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1992-05-13
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316 lines
Date: 05-13-92
Time: 08:25 am
from the desk of Lonnie J. Rolland
Please find (contained within the zip) the file group for Logger Generic.
Included is a normal and (if you register) tsr version of the data collector.
The data is kept in dBase format. The program can be ran in single or
local area network mode. Each record has a data field and (up to) 8KB
memo text area. Logger's functions are: add, delete, browse, and search.
Ascii text can be imported into the text area. Output can be sent to the
printer or a text file. Records can be password locked with a word key
so others may not alter them.
LOGGER has a ascii text file which is read the first time the executable
is ran. The contents of the small text file configures the mode of
operation you will be running and the names of the different field
labels to a record.
The config file is read to obtain the following information:
1st) the Logger title that sits top center when its envoked.
2nd) the drive and subdirectory to where the .dbf/.dbt is placed.
3rd) four groups of numbers that set the four colors! There are 128
possible color combinations. Run 'config.exe' to check it out.
4th) configuration parameter letters: a 'm' or a 'c' to force mono or
color display mode, an 'n' if you want network share locks, a 'd'
if you want to run in a bbs doorway mode, an 'o' to force open
records locked with a different lgkey than yours, OR if you want
to see deleted records and want to undelete them. So you may put:
'nothing!' or 'm' or 'c' or 'n' or 'd' or 'o' or 'cn' or 'nd' or...
5th) would need the path to where 'door.sys' could be found if you use
the bbs doorway mode.
6th thru the 13th) are the seven field labels.
Run the supplied program 'config9.exe' to make (easy) changes to the
ascii config file. Change the four colors to something you like. After
the colors are right, press <esc> to go on to editing the labels. Press
<esc> to exit the second part and <y>es to save your changes. Its easy.
For version 1.09 of Logger, the labels on the upper part of a record has
been slimmed down to only six fields where the operator types in verbage.
Field one & two are under program control. Field one gets assigned a number
at the time the record is written to disk. Field two has todays date auto-
matically put in at the record start. Fields three thru eight typically
ask for name, address and phone number stuff. You can choose the field
names that will appear there. But the names you choose DO have a word
length constraint! The working example supplied with LGNP9 might suit
your particular needs.
Here is its layout below:
╒══════════════════════════ TESTING OUT THE CHANGES ══════════════════════════╕
│ │
│ Post It#: 00046 Date Written: 03/01/92 │
│ │
│Originator: Lawrence Livermore.. Company: 12345678901234567890 │
│ Phone No: 12345678901234567890 Fax No: 12345678901234567890 │
│ Product: 123456789012345678901234567890 │
│ │
│ Abstract: 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345 │
╞═══════════════════════════════<Text Area>═══════════════════════════════════╡
│11111111111111 │
│2222222222222222222 │
│3333333333333333333333 │
│aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa │
│bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb │
│ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc │
│44444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444 │
│555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555 │
│666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666 │
│ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd │
╞═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╡
│ Press the <H> key for help. │
│ [ESC] exit Add < > SEARCH < > Browse < > │
╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
Look at the third line in the record field. The third field currently has
'Originator: ' as a label, which is a twelve character string. The number
twelve is important. You can put in any twelve ( or less ) character string
you wish in its place. If you supply it with a string which is bigger,
it'll only use the first twelve characters. Now lets break away from these
details and back up a bit.
LoggerG is fully functional, non-crippled information logging program.
It can be used to track clients or cases in a legal office. It could
track customers in a sales office. You could use it to post items for
sale or trade. You could post people and their occupations where the
posted are looking for gainful employment. In a material control
office, it could keep track of vendors and their promises. In a
tech support group, you could track customer problems or loaned out
equipment. The list could go on and on...
It uses a DBase III+ compatable .dbf and .dbt
*********************************************************************
*** ATTENTION USERS ***
*** LG can run on a network with full record/file locking, ***
*** therefore if and when you do so you MUST run dos's SHARE ***
*** program first before the logger or it'll keep popping up ***
*** error messages at you and not save your input. ***
*** ***
*** The locking is done with dos share calls. Therefore you have ***
*** to be running DOS version 3.1 or later. ***
*** ***
*** It'll still work fine if you don't have a network too. ***
*** ***
*** By default logger doesn't need share and will NOT do locking. ***
*** You turn that mode of operation 'ON' by including a 'N' in ***
*** the second line of the config file. ***
*********************************************************************
Install and remove the program from your hard disk with the batch
files MAKE_LG and REMO_LG. The make batch file will create a
subdirectory and put an empty data file set in it.
