World of Shareware - Software Farm 2/wosw_2.zip/wosw_2/GENERAL/GDI.ZIP/MANUAL.TXT

Text File | 1991-04-11 | 35KB | 731 lines

                  GENEALOGY DATA INDEXER
             Version 2.0  (c) 1991 Andrew J. Morris

**********************INTRODUCTION***********************

Genealogy Data Indexer (or GDI for short) is a special indexing program,
designed for indexing large collections of genealogical information.  It
has been designed to allow rapid data entry, in a flexible and functional
format.  Information may be sorted and output in a variety of useful forms.
Despite its power and versatility, GDI is surprisingly simple to use.
Experienced computer users will probably have little or no need to consult
this manual, but they are urged to read this introduction, and the section
on "Suggested Uses" for further information on applications.

GDI may be used to create a simple index to a book or periodical, but it
can do far more than that.  GDI allows you to include the date and location
for an event, besides the usual name and reference citation.  It is
ideal for indexing original records, such as census, parish registers, land
records, etc.  It may also be used to index a variety of sources, such as
all the local history books for a specific locality.

{NOTE: if you typed MANUAL to read this on your computer, just press the
space bar after reading each screen to see the next one, or press CONTROL
key and the letter "c" key at the same time, to end.}

To keep GDI as flexible as possible, so that it will run on the largest
variety of machines with as few limitations as possible, GDI uses DOS
functions and capabilities for many of its operations.  Graphics have been
kept simple, so that no special EGA adaptors are required, for example,
even though most computers nowadays have EGA adaptors.  This program should
work fine even on the older IBM PC's and compatibles.  No attempt has been
made to accomodate the wild variety of printers available, instead GDI
creates "Print Files" (in ASCII) that you can print with almost any word
proscessor, or the DOS print capabilities.


This manual is divided into six chapters:
   1. Introduction
   2. Entering Information
   3. Editing Information
   4. Sorting Information
   5. Printing Information
   6. Suggested Uses




GDI is a shareware program - it is protected by copyright, but users are
authorized to distribute complete, unaltered copies.  Users are encouraged
to register, not only because it is the ethically correct thing to do, but
because a wide variety of benefits accrue to registered users.  We
anticipate that as we get feedback from users, other programs will be
developed to make GDI data files even more useful, and improvements will no
doubt be made to the GDI program itself.  Registered users will have access
to these improvements, and other services outlined in the chapter on
"Suggested Uses."

           FEES:

REGISTRATION FEE:  $20  (One time, good for life.)

CURRENT DISK:  $10  (Available to Registered users only.)

PRINTED MANUAL:  $5  (Identical to MANUAL.TXT file on current disk.)


Please let us know the version # of GDI that you have when you register, so
we can let you know about any updates.


****GETTING STARTED****

Copying the Disk and Running the Program:

It is best to make a working disk by copying the original, then place the
original in a safe place.  If you have printed out these instructions, then
only the program called "GDI.EXE" need be copied onto the working disk.  If
you have a hard disk, we recommend placing GDI.EXE in a sub-directory of
its own.

To copy the program from one floppy disk to another, put the original disk
in drive A: and a blank, formatted disk in drive B:, then type at the A:
prompt:

A:> COPY GDI.EXE B:

If you have a hard drive, it will probably be drive C:.  You can create a
sub-directory called GDI by typing at the C: prompt (make sure you are in
the root directory):

C:> MKDIR GDI


Then enter the newly created sub-directory by typing:

C:> CD \GDI

Put the original program disk in drive A: and copy to your hard disk by
typing:

C:> COPY A:GDI.EXE


Any of these commands may be modified to match the drives on your
computer, by substituting the appropriate drive or path name.

To run the GDI program, make sure you have the program in the same drive or
sub-directory you are at, and type: GDI


If you are copying the program to pass it on to others, don't
forget to copy the other files on the disk:

              MANUAL.TXT
                 and
              MANUAL.BAT

*******************ENTERING INFORMATION*******************

When you type GDI, the program begins to run by displaying an introductory
screen.  After reading that screen, simply press any key to continue.

The next screen you see will be the MAIN MENU.  This is your basic
selection of available options.  Whenever you are presented with a menu in
GDI you have two ways of making your selection.  One is to type the number
corresponding to your choice.  The choice you select will be highlighted.
Then press the ENTER key to select that choice.  The second way to make a
selection, is to use the up and down pointing arrows (cursor controls).
Each time you hit an arrow key the selector highlights the choice
indicated, when the correct choice is highlighted, press the ENTER key to
select it.

