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Collect! VGA GRAPHICS Version 2.0
Intelligent Collection Management
Copyright (c) 1992 by G.L. Alston
U S E R G U I D E
Alston Software Labs
(209) 522-8666
Modesto, California
Collect! User Manual Page 1
┌──────────────┐
│ REQUIREMENTS │
└──────────────┘
Hardware:
This program requires a VGA monitor, 512K (of 640k total) FREE
RAM memory, an 80286 or better processor, and a mouse or track-
ball pointing device. Do not run this program if you don't have
the required hardware.
Software:
None.
Recommended:
Make sure any DOS TSR ( pop up background ) programs you are
using leave at least 512K free RAM. If you have DOS 5.0, use
DOS MEM.EXE to determine your amount of free RAM.
Also recommended is a printer.
┌──────────────┐
│ QUICKSTART │
└──────────────┘
INSTALLATION:
Put the distribution floppy in an appropriate drive, such as
A: or B:
Type:
INSTALL [d:] [space] [\] [directory]
For example, if you want to install to the Collect! directory on
drive E:, type:
INSTALL e: \collect!
(Remember to put the space in between the colon and the
backslash.)
The install batch program will then copy all of the appropriate
files over to the destination drive \directory and prompt you on
how to get Collect! running.
Collect! User Manual Page 2
OPERATION:
To start, type "Collect!" at the DOS prompt. The program will
load. Press a key to get by the Alston Software Labs logo.
1. Choose "F" for FILE and then choose "O" for OPEN.
Press 'Enter' to load in the default sample data file.
2. Press "V" and use the arrow keys to scroll through
the records. Press "Esc" to bring you back to the
main menu.
3. To quit Collect!, press "F" to pop up the file
window, and "Q" to quit.
4. To print this manual -- at the DOS prompt, type:
type collect!.txt > lpt1
including the word "type." This will use DOS to
redirect the screen output to the printer.
Collect! User Manual Page 3
┌────────────────┐
│ INTRODUCTION │
└────────────────┘
Collect! is an Intelligent Collection Management tool that is
cleverly disguised as a specialty database. It's primary purpose
is to aid people in cataloguing what they have accumulated over
the years and help with insurance planning, estate planning, and
yes, planning what items to buy to augment a collection. It is
likewise intended for small businesses to aid in inventory
management; especially collectibles dealers of items like base-
ball cards, antiques, comic books, video and audio tape, records,
fine arts, books and magazines. The list of collection types
Collect! can work with is practically endless, since it is USER
PROGRAMMABLE. It will also serve to keep track of household in-
ventory, maintain reasonable sized software libraries, and even
can be used for phone lists.
More than just a computerised record keeper, Collect! allows
intensive analyses to be made of the contents of any given coll-
ection. Coupled with advanced data manipulation techniques is
the ease of use normally associated with Windows programs.
Collect! is also user programmable. Need a toy trains database?
No problem. Do you collect something a little out of the ordin-
ary? Again, no problem. Part of what sets Collect! apart from
other seemingly similar products is the ability to search. While
other programs offer search capabilities, few (if any) offer the
range of possibilities Collect! does. Even if they did, Collect!
does its' searching lightning fast: try 300 milliseconds. Yes,
you heard right -- a Collect! search takes slightly less than a
third of a second. This allows some pretty snappy access to data.
Collect! offers unique features that make this collector's data-
base faster and easier to use than any other product:
* Pick Lists
* Works in RAM memory, not the disk
* All data on one screen
* User Programmability
* Mouse Support
* Financial data
* Printing Options
* File manipulation
* VGA 3d Graphics Presentation with
pushable pushbuttons
The combination of features make Collect! far more than what you
find in other collector's type programs. The ability to analyse
and manipulate data make Collect! an Intelligent Collection
Management tool rather than a record keeper.
Collect! User Manual Page 4
****************************************************************
Here's an example:
Bonnie collects antique items. She really has no idea what her
collection is worth. Her special passion is a box full of old
victorian ladies purses. Now that she has Collect!, Bonnie has
been entering her collection data, and looking up some recent
sale values in collector books. Using Collect!, Bonnie discovers
that the $4000 she's spent in the last eight years is now worth
about $6800 !!! If nothing more, she can at least give reliable
information to her insurance agent. She has also created another
database template for her son's more expensive Baseball and Hoc-
key cards from his collection. She's amazed to discover that
her son has about $650 worth of cards that he traded for. ( Good
eye, no? He ought to consider a business of his own!)
