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The Microfiche Filer DEMO
Software Visions, Inc.
26 Forest Road
Framingham, MA 01701
800-527-7014
(in MA (617) 877-1266)
The Microfiche Filer
(C) Copyright 1987, by Software Visions, Inc. All rights
reserved.
The MFF manual
(C) Copyright 1987, by Software Visions, Inc. All rights
reserved.
The Demo
The following tutorial called "The Quick Tour" is an excerpt
from The Microfiche Filer manual which comes with the purchase
of The Microfiche Filer. The intent is to bring you quickly up
to speed using The Microfiche Filer to peruse the database of
Fish disks. Several other databases are provided for your
enjoyment and experimentation including a database of Amicus
disks, an address book, and a simple picture database.
This tutorial is provided to you in a format suitable for
printing directly. So, if you have a printer, simply align
your paper and copy this document directly to the printer.
(That will make it easier to follow the tutorial while using
The Microfiche Filer.
This demonstration version of The Microfiche Filer is actually
a complete version, missing only the file manipulation
functions of the File View (which are not necessary to the
functioning of the database) and the SAVE function. This means
that you may fully manipulate databases that have been created
using version 1.0 of The Microfiche Filer; but, you may not
save them back on disk.
To purchase a release copy of The Microfiche Filer either check
with your dealer or contact Software Visions at 800-527-7014
(in MA 617-877-1266). With the purchase of The Microfiche
Filer for $99 you receive the NON COPY PROTECTED Microfiche
Filer, the 120 page illustrated and indexed manual, some
additional databases, free technical support, and a liberal
update policy.
Quick Tour
You are about to embark on a Quick Tour of The Microfiche
Filer. You will open a database, and view, edit, and print it.
You will tour the program, learning the basic features while
actually working with a useful database. After taking this
tour, which should take about 15 minutes, you will be able to
view and manipulate the Fred Fish database and be prepared to
experiment with others.
Starting The Microfiche Filer
1. Put your working copy of The Microfiche Filer diskette in
your disk drive.
2. Double-click on its disk icon. This opens a window with
several drawers in it.
3. Double-click on the drawer that says MFF_Files. This
opens another window which contains a drawer called
Microfiche.
4. Double-click on the drawer that says Microfiche. This
opens another window which contains several other
drawers.
5. Double-click on the icon that says Fred_Fish.mff. This
starts the Microfiche Filer and automatically opens the
Fred_Fish database.
If the screen just flashes when you try to open
the database or if a requester comes up stating
that there is not enough memory to start the
MFF, you must make some memory available. Note
that you must have at least 512K, and must be
using the Amiga Enhancer (AmigaDos 1.2)! To
free some memory, try closing any other windows
that you have open. If it still won't run, try
rebooting (hold down the CTRL, Left Amiga, and
Right Amiga keys) and start again. If it still
won't run, try rebooting using a copy of your
original AmigaDos 1.2 Workbench disk (with
nothing in RAM:).
Three windows are now open: the Microfiche Magnification window
in the left portion of your screen, the Fiche window in the
upper right portion of your screen, and the Form List window in
the lower right portion of your screen.
The Magnification Window
The Microfiche Magnification window (see the name at the top of
the window) provides a magnified view of some of the data in
your database.
The Fiche Window
The Fiche window contains the microfiche that is magnified in
the Magnification window. The majority of the window contains
the microfiche. Inside the box containing the microfiche, you
will notice another box that is probably orange and black
(depending on your color preferences). This box is your
magnifying glass.
1. Point at the magnifying glass with the mouse, push the
left mouse button, and, while holding the button down,
drag the mouse. Notice that the Magnification window is
magnifying the area in the microfiche corresponding to
the orange and black box!
Now, watch the magnifying glass in the Fiche window change its
size to match the size of the Magnification window as you do
the following:
1. Pull the Magnification window to the top by clicking on
the "Front" gadget in the upper right corner of the
Microfiche Magnification window (the Front gadget is the
one on the right). This exposes the "Size" gadget in the
lower right corner of the Magnification window. Now grab
the Size gadget by pointing at it with the mouse and
holding down the left mouse button. Make the window very
small by moving the pointer towards the upper left corner
of the window, then release the mouse button.
