Category : Databases and related files
Archive   : LIBCAT11.ZIP
Filename : LIBRARY.DOC

Library Users Guide

Library Catalog System, Version 1.1



Written by James Canby Landerkin on 2/04/89


COPYRIGHT (C) 1988, 1989 by Questar Associates, Inc.







































WELCOME

Welcome to Questar's Library Catalog system. Like many people, you have
probably accumulated a "library" of books, magazines, articles, and pamphlets
that are located in various places in your house or apartment. Your collection
may range from just a few items (in which case this program is probably
unnecessary), to hundreds or thousands of items in various categories and
locations. It is for the latter case that this system was written.

This system provides a dBaseIII+ compatible database format that will allow
you to catalog all the books, pamphlets, articles, clippings, etc., in your
library and files. Once entered, you'll be able to search on the indexed
SUBJECT field, or to search any field by specific content. The system will
allow you to produce reports from the database (several have been "canned" for
you), and to manipulate the database using dBase, to do those things that
Library does not include.

This Version 1.1 is a modified "first cut" at creating a computerized
library catalog; other versions will follow as time allows. If you discover a
"bug" in the system, please document it with the form provided for that purpose
and send it to me. All comments and suggestions for improvements will be
appreciated.

Lastly, this is a SHAREWARE product. If you try it and like it, and would
like to see additional effort expended in its improvement, you should make a
contribution (suggested at $15.00) to the Author at the address shown on the
system's opening screen.



































STARTING THE SYSTEM

To start the system you must first start dBase. The procedure differs if
your computer has a hard disk or two floppies. Follow the procedure below for
the type of computer you have.

FLOPPY SYSTEM

If your computer has 2 floppies and no hard disk, put your dBase III+ System
diskette 1 into drive "A" and type dBase. The disk drive light will come on and
dBase will start loading. After a few moments, you will be asked to replace
system disk 1 with system disk 2. Take system disk 1 out of the "A" drive and
put it away. Put the dBase system disk 2 into the "A" drive and press enter.
dBase will finish loading.

The dBase Assistant will start. Press the ESC key to exit from the
assistant. You will now be at the 'dot prompt'. Place the disk containing the
Library Catalog system in the "B" drive. Type 'SET DEFAULT TO B:' and press
ENTER. Type 'DO Library' and press ENTER to start the Library Catalog system.

HARD DISK SYSTEM

If you have a hard disk, change to the directory containing dBase and type
dBase. (If you have the dBase directory in your PATH command, you can call
dBase from wherever you happen to be.) dBase will start loading. The dBase
Assistant will start. Press the ESC key to exit from the assistant. You will
now be at the 'dot prompt'.

If you wish to run the Library Catalog system from floppies, place the disk
containing the Library Catalog system in a floppy drive. Type 'SET DEFAULT TO
X:' where X is the drive letter (usually A or B), and press return. Type 'DO
Library' and press ENTER to start the Library system.

If you wish to run the Library system from the hard disk, type 'SET PATH TO
C:\path' where 'path' is the route to the subdirectory which contains your
Library system and press return. Type 'DO Library' and press ENTER to start the
Library system. An initial welcome screen displays and waits for you to hit any
key. As soon as you hit a key, the Main Menu of the Library Catalog system
displays.

THE MAIN MENU

............................................................................
. Main Menu .
............................................................................
. .
. A - Add new books or articles .
. U - Update, Edit, Scan, Find books or articles .
. R - Run Reports .
. I - Rebuild the Index .
. P - Remove Deleted records .
. S - Define Report/Sort/Select criteria .
. Q - Quit to DOS .
. D - Exit to dBase .
. .
. Please choose one of the above options .
. .
............................................................................



The main menu allows you to select which function you wish to perform on
your data. The choices are:

(A)dd

This choice allows you to add books or articles to the Library Catalog.

(U)pdate

This selection allows you to update (or edit) existing books or articles,
look at books or articles in the Library Catalog, find books or articles by key,
find books or articles by data contained in any field on the Library Catalog,
print a given book or article record, and delete or recall (undelete) books or
articles.

(Select)

This feature allows you to describe the order and selection criteria for
reports. You can also describe default report forms for a given sort select
sequence and create/modify report forms.

(R)eports

Generate reports from the Library Catalog. This option, in conjunction with
the dBase REPORT verb, allows you to extend the reporting capability by allowing
you to specify which way the Library Catalog should be sorted and which books or
articles should be selected for the report.

re(I)ndex

This function allows you to rebuild the index of the Library Catalog if the
index becomes damaged.

