The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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ZEPHYR 4.0 FoxPro2-Compatible Data Base Management For Non-Programmers INSTANTANEOUS RETRIEVAL FROM ANY DBASE DATA BASE Up to 1000 times the performance of dBASE IV and up to 1500 times the performance of dBASE III+ Query-by-Example and SQL Record Selection Support. INTEGRATED WINDOWING ENVIRONMENT Pull-Down Menus, Pop-Up Selection Windows, and Mac-like Dialog Boxes Make Zephyr a Breeze to Use UP TO 25 OPEN DATA BASES OF 1 BILLION RECORDS EACH Supports 255 Indexes and 256 Fields per File INTEGRATED EDITORS FOR REPORTS, LABELS, FORM LETTERS Unlimited Design Potential Even for First-Time Users TOTALLY CUSTOMIZABLE USER INTERFACE Tailor Zephyr to Work Your Way in Just a Few Seconds Complete Support for Foreign Dates and Numeric Fields INSTANTLY ACCESIBLE PC TOOLKIT Includes Sophisticated Editor, Form Letter Generator, Screen Format Generator, Error Correction System and FoxPro's Calculator, Calendar/Diary, and Puzzle for Fun 20K TSR & HIGH-RESOLUTION GRAPHICS DATA BASE SUPPORT Load Zephyr as a 20K TSR and press a "hot-key" to toggle to your other favorite programs. And add .PCX graphics to your standard dBASE-compatible data bases with full- 256-color with resolutions up to 800 x 600. Requirements: IBM-compatible personal computer with minimum 640K RAM (490K free RAM), DOS 2.1 (3.1 for networks) or higher, hard disk with 3.5MB free, and virtually any monitor and display adaptor. Enhancements: Zephyr thrives on 386/486 machines with expanded memory, SuperVGA color displays, and a mouse. VERSION 4 ENHANCEMENTS For existing Zephyr users, here is a description of new features in Zephyr 4.0. Release notes for prior versions are included after the Ver. 4.0 summary. Because Zephyr relies upon the FoxPro 2.0 data base engine, it brings a previously unavailable level of power to the non-programmer. In tests against IBM's finest mainframes running IBM's finest data base software (DB2), FoxPro outperformed DB2 in search retrieval times by a margin of better than 4 to 1. IBM's data base software alone costs more than your house! Now, that same performance is available in every Zephyr application you build. Much of this magic is the result of Fox Software's patented Rushmore technology. In a nutshell, it allows users to index virtually every field in a data base with compressed indexes consuming roughly one-sixth the space of comparable dBASE IV indexes. Once a data base is indexed in this way, virtually all searches make intelligent use of ALL these indexes to retrieve the desired data. In tests against data bases of over a million records, retrieval times on a search are typically limited by the speed of your printer and display screen. Unlike prior versions of dBASE and FoxPro, Zephyr now allows you to build a compound .CDX index file which contains index data on up to 255 different index expressions. A compound index with the same file name as the data base is automatically opened whenever the data base itself is opened. The simplest way to create the compound index file is to do so when the data base is created or revised. Choose the BUILD DATA BASE option from the BUILD pull-down menu. After entering a field name, you will notice a shaded area immediately to the left of the field name. Use the <LEFT> cursor key to move into this area. Pressing the <SPACE BAR> will reveal an <Up> arrow signifying that the field will be indexed in ascending order (A to Z). If you press the <SPACE BAR> again, a <Down> arrow will appear signifying a descending index (Z to A). A third press will eliminate the arrows which means the field will not be indexed. When the desired index is displayed, press <ENTER> to continue. If your data base will be searched on most of the fields in the data base, we recommend indexing every field EXCEPT the MEMO fields. This will result in most searches using EQUALS, NOT EQUALS, GREATER THAN, LESS THAN, AT LEAST, and AT MOST being virtually instantaneous. NOTE: Searches for something "CONTAINED IN" a field do not achieve performance benefits from the Rushmore technology. Should you need to add additional indexes to your compound index after the data base is created, the file can be modified by choosing the REVISE OLD option from the BUILD DATA BASE selection. If you need special indexes which use