Now Bonnie turns her attention to her purses. How does she find
out about ONLY the purses? With Collect!, it's simple: she does
a simple search of PURSES in her antiques file, and copies the
FOUND data (i.e. her purses) into another file. She now can open
this file alone and see data representing only purses. Using the
graphing capability of Collect!, Bonnie sees that a group of
purses she bought 2 years ago has appreciated in value far more
than the others in her collection. Searching this file by DATE
OF PURCHASE shows a similarity in her high appreciation purses.
She then uses this information to cross-reference to a purse
collector book to verify. Want to bet what sort of purse Bonnie
will be looking out for on her next buy?
****************************************************************
Is this an unrealistic scenario? No, it's not, and it is played
out quite frequently. One of the most common similarities of all
collectors is that they have a limited or misguided idea about
what their collection is worth. Are we saying that you should
take a hard-nosed approach and look only at the financial asp-
ects? Of course not. People collect what they LIKE. But, for
your own protection, you ought to know how much you have tied up
in your collections, and where the money is at. Collect! will
help with getting your insurance coverage done correctly, keep a
record of what you buy and HOW you buy it, and assist you in
planning what items to get to augment a collection.
Collect! can therefore be used in a variety of ways, ranging
from a simple record keeper to an investments aid.
To get you up and moving with Collect!, we'll discuss some of
the concepts used by the program to help with organising and
analysing data: databases and spreadsheets.
Collect! User Manual Page 5
┌───────────────────────────────────┐
│ ABOUT DATABASES and SPREADSHEETS │
└───────────────────────────────────┘
A database uses the concept that information will always follow
a given format. This format breaks down the individual pieces
of information into blocks called "fields." Each group of FIELDS
is called a "Record." As a 'for instance', take the case of a
mailing list:
Name
Street
City
Zip
Phone
The above constitutes a RECORD. Each line of information is a
FIELD. In the case of a mailing list, the database uses the same
format for each and every RECORD, although the information in
each FIELD will change depending on the RECORD viewed. A Rolodex
(tm) is a database.
Collect!'s information is likewise broken down into the same
type of format. Take a look at a supplied example:
RECORD EXAMPLE: (Movies Database)
Title : <---- 1 FIELD
Starring :
Running Time :
Movie Type :
Director : BASIC DATA:
Year Made :
Condition : File Value :
Year Purchased: Paid out :
Purchase Price: Pctg of File :
Current Value: Pctg Change :
Studio : Amt of Change :
Film Number :
Any Comments :
Collect! User Manual Page 6
In this case we have organised the fields such that taken to-
gether, they describe ONE movie. Each individual movie uses one
RECORD of information. In Collect!, these fields are program-
mable by you such that you can name these anything you require.
Here's another supplied example (on the distribution disk):
RECORD EXAMPLE: (Stamps Database)
Country Origin
Denomination
Year Issued
Color
Vert Perf BASIC DATA:
Horiz Perf
Condition File Value :
Year Purchased Paid Out :
Purchase Price Pctg of File :
Current Value Pctg Change :
Scott Cat. Nr. Amt of Change :
Scott Wmk. Nr.
Depiction
As you can see, we have named all of the FIELD names to reflect
the needs of collecting Stamps, rather than Movies. But what
about the BASIC DATA on the right? These names didn't change.
This is the part of Collect! that is like a SPREADSHEET. For
those of you who don't know, a spreadsheet uses the concept of a
two - dimensional (X/Y) grid:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A 50000 SALARY
B 40000 TAX
C
D
E 10000 (A3 - B3) PAY
Collect! User Manual Page 7
The way it works is this: each coordinate, such as A1, D4, etc.,
is referred to as a cell. Each cell can have data, or more imp-
ortantly, a FORMULA. For instance, A3 may contain your SALARY.
B3 may contain your TAXES. E3 could contain a FORMULA such as
(A3 - B3) to indicate your BRING HOME PAY. Then again, maybe you
really DON'T want to know these things...
In Collect!'s case, the data under BASIC DATA is like that of a
spreadsheet: it is generated by the program, and is based on a
series of formulas.
FILE VALUE -- The total value of items in this data file
PAID OUT -- How much you paid for items in this data file
PCTG of FILE -- The relationship between the value of THIS
item (that which is in the record shown on the
screen) and the entire file
PCTG CHANGE -- How much the value changed (of this item)
relative to how much was paid
AMT of CHANGE -- The DELTA ( value minus price)
More importantly, this is data you can SEARCH for with Collect!
to modify your search patterns. This data, since it will change
from record to record, is DYNAMIC. Dynamic data can be very use-
ful in searching: say, for instance, that as part of your search
you need to see items that increased in value by $40.00 since
you originally bought the item. This search pattern would then
include the AMT OF CHANGE dynamic data field.
The dynamic 'spreadsheet' data is also used in presenting easily
understood displays such as the QUICK GUAGES, which graphically
shows how any given item relates to the other items in your data
file.