There are six choices available from the main menu:
   1. Enter Information
   2. Edit/Display Information
   3. Sort Information/ Create an Index
   4. Create Print File
   5. Set Function Keys
   6. End Program

Main menu choices #1 (Enter Information) and #5 (Set Function Keys) are
explained in this chapter.  Choice #2 (Edit/Display Information) will be
explained in the chapter EDITING INFORMATION.  Choice #3 (Sort Information/
Create an Index) is explained in the chapter SORTING INFORMATION.  While
choice #4 (Create Print File) is explained in the chapter PRINTING
INFORMATION.  Choice #6 (End Program) is self explanatory, you choose this
option when you are done using the program, to return to DOS.

***FUNCTION KEYS***

Function keys are the set of 10 keys on your keyboard labled F1 through
F10.  In GDI, they are set to help save you typing time.  A function key
can take the place of any string of characters, up to a length of 15
letters, numbers or spaces.  When you are entering information in GDI, the
first 6 characters assigned to each function key are displayed along the
bottom of your screen.  GDI assigns values to keys F7 through F10
automatically.  If you choose option #5 (Set Function Keys) from the Main
Menu, you may assign the other 6 function keys values of your choice.  Thus
if you are entering information on the Messerschmidt family, you might
assign the first key the value "Messerschmidt" - then when you are entering
information, each time you want to type that name, you only have to hit the
function key instead, and it is typed out automatically!

When you press a function key, the characters it types for you are
displayed on the screen.  If they are exactly as you want them to appear,
you may press the ENTER key to continue.  However, you may also modify
what the function key has typed for you.  Thus if you have one key set to
"Messerschmidt" but occasionally need to type "Messerschmitt" there is no
need to type the whole thing.  Press the function key to get
"Messerschmidt" then press the backspace key twice and the last two letters
"dt" will disappear.  Type the letters you want there instead - "tt" and
you have your 13 character name in five keystrokes instead of 13.  Control
keys may also be used in combination, so you can type a common first name
and the middle name with just two keystrokes if your function keys are set
to those names. (You probably would have to add a space between them - so 3
keystrokes - still a major time saver.)

***ENTERING THE INFORMATION***

When you select choice #1 (Enter Information) from the Main Menu, the
program presents you with another menu with only three choices:

    1. ADD to Existing Information File
    2. CREATE a New Information File
    3. Return to Main Menu

Choice #3 (Return to Main Menu) is self explanatory.  The first time you
enter information you will choose #2 (CREATE a New Information File), but
it is unlikely that you will enter all the information into that file in
one session - unless you are making a very small index.  So most of the
time you will be choosing #1 (ADD to Existing Information File) to expand
on a file that you began in an earlier session.

Whether you choose #1 or #2 you will need to specify a file name as the
next step.  GDI data files always end with ".GDI" - so the program can
display the existing data files for you, before you type the file name you
want to use.  If you are creating a new file (choice #2) then you will not
want to duplicate the name of an existing file.  If you are adding to an
existing file (choice #1) then it should appear in the list the program
shows you.


***CREATING A NEW FILE***

You can create a file with full genealogical information, or a simple
index.  No matter what you plan to put into the file, the initial procedure
will be the same.


The first time you put information into a file, you will be given the
opportunity to describe the source of that information.  You may type four
lines of up to 80 characters each, to describe the source of your
information.  You should provide enough detail so that anyone using your
index will understand where the original information came from.  If you are
indexing a book, then a full bibliographic citation is appropriate.  If you
are indexing an archival source, original records, or any other unique
source, be sure to give enough information so that the user of your index
can find the actual records you have indexed.

You will be asked to provide a name for the file that will hold the
information you enter.  The name you provide should have no more than six
characters.  DOS allows up to eight characters, plus a period and three
more characters - the period and last three characters will always be
".GDI" for information files created by this program.  You can only use six
of the eight available character spaces because GDI adds "-S" to file names
to indicate that a file has been sorted.






***SELECTING FIELDS***

You will be asked to indicate which fields you wish to include in your
information file.  The six fields available are:

Surname  -  Firstname(s)  -  Event  -  Date  -  Location  -  Reference

These are the catagories of information a genealogist is likely to want
included in an information file, but in fact they are just titles -
except for Date and Reference, all fields are treated just as a
string of characters, you could include any information you want in them.
There are no restrictions on what information you type into a field, so you
may use fields for information other than what the title suggests.

