Data Master Version 3.1 Copyright 1990-93 Robert K. Summers - All Rights Reserved. Distributed by: RKS Software, Inc. 3820 North Dittmar Rd., Arlington, VA 22207 703-534-1726 (Voice) 703-534-4358 (FAX) 703-534-7812 (BBS) DISCLAIMER Data Master is provided "AS IS". It is licensed without any warranty of merchantability, fitness of particular purpose, performance, or otherwise; all warranties are disclaimed. By using Data Master, you agree that Robert K. Summers and RKS Software, Inc., will not be liable to you or any third party for any use of (or inability to use) this software, or for any damages (direct or indirect) whatsoever, even if RKS Software, Inc. or Robert K. Summers are apprised of the possibility of such damages occurring. In no event shall Robert K. Summers or RKS Software, Inc. be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. The entire risk related to the quality and performance of the program is on you. LICENSE STATEMENT Registered owners are licensed to use their registered copy on a single machine and to make archival copies for the sole purpose of backing up the program. Data Master may be moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it is being used at another. SHAREWARE TRIAL You may have procured this software from another source such as the libraries on Compuserve, a BBS, a shareware disk vendor, or from a friend. That's fine!. We encourage registered users to introduce new users to Data Master by providing them with an unregistered copy. Try it out for up to 30 days, and if you decide to continue using it, pay the license fee of $39. You'll receive a registered copy and other benefits described below. Shareware gives users a legal but limited trial period to test the software before purchase. Data Master in shareware form is fully functional and completely documented. However, telephone support is not available to unregistered users. You must purchase the program (called "registering") before you can get telephone support. HOW TO REGISTER Call 703-534-1726, or send in the registration form at the end of this User Manual. BENEFITS OF REGISTRATION: 1. FREE LICENSED COPY OF THE MOST RECENT VERSION OF DATA MASTER, sent to you immediately by first class mail. 2. PRINTED USER MANUAL, containing complete information on Data Master operations. 3. TECHNICAL SUPPORT by phone, FAX, Compuserve E-mail, the RKS Software BBS, or by regular mail. 4. DISCOUNT on upgrades of future versions of Data Master. If you have received Data Master through a user group, a shareware distributor, or an electronic bulletin board, please remember that any diskette fee you paid DOES NOT constitute licensing the software, and you are still obligated to register if you decide to use Data Master after the 30 day trial period. HARD DISK INSTALLATION Data Master must be installed in a hard disk directory called \DM. The two required files are DM.EXE and README. DM.EXE is the Data Master program. README is this information file, which displays on the screen when you press F1. Just copy the DM.EXE and README files into the \DM directory and type DM to start the program. If you have received Data Master on a distribution disk from RKS Software, a shareware vendor, or computer club, there will be an installation program on the disk. To install: 1. place the working disk in drive A. 2. at the A:> prompt, type A:INSTALL and follow the on-screen instructions. The default installation directory is C:\DM. You may change the drive letter, but please leave the directory name as \DM. 3. to start Data Master any time in the future, type \DM\DM at any C:\> prompt. If you place the \DM directory in your path statement, just type DM at any C:\> prompt. The installation procedure will also create a sample database called NAMES.DBF which you can use as-is to build a name and address file. You can use Data Master to modify this file to add, delete, or change any of the data fields. DOS uses the CONFIG.SYS file to set certain defaults for your computer. It MUST be in the root directory of your fixed disk. If you do not already have a CONFIG.SYS file you MUST create one that has these two lines, and place it in your PC's root directory: FILES=21 BUFFERS=16 If you already use a CONFIG.SYS file that does not include settings for files and buffers, you MUST add the two lines above to the file. You can do it with any text editor. If your CONFIG.SYS file already contains settings for files and buffers greater than these, you can leave them as they are. DEFINITIONS Database: A database is an organized collection of information or data. A simple example of a database is a mailing list. Dbase database files always have a file extension of .DBF. Record: All the data for a particular entry is called a record. In a mailing list, each record contains all the name & address data for one person. Field: Each item of information within a record is called a field. In each mailing list record, for example, there may be fields for last name, first name, street, city, state, and zip code. A database can contain one or more of five types of fields. These five are: 1. Character - This type of field allows entry of all the letters, numbers and symbols you see on your keyboard. In a typical mailing list, all the fields would probably be character type fields. 2. Numeric - This type of field allows only entry of numbers. Use it only for numbers you want to calculate. Put zip codes or phone numbers in a character field, not a numeric field. 3. Date - This type of field allows only date entries. 4. Logical - This type of field allows only a true/false entry. 5. Memo - This type of field is an elastic character field. Whereas character fields must be defined as a fixed length, e.g., 20 characters long, memo fields have no fixed length. Instead, memo field data is stored in a companion file, with a .DBT (DataBase Text) extension, and takes up no disk space unless data is entered into it. Indexes: An index is a file which controls the order in which database records are displayed and printed. Persons working with a mailing list database would normally create an index file based on the last name field and an index file based on the zip code field (assuming these two fields are included in the database structure). Index files created and used by Data Master have a file extension of .PCB. Creation and use of index files is explained below. USING DATA MASTER Type DM at the DOS prompt of the DM directory to start Data Master, or type \DM\DM if you are not in the DM directory. In most cases, Data Master will be able to detect whether you have a color or monochrome monitor. If you have a monochrome monitor and the Data Master screen is not clear, type DM M to start Data Master. The extra M tells