keywords.

        (This, of course, in addition to the header lines, if any.)

             Clicking on [OK] will return you to the Main Panel and  start
        the  search (always from the beginning of the file) for the  first
        selected card. When already there, [Next] will search for the next
        one from the current position on.



        OPENING AND SAVING FILES

             This is done with the [Open] and [Save] buttons,  as you have
        already  guessed.  An alert box will remind you about saving  your
        file, if necessary.

             Files created without a password (*.CFI) will be always saved
        without  it  and  vice versa.  There is no way  of  protecting  an
        unprotected file or un-protecting a protected one.

             Back-up  files  are  not created  by  the  program;  I  would
        recommend you to perform a manual back-up after each session.



        PRINTING

             Clicking on the [Print] button will bring up the Print Panel.
        From here you may choose the way the printout will be done.

             [This],  [All]  and [Selected] buttons  define,  whether  the
        program will print just the current card,  or all cards,  or cards
        corresponding to the last search ([Find]) template, respectively.

             [Card(s)]  and  [Header(s)]  will  give  you  the  choice  of
        printing  whole cards or just their 3-line headers.  You may  also
        squeeze the printout by setting the "Print Empty Lines" option  to
        [No].

             The last thing to be set here is the printout page length  in
        lines.  For a normal printer setup this is equal to 66 (with a  6-
        line skip-over-perforation region). I found, however, that smaller
        settings,  as  33  or  22  lines,  with 2  or  3  "logical"  pages
        (respectively) fitting into a standard sheet of paper, may be more


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        Zap_Card v.2T                                        June 18, 1988


        satisfactory   -  especially  when  combined   with   horizontally
        condensed printout.

             Your  printer should be,  of course,  set to the  same  value
        (with  the skip-over-perforation equal to not more than  one-tenth
        of  the  page length).  This can be done with  many  of  available
        public domain printer setting programs,  of which my own  AW_PRINT
        is just one.

             I found that the 33-line setting produces nice booklets which
        can be later bound,  while the 22-line setting will print one card
        per  mini-page.  This is suitable for cutting and storing  printed
        cards  in  boxes - and after updating your file you need  only  to
        print out the new cards.



        ACCESS TO THE MENU BAR

             Let  me admit:  I was too lazy to watch for GEM messages  and
        redraw  the Zap_Card screen every time a desktop accessory  messes
        it up.  On the other hand,  sometimes you have to access the  Desk
        menu without leaving the program.

             Thus,  Zap_Card offers a compromise here.  After clicking  on
        the [Menu] button on the Main Panel,  the panel disappears and the
        Desk  menu with accessories becomes available.  When you are  done
        with the accessories of your choice,  click on the entry [Back  to
        Zap_Card...] - and re-enter the program. A primitive - but working
        - solution.



        PROGRAM LIMITATIONS

             Zap_Card will allow files of up to 1024 cards - less on a 520
        ST,  especially with accessories installed. In any case, a warning
        will  appear on the screen and you will not be able to exceed  the
        limit.

             Some  handy  features  are  missing  from  this  program.   A
        possibility to merge data files (or to split a data file into  two
        or more) would be very useful and I am considering including these
        into future releases. Some rudimentary editing of the 10-line text
        area would be nice, too. Maybe some day.



        APPENDIX FOR INQUIRING MINDS: ENCRYPTION SAFETY

             The   encryption  scheme  used  in  Zap_Card   for   password
        protection  is  based on asynchronous combination  of  two  linear
        congruential  pseudorandom  generators  with  initial   parameters
        modified  by the password and file name (therefore do  NOT  rename
        your password-protected files!).

             While  this is a quite primitive and not very elegant  method
        (as compared to Rivest-Shamir-Adleman,  my personal favorite),  it


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        Zap_Card v.2T                                        June 18, 1988


        is  much  simpler  and still quite costly to break  -  even  after
        disassembling the program to get the details and with an access to
        both  encrypted  and un-encrypted text.  Without  the  latter  the
        system  is  safe  from any  practical  attack,  at  least  without
        supercomputers getting much faster than they are now.

             On  the  other hand,  some of the  commercial  programs  (and
        expensive ones,  too) are using some much more vulnerable methods,
        so what the heck.



        PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

             I  hope you will like this program and find some use for  it.
        If this is the case, let me know. All it will cost you is the mail
        stamp and a few minutes to write a short note.

             I  will  also  be  glad to  hear  suggestions  for  (simple!)
        enhancements,  and reports of possible bugs and misbehaviours. One
        day  I  may  decide to rewrite Zap_Card  (using  a  more  powerful
        compiler), so your remarks may come handy. Thanks.

        My (office) address is:

             Dr. J.Andrzej Wrotniak
             S.T.X.
             4400 Forbes Blvd.
             Lanham, MD 20706

        I can be also reached on the CompuServe (70611,2552) and on GEnie.
        Don't be shy, let me know you're out there.




























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