(Quit)

Closes the Library Catalog and exits to DOS.

(D)base

Exits to dBase to allow you to manipulate the Library Catalog using dBase.





















ADDING BOOKS OR ARTICLES

The Add screen (see below) allows you to add new records to your Library
Catalog.

Questar Library Catalog Database
(c) 1988, 1989, all rights reserved
..........................................................................
. Title: __________________________________________________________ .
..........................................................................
. Author(s): __________________________________ . Type: _______________ .
..........................................................................
. Publisher: ___________________ . Subject: __________________________ .
..........................................................................
. Copyright: ____ . DDS: _________ . ISBN: _______________ .
..........................................................................
. Location: ______________________ . Loaned To: _______________________ .
. . Date Loaned: ________ .
..........................................................................
. Synopsis: ____________________________________________________________.
. _______________________________________________________________________.
. _______________________________________________________________________.
. _______________________________________________________________________.
. _______________________________________________________________________.
..........................................................................

Fill in the fields on the screen and press ENTER. The Catalog System will
automatically capitalize the first character in each field (except the Synopsis
fields), but you will have to capitalize other words within a field as
necessary. All letters in the DDS, ISBN, and Location fields will be
automatically capitalized for consistency. When the last field on the screen is
filled in, the new item will automatically be added to the Library Catalog.

If you do not wish to fill in all of the fields, you may shorten the Add
process by pressing Ctrl-End after filling in the fields you wish. This will
cause the record to be added with the remaining fields blank (or initialized to
the values shown on the screen).

To exit the Add screen, press Ctrl-End without filling in ANY of the fields
on the screen. This will exit the Add screen and return to the Main Menu.

The ADD screen contains the following fields:

Field Type Length
Description

TITLE C 58
This is the published title of the book, pamphlet or article. If the item's
Title begins with 'The', e.g., "The Hound of the Baskervilles", you should
record the Title as "Hound of the Baskervilles, The".

AUTHOR C 34
This is the Author, entered Last name, First name. Multiple Authors should
be entered as above, separated by an "&", e.g., Jones, Sam & Smith, John.







TYPE C 15
This is the type of publication, e.g., hardcover, softcover, pamphlet. No
edit checks are performed on any field, so you can enter any values that are
meaningful to you.

PUB C 19
This is the name of the Publisher.

SUBJECT C 26
This is the general subject area. Again, enter tags that are meaningful to
you, and on which you might want to search.

COPYRIT N 4
This is the year the item was copyrighted.

DEWEY C 9
This is the Dewey Decimal System number, if known. The Dewey Decimal System
is the one most libraries use to catalog their books. You can generally find
the DDS number on the copyright page, overleaf from the title page in most books.
Cataloging the DDS number can help you search the Library Catalog for books
contained within a certain classification.

ISBN C 15
This is the ISBN (International Standard Book Number), if known. Like the
DDS, the ISBN can be found on the copyright page.

LOCATN C 22
This is the current or normal location of the item. I list locations by
room, by bookcase, and by shelf. Thus, a book normally kept on the third shelf
from the top of the second bookcase from the left in the Family room would be
listed as FAM 2-3. You should devise, if you haven't already, some sort of
location scheme so you can quickly find the item once the Catalog has identified
it.

LOANEE C 23
This is the person to whom you have loaned an item. As long as you enter
the data when you loan out a book, you should never again have to wonder who has
it. Don't forget to delete the data when the loanee returns the item.

LOANDAT D 8
This is the date the item was loaned out.

SYNOP1 C 60 This field, and the fields that follow, comprise a powerful
part of the Library Catalog. While the Indexing and searching capabilities of
the system will identify items you might be interested in, it is the data you
enter here in the synopsis fields that will remind you, months or years in the
future, what you originally found interesting about this book, pamphlet or
article.

At a loss as to what to enter until you actually read and annotate the item?
Many times, I'll use the synopsis data supplied with the item, typically found
on the front and back inside flaps of the dust cover. Then, after I've read the
item, I'll amend the synopsis data to include the thoughts that were important
to me.







Future versions of Library will include a contiguous Synopsis field (instead
of five discrete fields), and future versions of dBase may allow full-text
searching of this large field. For now, however, you'll have to search on the
structured data fields, then read the synopsis data to see if the item will be
useful.

