home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
World of Shareware - Software Farm 2
/
wosw_2.zip
/
wosw_2
/
DATABASE
/
PROFILE2.ZIP
/
MANUAL.EXE
/
lha
/
MANUAL.DOC
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1991-09-08
|
262KB
|
8,530 lines
PROFILE
Professional Filing System
User Manual
Version 2
Copyright (c) 1986,87,89,91 by Lee Raesly
All Rights Reserved
National Software Design
8209 Coach Street
Potomac, MD 20854
Limited Warranty
No Warranty on Software or Manuals
EVEN THOUGH THE PUBLISHER HAS TESTED THE ProFile SOFTWARE,
INSTRUCTION MANUAL, AND REFERENCE MATERIALS, THESE PRODUCTS ARE
SOLD "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY AS TO THEIR PERFORMANCE,
MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE
ENTIRE RISK FOR THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THIS PROGRAM IS
ASSUMED BY YOU. SHOULD EITHER THE SOFTWARE OR MANUAL PROVE
DEFECTIVE, YOU (AND NOT THE PUBLISHER OR ITS DISTRIBUTORS OR
DEALERS) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
REPAIR OR CORRECTION. THE PUBLISHER, ITS DISTRIBUTORS, AND
DEALERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ANY DEFECT IN THE SOFTWARE
OR MANUAL, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF SUCH DAMAGE.
Limited Warranty on Disks
HOWEVER, TO THE ORIGINAL PURCHASER ONLY, THE PUBLISHER WARRANTS
THE MAGNETIC DISKETTE ON WHICH THE PROGRAM IS RECORDED TO BE FREE
FROM DEFECTS IN MATERIAL AND FAULTY WORKMANSHIP UNDER NORMAL USE
FOR A PERIOD OF NINETY DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PURCHASE. IF DURING
THE NINETY-DAY PERIOD THIS DISK SHOULD BECOME DEFECTIVE, IT MAY
BE RETURNED TO THE PUBLISHER FOR A REPLACEMENT WITHOUT CHARGE,
PROVIDED YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY SENT IN YOUR LIMITED WARRANTY
REGISTRATION CARD TO THE PUBLISHER OR SEND PROOF OF PURCHASE OF
THE PROGRAM. YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IN THE EVENT OF A
DEFECT IS EXPRESSLY LIMITED TO REPLACEMENT OF THE DISKETTE AS
PROVIDED ABOVE. IF FAILURE OF THE DISKETTE HAS RESULTED FROM AN
ACCIDENT OR ABUSE, THE PUBLISHER SHALL HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY TO
REPLACE THE DISKETTE UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS LIMITED WARRANTY.
ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES RELATING TO THE DISKETTE, INCLUDING ANY
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE LIMITED TO A PERIOD OF NINETY DAYS FROM
THE DATE OF PURCHASE. PUBLISHER SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR
INDIRECT, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE
USE OF THIS PRODUCT. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE
LIMITATIONS MIGHT NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU
SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS AND YOU MIGHT ALSO HAVE OTHER LEGAL RIGHTS,
WHICH VARY BY STATE.
ProFile License Agreement
IMPORTANT
When you purchase, or receive from a friend or organization, a
copy of ProFile, you accept and agree to honor a license for use
only by the terms as set forth here. If you do not agree to the
terms and have purchased your copy, return this product to us
within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.
LICENSE
The publisher remains the sole owner of ProFile Professional
Filing System. ONLY IF YOU REGISTER, the publisher grants to you
and you accept a license for ProFile. The license to use the
software includes personal use, as well as business or pro-
fessional use. USE WITHOUT REGISTRATION, OTHER THAN FOR
EVALUATION PURPOSES, IS PROHIBITED.
ProFile is shareware software. Shareware is a method of
distribution and evaluation of software. The shareware concept
means that ProFile may be freely copied, provided that these
rules are followed:
1) You may make copies of this program so that others may
evaluate it on a private, non-commercial basis. The trial
period shall be no more than 30 days.
2) If you like the program and use it, send in the registration
fee, that's how shareware works.
3) You may not decompile, translate, reverse engineer, or
disassemble ProFile or create derivative works from it.
4) You may not, without permission from the publisher,
distribute this software as part of a service or product, or
as part of a corporate or institutionally sponsored
distribution program.You may not copy the printed
documentation that registered users receive.
5) You may not charge a fee for distribution of this program
without permission from the publisher. User Groups may
distribute the program, permission is hereby granted.
Introduction
Shareware Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Software Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Filing and Retrieving Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Reports and Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Word Processing Mailing List Files . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Sharing Data With Other Software Programs . . . . . . . . 3
Getting Started with ProFile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Making Working Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Installing ProFile on a Hard Disk System . . . . . . . . . 5
Starting the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Floppy Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Hard Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
An Important Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
File Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Using ProFile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
New Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Advanced Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Database Design
Design a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Common Terms and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Database Design Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Designing The Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Form Not Found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Modeling a New Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Laying Out the Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Cursor Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Field Prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Information Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Laying Out Calculated and Lookup Fields . . . . . . . . . 17
Form Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Inserting, Deleting, and Copying Form Lines . . . . . . . 18
Drawing Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Form Layout Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Assigning Field Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Selecting the Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Field Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Creating Text and Numeric Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Creating Lookup Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Lookup Field Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Stored Lookup Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Lookup Field Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Creating Calculated Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Using Parentheses and Precedence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Formula Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Form Design Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Field Attribute Problems and Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Data and Index Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Disabled Lookup Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Add Data
Add Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Changing the Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Entering Information in Formatted Fields . . . . . . . . . 36
Required, Unique, and Must Fill Fields . . . . . . . . . . 36
Range Checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Lookup Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Non-stored Fields and Calculated Fields . . . . . . . . . 37
Copying Information From the Previous Form . . . . . . . . 38
The Field Help Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Printing the Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Edit Data
Edit Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
About Your Displayed Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
The Edit Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Total, Deleted, and Current Records . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Edit an Existing Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Next and Previous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
First and Last Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Deleting Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Go To a Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Printing the Current Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
The Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Selection Spec Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Creating a Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Choosing a Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Choosing the Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Entering the Comparison Information . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Using OR, AND, or END with a Selection Spec . . . . . . . 50
Editing the Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Other Important Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Report
Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Report Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Design a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Entering a Report File Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Report Layout Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Designing the Report Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Adding a New Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Report Column Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Report Column Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Report Calculation Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Report Finals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Report Subcalculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Calculated Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Creating Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Self Referencing Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Error Messages for Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Invisible Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Column Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Report Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Format Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Report Headers and Footers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Entering Headers and Footers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Header and Footer Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Using an Existing Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Creating a Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Sort Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Sort Spec Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Creating A Sort Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Sorting Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Report Sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Sorting the Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Printing the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Redesigning an Existing Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Printing an Existing Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Labels
Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Getting Started with Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Design a Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Entering a Label File Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Creating the Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Choosing the Label Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Label Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Editing Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Inserting and Deleting Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Viewing the Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Free-Form Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Checking the Field Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Label Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Label Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Formatting Standard Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Label Text Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Label Format Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Using an Existing Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Creating a Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Sort Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Bulk Mail Sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Printing the Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Testing your Label Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Stopping the Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Redesigning an Existing Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Printing an Existing Label Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
MailMerge
Word Processing MailMerge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
MailMerge Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
MailMerge Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
WordStar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
WordPerfect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
DEC WPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
MultiMate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
PC-Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Sort and Selection Specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Use Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Use Sort Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
MailMerge File Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
During MailMerge File Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Import
Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Floppy Disk Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
ASCII File Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Standard Data Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Comma Delimited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
One-Field-Per-Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Importing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
ASCII File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Use Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
ASCII File Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Standard Data Format Field Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Merge Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
During the Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Export
Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Exporting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
ASCII File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Use Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Use Sort Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
ASCII File Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
About Sort and Selection Specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Floppy Disk Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
During the Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Copy Data
Copy Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Floppy Disk Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Copying Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Copy From [Form Name] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Use Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
During the Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Utilities
Global Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Using a Selection Spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Entering Global Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
During the Update Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Global Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
During the Global Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Index the Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Pack the Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
How Backup Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Recovering a Backup Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Floppy Disk Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Entering the Disk and Path Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
During the Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Problems and Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Printer Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Parallel Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Serial Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Advanced Database Design
Advanced Database Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Changing a Database Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Editing the Form Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Moving a Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Adding a Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Deleting a Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Changing Field Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Changing Field Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Form Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Change the Display Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Current Increment Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Default Form Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Files that ProFile Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Database Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Program Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
When You Have an Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Disk and Printer Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Recovering from Disk Full . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Other Disk Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Sort Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
System Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
ProFile Introduction 1
Shareware Registration
Shareware is a new concept in the distribution and marketing of
programs. It allows you to use the software first and then make
a decision to purchase the program.
ProFile is distributed and marketed through the shareware
concept. You may copy the program and give it to a friend or
colleague for evaluation. Or, you may purchase an evaluation
copy of the program directly from us, National Software Design,
for $10.00. You are encouraged to copy the program and share it
with others. Once you have evaluated the package and find it to
your liking, please register with us. You will receive the
following benefits:
o A printed, current manual with examples, detailed
illustrations and a full index.
o The latest version of the program.
o Program update notices will be sent directly to you.
See PF-READ.ME for current registration costs.
Software Support
Software support is available for registered users and for a user
during the 30 day evaluation period. You may receive support
through CompuServe. For assistance, simply send an EMail, along
with your name and program serial number to User ID #76464,303
(Lee Raesly). Your questions will be answered promptly.
Users may also obtain software support through our support line,
301 299-7042. Support hours are from 3:30 PM to 8:30 PM EST.
Introduction 2 ProFile
Introduction
The ProFile Professional Filing System is a sophisticated tool
designed to help you keep track of the people, customers
information and data that are important to you. Any information
can be filed and maintained.
You may link multiple databases together. For instance, a
customer invoice database may be linked to a customer file and
inventory file. Calculations can now be done in a database form.
In the above example, the invoice form can automatically compute
and total costs for you.
ProFile allows you to file and retrieve information, create
meaningful reports, and print labels. And, it can share
information with other software programs, such as word processors
or spreadsheets. It can also help you prepare bulk mailings with
its advanced bulk mail sort.
The program is designed so you can get started quickly and
easily. After you are comfortable with the system you may then
expand to use its more powerful features as you need them. No
computer experience is required and help is only a key-stroke
away, any time you need it.
Filing and Retrieving Data
ProFile helps you design databases that can hold any information
you wish. Examples would be customer lists, employee lists, or
expense records.
The first step in creating a database is to design a form on your
computer screen. For instance, to create a customer list, you
would design a form that would contain the customer name,
address, and perhaps a telephone number. You then enter your
customers into the form.
ProFile automatically stores this information and will retrieve
it when you need it. You could look for a single customer or a
specific group of customers. You may search, sort, and retrieve
the customer list in any way you want. And the forms can be
redesigned if your needs change. For instance you may later add
a sales field to track the sales of each customer in your list.
Reports and Labels
ProFile lets you take information from a ProFile database,
arrange the information so that it makes sense to you and then
display or print the information in a columnar format. You
ProFile Introduction 3
choose what information should be included in the report and how
it should be organized. You may use ProFile's more powerful
features for your reports; derived columns and calculations,
custom headings and report subtotals and summaries. The reports
are saved for you to use any time you would like.
ProFile also offers you sophisticated label printing
capabilities. Labels are designed with the aid of the computer.
They can include any information in your database or other text,
such as a message for the recipient or your return address.
Mailing labels can be printed up to four across and can be
organized in any order including bulk mail order. Label formats
are saved and available to be used or changed as you like.
Word Processing Mailing List Files
ProFile can share information in your database with many word
processing programs. Using our customer list example, this means
that you can use your favorite word processor to create
personalized letters while letting ProFile manage the customer
information. It will create a mailmerge file that is
specifically designed to work with your word processor. The file
can contain only those customers that you pick and can be
organized in any order that you wish, including bulk mail order.
Sharing Data With Other Software Programs
ProFile offers a series of functions that allow you to share
information with other programs such as word processors,
spreadsheets, or other database managers.
Programs that ProFile works with include Lotus 1-2-3, dBase
II/III, Condor, Wordstar, Multimate, and WordPerfect. In
addition, ProFile has powerful Import and Export functions that
allows it to share data with most programs that can work with
ASCII files.
Getting Started with ProFile
The ProFile distribution diskettes include the following:
o The program files
o Disk-based documentation and sample databases
o Registration form (see PF-READ.ME)
Introduction 4 ProFile
ProFile works on the following equipment:
o Any IBM PC, IBM PC-XT, IBM PC-AT, or compatible computer with
either a hard disk and one floppy disk drive or two floppy
disks drives and a minimum of 320 KB of internal memory.
o MS-DOS operating system Version 2.0 or later
o An 80 column color or monochrome monitor
o A printer
Getting Started
1. Make a working copy of the program and sample database disks
or copy it onto your hard disk.
2. Check to see that the program works properly with your con-
figuration.
Making Working Copies
The prudent computer user will ALWAYS make working copies of the
ProFile master disks and use the copies rather than the masters
for everyday use. Making the working copies is simple. To
prepare, format two new diskettes. Then copy the files from the
ProFile master disks to the newly formatted disks.
Making Working Copies on a Two Floppy Disk System:
1. Make certain that the master disks are write protected to
prevent accidental erasure. You can check this by looking
to see if the write-protect notch on the right side of the
disk is covered by a tab. If it isn't, cover it now.
2. Insert your DOS system disk in drive A: and turn on the
system.
3. When the A> prompt appears, put a new diskette in drive B:.
Then type:
Format B: [ENTER]
Do this twice.
Label the first disk - ProFile PROGRAM DISK.
Label the second disk - ProFile DOCUMENTATION DISK.
When DOS asks if you would like to format another disk
answer No.
ProFile Introduction 5
4. Insert the original ProFile PROGRAM DISK in drive A: and the
newly formatted disk in drive B:. Type COPY A:*.* B: and
then press [ENTER]. After all of the files have been copied
remove the disks. Repeat this procedure with the ProFile
DOCUMENTATION DISK.
Installing ProFile on a Hard Disk System
If you have a computer with a hard disk, it is simple to install
ProFile on it. Once it's installed you'll enjoy the speed and
convenience of running ProFile. You'll also be able to work with
much larger files of information. The following instructions
assume the hard disk is called C: and it's formatted and ready
for use.
1. Make certain that the Master disks are write- protected to
prevent accidental erasure. You can check this by looking
to see if the write-protect notch on the right side of the
disk is covered by a tab. If it isn't, cover it now.
2. Insert the disk ProFile DOCUMENTATION DISK in drive A:.
Type INSTALL and then press [ENTER]. ProFile's hard disk
installation program will now copy the software to the hard
disk for you.
When you are done, you're ready to use ProFile directly from the
hard disk. Don't forget to store the master disks in a safe
place.
Starting the Program
You are now ready to use ProFile with either your floppy disk or
hard disk system. Here's how:
Floppy Disk
1. Put your working copy labeled ProFile PROGRAM DISK in
Drive A:. When the A> prompt appears type PF and then
press [ENTER].
Always keep the ProFile PROGRAM DISK in Drive A:. Remove it only
if the program tells you that it is OK, for example to create a
word processing merge file on a separate disk.
Introduction 6 ProFile
Hard Disk
1. Turn on your computer system. When the C: prompt appears
type PF and then press [ENTER].
An Important Rule
ProFile automatically saves your data when you are enter
information. At every fifth record that you enter, the program
closes the database files and then re-opens them. This puts the
information permanently on your disk.
Although ProFile saves your data frequently, it keeps track of
many things. The program must be exited properly so that your
information isn't accidentally corrupted. Any sudden loss of
power could potentially damage the information in your database.
Follow these precautions:
1. NEVER, EVER turn off the computer system or reboot
without first exiting ProFile and returning to the DOS
prompt.
2. Make frequent backups of your database using the Backup
option on the Utilities Menu (this includes hard disk
users). See the Utilities section titled Backup for more
information on this important safety step.
Menus
Menus provide an easy way for you to tell ProFile what to do.
ProFile uses two types of menus: "moving cursor" bar menu's and
pop-up menus. The moving cursor bar highlights your choice and a
short explanation of your choice appears at the bottom of the
menu. The pop-up menus are similar to moving cursor menus but
"pop-up" in a box.
With either menu, to make a menu selection move the cursor with
the arrow keys, space bar, or tab key to the item of your choice
and press [ENTER]. Or, type the highlighted letter of your menu
choice.
File Manager
The File Manager function is used by ProFile to automatically
display all of the files that are available for a particular
function. For instance, if you need to enter a report filename,
it will list only those files that are reports.
ProFile Introduction 7
Entering a File Name
To enter a file name, either move the cursor bar to highlight a
file name or type in its name at the prompt. File names can be
up to eight characters long (no spaces, commas, periods, question
marks, or asterisks "*") plus an optional 3 character extension
and may be preceded by a disk drive and path name.
F2- Directory
Used to view a list of files on another drive or subdirectory.
Enter the new drive and path name, then press [ENTER].
Optionally, enter the wild card designator asterisk "*"
(anything) or question mark "?" (any character) to see a
selective list of files.
If you have pressed F2 by mistake, just press [ENTER] to go back
to the enter file name prompt.
F4- Copy
This key will copy the highlighted file to a new name. To use,
move the cursor bar to the file to be copied and press F4. Next,
enter in a new file name, (which may be preceded by a new path
and drive).
F5- Delete
Used to delete the currently highlighted file. To use, move the
cursor bar to the file to be deleted and press F5.
F8- Rename
Renames the currently highlighted drive. To use, move the cursor
bar to the file to be renamed and press F8. Enter the new file
name and press [ENTER].
Help
Pressing the F1 function key brings up help on your current
activity. All of the information that you should need is at your
finger-tips through the on-line help key. To exit Help, press the
Esc key.
Once the Help screen comes up you have four choices:
Next Page- Next (or Pg Dn) brings up the next screen in Help.
Usually this is a continuation of the current topic. Sometimes
it may be the start of a new topic.
Introduction 8 ProFile
Previous Page- Previous (or Pg Dn) brings up the previous screen
in Help. This might be on the current topic or it may be a page
of another help item.
General Topics and Advanced Topics
Either of these two choices bring you to an index of all of the
major Help items. Just select from the menu the topic of your
choice and you will receive help on that subject.
Function Keys
ProFile uses the same keys to accomplish similar tasks throughout
the program. Occasionally the action of a function key changes.
The function key help line at the bottom of the screen lists what
function keys are available and what action they perform.
Certain keys always have the same meaning:
[<--] Backspace key will delete characters to the left of
the cursor.
[-->|] Tab key will usually move the cursor to the next
field or choice.
[|<--] Shift tab key will usually move the cursor to the
previous field.
[Ins] Will toggle the program between insert and typeover
mode. The program defaults to insert mode. When
toggled to typeover, OVR will appear in the upper
right-hand corner of the screen.
[Del] Deletes the character under the cursor.
Arrow Move the cursor around the form.
Keys
[^->] (Ctrl-Right Arrow or ^F) Moves to the next word in
text fields.
[^<-] (Ctrl-Left Arrow or ^A) Moves to the previous word
in text fields.
[^Home] Deletes all the characters to the right of the
cursor.
[Home] Moves to the beginning of a field or the top of the
database form.
ProFile Introduction 9
[End] Moves to the end of a field or to the end of a
database form.
[Esc] Always lets you exit what you are doing. ProFile
will always prompt you if your work will be changed
or needs to be saved.
Using ProFile
OK, you've read the introduction and are ready to get started.
What next? Well, that depends if you are just getting started
with computers or are a computer expert. If you're a new user,
follow the instruction in the next paragraph titled New Users.
If you're an expert, read the Advanced Users paragraph. If you
don't know where you stand, start with the New User section and
progress from there.
New Users-
ProFile was designed to be easy for the new user to operate.
But, like anything, a little practice goes a long way. If your
style is to get right to it, then review the Advanced User
paragraph below. Also consider reading the Designing a Form
section in the manual for some valuable tips that might save you
time later. If you like a more structured approach, follow the
outline listed below:
1. Read through the manual, following the tutorials as they are
presented and follow the examples.
2. Work with the sample databases on the DOCUMENTATION DISK to
practice using ProFile's many features.
Advanced Users-
ProFile's "user interface" follows many of the programming
conventions set by other programs. This means once you start
using it you are likely to find that you have an "intuitive feel"
for the program. To get started read the section titled Help
and then look at the following items:
1. Work with the Sample Databases Disk to practice using
ProFile's advanced features.
2. Use the Table of Contents and the Index to learn about any
functions you would like to use.
Database Design 10 ProFile
Design a Database
Here is a summary of the steps that you will need to create a
working database. They've been provided here to give you a
global view of the process. Each step (and all of the terms)
will be gone over in detail in the sections that follow.
There are basic steps to designing a ProFile database:
1. Design the form. Lay out the field prompts, information
blanks, and any messages.
2. Assign the field types, attributes, and special functions
(i.e. lookup or calculated fields).
Simple enough, so we'll get started.
Forms
A form is the heart of a ProFile Database. A ProFile Database
Form allows you to enter information and then store or retrieve
it. A ProFile Form can look like forms that you fill out and use
every day such as a credit application, magazine subscription
form, or any other form you can think of.
The first step in designing a ProFile database is to design the
form that the database will use. Throughout this manual we'll
use a form we've designed for a customer mailing list. It will
be used for examples as you proceed through the steps to create a
database. If you want to use another form that you've designed,
go ahead. The object is to get some practical experience using
ProFile.
If you're designing your own form, sketch it out on paper first.
Decide what information you'd like to keep track of and what
labels (field names) you will use to prompt for data. For
example, you might use Customer Name to prompt for a customer
name. See page #33 for some tips on laying out your forms.
