Programmer 7500

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Programmer 7500 / MAX_PROGRAMMERS.iso / CLIPPER / DATABASE / DPROG131.ZIP / UGUIDE.DAT < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1987-12-24 | 45.9 KB | 1,000 lines

..SK 15 ..CE %%Sname Users Guide ..CE %%Sdesc ..CE Written by %%Pname on %%DATE ..CE COPYRIGHT (C) %%Cdate by %%Cname ..HE %%Sname Users Guide ..PG ..CE WELCOME ..JN Welcome to your new system. This system will allow you to add new %%RecDescA.s, change existing %%RecDescA.s, produce reports and labels from your %%FileDescA, output %%RecDescA.s to the mail merge function of various word processors and more. ..CE STARTING YOUR SYSTEM To start the system you must first start dBase. The procedure differs if your computer has a hard disk or two floppies. Follow the procedure below for the type of computer you have. ..CE FLOPPY SYSTEM If your computer has 2 floppies and no hard disk, put your dBase III+ system diskette 1 into drive "A" and type DBASE. The disk drive light will come on and dBase will start loading. After a few moments, you will be asked to replace system disk 1 with system disk 2. Take system disk 1 out of the "A" drive and put it away. Put the dBase system disk 2 into the "A" drive and press enter. dBase will finish loading. The dBase assistant will start. Press the Esc key to exit from the assistant. You will now be at the 'dot prompt'. Place the disk containing your new %%Sname system in the "B" drive. Type 'SET DEFAULT TO B:' and press return. Type 'DO %%Sname' and press carriage return to start the %%Sname system. The main menu of the %%Sname system now displays. ..CE HARD DISK SYSTEM If you have a hard disk change to the directory containing dBase and type DBASE. dBase will start loading. The dBase assistant will start. Press the Esc key to exit from the assistant. You will now be at the 'dot prompt'. If you wish to run your new %%Sname system from floppies, place the disk containing your new %%Sname system in the "B" drive. Type 'SET DEFAULT TO B:' and press return. Type 'DO %%Sname' and press carriage return to start the %%Sname system. The main menu of the %%Sname system now displays. If you wish to run your new %%Sname system from the hard disk, type 'SET PATH TO C:\path' where 'path' is the subdirectory which contains your %%Sname system and press return. Type 'DO %%Sname' and press carriage return to start the %%Sname system. The main menu of the %%Sname system now displays. ..PG ..CE THE MAIN MENU ..JF ............................................................................ . Main Menu ............................................................................ . . A - Add new %%RecDescA.s . U - Update, Edit, Scan, Find %%RecDescA.s . R - Generate Reports from your %%FileDescA . L - Print Labels from your %%FileDescA . M - Generate a Mail Merge file from your %%FileDescA . I - Rebuild the Index to your %%FileDescA . P - Remove Deleted records from your %%FileDescA . S - Define Report/Label/Mail Merge sort/select . Q - Quit to DOS . D - Exit to dBase . . Please choose one of the above options . ............................................................................ ..JN The main menu allows you to select which function you wish to perform on your data. Your choices are: ..CE A This choice allows you to add %%RecDescA.s to your %%filedesca.. ..CE U This selection allows you to update (or edit) existing %%RecDescA.s, look at %%RecDescA.s on the %%FileDescA, find %%RecDescA.s by key, find %%RecDescA.s by data contained in any field on the %%FileDescA, print a given %%RecDescA.s, and delete or recall (undelete) %%RecDescA.s. ..CE S This feature allows you to describe the order and selection criteria for reports, labels, and mail merge functions. You can also describe default report/label forms for a given sort select sequence and create/modify report and label forms. ..PG ..CE M This option allows you to export data from your %%FileDescA to the mail merge function of various word processors. You can also select which %%RecDescA.s will be exported to the word processor, and in what order they will be output. ..CE R Generate reports from the %%FileDescA. This option in conjunction with the dBase REPORT verb allows you to extend the reporting capability by allowing you to specify which way the %%FileDescA should be sorted and which %%RecDescA should be selected for the report. ..CE L Generate labels from the %%FileDescA. This option in conjunction with the dBase LABEL verb allows you to extend the reporting capability by allowing you to specify which way the %%FileDescA should be sorted and which %%RecDescA.s should be selected for the labels. ..CE I This function allows you to rebuild the index of the %%FileDescA if the index becomes damaged. ..CE Q Closes the %%FileDescA and exits to DOS. ..CE D Exits to dBase to allow you to examine the %%FileDescA using dBase. ..CE Adding %%RecDescA.s The Add screen (see below) allows you to add new %%RecDescA.s to your %%FileDescA.. ..JF ..GF ..JN Fill in the fields