The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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Text File | 1988-03-29 | 19.1 KB | 730 lines

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ FREEBASE - Free Form Database Program v1.2 ║ ║ ║ ║ -- by Glynn Shaffer -- ║ ║ ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Documentation File for FREEBASE version 1.2 Mar 28, 1988 Comments may be directed to the author: Glynn Shaffer 701 Carquinez Way Martinez, CA 94553 or via MARBBS 415-229-2743 300/1200 24 hrs {help ~ FREEBASE is a free form data base program that features: > FREE FORM data entry using any ASCII text editor. > RAPID SEARCH and unlimited narrowing of the search records by subsequent searches using case insensitive search strings. > Ability to PRINT search records. > Ability to WRITE search records to a disk file. > KEYWORDS to link records. The default filename is ADDR.DB It may be loaded initially by just pressing <cr>. {help ~ FREEBASE v1.2 HELP SCREEN ╔════╗ ╔════╗ HELP ║ F1 ║ ║ F2 ║ NEW FILE ╚════╝ ╚════╝ Input a new Data File ╔════╗ ╔════╗ SEARCH for a String ║ F3 ║ ║ F4 ║ SEARCH for a String in ALL Records ╚════╝ ╚════╝ in Search Records ONLY ╔════╗ ╔════╗ DISPLAY Search Records ║ F5 ║ ║ F6 ║ DELETE Search Record ╚════╝ ╚════╝ from que ╔════╗ ╔════╗ WRITE Search Records ║ F7 ║ ║ F8 ║ PRINT Search Records to a Disk File ╚════╝ ╚════╝ ╔════╗ ╔════╗ KEYWORD Search ║ F9 ║ ║ F10║ Temporary DOS ╚════╝ ╚════╝ Type 'EXIT'to Return ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Command ? F1 or Esc to EXIT { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F1 ║ HELP ╚════╝ -- COMMAND MENU with HELP Pressing the F1 key will bring up the HELP screen shown on the previous page. At this point you may enter any other Function Key Command. Pressing F1 again or Esc will return you to the Records display screen. Pressing Esc while viewing records will bring up the Command prompt without the HELP SCREEN. Pressing Esc again will EXIT the program. { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F2 ║ NEW FILE ╚════╝ Input a new Data File -- NEW FILE MENU Pressing F2 will bring up a DIRectory listing of all data files with an extension of .DB and a prompt asking for a DATA filename to load. It is NOT necessary to type the extension of any .DB file, just the FILENAME (no period). Files with ANY extension may be loaded. Type the FULL filename. Data files must be on the logged drive or in the current subdirectory. FBASE.EXE may be on another drive or in another subdirectory, but the DOS PATH must be set to include that drive or subdirectory. { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F3 ║ SEARCH for a String ╚════╝ in ALL Records -- SEARCH MENU Pressing F3 will bring a prompt asking for a SEARCH string. The search string is not case sensitive, SMITH, Smith or smith will bring up all records containing the word Smith. The search string should be long enough to eliminate unwanted records but should be as short as possible for speedy searches. All matching records are placed in a circular que and are displayed after the end of the search. They may be examined by using Page Down or Page Up. { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F4 ║ SEARCH for a String ╚════╝ in Search Records ONLY -- SECOND SEARCH MENU Pressing F4 brings up a prompt asking for a SECOND SEARCH STRING. This time only the records found in the circular que are scanned for a matching string. The Status Lines show the records being scanned and matches found. The matching records are again placed in a circular que and may be viewed by using Page Down or Page Up. The F4 key may be used as many times as necessary to narrow the Search Records. { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F5 ║ DISPLAY Search Records ╚════╝ -- DISPLAY RECORDS - default mode after most functions. Pressing F5 will display ALL records if there is no que of matching SEARCH RECORDS. If there is a que of Search Records then they are displayed. Page Down or Page Up will allow you to examine each record. Pressing Esc while viewing records will bring up the Command prompt without the HELP SCREEN. F5 will return you to the Record Display. { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F6 ║ DELETE Search Record ╚════╝ from que -- DELETE RECORD Pressing F6 will allow you to delete the currently displayed record from the que. It will ask if you want to delete this record and you must answer Y or y. Any other key will abort the deletion. NO RECORDS are deleted from your original DATA File, only from the SEARCH RECORDS que. If you accidentally delete a record that you wanted, you will have to build a new que by initiating a new search with the F3 key. { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F7 ║ WRITE Search Records ╚════╝ to a Disk File -- WRITE DISK FILE Pressing F7 will bring up a prompt asking for a new file name for the records. ALL records in the SEARCH RECORDS que will be placed into the new file. The file may then be loaded back into FREEBASE with the F2 key or may be merged into a word-processing file or another database file. If there are NO records in the Search Records Que then ALL records are written to the new file along with EndOfRecord markers and EndOfFile marker. Useful for formatting