After you've completed your sketch, you are ready to enter it
into the computer.
Common Terms and Conventions
Before you get started, take a minute to review a few common
terms and conventions that we will use to describe the different
parts and processes of the ProFile program. These terms will
make it easier to design a form and then to use the program. See
figure #1 for an idea of what a sample form might look like.
ProFile Database Design 11
Field
Prompt- This tells what kind of information should go in the
blank following it. For example, in the customer list
form shown below, First Name, City, and State are all
field names. Field prompts are optional.
Information
Blank- This is the blank that follows the field prompt. Data
is the information that goes into the field blank.
Record- A record (or completed form) is a form with the data
entered in it. We will use the term "record" to refer
to the data that goes in a form and the term "form" to
refer to the form that appears on the screen.
Form- A series of fields arranged on the screen so that
information can be entered into it.
A database consists of three types of files- one Form Definition
file, one Data file, and Index files. After you have designed
the form, ProFile automatically maintains these files for you.
Figure 1: Example form
Database Design 12 ProFile
Form Definition
File- This is the file that holds the form itself plus
other information that is important to the
database, such as the length and type of each
field.
Data
File- A collection of records on disk.
Index File- ProFile uses an a separate file to keep track of
the order of the information in the data file. It
works like the index in the back of this manual,
which allows you to quickly find specific
information on this program. You may designate
multiple indexes for a database.
Will You be Tested?
Of course not. So don't bother to memorize any of the terms.
Just get an idea to what they refer to, and if you must, mark the
page for reference. This manual has been written so it's easy to
learn and the meaning of a term should be obvious in the context
in which it's used.
Top Line Tells Where You Are
The top line of the screen always tells you where you are and
also lists the database name (which you choose, of course).
Database Design Function Keys
Use [ESC] to cancel anything that you don't want to do. ProFile
will prompt you first to make certain you don't do anything
disastrous or unintended.
The function key help line, which appears at the bottom of most
screens, will tell you the current function key assignments.
Designing The Form
There are two steps to design a form:
1. Design the form.
2. Assign the field attributes.
ProFile Database Design 13
Getting Started
To design the form you must first get to the Load File-
Definition screen. Here's how:
Start the program by typing PF at the DOS prompt. If you have
problems starting the program refer the file PF-READ.ME for
installation instructions. After the copyright notice, the first
screen that you see is the Load File- Definition screen. This is
the File Manager function discussed in the introduction.
The File Manager explains that a form definition file is where
your specifications for your form are kept. If you had
previously designed a form you could enter an existing name now.
Since we are designing a new one, pick an unused name for the
form and enter it here, pressing [ENTER] when you're done.
NOTE- To see or use a different directory or drive, press F2
and enter the new drive and path name, then press
[ENTER]. ProFile will then display all of the Form
Definition files on the new drive or path name. See page
#8 in the Introduction for more information on the File
Manager function.
Form Not Found
At this point, ProFile tells you that the form you requested was
not found. Press "Y" to start the design process and create the
new form. Press "N" to choose another name.
Modeling a New Form
The next question is whether you would like to model the new form
after an existing one.
Many times when a new database is created, it is easier to model
it after an existing form. For instance, if you have a customer
database for all companies on the East Coast and decide to create
another one for all companies on the West Coast, you may use the
modeling option to shorten the design process.
To model a form:
1. Type Yes to model a form.
2. Type in the existing form name and then press [ENTER].
3. At the prompt OK to Continue enter Yes to continue, or No to
enter another file name. If you want to change the form
Database Design 14 ProFile
design, enter Yes and then follow the instructions listed
below.
If ProFile can't find the form that you specify, it will
beep and then let you re-enter the file name. If you press
[Esc], ProFile will return you to the Main Menu, without
selecting a database.
Laying Out the Form
ProFile lets you design forms that are logically laid out and
easy to use and that help increase operator accuracy. Use your
imagination to design your forms. For example, group like fields
together and separate these groups with blank lines, or title
each group with a heading. Remember, whoever fills in the forms
will appreciate the time you took to make them accurate, easy to
fill in, and concise.
In this part of the design process, you lay out the form on the
screen. Here's how:
1. Move the cursor to the location you want to place a field.
2. Type in the field prompt followed by a colon (:). The colon
tells ProFile that "this is a field name."
The field prompt is optional. If you choose not to use a
field prompt, just type a colon (:) where you'd like the
field to start.
3. Create the information blank. Move the cursor to the first
or second position immediately following the colon (:).
Press the underline character (_) repeatedly to designate
the amount of room needed for the information blank.
4. You may place any comments, titles, etc. on the form that
you would like.
5. When you are finished press F10 to bring up the Define Field
Types screen.
Cursor Movement
ProFile lets you move the cursor around the screen, in the same
way you would in a word processing program. Use the keys shown
below.
ProFile Database Design 15
Function Keys for Form Layout:
Key Meaning
--- -------
[<--] (backspace) key will delete characters to the left
of the cursor and moves all character to the right
of the cursor over one position.
[-->|] (tab) key will move the cursor to the beginning of
the current line.
[Ins] Will toggle between insert and typeover mode. The
word OVR on the status indicates that you are in
overwrite mode.
[Del] Deletes the character under the cursor and moves all
characters to the right over one position.
Arrow Move the cursor in the appropriate direction; up,
Keys down, left, and right on the form.
[^->] (Ctrl-Right Arrow or ^F) Moves to the next word in
text fields.
[^<-] (Ctrl-Left Arrow or ^A) Moves to the previous word
in text fields.
[Home] Moves to the top of the database form.
[End] Moves to the end of the database form.
[Pg Up] (Page Up) Moves the cursor up one screen (20
lines).
[^Home] Deletes all the characters to the right of the
cursor.
[Pg Dn] (Page Down) Moves the cursor down one screen (20
lines).
F3 Insert a blank line.
F4 Copy the current line if the copy buffer is empty,
or insert a copied line if the copy buffer is ready
(loaded).
F5 Delete the current line.
Alt-W Upper left corner of box.
Database Design 16 ProFile
Key Meaning
--- -------
Alt-R Upper right corner of box.
Alt-C Lower right corner of box.
Alt-Z Lower left corner of box.
Alt-E
Alt-X Vertical box line.
Alt-S
Alt-D Horizontal box line.
Field Prompts
A field prompt tells the computer operator what kind of
information should go in the blank following it.
Field prompts should be chosen so that they accurately convey the
information that is to be entered. More than one field prompt
may appear on one line. Remember to leave enough space between
the field prompts for the information blanks. A minimum of 5
spaces between field prompts is recommended.
Although field prompts are used frequently, they are optional.
Certain fields (column-type information) do not need prompts.
For example, a comment section in a form may consist of several
field blanks. See figure #2.
Information Blanks
The information blank sets the number of characters or numbers
that can be entered into each field. You create an information
blank by "painting" it on the screen, immediately following the
field prompt (or colon if the field does not have a prompt).
The length of an information blank may be up to 78 characters.
The entire information blank must be able to fit on one line in
the form. Try to estimate the amount of space needed for each
field before you design your form. Allocating too much room for
each field will mean wasted disk space; too little room for each
field means your information will be cramped and abbreviated.
If you allocate too little (or too much) room for a field, you
can go back later and change the field length. ProFile will
automatically reorganize your database to fit the new field
length specifications.
ProFile Database Design 17
Figure 2: The Form Layout screen
To create information blanks:
1. Use the cursor keys to move to the first or second position
after the colon (:) at the end of a field prompt.
2. Press the underline key repeatedly to create the information
blank. For instance, an information blank with a length of
eight would be signified by eight underline characters.
3. Repeat the above steps until all fields have been
completed.
Note- If you create a field without an information blank,
ProFile will warn you and then return to the Form
Layout screen.
Press F10 to tell ProFile that you are finished designing the
form. Next, you will see the Define Field Attributes screen.
Laying Out Calculated and Lookup Fields
If you plan to use either calculated or lookup fields, you should
create the field prompts and information blanks for them now.
This is done just as you would for any other field in the
database. See the previous section for more information.
Database Design 18 ProFile
Form Length
A form can be quite large. In fact, a form can be up to 100
lines long and 80 characters wide. Your computer screen is like
a window looking on part of the form. As you move around on it,
either to design or fill it in, the form scrolls automatically.
If you ever want to go to the top of the form, just press the
[Home] key twice. Also, when you are designing a form, the [Pg
Up] key will move the form 20 lines up; the [Pg Dn] key will
move form 20 lines down. Pressing the [End] key twice moves the
form to line 80, showing the last 20 lines.
Inserting, Deleting, and Copying Form Lines
ProFile lets you change your form by inserting, deleting, and
copying form lines. This means that you can quickly design a
form.
Insert- Move the cursor to the position where the new line
should be inserted and press F3. A blank line will
be inserted and all other lines will be moved down
one. Caution- The last line in the form, line 100,
will be erased.
Delete- Move the cursor to the line you wish to delete and
then press F5. Answer Yes if you wish the line to
be deleted.
Copying- Move the cursor to the line you would like copied
and press F4. The line is now in the copy buffer
and the prompt on line 2 now says Copy Buffer
Ready. Move the cursor to the position where the
copied line should be inserted and press F4 again.
The copied line will be inserted and all other lines
moved down one. Caution- The last line in the
form, line 100, will be erased.
Drawing Boxes
You may draw boxes on the form to make it easier to enter data
and organize your fields. Box drawing is simple. Just follow
these steps:
1. Position the cursor at the upper left corner of the box.
2. Press Alt-W to create the corner. Next, draw the horizontal
line by pressing Alt-D repeatedly until the line is drawn.
ProFile Database Design 19
3. Press Alt-R to create the upper right corner.
4. Move the cursor down one line and position it under the
corner. Press Alt-X to draw the vertical line. Move the
cursor down one line and position it under the previous
vertical line and press Alt-X again. Repeat this process
until the vertical line is completed to your satisfaction.
5. Repeat the above process to complete the box, using Alt-Z
and Alt-C for the bottom left and right corner,
respectively.
Form Layout Errors
Field # was not found in the list- The referenced field has a
field identifier but was not found. Recheck the field identifier
for errors.
Field # has a partial field identifier- The referenced field has
only one character of the field identifier. Recheck the field
identifier.
Field # has a duplicate field identifier- Two existing fields on
your form have the same field identifier. Check the field
identifier of both fields.
No Fields Created. Minimum field = 1. Maximum = 150- ProFile
could not find any fields. You must create at least one field in
a form or exit Form Layout by pressing [Esc].
Over 150 fields in form- Reduce the number of fields to a
Maximum of 150.
Field # has a length of zero- Each field in the form must have an
information blank. Use the underline (_) character to create
one.
The colon in Field # is too close to the right edge- The colon
(:) may be no closer than character 77 of a line.
See section in Advanced Database Design for a list of other
problems and hints on how to correct them.
Assigning Field Attributes
The Define Field Attributes screen appears after you press F10 to
complete the form layout. Here you will define various
characteristics for each field.
Database Design 20 ProFile
The Define Field Attributes screen is split. The top half
displays a portion of your form. The bottom half contains the
field attribute box. In it, a field's characteristics, i.e.
field type, name, length, help line, etc., are displayed.
When you create a new form, the fields in the form are
automatically assigned the Text field attribute. You may change
or reassign the field attributes for both new and existing fields
as required.
To assign or change field attributes, follow the following steps:
1. Using the up and down arrow keys, move the cursor to the
field you'd like to change.
2. Press [ENTER] to select this field. The cursor will move to
the attributes box.
3. At the Field Type: prompt, either enter a new field type or
press [ENTER] to choose the current type.
4. For text and numeric field types, you may now assign the
other field attributes i.e. field name, mask type, length,
decimal places, help line and others. See below for more
details.
For new lookup or calculation fields, you will first define
the lookup information or formula. Next, you may enter
other field attributes.
If this is an existing lookup or calculation field, you will
move directly to the field attributes section. (Or, Press
F2 to edit the lookup details or calculation formula.)
5. When you're done, press F10 to save the new information and
return to the form. Pressing [Esc] cancels this edit and
returns you to the form. The original information is
restored.
Selecting the Field
When the cursor is in the top half of the screen, you may move
the cursor to another field on the form using the up and down
arrow keys. As you do, notice that the attributes box (the
bottom half of the screen) displays the values for the new field.
Pressing [ENTER] to select that field for change. The cursor
drops down to the Field Type: prompt in the attributes box. You
may return to the form by pressing [Esc].
ProFile Database Design 21
Field Types
There are four field types from which you may choose. These are
Text, Numeric, Lookup, and Calculated.
Field types are important. Take the time to consider what
information will be put in the form and assign field types
accordingly. Watch out for simple mistakes like assigning a zip
code field a Numeric type (i.e. Zip Code 00223 would be converted
to a number with the value 223) when it should be assigned a Text
type.
Field types can be changed anytime you like by entering new
values into the field type column.
To enter a field type, enter the letter of your choice of the
respective field type i.e. Text, Numeric, Lookup, or Calculated.
Text- The text field type is the standard for all new fields.
Text fields can hold any information. This includes characters,
numbers (but not numeric values), dates, phone numbers; just
about anything. Examples of text fields would be names,
addresses, dates, zip code fields, addresses, etc.
Numeric- Numeric fields are used to hold numeric values. Only
numeric fields may be used for calculation fields and report
totals and averages. Numeric fields allow you to assign decimal
places, and minimum and maximum values for the field. Examples
of numeric fields include sales information, totals, costs, etc.
Lookup- Lookup fields are used to retrieve information from
another database. For example, you could have a customer
database and an invoice database. By entering a customer name in
the invoice database, ProFile could automatically retrieve the
address from the customer file. The address fields would be
Lookup field types.
The data in a lookup field may be stored in the current database
or only referenced. Storing a lookup field in the current
database allows you to index it, use it in a Select Spec, or Sort
Spec. A stored lookup field is not automatically updated if the
original information in the lookup database is changed.
Examples of lookup fields include customer addresses, item
descriptions, item costs, etc. Basically any information that
you do not want to have to enter manually.
Calculated- Calculated fields allow you to place formulas in
your form. In this way, your form, for instance, could
Database Design 22 ProFile
automatically calculate total sales based on several other
numeric fields. Examples for calculated fields include totals,
sales tax, averages, etc.
Creating Text and Numeric Fields
Text and numeric fields are the most commonly used field types.
The process for defining a text or numeric field is very similar.
To start:
1. Using the up and down arrow keys, move the cursor the field
you'd like to change.
2. Press [ENTER] to select the field. The cursor will move to
the attributes box.
3. At the Field Type: prompt, enter Text or Numeric and then
press [ENTER].
After entering the field type, you may enter a series of options
that control the current field. Here are the details.
Name- Each field in the database has a name. The name
may be up to 12 characters long and may contain a
combination of letters, numbers, and punctuation
marks (but NO spaces). The name you assign to the
field is used to create a Select Spec, Report or
Label, and for other functions.
ProFile initially uses the first 12 characters
of the field prompt that you used when you
designed the form. If you'd like to change it,
do so. Pick a name that makes sense to you and
other users and is unique. Duplicate names in
a form are not allowed.
Mask Type- The mask type determines what information can go
into a field and how it is formatted. See the chart
starting on page ^^, for a detailed list of text
mask types and page ^^ for numeric mask types.
ProFile Database Design 23
Code Type Use
----------------------------------------------------------------
X Anything Any character or information may be
entered into this field. There are no
restrictions. Example uses would be
names, addresses, conceptual info, etc.
C Alpha Only Only alphabetic characters are allowed in
this field. No numbers or symbols
permitted.
9 Digits Only digits (i.e. 0 - 9) are allowed in
this field. Useful for Zip Code fields,
part numbers or anything else that
contains numbers and is not considered a
numeric value.
D Date Dates only, keyed in by the typist. Preset
length of 8 characters.
A Auto Date Dates automatically filled in with today's
date. These may be changed by the
operator. Only one auto date field is
allowed per database. Also, if it is the
first field in a form, ProFile will skip
over it when adding or editing data (but
you can move back to it by pressing the up
arrow key). Preset length of 8
characters.
O sOc. sec. # Formats the field for Social Security
numbers i.e. 222-33-4455 Preset length of
12 characters.
P Phone
Number Formats the field for phone numbers
including area code, i.e. 301 555-2233.
Preset length of 12 characters.
Figure: Text Mask Types
Database Design 24 ProFile
Code Type Use
----------------------------------------------------------------
N Number Only valid numbers, quantities, etc. for
computations may be entered into this
field.
$ Money Only valid numbers and amounts are
allowed. The amount is automatically
formatted with 2 decimal places. Can be
used for computations.
I Increment Incrementing fields are numeric fields
that ProFile automatically increments as
you add new records.
Figure: Numeric Field Mask Types
Length- The length of a field is initially determined by
the size of the information blank that you created
in the form layout section. Text fields may be up
to 78 characters long and must fit on one line
(this includes the field prompt). Numeric fields
may be up to 16 numbers, including the decimal
place.
You can change the length of the field at this
prompt. Note that the information blank must fit
on the line and not overlap with any other field
(or message) on the same line. ProFile will
display how long the current field may be
lengthened without hitting the edge of the screen
or another field.
Decimal- For numeric fields only. Enter in the number of
decimals places for this field, 0-9. Money fields
(mask type of $) are preset at 2 decimal places.
Index- You may designate up to 10 index fields in a
database. Enter a Y to index the field.
Index fields are used to create a special file
called an Index file. The Index file gives you
close to instantaneous access to any record in
your database. When using the Edit function, you
may find completed forms quickly using the index.
For instance, if you designated Last Name as an
indexed field, you could then find Mr. "Smith" or
Ms. "Barnaby" quickly by entering in the last name
ProFile Database Design 25
in the Search function. More on searching in the
Edit section under Search.
Fields that are indexed should be ones that you
use to identify information in your database. For
instance, in a customer mailing list, the company
name would be a good choice for indexing. Last
name or customer numbers are other good choices.
In the Edit function, a database may browsed in
index field order. If you have more than one
field indexed, you can select which index field
should be used. For instance, if the indexed field
was one called Last Name, you could scan through
your database starting with last names that start
with "A" and move up through the alphabet. This
is discussed in more detail in the Edit section.
Help Line- This options lets you design a customized help
prompt for this field. This makes it easier for
other people to enter data into your form. When
information is entered in the form, the help
prompt will be displayed at the bottom of the
screen.
Required- A required field must always have information
entered in it and may never be blank. Enter Yes
to make the current field required.
Must Fill- The information blank in a mustfill field must be
completely filled before the information can be
saved. Enter Yes to make the current field
mustfill.
Unique- The information in a field that is designated
unique must appear only once in a database.
Unique fields are assigned an index file. Enter
Yes to designate the current field unique.
Uppercase- This applies to text fields only. Answering Yes
to this option will cause all letters entered into
this field to be converted to uppercase i.e. A-Z.
Low- For numeric fields only. Enter a value other than
0 in this option as the lowest number allowable.
Entering a 0, or no value, means don't check for a
low range.
Database Design 26 ProFile
High- For numeric fields only. Enter a value in this
option to specify the largest number allowed. No
value, or 0, means don't check for a high range.
Creating Lookup Fields
Lookup fields allow you to link other databases to the existing
database. In this way, you can save typing strokes, improve
information accuracy, and cut down on database storage
requirements.
To create a lookup field, you'll need to tell ProFile what
database to use(the lookup database file name), how to find the
information (match field and lookup field), and what field to
"pull" into your current database (the retrieve field). ProFile
helps you do this, and keeps track of the details.
For instance, assume that you had two databases; an invoice
database (containing a customer number, item purchased, total
amount, etc.) and a customer database (customer number, name and
address). You could create a customer name lookup field in the
invoice database that would automatically "pull" the customer
name into the invoice database when the customer number was
entered. By typing in the customer number, ProFile automatically
searches the customer database for the same customer number.
When it finds a match, it retrieves the customer name and
displays it on the invoice form.
This same procedure may be done for the customer address, item
descriptions, costs, product codes, etc.
To create a lookup field:
1. Using the up and down arrow keys, move the cursor on the
form to the field you'd like to make a lookup field.
2. Press [ENTER] to select this field. The cursor will move to
the attributes box.
3. At the Field Type: prompt, enter Lookup and then press
[ENTER].
The following describes each of the remaining steps. Using our
invoice example, you'll be telling ProFile "when I enter the
customer number (Current Database Search Field) in the invoice
form, search to see if it matches a customer number (Lookup
Database Match Field) in the customer database (Lookup Database
File Name). If it does, retrieve the customer name (Lookup
Database Retrieve Field) for that customer number."
ProFile Database Design 27
Lookup File Name- The cursor drops down to the File Name: prompt
under the Lookup Database title after selecting Lookup at the
Field Type: prompt. A form may use up to three different
databases, with up to 150 lookup fields using these databases.
The form in the top half of the screen is replaced by a window
from which you may select the lookup database. The lookup
database must be in the same directory as the current database.
To select a database move the cursor bar to the database of your
choice and press [ENTER].
Lookup Match Field- Next, the cursor moves to the Match Field:
prompt. Here you will enter a field from the lookup database
that ProFile should use to locate the proper record. The lookup
database Match Field must be indexed (and ProFile will only let
you select a field that has been indexed). ProFile uses the
index to quickly find the proper record in the lookup database.
The top half of the screen will now display those fields in the
lookup database. You may move the cursor to any field in the
lookup database that has been indexed. Move the cursor to the
proper field and press [ENTER].
