Cream of the Crop 1/Cream of the Crop 1.iso/BUSINESS/TNAQUE21.ARJ/GENFUNC.TXT

Text File | 1990-08-04 | 15KB | 410 lines

                            Chapter 5
                         Other Functions



 RW Query and Report Writer


The RW Query and Report writer function is a powerful utility to
select information upon complex condtions set with 'easy to
follow' instructions. It can even be used to access files outside
the QUE Accounting series or programs.

Description

The popup window style access allows you to select files, set
relations between files and to select the fields to appear on the
output. The output may be directed to either a table format on
the screen or a report.

Chosing Files

When you first enter the program, a listing of files in the
current directory are displayed. Highlight the desired file(s)
and press F10 to continue to the next phase.

Making Relations

When more than one file is selected, the first file chosen is
considered the parent and a relation must be set between it and
its children( subsequent files).

To relate files select the field in the parent by highlighting it
and pressing enter. Select the corresponding field in the child
file.

   eg. Soc Sec Num   relates to   Soc Sec Num

Press F10 when complete.

Select, Sorted by and Where

This section tells the computer what data is to be selected and
in what sequence.

  Select the fields from the files and press F10 when complete.
  Sort the fields in the order in which you would like to see
them displayed by selecting them in the sort sequence.

   eg. Lastname Firstname

  The Where section uses boolean algebra and range values to
create a subset of data.

  eg. State='PA' .and. Lastname>'MAAA' .or. rate>100.00


Screen or Printer Output

The selected information automatically goes to a table display
but may be redirected to a printer.

Printed reports may include one or more of the following:

    report headings
    subtotaling
    summation
    averaging
    maximum and minimun values
    margins
    page widths and lengths

The math functions are also available while in the screen mode.

Saving the Query

The selected boolean criteria may be saved for future reference
by pressing the F6 key and entering in the brief description.

Saved queries may be accessed and executed at any time
eliminating the need of having to rekey in the selection
criteria. Each time executed the latest data is read from the
files.

An example of a typical output screen appears below








╔═════════╗
║Filelist ║
╚═════════╝

General Ledger

     MEMFILE        Company Setup file
     GLMAS          Chart of Accounts
     GLTRANS        General Ledger Transactions
     GLBATCH        General Ledger Transaction Batch Headers
     TBDEPT         Trial Balance
     DEPTMAS        Department Master
     SOURCE         Source Code table
     RETRANS        Repeating entries
     SYSFILE        Account range file
     GLHIST         General Ledger Transaction History

Accounts Receivable

     ARMEM          AR Setup
     ARHEAD         Invoice Headers
     ARDETL         Invoice Line Items
     PRODUCT        Inventory file
     ARMAS          Customer master records




╔════════════╗
║Utility Menu║
╚════════════╝

 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │09:51:48           Accounts Receivable           02/24/90 │
 │Company-> ABC         Utility Menu               Period: 7│
 │                                                          │
 │F1 Help      ESC Exit         F6 Calculator    F10 Window │
 │                 ┌────────────────────────┐               │
 │                 │QUIT return to MAIN MENU│               │
 │                 │                        │               │
 │                 │BU. Backup files        │               │
 │                 │RS. Restore from Backups│               │
 │                 │IX. Reindex files       │               │
 │                 └────────────────────────┘               │
 └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Description

The utility menu includes miscellaneous functions and those
outside the normal realm of operations. They are however very
important elements of the system.

Backup / Restore / Reindex

The first three options on the menu prime responsibility is
recovering from hardware and unexpected system malfunctions.

The Backup feature copies the system files to backup diskettes.
So that in the case of an emergency they may be used to restore
the system back to the point in time the copy was made. It is a
good idea to perform this operation periodically based on a
specific event such as after the close of a period.

The Restore function is selected to perform the restoration of
files back onto the system. Diskettes must be saved using the
backup feature of this system in order to perform a restore.

The Reindexing utility is called automatically by the end of
period process but may be called more frequently. It recreates
your file linkages and cleans up any unused space reserved by
deleted records. It is usually the first recourse when
experiencing index problems as may be noted by missing or out of
sequence data.

The simple on screen instructions will guide you through the
operations.