SYNOP2 C 71
SYNOP3 C 71
SYNOP4 C 71
SYNOP5 C 71




















































THE UPDATE FUNCTION - BROWSING THE LIBRARY CATALOG

From the Main Menu, if you press U, you will enter the Update section of the
system. One of the functions this section allows is the viewing of books or
articles in your Library Catalog. You can go to the first item, the last item,
the next record, the previous book or article, find an item by index, or search
for some specific data within a field in the Library Catalog. Note that the
terms "item" and "record" are used synonymously with "book or article."

T - First Book or Article

You can go to the first record in the Library Catalog by pressing T (Top).
This causes the first book or article in the Library Catalog, or if the Catalog
is indexed (kept in order by a key) the lowest index value (key) to be
displayed.

N - Next book or article

You can go to the next book or article in the Library Catalog by pressing N.
This shows the next book or article in the Library Catalog, or if indexed, the
next index value, to be displayed. If you are at the end of the Library Catalog
(or highest index value), the N function will not cause any movement.

B - Bottom book or article

You can go to the last book or article in the Library Catalog by pressing B.
This causes the last book or article in the Library Catalog, or if indexed, the
highest index value, to be displayed.

P - Previous book or article

You can go to the previous book or article in the Library Catalog by
pressing P (Previous). This shows the previous book or article in the Library
Catalog, or the next lowest index value to be displayed. If you are at the
beginning of the Library Catalog (or the lowest index value), the P function
will not cause movement.

F - Find by Index

This function allows you to find an item in your database using the index of
the Library Catalog. This function only works if your Library Catalog is
indexed. To use this function type F. The fields on which the Library Catalog
is indexed open to allow you to enter the values you wish to search on. Please
note that for character fields, upper and lower case matter. If the case is
wrong you will not find the books or articles you are searching for. Fill in
the values and press return. (If there are characters left over from the
previous entry, delete them.) If books or articles are found that match the
search data you entered, they are displayed. If no matching records are found,
a message is printed on the bottom line of the screen.

This Catalog is indexed in order by SUBJECT. Entering a topic to search on,
e.g., Physics, Skiing, etc., will result in the display of all records that
match the search data. Careful annotation when you Add an item, and use of the
same terms when you search, will maximize the number of pertinent records the
search function will retrieve.







S - Set a filter

This function allows you to limit the display of books or articles on your
Library Catalog by searching any field in the Library Catalog using standard
dBase conditional testing. To use this function just type S. A line opens on
the bottom to allow you to enter the filter conditions. Once you have set a
filter, all other actions while updating are based on the filter condition you
have set. Thus if you go to the Top of the Library Catalog you will really go
to the first book or article which matches the filter condition, not the first
book or article in the Library Catalog.

All conditions must be made up of valid field names, dBase functions, and
literals. If the condition is invalid an error will occur. When an error
occurs, just press I to ignore it and re-try the condition. Below are some
examples of the type of conditions you can enter and the action they perform.
COPYRIT = '1985'

Show only books or articles which have the field COPYRIT equal to '1985'.
This example assumes that COPYRIT is a character field. Notice the quotes
around 1985. All tests against characters must have the literal contained
within quotes.

COPYRIT = 1985

Show only books or articles which have the field COPYRIT equal to 1985. This
example assumes that COPYRIT is a numeric field. Notice the lack of quotes
around the 1985 literal.

COPYRIT <> 1985

Show only books or articles which have the field COPYRIT not equal to 1985.
This example again assumes that COPYRIT is a numeric field.

COPYRIT = 1985 .OR. COPYRIT = 1987

Only show books or articles which have the field COPYRIT equal to either
19130 or 19131. Again COPYRIT is a numeric field. Notice the logical function
.OR. use above. This compounds the condition to require that EITHER of the
simple conditions must be true for the books or article to be displayed.

COPYRIT >= '1985' .AND. COPYRIT <= '1988'

Only show books or articles which have the field COPYRIT in the range '1985'
to '1988'. Notice the logical function .AND. used above. This compounds the
condition to require that BOTH of the simple conditions must be true for the
books or articles to be displayed.

"Smith"$AUTHOR

Only show books or articles which have the field AUTHOR containing the
literal "Smith" somewhere within it. This demonstrates the dBase search
function $. To search a character field X for a character literal "?" you would
type "?"$X.








RECNO() > 100

Only show books or articles which have record numbers greater
than 100. This condition excludes the first 100 records from sight.


THE UPDATE FUNCTION - OTHER USES

In addition to browsing your data, you may delete and recall (undelete),
print, and edit (change) the book or article displayed on the screen. You may
also return to the main menu.

D - Deleting and undeleting books or article

The D function deletes a record. If the book or article is already deleted,
it will be recalled (undeleted). Books or articles deleted this way are not
removed from the Library Catalog until you specify the P (PACK) option from the
main menu.