multiple concatenated fields, these can be added from the BUILD COMMAND option. The syntax is INDEX ON <expression> TO TAG <indexname> OF <CDX index filename>. Or you may build indexes using Zephyr's pull-down menus in the usual way. Version 4.0 supports the old FoxPro indexes but defaults to the new .CDX indexes. It should be stressed that the FoxPro programming language now includes almost 1,000 programming commands and functions. A 1,000-page manual would not begin to do justice to the new language. Nor would it be practical to force new users to print such a document as part of a shareware program. For that reason, we recommend that you consider purchasing FoxPro Made Easy for FoxPro 2.0 or an equivalent book WHICH YOU CAN UNDERSTAND. Such books are available at most major book stores. And, if all else fails, we sell these books to registered users. Virtually EVERY COMMAND AND FUNCTION of the FoxPro language is supported from the command prompt within the Zephyr program. However, our technical support ends at the command prompt. It would take a year in a major university to do FoxPro 2.0 justice. We cannot begin to do that by telephone. If this sounds like a cop out, IT IS! We support Zephyr as a menu-driven data base system for non-programmers. RUNNING ZEPHYR AS A 20K TSR! Zephyr takes advantage of application switching technology by allowing you to load the software as a 20K terminate-and-stay-resident program. You then can toggle between Zephyr and another application with a single keystroke. Zephyr can be loaded as a TSR in several ways: (1) From the DOS prompt, type ZEPHYR TSR. Zephyr will be loaded, and then the DOS prompt will redisplay. You can then run any other program desired. To toggle back to Zephyr, press <CTRL-ALT>. To return to your other application, press <ALT-Z> from within Zephyr. (2) From the DOS prompt, load Zephyr in the normal way by typing ZEPHYR. When the main menu appears, press <ALT-Z> to return to DOS. Then run any other program. To switch back to Zephyr, press <CTRL-ALT>. (3) At the DOS prompt, create an environment variable named TSR and store the name of a batch file to be run when you hot-key out of Zephyr. For example, SET TSR=C:\SAMPLE.BAT tells Zephyr to run the C:\SAMPLE.BAT batch file whenever the user presses <ALT-Z> from within Zephyr. Then create the SAMPLE.BAT file using any desired DOS commands. .PCX GRAPHICS FIELD SUPPORT IN ZEPHYR DATA BASES Zephyr now includes built-in support to store, display, and print .PCX graphics images as part of a standard Zephyr (or dBASE-compatible) data base. In order to display or print graphics fields, you MUST have a CGA, EGA, VGA, SuperVGA, or Hercules-compatible graphics card in your computer. In order to print graphics fields, you MUST have a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet-compatible printer. The time required to print graphics images on dot matrix printers makes it impracticable to develop printing software for that environment. Configuring Zephyr to support your graphics display is automatic in most cases. If your computer has a graphics card, Zephyr will tell you this when the program loads. In certain circumstances, Zephyr may identify your particular graphics card incorrectly. This is particularly the case if you are using an EGA or VGA card in Hercules-mode with a monochrome display. There also are some so-called SuperVGA cards built into notebook computers which lack the necessary RAM to do anything one would normally do in SuperVGA mode. In these cases, you may need to manually set the appropriate video mode for Zephyr. We recommend you first try Zephyr AS IS. Then resort to the manual method if you can't get an image to display. A sample image is included which SHOULD work in BLAKBOOK. To FORCE a certain graphics mode, you must set the VM environment variable at the DOS level. Exit to DOS with Zephyr NOT running and type: SET VM=nn where nn is a number representing the desired graphics mode. If you have a Herc card or an EGA/VGA card in Herc mode, type: SET VM=99 If you have a SuperVGA, Zephyr can usually figure out the best resolution. If you want 800x600x256 resolution and have the necessary display RAM on your VGA card, type: SET VM=42 If you have SuperVGA and display is a mess, try: SET VM=40 or SET VM=41 To force any VGA display into standard 320x200x256 mode, type: SET VM=19 Zephyr's .PCX viewer and printer is active in BROWSE, EDIT, and ADD modes of the INPUT pull-down menu ONLY! There are TWO WAYS to store .PCX images in your Zephyr data bases: (1) as linked DOS files or (2) as MEMO fields in particular records of a data base. To view .PCX images stored with a .PCX DOS file name, enter the name of the file WITHOUT the .PCX file extension in any character-type field. For example, if you have a PROPERTY field in your data base and you store HOUSE1 in this field for a particular record, then HOUSE1.PCX will display when you activate the .PCX graphics viewer. NOTE: HOUSE1.PCX must be in the \ZEPHYR4 directory. In the alternative, you may import a .PCX image into a MEMO field for later display. In INPUT BROWSE mode, position the cursor on the desired MEMO field in the desired record. Press <F6> to import a DOS file. Highlight the desired .PCX file, and press <ENTER>. When Zephyr's editor displays the file, immediately press <ESC>ape without changing ANY of the data! There are times when it is desirable to place .PCX images in a MEMO field and other times when they are best left as individual DOS files. For example, in a real estate application, one might wish to display a picture of the high school for a particular area. In this case, retaining the .PCX file as a DOS image would allow it to be used in displays for more than one house for sale on the same street. This could save considerable disk space. On the other hand, a .PCX image of the living room of a particular home might best be saved as a MEMO field with the record for the particular home. This would assure that the correct living room picture always was matched with its house. See BLAKBOOK.DBF. To activate the .PCX file viewer, position the cursor on the desired field of the desired record in BROWSE, EDIT or ADD records mode. Then press <ALT-V> to VIEW the .PCX image. Open BLAKBOOK.DBF and try it on the Mundy record. To print the image, you first must VIEW it. While it is displayed, press <ALT-P> to print the image to any LaserJet-compatible printer. Pressing any other key exits from the graphics display. In BROWSE mode, only the image is displayed when you press <ALT-V>. In EDIT or ADD records mode, the entire screen contents are displayed in addition to the image. And, yes, you can move the image to suit your needs. It is possible to display field data in and around a picture of a house, for example. This is ideal for real estate applications!! To move the image from its default, exit to DOS and set two environment variables. The first (ZTOP) tells Zephyr where the top corner of the image should begin. The second (ZLEFT) tells Zephyr where the left edge of the image should begin. These numbers are computed in PIXELS and obviously change depending upon the type display. Here are the widths and lengths, respectively, of most display cards: Display card WIDTH in PIXELS LENGTH in PIXELS ------------ --------------- ---------------- Standard VGA 320 200 Super VGA 640 480 Mode 40 VGA 640 400 Mode 42 VGA 800 600 EGA 640 350 CGA 640 400 Thus, to start the display of an image half way down the screen and half way across the screen in standard VGA mode, you would: SET ZTOP=100 SET ZLEFT=160 Then, run Zephyr again and check your work. Once the results are the way you desire, these settings can be saved in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you are interested in a low-cost, full-color method to capture and create images, here is a suggestion. Purchase the Computer Eyes video capture board and the Canon XapShot camera. With this combination you can produce images exactly like the sample homes which are distributed with Zephyr. Once the images are captured, the software included with the image capture board can convert them into .PCX files for use with Zephyr. The cost will be under $800. AUTOMATIC PHONE DIALER To use Zephyr's automatic phone dialer, you must have a Hayes-compatible modem in your computer. And, you need to tell Zephyr which PORT is talks to. At the DOS level BEFORE running Zephyr, type one of the following to identify the COM port of your modem: SET PORT=1 or SET PORT=2. With some versions of DOS and some modems, you also will need to issue the following command at the DOS level: MODE COM1:2400,N,8,1. Finally, you will need to tell Zephyr whether your phone line supports Touch-Tone service: SET