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| DiskBASE v. 1.4 |
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DOCUMENTATION

(c)1990 - Loren A. Scott / Scott Systems
P.O. Box 5109
Long Beach, CA 90805-0109


(NOTE: This document file may be viewed and / or printed from within
the DiskBASE program by selecting those options from the `Utils' menu.)


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- TABLE OF CONTENTS -

Overview ........................................ 1
More About DiskBASE ............................. 1
Compatibility ................................... 2
Using DiskBASE .................................. 2
Adding Programs / Categories .................... 3
Deleting A Program .............................. 3
Deleting A Category ............................. 4
Editing Program Info ............................ 4
Editing A Category .............................. 5
Browsing The Database ........................... 5
Printing A Program Listing ...................... 5
Adding The Heading .............................. 6
Deleting The Heading ............................ 6
Editing The Heading ............................. 7
Changing The Screen Colors ...................... 7
Turning The Beeps On / Off ...................... 7
Backing Up / Restoring The Database File ........ 8
Viewing / Printing The Documentation File ....... 8
Viewing The DiskBASE Stats ...................... 8
Quitting DiskBASE ............................... 8
Registration Information ........................ 9

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- TRADEMARKS -

dBASE and dBASE III+ are registered trademarks of Ashton-Tate Corp.
Clipper is a registered trademark of Nantucket Corporation
WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International Corp.


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OVERVIEW:

DiskBASE Software Database Version 1.4 was developed as a user-friendly
application for storage and retrieval of software program information.

All screens are menu-driven and help is only a keystroke away on any
screen that may require clarification. However, DiskBASE was designed
so that you should be able to use it easily without even looking at
this documentation.

Printouts of your software listing will be broken down in categories
(i.e., Word Processors, Games, Databases, etc...), and listed under a
wide-font headings of each category in TRUE alphabetical order.

There are two files that should be included with the DiskBASE program.
They are DISKBASE.EXE and DISKBASE.DOC. The EXE file will automatically
create the other files required by the DiskBASE program. These will be:

DISKBASE.DBF ----------- The main database file
PROGRAM .NTX ----------- An index file to sort program names
CATEGORY.NTX ----------- An index file to sort categories
DISKBASE.CFG ----------- A file to store your custom settings
and other info needed by DiskBASE.

If you get a copy of this program with any files other than the EXE and
DOC files included, you can delete them, if so desired, and DiskBASE
will create a new database for you to store your software list in. This
database will contain one record: DiskBASE v. 1.4. However, if you so
so desire, this record can be deleted as well.

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MORE ABOUT DiskBASE:

I wrote DiskBASE because I wanted my software listing to be printed up
a specific way. I wanted a wide-font title at the top of each page, and
the entire listing not JUST sorted alphabetically, but sorted alphabet-
ically UNDER a wide-font heading of which category the following pro-
grams were in (i.e., UTILITIES, DATABASES, WORD PROCESSORS, etc...).
In addition, I was tired of my program names with a lower-case first
letter (such as `dBASE III+'), being placed after the upper-case names.
In my opinion, `dBASE' should come before `WordStar' in my listing.
Many other database programs costing hundreds of dollars don't seem to
share my opinion.

Although a few database programs came close on the format, they missed
on the fonts. Actually, I WAS using a popular word processing program
(By the initials `WS') to store and print my listing, manually inserting
each program alphabetically under the category heading that it was in.
This was bad enough by itself, but I ran into other problems later.

After trying to print up a copy of my list for a friend who had the same
word processor program on his PC, and finding out that his setup was
configured differently, I watched as my software list was printed `Bass-
Ackwards'. My heading at the top of each page was in compressed font
as well as each of my category sub-group headings. So I wrote DiskBASE.


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Now, if you want to give your friend a copy of your software listing,
(And what computer junky DOESN'T have a list of all of their software?),
you can either give them a printout of it, or (and I recommend this
plan), you can give it to them on a disk with DiskBASE included, and
they can print it up on their own printer. Not only that, but they can
now use DiskBASE for their own software database.