E - Edit

The E function allows you to change the content of the fields within the
book or article record displayed on the screen. When you type E, all the fields
open to allow data to be changed. Change any fields you wish. When you leave
the last field, the data is stored in the Library Catalog. You can speed up
this process by pressing Ctrl-End after you change the field(s) you wish to
modify.

R - List the books or article

The R function will list the data portions of the record on the screen to
the printer. You must have your printer on and ready for this function to work.

Q - Quit

The Q function quits the update section and returns to the main menu.

























DEFINING SORT/SELECT CRITERIA

From the Main Menu, pressing S will allow you to modify the sort/select
database. A new menu appears. To add new sort/select criteria type A, to
change existing sort/select criteria type U. To create or modify a dBase report
form, type R.

CREATING NEW SORT/SELECT CRITERIA

Press A. A screen for the sort/select database appears. See below.

. Sort/Select Definition File .
. Sort Name: ________ Sorted File Name: ________ Form Name: ________ .
. Description: ___________________________________________________________ .
. Selection Criteria .
. ________________________________________________________________________ .
. SORT FIELDS .
. Field Name Order .
. 1) _______ _ .
. 2) _______ _ .
. 3) _______ _ .
. 4) _______ _ .
. 5) _______ _ .
. 6) _______ _ .
. 7) _______ _ .
. 8) _______ _ .
. 9) _______ _ .
. 10) _______ _ .

This screen allows you to define a set of sort fields and selection criteria
for reports. Generally one report form will suffice for many different
selections.

Rather than needing to specify the criteria each time you wish to print
reports, you may save them in this file. For example, if your catalog contained
customer names and addresses and you wish to send out mailings for customers who
have spent more than $5000.00 sorted by zipcode (for bulk mailing) you could
create a sort selection called GOODCUST which has a selection criteria of SALES
> 5000 and the first sort field name would be ZIPCODE.

The fields on this screen are:

Field Name Description

SORT NAME The name of this sort/select criteria. When you print a
report file, this is the name you would specify.

SORTED FILE NAME The name of the file which will be used to hold the
records from your database which meet your selection criteria. This file is in
sorted order. The default name is SORTWORK.

FORM NAME For report processing, this is the name of the dBase
REPORT FORM that will be used when you choose this sort/select criteria.








DESCRIPTION A human-readable description of what this sort/select
criteria is for.

SELECTION CRITERIA A dBase condition which selects the records you need from
your database. For an explanation of dBase conditions, refer to the dBase
programmers guide or look at the section on filters within this manual.

SORT FIELDS A list of the fields to sort on and if they should be
sorted in Ascending or Descending order.

1) FIELD NAME The name of sort field number 1. The primary sort field.
The file will be sorted into this order and than within this by other specified
fields.

ORDER A for ascending or D for descending. The default is A.

2) FIELD NAME The name of sort field number 2. The secondary sort
field order. The file will first be sorted into order by 1) FIELD NAME and
within that sort by this field.

ORDER A for ascending or D for descending. The default is A.
.
.
.
10) FIELD NAME The least important sort order field. The file will be
in order by the prior 9 sort fields and then finally sorted into minor order by
this field.

ORDER A for ascending or D for descending. The default is A.
UPDATING SORT/SELECT CRITERIA

You may update sort/select criteria the same as you would update records on
your database. For more details see the section on updating records earlier in
this document.

Creating Report Forms

From the Criteria Main Menu, pressing option R allows you to create or
update a dBase REPORT FORM. Press R and you are asked for the name of the
report you wish to work on. Type in the name of an existing report you wish to
modify or give a new name for a report you wish to create. The dBase III report
screen appears. See the Appendix C below or your dBase Manual on REPORT
generation for more information on how to build reports. When you exit the
report generator, you will return to the Criteria Main Menu.

Returning to the Main Menu

From the Criteria main menu, pressing option D will return you to the
Catalog Main Menu.












REPORTS

From the Main Menu, option R will cause the Report function to start. When
you type R or S the output definition screen (see below) appears.

. Output Definition Screen .
. .
. Output to: PRINTER N .
. CONSOLE Y .
. DISK N Disk File Name: ____________ .
. .
. Sort Name : ________ .
. .
. Word Processor: .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .

You need to specify three things on this screen. The output device
(printer, console, or Disk, the sort/select criteria name, and optionally the
disk file name for the output report.