The exceptions of Date and Reference fields are limited only in certain
situations.  If the Reference citation is less than 5 characters long,
blank spaces will be added to "pad out" the string to 5 characters - see
the "SORTING INFORMATION" chapter for the reasoning behind this.  The date
field will accept any sort of data, but if you try to sort a file by date,
this is where the program looks for date information, so the sort might not
work correctly if you have something else in that field.

If you want to use the fields for something other than what they were
designed for, just try out a small sample to see how it works.  Here is how
we envisaged these fields would be used:


Surname - the last name only.  Since names are sorted by this field first,
names should appear as you want them to be in the index.


Firstname(s) - for the first name or initials, and any middle names or
initials, as well as any titles.  If the title normally appears before the
name (e.g. Dr., Sir, Mrs.) I like to add it in parenthesis after the name,
so the name gets sorted by name, not title.


Event - this is usually just a one or two letter code, (e.g. b., m., d. for
birth, marriage and death).


Date - the format for dates is day-month-year, with day and year in
numbers, and month written out, or abbreviated with just the first three
letters, such as 4 Jul 1776.  If just the year is given, it may include a
modifer, such as "pre" (before), "aft" (after) or "ca" (around).

Location - may be as specific as needed, but should be kept short when
possible, because long location names can use up your disk space rapidly.
For American states, for example, it is best to use the two letter postal
code.


Reference - is usually a page number, but may refer to a folio, volume or
any other criteria you want.  You may use a code if appropriate, such as
roman numerals to represent each of several books.  See the chapter on
"SORTING INFORMATION" to see how your choice of reference citations may
affect the sorting sequence, and thereby the appearance of a subsequent
print file.


When initializing a new information file, GDI will ask which of these
fields you wish to include.  Each field will be listed, you respond by
typing the letter "Y" or "N" (capital or small letters - it doesn't matter)
for YES, include that field, or NO, do not include it.

See the chapter on "SUGGESTED USES" for clues as to why you might want to
include more fields than are immediately necessary for an index.


***ADDING TO AN EXISTING FILE***

When you add to an existing file, you need to name which file you are
adding to.  The program will list all the files available that end with
".GDI" - indicating a GDI information file.  You can type in the name you
used originally, you do not need to type the ".GDI" ending, though if you
do so it will do no harm.

You will not need to specify which fields are included, the program will
determine which were used last time and use the same ones again.

***TYPING INFORMATION***

There are two formats for entering information, which will be presented to
you in the usual menu format.  The first option is recommended for first
time users.  If you find on using it that this method seems a bit slow,
that you have to wait for the prompts to appear before you can type more
information, you may want to try the second method next time.  Most modern
computers will be faster than your typing, but some of the older PC's and
compatibles cannot process information so fast.  The second method of data
entry allows you to enter information rapidly even on these older machines.

When entering information there are several shortcuts available.  The
use of function keys to enter information has been described above.
Another useful feature of GDI is that it automatically repeats information
for a field if you don't type any new information in, but just press the
ENTER key.  Thus if you are typing the names of a family, you don't have to
keep typing the surname over and over, you type it the first time, then
just press ENTER for the surname field and type in the new first names.
Likewise, if you are indexing a book, you will not have to keep retyping
the page numbers, just once when you enter the first name for that page.

If the program automatically repeats the previous entry when you don't
enter anything, then how can you enter a blank, or unknown?  Well, GDI
doesn't like blank entries, but you can type a dash, which is generally
recognized as meaning that particular information is unknown or
unavailable.

There are two special codes you will use.  Type the "@" symbol to edit a
preceding entry.  Enter an exclamation mark "!" to end a session.  The "@"
symbol will allow you to edit any of the preceding 5 entries - one entry
being the contents of all six fields, or as many of those as you have
chosen to use.  To edit earlier entries, see the chapter on "EDITING
INFORMATION."  Entering "!" will return you to the main menu.


***************EDITING INFORMATION**********************


When you select the "Edit/Display Information" option from the main menu,
the first screen of the Edit section will display a message to this effect:

"For reasons explained in your manual, there is no easy way to edit just
one entry in your information file.  You will usually find it easier to edit
using EDLIN (see manual).  Here you have to go through all entries in the
file, and choose which ones you wish to edit.  Keep these factors in mind
when editing: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH DISK SPACE - YOU NEED AT LEAST AS
MUCH FREE SPACE AS THE SIZE OF THE FILE TO BE EDITED."