2. Change the size of the Magnification window back to
approximately its previous size by grabbing the Size
gadget and dragging.
The Fiche window has two other features. The name of your
current database is shown just above the microfiche. To the
right of the microfiche is a scrollbar which you will learn to
use later.
The Form List Window
The MFF Form List window is in the lower right portion of your
screen and is partially obscured by the Magnification window
right now.
1. Pull the MFF Form List window to the front by clicking on
the Front gadget in the upper right corner of the MFF
Form List window.
The Form List window contains all of the forms that are
available for viewing this database. Any time you see your
data displayed whether it is in the Magnification window or in
other windows (which you will encounter soon) it is always
displayed using a form that you have constructed. That way,
you can decide how you wish to view your own data. Forms are
also used for sorting and printing your data.
In the Form List window you see a number of boxes containing
names. The first one which says Data Definition is special and
will be dealt with later. Next, you see six boxes, each with a
description to its left. These are called "slots". You will
soon find that dropping a form into one of these slots causes
that form to be used for a particular purpose, depending on the
particular slot. The form in the Display form slot is used for
displaying your data in the Magnification window, for instance.
Finally, you see several additional boxes containing names.
These are currently unused forms. You can select forms from
this list to drop into the slots.
The Display Form
Notice that each entry that you can see in the Magnification
window consists of simply a filename. That is not all of the
information that is in the database however! Notice that the
slot next to "Display form:" contains "Filename only".
1. Drag the "Number, Type, Name" form onto the Display form
slot by pointing at "Number, Type, Name", holding down
the left mouse button, dragging that form up onto the
"Filename only" form in the "Display form:" slot (being
sure that the mouse pointer actually points to "Filename
only"), and releasing the mouse button.
Now, your data is displayed using the "Number, Type, Name"
form. You will notice that the Magnification window now
contains the disk number and the file type, in addition to the
filename!
Simply change the Display form whenever you
wish to change how the information is displayed
in the Magnification window.
The Sort Form
Notice as you look down through the Magnification window that
the filenames are all in alphabetical order. Also, notice that
the slot next to "Sort form:" contains "Filename only".
1. Drag the "Number, Name" form onto the Sort form slot
which is currently occupied by "Filename only".
Now your data is sorted first by disk number, then by filename.
Feel free to drag the magnifying glass around to verify this.
The data that is displayed in the microfiche
(and, of course, in the Magnification window)
is always based on the current Display and Sort
forms. You can change these at any time and
the data is automatically sorted and
redisplayed for you.
The Edit Form
Changing the Edit form has no immediate effect; unlike changing
the Display or Sort forms. The Edit form is used when you
choose to edit a record.
Let's bring up a record to edit; but, we will put it away
without actually editing it:
1. Locate "banner" on Fish disk 4 by dragging the magnifying
glass around until "banner" shows up in the Magnification
window.
2. Double-click on the record containing "banner". This
brings up the record editor. Notice that the Edit form
(in the Form List window) is called Edit All and, by
George, all of the information (including some comments
about each program) is available in the edit window, in
yet another format! This is the power of forms.
3. Close the record editor by clicking on the "Close" gadget
in the upper left corner of the Record Editor window.
Editing Forms
By double-clicking on any of the forms in the Form List window
you can bring up the form editor. The use of this editor will
be left as an exercise for the reader...(it will be fun
learning about those tiny little gadgets that show up in each
field as you select it!)
Selecting Records
There are several good reasons to select many records at a
time. You may want to copy or delete a group of records,
locate a group of records, or print a group of records.
1. Choose All from the SELECT menu. All of the records in
your database are now selected (as you can see, they are
all highlighted).
2. Choose Display Totals on Screen from the PRINT menu. A
window shows up using the Print Totals form and tells you
that you have something like 360 records selected!