Lookup Retrieve Field- The information in the Lookup Retrieve
Field will be placed in the current field. For example, assume
you are defining the CUSTOMERNAME field as a Lookup field in the
Invoice database. You would like to enter a customer number and
have the appropriate customer name (from the customer database)
automatically inserted into the CUSTOMERNAME field in the invoice
database. In this case, you would want the Lookup Retrieve Field
to be the CUSTOMERNAME field from the customer database.
The lookup field being defined will assume the same Field Type
(either Text or Numeric) of the Lookup Retrieve Field. For
instance, the CUSTOMERNAME field in the invoice database will be
the same type (text) as the CUSTOMERNAME field in the customer
database.
When you are entering the Lookup Retrieve Field, ProFile will
display the fields from the lookup database in the top half of
the screen. Move the cursor bar to the appropriate field and
press [ENTER].
Search Field- The Search Field is the field in the current
database that you want to use to find the proper record in the
lookup database. For instance, in the invoice database example,
CUSTOMER_# would be the Current Database Search Field.
The top half of the screen will display the fields from which you
may choose the Current Database Search Field. Move the cursor
bar to the appropriate field and press [ENTER].
Database Design 28 ProFile
Lookup Field Attributes
The lookup field may be assigned Field Attributes. The lookup
field assumes the Field Type of the Lookup Database Match Field
i.e. Text or Numeric. However, entry rules and ranges are not
allowed for lookup fields.
See the section titled Creating Text and Numeric Fields for more
details on Field Attributes.
Stored Lookup Fields
You may choose to store the lookup field in the current database
or reference it via the lookup database. Storing the information
in the current database allows you to access the information in
the lookup field as you would any other text or numeric field.
This means that you may use it for sorting, selecting, indexing,
or for use in other databases. Stored lookup fields are
completed when the record is initially added, and do not change
if the information in the lookup database changes.
By choosing not to store a lookup field, you save disk space and
the information will always reflect what is in the lookup
database. You save space since the information is not duplicated
in the current database. It is always current because the
information is retrieved from the lookup database every time the
form is used. However, fields that are not stored may not be
used for sorting, selecting, or indexing.
Lookup Field Guidelines
o The lookup database must reside in the same subdirectory as
the current database.
o You may not use the current database as the lookup database.
o The Match Field in the lookup database must be a stored,
indexed field, either text or numeric.
o The Retrieve Field in the lookup database must be stored.
o The current field being defined as a lookup field will assume
the same Field Type as the Retrieve Field.
o The Current Database Search Field must be stored.
ProFile Database Design 29
Creating Calculated Fields
Creating a calculated field in a form is very similar to creating
a numeric field but you first enter a formula into the "Formula"
blank. The formula will look just like those used in spreadsheet
programs such as Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel. To reference a
field use an "F" followed by the field number.
Calculated fields are useful for totals, averages, extended
costs, etc.
To create a Calculated Field:
1. Using the up and down arrow keys, move the cursor to the
field you'd like to define as a calculated field.
2. Press [ENTER] to select this field. The cursor will move to
the attributes box.
3. At the Field Type: prompt, enter Calculation and then press
[ENTER].
After entering the field type, you enter the formula. Then you
may enter a series of options that control the current field.
See the section titled Creating Text and Numeric Fields for more
information on how to define field attributes.
Basic formulas use a field, an arithmetic operator ("+" for
addition, "-" for subtraction, "*" for multiplication, "/" for
division, "^" to raise to any power i.e 2^3 = 8) and another
field number. Formulas can be as simple as F9+F10 (field 9 plus
field 10). More advanced formulas can use ProFile's built-in
functions such as TAN (tangent) and ABS (absolute), and others.
The following are all valid formulas:
F9+F10 Field 9 plus Field 10.
F7+F8-F11 Field 7 plus Field 8 minus Field 11.
(F11*100) - F7 Field 11 times 100; minus Field 7.
ProFile checks the formula after you enter it. If it finds an
error, it beeps and displays the position of the first error that
it encountered. Common problems are incomplete parentheses,
invalid field references, and symbols that it does not
understand. To correct an error, just move the cursor to the
mistake and make the necessary changes.
Database Design 30 ProFile
Using Parentheses and Precedence
ProFile uses rules to determine what part of a formula gets
calculated first. The rules are listed below.
Generally, always use parentheses if there is any doubt about the
order of precedence. For instance, the formula F9+F11*100 means
Field 11 is multiplied by 100 and the result added to Field 9.
On the other hand, (F9+F10)*100 means that the result of adding
Field 9 with Field 10 is multiplied by 100.
Formula Functions
ProFile has a series of functions that can be used in formulas in
a calculated column. The general syntax is Fnc(Value) where Fnc
is the function and Value is either a constant or field number.
Figure #6 lists all ProFile functions with n meaning any valid
number.
Saving the Form
When you have finished defining the field attributes, save the
form by pressing F10. ProFile will perform a series of checks
to make certain that the information that you entered is correct
and then ask if you want to continue. Any errors that it finds
will be displayed and you will return to the Define Field
Attributes screen to correct the errors.
If everything is fine, ProFile will report the number of lines in
the form, number of fields and record length.
Note- You cannot continue until all field attributes have
been properly setup. If all fields are not complete,
ProFile will beep and inform you of the first
incomplete field it finds.
ProFile Database Design 31
If you must exit, press [Esc] twice from the Define
Field Attributes screen. You may save the Form Design
by answering Yes to the Save Form Design
[Y/N]? prompt.
Syntax Command Use
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ABS(n) Absolute Returns the absolute value of N.
SQRT(n) Square Root Square root of N.
SQR(n) Square Returns the square of N.
SIN(n) Sine Returns the sine of N. N is
expressed in radians and the result
is a real number.
COS(n) Cosine Returns the cosine of N. N is
expressed in radians and the result
is a real number.
ARCTAN(n) Arc Tangent Returns the angle, in radians,
whose tangent is N.
LN(n) Natural Returns the natural logarithm of
N.
LOG(n) Logarithm Returns the logarithm of N,
i.e. LN(N)/LN(10).
EXP(n) Exponential Returns the exponential of N,
i.e. enum.
Figure: Calculated column formula functions
Form Design Hints
Planning ahead means that you get greater use out of ProFile with
less effort spent. Listed below are items that should be
considered when designing a form:
Make the Form Aesthetically Pleasing- Make it pleasing to the
eye, uncrowded, and lay it out logically. It will be easier to
work with, less error-prone, and more efficient.
Use Descriptive and Unique Field Names- ProFile lets you use up
to 12 characters to describe a field; use them. "LastName" is
more instructive than "LName".
Database Design 32 ProFile
Include Enough Fields- ProFile is a powerful tool and it gives
you a lot of flexibility. You can even add more fields to your
database after you have filled in many forms. But planning ahead
is always better so try to anticipate what information you need
to keep track of and include those fields in your form design.
Field Attribute Problems and Errors
ProFile checks the information entered in the Field Attribute
section to make certain that no mistakes are made. Below is a
list of problems and how to correct them.
No index field defined- You must select the Indexed option on at
least one field in your database. When ProFile checked, it could
not find any fields that were indexed. Move the cursor bar to
the appropriate field to be indexed and press [ENTER]. At the
prompt Index: type Yes.
Over Maximum Characters- The maximum number of characters
allowed in a form is 3,000. If you define a form with more than
the maximum, ProFile will warn you and return to the Define Field
Attributes screen. Reduce the number of characters in several
fields or, if necessary, eliminate a few fields to reduce the
overall record size.
Calculation Error- ProFile has found an error in a formula for a
calculated field. Fix the error and then press [ENTER]. See the
preceding section on Formulas for instruction on how to properly
create a formula.
Lookup Field references a deleted field- You have a lookup field
whose Search Field has been deleted. Move the cursor to that
lookup field and select it. Press F2 to change the lookup
information. Move the cursor to Search Field and select a new
field.
Too many index fields- You are allowed up to 10 index fields per
database. Change the Index: prompt to No and then press F10 to
continue. Note that anytime you define a field as Unique the
field is automatically indexed.
Too many databases- You have defined a lookup field that and
have exceeded the number of other databases that the current form
may access. A form may access up to three databases for lookup
functions.
ProFile Database Design 33
Data and Index Files
In addition to the Form Definition file, your database uses a
Data file and up to ten Index files. Here's a review of what
these files do:
Data File- A collection of records (filled in forms) on disk.
Index File- ProFile uses an Index files to keep track of the
order of the information in the Data file.
ProFile loads the Data and Index files after you have entered the
Form Definition file name. If ProFile cannot find these files,
it will create them automatically.
Disabled Lookup Fields
ProFile checks each of the lookup databases. If it can't find a
referenced database, it disables the lookup fields for that
database. You may still enter information into a form, but the
fields that referenced the lookup database will be unavailable.
Typical errors involve either the Match or Retrieve field being
deleted or perhaps that names of those fields have been changed.
The easiest way to correct the problem is to use the Layout
function to redefine the lookup fields in the current database
that have been disabled.
Add Data 34 ProFile
Add Data
After you've designed your form, you may now add data to it. To
do so, choose the Add function from the Main Menu. A blank form
will appear, as shown in figure #7.
Figure 7: Add Data function
To enter data in a form:
1. To fill out the form, just type in the information.
2. When you've finished entering your data into a field, press
[ENTER] to move to the next field. You may also use the up
and down arrow and tab keys to move around the form.
3. When you are finished filling out the form press F10.
ProFile will save the form and then present another empty
form.
4. When you're through entering forms, press [Esc] and answer
Yes to the exit prompt. You will then return to the Main
Menu.
ProFile Add Data 35
Changing the Data
As you enter information into the blank form, you may change it
as you like:
o Use the cursor, tab, up and down arrow, [Home], and [End] keys
to move around to the appropriate field.
o Use the left and right arrow keys to move within a field.
o Press ^[Home] (control-Home) to erase a field from the current
cursor position.
o Press [Ins] to enter overwrite mode; press it again to toggle
to insert mode.
The following chart summarizes the editing keystrokes:
Key Use
-------- ---
[<--] (backspace) key will delete characters to the left
of the cursor.
[-->|] (tab) key will move the cursor the next field.
[|<--] (shift tab) key will move the cursor to the
previous field.
[Ins] Will toggle the program between insert and typeover
mode.
[Del] Deletes the character under the cursor.
Up Move to the beginning of the previous field.
Arrow
Down Move to the beginning of the next field.
Arrow
[^->] (Ctrl-Right Arrow or ^F) Moves to the next word in
text fields.
[^<-] (Ctrl-Left Arrow or ^A) Moves to the previous word
in text fields.
[^Home] Deletes all the characters to the right of the
cursor.
[Home] Moves to the beginning of a field or the top of the
database form.
Add Data 36 ProFile
[End] Moves to the end of a field or to the end of a
database form.
[Esc] Exit to the Main Menu.
Entering Information in Formatted Fields
When a form is designed, ProFile lets you control what
information is entered into each field. If you try to enter
information that is not allowed, ProFile will beep and the cursor
will not move. See page #24 in the Database Design section for a
list of field types and allowable characters.
Dates should be entered in the format "MM/DD/YY". Remember, only
numbers are allowed in a date field. Also, if the month or day
is only one digit, place a "0" first, i.e. June 1, 1988 would
appear as "06/01/88".
Required, Unique, and Must Fill Fields
In addition to type checked fields, ProFile allows fields to be
designated as required, unique and must fill during the database
design process. These "entry rules" allow the database designer
to control what information is entered into a form and to ensure
a form is completed properly. If these fields are not completed
properly, ProFile asks you to do so when you try enter the
information or save the record. See page #27 in the Database
Design section for more information on creating "entry rules".
A Required field must always have information entered into it.
For instance, in our mailing list example, LAST NAME could be
designated as required. This would ensure that all records in
the database had a last name. Other examples of possible
required fields include customer numbers, part numbers, dates,
etc.
Unique fields must only appear once in a database. When you
enter data in a field designated unique, ProFile checks the
database to see if the information has previously been entered.
For instance, you might designate a customer number field to be
unique in a customer database. This would ensure that there were
no duplicate customer numbers, since ProFile would automatically
check each number when the customer information was entered.
Must Fill fields must have the information blank completely
filled before the record can be saved. A date field could be
designated must fill so that a user would not enter a partial
date. ProFile checks when the information is entered and stops
ProFile Add Data 37
the user from proceeding if a must fill field is not completed.
Must fill fields may be left empty, i.e. no data entered. To
make certain a user completes the field and enters data, the
field should be designated required and must fill.
Range Checking
ProFile allows a range to be specified for numeric fields. The
ranges are specified during the database design. See page #27
under Database Design for more information on minimum and maximum
values (ranges). When a number is entered into a field, ProFile
checks to see if a range has been specified for that field. If
it has, it then checks the number to make certain that it falls
within the range. You will receive a warning if the number falls
outside of the range specified, after which you may correct you
entry and proceed.
Lookup Fields
Lookup fields are used to speed data entry by letting the
computer pull in information from another database. For
instance, when entering information into an invoice database, you
could enter a customer name and have the computer fill in the
customer address. The address fields (street address, city,
state, and zip) are lookup fields. The customer name is the
search field, or key field, by which ProFile searches another
database for the customer address. Lookup fields are created
during the database design process. See page #28 for more
information.
After entering information into a lookup search field, ProFile
automatically looks into the appropriate database so that it may
fill in the respective lookup fields. If it cannot find the
data, it will then present a sorted list that most closely
matches the information that you entered. You may also use this
feature to search for the right information. For instance, by
entering "S" in a customer name field (that has been designated a
search field for other lookup fields), ProFile would list
alphabetically customers starting with "S". If you had none, it
would look for "T", "U", etc.
Non-stored Fields and Calculated Fields
Most fields in a form are filled in by you when you enter
information. Lookup fields and calculated fields are completed
by ProFile. As you move from field to field, the cursor will
jump over non-stored lookup fields and calculated fields. (No
user entry is allowed in these fields.)
Add Data 38 ProFile
Copying Information From the Previous Form
Many times when you fill in forms, there is duplicate information
from one form to the next. For example, if you are filling out
forms for a mailing list you might have five people from the same
company. Instead of retyping the company name for each person,
ProFile lets you "copy" the information from the same field in
the previous form into your current form by pressing the "ditto"
key F4.
The Field Help Line
ProFile offers general help on any function that you are
currently using. To get help just press F1.
In addition to this, ProFile lets you create special help lines
that appear when you are adding information to your database.
This help line can assist you in completing the form by
explaining what information a field should contain. Or, the help
line might list codes or abbreviations that can be entered in a
field.
Once you have created the help line, it is displayed on the line
immediately below the form (line 24) on your screen. As you move
from field to field in the form, the help line for the current
field will be displayed. If there is no help, the line will be
blank.
Remember, field help is only available if someone creates it
first. It's simple to create help lines and once created, they
are always available. See page #26 in the previous section on
Defining Field Attributes to learn how.
Printing the Form
To print the form and the information that you have entered press
F9.
To print the current form:
1. Press F9 when in the Add or Edit function. This will bring
up the current print settings.
2. You may now change, if needed, the top and bottom margin,
page length and print margin (the print margin prints the
entire form further to the right). Press [ENTER] to accept
the displayed settings or enter in a new value.
ProFile Add Data 39
3. Answer Yes to the "Continue ?" prompt to print, No to
re-enter the print values.
You may exit the Print function at any time by pressing [Esc].
Note- The F9 key works differently than the PrtSc key.
Pressing shift-[PrtSc] prints out everything that
appears on the screen, including the information above
and below the form. Pressing F9 prints only your form
and the information that is currently in it. To print
a series of forms, see page #55.
Edit Data 40 ProFile
Edit Data
To edit existing information, choose the Edit function from the
Main Menu. Your form and the Edit Menu will appear as shown in
figure #8.
The Edit function provides three major uses:
o To search for and display records based on your
specifications.
o To correct information in a form.
o To permanently delete records from your database.
With Edit, you may:
o Skip to the next or previous record in index (sometimes called
key field) order.
o Go to the first or last record in the database in index order.
o Select a group of records to display and then view each one on
the screen.
o Find a specific record by key field or record number.
o Delete the current record.
o Display a record on the screen and correct or edit it, if
desired.
o Print out the current record.
About Your Displayed Form
When the Edit function is activated, the computer screen shows
your form filled in with the information from the first record
(in index order).
As noted in the Form Design section, your form may be up to 100
lines long. The edit screen can display only 19 lines. If your
form is longer than 19 lines, press the up and down arrow keys to
display another section of the form. On line 24, ProFile
displays the status of the Edit Selection Spec, and the active
index field.
ProFile Edit Data 41
The Edit Menu
The Edit Menu is displayed horizontally along the bottom. To
select a menu choice, move the cursor bar with the <- -> keys to
your choice and press [ENTER]. Or, press the highlighted letter
of your menu choice.
Total, Deleted, and Current Records
In the upper left hand corner of the screen, a line displays the
total number of forms currently in use in your database and the
"record number" of the form currently displayed on the screen.
ProFile keeps track of the number of active (filled-in) records
in your database, the number and position of records that have
been deleted, and the position of the displayed record. It
displays the total number of records and the position of the
current record in the top left corner.
Figure 8: Edit Data Menu
"Ttl= X" means X is the "total active records" in your database.
This number does not include any empty records that have been
removed with the Delete feature.
Edit Data 42 ProFile
"Rec= X" signifies that X is the "record number" or position
(relative to the beginning of the file) of the filled-in form
currently displayed on your screen.
Sometimes "Rec= X" will show an X that is larger than the total
number of active records ("Ttl= X" number). There is no need to
be concerned. This happens because of the way ProFile handles
records that have been removed with the Delete option (which is
discussed in this section).
When a record is deleted, it leaves an empty record in your
database. ProFile keeps track of these and reuses them when you
add new records.
For example, if you had 20 customers in your database and deleted
XYZ Company (record number 19), ProFile would mark that record as
deleted. The total number of customers would now be 19. If you
were to display the 20th customer in your database, ProFile would
display the current record number as 20, while indicating that
there were only 19 customers total in your database.
Since ProFile re-uses empty (deleted) record positions, the next
time you add a new customer, ProFile will place it in the empty
record created by deleting XYZ Company (record 19).
The main point to keep in mind here is don't worry if the
displayed record number is greater than the total active records
because ProFile is smart enough to keep track of all of these
details for you.
Edit an Existing Record
To edit the record displayed on the screen, move the cursor bar
to the Edit selection and press [ENTER]. The cursor will move to
the first field in the form (unless it's an auto date field, in
which case it will skip to the second field). Then, using the up
and down arrow keys, move the cursor to the field you'd like to
change. Repeat this procedure until all corrections or updates
are made. See the previous section on adding records for more
information on keystrokes to edit information in a form.
Note- An auto date field is not changed when you edit a
record. To change it to today's date, move the cursor
to the auto date field and then press the "ditto" (F4)
key.
ProFile Edit Data 43
Next and Previous
The Next and Prev functions are powerful and easy to use. They
allow you to browse through your database one record at a time.
These functions use the Index file that ProFile maintains
automatically for you. This means the database will be ordered
by the active index field.
For instance, if your key field was Zip Code, ProFile will
initially display the record with the lowest Zip code in your
database. Pressing Next displays a higher Zip code, with Prev
displaying a lower number. When you reach the end of your
database, Next will "loop" to the first record. Conversely, if
you are at the first record, Prev will "loop" and display the
last record.
If you have created a Selection Spec, it will act as a filter on
the database, displaying only those records that meet the
specifications you have defined. For example, pressing Next will
display the next record that meets the Selection Spec. The
message in the lower right corner of the screen indicates whether
a Selection Spec is active.
Search
The Search feature lets you quickly find any record in your
database. ProFile uses your database's Index file to do this.
When you select Search, ProFile will prompt you to enter a value
for which to search. If you have more than one field indexed,
you may use the Index menu choice to change to the field of your
choice. See Index this section for more information.
If you designated the Last Name field as the active index field,
ProFile would prompt you to enter a last name. It then tries to
match the last name you entered with someone in your database
that has a last name GREATER THAN OR EQUAL to the last name you
entered. Once it has located the correct record, it then
displays it on the screen for editing, deleting, printing, or
examining.
For instance, entering "S" at the prompt will make ProFile search
for the first record where the last name started with "S". If
can't find any, it then looks at names that start with "T" then
"U", etc. If none are found, ProFile alerts you with a warning.
Edit Data 44 ProFile
First and Last Record
First displays the first record and Last displays the last record
in the database. Think of your database as a stack of completed
forms arranged by the active index field. First would show you
the form on top, while Last would display the form on the bottom
of the stack.
Deleting Records
Choose Delete to permanently remove the displayed record. Before
it removes the record, ProFile will prompt you to affirm your
delete request.
If a majority of the records in your database are deleted, use
the Pack option in the Utilities Menu. It will improve system
performance by reorganizing the database, removing all empty
records and freeing up space on your disk. See page #115 for
more information on Pack.
Go To a Record
Each record (filled-in form) in your database has a record number
associated with it. When you create your database, the first
record entered is record number 1, the second is record number 2,
etc. The record number of the currently displayed form is shown
in the upper left-hand corner.
The Record option lets you go directly to a specific record
number. This is another way of viewing your database. When you
are editing your database, sometimes it is easier to go directly
to a record number than it is to use the other searching
capabilities of ProFile.
