Shareware Super Platinum 8

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

/ Shareware Super Platinum 8 / Shareware Super Platinum 8.iso / mac / DATABASE / CMED30.ZIP;1 / CMED.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-02-02 | 28.7 KB | 587 lines

CMED3 Contacts, Mailing list, and Event Database System Version 3.0 Users Guide Table of Contents Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page Number 1. Introduction and Legal Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Getting Started Fast - a Working Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Functional Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4. Operational Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4.1 Exit functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4.2 Search functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4.3 Position functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.4 Change functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.5 Query functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.6 Reports functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.7 Maintenance functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.8 Help functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5. Data Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5.1 Names Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5.2 Tags table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5.3 Tags Lookup table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5.4 Event Data table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5.5 Event Lookup table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5.6 Access table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5.7 Contacts table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6. Reports/Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7. System Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 8. Registration Form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1. Introduction and Legal Stuff Welcome to the Contacts, Mailing list, and Events Database (CMED) System. This product is a series of tables and a script library based written for use with Paradox. It is being distributed as a Shareware product, so it is not free. You are encouraged to try it, use it, play with it, and even pass it on to others. All that is asked is that if you continue to use it after 30 days, that you pay the registration fee. NOTE: The first version (v1.0) of this product was written specifically for Paradox 3.5. The second version (v2.0) was converted for use with Paradox 4.0. This third version (v3.0) has included some enhancements to take advantage of Paradox 4.0 capabilities as well as some enhanced contact management functions. As a result, the program has been fairly well tested, but is also the product of an evolutionary demand. Version 3.0 is the first version that has been made commercially available. All prior versions were used exclusively by organizations supported by the author. There are no 'guilt' notices built into the program, so if you're setting up a database for use by others they'll only see a gentle reminder to register the product. After 30 days, the notice will change from a reminder to a warning that the product might not continue to function. And, unfortunately, after 60 days it will cease to operate. Your data will remain intact and you may easily manipulate it from within Paradox (if you own the program), but the program library will cease to function unless it is registered. Additionally, the program is registered as being a single or multi-user installation. Since the Shareware Registration version is single user only, the system will operate fine on a network, but only one user at a time. Registration is required for all multi-user operations. But on the good side, if you register the program your conscience will be clear and you will receive the next program update for free! Now for the legal stuff - This program is being distributed without any warranty of any kind, either express or implied. It is being made available as-is and without any guarantee of function or operation. ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ IMPORTANT - CMED version 3.0 is distributed without a copy of Paradox 4.0 or Paradox Runtime 4.0. If you do not own a copy of Paradox or Paradox Runtime, the Runtime product is available from the author for the exclusive use with this program. See the registration form for details. Paradox and Paradox Runtime are products of Borland International. Paradox Runtime can be provided with the CMED Product through the provisions of the Paradox Runtime license agreement. Any copying or distribution of the Paradox Runtime software independent of the CMED System is not permitted. All support for the CMED System will be provided by its author and not by Borland International. Paradox Runtime is Copyright (c) 1992 by Borland International. All Rights Reserved. Contacts, Mailing list, and Events Database is Copyright (c) 1990-1993 by Jon F. Gray. All Rights Reserved. ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ 2. Getting Started Fast - a Working Model For those of you who don't like to read manuals and just want to get started, go no further. With a short example and working model, you should be able to immediately start working with CMED. The Model Imagine that you must maintain a list of contacts (names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) and that you have printed all of the information on individual index cards. The face of the card lists all of the basic information with the same format on each card. On the right side of each card you annotate the cards with the various mailing lists or contact information for each person. For example, maybe you have 500 names total, with 200 names on your monthly newsletter mailing list and another 200 names targeted as prospective clients. In addition, you send your annual report to 350 people, including some people on one or both of the first lists. So some cards have no annotation, some have "newsletter" and "annual report", some have just "newsletter", some have just "annual report", some have just "prospect", and so forth. You can have an unlimited number of lists and can mix