Chronicle .. © 1995, J. Pritchard .. All Rights Reserved. Welcome. Chronicle is a powerful text based database system designed for everyday use. With it you can design the layout and number of fields that your database has. Each one is unique. You can also choose from a number of database templates to save you the trouble of setting things up yourself. These include such templates as an address book, business contacts, video library etc. All you have to do is load one in and edit the field names to suit your own tastes. You also have powerful printing, edit, search facilities as well as powerful preferences and encryption and password facilities. With this shareware release, the number of records that can be created is just 25. However, that's the only difference between this and the fully registered version. You may have up to 31 fields per record with the ability to place each field exactly where you want it on the screen. Once a database has been created, (the default is an address book) you can add, delete and move fields around as you wish. To install Chronicle to your system, simply copy the Chronicle directory to its new location. This directory contains.. ChroncileViaIconX °° The script file. ChroncileViaIconX.info °° To execute the script via workbench. IconX ChroncileV1 °° The programme itself. ChroncileV1.info °° And its info file. Chronicle.doc °° The doc file & on-line help system. Chronicle.doc.info °° And its info file. And the example file for use with Chronicle. The reason that there are two icons for Chronicle, ChroncileViaIconX and ChronicleV1 itself is simple. If you run Chronicle from the ChronicleViaIconX icon then Chronicles current directory will automatically be set to the directory from which it was run, giving it instant access to the example file and more importantly, the on-line help system. Once you have used Chronicle and have saved all your preferences to disk you can then get rid of ChroncileViaIconX and of course IconX itself and run Chroncile from its own icon because it will now know where everything is.   Legal Stuff. Disclaimer. Chronicle and related files are provided `AS IS' without warranty of any kind either expressed or implied. The entire risk as to the use of Chronicle and related files is assumed by the user. In no event will J. Pritchard be liable for any damages, direct, indirect, incidental or consequential, resulting from any defect in Chronicle or the aforementioned files. Chronicle is copyright © 1995 by Jack Pritchard. All Rights Are Reserved Worldwide.   How To Register. As mentioned in the `Welcome' chapter, the only difference between this and the fully registered version is the number of records that this Shareware version can hold, just 25. This is enough to get the feel of the programme and to learn how to use it. However, if you want to "use it for real" may I suggest that you register to receive the full version which can handle a much more useable 5,000 records. If you would like a copy of Chronicle you can obtain one by sending a cheque/postal order for £12 to me at the following address.. Jack Pritchard PO Box 65 Gosport Hampshire PO12 4YB United Kingdom Overseas, please send an extra £2 to cover air mail postage & packing.  If you're a power user who simply laughs at a mere 5,000 records then you can order special versions of Chronicle with the maximum number of records set to 10,000. Please add an extra £3 for this version.   Getting Started.. Database Creation. Select `New Database' from the Project menu or Right Amiga N. Once `New Database' has been selected you will be presented with a blank screen in which you can design your database's layout. Simply use the mouse/cursor keys to locate the cursor anywhere on the screen and start typing. You can position your database fields anywhere you like but you must remember to terminate each one with a : character. Example:- Name: Surname: Title: Street: District: Town: County: Post Code: Telephone: Once you have created a new database simply click the Right mouse button and Chronicle will build it for you. You can then start using it straight away. You can have up to a maximum of 31 fields per record. Also, if you intend to have more that one field per line remember to leave enough space between them for you to type in.   Using Templates. Select `Template' from the Project Menu or Right Amiga T. The Templates are there to provide you with a quick and easy way of creating a new database. You can choose from Address Book, Business Contacts, Inventory, Disk Catalogue & Yellow Pages. Selecting anyone of these will instantly create a new database for you. You can then got on to change the field names, delete and/or move them around.   Changing The Layout. Once you have created a database either by yourself or by using one of the templates provided, you can at any stage in the future change it. There are four main functions provided for this purpose. These are.. Delete Field. `From the Edit menu or Right Amiga F.' Simply click on the field name that you wish to delete and it will be erased from your database. You can also use this function by pressing the Left Shift key and keeping it pressed, select the field with the mouse. New Field. `From the Edit menu or Right Amiga W.' Once this function has been selected you can insert a new field at any position in the current database by simply clicking on the desired location with the left mouse button. You will then be asked to give this new field a name. Move Field. `From the Edit menu or Right Amiga M.' This function gives you the ability to move the selected field to a different location on the screen. Simply use the cursor keys to move it up/down/left/right. N.B. You cannot move a field in front of the previous field or after the next field as all fields must be kept in the order in which they where created. You can also use this function by pressing the Ctrl key and keeping it pressed, select the field you wish to move. Rename Field. Press the Left Alt key and keeping it pressed, select the field you wish to rename.   