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Text File | 1997-08-02 | 13.5 KB | 281 lines

Powerbase Update ================ Apart from bug-fixes, the following changes have been made since v.6.60 for which the printed manual was written v.6.70 - Sep 14, 1995 ===================== Record design ------------- The field creation dialogue box now has a new menu button which displays a menu of the defined fields. The data for a field chosen from this menu is displayed in the dialogue box just as if you had clicked MENU over the field. There is also a 'Fit' button which adjusts the width of a field icon to fit the defined data length. CSV export/import ----------------- CSV files can now be exported with the record number as the first item on every line. This feature was added to meet a specific requirement of mine, namely to be able to have several people updating records from the same database on different machines and then combine all the edited data into one copy of the database. Others may have similar requirements but the feature must be used with great care. It resembles the existing feature whereby you can export a CSV file with the primary key at the start of each line. On import the latter looks up the key and, if found, loads and modifies the record. If not found it creates a new record as in a normal CSV import. The new feature loads and modifies the record whose number appears in the CSV record. Since the two features should not be used together they are selected by a pair of radio buttons on the CSV options window. Searching for records --------------------- The index to be searched may be changed, using a pair of "bump" icons WITHOUT changing the currently selected key as determined by the keypad buttons. If you find the preceding sentence unclear try the following:- (a) Load !Elements and use the "key" button(s) on the keypad to make Atomic number the active key. (Its descriptor should turn red.) (b) Click the Search button and use the bump icons to make Search box show "in PrimaryKey index". (c) Enter SULP and type <Return>. The record for SULPHUR, element 16, will be displayed. (d) Click the "next record" arrow button on the keypad. The record which comes up will be that for element 17, CHLORINE. i.e. the current key is still the Atomic number, even though you performed the search on the primary key. Selecting fields for printing ----------------------------- You may select a range of contiguous fields by clicking with SELECT to place the caret in the first field, then double-clicking with ADJUST in the last field. A switch has been added to the Print window to include the current key of each printed record in a report. Formula entry for calculated/composite fields --------------------------------------------- The dialogue box for this is now of the "persistent" type, rather than a leaf of a menu tree. It is therefore possible to enter tags into the formula by clicking SELECT on the relevant field while holding Ctrl down. (Earlier documentation stated, erroneously, that this was possible.) The tag, both here and in the query panel, is now inserted at the caret instead of always at the right-hand end of ths string as previously. Abandon database ---------------- This menu choice has been removed. It confused many users and could, under some circumstances, lead to a database containing records which did not correspond to their keys. The situation now is that closing a database (either with Close database or Quit) causes no writing back to the database unless a change has been made, in which case write-back is automatic as before. An asterisk appears in the title bar when the database is altered but this is for information only since the user need do nothing to ensure that the disc is updated. Clicking on Force update does exactly the same writing to the disc as closing the database so, if you use this button when the asterisk is showing, the asterisk will disappear again. Key structure ------------- The Case sensitive and Pad with spaces buttons now work as they should. A further option switch has been added to allow you to skip nulls when creating an index. The switch is greyed out when creating the Primary key since nulls aren't allowed there anyway. Note that using this option will mean that the Info window off the main menu could show different numbers of records when different keys are selected. The structure of the current key can be displayed with Ctrl K. Fast forward/rewind ------------------- Once started this used to continue - uselessly - after closing the record window. It now stops when you do that. Print selections ---------------- These, when saved, now include the settings in the Numeric fields box. Indices directory ----------------- The Indices directory of an open database can be displayed with Ctrl I. Sequence numbers ---------------- Problems have been reported of sequence numbers not working as expected during CSV-import and database-merging. A new option switch has now been added to each of the relevant dialogue boxes allowing the user to either accept the sequence numbers already in the imported records or to assign new ones according to the field's current sequence counter. Old search formula ------------------ Ctrl O will retrieve the last-used search formula whenever the Query panel is visible. If the Query panel is NOT visible the usual effect of Ctrl O will be to open the Print window with the last search formula displayed. If, however, a filter is in force and the Filter window has been closed the latter will be re-opened with the search formula displayed. This is a small increase in functionality but one which will, we believe, be appreciated by many users. v. 6.90 - Jan 28, 1996 ====================== This is a substantially cleaned-up version, many bugs (major and minor) having been eliminated. A particularly nasty example was the way a new record would occasionally be assigned the number of an existing record, overwriting the latter. This resulted from deleting one or more records (DELETING, not simply MOVING to another subfile) and then rebuilding the primary key before enough new records had been entered to replace all the deleted ones. Users will be very glad to see the end of this one! A change to the way colours are assigned to selected and unselected primary and secondary keys means that the 'Colours' file of old databases is no longer valid and that a new file called 'Cols' is needed instead. v. 6.90 will do the file replacement for you but you might have to reset some or all of the colours from the Colours dialogue box if you aren't using the defaults. v. 6.91c - Feb 01, 1996 ======================= It is now possible for operations such as list-generation, CSV export and mail-merging to scan the file in reverse order by selecting an option switch on the Query panel. When fields are highlighted for printing