1 Introduction

Automating Memo Entry

Mark Ruth and Joe Van Dertol

With the release of the dBASE IV product, memo field features have
been greatly improved. One of these features is the ability to
display the contents of a memo field in a window. By pressing
Ctrl-Home you can then enter the memo for editing.


2 Article

The following method uses a keyboard macro containing the keystroke
{Ctrl-Home} to provide automatic access to the memo field. When the
cursor is placed on the memo field window the keyboard macro executes
a Ctrl-Home allowing automatic access to the memo field. Since a
keyboard macro is used in the program this concept cannot be applied
to .FMT files and the EDIT or APPEND commands. Also, the width of
the window is smaller than that of the memo text editor, therefore it
is possible that all of the text may not be displayed on the screen.

The steps needed to implement this objective follow below.

Creating a keyboard macro

1. Create a keyboard macro containing the keystroke Ctrl-Home. A
keyboard macro is a file that stores keystrokes. They are usually
used to automate repetitive tasks. Rather than typing the keystrokes
again and again the user "plays" the macro containing the keystrokes.
To create a keyboard macro from the Control Center

a Press Alt-T to open the Tools menu. b. Highlight Macros and
press Return.

c. Highlight Begin Recording and press Return.

d. Type A. You could use another letter if A is already being
used.

e. Press Ctrl-Home.

f. Press F10 to access the Tools menu.

g. Highlight Macros and press Return.

h. Highlight End Recording and press Return.



Edit the macro

2. Edit the macro so that it contains only {Ctrl-Home}. This
macro will be called within the QMemo.PRG program to access the memo
field and therefore needs only to contain {Ctrl-Home}. To eliminate
any unwanted keystrokes

a. Press Atl-T and type M to select Modify from the Tools menu.

b. Type your macro name (for example, A). You should now see the
following on your screen:

{Ctrl-Home}{F10}{Enter}{Enter}

c. Edit out everything except the {Ctrl-Home}.

d. Press Ctrl-End to exit editor.

e. Type S to select Save Library.

f. Type MEMOS to save the macro to a file called Memos.KEY. This
step is necessary to permanently store your macro so it may be reused
later. You can save many more macros with different names to this
file. For further information about creating and using macros see
Using the Menu System 13-2.

3. The next step is to create a program that will open the file
that you wish to edit, paint the screen, control the movement through
the file, and provide a way to exit. With the exception of the memo
field these functions are relatively easy to code, however the use of
the keyboard macro and the memo field in a window requires some
additional considerations:

a. A keyboard macro will execute only when the program calls for
input from the keyboard. This restriction requires that the PLAY
MACRO command come before a READ. If the command is placed after a
READ it will wait to execute until a later READ. This will cause
some very unpredictable results.

b. The macro must affect only the memo field.


In order for the macro to affect only the memo field it must have its
own READ command. Having two READ statements on one screen will
affect cursor movement and the display of the memo field data.
First, advancing beyond the first READ would force a READ of the
memo field. You would not be able to advance past the memo without
having to enter it first. You would then need to press Ctrl-End and
Return on every record to get out of the memo and move on to the next
record even if you did not want to see the memo. To provide for
smooth movement and viewing of the data from one record to the next,
and allow you to bypass entering the memo field, the READ for the
memo is placed inside an IF...ENDIF which tests the last key pressed.

Since the memo field window follows a READ command, contents of the
window will not display until the READ for the memo field is
executed. Memo fields cannot be displayed in a window with a SAY
command. To display the data in the memo field window it must be
opened with a GET command followed by a CLEAR GETS command. The
CLEAR GETS command is necessary so the memo field is not read with
the other fields on the screen.

Sample code showing these ideas follows. The program will allow you
to edit an existing data file. It can also be used to add new
records (with some modification).

Notes

We haven't discussed getting out of a memo field edit because there
is really no short cut. Although we could create a keyboard macro
that would press Ctrl-End to leave the memo field, you'd have to
invoke the macro manually by hitting a two-key combination. The only
advantage would be that the key combination might be easier to
remember for someone who isn't familiar with the dBASE keystrokes.

When entering the memo field the ruler, status bar, and menu will
appear; there is no way to suppress them.

The dBASE editor has a line length (memo width) of 65 characters.
Unless you are using an external editor, or you like scrolling, make
sure that your memo window is at least 65 characters wide.