To use the program, envoke it with the batch file called LOGGER. It will
change directory, setup an environment variable, and then envoke logger.
Logger auto-detects whether its running on a mono or color system.
If the auto-detect is mis-interpretting your hardware, you can force
color mode by putting a 'C' in line 2 of the config file, or force mono
mode by putting a 'M' there.
The logger program, when envoked, needs about 118k bytes of ram.
The file 'LG.EXE' is the tsr version of the program. It's a nice, small
6.5KB pop up tsr that uses swapping technology. The hot key to pop it
up is "CTRL" + "ALT" + "A". Note you have to hold all 3 keys down at the
same time. The tsr version of logger does not have a doorway mode.
The tsr can un-load itself. By pressing 'R' at the main menu, logger
will release its (small) captive ram and un-hook itself from the system
interupts. The file 'LGNP.EXE' is the non resident ( pass through )
version of the program. Both programs look and function exactly alike.
The file 'L3GF-BLK.ZIP' is a set of empty .dbf/.dbt files.
Made a small (but very inportant) changes to the no-pop version of
Logger to make it desqview aware. If you're lucky enough to be running
this outstanding program, Logger now gives back about 80% of its
horsepower to the other applications that may be running in your
other DV windows. Wow! It was fairly easy to do. Most of the time
the program is sitting and waiting for a key press. That wait time
is handed back to the desqview time slice manager.
Logger now has a delete function. While in the 'search' or 'browse'
mode, press the 'D' key. If you are the owner of the record, you may
mark it deleted. In multi-user and doorway mode, there can be many
different people adding records. In doorway mode the program reads
the 'door.sys' file and generates a record 'key'. In multi-user mode,
each person must set a dos environment variable called 'LGKEY' to a
made up password. What LGKEY is set to becomes the record password.
Then nobody else can make changes to your records.
A note about 'Orphaned Memos'.
They will happen within the .dbt file when you: 1) delete and pack out
the .dbf that points to the memo, 2) edit an existing memo and make it grow
larger in size than it originally was (512 to 1024, 1024 to 1536...etc).
Please find the program called 'LG9PACK.EXE'. It's purpose is to pack out
the 'Orphaned Memos'. It walks down through the .dbf and rebuilds the .dbt
file as it goes. It does not use network locks, ergo pack your data local.
The structure for L3GF.DBF is:
Field Field Name Type Width Dec (label) (length)
1 FN01 Character 5 { post-it 10 }
2 FN02 Character 8 { date written 14 }
3 FN03 Character 20 { originator 12 }
4 FN04 Character 20 { company 9 }
5 FN05 Character 20 { phone no 10 }
6 FN06 Character 20 { fax no 8 }
7 FN07 Character 30 { product 9 }
8 FN08 Character 55 { abstract 10 }
9 FN17 Character 40 { }
10 MEMOFLD Memo 10
** Total ** 229
Previous versions of Logger had timers, find, browse, choose from multible
database sets and did time accumulation and date stamping. This current
version of logger has only add, search, browse, and date stamping. It has
less functionality and complexity.
Logger will now also send the currently displayed record to the
printer too. If you are within the find or browse function, you
press the (P) key to send the record information 'out' to the printer.
Logger will produce an ascii output file too. From the main program
prompt, press the (T) key. It will ask you from which record to
begin with. Then it will walk from that record to the end and transfer
the data to an ascii file (with labels) called 'DATALOG.TXT'.
The add (A) command starts an entry.
The search (S) command is my personal favorite.
It (currently) works on seven fields of the record. A search can
act upon the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, and MEMO field. I skipped
(for now) the 5th and 6th (phone number) fields. The search builds
a scrollable pick list with one line representing one record. Pressing
'enter' will pop that record up for a full view. Next key press takes
you right back to the pick list. If you want to go from pick list
right to editing the selected record, press 'ctrl-enter'.