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COMPATIBLITY:

DiskBASE v. 1.4 should run on any IBM-PC compatible computer. Even an
XT system with as little as 512k RAM should not have any problems. How-
ever, for best results, a 286 based CPU or faster and 1 Mb RAM is recom-
mended.

All video modes will work with DiskBASE.

A hard disk is preferred for speed. Just insure that you keep all of
the DiskBASE files within the same sub-directory on the hard disk. If
DiskBASE looks for a database file or index file and doesn't find it, it
will create a new one.

As it is now, DiskBASE v. 1.4 should print out listings with no problems
on any Epson compatible printer. Future versions of DiskBASE will have
a `Select Printer' option to enable printouts on many other popular
types of printers, including laser printers. For now, unless your
printer is set up to respond to Epson-style escape codes, I'm not sure
how it will print up. So far, the following models of printers have

been tested and work fine with DiskBASE v. 1.4:

* IBM Proprinter XL * Epson LQ-1000 * Epson EX-800
* Epson LQ-510 * Panasonic KX-P1124 *

The database (.DBF) file created and used by DiskBASE is compatible with
dBASE III+, dBASE IV, Clipper, and any other database application that's
.DBF files are compatible with those three. The index (.NTX) files are
compatible with Clipper compatible .NTX file applications only.

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USING DiskBASE:

If you want to run DiskBASE from a hard drive, just copy the files to
the subdirectory on your hard drive that you want to run it from. If
you are running DiskBASE from a floppy disk, just insert the disk in the
drive. Then, type: DISKBASE and press to run DiskBASE.

The first screen you'll see gives information on registering your copy of
DiskBASE. Then, if you started with just the .EXE and .DOC files, Disk-
BASE will display messages on the screen that say it's creating the data-
base file and the index files. If they already exist, or after they've
been created, you'll be at the DiskBASE Main menu screen.


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From here, you can add, edit, delete, browse, and print records in the
database. You can also customize DiskBASE's colors and headings for the
screen and printouts from the Utils option.

DiskBASE was purposefully created to be simple to use. From the moment
you first run it, you can begin inputting your software program inform-
ation into it.

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ADDING PROGRAMS:

To add a new program to the database, select the `Add' option from the
Main menu. After selecting `Program' from the Add menu, a window will
appear giving you a choice of the categories currently in the database,
(i.e., Word Processors, Databases, Games, etc...). If there are no rec-
ords in the database, thus no categories to choose from, or if you press
the key at the category choices, you will be given the opportunity
to add a new category.

Once you have either selected an existing category or added a new cate-
gory for the next record to fall under, a window will appear for you to
add in the following program information:

Program:............The title of the software program
Disks:..............The number of disks the program comes on
Format:.............The disk format (360k, 1.2M, 1.44M, etc.)
Remarks:............A description of the software program, or
whatever else you feel like adding

To save the program information to the database, press . After the
the record is saved, the window will zoom back out ready for you to add
any other programs under the same category. To quit adding records for
that category, press and you will return to the Main menu.

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DELETING A PROGRAM:

There are three ways you can delete a program from the database. The
first way is to select the `Delete' option from the Main menu, and enter
the name of the program to be deleted (*). DiskBASE will search for
that record and, if it finds a match, it will display the program infor-
mation in a window on the screen for you to verify if that is the prog-
ram to be deleted. If no match is found a message will be displayed
saying so.

(*) The search strings are case insensitive, and need not be the comp-
lete program title. For example you can enter: Wor, WORD, WoRds,
wordst, etc, to locate your WordStar 4.0 program. However, if you
are looking for version 5.5, you'll need to type in enough info
for DiskBASE to make a distinction from any other similar records.
DiskBASE will stop searching at the FIRST program that matches the
search information.