PREFIX=ATDT for tone support or SET PREFIX=ATDP for pulse dialing. Please note: The phone dialer sometimes works and sometimes doesn't with DR-DOS 5.0 ... their problem, not ours! To dial a number in BROWSE, EDIT or ADD modes, position cursor on the CHARACTER field containing the phone number to be dialed and press ALT-D to dial. That's all there is to it. Once you lift the telephone receiver, press <ENTER> to disengage the phone line from the modem. RELATIONAL TABLE LOOKUP & CALCULATED FIELDS Table lookup allows you to "pop up" a table of choices for virtually any field in any Zephyr data base. For example, if you stored part numbers in your data base, you might want to give users a pop up list of parts to choose from. When a choice was made, the part number would automatically be stuffed into the data base. This eliminates errors and greatly simplifies the data entry process. Zephyr's method of creating table lookup files is simple. You just build a data base with the same name as the field with which you wish to use it. If the name of your part number field is PARTNO, then you would create a PARTNO.DBF file to store the table data. The data in the very first field of PARTNO.DBF is displayed when the user presses the TABLE LOOKUP key <F8>. Once the user chooses any entry in the table by pressing <ENTER>, Zephyr will automatically transfer ALL matching fields of data from the table to the primary file's current record. For those that like lists, a more detailed explanation of the necessary requirements to create a table lookup file follows. TABLE LOOKUP REQUIREMENTS: (1) Must be in INPUT BROWSE, EDIT, or ADD records mode to use TABLE LOOKUP. (2) Data base must exist with file name corresponding to the field name in the primary file, i.e. the field from which you invoke table lookup. If the field name is over 8 characters, the file name must be the first 8 char's. (3) The lookup table MUST contain a field which EXACTLY MATCHES the field from which table lookup was invoked, i.e. if the primary data base has an 8-character ID field of type CHARACTER, the lookup table must have the same. (4) The lookup table MUST be indexed on the lookup field using a compound index with a tag matching the field name. This index is easily created when the actual data base is built. Simply move cursor to left of field name and press <space bar> to reveal <UP arrow>. Then <TAB> to next field. (5) The lookup table need not be opened before the table lookup function is invoked; however, it will be faster if it is. If already open, it will be used as it is found. If not open, it will be opened for the table lookup operation and then closed. TABLE LOOKUP OPERATION: (1) Position on the field from which you wish to invoke table lookup. (2) Press <F8> function key to access the table. (3) The table will be positioned on the record matching the current field value in the primary data base, if any. (4) The table displays the FIRST FIELD ONLY from the table. You may choose what field to display by making it the first field in your table lookup file. (5) The user can move through the table using HOME (top), END (bottom), UP, and DOWN cursor keys. To choose a desired item, press <ENTER> or the <Left> or <Right> cursor keys. To exit without selecting, press <ESC>. (6) If a table item is selected, Zephyr moves data from ALL MATCHING FIELDS in the table to the corresponding fields in current record of the primary data base, i.e. the data base from which the table was invoked. WARNINGS: (1) Make certain that there are NO FIELDS in the table lookup file with the SAME FIELD NAMES as your primary data base which you DO NOT WANT transferred to the primary file. The data transfer is AUTOMATIC if the field names match. You can avoid the problem by changing a field name in the table lookup file. ZEPHYR MEMO FIELD ENHANCEMENTS Memo field manipulation has been enhanced dramatically. This includes the way in which a memo field is activated as well as the ability to import data into and export data from memo fields. The custom format options in the BUILD ADD/EDIT FORMAT selection allow a new EXPLODE function for memo fields. After choosing this option, a user can simply position on a MEMO field and press <ENTER> to edit. In BROWSE, ADD, and EDIT record modes, you now can import data into memo fields by positioning on the desired MEMO field and pressing <F6>. In a similar way, you can export memo field data by positioning on the desired MEMO field and pressing <F7>. Both import and export functions are file-oriented. In other words, you can only import an entire file into a memo field. And, you can only export an entire memo field to a file. Both append and overwrite are supported in import and export modes. The data in MEMO fields need NOT be ASCII text. However, if an image or data in some proprietary format is stored in the MEMO field, it may not display properly with Zephyr's standard ASCII editor or .PCX file viewing utility. NOTE: Zephyr now allows users to import .PCX file images into a MEMO field. These images then can be displayed using <ALT-V> provided the MEMO field contents is NOT modified in any way. After import, Zephyr always displays the MEMO field for editing. If you have imported a .PCX image, then press <ESC> immediately after importing the image to assure that the image is not altered! ZEPHYR FILE IMPORTING & EXPORTING The FILE IMPORT and EXPORT options have been expanded dramatically to provide support for many new file formats. The following formats are supported: FILE FORMAT IMPORT EXPORT ----------------------- ------ ------ FoxPlus & dBASE III+ Yes Yes Delimited Yes Yes DIF (VisiCalc spreadsheets) Yes Yes FW2 (Framework II data) Yes --- MOD (MultiPlan 4.01) Yes Yes PDOX (Paradox 3.5) Yes --- RPD (RapidFile 1.2) Yes --- SDF (System Data Format) Yes Yes SYLK (MultiPlan) Yes Yes WK1 (1-2-3 version 2.x) Yes Yes WK3 (1-2-3 version 3.x) Yes --- WKS (1-2-3 version 1-A) Yes Yes WR1 (Symphony 1.1 or 1.2) Yes Yes WRK (Symphony 1.0) Yes Yes XLS (Excel 2.0) Yes Yes ZEPHYR'S SQL SELECT Zephyr now supports IBM's Structured Query Language through implementation of the SQL (pronounced see-quill) SELECT statement. This can be issued from the BUILD COMMANDS prompt to quickly retrieve data from multiple relational data bases. As one of Zephyr's more powerful new features, you are urged to consult a good primer on SQL or one of the new FoxPro 2.0 reference works for more exhaustive coverage of the topic. Most community colleges and virtually all colleges and universities provide semester-long courses on SQL. We obviously cannot do it justice in a few pages. Before executing a SELECT command, we recommend you issue the command SET TALK ON which will cause Zephyr to display the query time and number of records found after a SELECT command is issued. The basic SQL SELECT syntax is as follows: SELECT [ALL | DISTINCT] [<database>.]<select_item> [AS <column_name>] [, [<alias>.]<select_item> [AS <column_name>] ...] FROM <database> [<local_alias>] [, <database> [<local_alias>] ...] [[INTO <destination>] | [TO FILE <file> [ADDITIVE] | TO PRINTER]] [PLAIN] [NOWAIT] [WHERE <joincondition> [AND <joincondition> ...] [AND | OR <filtercondition> [AND | OR <filtercondition> ...]]] [GROUP BY <groupcolumn> [, <groupcolumn> ...]] [HAVING <filtercondition>] [UNION [ALL] <SELECT command>] [ORDER BY <order_item> [ASC | DESC] [, <order_item> [ASC | DESC]...]] A simple select statement is outlined below. For additional information, look in the HELP file under the SELECT - SQL topic or consult FoxPro2 Made Easy. SELECT [ALL | DISTINCT] [<alias>.]<select_item> [AS <column_name>] [, [<alias>.]<select_item> [AS <column_name>] ...] Each <select_item> can be: * A field from a database in the FROM clause. * A constant specifying that the same constant value is to appear in every row of the query results. Field functions available for use with a <select_item> that is a field or an expression involving a field: * AVG(<select_item>) - Averages a column of numeric data. * COUNT(<select_item>) - Counts the number of <select_items> in a column. COUNT(*) counts the number of rows in the query output. * MIN(<select_item>) - Determines the smallest value of <select_item> in a column. * MAX(<select_item>) - Determines the largest value of <select_item> in a column. * SUM(<select_item>) - Totals a column of numeric data. You cannot nest field functions. By default, ALL rows in query results are displayed. To exclude duplicates of any rows, specify DISTINCT. You can use DISTINCT only once per SELECT clause. The optional AS <column_name> clause specifies the heading for a column in the query output. This is useful when you have a <select_item> that is an expression or contains a field function