Note- If the record number that you specify is a deleted
(empty) record, ProFile will advise you so and not let
you access it.
Count
Count lets you count records in a database that meet the
Selection Spec (or to count all records if a All Records has been
selected).
To count records, simply select Count. ProFile will display the
number of records that meet your selection criteria on the status
line.
ProFile Edit Data 45
You may cancel count at anytime by pressing [Esc].
Select
Choose this option to create a new Selection Spec described in
the following section.
The Selection Spec controls what records are viewed when using
Count, Next, Prev, First and Last. It acts as a filter allowing
only those records that meet your criteria to be displayed.
A message will be displayed in the lower right corner when a
Selection Spec has been defined. Otherwise it will indicate that
all records will be viewed.
To browse through the database using a Selection Spec:
1. Using the Select option, create a Selection Spec to tell
ProFile what records to find. ProFile will now locate the
first record that meets your selection criteria.
2. Use Next, Prev, First, and Last to view other records that
meet your criteria.
At any time you can edit and change the information in the form
that is currently displayed.
Index
The Index function lets you choose the active index field. The
active index controls the order in which the records are
displayed, and what field the search function uses to quickly
find records.
To choose a new active index, select Index from the edit menu.
ProFile will then display a list of your fields and let you move
among those fields that were designated as indexed during
database design. Use the cursor keys to move the cursor bar to
the new index field and press [ENTER].
It's often handy to have several fields designated as indexed so
that you can view your data in different ways. For instance, by
indexing on both last name and entry date in our sample database,
we may order the database either by last name, or the date the
record was entered.
Edit Data 46 ProFile
Printing the Current Form
To get a printed copy of the form currently displayed, press F9.
See page #41 for more information.
The Selection Spec
The Selection Spec is used throughout ProFile to give you control
over the information in your database. The Selection Spec is
used to select a subset of your database for examination,
reports, labels or changes. ProFile uses menus to help you
build a Selection Spec.
For example, assume that you'd like to see all of your customers
that are in Chicago. First, you'd create a Selection Spec that
says-
CITY Equal Chicago
ProFile would then search the database, looking at all the City
fields for any customer in Chicago.
To make the Search more specific, you could add another test for
each customer record:
CITY Equal Chicago AND
SALES Greater Than 1000000
Using this criteria, ProFile will find all companies in Chicago
with sales greater than $1 million.
Selection Spec Menu
When a Selection Spec is created, you start at the Selection Spec
Menu. The current Selection Spec is listed above the menu. If a
Spec has not been defined, the notation All Records will be
displayed.
The Selection Spec Menu lists four choices:
New Spec- Use this option to create a new Selection Spec.
If there is an existing Spec displayed, it will be
erased and a new one created.
Edit Spec- With this option you may edit an existing Spec.
If one has not been created, it will be created
for you.
ProFile Edit Data 47
All Records- Selecting this option clears the existing Spec and
defines the new Spec to be all records in the
database.
Done- Finished creating the Spec, exit Selection Spec
function.
Creating a Selection Spec
To create a Selection Spec:
1. Choose a field from your form.
2. Specify how the field should be compared.
3. Enter the information with which the field should be
compared.
4. You may add up to four additional selection tests.
The details for creating a Selection Spec follow. If at any time
you wish to start over, simply press [Esc] repeatedly until you
have reached the Selection Spec Menu.
Choosing a Field
The first screen displays a list of all of the fields in you
form. Move the cursor bar to the appropriate field and press
[ENTER] to select it. Note that you may move the cursor only to
those fields that are stored in your current database. Lookup
fields that are not stored may not be used in a Selection Spec.
After you select a field to test, ProFile will start to build
your statement on the line below the prompt. See figure #9.
Edit Data 48 ProFile
Figure 9: Selecting a field for a Selection Spec
Choosing the Comparison
Next, choose how ProFile should compare the field. (You'll enter
the information to be compared in just a moment.)
There are seven ways to compare information:
Comparisons:
1- Equal- The value in the field specified in step one (Select
Field) must exactly match the information entered in step 3.
For instance, choosing the City field and equal, then entering
"Chicago" will mean ProFile will search for all records where
the City field is equal to Chicago.
2- Not Equal- This means all records except those that have this
value. Using the above example but substituting Not Equal
(for Equal) will make ProFile search for any customer NOT in
Chicago.
3- Greater Than- Whatever is in this field must be greater than
the comparison information. Using the Sales field and Greater
Than and then entering "1000" directs ProFile to find all
customers with sales greater then $1,000.00.
ProFile Edit Data 49
4- Equal or Greater Than- This means match all fields with a
value at least equal to the entered information. Using Sales,
Greater Than and 1000 means any customer with sales of at
least $1000.00 will be selected.
5- Less Than- Matching fields have values less than the entered
comparison information. With a Date field, Less Than, and
"10/01/86", ProFile will select all dates BEFORE October 1,
1986.
6- Equal or Less Than- Match fields with a value not greater
than the entered comparison. Using the Less Than example but
using Less Than or Equal to means all records with dates ON or
BEFORE October 1, 1986 will be selected.
7- Contains- This is a useful function that can work on any
field except Number and calculated field types. It means
select records where the entered information is located
anywhere in the field. For example, if you use an Address
field, Contains and enter "Oak", ProFile will select records
that have words like Oak, Oak Tree, Oakleaf, Oakra, and Soak.
The Selection Spec is NOT CASE SENSITIVE. This means if you were
looking for customers in Chicago, any customer with chicago,
Chicago or CHICAGO would be selected.
Additionally, all choices except Contains (which does not work on
numeric field types) will work with either text (words) or
numbers. For example, using Last Name, Greater Than, and "Jones"
would select all last names alphabetically greater than
"Johnson". So Smith, Moore, and Jones would all be found.
ProFile treats words just like the dictionary does and compares
them in the same fashion.
Entering the Comparison Information
The information entered here is what ProFile uses to make the
selections. The prompt will display your field name and your
comparison, followed by a colon. Enter the information to be
compared and then press [ENTER]. (Think of this as a sentence
that you are completing).
If you had picked the field Sales, Greater Than and then entered
100 (means find all customers with sales above $100.00), the line
would look like this:
Sales Greater Than:100_____________
Edit Data 50 ProFile
Using OR, AND, or END with a Selection Spec
After you have defined the first test (the three steps outlined
above), you may finish the Selection Spec by choosing the END
option or, you may specify additional selection criteria
(actually you may add up to four additional tests, five total)
with the AND/OR choices. These are detailed next.
The last screen in defining the Selection Spec lists the
following choices:
1- AND- The record must pass the test you have just created AND
also must pass the next (new) one that you specify. You would
use this option to further define the scope of records for
which ProFile would search.
For instance, if you had created a Selection Spec that
specified all customers with sales over $100.00, you could
use AND to add an additional test for City Equal CHICAGO.
ProFile would then search for all customers with sales over
$100.00 AND who were in Chicago. The completed selection
spec would look like this:
Sales Greater Than 100.00 AND
City Equal CHICAGO
2- OR- The record must pass the test that you just created OR
pass the next (new) one that you specify. This option
broadens the scope of records for which ProFile will search.
ProFile Edit Data 51
Figure 10: Ending a Selection Spec
Suppose that you wanted to search for customers in Chicago
or St. Louis. After creating a Selection Spec that
specified City Equal CHICAGO, you would choose OR then
specify City Equal ST. LOUIS. It would look like this:
City Equal CHICAGO OR
City Equal ST. LOUIS
3- END- This option concludes the Selection Spec process.
Editing the Selection Spec
You may edit the Selection Spec by pressing [Esc], or F9.
At any screen except Select Fields you may press [Esc] to edit a
previous step. Pressing [Esc] at the Select Fields step will
allow you to quit the Create Selection Spec function.
Pressing F9 (at any screen except Select Fields) will allow you
to edit the entire Selection Spec, starting from the beginning.
Edit Data 52 ProFile
Other Important Details
The Selection Spec handles certain field types in special ways-
Dates When you enter a date always use the format
MM/DD/YY. After entering a date, ProFile will strip
the slashes (/) out and put the year first. It does
this so that you can search for dates across
multiple years.
For example, after entering "01/15/87" ProFile
writes on the screen "860115" (YYMMDD). Since it
orders it this way, you could create a Selection
Spec that would look for all dates between August 1,
1986 and January 15, 1987. The Selection Spec would
look like this:
Date Equal or Greater Than 860901 AND
Date Equal or Less Than 870115
Currency Numbers and currency may be entered with Numbers,
commas, and dollar signs. ProFile will
automatically strip these so it can properly compare
your entered criteria with that in the database.
Finally, remember that the Selection Spec is not case sensitive.
It considers upper and lower case characters as the same. In
fact, ProFile automatically capitalizes the Selection Spec for
you. For example, entering State Equal MD means ProFile will
find all records where the state field has MD, Md, md, or mD.
ProFile Report 53
Report
With the Report option you may take selected information from a
database, sort it, and display or print the information in a
column-style report or table. It is easy to create and use a
report.
Before using the Report option, you must first design your form
and then enter information into it.
Report Overview
There are three basic steps to getting a finished report:
1. Design the report. You choose what fields to include,
column headings, and widths, and define any calculated
columns.
2. Set the page and report options. These include page lengths
and margins, what records to include, and how they should be
ordered.
3. Print the report. You may print it to a printer, disk file,
or display the report on the screen.
With the Report option you may either design a new report or use
(and change) an existing one. To design a report, you tell
ProFile what information to take from the database and how to
arrange it in columns and rows. You may then print the report on
paper, to a disk file, or display it on screen. You may print
the report as soon as you have designed it or save it for later
use.
Once the report design has been saved to disk, it can be used
whenever you need it. You can use the same report even after you
have added, changed, or deleted records in the database. Changed
and new information in your database is automatically included in
a given report.
You may change or copy a report design that has been saved to
disk. The changes you make can be permanent or for one time
only. A database may have an unlimited number of reports and
with certain conditions, a report may be shared among different
databases (they must use the same field labels).
To get started, choose Report from the Print Menu.
Report 54 ProFile
Design a Report
It is easy to design a new report. Follow the steps below; the
details are given in the following pages.
1. After choosing Report from the Print Menu, enter a new file
name for the report.
2. Design the report using the Report Layout function.
3. Specify any report options from the Report Menu.
4. Enter in a Selection Spec and a Sort Spec, if you desire.
5. Print the report to screen, disk, or printer.
Entering a Report File Name
To choose an existing report or create a new one, you use the
File Manager. A brief overview of the File Manager follows. See
page #8 for a detailed discussion on its operation.
After choosing Report, the File Manager lists all the report
designs available on the current disk. Use the arrow keys to
move the cursor bar to an existing report, or if you are
designing a new report, choose a name for it and enter it on the
prompt line.
If you enter or choose an existing report name, ProFile will load
the report design. Next the Report Menu will be displayed. See
page #67 for more information on it.
If you are designing a new report, ProFile will inform you that
it cannot find the file that you have entered and ask if it
should be created.
Report Layout Menu
The Report Layout Menu is displayed when a new report design is
created or after selecting Layout from the Report Menu.
ProFile uses a menu to help you create report layouts. The menu
has options to add, edit, insert, or delete columns in your
report. ProFile helps you by displaying your report design on
the screen.
At the top of the Report Menu is a ruler line. As you create the
report, it is displayed below the ruler. If a report is wider
ProFile Report 55
than 80 characters, pressing the F4 and F5 keys will move the
report display right one character and 80 characters,
respectively. Press F3 and F5 to move left one character and 80
characters, respectively. The status line to the left of the
Report Layout Menu lists the number of columns and the width of
your report.
The following options appear on the Report Layout Menu.
Add- This option lets you add columns to the end of the
report.
Edit- To edit a column, enter in the column number to edit
and press [ENTER]. Make any changes and then press
F10 to save and return to the Report Layout Menu.
Pressing [Esc] will exit to the Report Layout Menu,
discarding any changes.
Insert- Works like Add but lets you choose the column number
to insert.
Delete- Deletes the column of your choice.
Heading- Use this option to change the headings that appear
above each column of the report. You may use up to
three lines for column headings. The column heading
will default to the field name when the column is
created, after which it may be changed as desired.
Done- Finished designing. Return to the Report Menu.
Designing the Report Layout
You create the layout of the report. The finished report looks
like a large table with columns and rows. Each column is a field
and each row is a record.
Here's how to design a report layout:
1. Make certain that you are at the Report Layout Menu.
2. Select Add from the menu.
3. Choose the field from the list that you want to appear in
this column. (Or, select CALCULATION for a calculated
column. More on this shortly.)
4. Next, the Report Column Detail screen appears. ProFile
automatically fills in the column heading and width. You
may change these or accept the given values.
Report 56 ProFile
Figure 11: Report Layout Menu
5. You may specify report totals, subtotals, averages, sub-
average counts, and subcounts. You may also designate the
number of decimal places for numeric columns and how the
column should be centered.
6. Press F10 when done.
After you press F10, you will be prompted Add Another Column
[Y/N]?. Entering Yes lets you continue adding columns while No
takes you back to the Report Layout Menu.
You may continue adding columns until your report is completed.
Use the edit, insert, and delete functions to alter the report
design as needed.
Figure #11 and figure #12 show the Report Layout Menu and Report
Column Detail screens.
ProFile Report 57
Adding a New Column
Choose the Add function from the Report Layout Menu to add a
column to your report. You may use Add when you create a new
report or to add additional columns to one that you previously
created and saved.
Figure 12: Adding a field to a report
After choosing Add, you select the appropriate field from the
list (or select CALCULATION to create a calculated column; more
on this soon). All of the fields in your form are listed by
name. You may move the cursor bar to select a field with the
cursor keys. Selecting a field name means that the information
from this field will appear in this column.
Report Column Detail
The next screen, Report Column Detail, allows you to enter in the
specifications for this column. At the top of the screen,
ProFile lists the column number, the field associated with this
column and the current report width and total number of columns.
Below this are a series of options that control the current
column. Here are the details.
Report 58 ProFile
Length- This controls the width of the current column. Enter
in a number from 0 to 99. Remember to leave enough
room for any totals, counts, decimal places, etc. that
will need to be printed.
Decimal- Valid only for numbers. Enter a decimal place up to 9.
If this is a text column, Decimal will be skipped.
Wrap- For text information only. Enter a "Y" to have the
data associated with this column wrapped (like in a
word processor) or "N" to have any values that are too
long truncated.
Format- Valid only for numbers. There are three options, "N"
for numbers, "$" for currency and "%" for percent.
These options will cause numeric data to be formatted
accordingly, i.e. currency with a "$" and percents with
"%". All numeric fields will be formatted with commas
when printed.
Options- This function controls what totals, subtotals, counts,
etc. should be performed on this field. See the
section below, Column Calculation Options for more
details.
Subtotal Field #-
Valid only if a math option (see Option above) was
entered. This controls which field in the database
should cause the column to subtotal, subcount, etc.
Enter in the field number (not column number) which,
when its value changes, should cause this column to be
subtotaled.
Print Repeat Data-
Enter a "Y" to always print the data in this column.
"N" means only print this data when the value changes.
Text When Blank-
Enter in the text that should be printed if the field
associated with this column is empty.
Column Spacing-
Enter the number of spaces that should be inserted
between this column and the one that follows.
Justify Heading-
This is the initial justification for the column
heading. Enter an "L" to left justify, an "R" to right
justify and a "C" to center. Any changes made to the
column heading using the Heading option on the Report
ProFile Report 59
Layout Menu will override the this setting (unless the
column data is edited).
Justify Data-
This is the justification for the column data. Enter
an "L" to left justify, an "R" to right justify and a
"C" to center.
Report Column Guidelines
Listed below are a few guidelines for creating columns:
1. Make certain that the column is wide enough for the data
that goes in it. If a column is too short, alphabetic
information will be truncated (or wrapped, depending on the
Wrap setting) and numeric data will appear as asterisks
(indicating there was not enough room for the number). When
calculating the column width for numbers, don't forget to
include decimal places, the decimal point, commas and, if
currency, a floating dollar sign.
2. ProFile keeps track of the field labels associated with the
report column. It doesn't matter if you change the form by
adding fields or changing the order of the existing fields;
your reports will still work.
If you delete a field from your form that appears in a
report, upon loading the report, ProFile will inform you
that the field was not found. When you print the report,
ProFile will insert "N/A" (not available) in the column
where the information from the field would have appeared.
Note- Although ProFile keeps track of the fields, it does
not automatically change the numbers in calculations or the
Subtotal Field #. You must perform these changes yourself.
Report Calculation Options
Column options allow you to perform calculations on report
columns that contain numeric information. ProFile does this when
you put the proper code in the "Options" blank when adding,
inserting, or editing a column.
Adding column calculation codes:
1. Choose Add, Edit, or Insert from the Report Layout Menu.
Enter the appropriate field or column number and press
[ENTER].
Report 60 ProFile
2. Move to the Options blank.
3. Enter the column calculation code from the table below. You
may enter more than one calculation from the chart, but be
sure to separate each one by a space or comma.
4. Finally, move the cursor to the Subtotal Field # prompt and
enter in the number of the field which, when its value
changes, should cause this column to to subtotal (or
subaverage, subcount).
5. Enter any other information that you wish. Press F10 to
continue.
Code Command Meaning Location
----------------------------------------------------------------
T Total Print Column Total Report Bottom
A Average Print Column Average
C Count Print Column Count
ST Subtotal Print Subtotal At Column Breaks
SA Subaverage Print Subaverages
SC Subcount Print Subcount
Note- All of the Sub functions: subtotal, subaverage, and
subcount, will automatically print out the companion function at
the end of the report, i.e. subtotal also prints a report total,
subaverage also prints a report average, etc.
Figure: Chart of column calculations
Report Finals
The final results of totals, averages and counts will appear at
the end of the report beneath the column on which the function is
performed. See figure #14.
Report Subcalculations
ProFile can also do subcalculations on values that appear in a
column. Subcalculations are done when the value of the subtotal
field changes. See figure #15 for an example.
ProFile Report 61
Calculated Columns
You create a calculated column to produce information that is not
available from an existing field in your form. For example, if
you had a form with a field for state taxes and a field for
federal taxes, you could create a calculated column to add them
together and produce a "Total Tax" column in a report.
ProFile ordinarily gets information for a column from your
database. It creates calculated columns by performing
calculations on information in your database or other calculated
columns. There is no limit to the number of calculated columns
appearing in a report.
Figure: Sample sorted report with totals
Report 62 ProFile
To create a calculated column:
1. Choose Add or Insert from the Report Layout Menu. Select
CALCULATION from the field list by moving the cursor bar to
it and pressing [ENTER].
2. Enter the width, decimal, options, etc. as you would for a
standard column.
3. Move to the Formula prompt and enter your calculation. See
the details below.
4. Press F10 when done.
5. Add the column header as needed.
Figure: Report with subtotals, sorted by city
ProFile Report 63
Creating Formulas
Creating a calculated column in a report is easy; just enter a
formula into the "Formula" blank. The formula will look just
like those used in a calculated field in the form. Or like those
in spreadsheet programs such as Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel.
To reference a field or column, use an "F" for fields and a "C"
for column, followed by the field or column number.
Basic calculations use a field or column number, an arithmetic
operator ("+" for addition, "-" for subtraction, "*" for
multiplication, "/" for division, "^" to raise to
any power i.e 2^3 = 8) and another field or column number.
Formulas can be as simple as F9+F10 (field 9 plus field 10).
More advanced formulas can use ProFile's built-in functions such
as TAN (tangent) and ABS (absolute).
The following are all valid formulas:
F9+F10 Field 9 plus Field 10.
F7+F8-F11 Field 7 plus Field 8 minus Field 11.
(F11*100) - C7 Field 11 times 100; subtract the result from
Column 7.
ProFile checks the formula after you enter it. If it finds an
error, it beeps and displays the position of the first error that
it encountered. Common problems are incomplete parentheses,
Report 64 ProFile
invalid field or column references, and symbols that it does not
understand. To correct an error, just move the cursor to the
mistake and make the necessary changes.
Self Referencing Columns
ProFile allows you to create formulas where a column will
reference itself, which is extremely useful for printing running
totals. Assume that column #3, in a report, references a field
called "Sales". You can create a calculated column (column #5)
with the formula C4+C5 and label it "Total Sales". ProFile will
add the value from the previous row of "Total Sales" to the
current value in "Sales" and then place the result in the current
row of "Total Sales".
Error Messages for Formulas
When printing the report, ProFile uses two messages to let you
know that there is a problem. Either error message will appear
in the column where ProFile finds the problem.
ERR- This message means that the field or column does not
contain a valid number.
DIV 0- If the formula in a calculated column asks ProFile to
divide by zero, or an invalid argument was passed to a
the Sqrt, Ln or Log function, ProFile puts DIV 0 in the
report. Use Report Layout to examine the problem formula
and make whatever changes are appropriate.
Invisible Columns
Sometimes you might want to create a column for an intermediate
calculation but the column should not be printed in the report.
This is called an invisible column. To create an invisible
column, simply set the length of the column to zero (0). It is
just like a standard column except that it does not appear in a
report. Invisible columns are used for intermediate calculations
for other calculated columns.
Since the column is invisible, it will not appear below the ruler
line in the Report Layout section. To examine or delete it,
simply use the Edit or Delete function and enter in the number of
the invisible column.
ProFile Report 65
Column Headings
ProFile lets you create column headings that will appear above
each column when the report is printed. Column headings may be
up to three lines and as wide as the associated column.