Put a Y next to the type of output device (Printer, Console, or disk) you
wish to have the report sent to. You can choose only one output device. In
addition, if you specify disk you must give the disk file name for the output
report.

The sort/select criteria name is the name of a criteria on the sort/select
file (see previous section) that describes what records are to be retrieved and
how they are to be sorted. This criteria must have been defined prior to using
the R function. If you wish all records in the current file order, specify
NOSORT.

Once you have specified all of the parameters correctly, the report function
will start printing. After the report is finished (or the disk file is
created), you return to the main menu.

REBUILDING THE INDEX

The I option of the Main Menu allows you rebuild the Index of your Library
Catalog. Sometimes there are problems with your Library Catalog where you cannot
find books or articles using the Update function that you know are in the
Catalog. This indicates a damaged index. If this problem occurs (this is a
dBase problem, not problem with your system), rebuild your index. After the
index is rebuilt you are returned to the Main Menu.








PACKING THE CATALOG DATABASE

When you issue the Delete command from the Update screen, the book or
article is marked as deleted but still remains in your Library Catalog. To
permanently remove all books or articles in the Catalog which have been deleted,
you must PACK your database. By pressing P from the Main Menu, the books or
articles you have deleted will be removed forever. When done, the Main Menu
returns.

Quitting to dBase

By pressing D from the Main Menu, you are returned to dBase. All files are
closed before exiting. You may then do whatever you wish using native dBase.
If you type D by accident, type 'DO Library' to restart your system.

Quitting to DOS

By pressing Q from the main menu, you are returned to DOS.











































Library Users Guide


APPENDIX A


Definitions



Byte
A position in the computers memory or on a file which can hold one character
of data.

Dot Prompt
Once dBase has been started, the command line where you enter commands.

Field
An area which is used for a particular category of data. For example a
group of positions (bytes) on a file used to represent a salary or a group of
positions which represents a person's last name.

File A collection of related records which are treated as a unit. Thus in a
membership list file a group of fields such as name, address, city, state, and
zipcode are grouped together into a record. A complete set of these records
would form a membership file.

Index
A file which contains the keys of records and their locations on a main data
file. This index file can be thought of like a card catalog in a library. To
find a given book (record in the data file), you would look up the title of the
book (key) in card catalog (index). Once you have found the book title (key) in
the catalog (index), the card (index record) would contain the location of the
book (data record) on the shelf (main data file).

Key
The key to a database is the field or fields in which the file is kept in
order. For example, if a file is kept in order by last name, first name, and
middle initial the file is keyed by these fields.


Literal
A string of bytes which describe the contents of a field. For example the
name 'HEARN', the zip code '19130', the salary 930.25, or the logical literal
.T. There are three types of literals; character literals, numeric literals,
and logical literals. Character literals are always enclosed in quotes.
Numeric literals are a string of string of numbers, decimal point and positive
or negative signs. Logical literals are Yes/No switches. There are two logical
literals .T. and .F. which indicate true and false.












Library Users Guide


APPENDIX B


Field Definitions




There are 16 fields in this file:

Field NAME: TITLE
Description: This is the published title of the book, pamphlet or article
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 58 positions long
Edit Picture: !xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Field NAME: AUTHOR
Description: This is the Author, entered Last name, First name
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 34 positions long
Edit Picture: !xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Field NAME: TYPE
Description: This is the type of publication, e.g., hardcover, softcover
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 15 positions long
Edit Picture: !xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Field NAME: PUB
Description: This is the name of the Publisher
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 19 positions long
Edit Picture: !xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Field NAME: SUBJECT
Description: This is the general subject area
Field Origin: Database index field 1 on file Library
Field Type: Character field 26 positions long
Edit Picture: !xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Field NAME: COPYRIT
Description: This is the year the item was copyrighted
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Numeric field 4 positions long
Edit Picture: ####

Field NAME: DEWEY
Description: This is the Dewey Decimal System number, if known
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 9 positions long
Edit Picture: !!!!!!!!!







Field NAME: ISBN
Description: This is the ISBN number, if known
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 15 positions long
Edit Picture: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Field NAME: LOCATN
Description: This is the current or normal location of the item.
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 22 positions long
Edit Picture: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Field NAME: LOANEE
Description: This is the person to whom the item was loaned.
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 23 positions long
Edit Picture: !xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Field NAME: LOANDAT
Description: This is the date the item was loaned out.
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Date field
Maximum value allowed: / /

Field NAME: SYNOP1
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 60 positions long

Field NAME: SYNOP2
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 71 positions long

Field NAME: SYNOP3
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 71 positions long

Field NAME: SYNOP4
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 71 positions long

Field NAME: SYNOP5
Field Origin: Database field on file Library
Field Type: Character field 71 positions long


















Library Users Guide


APPENDIX C


Reports

You may create your reports from either the dBase "dot prompt" or from within
your system. The setup methods change depending on which method you choose, but
once the report screen is displayed, the creation or modification of the report
is the same.