on the screen and press enter. When the last field on the screen is filled in, the %%RecDescA.s will automatically be added to the %%FileDescA.. ..BK If you wish to not have to fill in all fields, you may shorten the add process by pressing Ctrl End after filling in the fields you wish. This will cause the %%RecDescA to be added with the remaining fields blank (or initialized to the values shown on the screen). ..BK To exit the add screen, press Ctrl End without filling in any of the fields on the screen. This will exit the add screen and return to the main menu. ..PG The above screen contains the following fields: ..JF ..FS ..JN ..PG ..CE The Update function - Browsing Your %%FileDescA From the main menu if you press U, you will enter the update section of the system. One of the functions this section allows is the viewing of %%RecDescA.s on your %%FileDescA.. You can go to the first %%RecDescA, the last %%RecDescA, the next %%RecDescA, the previous %%RecDescA, find by index, or search for some specific data within a field on the %%FileDescA. ..CE T - First %%RecDescA. You can go to the first %%RecDescA on the %%FileDescA by pressing T (for top). This causes the first %%RecDescA on the %%FileDescA, or if the %%FileDescA is indexed (kept in order by a key) the lowest index value (key) to be displayed. ..CE N - Next %%RecDescA. You can go to the next %%RecDescA on the %%FileDescA by pressing N (for next). This shows the next %%RecDescA on the %%FileDescA, or if indexed the next highest index value, to be displayed. If you are at the end of the %%FileDescA (or the highest index value), the N function will not cause any movement. ..CE B - Bottom %%RecDescA. You can go to the last %%RecDescA on the %%FileDescA by pressing B (for bottom). This causes the last %%RecDescA on the %%FileDescA, or if indexed the highest index value, to be displayed. ..CE P - Previous %%RecDescA. You can go to the previous %%RecDescA on the %%FileDescA by pressing P (for previous). This shows the previous %%RecDescA on the %%FileDescA, or if indexed the next lowest index value to be displayed. If you are at the beginning of the %%FileDescA (or the lowest index value), the P function will not cause any movement. ..CE F - Find by index This function allows you to find a %%RecDescA on your database using the index of the %%FileDescA. This function only works if your %%FileDescA is indexed. To use this function type F. The fields on which the %%FileDescA is indexed opens to allow you to enter the values you wish to search on. Please note that for character fields, upper and lower case matter, if the case is wrong you will not find the %%RecDescA you are searching for. Fill in the values and press return. If the %%RecDescA is found it is displayed. If the %%RecDescA is not found a message is printed on the bottom line of the screen. ..JF ..IS ..PG ..CE S - Set a filter ..JN This function allows you to limit the display of %%RecDescA.s on your %%FileDescA by searching any field in the %%FileDescA using standard dBase conditional testing. To use this function just type S. A line opens on the bottom to allow you to enter the filter conditions. Once you have set a filter, all other actions while updating are based on the filter condition you have set. Thus if you go to the top of the %%FileDescA you will really go to the first %%RecDescA which matches the filter condition, not the first %%RecDescA in the %%FileDescA. All conditions must be made up of valid field names, dBase functions, and literals. If the condition is invalid an error will occur. When an error occurs, just press I to ignore it and re-try the condition again. Below are some examples of the type of conditions you can enter and the action they perform. ..JF ZIP = '19130' Show only %%RecDescA.s which have the field ZIP equal to '19130'. This example assumes that ZIP is a character field. Notice the quotes around 19130. All tests against characters must have the literal contained within quotes. ZIP = 19130 Show only %%RecDescA.s which have the field ZIP equal to 19130. This example assumes that ZIP is a numeric field. Notice the lack of quotes around the 19130 literal. ZIP <> 19130 Show only %%RecDescA.s which have the field ZIP not equal to 19130. This example again assumes that ZIP is a numeric field. ZIP = 19130 .OR. ZIP = 19131 Only show %%RecDescA.s which have the field ZIP equal to either 19130 or 19131. Again zip is a numeric field. Notice the logical function .OR. use above. This compounds the condition to require that either of the simple conditions must be true for the %%RecDescA to be displayed. ZIP >= '19130' .AND. ZIP <= '19139' Only show %%RecDescA.s which have the field ZIP in the range '19130' to '19139'. Zip is a character field. Notice the logical function .AND. use above. This compounds the condition to require that both of the simple conditions must be true for the %%RecDescA to be displayed. "Box"$Add1 Only show %%RecDescA.s which have the field Add1 containing the literal "Box" contained somewhere within it. This demonstrates the dBase search function $. To search a character field X for a character literal "?" you would type "?"