The column heading is initially set to the field name associated
with the column. This may be changed as with the Heading option
on the Report Layout Menu. The heading will be initially
justified according to the Justify Heading setting on the Column
Detail screen. If the heading is changed, the change will
supercede the initial setting (unless the column detail is edited
at a later time).
To set column headings:
1. Select Heading from the Report Layout Menu.
2. Column number 1 will be highlighted. You may edit this
column or [Tab] to the appropriate column.
3. Use the up and down arrow keys to move to the correct line
and enter or delete the heading as needed.
4. Continue to [Tab] to the other columns to make additional
changes.
5. Press F10 to return to the Report Layout Menu.
6. Pressing Esc will cancel any changes to the current column
and then return to the Report Layout Menu. All other
columns changes will remain.
Report Menu
The Report Menu appears after selecting an existing report or
when finished creating a new design.
The Report Menu options listed below control how the report is
printed.
Format- This option allows you to change the report margins,
insert printer control codes and choose the print
destination.
Layout- Use this choice to access the Report Layout function to
make additional changes to the current report.
Select- Create or change the Selection Spec.
Report 66 ProFile
Sort- Create or change the Sort Spec.
Hdr/Ftr- This option creates the report header and footers that
are printed at the top and bottom of each page in a
report.
New- Selecting New from the Report Menu lets you retrieve a
new report design. Before exiting, you will be asked
if you'd like to save your current report.
Save- Choose the Save option to store the report design and
any changes you may have made permanently on disk.
Print- Print the report.
Done- Once you have finished with your report, press F10 or
select Done to return to the Print Menu. If you have
made changes to a report design and have not saved it,
you will be given a chance to do so.
Figure 17: Report Menu
ProFile Report 67
Format
Selecting Format on the Report Menu brings up the Page and Report
Format screen. This function lets you set various options that
control how your report will look and what information will
appear in it.
To change settings on the Page and Report Format screen:
1. Use the up and down arrow keys to move to the item that you
want to change.
2. Type in the new value for the item. Check the status line
below the format box to see what a special option means.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for other values that you'd like to
change.
4. Press F10 when done.
Your printed report contains a top margin, report header,the body
of the report, a footer and then a bottom margin. It looks like
this:
Top of Page
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TOP MARGIN
-------
HEADER
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Body of Report
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTER
-------
BOTTOM MARGIN
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bottom of Page
Figure: Example of report format
Report 68 ProFile
The length of a printed page is measured in lines. To correctly
format a printed page in your report, remember this formula:
report body (i.e. printed data) = page length - length of header
and footer - top margin - bottom margin. This means that if your
page length is 66 (a standard 8.5" X 11.0" piece of paper) and
your top and bottom margins are 2 each, and you have a one line
header and footer, the body of your report will be 66-2-2-2,
which equals 60 lines long.
Format Options
The following describes what each of the options on the Page and
Report Format screen mean.
Printer Setup- Use printer setup to send special formatting
codes to the printer before the report is printed. Many dot
matrix and laser printers have different font and pitch options
that can be turned on by sending the appropriate codes to them.
The codes usually are a mix of control characters (characters
that are not printable) and regular characters, i.e. A-Z and
0-9.
To signify a control character, use a caret and then the letter
of the control code. For instance, to send a Control N to the
printer (this turns on condensed mode in Epson printers), type a
caret (^) and then "N", giving you ^N. To send a caret to the
printer, type in a caret (^) and then a space (the space is
ignored), i.e. ^space =^. See your printer manual for
information on what control codes work for your printer.
Page Length- This is the overall length of each sheet of paper,
in lines. A standard 8.5" X 11.0" piece of paper is 66 lines
long.
Top Margin- The number of blank lines at the beginning of each
page.
Bottom Margin- The number of blank lines at the end of each
page.
Print Margin- The number of characters the ENTIRE report is
shifted to the right. Increase the print margin if the report
prints on the continuous form perforation or to center a narrow
report.
Page Width- The width of the page in characters.
ProFile Report 69
Print to Printer, Screen, Disk- Enter in "P","S", or "D".
Printer- Entering "P" causes the report to be printed.
Screen- Printing to screen lets you preview your report
before printing a hard copy. This option displays the report
as you've specified, but it doesn't use top and bottom margins
and the report headings stay fixed at the top of the screen.
When displaying the report on screen, you may pause by
pressing any key. Touching a key again, except [Esc], resumes
printing. After the screen is paused, you may press [Esc] to
quit printing the report.
Disk- When a report is printed to disk, ProFile puts a copy
of the report in a file. (You enter the file name after
pressing F10, which signifies that you are done.) The copy
may be printed at a later time by a word processing program or
included in a word processing document.
Stop at New Page- Answer Yes to have ProFile prompt you at the
end of each page. Answer No if you are using continuous form
paper or printing to disk.
Hint: If you are printing to screen, set the page length to 22
and New Page to Yes. This will cause ProFile to pause after each
screen of information.
Report Headers and Footers
Your report may contain headers and footers. These may be up to
three lines long and 80 characters wide.
Headers and footers are handy for including general information
about the report being printed. Also, they may contain keywords
which will print the page number, date and file associated with
the current report.
Entering Headers and Footers
To enter header and footers, follow these steps.
1. Choose Hdr/Ftr from the Report Menu.
2. If you would like ProFile to create the default header,
answer "Y" to the prompt. The default may be changed as
desired.
Report 70 ProFile
3. Use the arrow keys to move around on the screen, entering
information or keywords as needed.
4. Press F10 to return to the Report Menu.
Any blank lines following the header or footer will not be
printed.
Figure 19: The Hdr/Ftr screen
Header and Footer Keywords
A keyword tells ProFile that special information should be
printed in place of the keyword. To enter a keyword in a header
or footer, type the "@" symbol followed by the keyword. The
following lists the keywords and their meaning.
@FILENAME- Prints the database file name. This is handy for
reports that are used by multiple databases to
distinguish which database was used for a given
report.
@PAGE- Prints the current page number at this location.
@TODAY- Prints the current date at this location.
See Figure #19 for an example of the Header/Footer option.
ProFile Report 71
Selection Spec
To create a Selection Spec choose Select from the Report Menu.
You don't always want to print all the records in your database.
To limit your report to specific records, you create a Selection
Spec. The Selection Spec used here is just like the one you may
create using the Select option in the Edit (records) function.
The following information gives a brief overview of creating a
Selection Spec. For more detailed information, see page #48 in
the Edit section.
Using an Existing Selection Spec
If you are printing a report that was previously created and the
design included a Selection Spec, the Format screen above the
Report Menu will list the Selection Spec as being active. The
Spec may be viewed by choosing Select from the Report Menu.
Creating a Selection Spec
The Selection Spec lets you control the information in your
database. ProFile uses menus to help you build a Selection Spec.
To create a Selection Spec:
1. Choose Select from the Report Menu.
2. Next, the Selection Spec Menu will be displayed. Select New
to create a new spec.
3. At the prompt, select the field to be compared.
4. Make a selection from the Comparison menu i.e. specify how
the field should be compared.
5. Enter the information to which the field should be compared.
6. You may select either the "AND" or "OR" option to add up to
four additional selection tests.
If you make a mistake entering the Selection Spec, press [Esc] to
return to the previous step.
Report 72 ProFile
Sort Spec
If you selected sOrt on the Label Menu or Report Menu (or entered
a Yes at a "Use Sort Spec" prompt), you will be prompted to
create a Sort Spec.
The Sort Spec controls the order of the information printed in
your report. For instance, you might want a report to be sorted,
in ascending order, by City and then by Last Name. This means
that the report would be ordered first by city name and then all
of those people in the same city would be listed alphabetically
by last name.
The City field is called a primary sort field, Last Name is
called a secondary sort field. You may have up to 10 sort
fields, one primary and then nine secondary fields. To continue
with the above example, if there were many people with the same
last name, you might designate first name to be the third sort
field. The resulting report would look like figure #20.
Each field may be designated as being sorted in either ascending
or descending order. Notice the report listed below is organized
first by city, then by last name, and finally by first name. It
has been sorted in ASCENDING order. In this way, the report is
organized from lowest to highest, A to Z, 0 to 9, etc.
Figure: Sorted sample report
Optionally, the fields (or some of the fields) in the report
could have been sorted in DESCENDING order, that is from highest
to lowest, which is the reverse of the ascending sort.
ProFile Report 73
Sort Spec Menu
When a Sort Spec is created, you start at the Sort Spec Menu. The
current Sort Spec is listed above the menu. If a Spec has not
been defined, Data Record Order will be displayed.
The Sort Spec Menu lists five choices:
New Spec- Use this option to create a new Sort Spec. If
there is an existing Spec displayed, it will be
erased and a new one created.
Edit Spec- With this option you may edit an existing Spec.
If one has not been created, it will be created
for you.
Bulk Sort- Sort the database by the zip code and then arrange
for printing in Bulk Mail order.
Record Order- Selecting this option clears the existing Spec and
defines the new Spec to be all records in the
database.
Done- Finished with the Sort Spec function.
Creating A Sort Spec
The Sort Spec screen looks just like your form, except that the
field blanks allow only numbers and sort codes to be entered.
To create a Sort Spec:
1. Select New from the Sort Spec Menu.
2. When ProFile displays the Sort Spec screen, use the up and
down arrow keys to move to the field that you would like to
be the primary sort and then enter the number "1" (for first
field sorted..
3. ProFile assumes that you want to sort in ascending order.
For clarity, you may optionally append an "A" to the sort
number to designate ascending order. To sort in descending
order, enter a "D" after the sort number.
4. If you are printing a report, you may optionally add a break
designator.
5. If you want a secondary sort field, move to the next field
on which ProFile should sort and enter a "2" and any
optional sort designator.
Report 74 ProFile
6. Repeat the above steps, using successively higher numbers to
a maximum of 10, until all sort fields have been entered.
7. Press F10 to continue.
Sorting Limits
ProFile can sort up to 10 fields in a report and which may total
up to 250 characters. These limits have been set so that sorts
can be performed in as little time as possible. If the field
length is less than 25, ProFile sorts on the whole field. If the
length is greater than 25, ProFile truncates the information and
sorts on the first 25 characters.
Report Sort Page and Line Breaks
If you are printing a report, you may optionally enter page and
line breaks next to the sort number. These commands control what
action ProFile should perform when the value in these fields
change. If you are not
printing a report, ProFile ignores any page or line break
commands.
Page Breaks- Enter a "P" next to the sort number to designate
that a new page should be started when the value
of the field changes. For instance, if you have
four divisions included in a report and you
entered a "P" in the "Division Name" field, this
would force a new page every time the data in the
division name field changed.
Line Breaks- Enter an "L", optionally followed by the number of
lines to skip, next to the sort number for line
breaks. For instance, entering an "L3" would mean
"when the value of this sort field changes, skip 3
lines before printing the next record." You may
enter a number from one to nine following the "L".
If no number is entered ProFile will default to
skipping one line.
Bulk Mail Sort
When you use choose bulk mail sort, ProFile orders the data for
3rd class bulk mail.
ProFile Report 75
ProFile makes it easy to use the lower bulk mail rates by doing
most of the work for you. When you use bulk mail, ProFile puts
the data in the right order. State by state, it arranges the
data first by a five digit count, then a three digit count, then
mixed state. After all states have been processed ProFile
arranges the remaining data (mixed states).
Figure 21: Creating a Sort Spec
To use the Bulk Mail Sort:
1. Select the Bulk Sort option on the Sort Menu.
2. At the prompt Select Zip Code Field:, select the zip code
field from the list above and press [ENTER].
That's all there is to it. ProFile will now sort your data in
bulk mail order. As it does, you will be informed of its
progress. When it is finished, ProFile will be ready to print
your database in bulk mail order.
If you are printing labels, ProFile will insert dividers in your
labels and create a summary file for you. See page #92 under
Labels for more information.
Sorting the Data
After entering the Sort Spec, ProFile will perform the sort. It
gives you a status count as it works. Do not be alarmed if,
Report 76 ProFile
during the sort, you notice little or no disk activity. ProFile
will do as much work as possible inside your computer's internal
memory. This is what makes ProFile so fast. If ProFile reaches
the computer's internal memory limit, it uses the disk as a
temporary holding area for information that is being sorted.
The more internal RAM memory your system has, the faster ProFile
can sort. If you have extremely large files (10,000 plus
records) and need to sort often, consider upgrading your system
memory to at least 512 KB for the best performance.
Printing the Report
Select Print on the Report Menu to print the report.
Depending on your selection at the Print to [P,S,D]? prompt on
the Format screen, ProFile will print the report on your printer,
display your report on screen, or create a disk file with the
report in it.
With any of the above options, you may stop the report at any
time by pressing any key. ProFile will continue printing as soon
as you press any other key, except [Esc]. Pressing [Esc] will
allow you to exit to the Report Menu and cancel the report that
is being printed.
After the report has been printed, ProFile will display a message
that the report has been completed. Pressing any key at this
point will return you to the Report Menu.
You can reprint the report immediately, if you like. If the same
Sort and Selection Specs are used, the data will not need to be
resorted. This means you may make changes to a report format and
reprint without having to wait for the data to sort.
Redesigning an Existing Report
To redesign an existing report, simply edit the original report.
Follow these steps:
1. After choosing Report from the Print Menu, enter in the name
of the report you'd like to change.
2. At the Report Menu select Layout to edit the report design.
When done press F10 to return to the Report Menu.
3. Specify any new Format, Sort, or Select options.
4. Save the report design, if desired.
ProFile Report 77
5. Print the report to screen, disk or printer.
Printing an Existing Report
You may have an unlimited number of report designs. You may
print any report that you have previously designed and saved.
You may also make temporary modifications to the report and then
print it.
To print an existing report, after choosing Report from the Print
Menu, enter in the file name you'd like to print. Next the
Report Menu is displayed. Select Print to continue, first making
any changes you would like.
Labels 78 ProFile
Labels
Labels lets you print your form in a variety of ways. You may
print all of the forms or just a few, include all or a subset of
the fields in a record, and determine where and how the fields
will print.
Labels is used to print:
o Mailing labels
o Envelopes
o Free-form reports and to fill in pre-printed forms
Getting Started with Labels
Using the Labels function is a lot like using the Report
function. Both functions use the File Manager to retrieve their
respective designs. Also, the Label Menu and the Report Menu are
very similar. This way, they're easier to learn and use. The
following discussion tells you how to get started designing and
printing labels.
Design a Label
It is easy to design a new label. Follow the steps below; the
details follow:
1. After choosing Label from the Print Menu, enter a new file
name for the label.
2. Choose the appropriate label from the Label Size screen and
then design the label using the Label Layout function.
3. Select Format from the Label Menu to change any of the
options on the Page and Label Format screen.
4. If desired, enter in a Selection Spec or Sort Spec.
6. Print the labels to screen, disk, or printer.
Entering a Label File Name
To choose an existing label design or create a new one, you use
the File Manager. A brief overview of the File Manager follows.
See page #8 for a detailed discussion on its operation.
ProFile Labels 79
After choosing Labels, the File Manager will list all of the
label designs available on the current active disk. Use the
arrow keys to move the cursor bar to an existing design, or if
you are designing a new label, choose a name for it and enter it
on the prompt line.
If you enter or choose an existing name, ProFile will load the
label design. Next, the Label Menu will be displayed. See page
#86 for more information on it.
If you are designing a new label, ProFile will inform you that it
cannot find the file that you have entered and ask if it should
be created.
Creating the Label
Designing a label is easy with ProFile. You select the
appropriate label size from a menu and then "paint" your fields
in a template of the label that ProFile displays on the screen.
ProFile automatically sets the label length, width and margins
for you.
Choosing the Label Size
After you elect to create a new label or select Layout from the
Label Menu, ProFile displays the Label Size screen. See figure
#22.
Fifteen standard labels are listed, with their length and width
shown in inches. For instance, label number 1 is listed as 15/16
X 3. This label would then be 15/16 of an inch long by 3 inches
wide.
In addition to the standard label sizes, choice number 16 is the
"Free-Form Label" option. Use this option if your label is not
listed or if you'd like to design your own free-form report. A
free-form label uses a template that is 66 lines long by 80
characters wide.
ProFile uses the label size and the pitch setting to create a
template of the label that it displays on your computer's
screen. Enter the number of the label size you want to use and
then press [ENTER]. Next, enter the appropriate pitch that your
printer will be using. Normally this would be 10 or 12 CPI
(characters per inch), but it could be up to 16 CPI if you use a
condensed mode of print on a dot matrix printer.
The pitch setting is used ONLY to determine how many characters
across can be printed on a given label. IT DOES NOT change the
Labels 80 ProFile
pitch setting on your printer. Use the printer setup option on
the Format screen to send the appropriate codes to your printer
to change the pitch setting.
After entering the appropriate label size and pitch settings, the
Label Layout screen will be displayed.
Figure 22: Label Size screen
Label Layout
If you choose one of the 15 preset labels, ProFile will display a
template on the screen that is the exact size of your specified
label. Choice 16, free-form label, is 66 lines long and 80
characters wide.
You must now tell ProFile where each field must be printed on the
label. It's easy:
1. Move the cursor using the arrow keys to the exact position
you'd like your first field to print.
2. Enter the field name or number followed by either a colon
":" or the ">" symbol. The colon means print the field data
only. It is used for mailing labels. The ">" symbol means
ProFile Labels 81
print the field data at this exact row and column. It can be
used with a free-form label to fill in pre-printed forms.
3. Repeat the above steps until all of the fields have been
entered.
4. If you can't remember the field names or numbers, press F10
to display your database form.
5. Add any text that you would like to appear on the label,
i.e. return address.
6. Press F10 to continue to the Label Menu.
Figure 23: Completed label template
The label template is an empty box the size of the label that you
specified earlier. You must now enter field names or numbers in
the template. When the label is printed, ProFile will replace
the field name with the appropriate information from your
database. This works in much the same way a word processing
program works in a mailmerge. See figure #23 for an example of a
completed label template.
Labels 82 ProFile
Editing Keys
To enter information in the label template, you may use many of
the same commands that are available in the Form Layout
function. Here's a brief review.
Key Meaning
--- -------
[<--] Backspace key will delete characters to the left of
the cursor.
[Ins] Will toggle the program between insert and typeover
mode.
[Del] Deletes the current character under the cursor.
Arrow
Keys Move the cursor around the label.
[^->] (Ctrl-Right Arrow or ^F) Moves to the next word in
text fields.
[^<-] (Ctrl-Left Arrow or ^A) Moves to the previous word
in text fields.
[^Home] Deletes all the characters to the right of the
cursor.
[Home] Moves to the beginning of a line or the top of the
label.
[End] Moves to the end of a line.
ProFile Labels 83
Inserting and Deleting Lines
You may insert or delete lines in the label with the following
function keys:
Function
Key Action
-------- ------
F3 Move the cursor to the position where the new line
should be inserted and press F3. A blank line
will be inserted and all other lines will be moved
down one. Caution- The last line in the label
will be erased.
F5 Move the cursor to the line you wish to delete and
then press F5. Answer Yes if you wish the line to
be deleted.
Viewing the Form
You may see your form at any time by pressing function key F9.
Your form will be displayed and can be moved using the up and
down arrow keys. This is helpful if you can't remember your
field names. Remember, enter the field name (or field number)
exactly as it appears in your form followed by either a ":" or a
">".
When viewing the form, pressing any key will return you to the
Label Layout screen.
Free-Form Labels
Free-form labels are special labels. Essentially, you'd use a
free-form label if the label you want isn't listed or you'd like
to create a free-form report. A free-form label uses a template
that is 66 lines long by 80 characters wide. You may enter any
field name or text in the template. For more information on
formatting free-form labels, see the section titled Formatting
Free-Form Labels.
Checking the Field Names
When all field names and text have been entered, press F10.
ProFile then checks the template and highlights all the field
names or numbers it finds. Review the highlighted fields to make
certain that all are correct. This is handy way to check for
misspellings, missed colons, etc.
Labels 84 ProFile
If everything is in order answer Yes to continue to the Label
Menu. No will return you to the Label Layout screen.
Label Menu
The Label Menu options listed below control how the label is
printed.
Format- This option allows you to change the label margins,
insert printer control codes and choose the print
destination.
Layout- Use this choice to return to the Label Layout screen
to make additional changes to an existing label.
Select- Create or change the Selection Spec.
Sort- Create or change the Sort Spec.
Save- Choose the Save option to store the label design and
any changes you may have made permanently on disk.
New- Selecting New from the Label Menu lets you retrieve
a new label design. Before exiting, you will be
asked if you'd like to save your current label
design.
Print- Prints the labels.
Done- Once you have finished printing labels, press F10 or
select Done to return to the Main Menu. If you have
made changes to a label design and have not saved
it, you will be given a chance to do so.
Label Format
A printed label is controlled by the settings in the Format
option located on the Label Menu. By adjusting margins and label
lengths, you may properly position your label when printing. The
following provides a few guidelines to help in formatting labels.
Formatting Standard Labels
When you use a standard label, ProFile knows what margins and
label lengths to use when it is printed. It knows how many lines
can be printed on the label (the label text length) and sets
ProFile Labels 85
these for you automatically. Most of the time, the label length,
top margin, and bottom margin should not be changed.
Label Text Length
The number of lines that can be printed on a label is called the
label text length. On a standard label this number is pre-set.