Using The Database. Once you have created your database you can start creating records. You do this by positioning the cursor in any one of the fields with the: [ square brackets ] and start typing. You can continue to type in information until the last bracket ] either reaches the end of the screen or comes into contact with the beginning of another field on the same line. If you find after creating the database that one or more fields do not have enough room for the text you wish to write to them, you can always move them around to increase the space available. See chapter `Changing The layout.' These functions will enable you to move around the record. Tab key, Cursor down key or Return will move the cursor on to the next field. Cursor up key will move the cursor back up. Shift Cursor up moves the cursor to the first field. Shift Cursor down moves the cursor to the last field. Shift Cursor left to the start of the current field. Shift Cursor right to the end of the current field. Use the mouse to click on any character in any of the fields available. After you are happy with your record you can move on to the next by pressing either F2 or the »» button at the top. More about this in the `Search Routines' chapter. See chapter `Post-It Notes', `Connecting Dos Commands' & chapter `Connecting IFF Images' for more info.   File Routines. The Project Menu.. °° Erase Database.. This will completely erase the current database from memory. If there is an existing database that has not been saved you will first be given the option to save it. °° Load.. Allows you to load a chronicle database file via the file requester. If you have an existing database that has not been saved you will first be given the option to save it. °° Save.. Saves the current database to disk. If the current database is `Untitled', Save As will automatically be selected. °° Save As.. Allows you to save the current database via the file requester. This gives you the option to select the filename and path for this database. °° Previous File.. Whenever you save or load a database, Chronicle will automatically keep a record of the last 20. Selecting this option will display the list of previously loaded/saved files giving you the chance to load them in directly without having to hunt them down with the file requester first. °° Create Password.. Once a password has been created it will then be encoded into the current database the next time it is saved. When this file is next loaded, Chronicle will first prompt you for the password. If not given, Chronicle will refuse to load the file in. °° Erase Password.. Erases a password either created with Create Password or one that has been loaded in via a password protected file. You will, of course, have to confirm the password first. °° Emergency Directory.. Using this facility, you are able to make backup copies when you save your files to a location other than the one you are saving your file to. This is VERY useful if, for example, the part of the disk where your files are being saved becomes corrupted. Normally both the original file and its .bak copy will be located on the same bit of the corrupted disk. However, with this facility you always know that you have a `safe' copy in a completely different location. The default Emergency directory is the Ram Disk: Example: You set your emergency directory to `DH1:Rescue/' and then you save your database as normal as, say, `DH2:Files/MyDatabase'. You will now have two copies of this file. The first will be `DH2:Files/MyDatabase' and the second `emergency copy' will be `DH1:Rescue/MyDatabase'. For more info see the `Emergency Backup' item in file operations section of chapter `Preferences'.   Search Routines. The Search Menu.. °° Back A Record.. `««' Displays the previous record in the database for viewing/editing. °° On A Record.. `»»' Displays the next record, or if already at the last record, an empty record for viewing/editing. °° First Record. Displays the first record in the database. °° Last Record. Displays the last record to date in the database. °° Goto Record. Allows you to type in a record number to jump directly to. °° Find. Enter a string that will make a match or partial match with any of your records and they will be displayed in turn until you reach the one that you are interested in. °° Indexed Search. As with Find, but will attempt to locate any records that match, partial or otherwise, with the selected fields of the current record. N.B. To Select a field in your database, simply click on the field name so that it turns blue. Example: Selecting the fields Surname, Town & County and then performing an indexed search would locate all other records whose Surname, Town & County fields match with this one. °° Sift Search. This function will bring up a window consisting of three lines to enter text and a display panel. As you type text into the top line any records that match will be displayed in list form in the panel below starting from the point at which the match was found. The extra two text lines will enable you to make a more detailed search of your records by matching up three different strings in one go. You can elect to reset the database to any of the records shown by double clicking on the one of interest. Selecting `Print' from the sift windows title bar will print all records shown. Example: Entering `Smith' in the top line and then London in the second would give a list view of all of your records that contain the text Smith & London. This facility is best explained by trying it out yourself with one of the example database files provided. °° Thumb Index. Once selected Chronicle will prompt you to type in any single character, such as A. It will then reset the database to the first record whose first field begins with that character. Any normal ASCII character may be used.   Edit Routines. The Edit Menu.. °° Organise. Will allow you to alphabetically sort the entire database in either ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A) order. °° Replace. Will replace all occurances of the first string entered with the second throughout your database. °° Cut. Cuts the current record from the database and stores it in memory. Any records after this will be moved back one. °° Copy. As with cut, but instead only makes a copy of the record. °° Paste. Pastes a record that has either been cut or copied into database at the current record position. All other records will be moved up one. °° Global Delete. Will attempt to delete ALL records that make either a full or partial match with the string that you provide. °° Indexed Delete. As with indexed search (see chapter `Search Routines') but instead will delete any matches found. °° Delete Previous. Will allow you to remove previous filenames from the previous list. (see chapter `File Routines') °° Delete Field, Move Field & New Field are covered in chapter `Changing The layout'.   