NOTEPAD (optional)

Description

The NOTEPAD is a handy, mini word processor that will meet most
of your word processing needs. It works most effectively with
memo and letters but may be used to access larger documents.

Like many word processors it is limited by the size of available
memory. Most typical users (640K) will not have a problem.
However, it s a good precautionary measure to periodically save
your file as you are typing.

Operations

The NOTEPAD option may be activated from the menu or by pressing
the F9 key from within other designated functions.The following
keys are active within the NOTEPAD window.

    Alt-A  (A)ppend a file to current file and continue
    Alt-B  (B) place a block marker
    Alt-F  Insert a field from a database
    Alt-G  (G)oto line number
    Alt-H  (H)elp screen
    Alt-I  (I)nsert line
    Alt-K  (K)ill current line
    Alt-L  page (L)ength for printing
    Alt-M  change (M)argins
    Alt-N  edit (N)ew file
    Alt-P  (P)rint file
    Alt-Q  (Q)uit but save edits
    Alt-R  search and (R)eplace
    Alt-S  (S)ave file & continue
    Alt-T  (T)oggle wordwrap on/off
    Alt-W  (W)rite to new file
    Alt-X  e(X)it without saving
    Alt-Y  change director(Y)/wildcard

FUNCTIONS:

EDIT WINDOW/STATUS LINE: when you enter the notepad, the edit
window takes up nearly the full screen.  There is a status line
at the bottom, which displays the name of the file being edited,
the current line and column position of the cursor, the left and
right margins, and the status of wordwrap and insert modes
(displayed when active as "<Wrap>" and "<Ins>", respectively.)

When a file has been edited, an asterisk will appear at the right
side of the top row (next to the "Alt-H=Help" message).

CURRENT DIRECTORY/WILDCARD - the notepad gives you the ability to
change the working directory and/or filemask at any time.  When
you first enter the notepad, the current directory will be set to
the default DOS directory, and the wildcard will be set to '*.*'.

If you would like to change either the directory where the
notepad looks for files or the wildcard used (e.g., "*.TXT",
"*.PRG"), press Alt-Y and enter the new information.  You do not
have to enter slashes in front or back of the directory name
UNLESS you include a wildcard.  For example, to change the
current directory to "\ACCT\", you need only enter "ACCT".
However, if you want the notepad to look for all the .TXT files
in subdirectory \ACCT\, you must enter "\ACCT\*.TXT".

If you enter just the wildcard, the current directory will remain
unchanged.  If you enter a directory name only, the wildcard will
be reset to "*.*".  If you press Enter without typing in
anything, neither the current directory nor the wildcard will be
changed.

Examples: let's assume that your application is in a subdirectory
named \WORKSTUF.  The initial current directory/wildcard will be
set to "\WORKSTUF\*.*".  If you press Alt-Y and enter "*.TXT
<CR>", the directory/wildcard will be changed to
"\WORKSTUF\*.TXT".  If you wish to change to the ACCT
subdirectory, press Alt-Y and enter "\ACCT <CR>".  The
directory/wildcard will then be changed to "\ACCT\*.*".   Suppose
you then want to look at only the .TXT files starting with the
letter P in the directory \ACCT You would press Alt-Y again, and
enter "\ACCT\P*.TXT".

FILENAMES: when you press Alt-N to edit a new file or Alt-W to
write to another file, a scrolling window will appear containing
all files that match the current directory and wildcard mask.

The directory and wildcard mask will be shown at the top of this
window for reference.  Note that files with the following
extensions will not appear in this directory, based on the
assumption that there should be no need to edit binary files:
.EXE .COM .DBF .NTX .DBT .NDX .OBJ.

To select a file, move the highlight bar to it and press Enter.
Also note by pressing a letter key, the first file starting with
that value is highlighted. PgUp, PgDn, Home and End keys are also
available.

INSERT and WORDWRAP: the start-up values for these modes is on.
They may toggled off and on at any time by pressing Insert and
Alt-W, respectively.  The status of these modes appears at the
right side of the status line.  Additionally, the cursor size
will change from large (insert) to small (overwrite) based on the
current mode.