From the "dot prompt"

Type 'USE Library' and press enter if your Library Catalog is not indexed.

Type 'USE Library INDEX Library' and press enter if your Library Catalog is
indexed.

Now type 'MODIFY REPORT name' where name is the name of an existing report
you wish to modify or the name of a new report you wish to create. The dBase
report screen will appear.


From the Sort/Selection menu

When you choose option R from the Sort/Selection menu, you will be asked for
the name of the report you wish to create or modify. Type this name and press
enter. The dBase report screen will appear.


Creating or Modifying Reports

The report generator appears on the screen. Looking at the screen, you will
notice various menus across the top. They are labeled: Options, Groups,
Columns, Locate, and Exit. You may move to the various menus by pressing the
right and left arrow keys. The up and down arrow keys move the highlight within
the pull-down menus. To select the currently highlighted menu item, press the
Return or ENTER key. Below is a description of each of the menus.


The Option Menu

This is the first and leftmost menu. The Option menu contains various
options for page layout. The option menu allows you to change the Title of the
report, the right and left margins, and number of lines per page. You can also
specify if the report should be printed double spaced, if there should be a page
eject before or after printing the report, and if the title should be printed.
Normally, you would only set the Title option on this menu.










Title
To change the title, move the highlight to the page title option and press
return. A box appears to allow you to give the page title. After you have
typed the title, press Ctrl-End to close the box and change the title.

Page Width
The page width option allows you to specify the width of the paper in your
printer. The default is 80 and this is what you want for most printers. If you
have a wide carriage printer you can change this value to 132. If you are using
special forms with a non-standard width measure the paper and multiply the page
width (in inches) by 10 to calculate this number. To change this option, move
the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again.

Left margin
This option allows you to specify how many positions from the left you wish
printing to begin. This allows you to specify a margin for neatness or to allow
hole punching in the report. The default is 8 positions (4/5 inch) but you may
change it. To change this option, move the highlight here and press return.
Type the new value and press return again.

Right margin
This option allows you to specify how many positions from the right you wish
printing to stop at. This allows you to specify a margin for neatness. The
default is 0 positions but you may change it. To change this option, move the
highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again.

Lines per page
This option is the number of lines of the report that will be printed before
skipping to the top of another page. The default is 58 lines. This leaves a
top and bottom margin of 4 lines (2/3 of an inch) each, assuming standard 11"
paper and a printer printing at 6 lines per inch. To change this option, move
the highlight here and press return. Type the new value and press return again.

Double space report
This allows you to specify that a blank line should be printed after each
report line, causing the report to be double spaced. The default is NO which
causes the report to be single spaced. To change this option, move the
highlight here and press return. Press the space bar to alternate between Yes
and No. When the option is selected press return again.

Page eject before printing.
This option causes an eject to the top of a new page before printing the
report. The default is YES which insures that you will start on a new page. To
change this option, move the highlight here and press return. By pressing the
return key you alternate between Yes and No.

Page eject after printing.
This option causes an eject to the top of a new page after printing the
report. The default is NO. If you are using a laser printer, you should change
this option to YES. To change this option, move the highlight here and press
return. By pressing the return key you alternate between Yes and No.

Plain Paper
This option suppresses the date and page number at the top of a report. The
default is NO which indicates that the date and page number should be printed.
To change this option, move the highlight here and press return. By pressing the
return key you alternate between Yes and No.




The Groups Menu

The Group option, the second menu on the screen, allows you to group data on
the report for subtotals and subsubtotals. An important thing to remember is
that in order for the group options to work, the file must be in the same order
as the grouping you specify. If the file is kept in some other order, you
should specify a sort/selection criteria (see earlier in this manual) to place
your file into the correct order before printing the report.

Group on Expression
The first option on this menu is the "Group on Expression" option. This
represents the first level of grouping and must be the first listed sort field
in the index or in the sort/select criteria menu.

Group Heading
The second option on this menu is the "Group Heading" option. This option
allows you to give a header to the subtotal that is printed.

Summary Report Only
The third option on this menu is the "Summary report only" option. This
option specifies whether all data or only subtotals are printed. If you leave
this option at NO, all data is printed. If you set this option to YES, only
totals are printed.