and you want to give its column a meaningful name. The <column_name> can be an expression, but cannot contain characters (for example, spaces) that are not allowed in database field names. FROM <database> [<local_alias>] [, <database> [<local_alias>] ...] Lists each <database> that contains data to be retrieved by the query. <local_alias> is a temporary name for a <database>. If you specify a <local_alias>, you must use the <local_alias> in place of the database name throughout the SELECT command. INTO <destination> If INTO is specified, no output display is produced so if you include an INTO and a TO clause in the same query, TO is ignored. If you don't include INTO clause, query results appear on the screen and can also be directed to the printer or a file with the TO clause. <destination> can be: * ARRAY <array> - Stores query results in a memory variable <array>. * CURSOR <cursor> - Stores query results in a <cursor>. If <cursor> you specify is the name of an open database, FoxPro closes the database and creates a cursor without warning if you have SET SAFETY OFF. After the SELECT command is executed, the temporary cursor remains open but is read-only. Once you close the cursor, it is deleted. Cursors may reside on the SORTWORK drive. * DBF <database> | TABLE <database> - Stores query results in a <database>. If you specify a <database> that is already open, Zephyr closes the database and reopens it without warning if you have SET SAFETY OFF. If you don't specify an extension, the database is given a .DBF extension. After the SELECT command is executed, the database remains open and is active. After issuing a SELECT command, you generally can issue a BROWSE command to view your data if you include the INTO DBF <filename> clause in your command. Because SQL SELECT commands take some getting used to, you now can retrieve your last 10 commands in the COMMAND WINDOW by pressing the <Up> arrow after executing a command. When the prior command appears, move the cursor if you desire to modify the displayed command. If you type a character in the first character position, then the ENTIRE COMMAND WILL BE ERASED. Press <ENTER> to execute your command after making any desired modifications. SPECIAL NOTE: SQL SELECT commands create data bases and work files which are opened in one of the 25 data bases areas supported by Zephyr. Before executing a SELECT command, make certain that there are several free work areas. Once you complete your SELECT session, Zephyr needs to be restored to its original view of the data bases which were in use before you began. When you press <ESC> to exit from BUILD COMMANDS mode, you will be asked whether to RESTORE ORIGINAL VIEW. Always type Y if you have executed SQL SELECT commands. LOADING CUSTOMIZED DATA BASE VIEWS Zephyr now allows you to start up using different view files. In this way you can store different applications with the SAVE VIEW command, and then re- start Zephyr using a user-defined view. Assuming you have saved a view file with the name MYAPP.VUE, you could load Zephyr with the MYAPP view by issuing the following command at the DOS prompt: ZEPHYR MYAPP If you wish to load Zephyr without the TSR and .PCX support and also load the MYAPP view, then issue the following command: ZEPHYR LEAN MYAPP NOTE: The view file ALWAYS must be specified as the LAST parameter. Thus, ZEPHYR MYAPP LEAN will NOT work properly. ZEPHYR MEMORY REQUIREMENTS Zephyr and its FoxPro data base engine need lots of expanded memory to really thrive. Zephyr can run in 480-490K of RAM on a vanilla 640K machine, but it is NOT a pretty sight. Sluggish is the kindest word that comes to mind. If you are in this environment, we recommend you start the program with the fol- lowing command: ZEPHYR LEAN. This disables the TSR and .PCX image functions and saves 50K of precious RAM space. Our recommendation: buy some expanded memory while it is still inexpensive. Zephyr deserves it and will make you proud!!! Another alternative is to upgrade to Microsoft's DOS 5.0. Even with a 1MB RAM machine, the available memory for programs will be increased considerably. ZEPHYR SAMPLE APPLICATIONS To keep your shareware evaluation investment to a minimum, the shareware version of Zephyr is distributed witha modest sample application. Use FILE OPEN to open the BLAKBOOK.DBF file in the \ZEPHYR4 directory. Now use BROWSE