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The second way to delete a program is from the `Browse' screen. If you
are scanning through the database in the `Browse' mode and see a program
that you'd like to delete, you can press the key, and DiskBASE
will display the complete program information in a window and ask for
verification to delete the record. Upon verification, the record will
be deleted.

The third way to delete a program is from the `Edit' screen. If you
have a record displayed in the edit window, you can press and, upon
verification, the record will be deleted.

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DELETING A CATEGORY:

If, for whatever your reasons, you'd ever want to delete every program
under a certain category, (Perhaps your spouse got frustrated with you
spending so much time on your PC that he or she burned all of your pro-
gramming languages. Heaven forbid!), you can do that by selecting the
`Category' option from the Delete menu.

A window with all of the categories currently existing in your database
will be displayed for you to select from. After selecting the category
to be deleted, DiskBASE will ask for verification, warning you that this
will delete EVERY program in your database that falls under that cate-
gory. Once you have verified that intention, DiskBASE will search for
and delete all of those programs that your spouse had so brutally dest-
royed for you!

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EDITING PROGRAM INFO:

There are two ways you can edit a program in the database. The first
way is to select the `Edit' option from the Main menu, and enter the
name of the program to be edited (*). DiskBASE will search for that
record and, if it finds a match, it will display the program information
in a window on the screen for you to edit. If no match is found, a mes-
sage will be displayed saying so.

(*) The search protocol is the same as mentioned in the `DELETING A
PROGRAM' paragraph on the preceding page.

The other way to edit a program is from the `Browse' screen. If you are
scanning through the database in the `Browse' mode and see a program
that you'd like to edit, you can press the key, and DiskBASE
will display the complete program information in a window for you to
edit as you wish.

After making any changes to the program, press to save them. If
you make changes to the record and then decide that you didn't want to
change it after all, you can press and the new information will
not be saved to the database.




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EDITING A CATEGORY:

Suppose you've a category called `Databases' in DiskBASE, and you've got
a single spreadsheet program to add. You decide that you don't want to
create a new category with only one entry in it, so you'd like to add it
to the `Databases' category. You can then change the `Databases' cate-
gory to `Databases / Spreadsheets'. This will change every record in
the database that was in the `Databases' category to now be in the `Dat-
abases / Spreadsheets' category without you having to manually change
each one.


To do this, select the `Category' option from the Edit menu. A window
will pop up displaying all of the existing categories. Select the one
you'd like to edit, and make any desired changes. Press to save
your changes, or press to abort the changes.

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BROWSING THE DATABASE:

To quickly view the programs in the database, select the `Browse' option
from the Main menu. You then have two options. You can either view all
of the programs, or just those in a specific category. Records can also
be edited or deleted from the Browse screen.

To browse the complete database, select that option from the Browse menu
and a spreadsheet-style screen will display all of the database inform-
ation on your programs. You can pan off of the screen to the right by
using the right arrow key to view the `Number of Disks, Disk Format, and
Remarks' fields.

If you would like to browse through all of your games programs only, you
can select the `Specific Category' option from the Browse menu. A win-
dow will appear for you to input the category that you'd like to browse.
This is a case-insensitive search, so you could type `Games' or `gAmEs'
and it would still find them. To be more specific, if you'd like to see
all of your simulator games, you can type `Simu', and it would display
ONLY the programs in the `Simulator Games' category. However, if you'd
like to view ALL of your games, you can type `Games', and ALL of the
programs in a category that contains the word `games' would be disp-
layed.

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PRINTING A PROGRAM LISTING:

The main reason I wrote DiskBASE was to print up my software listing in
a particular way. By selecting the `Print' option from the Main menu,
you can either print out your complete software listing, or only those
in certain categories. The printout will have whatever custom heading
you have specified at the top of each page. If you haven't added a cus-




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tom heading, the default heading of `Software Database' will be used.
Each individual program in the database will be sorted alphabetically
and listed under a wide-font heading of each category. Each category
will also be printed out in alphabetical order.