and match who is on what list (with no limit to the number of lists that people are on). In addition, say you sponsor a series of events (courses, conferences, seminars, or whatever). So you annotate the back of every index card with the events for which each person has registered, along with the fee that you are charging them, the amounts they've paid, and any special notes (like who is a vegetarian for your luncheon meeting). So now that you have all of this information, what do you do with it? Every time you want to send out a mailing, you go through your stack of index cards and take out the ones annotated for the list you want. Or maybe you want to send a new direct mail campaign to everyone that has registered for an event, but you want to take out the people that are already your regular sponsors. The list of activities is endless, but you get the idea. But you say, this sorting and re-sorting and re-typing of information from my index cards is tedious, prone to errors, and not very fun. So you regularly hire temporary workers for each task. It only takes a few minutes to teach them how to sort/collate/combine the list the way you want it, but the whole working process takes days and costs a lot of money. WELCOME TO CMED. This database system will perform this task for you, provide several standardized reports, and structure your information for complete access through the power of Paradox. Of particular note, unlike other mailing list managers, CMED is designed to support organizations that sponsor events that require registration and tracking. More details follow. 3. Functional Description The CMED database system is designed to be a fully integrated utility to support an organization with a mailing list and/or directory/contact information with specific functions available for registration and maintenance of conferences, courses, or seminars sponsored by the organization. It is intended to be simple and easy to use, with the entire functional menu available through standard pull-down and pop-up menu systems. Fully mouse compatible, the basic functions are all within a few keystrokes or a few clicks of the mouse. This permits the users to have rapid viewing/lookup access to the list of names, addresses, phones, and other information with one or two keystroke access to advanced functions. Once 'literate' in the system operation, the users generally do not need to refer to the User Manual. For that reason (and because this program is distributed as shareware and developing manuals can be very expensive) this document is intended as a concise reference manual and learning tool but is not extensive. The program also fully supports operation by multiple users simultaneously on a network and the internal structures are simple enough that the users can directly manipulate the data through Paradox if desired functions are not available in this program. A full description of the tables, forms, and reports is included in Section 5. A CMED database itself can best be described as an organized list of mailing and contact information. Basic address and phone information is maintained for all individual and corporate contacts as well as 'tag' information to permit individual entries to be grouped together according to common interests or mailing groups and 'event' information relating to an individual or corporate participation in an event. The exact information and field definition for each of the types of information are listed in Section 5. Several important elements of the function of the database system are critical for the user to understand. * * * * * * IMPORTANT ISSUES * * * * * * The FIRST important element is that all of the data is stored in a set of interrelated tables. Simplistically, the user should consider the database as a set of THREE tables. The first contains all of the PRIMARY information, such as names, addresses, and phone numbers. The second contains all of the tag information and is linked to the Primary table through the record ID number. The third contains all of the event registration information and notes and is also linked through the record ID number. Both the second and third tables are dependent upon the first, so they may have more than one entry per entry in the Primary table. However, the information is maintained separately. This creates the following relationships: 1) Individuals may have more than one tag (actually, an unlimited number). 2) Individuals can be registered for an unlimited number of events, though they can be registered for each event only once. Throughout the rest of this manual, these tables are referred to by their Table names. NAMES is the table with the basic person/company data, the second working version (discussed below) is called QUERY. TAGS is the table with the tag information (the lookup table of valid entries is TAG_LU). EVENTS contains the event information (the lookup table of valid entries is EVENT_LU). The SECOND important element is that references will be made to the NAMES table and the QUERY table. These are actually copies of the SAME data. For ease of use and power in constructing queries to the database, a facility has been added to create a 'working copy' that will permit the user to define and use any subset of the database. This 'working copy' is temporary and will be discarded at the end of each session. In essence, selecting items to be 'placed in the QUERY table' from the NAMES table does not actually create a separate database (though it does create a separate temporary table), but is a way of looking at only selected records. Accordingly, users should realize that the QUERY table records are copies of the NAMES data and cannot be changed. ALSO, if a user is simultaneously updating the database and changes one of the records that has already been copied into another user's QUERY table, the other user will NOT see the change. Each user has his/her own private QUERY table that is only changed by user commands. The THIRD important element is that the system operates primarily in a VIEW or READ-ONLY mode. The user must ask to make changes to the data and confirm when the changes are complete. This not only prevents accidental changes, but allows a system administrator to prevent some users from having such access to the data. The FOURTH important element is that the system maintains the entries in what appears to be random order. It is actually the order of their ID numbers, so it reflects the order in which the entries were first made to the database. However, search and sorting functions are provided to find any entry quickly and to format reports in the desired format and order. 