standard ASCII files to be edited for FREEBASE files { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F8 ║ PRINT Search Records ╚════╝ -- PRINT Search Records Pressing F8 will print all SEARCH records. Lines containing a RESERVED CHARACTER, back apostrophe (`), tilde ( ), left curly bracket ({), or right curly bracket ( ) will not be printed. A blank line will also not be printed. If you DO want to print a blank line it must contain at least one space. This will allow both screen and printer formatting. { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F9 ║ KEYWORD Search ╚════╝ -- KEYWORD Search Menu Pressing F9 brings up a prompt asking for a Keyword. The keyword that is entered will have the KEYWORD reserved character ({) added automatically and will search ALL records. This search is identical to the F3 search, except only the {keywords are searched. This key input is very useful for MENU type databases. { ~ ╔════╗ ║ F10║ Temporary DOS ╚════╝ Type 'EXIT'to Return -- TEMPORARY RETURN TO DOS Pressing F10 will temporarily suspend program operation and return you to the DOS prompt. DOS commands such as DIR may be used or another program may be run. Database .DB files may be edited using your favorite text editor, then re-loaded into FREEBASE by the F2 key. Typing EXIT will return you to FREEBASE. Since FREEBASE is not a TSR program, this is an excellent way to keep it in the background, ready to bring up your database information quickly. { ~ -- BUILDING A DATA BASE FILE Any ASCII wordprocessor or text editor may be used to create a free form data base file. I highly recommend EDIT345. The numbered lines make it easy to keep track of screen records, since each record is 23 lines and EDIT345 displays 23 lines. > The first 21 lines are available for your data base information. > A Keyword marker ({) MAY be on line 22. > An EndOfRecord marker (tilde) MUST be on the bottom line, line 23. Only FOUR characters are reserved for use by FREEBASE. The TILDE, BACK APOSTROPHE and Left and Right CURLY BRACKETS. { ~ Reserved Character -- --- The TILDE ( ) is used for an END OF RECORD marker and may be used on any line up to and including line 23, but it must be the only character on the line. Other characters on a line with a tilde will not be included if you WRITE the Search Records to a new file. { ~ Reserved Character -- --- The BACK APOSTROPHE (`) is used only if you have a keyword list at the beginning of your data file. A search using keywords will always bring up the keyword list as the first record found and displayed at the end of the search, and this is probably not what you are really interested in finding. So the keyword list is tagged with a back apostrophe and the next record is displayed at the end of the search. > The back apostrophe must be on the FIRST line of the record. { ~ Reserved Character -- --- The Left Curly Bracket ({) is used as a marker for KEYWORDS The Keywords should be placed on the line preceeding the EndOf Record marker or line 22 for a full screen record. Altho any character may be used as a keyword marker, only those Keywords marked with a left curly bracket ({) will be searched using the F9 Key and will not be visible in the record. Keywords are entered as a search string: {help or {food for example. { ~ Reserved Character -- --- The Right Curly Bracket ( ) is used as an EndOfFile marker. If it is omitted the last record in the file may not be loaded. The marker should be followed by a carriage return-line feed, or a blank line. Any other characters in the IBM extended character set may be used as part of the database record. { ~ The default data file is ADDR.DB but other data files or ASCII text files may be loaded initially or by use of the F2 function key. Data files are limited to 100 records of 21 lines each, 80 characters per line, with a Keyword marker on line 22, and an EndOfRecord marker on line 23. Each record MUST end with a tilde, (EndOfRecord) marker. Other than those limitations, any text can go into a data record. Name-Address-Telephone data, recipes, VCR tape data, customer lists, coin or stamp collection data, miscellaneous notes or reminders, just about any database that will fit into 21 lines per record. Think of it as a cardfile with 100 blank cards that may be filled with any information that you may want to retrieve rapidly. { ~ Data may be searched by straight text or by use of hidden KEYWORDS in each data record. The EndOfRecord marker (tilde) should be placed on line 23 of the data file for a FULL screen record, but may be placed on any line before line 23 for shorter records. The EndOfRecord marker should be the only thing on the line. Keywords should be marked by a curly left bracket so that you may enter {help or {food as a search string, for example. The Keywords should be placed on line 22 of the record or on the line immediately BEFORE the EndOfRecord marker for shorter records. { ~ Load this file (FBASE.DOC) and the other demonstration database files into your favorite word processor or text editor for examples of keywords and EndOfRecord markers. The sample Address database file (ADDR.DB) may be edited to include your own Name and Address records if you do not already have them in an ASCII text file that can be loaded into FreeBase. ASCII text