to view the various records. Some helpful hints are provided to get you started. LET US HEAR FROM YOU Whether or not you decide to register and obtain an end-user license for continued use of Zephyr, we value your comments and suggestions. As an incen- tive to encourage you to write, we make the following offer. Send us a note with $5 for shipping and handling, and we will send you a shareware copy of our brand-new hard disk security software, Pearly Gates. It will protect your hard disk against tampering and viruses. And you're welcome to pass it along to your friends for evaluation. To order, send your name and mailing address together with $5 in U.S. currency. No checks please! Release 1 Notes: A small utility program (MEM.COM) is included. By typing MEM at the DOS prompt while positioned in the \ZEPHYR4 directory, this program will tell you the amount of memory installed and available on your machine. Version 1.01 Notes: A filter assist mode has been added. Whenever the select filter option is chosen, the standard filter editor popup will display. If you understand Boolean logic, just type your desired filter and press <CTRL-ENTER>. If you wish to cancel an existing filter, press <DEL> then <CTRL-ENTER>. If you wish to exit from the filter editor and leave the filter as is, press <ESC>. If the filter is set to blank or is already blank, pressing <CTRL-ENTER> will then trigger the filter assist mode. Windows will display allowing you to select the field to be used for the filter, then the desired relation, then a value. This process may be repeated for as many conditions as are desired in the filter. Version 2.0 Enhancements: Zephyr has provided record-level edit checks since its introduction. Field-level edit checks now are supported as well. These are automatically generated as part of the BUILD ADD/EDIT FORMAT option. The difference in the two is that record-level edit checks are executed whenever a data entry screen is completed (SAVED). Field-level edit checks are executed as each field is entered on the screen. Thus, if there are data entry errors, the user is prompted for a correction immediately rather than when the entire data entry screen has been completed. Depending upon the type of field, three types of field-level edit checks now are supported: validity checks, picture templates, and lists of values. Validity checks allow the user to automatically define what conditions must be met for a field entry to be accepted. This is the REVERSE of record-level edit checks which define when an ERROR has occurred. For character, date, and numeric fields, Zephyr will automatically write the necessary code to force an entry in a field, i.e. a character or date field must be non-blank and numeric fields must be non-zero. Any other validity check using a legal FoxPro expres- sion is also permissible. If you write your own, you may also specify an error message to be displayed when the error is encountered. Picture templates allow the user to define the format for a particular data entry field. For example, you could force all data to upper case. Or zip codes could be forced into a format of 99999-9999 where the 9's represent numbers which must be entered separated by a hyphen in position 6 of the zip code field. A picture template for date fields defaults to 99/99/99 while a logical field template defaults to Y (meaning only Y or N is acceptable as an entry in the logical field). List of values (or TABLE LOOKUP) is supported for character fields. If you select this formatting option, Zephyr will prompt you to enter a list of acceptable values for the field separated by commas. For example, if you had a field named COLOR, you might wish to specify the acceptable colors. These would be entered as follows: RED,GREEN,BLUE,INDIGO,VIOLET. When the user moves into the COLOR field, the first color specified will display unless a COLOR selection already has been made. The user can simply press the <SPACE BAR> to toggle through the acceptable choices, pressing <ENTER> when the appropriate color is displayed. To utilize field-level edit checks, you first must build your data base. Once built, make certain that the desired data base is selected by examining the name of the active file in use on line 24 of the screen. Then choose the BUILD pull-down menu, highlight the ADD/EDIT FORMAT, and press <ENTER>. When asked