4. Operational Description Upon starting the system, the user will be presented with a full screen display containing information from the oldest entry in the database (the first one entered). Therefore, it is recommended that this entry contain the user's registration information and possibly the telephone numbers of the appropriate support personnel. As long as this entry (or any entry for that matter) does not have TAGS or EVENT information associated with it, it should not interfere with any normal database usage. The top menu bar shows the primary grouping of available functions. In addition to the menu functions, the PageUp and PageDown keys permit scrolling through the database, the HOME and END keys move to their respective ends of the database, and the INSERT and DELETE keys will perform their respective functions. The menu choices can be selected by either pressing the highlighted character or clicking with a mouse. Where pull-down menus are provided, similar selections can be made on the sub-menus. In addition to the menu functions, certain hot-keys are available. Several function keys are available as defined below: 1) F2 = Exit 2) F3 = Search Target (new search) 3) F4 = Search Next (search again) 4) F5 = Add Current Record to Query Table 5) F6 = reserved 6) F7 = reserved 7) F8 = Display/Change Contact Information 8) F9 = Display/Change Events Information 9) F10 = Display/Change Tags List 4.1 Exit functions This function will provide the user with two options to exit the program. EXIT will terminate the program normally. QUIT will terminate the program but will not discard any QUERY database that was constructed. This may be useful for future reference or use in another database context. However, remember that the QUERY database contents is not maintained updated with the primary data. 4.2 Search functions This function will permit the database to be searched for any given contents in any field. The TARGET function permits the user to select one of the fields and the contents of the field to look for. Note that this selection is built in real time, so that if the user adds additional fields in the main tables (and supports them external to CMED), they will be available in the search list. Upon specifying a TARGET, the search will start from the beginning of the database. NOTE: if the target is numeric, the entire field must be entered (wildcards are permitted). But if the field is alphanumeric, the function performs a 'fuzzy' search and attempts to find qualifying entries while the keys are entered. If a 'hit' is found, it will become the current record. If no 'hit' is found, the position will not change. The NEXT function will repeat the previous search from the current position. NOTE: if no search has yet been performed, this function operations identically to the TARGET function. The REPLACE function will perform a NEXT function and will give the user the opportunity to replace the target search field with the contents of the same field of the record that was current when the REPLACE function was performed. 4.3 Position functions These functions provide the basic positioning functions. They are the same as their keyboard counterparts and are provided for full mouse driven compatibility. 4.4 Change functions These functions provide access to adding, changing, and removing data from the database. They include the access to the primary data, as well as the linkages to the TAGS, EVENTS, and CONTACTS data. NOTE: if the user's access level is not sufficient to have privilege to change this data, these menu choices will be shown, but in an inactive 'gray shade' format. 4.5 Query functions These functions provide the ability to build, manipulate, and view a working QUERY database. As the QUERY database is typically empty upon starting the program, all of the functions except for ADD are inactive until entries are added to the QUERY table. Entries can be ADDed or REMOVEd based upon their Tags, field data, or Event information. Additionally, upon request, the system will remove declared duplicate entries. The program will automatically eliminate records with the same ID number from the QUERY table. This function will remove entries that are purposefully entered twice (ie: more than one address, multiple employers, consulting relationships, etc.). Since the main table permits multiple entries to 'point at each other' and declare that they are actually the same individual, this function will remove these duplicate entries and maintain only the entry declared as the 'master'. 4.6 Reports functions These functions will generate one of several pre-defined reports from either the NAMES or QUERY database and in order by Name, Company, or Zip Code. NOTE: that the reports will be generated from the database that is displayed on the screen at the time the command is entered. 4.7 Maintenance functions The system provides several maintenance functions that are typically needed only by a system administrator. Therefore, they are disabled for all but those users who are given 'admin' access to the database. NOTE: one of the 'admin' functions is the ability to change the access table! As a matter of convenience, the Access Table is initialized with one entry for each access level. The name of the user at each access level is the same as the access level name (ie: user="ADMIN" has access level "ADMIN", user="FULL" has access level "FULL", etc.). 4.8 Help functions The Help functions include information about the program, several of its operations, and its revision level. 5. Data Description The data descriptions below are the actual internal storage structures for the various tables. Note that in the data descriptions, the alpha character indicates the type of data (A=ASCII text, N=numeric, D=date, etc.) and the number indicates the length of the field in characters (ie: A10 is a text field 10 characters maximum length). 