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USERNEWS.TXT
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1992-01-26
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HomeCraft Software
ORGANIZE! USER'S NEWSLETTER
IN THIS ISSUE:
ORGANIZE! A Big Success!
New Features
User Tip - dBase Files
User Tip - Catalog Formats
____________________
ORGANIZE YOUR COLLECTION! It's A Big Success! The feedback from
the first users of HomeCraft's version 5 software, ORGANIZE YOUR
COLLECTION, is 100% positive. User's have been writing to tell
us how much they enjoy many of the new features and like the
convenience of having everything available on one screen.
One of the big hits appears to be the new "Lock Top Line" feature
on the Reports Menu. This feature allows you set the top line of
a printed report so that it is repeated only when different from
the previous entry. It's used, for example, when printing a list
of songs. The artist's name is put on the top line and the song
title placed on the second line. The printed report will then
list the artist's name with all of the songs listed below that -
without repeating the artist's name. The listing would look
like:
BEATLES, THE
A Hard Day's Night
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Penny Lane
She Loves You
BEACH BOYS, THE
Help Me Rhonda
I Get Around
Surfer Girl
Another popular feature is the Quick Total feature. Anytime you
want to see the value of your collection just go to the Main
Screen and push CTRL-ENTER.
New Features: I'm amazed. The user's manual just went to the
printer's last week and already we've added a couple of new
features. They're not big changes, but you may find them useful
at times.
However, since they aren't covered in the manual I'll describe
them here. That way you don't need to print the README.TXT
file - which is where you'd normally find this information.
By the way, the Lock Top Line feature is a new feature that did
not make it into the manual. To use this feature go to the
_______________________________________________NEWSLETTER, Page 2
Reports Menu, highlight "Lock Top Line" and push ENTER. This
will toggle it on. If you don't want to be using it, just repeat
this procedure to turn it off.
DELETING MEMOS - a new feature has been added that provides a way
to delete memos. It is called "Remove Memo" and it is found on
the Edit Menu. To delete a memo use the editor to get the entry,
that has the memo you want to delete, on the screen. Push ALT-E
for the Edit Memo. Highlight "Remove Memo" and push ENTER.
DELETING REPORT FORMATS - we have added a feature on the Report
Menu (push ALT-R) that will delete report formats. To delete a
report format push ALT-R, highlight "Delete Format" and push
ENTER. Then highlight the report format name you want to delete
and push ENTER. A prompt will appear at the bottom of the screen
asking you to confirm that this is the report format you want to
delete. Push the letter "Y" and it will be deleted. (Push "N"
if you do not want to delete this format).
REPORT MODE - the report mode (the report Send To setting) is now
displayed at the bottom center of the Main Screen.
User Tip, dBase Files: ORGANIZE YOUR COLLECTION can directly
import dBase III files (use the import feature on the Utilities
Menu) with no problems. ORGANIZE YOUR COLLECTION can also export
dBase III files, but with exporting there can be all kinds of
problems - not problems associated with ORGANIZE YOUR
COLLECTION - but problems that come up as a result of limitations
in dBase. Here's a couple of things to watch out for:
The field names (line titles) in dBase must all be different and
unique. If you use the same title on two lines, you will need to
change one of them before exporting your information as a dBase
file.
Field names (line titles) in dBase can not contain spaces or
punctuation marks or other non-alphanumeric characters. Before
exporting a file to dBase you will need to be sure that each line
title only has letters and numbers.
Most of you will never need to use the export to dBase function.
It would only be used if you needed to share your files with
someone who uses a different database program. However, if you
do use this function, and you get an error message, the first
place to look is at your line titles. They will need to conform
to dBase's very strict format requirements. (By the way, you can
change them to meet dBase's requirements, do the export, then
change them back to they way you want them).
_______________________________________________NEWSLETTER, Page 3
User Tip - Catalog Formats ORGANIZE YOUR COLLECTION is designed
so that, if it should detect any type of problem with your data
file or catalog name, it will automatically switch to use the
default catalog name of CATALOG. Although ORGANIZE YOUR
COLLECTION stores your catalog information in ASCII files that
are difficult to damage (and easy to recover, in most cases,
should they be damaged) problems can still occur. In most cases
any problem that might occur is simple and harmless. However, I
get nervous when it comes to protecting information that I spent
a year typing into my catalog. So ORGANIZE YOUR COLLECTION is
designed to err on the safe side. (Of course, you all should
have backup copies of your catalogs.
In six years I've lost my catalogs twice as a result of problems
with my computer. Fortunately I was able to recover from backup
copies both times. If it should appear that your catalog format
has disappeared, check to see what catalog name the software is
using. If it has switched to CATALOG, in most cases you can
switch it back to the name you were using and there will be no
problem. If the software will not let you switch to your catalog
name, try running the RESET utility (see page 134 in the manual).
In addition to resetting the security feature, this utility will
clear up some of the problems that can effect a data file.
Another possible problem might be that there are fragmented
files. See page 133 in the manual for more information about
fragmented files.
That's everything I wanted to pass on to you in this newsletter.
However, since I have a little space left I'd like to use it for
an interesting story about one of those times when I lost all my
catalog files.
Several years ago I noticed that my computer was taking longer
and longer to find files on the hard disk. I had no idea what
the problem was and finally, one morning, it wouldn't boot up.
It just kept searching the hard disk without loading the DOS
system files. I called everyone I thought might be able to help
and the verdict was unanimous - my computer had a virus! Since I
could no longer access my hard disk this meant booting from a
floppy and reformatting the hard disk to erase everything that
was on it. This would eliminate the virus and everything else on
my disk, including my catalog files.
With sadness in my heart, but also with the confidence of knowing
I had backed up my hard disk, I reformatted.
The next day, when I turned on my computer, it appeared to be
working fine. But then, as each hour passed it began to run
slower and slower until once again I could no longer access
anything on my hard disk. Had the virus struck again? Where did
_______________________________________________NEWSLETTER, Page 4
it come from? The only place it could come from was one of my
floppy disks. So I checked them all for viruses. They were
clean. Somehow the virus had survived the reformatting (which
should not be possible) and that meant I'd have to spend another
day doing a complete low level format of my hard disk. Which I
did. And the next day the problem appeared again.
Fortunately, on the third day I was talking with one of the
dealers who carries our software. He suggested that I check the
battery in my computer. "The battery?" I asked, with a puzzled
look on my face. It turns out that all computers have small
batteries that are used to maintain basic information in the
computer's memory. The battery in my computer had run down and
my computer was "forgetting" that it had a hard disk. After a
quick trip to the store I put in a new battery and my computer
was it's old self again. Because of my lack of knowledge I had
erased all of my files, twice. And that's why having a backup
copy of your catalog files is important. (By the way, this was
an old computer. The lithium batteries in today's computers last
much longer).
<end newsletter>