Printer Routines. Printer Options. °° Pagesize. Allows you to set the number of lines that are printed before Chronicle prompts you for another page. Type 0 for continuous. `The following items are either selected (ticked ) or unselected or unselected (not ticked)' °° Include Field Names. Whether of not to include the field names with your printout. °° Print Selected Fields Only. Only the fields that have been selected (click on a field name to select it) will be printed. °° Maintain Line Integrity. If this item is selected, Chronicle will do its best to print each record as it appears on the screen. I.E. If Surname and First Names are on the same line in the database, then they will be printed on the same line. Otherwise each field will be printed on a separate line. °° Eject Page After Each Record. If selected, Chronicle will attempt to instruct your printer to eject its current page and (if pos) load in a new one after each record has been printed.   The Print Menu. °° Print Record. Sends the current record to the printer. °° Global Search. Works in the same way as `Find' from the search menu (see chapter `Search Routines') but this time it will send any matching records found to the printer. °° Indexed Search. The same is true for this function but will print any matches found. (Obviously, this function will disable the `Print Selected Fields Only' item from the printer options while in use.) °° Print All. As it says, will attempt to send the entire database to the printer.   Post-It Notes. To create a post-it note for a record click on the Post-It button at the top of the screen. A post-it note is simply a few lines of text that can be added to your record. Once you have selected the post-it button a small window will appear in which you can type up to 12 lines of text. You can also give your note a title. Once you have created your note, click on the OK button and it will be stored as part of this record. Also, you will notice that the Post-It button that you originally selected has now turned yellow, telling you that there is a post-it note for this record. The following are facilities for the post-it notes. °° Clear. Will erase the post-it note from the current record. °° Title. Will allow you to create a title for your note. °° Help. This chapter... °° OK. Select this once you have created your note or click the close button to abort. °° Return/Enter. To insert a new line. °° Ctrl D. To delete the current cursor line.   Connecting DOS Commands. To connect an executable Dos command to a record, select either `Connect Dos' from the Edit menu or select Right Amiga 1. Any of Chronicles' records can have Dos commands linked to them, meaning that you can launch any external programme or script file at the click of a button. Example: You may have a record that contains details of a particular person with whom you have regular correspondence. By connecting a Dos command such as.. C:ED DH1:Letters/MyLetter You could instantly access your friends letter. Not a very good example perhaps, but you get the idea.. You can have multiple commands on a single line by separating them with the | character. I.E. Command 1 | Command 2 | Command 3 | etc. Once you have created your Dos command, it can be launched by clicking on the button titled `Exec' at the top of the screen. As with the post-it notes, if there is a Dos command connected to a record, the Exec button will be highlighted in yellow. To delete a connected Dos command simply select `Connect Dos' and erase the command with Right Amiga X, then select OK or Return. The yellow Exec button will then revert back to black. N.B. If you intend to launch a script file you must use the command Execute. I.E. Execute S:MyScriptFile   Connecting IFF Images. To connect an IFF picture file to a record, select either `Connect IFF' from the Edit menu or select Right Amiga 2. As with connecting Dos commands, you can also connect an IFF picture file to a record in the same way. Once you have connected your IFF Image, it can be viewed by clicking on the button titled `IFF FILE' at the top of the screen. As with the post-it notes, if there is a IFF Image connected to a record, the IFF File button will be highlighted in yellow. To delete a connected IFF Image simply select `Connect IFF' and erase the command with Right Amiga X, then select OK or Return. The yellow IFF File button will then revert back to black.   Preferences. File Operations.. °° Default Database. This is the name & path of the database that Chronicle attempts to load when you first run it. °° Default Helpfile. The path & name of this doc file. °° Backup Files. Whenever Chronicle saves a file it will also backup any existing files of the same name with a .bak extention. °° Load Defaults. Whether or not you want the default database loaded when Chronicle is first run. °° Encrypt Files. With this item selected, all files that Chronicle saves will first be encrypted. °° Emergency Backup. Ensure that this item is selected if you want backup copies of any files that you save to be made to a different location. Default is the Ram Disk: See chapter `File Routines' for more info. Database.. °° Ask Before Exec. Whether or not you want to confirm before Chronicle attempts to execute a connected dos command. °° Start Shrunk. With this item selected, Chronicle will start up in shrunken mode. I.E. A small title bar window on the workbench screen. To get back to Chronicle again, close this window. °° Casesense. Used with Chronicles search routines, etc. If Casesense is selected then ABC will not match with abc, otherwise it will. Colour Palette. If you don't like the colour scheme that I've chosen for Chronicle, and why not?, then you can choose your own with this function. Save Config. Once you have made all of your changes, via the preferences menu or in the normal coarse of events, select Save Config to make all of your changes permanent.