The information files created by GDI are of a type known as "sequential"
files in computer jargon.  The main advantage to using this type of file is
that there is no wasted disk space, the information takes up just as much
room as it needs and no more, and there are no pre-set size limits for each
field of information.  The disadvantage is that information must be
retrieved in the order it was put into the file.  If the file is sorted
using the "Sort Information/Create an Index" option in the main menu, then
the order of each entry is changed, but you still have to read each entry
in order as it now appears.

Database programs use files called "random acess" so that they can get any
entry in the file just by specifying its position within the file, but for
random files each entry takes up the same amount of space, so every entry
in the database takes up as much space as the longest entry.  There are
tricks to get around these limitations, but they work efficiently only if
you know in advance the exact contents of the database.  Since GDI is
intended for entering and indexing large collections of information, random
files are not the best option, but without them, editing can be time
consuming.  (We are working on a program that will take a collection of GDI
files and create a random acess database from them for an efficient and
speedy database - registered users will be kept informed of progress.)

So to edit a GDI file using GDI you will have to wait for the program to
present each entry in the file, in order, 13 entries at a time.  These will
appear in a menu format, with the additional options of Continuing with
the next set of records, or END the edit session.  When the entry you want
to modify appears in the menu, you simply select that entry.  Then the
fields are presented to you one at a time, and you can press enter to leave
them unchanged, or type in a new value.  You may delete the entry entirely
by entering "$" for the first field.  When you are done with that entry,
the earlier menu re-appears, showing the entry with any changes, and the
usual options to continue on or end.


Try editing a short file to see how it works.  This method of editing is
not too cumbersome if you have only a few hundred entries in the file.  If
you have tens of thousands of entries, however, this method is just too
slow.  There is another way to edit your information.

GDI files may be accessed by certain word processors, including the DOS
text editor EDLIN.  The instructions that came with your computer should
include an explanation of how EDLIN works.  There are characters embedded
in GDI files by the program that may appear odd when viewed by a word
processor or EDLIN, but as long as these characters are not erased, GDI
should be able to continue to use the file.  Some word processors, however,
will add characters to the file, making it unusable by GDI.  The results
can be unpredictable, so always be sure to back up your file before
editing.

GDI saves each entry as a single line of information, with the fields
separated by a character that does not appear on your keyboard.  (For
programmers: ASCII character 15).  When you edit a GDI file using EDLIN,
this character appears as two characters - an up pointing caret character
followed by a capital O (^O).  Be careful not to delete these characters
when editing.


One word processor that I have seen handle GDI files OK is the widely
available shareware program called "PC-WRITE" by Quicksoft.  The version I
saw was limited to files of 60K however, and your GDI file may get much
larger than that.  Newer versions of PC-WRITE may handle larger files.
When GDI files are edited through PC-WRITE, that program displays the
dividing characters as a star shaped symbol (*), and each time it is
encountered it reverses the appearance of text on the screen, from white on
black to black on white and vice versa.

Another editing option you have is first to create a print file, and do
your editing there, using your word processor.  Since print files do not
have the special characters information files have, and since they will not
be further processed by GDI anyhow, it does not matter if your particular
word processor adds other control characters.  Remember though that these
changes were not made in the original GDI file, so if you print it again
later, or use the GDI file as part of a database later, the changes will
not have been made.

Please let us know which word processors (include version #'s) work, or do
not work with GDI files, so we can let other users know.

*********************SORTING INFORMATION************************

When you choose the "Sort Information/ Create an Index" option from the
main menu, you are presented with a menu that lets you choose between
sorting by name, or by date.  If you sort by name, the information will be
sorted in this sequence:

   Surname - Firstname(s) - Date - Location - Reference - Event

Thus if you have more than one listing for the same Surname and Firstname,
the field is Date, the information will be in order by that field.  It will
not necesarily be chronological however - here the date is treated as a
string of characters, so "2 June" will come before "2 March" since J comes
before M.  If you enter only the year, then the dates will be in the
correct order.

If you sort by date, then GDI breaks down the date entry, and puts the
entire file in the correct chronological order.  Dates that are entered as
multiple years, such as 1654/5 - or years that have modifiers instead of
day and month (sucy as ca, pre, aft) may not sort into the correct
location.  Let us know where you have problems and we will do our best to
correct that for the next version.



After you select the order for your sort, the program will have you choose
the file to sort, just as in earlier sections.  Then you will have the
opportunity to choose all of the fields in the file, or any part of them.
This is done in a fashion similar to that used to select fields when you
first created the information file, except only those fields available in
the file you selected will be presented.  You may choose all available
fields by simply pressing ENTER for the first one.