3. Click on the Close gadget of the Totals window.
4. Choose None from the SELECT menu.
5. Choose By Field from the SELECT menu.
This brings up the Selection Editor which offers you complete
flexibility in selecting records. We won't go through all of
the capabilities of the Selection Editor in this Quick Tour of
the Microfiche Filer DEMO. The manual that accompanies the
release version of The Microfiche Filer contains a complete
list of its capabilities.
Using the Selection Editor you can select records based on the
data in each record such as:
- Records that contain the word edit in the Comments field.
- Records with filenames less than G (meaning the names
that occur before G in the alphabet).
- Records with number fields that are equal to, greater
than, or less than some number (for dates, dollars or
disk numbers, for instance).
- Records of demos on disks before disk 15.
- Records of friends that play tennis and live in
Massachusetts.
- And on and on...
Let's try a couple of simple selections for now.
1. Select the "File Type" field and type the word "demo".
With this, you are asking the Selection Editor to find
all of the demo programs, or at least all of the records
in your database with the word "demo" in the "File Type"
field.
2. Click on the Close gadget of the Selection Editor. You
now see that a number of records have been highlighted.
3. Choose Display Totals on Screen from the PRINT menu to
see how many have been selected.
4. Click on the Close gadget of the Totals window.
So, you've found that there are 51 demos in the database.
Let's find out how many demos are on disks 1-14.
1. Choose None from the SELECT menu. This clears the list
of selected records.
2. Choose By Field from the SELECT menu. Notice that the
word "demo" is still in the "File Type" field.
3. Select the "Disk Number" field and type "<15".
4. Click on the Close gadget of the Selection Editor.
You have now selected all records with the word "demo" in the
"File Type" field AND a number less than 15 in the "Disk
Number" field.
Printing
It is time to print. If you don't have a printer, skip this
section.
You MUST have your printer installed correctly.
Unfortunately, there is a bug in AmigaDos that
may cause the machine to crash if you have a
printer installed as CUSTOM rather than using
one of the other drivers (in the Workbench
Preferences). If you are not sure, go and
check now by moving the MFF windows out of the
way so that you can get to your Preferences
icon in your system disk window.
Print Options
Normally, before printing you should choose how you would like
your data printed. You should choose a Print Record form and
maybe choose a Print Title form and a Print Totals form. Then,
you may wish to choose some Print Options.
The print forms are already set up so you need only choose some
Print Options for now.
1. Choose Edit Print Options from the PRINT menu.
2. Click in the box that says No title.
3. Click again in the box that says No title. It has
changed to say Print title on first page only.
4. Click on the Close gadget of the Print Options Editor.
5. When you are asked about saving these options, choose
Save.
Printing
1. Make sure your printer is turned on.
2. Choose Print from the PRINT menu. Your printer will come
to life and print a list of all of the demo programs on
disks 1-14!
If something went wrong and your printer wasn't
turned on or just won't print, don't worry.
Just wait 30 seconds or so until a message
comes up asking about it and choose CANCEL.
Don't try printing again until you have made
sure that your printer is installed correctly
using the Workbench Preferences. Refer to your
"Introduction to Amiga" manual about installing
your printer.
Summary
You are now familiar with the basics of manipulating
microfiche. You should have a feel for the power of the
microfiche metaphor. Using it, you can simply look for a
record instead of being forced to type obscure command strings
to bring up your records or being forced to look at record
after record, one at a time until you find the one that you are
interested in. Also, you should have learned about the
usefulness of practically instant sorting and displaying of
your data; no hour long "indexing" operations are necessary
with The Microfiche Filer!
You may wish to look at and experiment with some of the other
databases that are provided on this disk. They may be found in
the drawers under the Microfiche directory. The picture
database in the Picture drawer is a rudimentary picture
database, the Amicus database can be found in the Public_Domain
drawer, and an address book database can be found in the Other
drawer. And, by the way, we would like to thank Jim McKenzie
for the building of the Fred Fish database!
Please feel free to contact us at:
Software Visions, Inc.
26 Forest Road
Framingham, MA 01701
800-527-7014
(in MA 617-877-1266)