On a free-form label, ProFile sets the label text length equal to
the last non-blank line in the template. For instance, when
creating a free-form label (Label #16), if you used only the
first 11 lines, ProFile would set the label text length to 11.
The label text length is important because it is used to
correctly print the template on a paper label. The formula for
printing labels is similar to the one used for a report. To
correctly format a printed label, remember this formula: printed
data = label length - top margin - bottom margin. See figure
#24.
If "label length - top margin - bottom margin" is equal to the
label text length, the template (printed data) will fit perfectly
on one label. If it is larger or smaller you will get different
results. Once again, the standard labels will all fit perfectly
on their respective paper label. No modifications of the label
length and top or bottom margins should be needed.
Formatting Free-Form Labels
If you are using a free-form label, consider the following
example. To print three labels on a standard 8.5" X 11.00" piece
of paper, you'd do the following:
1. Choose the free-form label from the Label Size screen.
(ProFile ignores the pitch settings in free-form labels).
2. Enter your fields and text on to the free-form template on
the Label Layout screen. For this example, assume that your
text and field names take up 20 lines of the template. The
label text length would be 20 (lines).
3. Using the Format option on the Label Menu, you would set
your label length to 66 (for a standard page) and the top
and bottom margin to 3 each. You can now print three labels
per 8.5" X 11.00" page. On the other hand, if your text and
field names took only 15 lines using the above settings, 4
labels could fit on a standard page.
Labels 86 ProFile
Figure: Formatting labels
Label Format Function
The following describes how to set up your labels and what each
of the Format option's on the Label Menu control:
1. Select Format from the Label Menu.
2. Use the up and down arrow keys to move to the item that you
want to change.
3. Type in the new value for the item. Check the status line
below the format box to see what a special option means.
4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for other values that you'd like to
change.
5. Press F10 when done.
If you are using a standard label, it is not recommended that you
change the page length or top and bottom margins. These have
been pre-set and should work as they are.
Printer Setup- Use printer setup to send special formatting
codes to printer before the label is printed. Many dot matrix
ProFile Labels 87
printers have different font and pitch options that can be turned
on by sending the appropriate codes to them. The codes usually
are a mix of control characters (characters that are not
printable) and regular characters, i.e. A-Z and 0-9. To signify
a control character, use a caret and then the letter of control
code.
For instance, to send a Control N to the printer (this turns on
condensed mode in Epson printers), type a caret (^) and then "N",
giving you ^N. To send a caret to the printer, type in a caret
and then a space (the space is ignored) i.e. ^ space=^. See your
printer manual for information on specific control codes for your
printer.
Label Length- The overall length of each label, from the
beginning of one to the beginning of the next.
Top Margin- The number of blank lines at the beginning of each
label. This is usually set at 0. If you would like a blank line
at the beginning of your label, leave line one empty in the label
template.
Bottom Margin- The number of blank lines at the end of each
label. For most labels, there is one line between labels on
continuous form feed paper.
Print Margin- The number of characters the label is shifted to
the right. Increase the print margin if the label prints too far
to the left on the actual label.
Label Width- The width of the label in characters. This has
been pre-set for you. You will probably have to change the label
width if you are using labels that have more than one across,
i.e. two-up, three-up, or four-up labels. See Column Margin for
more information on setting label width for multiple labels.
Column Margin- The number of characters between two columns of
labels. This setting only has meaning if you use labels that
have more than one across. To correctly set up multiple labels
(two-up, three-up, or four-up), first, using a typing ruler,
measure the distance from the beginning of the first paper label
to the beginning of the next. Then make certain that the label
width plus the column margin is equal to this distance. If it
isn't, increase or decrease the column margin and label width as
needed.
# of Columns- The number of column labels that will be printed.
Set this to 2 for two-up, 3 for three-up, and 4 for four-up
labels. The maximum number of labels that can be printed across
is four.
Labels 88 ProFile
Print to Printer, Screen, Disk- Enter in "P","S", or "D".
Printer- Entering "P" prints the labels.
Screen- Printing to screen lets you preview the labels before
printing a hard copy of them. You may pause at any time by
pressing any key. Touch any key again, except [Esc], to
resume displaying the labels. When the printing is paused,
press [Esc] if you want to quit printing labels.
Disk- When labels are printed to disk, ProFile makes a copy
of the labels in a file. (You enter the file name after
pressing F10, which signifies that you are done.) The copy
may be printed later by a word processing program or included
in a word processing document.
Stop at New Page- Answer Yes to have ProFile prompt you at the
end of each page. Answer No if you are using continuous form
labels or printing to disk. Hint: Set this to Yes to print
standard business envelopes one at a time.
Print Field Names- Answer Yes to have ProFile print the field
names on the labels or paper. Normally, this option is set to
No. You would want field names printed if you've created an edit
list or special free-form report.
Selection Spec
To create a Selection Spec choose Select from the Label Menu.
You don't always want to print all the records in your database.
To limit your labels to specific records in your database, you
create a Selection Spec. The Selection Spec used here is just
like the one you may create using the Select option in the Edit
(records) function and in Reports. The following information
gives a brief overview of creating a Selection Spec. For more
detailed information, see page #48 in the Edit section.
Using an Existing Selection Spec
If you are printing a label design that was previously created
and the design included a Selection Spec, the Format screen above
the Label Menu will list the Selection Spec as being active. The
Spec may be viewed by choosing Select from the Label Menu.
ProFile Labels 89
Creating a Selection Spec
The Selection Spec lets you control the information in your
database. ProFile uses menus to help you build a Selection Spec.
To create a Selection Spec:
1. Choose Select from the Label Menu.
2. Next, the Selection Spec Menu will be displayed. Select New
to create a new spec.
3. At the prompt, select the field to be compared.
4. Make a selection from the Comparison menu i.e. specify how
the field should be compared.
5. Enter the information to which the field should be compared.
6. You may select either the "AND" or "OR" option to add up to
four additional selection tests.
Page #48 provides more information on creating a Selection Spec.
If you make a mistake entering the Selection Spec, press Esc to
return to the previous step.
Sort Spec
The Sort Spec controls the order in which the labels are printed.
This spec works the same as the Sort Spec described in the
Reports section.
The Sort Spec screen looks just like your form, except that the
field blanks allow only numbers to be entered.
To create a Sort Spec:
1. Select Sort form the Label Menu.
2. Next, the Sort Menu is displayed. Select New to create a
new spec or Edit to change an existing spec.
3. When ProFile displays the Sort Spec screen, use the up and
down arrow keys to move to the field that you would like to
be the primary sort and then enter the number "1" (for first
field sorted).
Labels 90 ProFile
4. Each sort field may be sorted in ascending or descending
order. If the field should be sorted in descending order,
enter a "D" next to the sort number, otherwise the field
will be sorted in ascending order.
5. Move to the next field, if any, on which ProFile should sort
and enter a "2".
6. Repeat the above steps, using successively higher numbers,
to a maximum of 10, until all sort fields have been entered.
7. Press F10 to continue.
See page #74 in the Reports section for more detailed information
on creating a Sort Spec.
Bulk Mail Sort
The Bulk Mail Sort lets you take advantage of lower mailing rates
for first or third class mail. If you mail only 1,000 pieces of
mail a month third class, the savings can total over $1,000 a
year.
ProFile makes it easy to use the lower bulk mail rates by doing
most of the work for you. When you use bulk mail, ProFile puts
the labels in the right order. State by state, it arranges the
labels first by a five digit count, then a three digit count,
then mixed state. After all states have been processed ProFile
arranges the remaining labels (mixed states).
When the labels are printed, ProFile automatically inserts
dividers to mark the end of each group of labels. This makes
bundling a snap. Finally, ProFile creates a text file that holds
all the bulk mailing statistics. Print this file and use the
information to create bag labels and provide a summary sheet to
the Post Office. ProFile does all of this for you.
To use the Bulk Mail Sort:
1. Select Sort from the Label Menu.
2. Next, the Sort Menu appears. Select Bulk Mail to sort in
bulk mail order.
3. At the prompt Select Zip Code Field: select the zip code
field from the list and press [ENTER].
That's all there is to it. ProFile will now sort your data in
bulk mail order. As it does, you will be informed of its
ProFile Labels 91
progress. When it is finished, ProFile will be ready to print
your database in bulk mail order.
When you print labels that have been sorted in bulk mail order,
ProFile creates a text file on the database disk (or directory)
called BULKMAIL.TXT. This file contains a summary of the counts
for each five digit, three digit, state, and mixed-state bundle.
It also includes a count of the total number of pieces in the
mailing. To view the file, use a word processor or the DOS type
command i.e. at the DOS prompt enter
TYPE BULKMAIL.TXT and press [ENTER].
Printing the Labels
To print the labels select Print from the Label Menu.
Depending on your selection at the Print to [P,S,D]? prompt on
the Label Format screen, ProFile will print the labels on your
printer, display them on the screen, or create a disk file that
contains the labels.
Testing your Label Alignment
Before your labels are printed (printer option only), ProFile
will prompt you with Test Label Alignment?. This allows you to
align the label correctly on the printer. Answer Yes to print
out one (row of) label(s). If the alignment is not correct, move
the label in the printer and then repeat the above procedure.
If you can't get the labels to print properly, you may have to
return to the Label Menu. To do so, press [Esc] at the prompt
and then answer Yes to Exit- Are you Sure?. ProFile then
displays Completed. Press any key. Press any key to return to
the Labels Menu. Make any changes as needed to either the label
format or layout.
When the label alignment is correct, answer No at the Test Label
Alignment prompt. ProFile will start printing your database from
the top, reprinting any labels printed during the alignment
process.
Stopping the Print
With any of the above options, you may stop the labels at any
time by pressing any key. ProFile will continue printing as soon
as you press any other key, except [Esc]. Pressing [Esc] will
allow you to exit to the Label Menu and cancel printing.
Labels 92 ProFile
After the labels have been printed, ProFile will display a
message that the printing has been completed. Pressing any key
at this point will return you to the Label Menu.
Redesigning an Existing Label
To redesign an existing label, simply edit the original label
design. Follow these steps:
1. After choosing Label from the Print Menu, enter in the file
name you'd like to edit.
2. At the Label Menu, select Layout to edit the label layout.
When done press F10 to return to the Label Menu.
3. As needed, select Format to change any of margin settings.
4. If needed, enter in a Selection Spec or Sort Spec.
5. To make any changes permanent, save the label design.
6. Print the labels to screen, disk or printer.
See Designing a Label on page #83 for more information on label
layouts.
Printing an Existing Label Design
Just like Reports, you may have an unlimited number of label
designs. You can print any label format that you have previously
designed and saved.
To print an existing label design, after choosing Label from the
Print Menu, enter in the file name you'd like to print. ProFile
displays the label on the screen and asks if it is the correct
label. Answer Yes to continue to the Label Menu or No to enter
another label design name.
From the Label Menu, select Print. The labels will now be
printed.
ProFile MailMerge 93
Word Processing MailMerge
Choose this option from the Print Menu to create a mailmerge file
for a word processing program. The word processor can combine
the mailmerge file with a boilerplate form to create personalized
letters that may be sent to people in your ProFile database. The
file can contain everyone in your database or just a select few.
It may be sorted any way you choose, including bulk mail order.
ProFile supports a number of popular word processing programs.
Often, different word processors use the same merge format. If
your word processor is not listed, check its format description
to see if one of the listed programs uses the same format. If
not, try using one of the formats in the Export option. See page
#107 for more details on Export.
The following is an overview of creating a mailmerge file:
1. Choose MailMerge from the Print Menu.
2. Enter the appropriate MailMerge format, specify whether
you'll be using Selection or Sort Specs and enter in the
name for the MailMerge file. Press F10 to continue.
3. If you've elected to use a Sort and/or Selection Spec, enter
them when prompted.
That is all there is to creating a MailMerge file. It's fast,
easy, and a great way to efficiently create large numbers of
personalized form letters.
MailMerge Options
After choosing the MailMerge option on the Print Menu, the first
screen will be labeled Create MailMerge File. At this screen you
will enter the MailMerge format and MailMerge file name and
indicate if you're using a Selection or Sort Spec. See figure
#25.
MailMerge Format
At the MailMerge Format prompt, enter in the number of the format
you wish to use. Currently, five formats are supported. Check
the file PF-READ.ME on your DOCUMENTATION DISK to see if any new
formats have been added.
MailMerge 94 ProFile
Remember that many word processors use the same format. If your
format is not listed, check your word processor's manual for the
correct format and then review the following discussion.
Figure 25: Mailmerge Options screen
ProFile creates the MailMerge file and you must use your word
processor to make the boilerplate form letter. Typically, the
form letter will contain special codes that control the merge
process. See your word processor manual for more information on
this.
Each MailMerge format is reviewed in detail below. For the
examples, assume that the database has only five fields: Name,
Address, City, State and Zip.
WordStar- The Wordstar format is very similar to a Comma
Delimited format. Each field is enclosed in quotes and then
separated by commas. A new line is started for each new record.
Many word processors will use this format.
Example:
"Sam Smith","432 Uptime Court","Columbia","CA"
"Bob Jones, Jr.","1234 Anywhere Street","Boston","MA"
"Larry Ritestuff","6655 Rocket Way","San Jose","CA"
ProFile MailMerge 95
WordPerfect- This format is unique to WordPerfect. Each field
is followed by a ^R (control-R is called the Merge Return by
WordPerfect) and a carriage return (hard return that starts a new
line). An empty field would appear as an empty line. The end of
each record is marked with a ^E (control-E is called the Merge
End) and a carriage return.
ProFile will create what WordPerfect calls a Secondary File.
Before merging, you must use the "Text In" feature of WordPerfect
to convert the MailMerge file that ProFile creates into a
WordPerfect document.
Example:
Sam Smith^R
432 Uptime Court^R
Columbia^R
CA^R
44444^R
^E
DEC WPS- This formats the file in Digital Equipment
Corporation's WPS list processing format. Each field name,
enclosed in brackets "< >", is followed by the information from
that field. The end of a record is signified by double brackets
"<<>>".
Example:
<NAME>Sam Smith
<STREET>432 Uptime Court
<CITY>Columbia
<STATE>CA
<ZIP>44444
<<>>
MultiMate- MultiMate uses a the Comma Delimited format. Each
field is enclosed in quotes and then separated by commas. Each
record starts on a new line. Many word processors can use this
format.
Example:
"Sam Smith","432 Uptime Court","Columbia","CA","44444"
"Bob Jones, Jr.","1234 Any Way","Boston","MA","00212"
"Larry Ritestuff","65 Rok Way","San Jose","CA","43234"
MailMerge 96 ProFile
PC-Write- PC-Write uses the same format as MultiMate, Comma
Delimited. See above for more information.
Sort and Selection Specs
ProFile uses the same procedures, the same way, throughout the
program. This makes ProFile easier to use. Most functions have
optional Sort and Selection Specs. See page #74 for more
detailed information on Sort Specs and page #48 for Selection
Specs.
Use Selection Spec- Answer Yes to define a Selection Spec. The
Selection Spec controls which records in your database are
included in the MailMerge file. Answer No to use all records in
your database.
Use Sort Spec- Answer Yes to create a Sort Spec, or No to use
the information in your database in whatever order it happens to
be in when the MailMerge file is created, i.e in record number
order.
MailMerge File Name
MailMerge File Name- Enter the name of the file you wish to
create. If you enter in a file that already exists, ProFile will
first ask if it can overwrite the current file. Answer No to
enter in a new name.
ProFile uses the File Manager whenever it prompts for a file
name. To access the File Manager, make certain that the prompt
line is blank and then press [ENTER]. Alternately, enter any
wild card designator in the file name prompt and then press
[ENTER]. See page #8 for more details on the using the File
Manager.
During MailMerge File Creation
ProFile displays the number of records it has processed and
selected. You may stop the file creation by pressing any key.
Touch any key, except [Esc], to restart the process.
Pressing [Esc] twice, during file creation, will let you
permanently stop the file creation process. Your file will
contain all of the records that were processed and selected
before interruption.
ProFile Import Data 97
Import
Import lets you pull data created by other programs into your
ProFile database. This means you can take advantage of all of
the powerful features of ProFile and not have to re-key your
existing databases.
Import is very particular, so care must be taken that:
o The import file must be an ASCII file. It may be either
Standard Data Format (SDF), Comma Delimited, or
One-Field-Per-Line formatted.
o You must have already created a ProFile database that is ready
to accept the imported information. The database may contain
information or be one especially created for this purpose.
Floppy Disk Systems
You may import data from a file on separate disk. Follow these
rules:
o The Form Definition, Data, and Index files must all be on the
same disk.
o Never remove the disk that contains the ProFile database.
o ProFile will prompt you to swap the PROGRAM DISK with the data
disk and vice versa. ONLY EXCHANGE DISKS WHEN PROMPTED.
ASCII File Types
The three types of formats of ASCII files supported are Standard
Data Format, Comma Delimited and One-Field-Per-Line.
Standard Data Format
This type of file is typically a print file that a program has
created. Each line in the file represents a record and each
field always has the same length within the line. The result is
that each field always starts at the same column. For instance,
a file that had a Name, Street, City, and State might have Name
start at position 1, Street start at position 19, City start at
position 41, etc. When importing this type of file you won't
need to know what position each field starts in but you will need
to know the length of each field in the ASCII file.
Edit Data 98 ProFile
Example:
Sam Smith 432 Uptime Court Columbia CA
Bob Jones, Jr. 1234 Anywhere Street Boston MA
Larry Ritestuff 6655 Rocket Way San Jose CA
|<-19 Characters-> |<- 23 ->|<- 12 -> |
Comma Delimited
This is a standard file type that many programs written in the
Basic programming language use. Other programs like Wordstar,
Datastar and dBase II/III+ can all create or use Comma Delimited
files.
A Comma Delimited file has one record per line, with each field
separated by a comma and enclosed in quotes if the field has a
comma in it. In example 1, only those fields that contain a
comma are enclosed in quotes. Example 2 shows all fields
enclosed in quotes. Either one is correct and will work.
Example 1:
Sam Smith,432 Uptime Court,Columbia,CA,44444
"Bob Jones, Jr.",1234 Anywhere Street,Boston,MA,00212
Larry Ritestuff,6655 Rocket Way,San Jose,CA,43234
Example 2:
"Sam Smith","432 Uptime Court","Columbia","CA"
"Bob Jones, Jr.","1234 Anywhere Street","Boston","MA"
"Larry Ritestuff","6655 Rocket Way","San Jose","CA"
One-Field-Per-Line
One-Field-Per-Line is supported by a number of other database and
word processing programs. Essentially, each field is written on
a separate line. Empty fields appear as blank lines, but there
are no blank lines separating records.
ProFile Import Data 99
Example:
Sam Smith
432 Uptime Court
Columbia
CA
44444
Bob Jones, Jr.
1234 Anywhere Street
Boston
MA
00212
Larry Ritestuff
6655 Rocket Way
San Jose
CA
43234
Importing Data
To import ASCII data:
1. Select Import on the Exchange Menu.
2. Select the ASCII file type, designate the use of a Selection
Spec if you like, and then enter in the ASCII file Name.
(If you choose One-Field-Per-Line you will also need to
enter in the numbers of lines per record in the ASCII file.)
Press F10 to continue.
3. If you selected Standard Data Format, you must now enter in
the field lengths for each field in the ASCII file.
4. Enter in the field numbers from the ASCII file into the
Merge Spec.
5. If you elected to use a Selection Spec, you must enter it
now.
6. ProFile merges the data into your current database in use.
When the data is merged, ProFile will update any lookup
fields and perform any calculations in the form.
You should always make a backup of a database before using the
Import function. This way, if an alignment problem develops, you
have a "clean" database from which to start again. See page #115
on using the Backup command.
The first step to import data is to provide the following
information:
Edit Data 100 ProFile
ASCII File Format- Enter in the appropriate format. If you
selected One-Field-Per-Line, you will need to enter the number
of lines per record in the ASCII file. For instance, if you have
five fields per record in the ASCII file, each one would appear
on a line by itself. In this case, you'd enter a 5 at the Number
of Lines per Record prompt.
Use Selection Spec- Answer Yes to define a Selection Spec. The
Selection Spec controls which records in the ASCII file are
merged into your ProFile database. Answer No to use all records
in the ASCII file.
ASCII File Name- Enter the name of the ASCII file you'd like to
import. If ProFile can't find it, you will be warned. Make
certain that you include any file extensions that might have
automatically been added by the program that created the ASCII
file. For example, dBase tags on a .TXT and Lotus 1-2-3 adds
.PRN to each of their respective files.
ProFile uses the File Manager whenever it prompts for a file
name. To access the File Manager, make certain that the prompt
line is blank and then press [ENTER]. Or, enter any wild card
designator at the file name prompt and then press [ENTER]. See
page #8 for more details on the using this option.
Standard Data Format Field Lengths
If you selected Standard Data Format (SDF) as the ASCII file type
you must enter the field lengths from the file. You may enter up
to 36 field lengths in the form. Use the arrow keys to move
around the form.
Consider the following example: the line below shows that the
first field in the sample SDF file is 19 characters long, the
next is 23, etc.
Example:
Sam Smith 432 Uptime Court Columbia CA
Larry Ritestuff 6655 Rocket Way San Jose CA
|<-19 Characters-> |<- 23 -> |<- 12 -> |
ProFile Import Data 101
You would enter 19 at the Field #1 Length prompt, 23 at Field #2
Length, 12 at Field #3 Length and so on until you had entered all
of the field lengths.