To summarize, Collect! is a hybrid program -- part database, and
part spreadsheet. The database qualities help you keep organised
records, whereas the spreadsheet qualities help you get a good
financial understanding of your collected items.
Collect! User Manual Page 8
┌──────────────────┐
│ RUNNING COLLECT! │
└──────────────────┘
"Easy to use" has been the single most important quote we've
seen in various reviews since Collect!'s introduction in August
1991. We realize that you would rather work with your collection,
not 'learning' a program. The ease of use stems from a combin-
ation of organisation and visual clues. For instance, Collect!
keeps all of your data in ONE screen area and uses windows on
top of it. The most extensive of menu items drops down by 2 win-
dow levels, and the display has been designed so that you know
instantly where you are at. Part of the visual clues is the use
of pushbuttons and icons. Collect!'s pushbuttons are Three dim -
ensional -- i.e. when you engage a function related to this but-
ton, it looks like it is pushed in. The main menu, for instance,
is a series of 5 buttons across the top of the screen. A single
glance will tell you what menu item you've accessed since it
will have a pushed-in button.
Icons help simplify things as well. For instance, if you want to
copy a data record into another record, you use the clipboard
tool. While this is not an innovation in and of itself, Collect!
will not require you to remember something like "Press Alt-F6 to
copy this record." Instead, we have a small picture of a clip-
board on the screen. All that needs to be done is to use the
mouse to point and click at the clipboard. Pretty Simple.
Organisation is also important. For instance, we allow you to
scroll records in the database by using a pushbutton oriented
scroll bar. This allows you instant access to data: using the
mouse, you DRAG the scroll button to where you want it to be.
This corresponds to a certain position within the data file.
GENERAL:
The main system menu appears horizontally as a series of push-
buttons at the screen top. Pressing the RED HIGHLIGHTED letter
key or clicking with the mouse will 'activate' the selected item.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Clicking: │
│ │
│ The term "click", which is used liberally throughout this guide,│
│ means to momentarily depress the LEFT mouse button while the arrow │
│ cursor points at an item. │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Collect! User Manual Page 9
When this happens, the pushbutton will push in, and in all cases
but VIEW/EDIT, a menu will appear. Note the small box with a
spacebar Icon in the upper left corner of menu windows. This is
the CLOSE button, which will CLOSE the menu and POP UP the
pushed-in pushbutton.
The main screen is divided into logical areas: the database type
information (field names) are in the large depressed area at the
screen left. Database data fits on the notepad. Spreadsheet type
data names are to the right of the notepad, in a smaller dep-
ressed area while the spreadsheet data is on the yellow Legal
Pad. The main menu is at the screen top as a series of pushbut-
tons. The scroll bar (database data scroller) is at the extreme
right of the screen.
MAIN MENU:
The Main Menu pushbuttons are very much like the pushbuttons
in a Car radio -- only one can be pushed in at a time. Therefore,
if one of these is pressed in, you can click the other buttons
but the clicks will be ignored until the depressed button is
released.
File View Search Print Utilities
- - - - -
All menu items within a pop up menu are accessed either by pres-
sing the highlighted letter key (shown here as underlined) or by
moving the highlight bar with the ARROW (cursor) keys and pres-
sing ENTER. To PRINT something, for instance, pressing either
"P" or highlighting 'PRINT' will bring up the PRINT pop up menu.
Of course, you can always click the text.
Once a window has been popped up, you can get back to the main
menu by pressing the "Esc" (Escape) key or by clicking the upper
left corner CLOSE BUTTON. You will see Some DIALOG windows per-
iodically; these usually have an "OK" pushbutton. You must
either click the button, or press ENTER or ESCAPE to EXIT. The
ESCAPE key always takes on the meaning EXIT.
Collect! User Manual Page 10
┌───────────────────┐
│ ON LINE HELP ! │
└───────────────────┘
At most points in the program, pressing the "?" key or clicking
the pushbutton will bring up a context sensitive HELP popup win-
dow. Press the ESCAPE key or click the close button to exit the
window. The HELP is available in all sub-menus as well. The On-
Line HELP should not be used exclusively in place of this manual.
HELP is available at all menus and screen changes, and can be
customized. Each of the HELP subjects is contained in a disk
file which is distinguished by using a DOS extension of .HLP;
likewise the HELP window shows you the filename that is current-
ly accessed. You may reword or rewrite these files using an
ASCII text editor (no special formatting characters, such as in
a word processor, can be used.) Just follow the existing format:
58 characters x 60 lines in each file. In this way, HELP can be
customized for your (or your employees) special needs. If you're
new to computers and have Windows 3.x, the NOTEPAD text editor
in the ACCESSORIES group is perfect for this job. Remember to
tell it to look for *.HLP files in the directory with Collect!,
Otherwise, if you have DOS 5.0, you can use the QBasic-based ed-
itor provided with DOS.