When creating a sorted file, keep in mind the sequence for alphabetizing.
Suppose you entered all six fields, for example, in order to create a
database.  You plan to publish an index with just the names and references
from your information file (you will only be printing the fields Surname,
Firstname(s) and Reference).  If you sort using all six fields, then
duplicate names will not be in order by reference number, but by date or
other preceding criteria.  In this case, you would want to create a sort
file using just those three fields you intend to print, then they will be
in the correct order.

GDI uses the DOS SORT function to sort your information.  This means that
all entries are sorted alphabetically, without regard to case.  That is to
say, a capital letter is treated the same as if it were small.


In this computer sorting, numbers come before letters.  Here is a typical
sorted sequence:

   DeLaguna, Charles
   deLaguna, Mary
   Delaguna, Peter
   Delmont, 123
   Delmont, Anna

Of course one doesn't usually see numbers for the first name, but when
names match and the date becomes significant, this numerical priority may
explain the results you observe.

The time it takes your computer to sort a file depends on how large the
file is, and how fast your computer is.  Sorting takes a great deal of disk
space, and involves a lot of file manipulation - be sure to make backup
copies of your file before sorting.  The program does everything necesary
automatically, and gives you messages as it goes to indicate that it is
working.  Allow plenty of time to sort large files.


Another quirk of computer sorting is that spaces come before any
character in the sequence.  Thus if your reference page numbers
were simply left as you enter them, they would sort something
like this:

        1
        12
        17
        18
        2
        23
        231
        25

To avoid this problem, spaces are added to the LEFT of any reference you
type that is fewer than five characters in length.  This will allow you to
use numbers up to 99999.  If you are adding a code before the page number,
such as when indexing a series of books, remember to add the necesary
spaces yourself as you enter the information.  If you indexing books A B
and C, and each has fewer than 1000 pages, make sure each reference totals
four spaces (A 13, A123, B  3, etc.).



***PROGRAMMERS NOTE***

Programmers may be interested in this explanation of how GDI sorts large
files - if it doesn't make sense to you, don't worry about it - the
computer is taking care of all this:

First, a sort file must be created.  Even if you are sorting all the fields
in the file, we must first strip away the lines at the beginning of each
file that describe the source of information.

Second, DOS sorts the file we just created for that purpose.  Since DOS
will only sort about 60K however, large files must be sorted one part at a
time.

Next, if there are more sections to be sorted (i.e. it is a large file)
then new sort files are created and sorted.  These sorted files must then
be combined into larger files - this is easier than sorting however, since
we know they are each in sorted order, they only need to be blended
together.

Finally, the initial source information must be recombined with the final
information in sorted order.

*******************PRINTING INFORMATION********************

When you choose "Create a Print File" from the Main Menu, a menu appears
with four choices:
     1. Create Regular Print File
     2. Create Index - Print File
     3. Change Print File Default values
     4. Return to Main Menu

Option #4 is self explanatory, it takes you back to the Main Menu.

If you choose #1 or #2, you begin by typing in the name of the file to be
printed, in a process that should be familiar by now - first the program
presents available GDI files to choose from, and you can type in a name
(with or without the ".GDI" ending) or just press ENTER without typing
anything if you want to return to the Main Menu.

The difference between a "Regular Print File" and an "Index - Print File"
is simply that the Index file combines references when all the other
details in an entry match.  The program assumes that the references are in
the correct order, and just adds them to the printed line with spaces and
commas between the references.

Some examples should clarify this.  Suppose you are printing the fields
Surname, Firstname(s), Location and Reference for a sorted file.  Here is
how a few entries might appear in a "Regular Print File":

    Smith, Michael  (NY)  13
    Smith, Michael  (NY)  18
    Smith, Nathan  (NY)  11
    Smith, Nathan  (NYC)  10
    Smith, Nathan  (NYC)  14

The same information in an "Index - Print File" will appear:

    Smith, Michael  (NY)  13, 18
    Smith, Nathan  (NY)  11
    Smith, Nathan  (NYC)  10, 14


The print file GDI creates is stored on your disk in ASCII format, almost
any word processer has the ability to use these files, under the name of
ASCII or DOS.  You can then use the word processer's capabilities to edit,
format, or print the file.

