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BiblioFile User's Manual Version 2.0 Copyright 1993 by Michael Carnell Data by Design (803) 556-2310 P.O. Box 31994 Charleston, SC 29417 ========================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS A. Introduction L. Wants B. Getting Started - Adding C. Adding Books - Editing D. Editing Books - Deleting E. Deleting Books - Printing Want List F. Setting Order of Books M. Administration G. Searching for Books - System Information H. Viewing Books in a List - Index Files I. Limiting Books Shown - Configuration J. Reports N. File Types - Setting Up a Report O. Glossary - Printing a Report P. Specifications - Exporting to a Merge Q. Keyboard Reference K. Contacts R. Required Legalities - Adding S. Shareware - Using & Editing T. Technical Support - Maintenance ========================================================================= A - INTRODUCTION Welcome to BiblioFile! BiblioFile is a PLMS, Personal Library Management System. Plainly stated, BiblioFile is an easy to use database system that can help you organize your personal, professional, or company library. By using BiblioFile, you can track important information about the books you have such as what you paid for them, what they are worth, where they are located, who you loaned them to, and much more. You can record as much or as little information as you like, and you can always quickly look up what you have already entered. Many years of experience as a book collector, book seller, computer programmer, English major, and information researcher have gone into producing this program. The result is a powerful system that is extremely easy to learn and use. If you don't want to read this manual, don't. Just follow the menus and instructions in the program and you should be fine. But if you have a question, always realize that you can refer here. All of the features of BiblioFile are available through the main menu and the function keys. The menu has nine basic sections and is used for all actions relating to the collection. Each section handles a different type of task and may give you further options after being selected. Next - displays the next book in the database. Previous - displays the previous book in the database. Top - displays the first book in the database. Bottom - displays the last book in the database. Add - presents you a blank record to add a new book. Order - lets you select the order in which the books are displayed. They can be in order by Author, Subject, or Title. Edit - lets you edit the book currently displayed. Delete - marks the book currently displayed for deletion. If the book is already marked for deletion, choosing delete will remove the deletion mark. Search - will search for occurrences of text anywhere in the record of a book. Find - will find books by occurrence of text in the field by which the database is ordered -- the Author, Title, or Subject. Limit - lets you limit the books displayed and reported to those of a single Author, Subject, or Title, depending on the order. View - will display a list of your books that you can scroll through in browsing fashion. When you want to view a book in more detail, simply press Enter. Clean - will permanently remove any books you have marked for deletion. Report - This selection will enable you to print, file, or view a report of all the items you have in your collection. Quit - exits the program. You can also exit the program by pressing the Escape key from the main menu. You choose an operation by either pressing the key that corresponds to the first letter of your choice or by using the cursor keys to scroll back and forth through the list of choices and then pressing the Enter key when you have highlighted the correct choice. The function keys are used to get help, maintain the want list, and use the contact list. These are placed on function keys instead of the menu so that if you have no need of these functions, you can just ignore them. B - GETTING STARTED To start BiblioFile simply type BF and press Enter from the disk and directory in which the program resides. For example, if you installed the program to the C: drive, in a directory named \BF, then the following command sequence will always work to start the program: C: CD\BF BF When you run BiblioFile, setup is automatic. Among other things, this will involve the creation of the database and index files. When this has finished, you will be at BiblioFile's Main Menu. NOTE: Because of the file creation that takes place on start up, and the read/write nature of a database, BiblioFile cannot be run from CDROM media. You should exit BiblioFile through the Quit command or by pressing Esc from the Main Menu. As the program shuts down it updates some files and indexes. If you do not exit this way some of your valuable data may be lost or damaged. C - ADDING BOOKS You select the choice "Add" by either highlighting it with the cursor keys and pressing Enter, or by simply pressing the letter A. In the first blank, you will enter the author's last name, a comma, and then the author's first name. For example, Zelda Fitzgerald would be entered as "Fitzgerald, Zelda." Next you will enter the co-author or editor's name in the same manner. Following that you should enter the title of the book. For the sake of consistency, the computer will automatically format the title to be in all capital letters. After the title, you will enter all of the other particulars on the book. Remember that you can always go back and edit the information later. As you can see this is a very flexible system. Take care when entering books into the system so that they can be easily retrieved by the needed information. Remember that to a computer a 1st Edition is not the same thing as a First Edition and Wm. Faulkner is not the same person as William Faulkner. D - DELETING BOOKS To delete a book, first display that book and then select Delete. Once a