If you'd only like to print out your programming languages, you could
select the `Specific Category' option from the Print menu. A window
will appear for you to input the category that you'd like to print.
As with the `Browse' option, this is a case-insensitive search. So you
could type `PROG' or `prog' and it would still find them. However, be
aware of the different category names in your database! If you've got


a category called `Programming Utilities' and you typed `Prog' for the
category to print, you'll print out BOTH the `Programming Languages'
and the `Programming Utilities' programs. So, if you only wanted the
languages, you could type `Lang' and that would do the trick.

As stated in the `Compatability' section on page two, DiskBASE should
print your listing fine on any Epson compatible printer. If you REALLY
would like to use DiskBASE but it doesn't seem to print right on your
printer, please take the time to xerox the pages of your printer manual
that contain the printer escape codes, make note of what brand and
model of printer it is, and send it to me. I am considering making a
future version of DiskBASE include a printer selection menu on it to
enable a variety of different printers to work with DiskBASE, including
Laser printers. This will depend on if there is enough user interest
for this.

I may also add a `User Defined' printer set-up option, so that if a
particular printer is not supported by the DiskBASE print menu, you
could `program' DiskBASE to speak your printer's language yourself.

Once again, this will depend on user feedback.

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ADDING THE HEADING:

By default, the words `Software Database' will appear at the top of the
DiskBASE screen and at the top of each page of your software listing.
To add a custom heading, select the `Heading' option from the Add menu.
(Actually you could select it from the Edit menu too, and if DiskBASE
sees that there is no custom heading to edit, it will just ask you to
add one.) A window will appear prompting you to add your desired head-
ing, up to 30 characters long. Press to save your heading to
the disk, or press to abort and return to the main menu.

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DELETING THE HEADING:

To deleted your custom heading, select the `Heading' option from the
Delete menu. Just by highlighting this option and pressing the
key, you will delete the custom heading and return to the default head-
ing of `Software Database'.


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EDITING THE HEADING:

To edit your custom heading, select the `Heading' option from the Edit
menu. (You could also select it from the Add menu. If DiskBASE sees
that a custom heading already exists, it just displays it for you to
edit if you'd like.) A window will display the current custom heading
for you to make any changes to. To save your changes to the disk, press
the key. To abort any changes and retain the current heading,
press the key.

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CHANGING THE SCREEN COLORS:

If you don't particularly care for the default color settings of Disk-
BASE, you can select the `Customize Colors' option from the Utils menu.
This will display a window full of the current color settings for the
various DiskBASE displays that can be customized.

Following the instructions on that screen, select the display who's
color you'd like to change by positioning the flashing pointer beside it
and pressing the key. At that point, you can press to put
you in foreground mode, or for background mode. From either mode,
use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the color options.

Once the desired foreground and background colors for that display are
chosen, press the key. This will return you to the flashing
pointer to make another selection, if you'd like.

When all of the colors are changed to your liking, you can press
to return to the DiskBASE main menu. Move through the program a bit and
see if you like those color settings. If you DO, return to the color
change routine and press to save your changes to the disk.

If you'd like to return to the default colors, just select that option
with the flashing yellow pointer, and press .

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TURNING THE BEEPS ON / OFF:

As the windows on the screen zoom out and back in, your PC will respond
to the massaging of it's keys with two short, official sounding beeps.
However, if you're doing a particularly large amount of work on your
software database, these beeps may get on your nerves after a while. So,
by highlighting the `Turn Beeps On / Off' option on the Utils menu and
pressing the key, you can toggle these beeps on or off.



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BACKING UP / RESTORING THE DATABASE FILE:

It's wise to backup your database file every so often. You can either
copy the file to a backup disk from the DOS prompt or, better yet, you
can just select that option from the Utils menu. This will let you
quickly backup the DISKBASE.DBF file to a disk in either your A: or B:
drive.

