Loadstar 224/224.d81/t.datatool

Text File | 2003-01-01 | 5.5 KB | 195 lines

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           D A T A T O O L
           by Franz Kottira


[DAVE'S FORWARD:]

    New, meaningful utilities for the
C-64 are few and far between these
days. Many of us have become cross-
platform users, taking advantage of
the huge complexities available with
Windows or (better) Linux. Some of us
are die hards, who have found the
applications that do what they want.
Why get all boggled with a new system?

    The only source of new, useful
programs is that creative muse that
catches a programmer and says, "You
can build a better ....!" Herein,
"better" means having the features,
look and feel that the programmer
wants, rather than yet another Windows
Visual Basic slap-together. We are
free to try anything, any motif or
logic or style. We can continue to
explore new territory and come up with
unique -- and occasionally much better
-- answers.

    Franz Kottira is just such a C-64
kind of guy in Germany. He wanted a
way to use Basic to manipulate data on
a spreadsheet. So he wrote DataTool.

    This program looks and acts like
most any other spreadsheet -- except
the user writes out calculations in
regular Basic 2.0. For example, let's
say we want two columns of data, with
a third column showing the sum of each
row, and a line at the bottom of each
column showing the sum of each column.

    Besides a place to name each
column and write notes and set the
data type (String or Number), each
column has a cell where you assign a
Basic variable for the information in
that column, and a cell for the Basic
manipulation to be done with each cell
in the column, performed row by row.

 Col   A        B        C
 Type  number   number   number
 Var   av       bv       cv
 Basic as=as+av bs=bs+bv cv=av+bv
                         cs=cs+cv
 Data  1        2
 Data  31       53
 Pause -----------------------
 Basic av=as    bv=bs    cv=cs
 Res.

 Here, AV, BV, and CV are the columns'
variables. If there is data in a cell
of the column, the column variable
will take that data into Basic. If
there is no data in the cell, or the
value of the assigned variable for the
column changes, the value in the
current variable is displayed. So, as
the first row is processed, AV=1 and
BV=2. CV=1+2=3. A "3" will be
displayed on Data row 1 of column C.
Meanwhile, AS, BS and CS are summing
up the values in each column.

 Pause lets you draw a line, and the
next line is Basic again. These Basic
commands will be performed as the
processor gets to each cell. In this
case, AV, BV, and CV receive the
values in AS, BS, and CS -- since only
the declared variables can be
displayed. The next line, "Res." is
"Result", and will, upon running the
spreadsheet, display the values in AV,
BV, and CV.

    This is about 80% of what you need
to know to use DataTool effectively.
Strings can be manipulated just as
well as Numbers. You can write Basic
routines to Import or Export
information in nearly any desired
format. And the printouts look nice.
Search and Replace, Sort, and other
features you expect in a full-service
spreadsheet are here as well.

    We have included the documentation
Franz wrote on his web page, and
DataTool data files that will explain
much.

    Finally, LOADSTAR hereby decrees
that all native files created with
DataTool shall henceforth have an
extension of ".DT"! This is because
Franz designed the file with a header
that lets you LOAD and RUN it like a
Basic program. The header LOADS
DataTool (from drive 8) -- and away it
goes! (Gee! Why didn't LOADSTAR think
of this long ago?) Of course,
DATATOOL.MAIN must be on drive 8 for
this to work.

    The three programs you can LOAD
and RUN from LOADSTAR are

            B.DATATOOL,
            B.UNEXIT, and
            B.EXAMPLE.DT.

 The first is the boot for the main
program. B.UNEXIT can be used to
restart DataTool without disturbing
the current data in the computer. And
B.EXAMPLE.DT is a DataTool datafile,
which will boot DataTool and display
the data.

    Enough of my blathering. Here is
what Franz has to say:


    The C64 is a very nice computer
for solving trivial problems
concerning calculation by yourself.
Simply turn on the machine and write a
little BASIC program for your needs.
But if you want to provide some
comfortable data editing options, the
programming effort will grow
considerably, and C-64 BASIC does not
support such a task very well. This
was why I started thinking about a
program written in machine language
for data management, in combination
with free programmable BASIC functions
for data processing. I searched for
existing solutions, but couldn't find
anything of this kind.

    As a hobby programmer, I write
programs mainly for my own use. But
this one could be useful for other
C-64 users too. Well, there are not
many of us around, and few will have a
field of application for such a
program. Anyway, it is here, it is
free, and if you see a benefit, then
use it!

    C64 DataTool is proper for
inputting, editing and printing any
kind of data in tabular form. In the
simplest way of use, the program will
store lists of words or numbers. Data
processing (e.g. spreadsheet analysis,
statistics or data conversion) can be
programmed in BASIC. In the most
advanced usage, Datatool is nothing
but a particularly useful environment
for your own BASIC programs.

 FK

[DAVE'S AFTERWORD]: You [will] want to
copy Datatool to a work disk! I have
made sure that the Copy It feature
works correctly for this program.

And how 'bout a big hand for Franz!
Where except in the C= world do you
find guys and gals busting out all the
stops to create genuinely quality
software?

 DMM