book is deleted, it remains in the database until you select the Clean function. At anytime before you Clean the database, a book can be undeleted by displaying that book and then selecting Delete a second time. You will notice the word "DELETED" will flash on the top line of the screen if the book displayed is marked for deletion. E - EDITING BOOKS When you want to change the information in the record of a book that is displayed on the screen, just select "Edit." When you do that, you can then edit the displayed information just as you typed it in originally. If a particular item is correct, simply skip over it by pressing Enter. You can use the control key and the "Y" together, Ctrl+Y, to delete an entire line. After completing your editing of the information you will be dropped back to the menu. Any changes you made will be saved automatically. F - SETTING ORDER OF BOOKS By default, BiblioFile displays books in order by author, but the program can also display the books in order by title or by subject. To change the display order, simply select Order, and then select the order you want. Note that the order you choose will determine the order for report listings and all on-screen displays. G - LOCATING BOOKS There are two ways to locate specific books within your collection. The first is by using the Search command. This will look for the occurrence of a word or phrase anywhere in a book's record. This will search the author, title, description, and every other field. The second method is to use the Find command. This will search for a word or phrase in only one field of the record. The field that will be used is determined by the order of the database. Therefore, if you display the database in order by author, then only the author field will be examined to find the specified word or phrase. H - VIEWING BOOKS IN A LIST If you select View from the main menu, you will be able to browse through your collection in list form. You can use the normal cursor keys to scroll through the list both up and down and from side to side. When you press Escape or Enter to exit the list, the book highlighted in the list will be the one displayed. I - LIMITING BOOKS SHOWN If you want to limit the books shown or listed, you can do so by selecting Limit. You can then type in the text that will act as a filter for books to be displayed. The field that will be compared against the filter is determined by the current order. For example, if you wanted to limit the books in a report to only those with a subject of SCI-FI, you would first select an Order of Subject. Then you would select Limit and type in SCI-FI as the limiting text. To remove a limiting filter, simply select Limit again and leave the phrase blank, or change the order of the database. J - REPORTS When you select Report, you will be given a menu of options. If you select Display, File, or Printer, the report will be generated. If you select Setup, you can choose the fields you want included in the report. If you select WordPerfect, WordStar, or SDF, BiblioFile will create a datafile for use in merging with other programs. If you press Escape at this menu, you will return to the main menu. Setting Up a Report If you select Setup, you will see a list of all the fields, such as Author and Title, for the database. By default, all the fields are set to be included in the report. By changing the 'Y's to 'N's however, you can elect to have some or all of the fields excluded. Generating a Report This applies to Displaying, Filing, or Printing a report only. The specifics for exporting a report are outlined a little later. If you select Display, BiblioFile goes through the process of composing the report. After all of the composition is done the report will be displayed in a browse screen. You can navigate this screen with the cursor keys or press Escape to exit. If your report is long, only the first 1000 lines of it will be displayed. This should be enough to give you an idea of how it will look when printed. 1000 lines is a little more than 15 pages. If you select Printer, BiblioFile begins the process of composing the report. After the composition, the program will send you a message saying that it is starting the printing process. Then the report will begin to print. While the report is printing, the status of the printer will be checked regularly. If the printer is not responding correctly, you will be given the chance to correct the problem or exit the printing process. If you select to have the report sent to a file, BiblioFile will ask you for the name it should give the file where the report is to be stored. If you enter a valid file name, the program will save the report to that file and return you to the menu. If you enter an invalid file name, you will be told so and then given the chance to edit the file name. If you want to give up, just press Escape. When you have entered a valid filename, the report will be generated. The file that contains your book-list is in plain ASCII text format. Almost all word processors and desk-top publishing programs can use material in this format. Exporting to a Merge File If you select WordPerfect, WordStar, or SDF from the Report menu, BiblioFile will create a data file with all information in the database. This can be used by other programs to create custom reports and documents. The WordPerfect selection generates a secondary merge file complete with field names. The WordStar selection generates a comma deliniated file with all fields for all records. The SDF choices creates a Standard Data File with each field starting at fixed character positions. When you select any of these options for export, you will be asked to select a name for the export file to be created. All records will then be saved to that file. Please refer to the individual documentation of the programs you will be using to manipulate the merge file for information on merging. K - CONTACTS With BiblioFile, you can