MARGINS: the start-up margins are 1 and 80.  However, you may
change these margins at any time by pressing Alt-M and entering
the desired values.  When you change the margins, the on-screen
display will adjust to reflect the new margins.  You may use
larger values for the right margin than would appear on the
80-column screen.  In such instances, you should toggle wordwrap
off and scroll to the right to display text beyond the on-screen
right margin.  The current values of the margins appear on the
status line.


PAGE LENGTH: the start-up page length for printing is 60 lines.
You can change this at any time by pressing Alt-L.

SEARCH AND REPLACE: you can search and replace for all or for
only a specific number of occurrences of a character string.
When you press Alt-R, you will be prompted first to enter the
search string, then the replacement string.  You will then be
asked if you want to replace all occurrences of the search
string.  If you answer 'N', you will be prompted to enter the
number of occurrences to replace.

Please note that the search begins at the top of the file and
continues either to the end of the file or until the specified
number of occurrences have been replaced.

PRINTING: you may print the current file at any time by pressing
Alt-P.  Printing may be aborted at any time by pressing Esc.  The
format of the printed page is determined by the current settings
of the margins and page length.

BLOCK COPY used to highlight a block of text to be copied moved
or deleted. Alt-B both starts and stops the block marking. A
third Alt-B brings up the function window.

FIELD INSERTION used to bring in fields from a database. The
selected fields will be printed in the body of the letter.


CALCULATOR:(optional)

Description

This is a useful calculator that includes all the basic
operators: addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), and
division (/).

But it also has some other goodies, including exponentation (^),
a percentage(%), a paste function and a full-featured memory.
Plus, whenever you press an operator ('+', '-', '*', '/', or
'^'), the previous number is shown above the display window.
This is handy for when you are processing a list of numbers and
forget where you were.  Also the calculator can be moved around
the screen using the directional arrow keys.

The maximum value that can be stored in the calculator is
99,999,999,999.9999.

Operations

Active Keys:

    '+' -- addition                        '-' -- subtraction
    '*' -- multiplication                  '/' -- division
    '^' -- exponentation                   'C' -- clear
    '%' -- Percentage                           current number
    'E' -- clear entry (does not clear previously
           entered number in pending operation)
    'P' -- print (adding machine mode)     'M' -- Memory
                                                operations
    '=' or Enter -- process operation       Esc -- exit
                                                Calculator
    'D' -- change the number of decimal options
    'R' -- round the numbers to a specified number pf places

Calculator movement keys:

    UpArrow      -- move calculator up one row
    DnArrow      -- move calculator down one row
    LtArrow      -- move calculator left one column
    RtArrow      -- move calculator right one column
    Ctrl-LtArrow -- move calculator to far left (rows
                    unchanged)
    Ctrl-RtArrow -- move calculator to far right (rows
                    unchanged)
    Home         -- move calculator to top left corner
    End          -- move calculator to bottom right corner
    PgUp         -- move calculator to top row (columns
                    unchanged)
    PgDn         -- move calculator to bottom row (columns
                    unchanged)
Memory Functions:

To access memory functions, press "M", then one of the flashing
function keys.  The function keys are:

    'R' -- recall number stored in memory
    'C' -- clear memory (reset to zero)
    '+' -- add current number to number stored in memory
    '-' -- subtract current number from number stored in
           memory
    '*' -- multiply number stored in memory by current number
    '/' -- divide number stored in memory by current number


PASTE function

The paste function enables you to paste the current calculator
value into a numeric field while adding or changing records in a
file.

However, erratic results may occur if the number of decimal
places in the number to be pasted is larger than the number
of decimals of the field described in your file. For example,
suppose that you have just used the calculator to derive the
result 75.2877.  You wish to paste this number into an amount
field on the screen prior to popping up the calculator. If the
field is only 2 decimal places than the probability is strong
that this number will be stored on-screen as 75.29 (although
internally it will remain 75.2877).


PRINT - Adding machine mode

By pushing "P" for Print, the calculator emulates an adding
machine.This will be noted by a small "P" to the right of the
number window. Each calculation will be sent to the printer (if
it is on-line). After all, if you have invested several thousand
dollars in PC hardware (and software), why bother spending more
money on a ten-key adding machine?  Press "P" again to leave
adding machine mode.