If you choose #3 from the print file menu (Change Print File default
values) you will have the opportunity to change any of eight values that
control the layout of your print file.  These are the default values:

Total Lines Per Page = 55
 (this is the number of lines available for printed information)
Blank Header Lines = 3
 (lines left blank at the top of each page)
Blank Lines Between Text = 0
 (allows you to double or triple space between each line printed)
Beginning Page # = 1
 (page #'s printed at the bottom of each page, if you set this to 0 the
 program will not print any page numbers)
Footer Lines = 4
 (lines left blank at the bottom of the page, except that the page #, when
 used, will be printed toward the center of these)
Left Margin Spaces = 5
 (blank spaces on the left of each line)
Characters per line = 65
 (this is the # of characters that will be printed on one line)
Space to indent wrapped lines = 5
 (spaces on the left, in addition to the Left Margin Spaces, that are
 printed only when one entry continues onto a second line)

*******************SUGGESTED USES*************************

Our first suggestion is that you try out the format and content you plan to
use for a data file on a small scale first, to make sure the results are as
you expected.  Sort and print the file to see how it looks before you spend
a lot of time entering information.

Second, always, always, always make backup copies of your work.  If you do
not know how to copy a file to make a backup, check the information that
came with your computer, or ask someone familiar with computers to
demonstrate the procedure for you.  It is actually quite simple.

***APPLICATIONS***

There are thousands of ways this program can be put to good use.  Here are
just a few ideas.

Index the local history sources for your county.  Find all the local
history books at your local library, and create an index to them all.  You
can assign each book a letter code (or two letters if there are more than
26) that precedes the page number in the reference field.

Index all the references you can find for a particular surname in a
particular area.  The size of the area can be anything from the whole
country to a certain town, depending on how common or rare the surname is.

Index primary records, such as census, church records, land records, etc.

Enter the primary events (b, m & d) for everyone mentioned in the research
papers you have accumulated for your family.  Many people who collected
information for years before they computerized never get around to entering
all the details they have into a genealogy computer program.  You can at
least keep track of it all - just number each page of information you have
and enter the data in a GDI file.

When you create an index to one small record, you may want to include
information for all the fields in GDI, even though the information may seem
repetitive.  When you have indexed a group of such records, the information
may be combined into a database.  For example, suppose you index names in
the 1850 census and include the event "l" for living, and the year "1850"
in every entry.  These fields are not included in your sort or print files
since they're so repetitive, but when you (or someone else) index the 1860,
1870 and 1880 censuses, these various files are ready to be combined into a
database for the county.  Add the marriage records and/or birth records,
and you soon have a very comprehensive database of county information.

***SPECIAL OFFER***

How would you like to have a laser typeset printout of your index or
information file?  Can you imagine getting a camera-ready master copy of
your publication for just the cost of a photocopy?  Well that is our
special offer to registered users of GDI.  If you plan to publish the
information from one or more GDI files, we will print for you a
professional quality laser - typeset master copy.  Your cost is just ten
cents per page of print out, plus $2 postage.  You do not give up any of
your copyrights, we will not be selling copies of your data without your
permission.  We do reserve the right to keep one copy of the data, for our
own use in ways that do not infringe on your copyright.

***DATABASES***

We expect to have the capacity to produce large databases from GDI files
within the year.  Actually, we produced an early version for the earlier
version of this program (which was not comercially released) and tested it
on a relatively small database with 60,000 entries.  The program to create
databases will not be sold, but the databases are themselves programs that
will run on their own.  Users will be able to have proprietary databases
made, for their own use or sale.


***DATA EXCHANGE**

We also propose to run an exchange to facilitate the distribution of GDI
files.  These may be in the form of individual files, or groups of files
condensed into databases as described above.  Anyone who contributes files
that are included in larger databases under this exchange system will
receive free copies of the complete database.  Contributors will also have
the opportunity to receive other files in exchange for those they submit.
Since information files may be of widely different sizes, exchanges will be
based on approximate parity - either in the number of entries, or the total
size of files.  Details are yet to be worked out, your input is encouraged.

***FEEDBACK***

Please let us know what you think of GDI.  Suggestions for improvements are
welcome, along with any other comments, complaints or compliments.  We have
a few ideas for other programs for genealogists that get away from the
fill-in-the-family-group-sheet mold, your support will ensure further
developments get done.




***SUPPORT***

We cannot provide telephone support for this product, but will be happy to
answer any letters that are accompanied by a SASE.  We suggest that novice
users consult someone with a bit of computer experience before writing for
help, they can probably show you what you need to know in a matter of
minutes.  If you do need help, please describe exactly what the problem is
- if possible include sample files or print-outs.

                 Andrew J. Morris
                 P.O. Box 535
                 Farmington,
                 Michigan   48332