there has hitherto been no indication of the ORDER in which they were selected. This has been a cause of annoyance to users who found their reports containing fields in some other order from the one expected. This has now been remedied. Ctrl F (which displays the menu of fields) behaves differently when a print selection has been made. It lists ONLY the selected fields and, moreover, lists them in the order in which they were selected. v. 6.92 - Feb 12, 1996 ======================= An extra option, 'Compact sequence', has been added to the Field submenu. When a record is deleted (not simply moved to another subfile) a new record will inherit its RECORD number but not its SEQUENCE number (if it has a Sequence number field). This is quite logical since sequence numbers are meant to reflect the order in which records are added. If you find the resulting holes in the sequence unsightly you can now close them up using the new option. The Sequence number field must be indexed and selected as the current index (otherwise the sequencing information would be lost) and attempts to use the option in other circumstances are trapped and result in messages. An extra Button field allows a "Run file" button to be placed on the record window to run an Obey file, execute a script file etc. This complements the button to open a directory which has been present for some time now. The display of field-order for printing, as described above for v. 6.91c, is now also available via a menu button on the Match window. v. 6.93 - Feb 27, 1996 ====================== Designing the record layout has been made much easier. There is now a user-definable grid to which fields can be snapped. New buttons on the 'Create' dialogue box allow you to snap all fields and also to "nudge" fields and descriptors into the desired position (with or without snapping) by clicking on arrow icons. v. 6.95 - May 18, 1996 ====================== "Bookmarks" have been added to the keypad to allow the user to mark records so that s/he can return to them quickly. Click SELECT on one of the four icons to store the current record number. A subsequent click with SELECT takes you directly to that record. Click with ADJUST to clear the marker. v. 6.95a - Jun 30, 1996 ======================= It has been rendered impossible to specify the name '!Powerbase' or 'Powerbase' when creating a new database or saving a file from within Powerbase. Such an action could otherwise lead to Powerbase itself being overwritten. v. 6.96 - Dec 2, 1996 ===================== A new command, !CHANGE, has been added to the script language so that global changes may be made using a script file. The command takes three mandatory parameters to specify the field, the initial contents and the required contents, and an optional search formula may also be added. All parameters must, as usual, be separated by commas. The syntax is therefore: !CHANGE <field tag>,<old contents>,<new contents>[,<search formula>] In response to frequent requests for a facility to copy an existing record this can now be done by using ADJUST instead of SELECT on the Add record keypad button. The keystroke equivalent is Shift/F10 which was formerly used for deleting a record. Please note that the latter function is now assigned to Ctrl F10. Closing the main record window now saves indices etc to disc, just like using the Force update button or Close database from the iconbar menu. This is to placate Macintosh users who are accustomed to having their work saved for them when they close the window. v. 6.96a - Dec 9, 1996 ====================== A new choice on the Miscellaneous submenu allows a database to be renamed. v. 6.97b - Feb 18, 1997 ======================= A new radio button on the CSV options window allows imported data to modify existing records in key order instead of creating new records. USE WITH GREAT CARE! The facility of clicking on a displayed list and calling up the relevant record with the caret positioned for editing has been enhanced. When SELECT is used to double click on the list the record window now comes to the front. When ADJUST is used the record window not only comes to the front but appears at the pointer with its size and scroll offsets set appropriately for the chosen field. v. 6.98a - May 10, 1997 ======================= Ctrl X now opens the CSV-export window. It is also possible to hide fields containing sensitive data so that they can only be read or printe by someone with a "Manager" level password. See "BrowsEdit" file for details. v. 6.98d - June 18, 1997 ======================== A change has been made to the way in which direct data-merging works with the Impression family of document processors. This involves significant changes to the Merge dialogue box. When the Merge button is clicked the record merged is the one currently displayed, not necessarily the first one in the selected subfile as previously. This means that a specific record can be displayed by searching in the normal way, then that record can be merged into the document. The buttons on the keypad are now used for moving on to the next record, back to the previous one etc. so the copies of these buttons on the Merge window are redundant and have been removed. The Query panel has also been removed since the Filter facility accessed from the keypad now fulfils the same function. v.6.98f - July 17, 1997 ======================= A potentially serious bug which could crash Powerbase with an 'Address Exception' error has been fixed. Only databases which claim large amounts of memory for indices are likely to be affected, i.e. those with an exceptionally large number of records, a very long primary key or a large number of subsidiary indices. It was also found that an attempt to print an index (Icon bar menu: Utilities => Print index) would give 'Not enough room to create block', even when only 'Print totals' was selected. This too has been fixed so that totals can be printed even when there isn't enough memory for the complete tree. v. 6.98g - July 22, 1997 ======================== The "toggle validation ON/OFF" function key has been missing from recent versions of Powerbase. It has now been restored and is assigned to the SHIFTed version of whatever key is assigned to the List values button on the keypad, i.e. the default is Shift/F9. v. 6.99 - Aug 2nd, 1997 ======================= Introduces Query-by-example as an alternative to the use of search formulae. See file QBE in Docs archive for full description. In connection with this major enhancement the Match window has been reorganised and the large "Print this record" button (which I never liked) has been removed. Its function is now performed by holding down Shift whilst clicking on Print. The use of the Print key on the keyboard has changed so that Ctrl-Print now displays the Print options window and Shift-Print prints the displayed record.