WELCOME TO ABASE ! ------------------ NOTE ---------------------- SORRY FOR GRAMMAR ERRORS !!! ------------------ DOC ----------------------- 1.Starting Out -------------- Start the program via CLI/Shell typing abase or from WorkBench.After this, if tittle appears press any key/mouse button to enter the main screen. If something went wrong (out of memory seems to be the only problem) program will exit without leaving a message. 2.Main Screen ------------- Gadgets on the left side are divided on three sections: File Gadgets - New,Open,Close,Exit Main Functions - Insert,Update,Select,Delete Prefs - QUERY ON/OFF/LOAD,MEM ON/OFF,PRT ON/OFF,LINE ON/OFF Bottom of the screen is reserved for messages. Prefs values can be changed simply by clicking on them. Right now,you have only two options:define a new database with New,or opening (loading) from disk by Open.You can choose if your database is going to be held in memory on disc:MEM ON stands for MEMory ON and therefore tells program to keep all records in memory and save on exit. MEMory OFF constantly saves changes to disk.If you want security and perhaps have 512K you may want to keep data on disc,but I strongly suggest to use (default) memory mode to vastly improve speed. If you defined/opened database use main functions to DO WHATEVER YOU WANT ! Names and the whole processes are pretty self-explanating but here are details about every function : ************************************************************************** 1.New This function lets you to define new database.Every database consists of number of fields.Maximum this program allows is ten. In the new window there are number of gadgets: Name - every database should have a proper name like 'Record Collection' or 'Phone Book' Add - adds field to list Edit - changes selected field.Ffields are selected(highlighted on screen) by clicking on field list Delete - removes field from list Ok,Cancel - guess... After Selecting Add or Edit brand new window appears where you have to give full field description. Name - field name Field type can be: NUMERIC - integer between +2000000000 and -20000000000 (approximately !?) STRING - line of text.Len determines the maximum length FLOAT - floating point number BOOLEAN - yes/no DATE - date (really ??!!??) Field can have some flags like: NOT NULL - when inserting data you MUST enter some value for this field. UNIQUE - also,when inserting data you CAN'T specify value which already exists in database (every value must be unique) Ok confirms Cancel returns without changing Although in maybe looks confusing after little practise you will surely master the whole process.It's important to design field carefully:after defining database you can't change this values.Also,when defining STRING field try not to waste memory and disk space. ************************************************************************** 2.Open This opens a database from disk.File name is choosed from File Requester, and if you have some problems with it,try looking down... ************************************************************************** 3.Close With this option,you can save data to disk (if data is held in memory), an enable opening/defining a new database. ************************************************************************** 4.Exit If you have any data in memory program will warn you.Ok mean exit and Cancel mean exit.Otherwise exits. ************************************************************************** 5.Insert Finally.With this option you can insert new record(s) to database.List of fields will appear you can just enter some values.Click Ok to save (or the program will warn you that something went wrong) and Cancel means 'enough, return to main screen'. Things to point:proper values for BOOLEAN fields are be 'yes' or 'no' (NO capitals) and date format is 'dd/mm/yy' (30/12/1973 no 30.12.1973 no 30-Dec-1973).This of course stands for DATE fields ************************************************************************** 6.Update This option allows you to edit contents of the database.Actually,before editing you may determine which records you want to edit and if you are not familiar with this procedure see 9.QUERY at once ! Similar to Insert (and if you want to edit data you have surely inserted some !) list of fields appears now with values.Commands available: Prev - previous record Next - next record Save - save changes Cancel - return to main menu ************************************************************************** 7.Select Again SQL term (more about SQL later).Select displays records found with query.There are two ways of displaying (see 12.LINE and 11.PRT).Commands in the bottom: Prev - backward Next - forward Cancel - return ************************************************************************** 8.Delete With Delete you can remove (get rid of) unwanted records,again found from query.DANGER!If your data is entirely in memory you can't restore this ! This is the reason why program force you to confirm ATTENTION:if QUERY ON is choosed,this means you want to delete ALL RECORDS ! ************************************************************************** 9.QUERY ON/OFF/LOAD Three possible values are: QUERY ON - default,ask user every time to enter query QUERY OFF - no entering,use ALL records QUERY LOAD - load a saved query Query is powerful method of selecting data from database.You may know it as 'filter'.It can be used for Update/Select/Delete to mark the records you want to edit/display/delete. In the query window beside list of fields you'll see four columns.They are (from left to right) Display : (Has a 'D' at the top).This determines the fields you want to see/edit in Select/Update Sort : (Has a 'S' at the top).This may mark the field you want to use for sorting Operators:Clicking on gadget from this column shows you the operator which will be used in conjunction with data on the right. For NUMERIC,STRING,FLOAT there are following operators available: =,<,>,<=,>=,<> For BOOLEAN: Is,Is Not For DATE: Equal,Before,After,Differ Condition is : Record which 'passes the filter' is record which has all conditions (ie. in all rows) true. If operator field is empty no condition will be made. Data : Actual data (mentioned above),inserted in just like in the Insert option. Example 1:Suppose you have two fields 'NAME' and 'SALARY'.If you want to see all workers which have salary bigger than 5000 click on operators column until you see '>' and than enter 5000 on the right (All this of course in SALARY row !) Beside this there are Ok,Save (saves query to disk),Cancel. This topics is surely hard to explain on this way,but experiment and you'll find yourself using it with ease just after few minutes. ************************************************************************** 10.MEM ON/OFF I think you know this already.Before defining/opening database you can decide if database is going to be held in memory (MEM ON) or frequently accessed from disc (MEM OFF).Use: MEM ON:Always.Speeedy. MEM OFF:If you have 512K and database bigger than 300K (I'd really like to see this !!!). ************************************************************************** 11.PRT ON/OFF When PRT is turned ON all data displayed with Select,will be printed too. Be sure you have set up your printer in preferences ************************************************************************** 12.LINE ON/OFF This determines the way Select displays records: LINE ON:All data in one record will be put in one line.You'll get three lines displayed ie. 3 records at once. LINE OFF:Only one record will be displayed at the time. ************************************************************************** FILE REQUESTER You already know how to handle such things - get the right dir and enter the filename.If you press ENTER on the start it will display current directory ************************************************************************** CREDITS Program,Utilities,Documentation by Vulovic Djordje Design,Helping by Slijepcevic Igor New version is on the way and your comments and suggestions are highly desirable. ALFA Production Team: Vulovic Djordje Nova Skojevska 41/11 11090 Belgrade Yugoslavia