$X. RECNO() > 100 Only show %%RecDescA.s which have record numbers more than 100. This condition excludes the first 100 records from sight. ..PG Below is a list of the fields on your %%FileDescA: ..FS ..PG ..JN ..CE The Update Function - Other Uses In addition to browsing your data, you may delete and recall (undelete), print, and edit (change) the %%RecDescA displayed on the screen. You may also return to the main menu. ..CE D - Deleting and undeleting %%RecDescA. The D function deletes %%RecDescA.. If the %%RecDescA is already deleted, it will be recalled (undeleted). %%RecDescA.s deleted this way are not removed from the %%FileDescA.s until you specify the P (PACK) option from the main menu. ..CE E - Edit The E function allows you to change the content of the fields within the %%RecDescA displayed on the screen. When you type E, all the fields open to allow data to be changed. Change any fields you wish. When you leave the last field the data is stored on the %%FileDescA. You can speed up this process by pressing Ctrl End after you change the field(s) you wish to modify. ..CE L - List the %%RecDescA The L function will list the data portions of the %%RecDescA on the screen to the printer. You must have your printer on and ready for this function to work. ..CE Q - Quit The Q function quits the update section and returns to the main menu. ..PG ..CE Defining Sort/Select Criteria From the main menu, pressing S will allow you to modify the sort/select database. A new menu appears. To add new sort/select criteria type A, to change existing sort/select criteria type U. To create or modify a dBase report form, type R. To create or modify a dBase label form, type L. ..CE Creating a new Sort/Select Criteria Press A. A screen for the sort/select database appears. See below. ..JF ............................................................................ . Sort/Select Definition File . ............................................................................ . Sort Name: ________ Sorted File Name: ________ Form Name: ________ . . Description: ___________________________________________________________ . ............................................................................ . Selection Criteria . . ________________________________________________________________________ . ............................................................................ . SORT FIELDS . ............................................................................ . Field Name Order . . 1) _______ _ . . 2) _______ _ . . 3) _______ _ . . 4) _______ _ . . 5) _______ _ . . 6) _______ _ . . 7) _______ _ . . 8) _______ _ . . 9) _______ _ . . 10) _______ _ . ............................................................................ ..JN This screen allows you to define a set of sort fields and selection criteria for reports, labels, and mail merge functions. Generally one report or label form will suffice for many different selections. ..BK Rather than needing to specify the criteria each time you wish to print reports or labels, you may save them in this file. For example, if your database contained customer names and addresses and you wish to send out mailings for customers who have spent more than $5000.00 sorted by zipcode (for bulk mailing) you could create a sort selection called GOODCUST which has a selection criteria of SALES > 5000 and the first sort field name would be ZIPCODE. ..PG ..JF The fields on this screen are: Field Name Description SORT NAME The name of this sort/select criteria. When you print a report, label, or mail merge file, this is the name you would specify. SORTED FILE NAME The name of the file which will be used to hold the records from your database which meet your selection criteria. This file is in sorted order. The default name is SORTWORK. FORM NAME For label or report processing, this is the name of the DBASE REPORT FORM or LABEL FORM that will be used when you choose this sort/select criteria. DESCRIPTION An human readable description of what this sort/select criteria is for. SELECTION CRITERIA A dBase condition which selects the records for you need from your database. For an explanation of dBase conditions, refer to the dBase programmers guide or look at the section on filters within this manual. SORT FIELDS A list of the fields to sort on and if they should be sorted in Ascending or Descending order. 1) FIELD NAME The name of sort field number 1. The primary sort field. The file will be sorted into this order and than within this by other specified fields. ORDER A for ascending or D for descending. The default is A. 2) FIELD NAME The name of sort field number 2. The secondary sort field order. The file will first be sorted into order by 1) FIELD NAME and within that sort by this field. ORDER A for ascending or D for descending. The default is A. . . . 