When in HELP, clicking the arrow buttons will move by 4 lines
( the display maximum ) at a time. Pressing the arrow ( Cursor )
keyboard keys scrolls the display one line at a time.
Collect! User Manual Page 11
┌───────────────────┐
│ MENU SELECTIONS │
└───────────────────┘
** = main menu selections
** FILE:
used to access, save, and create disk based
data files; enter DOS; and Quit the program.
THE "FILE" MENU:
OPEN
A window showing a default data file and drive PATH is shown.
The default data file is the FIRST one Collect! finds in the
current PATH. (Please consult your DOS manual for information
about PATHS. Essentially, the PATH shows you where Collect!
files are at.) At the window bottom are some disk drive icons
and the path information. You may click a drive icon if data
files are located in a different disk drive than the program.
In this manner, you can keep all of your data on floppy disk,
for instance, and keep Collect! on your hard drive. To access
the data files on your floppy, put the disk into the A: or B:
drive and click the drive icon. Collect! neither knows nor
cares what sort of floppy drive the A: or B: drive is; it
only knows that it is a floppy drive. Therefore, you may keep
your file data on any size floppy disk your system will han-
dle. The hard drive icon will not appear if you do not have a
hard disk.
Note that the default data file appears in a box with a DOWN
arrow next to it. If the box does not display a default file-
name, there may be either something wrong with the drive
(maybe the door is not closed, or the disk is not in all the
way) or the disk does not REALLY have data files on it. If
you do click the "A:" drive icon, for instance, Collect! will
remember what drive is the one for data files. When you SAVE
an OPENed Data File, Collect! does not ask you to save WHERE;
it will attempt to save to the DATA drive.
To choose a file other than the default data file, click the
DOWN arrow (or press the DOWN cursor key) to pop down a list
of filenames in a LIST BOX. This list can be manipluated by
keyboard or mouse. Click OK or press ENTER when the desired
filename is highlighted. You can also DOUBLECLICK the file-
name: click once to highlight, and again to select. The LIST
BOX will disappear and the selected filename will appear in
the filename box. If this is the file you want to access,
click the OK button or press the ENTER key.
Collect! User Manual Page 12
If you attempt to OPEN a file and an EDITed file (already
OPENed) is in memory, you will be asked to SAVE the older
Data file before proceeding.
If you change your mind, and do not wish to REALLY OPEN a
Data File, press ESCAPE or click the close button of the OPEN
FILE window.
NEW (CREATE)
This starts a new database file. You will need enter the name
you wish to call it, such as "dolls", etc. This action will
erase the current file in memory. The new name will be tested
to see if it is the same as an existing filename. If it is,
Collect! will have you re-enter the name as it will NOT let
you overwrite existing files. ( Even if you really DO know
what you are doing!) Collect! will also not accept an attempt
by you to put in a DOS extension. Collect! Data Files have
their own unique extension. If you have edited any file you
have OPENed, Collect! will give a warning that you need to
SAVE the current file before starting a NEW one.
You are next presented with a list of collection types to
choose from in a List Box. ( This List Box works the same way
as the one you choose a data file with.) This is necessary to
do as Collect! wants to know what sort of collection type you
wish to enter data for. You've already seen two examples (see
About Databases and Spreadsheets, pp. 5-7 ) that show how
different the data fields can be set up for a given type of
collection. Collect! keys each data file with a collection
type.
SAVE
After you edit your database, use this to put the new data
back on the disk.
SAVE AS
This function helps you to save a Data File under a different
name than it was OPENed under. ( You may wish to sometimes
edit a data file, save the original AND the edited version.)
You will need to type in a data file name. You can make one
up; Collect! will not allow you to overwrite existing Data
Files. It will also disallow the addition of a DOS extension,
as it appends its' own extension to be able to automatically
find the Data Files later. As described previously, the Data
file will be saved to the disk chosen for Data files.
Collect! User Manual Page 13
QUIT / EXIT
Allows you to quit Collect! and return to DOS. Make sure you
SAVE any changes you made to a database file before you quit.
Collect! will not let you quit UNTIL a data file that has
been edited has been saved. If you really do not want to save
the edited file, simply choose SAVE AS and enter a name to
save under (such as "garbage") to make Collect! happy; then,
when you go back to DOS ( i.e. the program is over ) simply
delete the file:
C:\COLLECT > del garbage.*
This particular item is a feature designed to keep novice
users from doing a long edit session and simply quitting
without any data save whatsoever. This is especially useful
if you own a small collectibles business, for instance, and
an employee is updating the inventory files for you (maybe an
item sold. ) This is insurance to make sure SOMETHING gets
saved.