Page eject after group.
The next option is "Page eject after group". This allows you to cause page
breaks after each group. If you change this option to yes, each group will
start on a new page. You should NOT specify yes if you have said YES to the
summary report only (above) option. Doing so would cause one line per page to
be printed. To change this option, move the highlight here and press return. By
pressing the return key you alternate between Yes and No.

Sub-group on expression
The "Sub-group on expression" option allows you to cause another level of
totals. If you wished your report to be broken into companies and within that
by departments, the main group would be company and the sub-group would be
department.

Sub-group heading
The "Sub-group heading" allows you to specify the heading for this grouping.

Putting columns in your report

The Columns menu allows you to place field values into columns on your
report, specify headings for the columns, modify the default width of a column,
specify the number of decimal positions for numeric data and whether this column
should be totaled.


To enter data into the options on this menu, you point at the option, press
enter, type the data, and press enter again to save the data. After you finish
filling in the options for one column you switch to the next column by pressing
the PgDn key. To back up to a column you have already filled in, press PgUp.
If you wish to delete a column use PgUp and PgDn to find the correct column and







than press Ctrl-U to delete the column. If you wish to insert a new column
between two other columns, position using PgUp and PgDn to the column before
which you wish to insert a new column and press Ctrl-N to insert a new column.

Contents
To specify the contents of a column, you point the highlight at the contents
option and press enter. You can now type the field name for this column or
press F10 to see a list of field names. If you press F10 for the list of field
names, you would select a field by using the up and down arrow keys to highlight
the field you wish to choose and than press return.

Heading
Next you would select the "Heading" option. Point the highlight at the
"Heading" option and press return. A small box appears for you to fill in a
heading. Type in the heading you wish to use for this column and press Ctrl-End
to save this value. If you wish to have a two line header, type a semicolon
between the two lines. Thus, if you were to type "Dept No" this would appear
on one line. If you were to type "Dept;No" it would appear on two lines with
Dept above No. Once you have typed in the header and pressed Ctrl-End to save
it, the report generator fills in the "Width" option based on the larger of the
field size or the heading size.

Notice that the "Report Format" box at the bottom of the screen shows the
column heading and a series of characters beneath the column heading to show you
how the columns have been laid out so far. The characters below the heading
vary depending on the type of the field. If the field type was numeric, a
series of #'s show the width of the column. If the field was character a series
of X's show. If the field was a memo field a series of M's appear. If the
field was a date field, MM/DD/YY appears on the screen. For logical fields, .L.
appears.

Width
This is the size of the column in which the data will be placed. It is
automatically set when you specify the contents and heading options. It is set
to the maximum of the size of the data field or the size of the heading to be
printed. You may override this field by pressing return, typing in a new size,
and pressing return again.

Decimal Positions.
For numeric fields you may specify the number of decimal positions to be
shown on the screen. The default is zero and may be changed. You may change
this field by pressing return, typing in a new size, and pressing return again.

Total this column.
If set to YES, this option causes the column to be totaled and printed at
the end of the report. You can only set this option for numeric fields. To
change this option, move the highlight here and press return. By pressing the
return key you alternate between Yes and No.

Locate - Moving to a specific column

The Locate menu allows you to quickly move to a specific column on the
columns menu. To use this menu, position the highlight on the field you wish to
locate and press return. The column menu for this field opens to allow you to
edit this column.






Exit

The Exit menu allows you to save your changes to this report or abandon the
changes you have made. To save the report, move the highlight to the Save menu
choice and press enter. To abandon the changes, position the cursor at the
Abandon choice and press return. If you abandon the changes, all work done on
this report will be lost. After exiting from the report generator you will
return to either the "dot prompt" or to the sort/selection criteria menu
depending on where you started.




















































EXAMPLE OF REPORT RUN FROM THE SAMPLE DATABASE USING REPORT FORM "BOOKS"
AND SORT NAME "BOOKS"



