Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/184.lha/ELCC.doc

Text File | 1988-04-28 | 9KB | 147 lines

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           The Electronic Card Cabinet
           By Brad Webb
           321 N. Monroe St.
           Watertown,  WI
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             INTRODUCTION

     The Electronic Card Cabinet is designed to perform simple data base
management tasks easily and quickly. ELCC originally appeared in the
October, 1986 issue of "Jumpdisk" (C) magazine. Added to the revision prior
to this are the alphabetize, multiple update, ditto, title-search and
display files functions.  Also added was the ability to update all files
found as the result of a search.  The version in this archive (3.3) is the
first distribution version to be compiled with the AC/Basic Compiler,
copyright 1987 by ABSoft.  This allows much faster program execution and
the ability to use all the memory available in your Amiga.  However, as a
practical matter, databases are limited to 1000 records.  If this proves to
be a problem for you, drop me a line at the address above and I'll consider
changing that for future revisions.  And read "Jumpdisk" (C). It's good for
you.

     ELCC requires 512K and 80 column displays.  It is designed for small
index card type files. For larger data management needs,you can use my
Electronic Filing/Forms program in Jumpdisk magazine, Nov.'86 or any good
commercial database manager.  The two types of programs together can make a
good total data management system.
     If unfamiliar with data base managers, a few terms must be defined for
you. A "record" is simply a set of related data contained in a "file". It may
be a name, address, phone number set or perhaps an article title, magazine
name,author's name and subject. Each individual item in a record is called a
"field". In our examples, the author's name is one field in the record on his
article, the phone number is one field in the record in someone's address
book file, and so on. From all this it follows that a "file" is a grouping of
records saved together on a disk under an overall title called a "filename".
     Load ELCC and run it. All functions except "ditto" are accessed from
the pull-down menus. To begin, you must choose a filename for your data
collection. Pull down the PROJECT menu and select "New File". Enter your
file name when prompted. You will be returned to the title screen. Next,
select "DefineDataprompts" from the RECORDS menu. You have up to 10 fields
to work with. Enter your field names (examples: Name: Address: City Street
and Zip: ).
     Once your prompts are defined, you can enter records into your database.
A record consists of an item of information for each of your fields and a
title for the whole group. Start by pulling down the RECORDS menu and select
"Add Record". You will be prompted for your title. Let's assume you are
entering information about an article into a database on computer magazines.
Your title might be the title of the article. After you enter the title,
the screen will fill with your previously set-up field names. In this case,
they might be something like -- Magazine: Author: Subject:. The cursor will
be placed below each field title in turn and you can enter your data. When
done, you will be asked if everything is correct. Type Y or N.
     Added to ELCC V2.3 was a ditto function you can use while entering
files. If you wish to use information from one record in the same field of
the next record, enter a ` character (found on the key below the ESC key)
and hit return.  The information will be copied from the previous file to
the current one.  This can be handy when entering magazine articles if you
have several from the same issue.  You needn't type the issue date,
magazine name, etc. over and over again.  Works well on address files when
several people live in the same city, etc.
     When all or several of your records are entered, use the PROJECT menu
to save the file. You also use this menu to read back a file when you wish
to retrieve some of your information. It is not necessary to type in lower
and upper case letters to retrieve a file. ELCC stores the filename with
the file and will rewrite it as originally typed once it is read.
     If you select "Display Titles" from the TITLES menu you will be
presented with a list of titles in your database. To look at an individual
record, put the pointer over the title and click the left mouse button. The
selected record will be displayed at once.
     When reviewing your list of titles they will be presented 15 at a time.
If you need to see more, click on the More box at the bottom of the screen.
You use the other two boxes to backup a screen at a time or to go back to
the title screen. You will see   *** Output Complete *** after all titles
have been displayed. Clicking on More at this point will also return you to
the title screen.
     There are several easy ways to make corrections to a record. You can
choose "Alter Datalines" from the RECORDS menu. You will be shown the list
of titles. Select the one with the bad data by clicking on its title. Enter
the number of the item to be changed, and then the new information when
requested.  After making your change, ELCC gives you the option of changing
other items in the same record.  Also, selecting "Alter Title" from the TITLES
menu will give you a chance to change the title of any previously saved
record.  Finally, when you do a search you will be given a chance to alter
any record found.
     You can also delete a record by selecting the "Delete Record" item from
the RECORDS menu. You select the record by clicking on its title. It will be
reviewed for you, and then you get a chance to change your mind. If you go
ahead, all is not lost if you realize you made a mistake as long as you have
done a save at some point. The file will not be altered until the next time
you perform a save.  You could re-read the existing saved file to recover
from your error.
     Like any good database manager, ELCC lets you search your database for
information. Record searches are performed on all fields. Select "Search
Records" from the RECORDS menu. Enter a string to search for (perhaps the
name of a favorite author in our magazine database) and press the Return key.
Next,you will be asked if you wish to use a sliding match or not. If you do
not want a sliding match, the program will check each data field item to see
if it is an exact match to your search string. If you use a sliding match,
each field will be checked to see if it contains your match string. As an
example, if your match string is Smith, then John Smith is a match on a
sliding match, as is Amy Smith, Art Smithback,etc.
     Once all the matches have been found, ELCC will tell you how many there
are. You can then view them one at a time by clicking the left mouse button
for the first one, and clicking in the Next box for any others. You may end
your review at any time by clicking in the No More box. Note that we don't
put requester windows up for these decisions. This is so we don't cover up
any of the data you are viewing.
     You can perform similar searches on the titles of your records.  Simply
select "Search Titles" from the TITLES menu.  Again, you have the sliding
match or the exact match.
     ELCC supports printers, too, as long as you have your printer device
on the disk. Select the "Printer On" item from the PRINTER menu. Once
selected, the menu provides a "Printer Off" item that you can use to
prevent further printouts. When the printer is on, any record selected from
the title list will be printed in full. Any item that is reviewed as the
result of a search, however, will only have its title printed out. This is
to prevent you from printing up 60 or 70 records after a search and
destroying your paper budget. You can always take your printed list of
titles in hand and request full printouts for the files you need.
     The DRAWERS menu deserves a quick discussion. It is provided to allow
you to change to any sub-directory from within ELCC. You are not allowed to
create a drawer from inside ELCC, as that would make the program impossible
to run from the Workbench. (This is a holdover from ELCC's origins in
AmigaBasic.)
     A handy feature in ELCC is the "Alphabetize File" option found in the
PROJECT menu. This option works on saved files only. When you select it,
you will be prompted for a filename. Enter it and hit Return. The file will
be loaded, its titles alphabetized, and the file resaved, replacing the
earlier version. The file may then be reloaded for review.
     Also in the PROJECT menu is the "Display Files" function. Selecting
this displays the files in the current directory on your screen. That
pretty much covers the fundamentals.  ELCC has proven to be quite useful in
our home and I hope it will be useful in yours also. Experiment with it to
learn all the little tricks.  Hope you enjoy it.  Send comments, kudos or
criticisms to the author at the address shown.


                *)-------======={[**]}=======-------(*


ELCC.3.3 is Copyright 1988 by Brad Webb.  You are free to copy and use
ELCC, but it may not be sold.  If copied and distributed, all files in this
archive must be included -- they are ELCC.3.3, ELCC.doc and ELCC.3.3.info.
None of the files in this archive may be placed on Compuserve (TM).