ABOUT
This window shows the revision information, the copyright,
and how to get hold of Alston Software Labs (or the publisher
in countries other than the U.S.A. and Canada.)
** SEARCH:
used to search for records that either match or
fall within a given pattern set or parameters.
In the search window, a list of the data fields is presented.
Also, there are financial data fields. Use the Up and Down arrow
keys to move the highlighted selector to the field to search in.
The highlighted (current) selection will appear in BLUE text.
Press the ENTER key to activate when you have scrolled to the
desired entry. Of course, you may also click the text of the
field name. At this time, the CRITERIA window pops up:
= Match
< Less Than
> Greater Than
- Range
Collect! User Manual Page 14
You can again use the Up / Down (cursor) keys to choose the type
of search to be made in the field you selected rather than use
the mouse. Press ENTER or click to activate. Note that alphanum-
eric (text) fields are searched as MATCH only. Standard numeric
fields can be searched in any method. Common Data fields (#4 and
#7) are MATCH only. After entry of your search criteria, the
window pops away and you can then select any other remaining
(unused) data field to search in. Search of any CRITERIA through
all possible records takes a few milliseconds, NEVER more than
1/2 second. (As soon as you have entered your SEARCH FOR data,
it is ready to continue.)
This process can continue on ALL fields until ESCAPE is pressed,
OR until the search has narrowed the FOUND records to less than
three records. As each search criteria gets entered, you will
see a note by the appropriate item in the SEARCH window.
You can also stop the search progress by closing the search win-
dow.
In the bottom of the search window is a display that shows the
current number of records left to search in:
LEFT: XX of YY
( Where XX is the number of VALID records left to search in of
the total number of records in the data file, represented by YY)
After the search is done, the search window will pop away, leav-
ing the main screen. At the screen bottom, an EXIT button and a
line of text appears:
Use arrow keys to scroll through XX records.
(Where XX is the number of matching records.)
The first matching record (if any) is displayed. If there were
none, the first record in the file is displayed.
The up and down cursor keys will cycle through all of the FOUND
records; you also can click the up and down arrow buttons on the
scroll bar at the right side of the screen.
To exit the search function, press the ESCAPE key, or click the
EXIT button. The currently shown record will stay on screen.
Note that the Search 'found' records can be operated on in other
ways - they can be printed out (See PRINT) or moved or copied
into other files (see UTILITIES). Once you have done a search,
Collect! will remember the results. If you wanted to list your
FOUND items on paper, for instance, you would go to the PRINT
menu and select PRINT LAST SEARCH.
Collect! User Manual Page 15
** VIEW:
used to VIEW and EDIT the database file.
On the right side of the screen (at the border) is a scroll bar.
This is a visual aid to help determine how far you are in the
file:
<----- Top (end)
│
│
Scroll Bar Marker ------> █ <----- Current Position
│
│
│
│
<----- Bottom (1st record)
Near the bottom of the screen, a series of buttons will appear.
Each has a highlighted letter for those of you who prefer the
keyboard. Also there is a Clipboard Icon to the left.
To Scroll through the records, click the UP and DOWN arrows on
either end of the scroll bar. You can also use the keyboard ar-
row keys to scroll.
Up / Down ARROW keys to
cycle through file.
"F" to access the
FIRST record.
"L" to access the
LAST record.
"D" to DELETE the
current record.
"E" to EDIT.
As you scroll through entries, the scroll bar marker will move
up and down (corresponding to a records' position within your
data file) to give a quick visual indicator of your position in
the file. The scroll bar can also be manipulated as well: The
button can be dragged to a new position. To drag, click the
scroll button and move the mouse up and down WHILE HOLDING THE
LEFT BUTTON DOWN. Also, clicking the areas between the scroll
button and the arrow buttons will cause the records to PAGE, I.E.
10% of the file size. Of course, to increment a file by 10%
you'll need to have at least 10 records in the file... The supp-
lied Example Data File, ANTIQUES, has 10 records to demonstrate
this feature.
Collect! User Manual Page 16
EDITING A RECORD:
When you get to a record you wish to Edit, click the EDIT button
near the screen bottom (or press "E"). The up and down keys are
used to cycle through the data fields in each record. To make a
change, cycle through the record to the desired data field. The
selected Data will appear in RED video. Of course, you can get
there much faster by simply clicking the desired data. Start ty-
ping in the revised information and press the ENTER key. If you
access Pick List fields (4th and 7th from the top), a separate
window will pop up containing a List Box with valid entries to
choose from. Click the EXIT button (or press "X") once to return
to VIEW mode.