5.1 Names Table - primary data Field Name Field Type Description ------------------- ---------- ------------------- ID N* unique identifier Company ID N company number Duplicate ID N ID of master duplicate, if exists User A10 name of user who updated entry last Update D date of last update Salutation A10 ie: "Mr.", "Dr.", etc. First Name A25 first name and middle initial Last Name A25 last name Suffix A10 ie: "Jr.", "Ph.D.", etc. Title A35 personal title Company1 A35 line one of company name Company2 A35 line two of company name Address1 A35 line one of address Address2 A35 line two of address Address3 A35 line three of address City A25 city name State A2 state name code Zip Code A10 zip code Work Phone A12 main work phone number Extension A4 extension number if applicable Alt. Phone A12 another phone number Alt. Phone Desc. A5 description of alternate phone type FAX Number A12 FAX phone number Carrier Route A7 U.S. Post Office carrier route ID Certified D the date of the last U.S. Post Office certification of data for this record 5.2 Tags table - current tags in use Field Name Field Type Description --------------- ---------- ------------------------ ID N* link to individual Tag Name A10* name of tag applied 5.3 Tags Lookup table - list of defined tags Field Name Field Type Description ---------------- ---------- ------------------------ Tag ID A10* name of tag defined Tag Description A45 description of tag 5.4 Event Data table - Event registration information Field Name Field Type Description ---------------- ---------- ------------------------ ID N* individual ID number Event A10* event ID Fee $ registration fee for this attendee Paid1 $ amount of the first payment DatePaid1 D date of the first payment Paid2 $ amount of the second payment DatePaid2 D date of the second payment DateConfSent D date that confirmation was mailed Memo M240 text memo field for notes 5.5 Event Lookup table - Event registration definition Field Name Field Type Description ---------------- ---------- ------------------------ EventID A10* event ID string Name A25 event name Date D date of event 5.6 Access table - Defines access levels for defined users Field Name Field Type Description ---------------- ---------- ------------------------ UserID A10* User name Access A10 defined access level NOTE: the FIRST entry in the table is the default level for all users who are not otherwise listed in the Access table. 5.7 Contacts table - Contact reference and comment information Field Name Field Type Description ---------------- ---------- ------------------------ ID N* individual ID number Date D* date of contact Staff A10* name of person making contact Type A10* type of contact (ie: letter, phone, etc.) Followup D* date for future contact, if necessary AssignedTo A10* name of person responsible for followup Comment M240 description of contact as needed 6. Reports/Forms The following reports and forms have been defined within the Paradox environment: NAMES.R1 - Individuals Roster NAMES.R2 - Company Roster NAMES.R3 - Labels NAMES.R4 - WP Merge format NAMES.R5 - Telephone List CONTACTS.R1 - error report - Contacts without owners EVENTS.R1 - Registration Summary by Zip Code EVENTS.R2 - Registration Summary by Name EVENTS.R3 - Registration Summary by Company EVENTS.R4 - Attendees by Name EVENTS.R5 - Attendees by Company EVENT_LU.R1 - List of defined events TAGS.R1 - error report for tags without owners TAGS.R2 - error report for undefined tags TAGS.R3 - List of tags by owner TAGS.R4 - List of tags by tag TAG_LU.R1 - error report for tags that are unused TAG_LU.R2 - List of defined tags ACCESS.R1 - List of user access levels defined NAMES.F1 - Main display with summaries NAMES.F2 - Main display with Event detail embedded NAMES.F3 - Main display with Contact detail embedded NAMES.F4 - Main display with Tags detail embedded EVENTS.F1 - Summary form to be embedded in NAMES.F1 EVENTS.F2 - Detail form embedded in NAMES.F2 EVENT_LU.F1 - Maintenance form for the lookup table EVENT_LU.F2 - Lookup Table form CONTACTS.F1 - Summary form to be embedded in NAMES.F1 CONTACTS.F3 - Detail form embedded in NAMES.F3 TAGS.F1 - Summary form to be embedded in NAMES.F1 TAGS.F4 - Detail form embedded in NAMES.F4 TAG_LU.F1 - Maintenance form for the lookup table TAG_LU.F2 - Lookup Table form ACCESS.F1 - Maintenance form for the Access levels table 7. System Configuration The program is assumed to be running with the default DOS directory as the directory in which all of the datafiles, script, and library files are stored. The QUERY table will be stored in the directory specified as the user's private workspace. If installed on a network, the system is assumed to be multi-user and therefore, the private workspace cannot be the same as the system files. All of the operations of the system are contained within the CMED.LIB library. The system is invoked through the CMED.SC script as follows: AutoLib="CMED" Main.P() Exit Additionally lines may be added to add comments or setup certain parameters. Several examples are given in the distribution copy of the CMED script. 8. Registration Form Please fill out and mail to: Jon F. Gray P.O. Box 292 Chesterland, Ohio 44026 Compuserve ID: 74017,3606 Registration Form for: Contacts, Mailing list, and Events Database Name: ______________________________________________ Company: ________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________ ________________________________________ City,State: ________________________________________ Telephone: ________________________________________ Version Number: ____________ Registration Type: Single User __________ - enclose $45.00 Network (multi-user) __________ - enclose $95.00 Do you need Paradox 4.0 Runtime? 5.25" disk __________ - enclose $ 5.00 (See note below) 3.5" disk __________ - enclose $ 6.00 Total Payment : __________ Where did you get your copy of the CMED program ? ______________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Comments: ______________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ NOTE: Paradox 4.0 Runtime is being offered for the cost of distribution and handling, but is licensed only for use with this application. Paradox 4.0 Runtime is a product of Borland International and may not be used with any other application without an appropriate license from Borland.