10) FIELD NAME The least important sort order field. The file will be in order by the prior 9 sort fields and then finally sorted into minor order by this field ORDER A for ascending or D for descending. The default is A. ..PG ..CE UPDATING SORT/SELECT CRITERIA You may update sort/select criteria the same as you would update records on your database. For more details see the section on updating records earlier in this document. ..CE Creating Report Forms From the criteria main menu, pressing option R allows you to create or update a dBase REPORT FORM. Press R and you are asked for the name of the report you wish to work on. Type in the name of an existing report you wish to modify or give a new name for a report you wish to create. The DBASE III report screen appears. See the Appendix C below or your dBase Manual on REPORT generation for more information on how to build reports. When you exit the report generator, you will return to the criteria main menu. ..CE Creating Label Forms From the criteria main menu, pressing option L allows you to create or update a dBase LABEL FORM. Press L and you are asked for the name of the label you wish to work on. Type in the name of an existing label you wish to modify or give a new name for a label you wish to create. The DBASE III label screen appears. See the Appendix D below or your dBase Manual on LABEL generation for more information on how to build labels. When you exit the label generator, you will return to the criteria main menu. ..CE Returning to your application From the criteria main menu, pressing option D will return you to your application main menu. ..PG ..CE Mail Merge From the main menu, option M will cause the Mail Merge function to start. When you type M the output definition screen (see below) appears. ..JF ............................................................................ . Output Definition Screen . ............................................................................ . . . Output to: PRINTER . . CONSOLE . . DISK Y Disk File Name: ____________ . . . . Sort Name : ________ . . . . Word Processor: ________ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................................................ ..JN You need to specify three things on this screen. The disk file name (no extension please) for the output mail merge file, the sort/select criteria name and the type of word processor (version 1.0 only supports WordStar and Microsoft Word). The disk file name is the name of the disk file(s) created for input to your word processor. It can be a combination of a drive specification (A:, B:, C:) and a file name with no extension. WordStar output creates two files, a '.DAT' and a '.DOC' file. Microsoft Word creates only a '.DOC' file. The sort/select criteria name is the name a criteria on the sort/select file (see previous section) that describes what records and how they are to be sorted. This criteria must have been defined prior to using the mailmerge function. If you wish all records in the current file order, specify NOSORT. The Word processor type is the name of the word processor that you wish the data to be output for. Version 1.0 only supports WordStar (WORDSTAR) and Microsoft Word (MSWORD). Version 2.0 and above creates mail merge files for these and Word Perfect, Display Write, and MultiMate, and several other word processors. Once you have specified all of the parameters correctly, the mail merge function will start. After the disk file(s) are created, you return to the main menu. ..PG ..CE Reports and Labels From the main menu, options R and L will cause the Report or Label function to start. When you type R or S the output definition screen (see below) appears. ..JF ............................................................................ . Output Definition Screen . ............................................................................ . . . Output to: PRINTER N . . CONSOLE Y . . DISK N Disk File Name: ____________ . . . . Sort Name : ________ . . . . Word Processor: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................................................ ..JN You need to specify three things on this screen. The output device (printer, console, or Disk, the sort/select criteria name, and optionally the disk file name for the output report or labels. Put a Y next to the type of output device (Printer, Console, or disk) you wish to have the report or labels sent to. You can choose only one output device. In addition, if you specify disk you must give the disk file name for the output report or labels. The sort/select criteria name is the name a criteria on the sort/select file (see previous section) that describes what records and how they are to be sorted. This criteria must have been defined prior to using the R or L functions. If you wish all records in the current file order, specify NOSORT. Once you have specified all of the parameters correctly, the report or label function will start printing. After the disk file(s) are created, you return to the main menu. ..PG ..CE Rebuilding your index The I option of the main menu allows you rebuild the index of your %%FileDescA.. Sometimes there are problems with your %%FileDescA where you cannot find %%RecDescA using the update function that appear on reports. This indicates a damaged index. If this problem occurs (this is a DBASE problem, not problem with your system) rebuild your index. After the index is rebuilt you are returned to the main menu. ..CE Packing your database When you issue the delete command from the update screen, the %%RecDescA is marked as deleted but still remains on your %%FileDescA.. To permanently remove all %%RecDescA on you database which have been deleted, you must PACK your database. By pressing P from the main menu, the %%RecDescA.s you have deleted will be removed forever. When done, the main menu returns. ..CE Quitting to dBase By pressing D from the main menu, you are returned to DBASE. All files are closed before exiting. You may than do whatever you wish using native DBASE. If you type D by accident, type 'DO %%SNAME' to restart your system. ..CE Quitting to DOS By pressing Q from the main menu, you are returned to DOS. ..PG ..SK 15 ..CE %%Sname Users Guide ..CE APPENDIX A ..CE Definitions ..PG ..JF Byte A position in the computers memory or on a file which can hold one character of data. Dot Prompt Once dBase has been started, the command line where you enter commands. Field An area which is used for a particular category of data. For example a group of positions (bytes) on a file used to represent a salary or a group of positions which represents a persons last name. File A collection of related records which are treated as a unit. Thus in a membership list file a group of fields such as name, address, city, state, and zipcode are grouped together into a record. A complete set of these records would form a membership file. Index A file which contains the keys of records and their locations on a main data file. This index file can be thought of like a card catalog in a library. To find a given book (record in the data file), you would look up the title of the book (key) in card catalog (index). Once you have found the book title (key) in the catalog (index), the card (index record) would contain the location of the book (data record) on the shelf (main data file). Key The key to a database is the field or fields in which the file is kept in order. For example, if a file is kept in order by last name, first name, and middle initial the file is keyed by these fields. Literal A string of bytes which describe the contents of a field. For example the name 'HEARN', the zip code '19130', the salary 930.25, or the logical literal .T. There are three types of literals; character literals, numeric literals, and logical literals. Character literals are always enclosed in quotes. Numeric literals are a string of string of numbers, decimal point and positive or negative signs. Logical literals are Yes/No switches. There are two logical literals .T. and .F. which indicate true and false. Mail Merge Most word processors allow a function called Mail Merge. This allows you to customize letters with data contained in a file. Thus, you may insert things like name and salary in a letter for a job offer to various applicants. ..PG ..SK 15 ..CE %%Sname Users Guide ..CE APPENDIX B ..CE Field Definitions ..PG ..FI ..PG ..SK 15 ..CE %%Sname Users Guide ..CE APPENDIX C ..CE Reports ..PG You may create your reports from either the dBase "dot prompt" or from within your system. The setup methods change depending on which method you choose, but once the report screen is displaied, the creation or modification of the report is the same. ..CE From the "dot prompt" Type 'USE %%FILEA' and press enter if your %%FileDescA is not indexed. Type 'USE %%FILEA INDEX %%INDEXA' and press enter if your %%FileDescA is indexed. Now type 'MODIFY REPORT name' where name is the name of an existing report you wish to modify or the name of a new report you wish to create. The dBase report screen will appear. ..CE From the Sort/Selection menu When you choose option R from the Sort/Selection menu, you will be asked for the name of the report you wish to create or modify. Type this name and press enter. The dBase report screen will appear. ..CE Creating or Modifying Reports The report generator appears on the screen. Looking at the screen, you will notice various menus across the top. They are labeled: Options, Groups, Columns, Locate, and Exit. You may move to the various menus by pressing the right and left arrow keys. The up and down arrow keys move the highlight within the pull-down menus. To select the currently highlighted menu item, press the Return or Enter key. Below is a description of each of the menus. ..CE The Option Menu This is the first and leftmost menu. The Option menu contains various options for page layout. The option menu allows you to change the Title of the report, the right and left margins, and number of lines per page. You can also specify if the report should be printed double spaced, if there should be a page eject before or after printing the report, and if the title should