USING THE CLIPBOARD:
The Clipboard can be use to copy the entire contents of any rec-
ord over to any other record. This may save time when updating
your Data file and you have an item to enter that is similar to
one of the current entries. The default clipboard entry is al-
ways record #1 when OPENing a file. To access the clipboard,
click the clipboard icon or press the 'C' key. The record curr-
ently held in the clipboard is shown.
To copy the record on the notepad into the clipboard, click the
'IN' button ( or press 'I' ). The record seen on screen at that
point will be copied into the clipboard. This copy action does
not do anything to the record on the notepad you are copying.
Therefore, to copy the contents of ANY record to the clipboard,
navigate through to the record desired and copy it into the clip-
board as described. To PASTE the clipboard's contents into a Data
record, click the clipboard ( to access it ) and click the 'OUT'
button (or press 'O'). Whatever is held in the clipboard will be
copied into the record number you are at.
EXAMPLE: Add A Telescope to the Sample Antiques file --
OPEN the antiques sample data file. Choose View/Edit, and scroll
to the record that describes a Telescope. Click the clipboard
and choose 'IN'. Scroll the records to the EMPTY record (#11),
choose the clipboard again, and this time choose 'OUT'. The con-
tents will now copy into record 11.
Note that you can also access the Clipboard using the keyboard.
If you look at it, you'll see a 'C' written on the pad of paper
in the board. Just press the 'C' key to access.
Collect! User Manual Page 17
┌─────────────────┐
│ COMMON DATA │
└─────────────────┘
When a common data field is accessed, a window will pop up and
prompt you for entry. This window will contain a Pick List; it
is operated as described in OPENing a Data File. (pg 11) One of
these fields is CONDITION, and the other is the 4th field.
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ Poor │
│ Fair │
│ Good │
│ Very Good │
│ Excellent │
│ │
│ [ OK ] │
└───────────────────────────┘
However, looking at the CONDITION field on screen (in your data-
base record), you will see an alpha entry, such as "Excellent."
One of the problems we've seen in most databases has two
symptoms, but it's the same problem:
* Commonly typed data gets misspelled. Searches
tend to suffer.
* People tend to abbreviate a lot. This winds
up being confusing for others. Was "P" POOR
or PREMIUM ?
What Collect! does to bypass some of the abbreviation clutter is
to use Pick List information on fields likely to contain Common
Data. For instance, there is at least ONE distinguishing charac-
teristic that sets any given item in your collection apart from
any other. We use FIELD # 4 for this Pick List. The Pick List
should contain and describe features about an item that would be
otherwise tedious to spell out, time and time again. For example
the Antiques data file ( and collection type template ) uses the
term PERIOD / STYLE for the Pick List. Why? Well, ALL antique
items are usually designated by period. Each period has disting-
uishing characteristics that show up in the styling and is often
used to help date a piece. Look in any antiques type book and
you'll see descriptions like: "A very nice EDWARDIAN (period!)
Ladies dresser, with...."
Collect! User Manual Page 18
Another VERY common pick list item is CONDITION. Collect! uses
the Condition Pick List rather than having you type POOR or GOOD
or whatever in umpteen records. It's far easier and faster to
simply click a pre-prepared list. This reduces abbreviation to a
minimum, thus making your data record FAR more readable. Also,
SEARCHing for data is now a snap. The most common descriptor
will be on the Pick List, and YOU CANNOT GET IT WRONG. Searching
with misspellings is no picnic.
QUICK GUAGES:
By clicking somewhere on the Yellow 'Legal Pad' you will bring
up the QUICK GUAGES window. These guages are used to give you an
idea of how this (current) particular item stacks up financially
against the other items in the Data File.
** PRINT:
Printing out data from Collect! Print will use any
printer at LPT1. (Parallel Printer Port 1)
Collect! printing will "page" the data (it assumes
a continuous sheet type printer, such as a dot matrix
with a tractor feed or LASER with a paper tray) so
that the page breaks will be skipped.
PRINT ALL
Prints the entire Data File in memory, starting at the first
record and printing in order to the last.
PRINT LAST SEARCH
Prints all records (in order) from last search. If no search
was ever performed, it prints NO records.
PRINT CURRENT ENTRY
Prints the record currently on screen.
FORMATTING
Allows you to format your page display. This will pop up format
window: there are three choices for output style, a check box
for toggling field name masking, and a lines / page adjustment.