Press F10 when you are finished.
Merge Spec
The Merge Spec tells ProFile which field from the ASCII file
corresponds with a particular field in your ProFile database.
This gives you a tremendous amount of flexibility in importing
data.
To enter a Merge Spec, move the cursor to a field in your ProFile
database and enter in the corresponding field number from the
ASCII file. (If you leave a field
Figure 26: Merge Spec screen
blank, i.e. no number entered, no data will be merged into that
field.) For example, if you have an ASCII file where the
physical position of NAME is field number 2, you would move the
cursor to the Name field in the ProFile database and enter in a
2. You are saying "take the second field from ASCII file and put
it in this field" (which might be the first field of your ProFile
database). When you are done, press F10.
Edit Data 102 ProFile
Using a Selection Spec
If you have opted to use a Selection Spec, you will enter it
after the Merge Spec. The Selection Spec will control which
records from your ASCII file are merged into the current ProFile
database.
Refer to page #48 for more information on creating Selection
Specs.
During the Import
As data is imported ProFile will display the number of records
from the ASCII file processed and selected. You may stop the
merge at any time by pressing any key. Pressing [Esc] when the
import is paused will allow you to exit.
ProFile Export Data 103
Export
Export lets you share information from your ProFile database with
other programs. The data may be formatted in either Standard
Data Format (SDF), Comma Delimited, or One-Field-Per-Line style
and inserted into an ASCII file.
You may export all or some of the records in your database. Each
field will be exported in the order in which it appears in the
form.
It is very simple to transfer information to another program on
your computer. Here's how:
1. Select the Export option on the Exchange Menu.
2. Choose the ASCII format, elect to use a Selection and/or
Sort Spec, and then enter the file name for the ASCII file
you will be creating. Press F10 to continue.
3. Enter any optional Sort or Selection Specs.
4. Your ASCII file will now be created.
The following details these steps.
Exporting Data
ASCII File Format- Enter in the appropriate format. See the
discussion on ASCII file formats in the Import section, page
#104.
Use Selection Spec- The Selection Spec controls which records in
your database are included in the ASCII file. Answer Yes to
define a Selection Spec, or No to use all records in your
database.
Use Sort Spec- The Sort Spec controls the order of the
information in your ASCII file. Answer Yes to enter a Sort Spec,
or No to use the information in your database in whatever order
it happens to be in when the MailMerge file is created, i.e. in
record number order.
ASCII File Name- Enter the name of the file you wish to create.
If a file is entered that already exists, ProFile will ask if it
Export Data 104 ProFile
can overwrite the current file. Answer No to enter in a new
name.
You may use the File Manager whenever ProFile prompts for a file
name. To access the File Manager, make certain that the prompt
line is blank and then press [ENTER]. Alternately, enter any
wild card designator in the file name prompt and then press
[ENTER]. See page #8 for more details on using this option.
About Sort and Selection Specs
The Sort Spec controls the order in which the data appears in the
ASCII file. The Selection Spec controls which records are
included in the file. If you elected to use a Selection or Sort
Spec, you will be prompted to enter them now. Otherwise, the
export process is ready to begin. See page #74 for more detailed
information on the Sort Spec and page #48 for Selection Specs.
Floppy Disk Systems
You may copy data to a file on a separate disk. Follow these
rules:
o The Form Definition, Data, and Index files must all be on the
same disk.
o Never remove the disk that contains the ProFile database.
o ProFile will prompt you to swap the PROGRAM DISK with the data
disk and vice versa. EXCHANGE DISKS ONLY WHEN PROMPTED.
Note- ProFile only checks to see if the file name exists when
you enter it. If the file name exists on the newly
inserted disk, ProFile will automatically overwrite it.
During the Export
ProFile keeps you informed of its progress by displaying the
number of records processed and selected.
You may pause by pressing any key once. Pressing any key except
[Esc] will restart the Export function. Pressing [Esc] twice
when Export is paused will return you to the Exchange Menu. If
you cancel the Export function, only the records that were
processed and selected will be included in the ASCII file.
ProFile Copy Data 105
Copy Data
With Copy you may merge information from another ProFile database
into the one in use. Both databases do not have to be exactly
alike. If they are different, only those fields that are common
to both will be copied.
Care must be taken when copying data from another database.
Always have a backup to your database before using the Copy Data
function.
Floppy Disk Systems
You may copy data from a ProFile database on a separate disk.
Follow these rules:
o The Form Definition, Data, and Index files of the database
from which you are copying must all be on the same disk.
o Never remove the disk that contains the ProFile database.
o ProFile will prompt you to swap the PROGRAM DISK with the
database disk and vice versa. EXCHANGE DISKS ONLY WHEN
PROMPTED.
Copying Data
To copy data:
1. Select the Copy option on the Exchange Menu.
2. Enter in the name of the database from which you would like
to copy data.
3. If needed, enter in a Selection Spec.
Here are the details:
Copy From [Form Name]- At this prompt, you will need to enter
the form from which you would like to copy. If you don't know
the file name you may press [ENTER] at the empty line to call the
File Manager.
The File Manager will list only those forms on your active
drive. You may change the active drive to see forms on other
paths or drives. See page #8 for more information on the File
Manager.
Copy Data 106 ProFile
WARNING- NEVER, NEVER enter in the name of the database you are
currently using. Doing so may corrupt the contents of
your entire database.
Use Selection Spec- The Selection Spec controls which records
from the other database are copied into your current form.
Answer Yes to create a Selection Spec or No to copy all records
in the other database.
If the two forms are not identical, be careful not to reference a
field that does not appear in the second database. For example,
assume that the database in use has a Sales field and the second
database does not. Defining a Selection Spec of "Sales EQUAL
10000" would result in no records being selected since the second
database does not have a field for Sales.
During the Copy
ProFile displays on the status line the number of records
processed and copied.
As with other functions, you may pause the Copy process by
pressing any key. Pressing any key except [Esc] will restart
Copy. Pressing [Esc] twice when the process is halted will
return you the Exchange Menu. All records copied before the
interruption will remain in the current database.
ProFile Utilities 107
Global Update
Global Update lets you change selected records in a database all
at once, instead of just one at a time. This function also lets
you update calculated fields and lookup fields.
Here's how:
1. Select Update from the Utilities Menu.
2. ProFile will advise you to make a backup (see page #115)
before continuing. Press [ENTER] to proceed, [Esc] to
return to the Utilities Menu.
3. At the Ask Before Updating prompt, answer Yes to be prompted
before the record is updated, or No to have ProFile do it
automatically.
4. At the Update Calculations prompt, enter Yes to recalculate
all formulas in the records that are selected. Entering No
means that the values in all calculated fields will remain
unchanged, even if the dependent fields are changed.
5. At the Update Stored Lookups enter Yes to have ProFile
update all of your stored lookups. Entering No will leave
the stored lookups fields unchanged. This function has no
effect on non-stored lookup fields.
6. At the Selection Spec Menu, either enter a Selection Spec to
only update specific records or choose All Records to update
the entire database.
7. At the Enter Global Changes screen, enter in the appropriate
changes. Do not enter any changes if you only wish to have
either calculations or lookup fields updated only.
8. Press F10 to begin the update process.
Using a Selection Spec
Use a Selection Spec to update only specific records in your
database. The Selection Spec is the same one used in the other
sections in ProFile.
Entering Global Changes
Use a blank form to enter the global changes that you want to
make to the database. Entering information in a field means "for
all records that are selected, replace the current contents of
this field with what I have entered." If a field is left blank,
Utilities 108 ProFile
no change is made to its contents. You may enter new information
directly in a field to replace the contents of that field during
the update.
In addition to this, ProFile has five advanced functions to
assist you in making global updates. Most of the commands
require that information be entered after a symbol. Figure #27
summarizes their use.
Follow these steps when entering global changes:
1. Use the up and down arrow keys to move to the field you'd
like to update.
2. Enter in the change to replace, a symbol followed by the
appropriate data or the tilde (~) to erase, the contents of
that field.
3. Continue the steps above until all changes have been
entered.
4. Press F10 to start the update.
Note- Global Updates affect only the records that are
currently in the database. To make changes affect
forms not yet entered, see the section on Advanced
Database Design, page #121.
During the Update Process
ProFile displays the records being changed during the update
process. If you answered Yes to Ask Before
Updating, you will be prompted before a record is changed.
As in other sections, you may halt the process by pressing any
key. Pressing [Esc] twice will cancel the current update, or
press any key to resume processing.
ProFile Utilities 109
Symbol Use
------ ---
~ You may erase the contents of any field by using
the tilde (~) symbol. To do so, move the cursor
to the appropriate field and enter in a tilde
(~). This tells ProFile to erase any information
in this field for the records that are selected.
You could use this, for instance, to clear a field
that contains outdated or inaccurate information.
+new The plus sign is used to append "new" data to
existing information in a field. For instance,
entering +Inc in a Firm Name field would mean
append the firm name with Inc.
&new The ampersand sign means add "new" data to the
beginning of a field. Entering &Mr. in a Name
field would change all selected names to
Mr. (existing name).
-old The minus sign tells ProFile that, if the "old"
data appears in the field, it should delete it,
but leave the rest of the information intact. For
instance, -Jr. in a Name field would mean delete
Jr. from all names that are selected.
@old,new This works like a find and replace feature on a
word processor. The (@) symbol means, if old
appears in the field, replace it with new, leaving
the rest of the information intact. For example,
entering @Road,Drive in a Street field would cause
all selected records to have the word Road changed
to Drive. So "1254 Oak Road" would become "1254
Oak Drive". This function is case sensitive.
Figure: Global Update change symbols
Utilities 110 ProFile
Global Delete
Global Delete lets you delete a group of records at one time.
You might use this function to delete records that are no longer
needed or that have been copied to another database.
To delete a group of records:
1. Select the Delete records from the Utilities Menu.
2. ProFile will advise you to make a backup (see page #115)
before continuing. Press [ENTER] to proceed, [Esc] to
return to the Utilities Menu.
3. At the prompt Ask Before Deleting, answer Yes to be prompted
or No to have ProFile delete the records automatically.
4. Enter in a Selection Spec. The Selection Spec is the same
one used in the other sections of ProFile.
5. The records will now be deleted.
WARNING- Deleting forms erases them forever. There is no way to
retrieve them again.
During the Global Delete
The records being deleted are shown as they are deleted. As in
other sections, you may halt the process by pressing any key. If
you answered Yes to Ask Before Deleting you will be prompted
before a record is deleted.
Pressing [Esc] twice will cancel the current process, or press
any key to resume deleting records.
Index the Database
The Index function is used to restore the index files if they
have been corrupted. The Index function should be used if you
have a power outage while you're working, or if you suspect that
an index file has been damaged through some other means.
To use the Index function:
1. Select the Index option on the Utilities Menu.
2. Press [ENTER] at the first prompt. The index file will now
be recreated.
ProFile Utilities 111
Pack the Database
Pack is used to remove empty records (ones that have been deleted
but not yet reused) from your database. Pack makes a new data
file and makes a backup copy of your existing database. It then
copies all active records to the new data file. Finally, Pack
reindexes your database.
Before using Pack, make a backup copy of your database. Also,
make certain that there is enough room on your disk for two
copies of the data file. If there isn't, do not pack the
database. If you have a disk full error while packing the
database, see the section in the appendix on error messages for
information on recovering from a full disk.
As an alternative to Pack, you could create a new database with
the same design on an empty disk and then use the Copy function
on the Exchange Menu to copy the information from your original
database.
To use Pack:
1. Make a backup copy of the database using the Backup
function.
2. Select Pack from the Utilities Menu.
3. Press [ENTER] at the first prompt.
The database will now be packed.
Note- In addition to removing all deleted records, Pack re-
indexes the database.
Backup
One of the most frightening moments is finding out that your hard
disk has crashed (broken) or that your floppy has gone south,
taking your data with it.
Backing up your database frequently will prevent heavy losses in
the event of a media (disk) failure. To determine what frequent
means, simply figure out how much data and time you are willing
to lose if a disk goes bad. For most people, this means backing
up the database any time they spend more than 30 minutes making
changes, additions or deletions.
Utilities 112 ProFile
How Backup Works
Backup copies the Form Definition, and Data files associated with
the database in use. Backup allows you to copy the database to
any floppy drive or hard disk.
ProFile appends an exclamation point (!) to the extension of the
database file names. For example, a database called MAILLIST
could consist of MAILLIST.FRM and MAILLIST.DTA. When you use the
Backup function, ProFile will copy these files to MAILLIST.FR!,
MAILLIST.DT!. To save disk space, Backup does not copy the index
file(s) since they can be reconstructed easily.
Recovering a Backup Database
If you wish to use a previous version of a database that has been
backed-up using ProFile Backup function, simply rename the backup
copy to the original names.
Using our previous example, you'd issue the following commands
(note that if the database name already exists, you will have to
erase the active name first).
To rename the backup files created from database MAILLIST, type
the following:
REN MAILLIST.FR! MAILLIST.FRM
REN MAILLIST.??! MAILLIST.??X
If you get a duplicate filename error, first copy the duplicate
files to another disk, delete the duplicate files and then issue
the above commands. See your DOS manual for more information on
deleting and renaming files.
WARNING- Backup will not copy a database to multiple floppy
disks. If you are using a hard disk and your database
is larger than the capacity of your system's floppy
disk, use the DOS "Backup" command or whatever program
the hard disk drive maker suggests you use. For more
information see your DOS User's Guide or hard disk
manual.
ProFile Utilities 113
Floppy Disk Systems
You may backup a ProFile database on to a separate disk. Follow
these rules:
o The Form Definition, Data, and Index files of the database
from which you are copying must all be on the same disk.
o Never remove the disk that contains the ProFile database.
o ProFile will prompt you to swap the PROGRAM DISK with the disk
that will hold the copy of the database and vice versa.
EXCHANGE DISKS ONLY WHEN PROMPTED.
Entering the Disk and Path Name
At the prompt, Destination Drive .:, enter the drive and path
where ProFile should copy your database and then press [ENTER].
If you enter an invalid drive or path, ProFile will beep and
allow you to re-enter it. For a more thorough discussion on
drive and path names see page #8 or your DOS manual.
During the Backup
ProFile will copy the Form Definition and Data file. As each
file is copied it will be listed on the screen. ProFile will
indicate when each file has been successfully completed.
Problems and Errors
Duplicate File- If the file that ProFile is copying exists on
the backup drive, ProFile will ask before it
overwrites it.
File Not Copied- This error will appear if you cancel the copy
operation or if there is not enough disk space
on the destination drive. Try using a newly
formatted disk, or check your file size (with
the DOS "DIR" command) to see if the file is
too big to fit on the floppy disk. (Most 5.25"
floppy disks can hold up to 360 KB (360,000
characters) of information.)
Utilities 114 ProFile
Printer Setup
The Printer Setup function lets ProFile use different types of
printers. The program supports both parallel and serial
printers. The setup function lets you choose from up to two
ports for both types of printers. If you are using a serial
printer, you set the parameters for it with the setup function.
Printer setups may be changed as often as you like.
The default setting is a parallel printer using port 1.
Parallel Printers
Parallel printers are the easiest to setup. Only the port must
be selected.
Printer Port- Select the parallel port to which your printer
is attached (LPT 1 or LPT 2) and press [ENTER].
If everything is OK, answer Yes to the prompt.
The new setting will now be saved.
Figure 28: Printer Setup screen
ProFile Utilities 115
Serial Printers
Serial printers need additional information to work properly.
The following outlines the different setting options:
Printer Port- Select the serial port to which your printer is
attached (COM 1 or COM 2) and press [ENTER].
The following settings will now be displayed. If you are
uncertain how your printer is configured, check the printers
owners manual.
Baud Rate- This is the speed at which data is sent to the
printer. Most printers use 1200, 4800 or 9600
baud. Enter the appropriate selection from the
list and press [ENTER].
Parity- Enter the appropriate parity setting, from 1 to 3.
Stop Bits- Enter the appropriate stop bits. If the word
length is 8 the stop bits are usually 1. If the
word length is 7, stops bits are usually 2.
Word Length- Enter your printer's word length.
The settings will be saved by answering Yes to the "OK" prompt.
Advanced Database Design 116 ProFile
Advanced Database Design
All things change with time and this is true for ProFile
databases as well. As you work with a form, over time your needs
change. A field might need to be added, or one never used
deleted. Maybe a field isn't quite long enough. Whatever the
reason, you need to change the database design.
It is easy and simple to do with ProFile. You can change just
about anything that you like.
REORGANIZING TAKES TIME. When you change the design of a
database, ProFile must reorganize the information in it.
Although it takes only a few minutes to change the form,
reorganizing the data takes time. The more records in your
database, the more time it will take.
WARNING- Always make a backup of your database before changing
the form. Use the Backup function on the Utilities
Menu. See page #115.
Changing a Database Design
Making changes to your database is simple. Here's how to do it:
1. Use the Backup function on the Utilities Menu to make a copy
of your database. See page #115.
2. From the Form Menu, select the Layout option.
3. When your form layout is displayed, you may do any of the
following:
o Change the field prompts, text and form.
o Move a field.
o Delete a field.
o Add a field.
4. When you've made any appropriate changes, press F10 to
continue to the Define Field Attributes screen.
5. Here, you may change the field attributes of any field or
setup new fields.
6. Press F10 when you are finished. You will receive a warning
if you have changed the order, length, or number of fields.
Answer Yes to continue.
ProFile will now reorganize your data if you changed the length,
order, or number of fields. If your database is over 1,000
records, this will take time.
ProFile Advanced Database Design 117
Editing the Form Layout
Editing the Form Layout is the same as designing the form. You
have the identical keystrokes and functions available. This
includes copying, deleting, and inserting lines. You may use the
arrow keys to move around the form. For details on using the
Layout function, see page #17.
On existing forms, ProFile inserts field identifiers at the
beginning of each field. This is how ProFile keeps track of the
fields in your form. Field identifiers start with AA, follow
with AB, then AC, etc. They are placed at the very beginning of
each field. Field identifiers are only placed on existing
fields, never on new ones. If you create a new field, do not add
a field identifier to it. See page #122 for information on
creating new fields on existing forms, or page #15 for the
details on how to create a new form.
If a field is one or two characters long, you will not see the
underlines that mark the field length, only the field identifier.
If you need to change a field length to less than two on an
existing field, change the field length at the Field Attributes
screen.
If you move a field, you must take care to duplicate the field
identifier exactly as it appeared before the field was moved.
More on this in the following section.
Moving a Field
You may move any field in your database. Make certain that you
move the information blank and the field identifier at the
beginning of it. As long as you move the field identifier,
ProFile will keep track of the field attributes for you.
To move a field, use the copy command or retype the prompt in its
new position. Then, enter in the field identifier, followed by
the information blank, making certain that it is the same length
as it was before. Make certain that you erase the old position
entirely, the field identifier, colon, and information.
IMPORTANT- Make certain that you move the field identifier or
retype it exactly as it was. Failure to do so will cause ProFile
to consider it a new field. This will mean that all information
in the field will be lost.
Advanced Database Design 118 ProFile
Adding a Field
To add a new field, move the cursor the position where you want
the field to start and type in the prompt for it. Remember to end
the label with a colon (:). Next, create the information blank
by using the underline character to designate the field length.
DO NOT insert a field identifier at the beginning of the field.
Field identifiers are only needed for existing fields.
You may use the insert mode to create additional space on a line
for the new field or insert a new line by pressing F3 (Insert
Line Key). Be careful not to erase or type over an existing
label.
Press F10 at the Form Layout screen. At the Define Field
Attributes screen, move the cursor to the new field. Press
[ENTER] to enter new field attributes for this field. See page
#22 for more information on creating field attributes.
Deleting a Field
To delete a field, simply erase the field name, colon, field
identifier, and information blank on the Form Layout screen.
ProFile will automatically reformat the data and remaining fields
for you.
Changing Field Length
You may change the field length of any field.
To change the length of a field, make certain that you are at the
Form Layout screen. Move the cursor to the field that you would
like to change. Add underlines to the existing information blank
to lengthen the blank or delete the underline characters to
shorten it.
If you shorten a field length, ProFile will truncate the informa-
tion for that field in your database to fit the new size. You
might lose information when this happens. Always make a backup
before changing your database design.
Alternatively, a field's length may be changed on the Define
Field Attributes screen. This is useful for shortening fields to
one or two characters. See page #25 for more information on this
feature.
ProFile Advanced Database Design 119
Changing Field Attributes
After you've finished making any changes to the form layout,
press F10. At the Define Field Attributes screen move the cursor
to any field that needs to be changed. Press [ENTER] and then
make any changes to the field's attributes as appropriate.
See page #22 for more detailed information on field attributes.
Advanced Database Design 120 ProFile
Form Options
After the Form Design has been completed, you may customize the
form to make it easier to use or more efficient. You may:
o Change the Form Display Name.
o Change the starting value for incrementing fields.
o Specify default (standard) values for fields in your form.
To add any of the above features, select either Options for the
Display Name and increment starting value or Default from the
Form Menu. The details for each option follow.
Change the Display Name
The display name appears in the upper right corner of the
computer screen. It is initially set to the form name you
entered when designing it. Sometimes, it is helpful to change
the display name to something more descriptive. You may change
the display name to anything that you like. The name may be up
to 30 characters long.
To change the name, select the Options function on the Form
Menu. Enter in any new name that you wish. The old name may be
deleted by pressing ^[Home] (Control-Home) when the cursor is at
the beginning of the old name. Press F10 to save the new name,
or [Esc] to cancel any changes that you made.