The search order is from the last record to the first record. It will
find embedded strings anywhere within the target string and is case
insensitive.
The browse (B) command uses the keypad keys. It uses the
up, down, PgUp, PgDn, home, and end key. If numlock is on, it will use
the 7, 8, 9, 1, 2, 3's keys also. Browse will remember where
you were browsing at last.
You may start an addition then escape out to save or throw the record
away. If you elect to edit a record from the search or browse mode,
you do so by pressing 'enter' in browse or 'ctrl-enter' in search mode.
When you have finished your editing, logger will ask you if you want to
(maintainence mode) re-write the record back to where it came from OR
(add mode) append the record as a new one to the end of the DBF.
The memo text area portion saves only what it needs to save, from a
512 byte minimum, to a 8192 byte maximum size. The full screen editor
understands wordstar style key strokes and it does automatic
word-wrap at the end of lines also!
There is an un-delete function added. I went about it this way.
If you have added the 'O' parameter to the param line of the config
file, you are in super user mode. You get to see and un-delete the
deleted records while in browse mode. The 'O' param still keeps the
function of force opening locked records with a different lgkey than
yours. Please don't be confused by the two kinds of locks. The lgkey
lock is a word lock where a field in the record ties that record to
you and only you. The network mode lock lets multi-users share and
edit the SAME record without contention or corruption.
Logger was written by me with toolboxes from Max Software Consultants
at 301/828-5935 for handling the dbase structures and Turbo Power at
408/438-8608 for tsr/swapping/string/memo handling.
At where I work, we run Artisoft's Lantastic AI Netbios/NOS on Western
Digital and Artisoft ethernet cards. We have our data sitting on the
server in an area 'K:\LOGGER3\L3GF.DBF'. I have my neton batch file
set up the environment variables, 'set lgkey=Lonnie Rolland'.
Note you may need to expand your environment size beyond the default
160 bytes by placing the following in your config.sys file.
'shell c:\command.com c:\ /e:256 /p'
I will not be held responsible for your data loss or your hardware
acting up. I am a Senior Tech Support Engineer. I created this program
(AT HOME, LATE AT NIGHT) to maintain many odd databases at work.
* * * * * * * KNOWN BUG LIST: * * * * * * *
( I thought that would get your attention.)
1) You will get a toolbox '540' error if you are running in the network
mode and share is not loaded and resident.
2) You will get a dos error '2' when logger fails to find and open the
data files. The set command can say you have data files in a subdir and
you forgot to put them there.
3) If the printer is not available or on-line, logger properly detects
that its off-line. Logger will not post a "PRINTER OFF-LINE" message
but instead will completely ignore the printer's absence and go on
with its business.
4) If there is no LIM 4.0 / EMS ram available, the tsr version of logger
will make a 'SWAP' file to the root directory of the 'C:' drive only.
But fear not. When you release the tsr, it removes the swap file.
If you kill power and not release the tsr first, when you next power
up, the swap file will still be there. Note the swap file's attribute
makes it hidden from view.
5) It cannot (yet) have multible records started and multible timers timing
at the same time. Do you (really) get three phone calls in a row then work
on all three simultaineously? Sorry, you have to close ( if only tempor-
arily ) the first call/log to start up the second.
I want your feedback! Call my company BBS and drop me a note. It's number
is (714) 549-6669. The modem is 12/24/9600 baud, eight data bits, no
parity, one stop bit. Its open access to everybody. The latest version of
the program will be posted there. If you're feeling a little guilty about
not paying for the Logger programs, please (by all means) send money!
I have been making changes (for what seems) forever on this thing. Thank
goodness my mate is tolerant of me sitting back here night after night.
If you were using one of my older programs of several years ago (Logger3),
please note we moved to a new building and I had to (UGGH!) get a new BBS
phone number.
<relax & enjoy>
(my work) => Symbol Technologies, 340 Fischer Ave, Costa Mesa, CA. 92626
(my home) => 22612 Napoli Street, Laguna Hills, Ca. 92653
(c) Copyright 1992, Lonnie J. Rolland
dBASE and dBASE III+ is a registered trademarks of Borland Int.