maintain a list of contacts who you normally deal with. These could be dealers you buy books from, friends or colleagues you loan books to, whatever. The contact list is accessed by pressing F10. It can also be accessed from a special maintenance utility that is supplied with the registered version of BiblioFile. An additional feature of the contact list is the ability to insert a contact's name into appropriate fields in a book record. This can be used to insert a name into the "Purchased From" or "Loaned To" fields when you are adding or editing a book. Specifics of this are outlined below. Adding Contacts To add contacts, press F10. When presented with the contact list, press Esc and then select Add. You can then enter the contact's name, address, and phone number. When you press PgDn from anywhere in the record, or Enter from the last field, the information will be saved to the contact database. Additionally, if you are in an appropriate field of the database, the contact's name and/or company will be inserted in that field. If you don't want new contacts to be inserted in the fields of a book record, add them while at the main menu, not while adding or editing a book. Using & Editing Contacts To edit contacts, press F10. When presented with the contact list, scroll to the one you want and press Enter. You can then edit the contact's name, address, and phone number. When you press PgDn from anywhere in the record, or Enter from the last field, the information will be saved to the contact database. Additionally, if you are in an appropriate field of the database, the contact's name and/or will be inserted in that field. If you don't want new contacts to be inserted in the fields of a book record, edit them while at the main menu, not while adding or editing a book. Maintenance A separate utility for the maintenance of Contacts is sent to all registered users of BiblioFile. This utility enables the deletion, listing, and reporting of contacts. Additionally, more fields of information are available for each contact record. L - WANTS Beginning with this version 2.0 of BiblioFile, the program can now keep track of the books you want as well as the books you have. For each item wanted, the system stores author, title, edition, and a one line note or description. The want list tracking features are accessed through the F6, F7, F8, and F9 keys. Adding a Want To add a want press F6. Once you do this, a blank want will be displayed and you can then fill in all the appropriate information. If you press Escape while editing, the editing process will be cut off and the new want will not be saved. You can exit the editing screen by pressing Enter from the last field, of by pressing page up or page down. Editing a Want To edit a want press F7. This will display a list of all the wants in system in order by author and title. Use the cursor keys to scroll up and down through the list. Select the want you wish to edit by pressing Enter. Once you press Enter, the want will be displayed and you can edit it. If you press Escape while editing, the editing process will be cut off and the changes will not be saved. You can exit the editing screen by pressing Enter from the last field, of by pressing page up or page down. Deleting a Want To delete a want press F8. This will display a list of all the wants in system in order by author and title. Use the cursor keys to scroll up and down through the list. Select the want you wish to delete by pressing Enter. Once you press Enter, the want will be displayed and you will be asked to confirm its deletion. Unlike books, the deletion of a want is done instantly, so there is no way to "undelete" a want. Printing the Want List To print the want list, simply press F9. BiblioFile will compose the list and send it to the destination you specify, either the screen, a file, or the printer. If you select Printer, the program will send you a message saying that it is starting the printing process. Then the want list will begin to print. While the list is printing, the status of the printer will be checked regularly. If the printer is not responding correctly, you will be given the chance to correct the problem or exit the printing process. If you select to have the list sent to a file, BiblioFile will ask you for the name it should give the file where the list will be stored. If you enter a valid file name, the program will save the list to that file and return you to the menu. If you enter an invalid file name, you will be told so and then given the chance to edit the file name. If you want to give up, just press Escape. When you have entered a valid filename, the list will be generated. The file that contains your want list is in plain ASCII text format. Almost all word processors and desk-top publishing programs can use material in this format. If your want list is extremely long, only the first 1000 lines of it will be displayed. This should be enough to give you an idea of how it will look when printed. 1000 lines is a little more than 15 pages. M - ADMINISTRATION By pressing F4, you can configure the program about your particular use. In many cases though, you will not need to alter the default configuration. The top half of the configuration screen deals with the printer. Most dot matrix printers use a page length of 66, while most laser printers use a page length of 60. The default settings are for page length of 60 lines, a left margin of 5 characters, and a top margin of 5 lines. The printer is set to use port LPT1 unless you specify otherwise. If you need different values enter them in here. The bottom half of the configuration screen lets you set up the monetary symbol you wish to use and change the names of the two definable fields. The default monetary symbol is the dollar sign, but if you need something different, feel free. You can enter a pound sign "£" by holding down the Alt key and typing 156 on your numeric keypad. The default