Collect! User Manual Page 19
The OUTPUT STYLE selections are as follows: VERTICAL, HORIZONTAL,
and TWO COLUMN. Vertical format prints along the page on the
left side, one item per line, and skipping 2 lines between rec-
ords. Horizontal format puts as much information as possible on
a line, and one line is skipped between records. Two column for-
mat puts records side by side ( similar to Vertical format ) up
and down on the page. To activate any particular output style,
click the corresponding check box beneath the style you want.
Any STYLE selected previously is now de-selected.
The FIELD NAME MASKING check box, when checked, will NOT print
the names of the data fields. For instance, in the supplied
ANTIQUES collection type template, the first field is "Item type."
One of the example records is a Settee.
Printing with FIELD NAME MASKING OFF:
Item Type : Settee
Printing with FIELD NAME MASKING ON:
Settee
The LINES / PAGE adjustment will allow you to preset the number
of lines - per - page on a printout. This number is adjusted by
clicking the UP / DOWN arrows and will adjust from 10 - 96. This
feature should be used when using Laser, Desk Jet, Bubble Jet,
and other printers that commonly use a 60 lines per page print
format. Tractor feed dot-matrix printers typically are set to 66
lines / page (standard US 8.5" x 11" paper). The default is 66
lines per page. The lines / page option uses FORMFEED to advance
the paper to the next page.
NOTE that the print formatting options, when set by you, will
stay as set during the course of program use. They will revert
to the default states when you exit Collect!
MASK CONDITION [ ON | OFF ]
Toggles MASKING on and off. Masked fields are those that WILL
NOT PRINT AT ALL when toggled ON. Each time you select this, it
toggles states; i.e. if it was set to ON, the next time it is
selected it will set itself to OFF.
SET UP MASK
Masked fields (those that will NOT be printed -- see above) will
show up in grey lettering, and the corresponding check box will
show up with an "X" in it. To Mask a data field, click the check
box. Subsequent clicks of the check box will TOGGLE the state of
the masking ON and OFF. When you print any records using a mask,
the GREY (or checked) fields and the corresponding Data will not
be printed. Close the window in the usual manner and the mask
data will be saved to the disk.
Collect! User Manual Page 20
Why use a mask? If you are a dealer, masking off the "price paid"
field would enable you to hand a printout directly to a customer.
Likewise, a trader may not want privy information about an item
being given out. A printout is much easier to generate than a
typed or handwritten list, and is more convenient than memory
alone. In the UTILITIES is another use for the mask.
Collect! User Manual Page 21
** UTILITIES:
Used to change printout header, toggle automatic
backup capability, view statistical data, and
copy/cut/paste data into other files.
CHANGE PRINTOUT NAME
When Collect! prints records, it starts out by first printing a
header. The default says
"Collect! Release II Revision 2.0"
You can change this to anything you prefer, such as:
"Mr. Bill's Baseball Card Emporium / Choklit Shoppe."
To make a change, just start typing your new header and press
the ENTER key.
When any printouts are made, the header precedes any of your
collection data. This header comes up only once per printout. If
you print ONE record, the header will be printed first. If you
print out 20 records, the header will likewise be printed only
once, NOT once per record.
AUTO BACKUP [ ON | OFF ]
Data files used by Collect! can be automatically backed up upon
OPENing. Enabling of this feature can act as insurance for those
of you who desire the extra safety factor. The only downside is
that it takes longer to OPEN any given file; Collect! will make
a backup DATA FILE IMAGE by reading the original and writing an
exact duplicate to the same disk. The duplicate uses a different
DOS extension. See FILES AND BACKING UP OF DATA, page 23.
By default, it is "OFF" when Collect! starts.
To change the state, choose the menu text. It will toggle ON and
OFF each time it is chosen.
COPY / CUT / PASTE
This selection uses data from the LAST SEARCH and brings up ano-
ther menu window. The data from the LAST SEARCH PERFORMED can be
moved into other files ( which erases the records in the current
file) or copied into other files ( which leaves the current file
intact.) If you choose to move or copy data to a new file, you
are asked for a Filename. Should the filename already exist, the
program will NOT let you overwrite this - you must come up with
a unique name. Whenever a Copy/Cut/Paste choice is selected and
used, a dialog box will appear to confirm that what you wanted
has been done. All you need to do is press Enter or click the
'OK' Button. Remember that the filename used by you should also
be a standard DOS file. What this means that the eight character
restriction placed on the length of filenames by DOS is in
effect.
Collect! User Manual Page 22
Modem Files:
The next option is MODEM FILE, which is a mechanism to copy any
search data onto the disk as ASCII text that can be viewed, such
as using the DOS 'TYPE' command. The data is grouped with the
appropriate field names and the MASK is used. For all practical
intents and purposes, MODEM FILE is the same thing as PRINT Last
Search (With MASK ON) except that the data is routed to the disk
instead of the printer. The new file (DOS extension ".MOD") can
then be sent via disk or MODEM to another collector for trades,
to another dealer for inventory purposes, or to other interested
parties. The receiving party can then use DOS or a word processor
to PRINT out the file as if Collect! had printed it.