be printed. Normally, you would only set the Title option on this menu. Title To change the title, move the highlight to the page title option and press return. A box appears to allow you to give the page title. After you have typed the title, press Ctrl-End to close the box and change the title. Page Width The page width option allows you to specify the width in positions of the paper in your printer. The default is 80 and this is what you want for most printers. If you have a wide carriage printer you can change this value to 132. If you are using special forms with a non standard width measure the paper and multiply the page with (in inches) by 10 to calculate this number. To change this option point the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again. ..PG Left margin This option allows you to specify how many positions from the left you wish printing to begin at. This allows you to specify a margin for neatness or to allow hole punching in the report. The default is 8 positions (4/5 inch) but you may change it. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again. Right margin This option allows you to specify how many positions from the right you wish printing to stop at. This allows you to specify a margin for neatness. The default is 0 positions but you may change it. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again. Lines per page This option is the number of lines of the report will be printed before skipping to the top of another page. The default is 58 lines. This leaves a top and bottom margin of 4 lines (2/3 of an inch) each. If you use standard size paper it is 11 inches long. Most printers print at 6 lines per inch (as a default). 6x11 = 66 lines per page. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again. Double space report This allows you to specify that a blank line should be printed after each report line, causing the report to be double spaced. The default is NO which causes the report to be single spaced. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. Press the space bar to alternate between Yes and No. When the option is selected press return again. Page eject before printing. This option causes an eject to the top of a new page before printing the report. The default is YES which insures that you will start on a new page. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. By pressing the return key you alternate between Yes and No. Page eject after printing. This option causes an eject to the top of a new page after printing the report. The default is NO. If you are using a laser printer, you should change this option to YES. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. By pressing the return key you alternate between Yes and No. Plain Paper This option suppresses the date and page number at the top of a report. The default is NO which indicates that the date and page number should be printed. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. By pressing the return key you alternate between Yes and No. ..PG ..CE The Groups Menu The Group option, the second menu on the screen, allows you to group data on the report for subtotals and subsubtotals. An important thing to remember is that in order for the group options to work, the file must be in the same order as the grouping you specify. If you file is kept in some other order, you should specify a sort/selection criteria (see earlier in this manual) to place your file into the correct order before printing the report. Group on Expression The first option on this menu is the "Group on expression" option. This represents the first level of grouping and must be the first listed sort field in the index or in the sort/select criteria menu. Group Heading The second option on this menu is the "Group Heading" option. This option allows you to give a header to the subtotal that is printed. Summary Report Only The third option on this menu is the "Summary report only" option. This option specifies whether all data or only subtotals are printed. If you leave this option at no, all data is printed. If you set this option to yes, only totals are printed. Page eject after group. The next option is "Page eject after group". This allows you to cause page breaks after each group. If you change this option to yes, each group will start on a new page. You should NOT specify yes if you have said yes to the summary report only (above) option. Doing so would cause one line per page to be printed. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. By pressing the return key you alternate between Yes and No. Sub-group on expression The "Sub-group on expression" option allows you to cause another level of totals. If you wished your report to be broken into companies and within that by departments, the main group would be company and the sub-group would be department. Sub-group heading The "Sub-group heading" allows you to specify the heading for this grouping. ..CE Putting columns on your report The Columns menu allows you to place field values into columns on your report, specify headings for the columns, modify the default width of a column, specify the number of decimal positions for numeric data and whether this column should be totaled. To enter data into the options on this menu, you point at the option, press enter, type the data, and press enter again to save the data. After you finish filling in the options for one column you switch to the next column by pressing the PgDn key. To back up to a column you have already filled in, press PgUp. If you wish to delete a column use PgUp and PgDn to find the correct column and than press Ctrl-U to delete the column. If you wish to insert a new column between two other columns position using PgUp and PgDn to the column you wish to insert a new column before and press Ctrl-N to insert a new column. ..PG Contents To specify the contents of a column, you point the highlight at the contents option and press enter. You can now type the field name for this column or press F10 to see a list of field names. If you press F10 for the list of field names, you would select a field by using the up and down arrow keys to highlight the field you wish to choose and than press return. Heading Next you would select the "Heading" option. Point the highlight at the "Heading" option and press return. A small box appears for you to fill in a heading. Type in the heading you wish to use for this column and press Ctrl-End to save this value. If you wish to have a two line header, type a semicolon between the two lines. Thus, if you were to type "Dept No" this would appear on one line. If you were to type "Dept;No" it would appear on two lines with Dept above No. Once you have typed in the header and pressed Ctrl-End to save it, the report generator fills in the "Width" option based on the larger of the field size or the heading size. Notice in the "Report Format" box at the bottom of the screen shows the column heading and a series of characters beneath the column heading to show you how the columns have been laid out so far. The characters below the heading vary depending on the type of the field. If the field type was numeric, a series of #'s show the width of the column. If the field was character a series of X's show. If the field was a memo field a series of M's appear. If the field was a date field, MM/DD/YY appears on the screen. For logical fields, .L. appears. Width This is the size of the column in which the data will be placed. It is automatically set when you specify the contents and heading options. It is set to the maximum of the size of the data field or the size of the heading to be printed. You may override this field by pressing return, typing in a new size, and pressing return again. Decimal Positions. For numeric fields you may specify the number of decimal positions to be shown on the screen. The default is zero and may be changed. You may change this field by pressing return, typing in a new size, and pressing return again. Total this column. If set to Yes, this option causes the column to be totaled and printed at the end of the report. You can only set this option for numeric fields. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. By pressing the return key you alternate between Yes and No. ..CE Locate - Moving to a specific column The Locate menu allows you to quickly move to a specific column on the columns menu. To use this menu, position the highlight on the field you wish to locate and press return. The column menu for this field opens to allow you to edit this column. ..PG ..CE Exit The Exit menu allows you to save you changes to this report or abandon the changes you have made. To save the report, move the highlight to the save menu choice and press enter. To abandon the changes, position the cursor at the abandon choice and press return. If you abandon the changes, all work done on this report will be lost. After exiting from the report generator you will return to either the "dot prompt" or to the sort/selection criteria menu depending on where you started. ..PG ..SK 15 ..CE %%Sname Users Guide ..CE APPENDIX D ..CE Labels ..PG You may create your labels from either the dBase "dot prompt" or from within your system. The setup methods change depending on which method you choose, but once the label screen is displayed, the creation or modification of the label is the same. ..CE From the "dot prompt" Type 'USE %%FILEA' and press enter if your %%FileDescA is not indexed. Type 'USE %%FILEA INDEX %%INDEXA' and press enter if your %%FileDescA is indexed. Now type 'MODIFY LABEL name' where name is the name of an existing label you wish to modify or the name of a new label you wish to create. The dBase label screen will appear. ..CE From the Sort/Selection menu When you choose option L from the Sort/Selection menu, you will be asked for the name of the label you wish to create or modify. Type this name and press enter. The dBase label screen will appear. ..CE Creating or Modifying Label The label generator appears on the screen. Looking at the screen, you will notice three