The window will take precedence over the coordiantes given with the
@...GET...OPEN WINDOW command. Any valid screen coordinates are
acceptable and will not change the position of the window.



3 Sample DBF Structure

Employee.DBF



Structure for database: C:\FILES\EMPLOYEE.DBF
Number of data records: 141
Date of last update : 12/23/88
Field Field Name Type Width Dec Index
1 ID Character 5 N
2 LNAME Character 20 N
3 FNAME Character 15 N
4 ADDRESS Character 25 N
5 CITY Character 20 N
6 STATE Character 2 N
7 ZIP Character 5 N
8 HIREDATE Date 8 N
9 SALARY Numeric 9 2 Y
10 EX_NONEX Logical 1 N
11 COMMENTS Memo 10 N
** Total ** 121



4 Sample Program: QMemo

QMemo.PRG

*--- QMemo
*--- Sample program to demonstrate the use of memo fields.
*--- Mark Ruth & Joe Van Dertol
*--- Data file: Employee.DBF
*--- Indexes: none

*--- SET ENVIRONMENT
SET SCOREBOARD OFF
SET CONFIRM ON
SET STATUS OFF
SET TALK OFF
SET BELL OFF

*--- CREATE MEMORY VARIABLES
quitedit = .F.
enterkey = 13
dnarrow = 24
uparrow = 5
pgup = 18
esc = 27

DEFINE WINDOW wndow1 FROM 13, 5 TO 19,74

*--- Open data files and restore macro
USE Employee
RESTORE MACROS FROM Memo && Needed to recall macro into
memory

*--- Execute commands while quitedit is FALSE
DO WHILE .NOT. quitedit

*--- Open window to display memo
@ 13, 5 GET comments OPEN WINDOW Wndow1
CLEAR GETS

@ 1, 3 TO 20,76 DOUBLE
@ 2,26 SAY "EMPLOYEE FILE FORM"
@ 3,26 SAY REPL(CHR(196),18)
@ 21, 3 TO 23,76 DOUBLE
@ 22, 8 SAY "PgUp/PgDn Up/Down a record -- " ;
+ "Uparrow/Downarrow Up/Down a field"

@ 4, 6 SAY "ID:" GET Id PICTURE "99999"
@ 4,40 SAY "Record Number: " + STR(RECNO(),6)
@ 6, 6 SAY "Last Name:" GET Lname PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
@ 6,40 SAY "First Name:" GET Fname PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
@ 8, 8 SAY "Address: " GET Address PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
@ 10,11 SAY "City:" GET City PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
@ 10,39 SAY "State:" GET State PICTURE "XX"
@ 10,56 SAY "Zip:" GET Zip PICTURE "XXXXX"
@ 12, 6 SAY "Comments:"
READ && First READ

lkey = LASTKEY()

DO CASE
CASE lkey = enterkey .OR. lkey = dnarrow
*--- Test for return or down arrow
@ 12,20 SAY "(CTRL-END or ESC to exit)"
*--- Clear the bottom box area.
@ 21, 0 CLEAR
*--- Put in a new box that matches up with the status line.
@ 21, 8 TO 23,66 DOUBLE
@ 13, 5 GET comments OPEN WINDOW Wndow1
PLAY MACRO A
READ && Second READ
*--- Clear the "CTRL-END" message.
@ 12,20 CLEAR TO 12,45

CASE lkey = uparrow
*--- Test for up arrow key
LOOP

CASE lkey = pgup
*--- Test for page up
SKIP -1

IF BOF() && If at the first record go to bottom
GO BOTTOM
ENDIF

CASE lkey = esc
*--- Test for escape key
SET CONFIRM OFF
@ 22, 4 CLEAR TO 22,71
@ 22,27 SAY 'Do you wish to quit?' GET quitedit PICTURE 'Y'
READ
SET CONFIRM ON

OTHERWISE
*--- Any other key skips to next record
SKIP +1
IF EOF() && If at the last record go to top
GO TOP
ENDIF

ENDCASE

ENDDO

*--- Reset environment and close data files
CLEAR ALL
SET SCOREBOARD ON
SET CONFIRM OFF
SET STATUS ON
SET TALK ON
RETURN
* EOP: QMemo