names for the two definable fields are "ISBN" and "Media". These names can be up to 10 characters long. The selections you make will take immediate effect when you return to the menu. Your choices are saved in the configuration file and will stay in effect until you change them. N - FILE TYPES BF.EXE - The executable BiblioFile program. This is the only file absolutely necessary to run BiblioFile. All other required files will be created by the program as needed. BF.DBF - The dBASE compatible database file of all books. BF.CFG - The program configuration file that records such things as whether there is a color monitor. BF.DOC - This document. BF?.IND - The index files used to keep track of the database. This index is NOT dBASE compatible. WANT.DBF - The dBASE compatible database file of all wants. WANT.IND - The index file used to track wants. CONTACT.DBF - The dBASE compatible database of all contacts. CONTACT.IND - The index file used to track contacts. O - GLOSSARY Backup - A second, or even third, copy of your work made to guard against unforeseen disasters. Batch File - A special file with the extension .bat that tells the computer what actions to take. A batch file is essentially a small program. Boot (Boot Up)- The process a computer goes through when it starts operation. It is "pulling itself up by its bootstraps." Cost - The actual amount paid for a book including all shipping charges. CRT - See Monitor. Cursor - The small rectangle or underline character on the computer screen that shows the user where what he types will be put. Cursor Keys -The four arrow keys on the computer's keyboard, usually on the right side, that enable the user to position the cursor. Disk (Diskette) - The magnetic media on which programs and data are stored. Removable disks are referred to as floppy disks and fixed disks are referred to as hard disks. Disk Operating System (DOS) - See DOS. DOS (Disk Operating System) - The great guiding program that tells the computer how to operate and interact. It underlies all other programs in the same way that the knowledge of reading and learning guides us through reading any particular book, magazine or newspaper. Enter - The large key on the keyboard, to the right side of the letter keys, bearing the word "Enter" or "Return" or a broken arrow. If your keyboard has a numeric keypad there may also be one on the right side of that keypad. The Enter key is used to tell the computer that it can process whatever you just typed. In word processing it is used to end a paragraph. Field - The individual parts of a record in a database. A phone book database might have a field for the name, another for the phone number and another field for the address. A single grouping of these three fields is a record. There would be one record for each person. All the records for everyone in the phone book would make up the database. File - A file is how the computer stores information. It is a group of information that may be related by purpose, data source or format. File Names - A file name is the label by which a file is identified. It can be a maximum of eight characters long plus a three character extension separated from the name by a period. Thus the format for a file name is "XXXXXXXX.XXX". See appendix E for information about the file names this program uses. Fixed Disk Drive - See Hard Drive. Floppy Disk - A removable magnetic storage media. The terminology of a "floppy disk" originates from the days of the 8" disks which were in fact very floppy. This term applies both to the new 3 1/2" and 2" disks as well as the 5 1/4" and the antiquated 8" disks. Format - The process of formatting a disk makes it useable to the computer. Formatting basically arranges magnetic guidelines on the disk so that the disk drive can stay in the proper lanes. Formatting a disk that already contains information will irreversibly send that information to Never Never land. Function Keys - The 10, 12 or now even 16 keys along the side or top of the keyboard labeled F1, F2, F3 and so on... Hard Disk - See Hard Drive. Hard Drive - A non-removable, therefore "fixed", magnetic storage media. Index - A file which keeps track of the order of records in a database based on different fields. One index might keep track of records in a database alphabetically by name while another index file might keep track of records in the same database by the address. Indexing is the process of creating an index. Menu -A list of choice from which you select the operation you wish to perform or have the computer perform. Monitor (Screen) - The television like device used to display information on a computer. Monitors may also be referred to as CRTs which is short for Cathode Ray Tube. Path - The path is a kind of map to tell the computer where a file is located. The path will include the drive letter and subdirectory where a file resides. The path for the file in the subdirectory called "BF" on the C: drive would be "C:\BF". Prompt - A character used by the computer to signal the user that it is ready for information or an instruction. From DOS the prompt is usually something such as "A:>" or "C:\BF>". There are many variations of prompts. Record - The individual sections of a database. A record is made up of fields. A phone book database might have a field for the name, another for the phone number and another field for the address. A single grouping of these three fields is a record. There would be one record for each person. All the records for everyone in the phone book would make up the database. Re-Index - The process the computer uses to recreate and reorder an index file. Reset - To restart the computer by means of pressing the Control, Alternate and Delete keys at one time, Ctrl+Alt+Del, or by a hardware reset switch. This should NEVER be done while running BiblioFile or any other program unless it is totally unavoidable for it may damage data files. Return - See Enter. Screen - See