Page No. 1
01/07/89
Books in the Library

Title Author(s) Location


Backgammon - The Cruelest Game Cooke, Barclay & Bradshaw, Jon LIB 4-2
Backgammon - The Quick Course to Stern, Don LIB 4-2
Winning Play
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations Bartlett, John LIB 3-2
Book of Modern Manners Ford, Charlotte LIB 1-1
Bottom-Up Marketing Ries, Al & Trout, Jack LIB 3-3
Contact Sagan, Carl LIB 2-3
Dancing in the Light MacLaine, Shirley LIB 2-4
Death and Taxes Wagner, Richard E. LIB 2-5
Death in a White Tie Marsh, Ngaio LR 1-2
Flight of the Intruder Coonts, Stephen LIB 3-4
Forever Amber Winsor, Kathleen LR 1-2
How Full is Full Employment? Moore, Geoffrey H. LIB 2-5
Marketing Warfare Ries, Al & Trout, Jack LIB 3-3
Negotiate to Close Karrass, Gary LIB 3-1
Positioning: The Battle for Your Ries, Al & Trout, Jack LIB 3-3
Mind
Press, Politics and Popular Bartley, Kristol, Evans, Cater LIB 2-5
Government
Secrets of Closing Sales, 4th Roth, Charles B. LIB 3-1
Edition
Synonym Finder, The Rodale, J. I. LIB 3-2
Tales from the Arabian Knights Unknown LR 1-3


























EXAMPLE OF REPORT RUN FROM THE SAMPLE DATABASE USING REPORT FORM "AUTHORS"
AND SORT NAME "AUTHOR"



Page No. 1
01/07/89
Author Listing

Author(s) Title Location


Bartlett, John Bartlett's Familiar Quotations LIB 3-2
Bartley, Kristol, Evans, Cater Press, Politics and Popular LIB 2-5
Government
Cooke, Barclay & Bradshaw, Jon Backgammon - The Cruelest Game LIB 4-2
Coonts, Stephen Flight of the Intruder LIB 3-4
Ford, Charlotte Book of Modern Manners LIB 1-1
Karrass, Gary Negotiate to Close LIB 3-1
MacLaine, Shirley Dancing in the Light LIB 2-4
Marsh, Ngaio Death in a White Tie LR 1-2
Moore, Geoffrey H. How Full is Full Employment? LIB 2-5
Ries, Al & Trout, Jack Bottom-Up Marketing LIB 3-3
Ries, Al & Trout, Jack Marketing Warfare LIB 3-3
Ries, Al & Trout, Jack Positioning: The Battle for LIB 3-3
Your Mind
Rodale, J. I. Synonym Finder, The LIB 3-2
Roth, Charles B. Secrets of Closing Sales, 4th LIB 3-1
Edition
Sagan, Carl Contact LIB 2-3
Stern, Don Backgammon - The Quick Course LIB 4-2
to Winning Play
Unknown Tales from the Arabian Knights LR 1-3
Wagner, Richard E. Death and Taxes LIB 2-5
Winsor, Kathleen Forever Amber LR 1-2


























EXAMPLE OF REPORT RUN FROM THE SAMPLE DATABASE USING REPORT FORM "LOCATION"
AND SORT NAME "LOCATION"


Page No. 1
01/07/89
Location of Items in the Library,
sorted by location and title.

Item Location Item Title Item Type


LIB 1-1 Book of Modern Manners Softcover
LIB 2-3 Contact Hardcover F
LIB 2-4 Dancing in the Light Hardcover NF
LIB 2-5 Death and Taxes Pamphlet NF
LIB 2-5 How Full is Full Employment? Pamphlet NF
LIB 2-5 Press, Politics and Popular Pamphlet NF
Government
LIB 3-1 Negotiate to Close Hardcover NF
LIB 3-1 Secrets of Closing Sales, 4th Hardcover NF
Edition
LIB 3-2 Bartlett's Familiar Quotations Hardcover R
LIB 3-2 Synonym Finder, The Hardcover R
LIB 3-3 Bottom-Up Marketing Hardcover
LIB 3-3 Marketing Warfare Hardcover
LIB 3-3 Positioning: The Battle for Hardcover
Your Mind
LIB 3-4 Flight of the Intruder Hardcover F
LIB 4-2 Backgammon - The Cruelest Game Softcover NF
LIB 4-2 Backgammon - The Quick Course Softcover NF
to Winning Play
LR 1-2 Death in a White Tie Hardcover F
LR 1-2 Forever Amber Hardcover F
LR 1-3 Tales from the Arabian Knights Hardcover F


























EXAMPLE OF REPORT RUN FROM THE SAMPLE DATABASE USING REPORT FORM "LOANERS"
AND SORT NAME "LOANERS"



Page No. 1
01/07/89
List of Items Currently on Loan,
Sorted by Loanee and Title

Name of Person to whom Date This Item
Loaned Item Title the Item was Loaned Was Loaned


Flight of the Intruder Bill Johnson 10/02/88
Tales from the Arabian Knights Brandon Landerkin 05/13/88
Backgammon - The Quick Course Susan Walker 01/05/89
to Winning Play