Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/325.lha/FileIt/manual

Text File | 1989-12-24 | 9.3 KB | 201 lines

                                    File-It

                                  User Manual

                                    J Davis

                                    1987/88

Introduction

File-It is designed to allow the user to store information on a computer much
as you would store information in a real life card file.
It is designed to allow great flexibility in searching the database, at some
expense in speed of searching.  It also allows great freedom in the on-screen
layout of a 'card', and can output these 'cards' in a form suitable for
printing or for use within other programs. The program is designed to be user
friendly and therefore used intuitively; this document serves only to clarify
various points and to act as a tutorial.

Getting Started

After starting the program you will be presented with a menu inviting you to
either quit, create or use.
Throughout this package you make selections from menus by typing the first
letter of an option, followed by [RETURN] to activate your choice. If you make
a typing mistake, you can delete characters using the DEL key.

The QUIT option will exit you immediately back out of the package.

The USE option will allow you to work on an already existing database. When
prompted, enter the name you gave the database. As before, if you make a
mistake you can delete characters using the DEL key. When you hit
[RETURN] the database will be loaded and you will enter the main screen.

The CREATE option is used to create a new database. You will be prompted to
enter the name for the database.
This may be any valid pathname of up to 30 characters, but it must NOT specify
an extension ( that is, a part beginning with a '.' ) as File-It provides
its own extensions to identify its files.
Having done this the screen will clear and you will be asked to specify the
name for the first field in the database record structure, or to just hit
[RETURN] if you have finished specifiying all the fields.
A record may contain upto 25 fields and each field has an eight character
fieldname associated with it. If you specify all 25 fields, the program will
automatically take it that you have finished specifiying the record
structure.
Having specified the field's name, you will be invited to move to the position
of the first corner of the field on-screen, using the cursor keys, and to
press [RETURN] when you are in the right place.
You will the be asked to similarly indicate the second corner for the field.

All fields are defined in terms of an on-screen box that they will appear in.
The maximum size of one field is 300 characters, and if you try to specify a
field bigger than this, or if you specify a field so small that it could hold
no data, then you will be asked to re-specify the corners of the field.

Otherwise the field will be displayed on-screen as it will appear, and you
will be asked to confirm that the field is correct.
If you answer NO then the field will be discarded and you will be returned to
the stage asking for the field-name.
If you answer YES then the field will be added to the database and you will
move onto the next field, again asking you to specify the field's name.  You
will keep repeating this sequence until either the card is full ( that is you
have specified all 25 possible fields ) or you press [ENTER] to indicate that
you have finished. The database will then be created and you will move into
the main screen.

The Main Screen

The main screen is divided into three areas.
At the top of the screen is the card display area. This always displays the
current card, unless the database is empty.
Immediately beneath this is the status line. This shows what the number of
the current record is, what database level you're on, how many records there
are in the current level and how many records there are in the total
database.
Beneath this is the command window where menus are displayed.  The first menu
you will see is one which allows you to choose from the various 'core'
options.

QUIT :this will save your database and exit the program.

MODIFY : this allows you to alter the contents of the current card. The card
will be displayed highlighted on-screen, and you will see a menu showing the
name of the current field, together with the options PREVIOUS, allowing you
to move to the previous field, NEXT, which moves you to the next field, DONE,
which saves the changes you've made and returns you to the main menu, and
EDIT which allows you to edit the current field on-screen.

When you choose the EDIT option, the cursor will move to the first character
of the field, and you will be able to edit that field. Note that you will not
be able to move outside the limits of the field.  You use the cursor keys to
move anywhere within the field, and backspace to move backward within the
field. Anything else you enter will be added into the field.

DELETE    : This will delete the current record from the database.

ADD :this allows you to add new records to the database. A blank record will
be created, and you will enter the MODIFY menu so as to enter text into it.
When you exit back to the main menu, the record will be added, and it will
become the current record.
Note that the database may contain at most 1000 records, and you will not be
able to add any records once it is full, without first deleting some to make
room.  Note also that any added records are added to all database levels
unconditionally, up to the current level, even if it does NOT match the
current selection criterion.

NEXT :this move you forward through the database, moving to the next record
on the current selection level. If you go past the end of all the records,
then you will move back to the first record.

PREVIOUS : this is as for NEXT, but moving backwards.

FIRST : this moves you directly to the first record in the current selection
level.

LAST :this moves you directly to the last record in the current level.

OUTPUT : this prints all the records in the current level to disc in a form
suitable for printing or use in other programs. You will be asked for a name
for the print file. ( if you specify prt: then output will be directly to the
printer. )

SELECT : this allows you to place into a new database level only those
records in the current selection level which match in a specified field on a
given pattern.  The match is on blank separated words in the given field. You
will be asked to enter the name of the field to match on, and then the
pattern to search for.
The pattern is any sequence of characters, without spaces. In the pattern the
characters '*' and '?' have a special meaning. '?' means match any single
character and may appear anywhere in the pattern. '*' means match any
sequence of characters and may only be the first and/or last character in the
pattern.
There is a maximum of 25 levels within the database, and if all these levels
are full, or if the resulting level would be empty, then the select operation
is abandoned and you return to the current level unchanged.  Otherwise the
resulting level becomes the current level.

NOTE ... the search is NOT case-sensitive.

EXCLUDE :this is similar to SELECT, but it places into the new level those
records which do NOT match.

INCLUDE : this places into the new level all the records in the current
level, plus all the records in the global level ( level 1 ) for which there
is a match.

HISTORY : this displays the record of the operations so far executed to reach
the current level.

BACK :this moves you back up a level, undoing the last select,include or
exclude.

TOPLEVEL : this moves you directly back to the global level ( level 1 ),
undoing ALL selects, includes, or excludes.

Throughout the program any error messages or other special messages will be
displayed on the status line. When you have read the message press [RETURN] to
continue.

Some examples of searching a database.

suppose we have a database with the fields
    SNAME    ( people's surname )
    HOBBIES    ( their hobbies )
    GNAMES    ( their given names )
and     CITY    ( the city they live in )

1. using select with a field-name of SNAME and a pattern of JONES would place
into the new level all the records for people whose surname was Jones.

2. using exclude with a field-name of SNAME and a pattern of JONES would
place into the new level all the records for people whose surname wasn't
Jones.

3. selecting on SNAME with a pattern of A* would yield all those records for
people whose surname began with A.

4. selecting on SNAME with a pattern of *S would give all the records for
people whose surname ended in S.

5. selecting on SNAME with a pattern of SA?S would give all the records where
the surname began with SA, the third letter could be anything, and the last
letter was S. eg SAMS, SAWS etc.

6.  selecting on SNAME with a pattern of JONES and then selecting again on
CITY with a pattern of WELLINGTON would give us all the records for JONES'
living in WELLINGTON.

7. selecting on HOBBIES with a pattern of SURFING and then including on
HOBBIES with a pattern of of MOTOR-RACING would give us all the records for
people who's hobbies include surfing and/or motor-racing.

8. carrying out 6 and then including on SNAME with a pattern of DAVIS would
give us all the records for people where EITHER they were called JONES and
they lived in wellington, OR their name was DAVIS.

As you can see, by compounding the select, include and exclude operations,
powerful queries can be built up.