whether to ADD CUSTOM FORMAT OPTIONS, type Y. For each field in the data base, you then will be prompted whether to ADD A CUSTOM FORMAT. If you wish to, then type Y and <PgDn>. Otherwise, type N. Depending upon the field type, a pop-up window will display the available types of edit formats available. When you have chosen all desired options, press the <ESC> key. This process will repeat for each field unless you change MORE CUSTOM FORMAT OPTIONS to N. Each of the custom format options is explained below. These differ depending upon the field type of each field. Therefore, the explanation below is keyed to different field types supported by Zephyr. CHARACTER FIELDS: Validity check - This means you want to specify a Boolean logic expression which defines when the data in the field has been entered correctly. Highlighting this option and pressing <ENTER> will display a window in which you can enter the conditions which must be met and the error message which should be dis- played if the condition(s) are not met. With character fields, Zephyr automatically writes the code to REQUIRE an entry in the character field. If this isn't desired, press <CTRL-Y> to erase the code and enter your own. Picture template This enables you to define the format for data entered into this field. There is no default. To force the field to all upper case, you would enter an ! for each character position in the field. For other examples, see the HELP file descrip- tion of the @ SAY picture templates. Or consult the FoxPro Made Easy reference book. List of values - This permits definition of a list of acceptable values for this field. As explained above, these values are typed in exactly as they should be displayed for the user. Separate each value from the next with a comma. Do NOT include a space after the commas unless you want that to be part of the value entered. DATE FIELDS: Validity check - If chosen, it defaults to requiring a non-blank date to be entered. You may desire some other checks. For example, to force entry of a date which is NOT in the future, the correct expression for a field named FILINGDT would be as follows: .NOT. EMPTY(FILINGDT) .AND. FILINGDT<=DATE() Picture template The default, if chosen, is a picture template of 99/99/99. LOGICAL FIELDS: Validity check - There is no default expression. This typically would be used to force a logical field to match some other data which pre- viously has been entered. For example, if there were a SPOUSE field and a MARRIED logical field (in that order), we might want to force the MARRIED field to True if the SPOUSE field were NOT empty. Remember, however, that the SPOUSE field would have to appear on the data entry screen first to make this work correctly. The correct syntax would be -- .NOT. EMPTY(SPOUSE) .AND. MARRIED .OR. EMPTY(SPOUSE) .AND. .NOT. MARRIED Picture template If chosen, this option defaults to Y. This tells Zephyr to force data entry for this logical field to accept only Y or N. Without this picture template, Y, N, T, and F are all acceptable entries for a logical field. NUMERIC FIELDS: Validity check - The default, if chosen, is to force a non-zero entry into a numeric field. Other possible uses for this might be to assure that a numeric calculation is correct. For example, if a data base had a FILINGDT and ENDINGDT field as well as an AGE field, we might want to make certain that the AGE field correctly reported the number of days between the other two date fields, e.g. ENDINGDT-FILINGDT=AGE Picture template There is no default picture template. This could be used to specially format a numeric field, perhaps to display a cur- rency symbol as part of the field data. MEMO FIELDS: Validity check - A special Zephyr function has been added to allow you to program an EXPLODING MEMO WINDOW whenever the user presses the <ENTER> key while positioned in a MEMO FIELD. Choosing the VALIDITY CHECK option for a MEMO FIELD will cause the necessary EXPLODING WINDOW code to be written automatically. The syntax is EXPLODE("fieldname"). You need not change this AT ALL, if this is the desired effect. No error message is necessary or appropriate with exploding memo windows. REMEMBER!!! Field-level edit checks only apply in ADD and EDIT modes on the INPUT pull-down window. They are NOT executed while in BROWSE! Enjoy! 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