You can restore a backed up copy of the DISKBASE.DBF file from either
the A: or B: drive by selecting that option from the Utils menu. This
will just copy the file from your backup disk on top of any existing
DISKBASE.DBF file without you having to do it from the DOS prompt. Be
careful that you don't accidentally copy an old version of your data-
base on top of your current version, unless this is what you want to do.

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VIEWING / PRINTING THE DOCUMENTATION FILE:

To view the DISKBASE.DOC file from within DiskBASE, you can select that
option from the Utils menu. This will display the documentation in an
easy-to-read, scrollable window. Use the up / down arrow keys and page
up / down keys to view the documentation.

To print the DISKBASE.DOC file, select that option from the Utils menu.
This will have the same effect as typing: TYPE DISKBASE.DOC > PRN from
the DOS prompt, but it's MUCH easier to do it from within DiskBASE.

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VIEWING THE DiskBASE STATS:

To get quick information about the last time your software database was
updated and backed-up, how many programs are in it, and how large (in
bytes) the database (.DBF) file is, select the `DiskBASE Stats' option
from the Utils menu.

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QUITTING DiskBASE:

To exit from DiskBASE, select the `Quit' option from the Main menu. You
then have the option of just `shelling' out to DOS, keeping DiskBASE in
RAM, or you can exit totally out of DiskBASE to DOS.

If you shell to DOS, DiskBASE will free up as much RAM as it can by
writing a temporary file to disk containing information that DiskBASE
will need to continue when you return. This will leave only about 10k
of DiskBASE in RAM, along with the COMMAND.COM file. All other RAM,
unless you have any 'terminate and stay ready' (TSR) programs loaded,
will be free for you to use. You can now run any other program or DOS
command. You could even run DiskBASE from within DiskBASE if you wanted
to. To return to DiskBASE, type: EXIT from the DOS prompt.

If you exit totally out of DiskBASE, you'll have to type: DISKBASE to
load the program back into RAM before you can use it again.


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REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

DiskBASE is distributed primarily though the `Shareware' method. That
is, you are free to make copies of it for your friends or upload it onto
Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's). In fact, I encourage those activities!
However, if you like DiskBASE, and find useful enough that you use it
frequently for your software database needs, you should register your copy
of DiskBASE with me.

Here's what happens when you register:

1. You'll receive prompt notification of new versions of DiskBASE that
you might not otherwise have found out about for a while.

2. You'll be entitled to receive discount upgrades to the latest version
of DiskBASE. Say you have registered your copy of DiskBASE version
1.4 and six months later a NEW and IMPROVED version 2.0 comes out.
Well, I might charge $25 or $30 for that one, but for those who have
already registered a copy of DiskBASE, they'll get the new version
sent to their very own mailbox for a VERY measly five bucks or so!
What a steal!

3. Any acne on your face will immediately vanish. (However, if your
check bounces, you'll get these horrible, uncurable, welts all over
your body. It's a terrible sight. Yuk!)

4. You'll sleep much better at night.

5. I'll eat much better during the day and live to see tomorrow.

6. And, as if that wasn't ALREADY enough, just imagine the fun you'll
have watching the expressions on your friend's faces when you tell
them that you've actually PAID for a shareware program. (And they
thought nobody ever REALLY registered their shareware programs!)

Even if you don't feel the program is worth the registration fee, please
feel free to write me with any suggestions for improvements or any comments
you might have on the program. I'll happily respond to all mail.

To register your copy of DiskBASE, send a check or money-order for
$19.95 to the address below. Be sure to include the version number that
you are registering, so you can be notified if any newer versions are
already being distributed.

Thank you for trying DiskBASE, and I hope you find it useful!


----------------------------------- E-Mail can also be left for me on
| Loren A. Scott | the KBBS bulletin board system at
| P.O. Box 5109 | (213) 558-0145. #2412 - Byte Me!
| Long Beach, CA 90805-0109 | or on MCI Mail under Loren Scott.
----------------------------------- - Thank You -


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