Monitor. Scroll - To go up and down or side to side through the list of items in a menu. You do this by using the cursor keys. Setup - The process used to make a computer program's settings match both the hardware it is being used on and the user's preferences. Subdirectory - Divisions and subdivisions of the storage space on a disk. Each different subdirectory will contain related things. One subdirectory may contain all word processing files while a different sub-directory might contain only accounting files. Sub-directories are much like chapters in a book. System Prompt - This is the prompt you are given from DOS. See Prompt. Value - The fair retail market price of an item. Window - A section of the screen that operates separately from the rest of the screen. It is like a screen within a screen. There may be more than one window open at a time and they may overlap each other. Working Copy - The copy of a program and its related files that you use in your day to day work. P - TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Hardware Requirements The following is the minimum hardware required to run BiblioFile: - An IBM PC compatible computer with at least 512K free RAM (random access memory) running DOS version 3.0 or later. - At least 1 floppy drive. A hard drive is recommended. - Any monochrome or color monitor. - A printer is necessary for printing reports. Windows, OS/2 BiblioFile will run under OS/2 and Windows 3.1 although it makes no use of the mouse or other GUI tools. BiblioFile is strictly a character-based DOS program. DOS 6.0 BiblioFile is completely compatible with all versions of DOS through 6.0. It works fine with the DOS Shell, Task Swapper, and DoubleDisk. QEMM and DesqView BiblioFile will works well with QuarterDeck's memory managers and multi-taskers. Q - KEYBOARD REFERENCE Esc From a list of choices - exits without choosing. From a note screen - exits without saving changes. Tab Jumps forward one field in a record. Shift+Tab Jumps backward one field in a record. PgDn Jumps to the end of a data entry screen. Enter From a list of choices - selects the current choice. From a data entry screen - moves to the next field. Ctrl+Y Deletes the text to the end of the line. Ctrl+T Deletes the word to the right. Ins Toggle between overwrite and insert mode. F1 Help. Shift+F1 Displays program documentation from disk. F2 Program information. Shift+F2 Prints program registration form. F3 Condition description guidelines F4 Printer setup. F5 System information. F6 Add a want. F7 Edit a want. F8 Delete a want. F9 Print want list. F10 Contact list. R - REQUIRED LEGALITIES BiblioFile is a trademark of Michael Carnell and use of it is prohibited without prior consent. Copyright (c) 1993 by Michael Carnell. All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any way or by any means, including but not limited to photocopying or transcription, without the prior written consent of Michael Carnell. WARRANTY PROVISIONS Michael Carnell warrants this software will substantially conform to published specifications and to the documentation, provided that it is used on the computer hardware and with the operating system for which it was designed. Michael Carnell also warrants that the magnetic media on which the software is distributed and the documentation are free from defects in materials and workmanship. Michael Carnell will replace defective media or documentation at no charge provided the item is returned within 90 days of delivery. If Michael Carnell is unable to replace defective media or documentation or correct substantial software errors, Michael Carnell will refund the license fee. These are the sole remedies to any breach of warranty. WARRANTY LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMER OF ALL LIABILITY All warranties for this product expressed or implied, including merchantability and fitness for purpose, are limited to a period of 90 days from the date of purchase, and no warranties, expressed or implied, will apply after that period. In no event will Michael Carnell be liable to any purchaser for damages, lost revenues, lost wages, lost savings, or any other incidental or consequential damages arising from purchase, use or inability to use this product, even if Michael Carnell has been advised to the possibility of such damages. S - SHAREWARE BiblioFile is marketed as shareware. This means that you can try out the program before you pay for it. If you find BiblioFile of benefit to your operations or continue to use the program after the evaluation period, you must register your copy. Registration is not expensive and includes many benefits. Please see the order form included with the program to receive complete registration instructions. BiblioFile Registered Users Receive: 1. Free e-mail, mail, and phone support. 2. Upgrade and update notifications. 3. The latest version on disk. 4. Printed manual. 5. One free upgrade. 6. Utility for maintenance of contact database. Again, please consider becoming a registered user as a sign of your support for the ongoing efforts to enhance BiblioFile and to provide quality software to the public at a reasonable price. Consider what you'll gain by using the program in the coming years. T - TECHNICAL SUPPORT - HOW TO GET HELP Throughout your use of the program you can get help with an area of difficulty by using the on-line help or by looking up the information in this manual. If you hit a problem for which you need to contact me, please don't hesitate to do so. Remember, support is not just offered, but guaranteed to registered users. You can send E-Mail to: carnellm@citadel.edu (Internet) >INTERN:carnellm@citadel.edu (CompuServe) carnellm@citadel.edu@INET# (Genie) Send any and all paper mail to: Data by Design P.O. Box 31994 Charleston, SC 29417 If you want to talk directly to a person, I can be reached at (803)556-0562. There is an answering machine available if I am not, and I do return all calls.