*.DBF File Create
Quite a few database products use the *.DBF (dBASE) file format.
Collect! data can be Exported into other products by writing a
copy of the data file to the disk in an ASCII comma delimited
sequential file format. This is then readable by dBASE, Paradox,
and other database products supporting the dBASE format.
This particular format, if viewing a file using the DOS TYPE com
mand, would show a record like this:
"Settee","Pretty old","Red","1867", etc...
The comma "delimiters" are used to separate data items in this
record, which is all on one line.
STATISTICS
This choice pops up a menu with three choices. The first two are
graphs, and the third, BASIC statistics, shows how much the data
file items are worth on the average. The graphs show you how much
you've been spending by year, and how much the items are worth vs.
the year purchased.
Collect! User Manual Page 23
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ FILES AND BACKING UP OF DATA │
└────────────────────────────────┘
Files used by Collect! use a DOS extension of .ADB and .BAK....
If you have the Auto Backup Toggle turned ON, the .BAK file is
created as soon as the .ADB file (your database) is OPENed, and
it is an image of the .ADB file that got loaded. This is done
to provide you with a last resort way of saving your data. Nor-
mally, you never see the backups, nor do you see the *.ADB DOS
extension.
If you do lose your primary file and require use of the backup,
exit Collect! to DOS and rename the backup. For instance, if you
were somehow to lose your database called "DOLLS", what you lost
was the file DOLLS.ADB. The backup would be called DOLLS.BAK,
and you could then use the DOS 'RENAME' command as follows:
A:> rename dolls.bak dolls.adb
This will now be openable by Collect!, and Collect! will then
create another backup as soon as you OPEN the file name "DOLLS."
A batch file called "NAME.BAT", provided on the distribution
floppy, does the same thing; however, it is easier to use:
A:> name dolls
The batch file "ADB2A.BAT", provided on the distribution floppy,
will copy all of your *.ABD database files to a formatted floppy
disk in drive A:
C:\Collect!>adb2a
After all, it IS the database files that are important to save;
this batch file copies them over in a fast way so that you do
not have to back up the whole drive.
The batch file "INSTALL.BAT" will create a subdirectory
on your hard disk and install Collect!
┌─────────────┐
│ NOTE │
└─────────────┘
COLLECTION TYPE EDITOR: EDITYPE.EXE
Please Read EDITYPE.TXT for instructions on how to use the
Collection type editor and the database sorter.
Collect! User Manual Page 24
┌─────────────┐
│ SHAREWARE │
└─────────────┘
As this program is distributed as "shareware", you should know a
little about the concept. Shareware is not free software. It is
not a type of software. Shareware is a distribution method.
Alston Software Labs also has other titles for sale in retail
markets (although not necessarily sold under our logo) and these
are marketed in different ways. Collect! is copyrighted material
and wholly owned by the author, exactly the same as shrinkwrapped
software on the shelf. If you use Collect! for a period beyond a
reasonable evaluation time such as 30 - 60 days, you are expected
(and legally obligated by copyright laws) to pay for it. If you
cannot use Collect!, you are encouraged to pass it on to someone
else.
This program (as well as others) has been released as shareware
to encourage widespread low-cost distribution whereby the typical
computer user can obtain and evaluate Collect! at minimal cost.
You are free ( encouraged, even ) to make copies and distribute
them at your discretion, providing that you do not charge a fee
for any distribution. ( Disk Vendors are a separate category and
are subject to the limitations in VENDOR.TXT) Each recipient can
also try Collect! and register if they can use it. Upon registr-
ation, we will send you a manual and a new registered copy of
Collect!, which will probably be at a higher version level than
this one (due to the slow nature of the shareware channel). Also,
you will recieve free upgrades for one year, special discounts
on other Alston Software Labs products, a $15 credit for joining
Compuserve, and a discounted subscription to SHAREWARE MAGAZINE.
Registering this program is simple: You may order by cheque,
Credit Card, or Money Order. The Cost is $40.00.
Contact:
L.J. Alston
1320 Standiford Ave.
Suite # 242
Modesto CA 95350
(209) 522-8666
FAX (209) 522-8666
Collect! is copyrighted material (c) 1991 G.L. Alston
All rights reserved.
DOS, MS-DOS, and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corp., Redmond, Washington, USA.
dBASE is a registered trademark of Borland/Ashton-Tate
Paradox is a registered trademark of Borland International,
Scotts Valley, CA
