POZOR - program vy‘aduje v¡ce ne‘ 80KB voln‚ opera‡n¡ pamˆti. To zna- men , ‘e vnit©n¡ disk C: nem–- ‘e b˜t naform tov n na vˆt¨¡ kapacitu, ne‘ 24KB !!! -------------------------------------- DBSHOW - The dBASE III File Viewer Version 1.0 (Dated 9/27/91 - 15618 bytes) (c)Copyright 1991 Software Vineyard All Rights Reserved by Don Messerli This program is freeware. It may not be resold alone or as part of any other package without prior consent. What is it? ----------- DBSHOW is a program that lets you view dBASE III files on the Atari Portfolio. This program will not run on a desktop PC. dBASE III files have a .DBF extension. This program will not let you edit or change the database in any way. Features -------- - View dBASE III files - Uses the same user-interface as the Portfolio's built-in apps. - Copy a field or whole record to the clipboard for pasting into the Portfolio's built-in apps such as the Editor. - Support for viewing PGC images with a new field type (Graphic). See information below. - PGC Title screens for databases. - Viewing of fields wider than the screen. How do I use it? ---------------- Syntax: DBSHOW [filename][.dbf] filename is the name of the dBASE file you wish to view. It is optional, as you can "Open" a file from within the program. The default extension is .DBF, it can be omitted. The Status Line --------------- The last line on the screen is the status line. It lets you know where in the database you are. Here is an example: File: TEST 1/ 3 Del ^ This tells you that the database file is called TEST.DBF, the current record is 1, there are 3 records in the file, the current record status is Deleted, and there are more fields above the screen. What Do You Mean by "Deleted"? ------------------------------ dBASE III doesn't actually remove a record from a database when you delete it. It just marks it as deleted. (The deleted records are purged from the database when you execute the dBASE "PACK" command. Moving Around the Database -------------------------- Moving around the database is done with the normal movement keys. PgDn - Go to next record PgUp - Go to previous record Home - Go to first record End - Go to last record The Fields ---------- The fields are displayed 7 at a time. If there are more fields, an arrowhead on the right side of the status line will point in the direction that there are more fields (above the screen, below the screen - or both). Play with it, you'll understand after seeing it. If the contents of a field are too wide to display on the screen, an arrowhead pointing to the right is displayed at the end of that line. Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to see the fields not on the screen. The top field on the screen is the "current field". If the contents of this field are too wide for the screen, pressing ENTER will let you view the whole field. Sorry, no word wrap until Version 1.1 Help ---- If you forget what any of the keys do, pressing F2 will get you a simple help window. Press any key to return to viewing. The Menu -------- Pressing F1 brings up the menu. The menu operates the same as the menus in the Portfolio's built-in applications. If you don't know how it works, look in the manual that came with your Portfolio, if you can find it. The menu choices and brief descriptions are as follows: Open - Open a dBASE file for viewing. Info - Get information about the currently loaded database file. Goto - Go to a specified record number. Search - Search for a string in the database. A sub-menu will come up asking you which field you want to search. About - Legal mumbo-jumbo Quit - Leave the program. Some of the menu choices bring up editing windows where you must input some information. If you wish to abort the operation, just press ESC. Short-Cut Keys -------------- Each menu choice has an associated short-cut key. Pressing the ALT key and the first letter of the menu choice will do the same thing as choosing it from the menu. Copying to the Clipboard ------------------------ Pressing F3 brings up a small menu. The choices are "Field" and "Record". Choosing one will place a copy of the "current field" or record to the clipboard. You can then pop-up one of the Portfolio's built-in apps and Paste the information into it. For example - 1. Copy something to the clipboard. 2. press the Atari Key and the "E" key to pop into the Editor. 3. Press F3 to get the Editor's clipboard menu. 4. Choose "Paste" 5. Say "neato" 6. Press ESC to get back to DBSHOW. Whatever was in the clipboard last when you quit DBSHOW is saved by the Portfolio in a file called C:\SYSTEM\CLIPBORD.DAT This means that you don't have to paste the contents of the clipboard while still in DBSHOW. What Did You Say About Graphics? -------------------------------- I have created a new field type called "Graphic" in addition to the 5 field types dBASE III supports. If a field is of this type, pressing ENTER when it is the current field will display the PGC file listed in the field contents (if it can find it in the current directory). Press any key to stop viewing the picture. dBASE files with this field type are still compatible with dBASE. dBASE III will display the field contents, but not let you edit it. There aren't currently any programs to create dBASE files with "Graphic" fields. I will be releasing some in the near future. PGC Title Screens ----------------- If you open a database file from the command line or with DBSHOW, DBSHOW will look for and display (if found) the PGC file with the same name as the database. For example, if you load HOMES.DBF, HOMES.PGC will be displayed on the screen. The Sample Database ------------------- I have included a sample dBASE file for you to play with. It is called HOMES.DBF and includes a title screen and a"Graphic" field called PICTURE. The PGC files included with DBSHOW must be in the same directory as DBSHOW. Revision History ---------------- Version 1.00 - 9/27/91 Initial Release A note from the author ---------------------- If you have any comments, questions, or find any bugs, please send me electronic mail. Don Messerli CompuServe 72500,1671 GEnie D.MESS