NOTE- Changing the Form Display Name does not change the name
of the Form Design, Data, or Index files. It only
changes the name that appears in the upper right hand
corner of your screen after you have selected a form
design.
ProFile Advanced Database Design 121
Current Increment Value
The current increment value is used to set an incrementing field
when new records are added. When a new database is created this
is set to zero (0). When the first record is added, the value is
then incremented to one. As new records are added this value is
increased by one for each new record added. See page #25 for
more information on incrementing fields.
Figure 29: Options function
Sometimes you may wish the completed forms to have an
incrementing field that starts with a value other than zero. By
changing the Current Increment Value, you can set (or reset) the
value that appears in an incrementing field.
To change the Current Increment Value, select the Options
function on the Form Menu. Move the cursor to the Current
Increment Value prompt and enter a new value. The next record
added will start at the integer following the value that is
entered. (If you enter 100, the next record added will start at
101.) Press F10 to save the new name, or [Esc] to cancel any
changes that you made. See figure #29 for an example of the
Options function.
Advanced Database Design 122 ProFile
Default Form Values
Many times when information is entered, the same data appears for
a field over and over again. For instance, you might create a
mailing list where every person is from the same city.
To speed up the data entry, you can assign a default value to any
field in your form. When you add new information to your
database, the default value automatically appears in the
information blank next to the field label. Using the above
example, if all the people were in Richmond, you would assign
"Richmond" as the default value for the City field and "VA" for
the State field. In this way, you would not need to enter in a
City or State name; ProFile would do it for you automatically.
When you enter new information into a field with a default value,
it is erased automatically when you enter any new information.
To enter default values:
1. Select the Default Values from the Form Menu.
2. Your form design will appear, just as it does when you add
new records.
3. Move the cursor to the field where you'd like to enter a
default value. Enter in the value just as if you were
filling in a new form. With the above example, moving the
cursor to City and entering "Richmond" in the information
blank would create a default value ("Richmond") for the City
field.
4. Repeat step 3 until all values have been entered.
5. If you want to delete a default value, move the cursor to
the value you'd like deleted and press ^[Home]
(Control-Home).
6. When all changes have been made press F10.
7. At the Make any changes permanent prompt, answer Yes to save
your changes to disk, or No to make them applicable to this
session only. (They'll return to their previous values when
you exit ProFile.)
That's all there is to it. Default values may be changed as often
as you like.
ProFile Appendix A 123
Appendix A:
Glossary
ASCII- A coding system used by computers to represent text
characters and non-printable characters.
ASCII File- A disk file that contains no special coding. This
type of file can be used to share data between different
application programs.
Backup- A copy of a database created for archival use. Backup
copies of a database are made and then stored safely away to
protect information in case of problems with the original file.
Browse- To scan through the database.
Bulk Mail Sort- Ordering the information in the database
according to guidelines established by the U.S. Postal Service.
Calculation- A formula that ProFile uses in reports to perform
arithmetic operations on columns or fields.
Calculated Column- The column in a report that is created by
calculations performed on other columns.
Column Break- Place in a sorted report where a value changes.
Depending on the report options selected, it can trigger
subtotals, line breaks, or page breaks.
Column Break Field Number (#)- The field number in a report
whose value is used to determine column breaks.
Database- The set of Data, Index, and Form Design files that
ProFile uses, all of which are stored with a common file name
(only the file extensions differ).
Data File- A collection of records on disk.
DIF- An industry standard method of coding and storing
information in a disk file (Data Interchange Format).
Default Value- A field may have a preset value that is displayed
when adding new records. Default values are used to speed up
data entry.
Field- This is both the field name and the blank that follows
it. A collection of fields makes up a database.
Field Attributes- A field's type and length.
Appendix A 124 ProFile
Field Help Line- Optional help that can be created to help
describe what data goes in an information blank.
Field Length- The length of a field in characters. Fields may
be up to 80 characters long.
Field Name- Prompt the typist for what kind of information
should go in the blank following it.
Field Number- The number of a field in a form. Numbers are
displayed next to field names in certain functions,
i.g. Selection Spec, Create Report, etc.
Field Types- A field in a database may be one of several types
i.e. text, numbers, dates, etc.
File- A collection of data stored on a disk.
File Extension- The dot and up to three letters at the end of a
file name. ProFile uses file extensions to keep track of Index,
Data, Form Definition, Report and Label files.
File Manager- The function in ProFile that helps to retrieve
databases, reports, and labels.
File Name- A name given to a file. File names can be up to
eight characters long and include an optional file extension.
Form- A series of fields arranged on the screen so that
information can be entered into it.
Form Definition File- This is the file that holds the form
itself plus other information that is important to the database,
such as the length and type of each field.
Form Design- The physical layout of the form.
Function Key- The keys labeled F1 through F10 on the IBM PC
keyboard.
Function Key Help Line- The information displayed on line 25 of
the screen signifying what function keys are active and their
uses.
Global Delete- To automatically remove selected records from a
database.
Global Update- To automatically change certain fields in all or
selected records in a database.
Help Prompts- See Field Help.
ProFile Appendix A 125
Index File- ProFile uses an a separate file to keep track of the
order of the information in the data file. It works like the
index in the back of this manual; which allows you to quickly
find specific information on this program. The index file is
based on the key field of the database.
Information Blank- The space following a field name where the
information for a field is entered. It is signified on the
computer screen with a series of dashes.
Invisible Column- Used in a report for intermediate
calculations. It is not displayed or printed in the report.
Key Field- The field used for extremely quick record
retrievals. Data from the key field makes up the Index File.
Label- A field name.
MailMerge- The process by which a word processing program merges
a mailing list file with a template form. Used to create
personalized letters, forms, etc.
Merge Spec- The spec used to tell ProFile how to copy fields
from an ASCII file into a ProFile database.
Modeling a Form- To use an existing form as a template for a new
database that is being created.
Page Break- Place in a report where a new page is started.
Determined by the column break field.
Path Name- Series of names indicating a disk, root directory,
subdirectory, and file name.
Precedence- The order by which a formula is calculated.
Primary Sort- The first sort performed on the database. Sort by
which all other sorts are based.
Printer Control Codes- Codes that vary from printer to printer
that control pitch, spacing page size, etc. These codes are
entered before a report or label is printed.
Print Margin- The number of characters that an entire report (or
labels) are moved to the right. Used to align the information on
the page.
Record- A record (or completed form) is a form with the data
entered in it.
Appendix A 126 ProFile
Report- A collection of information collected from the database
and displayed in columns on the screen or printer.
Save- To keep information permanently on disk for later use.
Select Spec- A spec used to limit the records in a report,
labels, MailMerge, etc. to those meeting the specified criteria.
Sort- To change the order of a the information in a database.
Spec- Short for specifications.
Subcalculation- In Report, calculations performed when a column
break occurs, i.e. subtotal, subaverage, subcount.
Wild Card- Character that can stand for many. In the File
Manager, the asterisk (*) means any series of characters and the
question mark means any single character.
Working Copy- The copy of the program disk that is used daily.
The master is placed safely away and used only to make working
copies.
ProFile Appendix B 127
Appendix B:
Files that ProFile Uses
The following file extensions are used by ProFile to identify
certain types of files.
Database Files
Extension Type of File
--------- -------
.FRM Form Definition File
.BAK Previous version of a Form Definition File
.DTA Database Data File
.DTY Previous version of your database before a pack or
reorganization
.I?? Database Index File where ?? = 01 or 02, 03, etc.
.LAB Label Definition File
.LXX Previous version of a Label Definition File
.RPT Report File
.RXX Previous version of a Report File
Program Files
The program files that make up ProFile are described below. See
PF-READ.ME for more information.
PF.EXE- This is the main program file of ProFile.
PF.HLP- This is the help file used for context sensitive
help.
Appendix C 128 ProFile
Appendix C:
Error Messages
ProFile is a sophisticated program that can generally do what you
ask of it. When it can't it displays an error message. The
error message will either appear on a prompt line near the bottom
of the screen or in a large box at the bottom of the screen.
Most of the messages require no explanation. However, more
detailed information is listed below for your convenience.
ProFile has three types of error messages- printer and disk drive
errors, system errors, and sorting errors. Generally, unless the
problem is severe, ProFile will attempt to recover and continue
operation. Problems that ProFile cannot recover from are called
fatal errors.
Whenever ProFile encounters an error, it displays an error
message. If the problem can be corrected, ProFile will do so and
continue. If the error is fatal, ProFile will attempt to close
the data and index files of the database in use. This is so you
do not lose any information in your database. ProFile will
inform you if it is successful. If it is not, you should check
your database to see that all the information is intact.
When You Have an Error
If you encounter a fatal error, do the following:
1) Immediately jot down the circumstances that led to the error
condition.
2) Write down the error message and an error address if it is
listed on the screen.
3) Review this section for a message's meaning and potential
solutions.
4) Let us know as outlined in the PF-READ.ME file.
Disk and Printer Error Messages
Disk write error- Disk full or bad- This is the most common of
all disk drive errors, particularly on floppy disk systems. It
usually means that you have run out of space on the disk drive.
It could also mean that the disk is bad. If the disk is full,
you must free up space on the disk to eliminate this error. Try
removing unneeded report files, label files, etc.
ProFile Appendix C 129
Recovering from Disk Full
There are two functions where, if a disk were to become full, you
could lose information in your database:
o Packing the database
o Reorganizing the database after changing the Form Definition,
i.e. field length or number of fields.
If you made a backup of your database before you started the
above procedures, congratulate yourself on your foresight and use
the backup. If you didn't, do the following to restore the
database to its original condition before the pack or
reorganization (all changes will be lost):
1) If you are using a floppy disk, copy it and store the
original safely away until you have completely recovered all
your data.
2) If you are using a hard disk system, you must make room on
the disk for the database, and backup (using your hard disk
backup program) all of the ProFile database files for the
database that was in use.
For example, if your database is called Customer, four files
make up the database at this point- Customer.FRM,
Customer.BAK, Customer.DTA, Customer.DTY. Backup all of
these. Do not worry about backing up the index file
(Customer.I01), it will be rebuilt shortly.
3) Review Appendix B to understand what different file
extensions mean. If the database files ending in .BAK and
.DTY are not present, do not continue.
For example, if your database was called Customer, the files
would be listed as Customer.DTY and Customer.BAK.
4) For the following explanation, assume that your database is
called Customer. First, return to the DOS prompt and make
the disk and directory that holds the database files
active. If you are using a floppy system this would be done
by typing B: and then [ENTER]. Hard disk users should type
C: [ENTER], CD\ [ENTER] and then CD ProFile [ENTER].
Appendix C 130 ProFile
Follow these steps:
a) Delete the Form Definition file, Customer.FRM, by
typing:
DEL Customer.FRM [ENTER].
b) Rename the Form Definition backup file to the original
by typing:
REN Customer.BAK Customer.FRM [ENTER].
c) Delete the data file by typing:
DEL Customer.DTA [ENTER].
d) Rename the data file backup to the original by
entering:
REN Customer.DTY Customer.DTA [ENTER].
e) Delete the index file by typing:
DEL Customer.I?? [ENTER].
f) Restart ProFile and then enter in the database file
name, in this example Customer. The index file(s) will
be automatically created.
After the system has reindexed the database, you should use the
edit function to browse through the database to ascertain that
the recovery was successfully completed.
If you had made changes to the Form Definition, you may place a
copy of the file (that you made in step 1 or 2) on a separate
disk. Next, use the Copy Database function on the Exchange Menu
to move the information from the old database to the new form.
Remember, always backup your database before packing or
reorganizing.
Other Disk Errors
File does not exist- ProFile has attempted to use a file that it
thought was available and now is not.
File not open for input
File not open for output
File not open
Can't read from this file
Can't write to this file
The preceding error messages rarely occur. Although they are
ambiguous, they usually appear when the system has disk drive
problems.
ProFile Appendix C 131
Record length mismatch
Seek beyond end of file
Unexpected end of file
File size overflow
These error messages can occur when a file has been corrupted.
If you receive this message when ProFile is trying to use the
Index file, reindex the database. To do so, use the Index
command on the Utilities Menu.
Directory is full
The disk drive directory is full and cannot hold any more files.
To solve this problem delete any unneeded files or use a new
disk.
File disappeared
The file that ProFile was using is no longer on the disk. Most
likely cause is that a system or data disk has been removed.
Problem with Printer
Check that the printer is properly connected and that it is
working properly.
Sort Error Messages
Sort work area too small
The sort function needs at least 200 bytes of unused memory to
work properly. The recommended system memory is at least 320
KB. If you have plenty of memory, check and see if
memory-resident programs are using up too much of it.
Illegal Sort item length
If this error appears, contact us as outlined in the PF-READ.ME
file on the DOCUMENTATION disk.
Write error during sorting (disk bad or full)
The disk became full when sorting. Try deleting unused files on
the disk or using a new disk for the database.
Read error during sorting (bad disk)
This indicates that the disk is bad. Try copying the database
files to a new disk or using the backup copy of the database.
Appendix C 132 ProFile
Impossible to create new file (directory full)
The disk directory became full when the sort process started.
Use a new disk or delete unused files.
Unknown I/O error
Something went wrong that ProFile could not pinpoint.
System Error Messages
Floating point overflow
Floating point division by zero
Negative Sqrt argument
Integer divide by zero or negative Ln argument
These problems most likely indicate internal program problems.
Contact us as outlined in the PF-READ.ME file on the
DOCUMENTATION DISK.
String index out of range
Array index out of range
Scaler or subrange assignment out of range
Integer assignment out of range
These errors usually appear when an incorrect or corrupted Form
Definition, Report or Label file has been loaded. Check the
circumstances of the errors. If they happened when loading or
using any of the above files, try using the backup copy of the
database, etc. If the problem does not recur, make a copy of the
backup disk and use this as the new original.
ProFile Index 133
Index
$, Information Type Column Widths 57
24 Comma Delimited 98
Add 34 Comparison, Selection
Add Data/Records 34 Spec 48
Add Field 118 Contains 49
AND 50 Copy Data 105
ARCTAN 31 Copy Data Options 105
Ascending Sort 72 Copy Database 105
ASCII Files 97 COS 31
ASCII Format Count 44
Export 103 Create Data File 33
Import 97 Create Index File 33
Attributes- See Field Cursor Keys 14
Attributes 22 Cursor Movement
Backup 6, 111 Form Design 14
Problems 113 Data
Restore Database Add 34
112 Deleted 41
Boxes, Form 18 Merge 105
Bulk Mail Sort 74, 90 Share 3
Calculated Columns 61 Data File Definition
Calculated Fields 21, 12
37 Database
Creating 29 Backup 111
Calculation Error Change 116
Messages 64 Copy 105
Change Error 129
Field Length 118 Files 12
Change Database 116 Recovery 129
Change Field Type 119 Reorganizing 116
Change Report Design Date
76 When Adding Records
Column Break 74 36
Column Break and With Selection Spec
Subcalculation 52
60 Default Values 122
Column Break Field 74 Define Field
Column Breaks 60 Attributes 20
Column Calculations Delete
59 Global 110
Column Detail, Report Record 44
57 Delete a Field 118
Column Headings 57 Delete Field 118
Column Headings, Delete Field
Report 65 Informatino 107
Column Justification Descending Sort 72
59 Design a Database 10
Column Spacing 58 Disk Backup 111
Column too wide 59 Disk Error 128
Index 134 ProFile
Disk Full 128 Prompts 16
Display Name 120 Field Attraibutes 25
Ditto 38 Field Attributes 19
DIV 0 64 Changing 117, 119
Drawing Boxes 18 Decimal 24
Edit Errors 32
Add Data 35 Help Line 25
Delete Record 44 High 25
Existing Record 42 Index 24
First 44 Length 23
Function 40 Low 25
Go to 44 Mask Type 22
Index 45 Must Fill 25
Last 44 Name 22
Print Form 46 Required 25
Select 45 Uppercase 25
Edit Existing Label Field Help 25
92 Field Identifiers 117
Edit Existing Report Field Length 16
76 Maximum 16
END 51 Field Name 10
Equal 48 Field Names
Equal or Greater Than Label 80
49 Field Type
Equal or Less Than 49 Change 119
ERR 64 Lookup 26
Error Field Types 21
Disk 128 Calculated 29
If you have 128 Fields
Sort 131 Stored 28
System 132 Fields Attributes
Error Messages 128 Unique 25
Report 64 File
Errors ASCII 97, 103
Disabled Lookup Extension 127
Fields 33 File Manager 6
Field Attributes 32 Error 132
Esc 12 Subdirectory 6
EXP 31 File Name
Export 103 Label 78
Floppy Disk 104 Report 54
Field 16 Files
Add 118 Database 127
Adding, Type Checked Program 127
36 Filling Out Forms 34
Calculated 29 First Record 44
Change Length 118 Floppy Disks
Date 36 Backup 113
Delete 118 Form 13
Length 118 Cursor Keys 14
Moving 117 Default Values 122
ProFile Index 135
Design Hints 31 Greater Than 48
Display Name 120 Hard Disk Installation
Editing 117 5
Field Name 16 Hardware 4
Layout 14 Header/Footer, Report
Length 18 70
Modeling 13 Help
Not Found 13 Adding Records 38
Planning 31 Form 7
Saving 30 Function Keys 7
Form Definition File Online 7
12 Help File 127
Form Design 10 High Range 25
Boxes 18 Import
Calculated Fields Floppy Disk 97
17 Merge Spec 101
Copy Line 18 Options 99
Cursor Movement 14 Overview 97
Delete Line 18 Increment Field
Errors 19 Change Value 121
Field Attributes 19 Increment Field Type
Field Length 16 24
Field Types 21 Index
Function Keys 15 Edit Data 45
Hints 31 Index Field 24
How to 12 Index File
Insert Line 18 Create 33
Lookup Fields 17 Definition 12
Model 13 Error 131
Prompts 16 Index File, Corruption
Format 110
MailMerge 94 Index the Database
Formatting Standard 110
Labels 84 Information Blank 16
Formula 30 Information Type 19
Formulas 29 Initial Values 122
Formulas, Report 29, Invisible Columns 64
63 Justify
Free-Form Labels 83 Data 59
Formatting 85 Heading 58
Function Keys Key Field 43
Add Data 35 Label 78
Ditto 38 Create 79
General 8 Format 85
Label 82 Free-Form 83
Function, Report 30 Layout 80
Functions 31 Length 87
Getting Started 3 Print 91
Global Delete 110 Print Field Names
Global Update 107 88
Go to 44 Redesign 92
Index 136 ProFile
View Form 83 Numeric Fields 22
Label Alignment 91 One-Field-Per-Line 98
Label Size 79 Options Function 120
Label Text Length 85 OR 50
Last 44 Pack the Database 111
Last Record 44 Package Contents 3
Less Than 49 Page Break 74
LN 31 Page Length, Report
LOG 31 68
Lookup 26 Parallel Printer 114
Add data 37 Parentheses 30
Disabled Fields 33 Path Name 113
Field Attributes 28 Phone Field Type 23
Lookup File Name 27 Power, Loss of 6
Lookup Match Field Precedence 30
27 Previous 43
Lookup Retrieve Print
Field 27 Current Form 46
Non-stored Fields Error 128
28, 37 Form, Add Data 38
Search Field 27 Label 91
Stored 28 Report 76, 77
Lookup Fields 26 Printer Setup
MailMerge 3 Label 86
DEC 95 Parallel 114
MultiMate 95 Serial 114
Options 93 Program Files 127
Overview 93 Range
PC-Write 95 Low 25
WordPerfect 94 Range Checking 37
Wordstar 94 Record 10
Mass Delete 110 Count 44
Mass Update 107 Deleted 41
Maximum Record Size Go to 44
32 Total 41
Menu Remove Deleted Records
Edit 40 111
Report Layout 57 Reorganizing 116
Merge Data 105 Report
Merge Spec 101 Add Column 57
Modeling a Form Design Calculated Columns
13 61
Money Field Type 23 Calculations 59
Move Field 117 Change 76
Moving a Field 117 Column Detail 57
MultiMate 94 Column Guidelines
Must Fill Fields 25 59
New Page, Report 69 Column Headings 65
Next 43 Design 54
Not 48 Format 65, 67
Not Equal 48 Header/Footer 70
ProFile Index 137
Layout 55, 65 System Error Message
Layout Menu 54 132
Overview 53 Text Fields 22
Page Format 67 Top Line 12
Print 76, 77 Unique Fields 25
Subtotal Field 58 Update
Report Layout 67 Calcualted Fields
Required Fields 25 107
Save Lookup Fields 107
Label 84 Update, Global 107
Report 66 Uppercase 25
Search 43 Wordstar 94
Secondary Sort 72 Wrapped Columns 58
Selection Spec
Comparison 48
Create 47
Currency 52
Export 104
Import 102
Label 71, 88
MailMerge 96
OR, AND, END 50
Report 71
Self Referencing
Columns 64
Serial Printer 114
Shareware 1
SIN 31
Social Security Field
Type 23
Sort
Bulk Mail 74, 90
Column Break 74
Error Messages 131
Limits 74
Memory Use 76
Page Break 74
Primary 72
Secondary 72
Sort Spec
Export 104
Label 89
MailMerge 96
Report 71
Sort Spec Menu 73
SQR 31
SQRT 31
Standard Data Format
97
Subcalculation 60
Subdirectory 6