menus across the top. They are labeled: Options, Contents, and Exit. You may move to the various menus by pressing the right and left arrow keys. The up and down arrow keys move the highlight within the pull-down menus. To select the currently highlighted menu item, press the Return or Enter key. Below is a description of each of the menus. ..CE The Options Menu This is the first and leftmost menu. The Option menu contains various options for label layout. The options menu allows you to change the predefined size of the label, the label width, height, left margin, numbers of lines between the labels, spaces between labels and labels across the page. Normally you would only change the predefined size and take the default the remainder of the values. You would only change the other values if you have an odd sized label that is not predefined. Predefined Size This option allows you to choose from a series of predefined sizes for your labels. The sizes that come with dBase III+ are: 3 1/2 x 15/16 by 1 3 1/2 x 15/16 by 2 3 1/2 x 15/16 by 3 4 x 1 7/16 by 1 3 2/10 x 11/12 by 3 (Cheshire) To change the predefined size, move the highlight to the predefined size option and press return. The size will cycle through the above options. When you have reached the size and number of labels across you wish, you may move to the contents menu. ..PG Label Width The label width option allows you to specify the width in positions of the one label. The default varies depending on the predefined size you have chosen. If you are using labels which are not predefined, measure the width of a label (in inches) and multiply by 10 to calculate the label width in positions. To change this option point the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again. Label Height This option allows you to specify how many lines high the label is. The default varies depending on the predefined size you have chosen. If you are using labels which are not predefined, measure the height of a label (in inches) and multiply by 6 to calculate the label height in positions. To change this option point the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again. Left margin This option allows you to specify how many positions from the left you wish printing to start at. This allows you to specify a margin to insure that printing starts on the label and not the backing. The default is 0 positions but you may change it. To calculate this value, measure the distance from the left edge of the label backing to the left edge of the label. Multiply this length (in inches) by 6 to calculate the left margin in positions. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again. Lines between labels This option is the number of between each label (vertically). The default varies depending on the predefined form but is usually 1 line. This value may be calculated by measuring the distance from the bottom of one label to the top of the next (in inches). Multiply this number by 6 and this is the number of lines between labels. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again. Spaces between labels If you have more than one label across the paper, this option specifies the distance between these labels. To calculate this value, measure the distance from the right edge of one label to the left edge of the next label. Multiply this number by 10 to get the number of positions for this value. To change this option, point the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again. Labels across page. This option specifies the number of labels across the page. Most labels are called 1-up labels. 1-up labels have 1 strip of labels (they are one label across). 2-up labels have 2 labels across, 3-up have 3 and 4-up have 4. Before buying labels be sure that they will fit in your printer. Most standard printers will only handle 1 or 2 up labels. ..PG ..CE Putting data on your label The Contents menu allows you to place field values and constant data into the lines on your labels. To enter data into the contents fields on this menu, you point at the line you wish to use and press enter. You can now type the field name or constant data for this column or press F10 to see a list of field names. If you press F10 for the list of field names, you would select a field by using the up and down arrow keys to highlight the field you wish to choose and than press return. After you finish filling in the contents for one line you switch to the next line by pressing the down arrow key. To back up to a line you have already filled in, press the up arrow key. ..CE Exit The Exit menu allows you to save you changes to this label or abandon the changes you have made. To save the report, move the highlight to the save menu choice and press enter. To abandon the changes, position the cursor at the abandon choice and press return. If you abandon the changes, all work done on this label will be lost. After exiting from the label generator you will return to either the "dot prompt" or to the sort/selection criteria menu depending on where you started.