files that are loaded into FreeBase may be written to a new file. Keyword markers, EndOfRecord markers and EndOfFile Markers will be automatically added. The file will undoubtedly require further editing, but at least the Reserved Character markers will be in place. { ~ -- KEYWORDS Line 22 of the data base record is reserved for keywords. Keywords should have a distinctive marker so that searches will not pick up the same words in text. The left curly bracket ({) is the reserved character for keywords. The F9 function key automatically adds this character to the to the input SEARCH string. Menus may be created and used efficiently with the F9 key. The Menu should have all keywords (letters or numbers) on { ~ line 22 and also the reverse apostrophe on line 1 so that the menu will be part of the que of each search and can be used for additional searches. See the sample file RECIPE.DB for a demonstration of a MENU type database. Keywords can also be entered using the F3 key, but you must enter the left curly bracket before the keyword. The full keyword does not have to be entered in the search string, only enough to distinguish it from other keywords. For instance {d would match both {doctor and {dentist but {do would only match {doctor. { ~ -- DATA BASE SIZE The limit on data base size is 100 RECORDS and a DATA FILE size of about 45k bytes. If your data base file grows over 45k it is time to split it up into 2 separate files. The smaller files will search much faster than a larger file and the second file may be quickly loaded with the F2 key. The default file extension is .DB and any file with this extension may be loaded by typing only the filename WITHOUT the period or extension. Other files may be loaded by typing in the FULL filename AND extension. { ~ -- SPEEDING THE SEARCH Eventually your data base may grow enough to slow down the search considerably. The data base file should not have any trailing spaces or blank lines containing 80 spaces if you want maximum speed. Every character in the file is examined during a search. It may be possible to split your data base into two or more smaller data bases that can be loaded by using the F2 key. If not you can always start looking at the new 386 machines! { ~ -- WHY FREEBASE ? This program was created because there was no other Public Domain or Shareware that would quite fill the bill. Similar programs were too limited in the amount of records handled, couldn't read in new files and were difficult or could not import and export ASCII files. Standard database programs are far too structured to be of use as a general database. { ~ -- WHY NOT ? A text editor is not included, because everyone has their favorite, and most built in text entry is a poor substitute for a really good text editor. FreeBase provides a quick way to exit to DOS via the F10 key. You may then edit the database file with your own, familiar text editor, and return to FreeBase and load the edited file back in by using the F2 key. EDIT345 is my favorite text editor and is ideal for editing FreeBase data files because of the numbered lines available. { ~ -- WHY NOT ? FreeBase is also not a TSR program. Most of us have had more than our share of problems trying to get TSR's to co-exist. The DOS shell is again a good way to have some of the advantages of a TSR without the problems. By typing EXIT you can immediately return to FreeBase with your database and search records intact. FreeBase doesn't have a cut and paste function either. There are a number of public domain programs that will do the job if you need that function. SNIPPER.COM is one that works very well. { ~ -- WHY NOT ? FreeBase is NOT an integrated program that tries to do ALL things and ends up doing NONE of them very well, like many pieces of commercial software. FreeBase IS a Free Form Data Base program with the minimum amount of functions that a database program must have, and it works well. I hope you like it. Comments may be addressed to the author: Sysop, MARBBS -- 415-229-2743 -- 300/1200 -- 24hrs { ~ -- HISTORY FREEBASE was originally written in Z80 assembly language in 1985 Special thanks must go to Richard B. Johnson, sysop of The Program Exchange for the original concept in his system HELP file. That program was revised and renamed ADDR1.COM. It was later modified as a video tape and general purpose database and was called FREEBASE.COM. The MS-DOS version has been completely rewritten in QuickBASIC v4.0 and has several added features. Special thanks must also go to Bill Moon for his help with the QuickBASIC compiler. { ~ FREEBASE has been placed in the public domain by the author and a $5 registration fee is requested if you use the program and find it to be useful. In any case, please feel free to copy and share this program with others. I will only support those who contribute toward the development of this SHAREWARE product, but I will accept useful suggestions from ANYBODY! The address to send the registration fee is: Glynn Shaffer 701 Carquinez Way Martinez, CA 94553 { ~ } FREEBASE DOCumentation File version 1.0 created Mar 12, 1988 FREEBASE DOCumentation File version 1.1 revised Mar 19, 1988 FREEBASE DOCumentation File version 1.2 revised Mar 24, 1988 FREEBASE DOCumentation File version 1.2 revised Mar 28, 1988 {help ~