Data Master to use monochrome, not color. When the program starts, you will see that the Main Menu presents five options. These are discussed in turn below. You may select any main menu option by pressing ALT plus the first letter of the option. Example: press ALT S to select the Services option. Main menu sub-options may be selected by pressing the highlighted letter for that option. You may press ALT X to quit the program. You may also select main menu and sub-options by using the arrow keys to highlight the option and then press Enter to select the highlighted option. Files Use this option to display a menu of six sub-options. Open: Select this option to open a database file in the current directory. Data Master will load this file and display it on the screen in browse mode where you may add, edit, delete, etc. records. Select the Quit option to return to the main menu. IMPORTANT TIP: ONCE A FILE IS LOADED, YOU MAY JUMP INTO BROWSE MODE AT ANY TIME FROM THE MAIN MENU BY PRESSING THE F2 KEY. The Status box at the bottom of the screen will always display the currently loaded database. Note: Data Master is installed with one example database called NAMES.DBF which you can use to build a name and address file. Modify/Create: Use this feature to modify the structure of an existing database, or to create a new database. You can add, edit, or delete fields of the five types described above. Instructions for use are provided on the screen. Once created, you cannot modify a field name. Instead, create a new database with the field name(s) you want, and use the Append File option to move records from the old file to the new file. Close Database: Use this feature to close the currently active database. The Status box will show that no database is active. Append File: Use this feature to append (merge) records from another database or ASCII file into the currently active database. When appending ASCII records, the fields in the ASCII file must be in exactly the same sequence as the fields in the active dbase file. Save As: Use this feature to save the currently active database to a new dbase file or to an ASCII text file. eXit: Select this option to quit the program. You may also press ALT X to quit the program. Indexes You do not have to use an index file to control your database, but it will make working with a database a lot more pleasant if you do. You must have already selected a database in order for this option to work. When you select this option you will be presented with three choices: Select Index(es): When you select this option, Data Master will present you with a list of existing index files. The index file(s) you select must have been created for the currently active database. Data Master will tell you if it does not match. You can have more than one index active at the same time. Data Master will automatically update all active indexes as records are added, changed, or deleted. Create New Index: Use this feature to create a new index file. Data Master will prompt you to select the field(s) to index on. Data Master will then ask you to name the index file, and create it. When you create a new index file, that becomes the controlling index for the active database. Select Controlling Index: When using more than one index, use this option to tell Data Master which index is the controlling index. For example, if you have selected a last name index and a zip code index using the Select Index(es) option above, and you want to work with the records in last name order, use this option to tell Data Master that the last name index is the controlling index. Data Master will display the records in last name order, and will automatically update both the last name and zip code indexes as you add, edit, delete, etc. records. Rebuild Open Index(es): Use this feature to rebuild all active index files. This means that Data Master will make sure that there is a correct entry in each index file for each record in the database file. You may need to do this, for example, if you forgot to have your LNAME.PCB and/or ZIP.PCB files active when you added, deleted, or edited data in your mailing list. Data Master will automatically maintain your index files if they are active when you are using the database. If you are ever unsure whether a database's index files are current, just select the database, select the index files, and select Rebuild Open Index(es). Use Use this feature to display a menu of options for using the data in the database. Browse Records: Select this option to browse the currently active database. You may add,edit, delete, locate, and view all the records in the database. NOTE: a shortcut for displaying records in browse mode is to PRESS THE F2 KEY. Sum/Average Data: Use this option to sum or average data in numeric fields. Replace Data: Use this option to replace the data in a specified field in ALL the records in the currently active database. Be sure you have a backup copy of your records in case you make a mistake using this option. Check for Duplicates: Use this option to find duplicate records in the currently active database. Frequency Analysis: Use this option to see what the frequency of data is in a specified field. Delete Records: Use this option to delete all the records in your database. If a filter/query is active, only those records meeting the filter/query condition will be deleted. Pack Records: use this option to physically purge records 'deleted' in the browse mode. Records deleted in browse mode still occupy disk space. This pack recovers the disk space. sTatistics: use this option to display a variety of stistical information about your database. Mailing Labels: use this option to print mailing labels from the currently active database. Form Letters: use this option to compose and print letters or memos. You can merge database data into your letters and memos. Query Builder Use this feature to create a query condition, or filter, so you can work with any subset of records you want to. When a query condition is active, Data Master will only display or print records meeting the query condition. The Status box will display any query condition. To turn off the query, select the Turn Query Off option. Services This feature presents a menu of support services: Spreadsheets: Use this option to convert a dbase file to a spreadsheet, and to convert a spreadsheet to a dbase file. When converting from a spreadsheet to a dbase database file, you can specify the range of cells you want converted, e.g., B1..F10. Data Master uses the first row in the range to determine the field types (character, date, numeric, etc.) in the new database. An "Indeterminate Cell Type" message means that Data Master could not determine the correct data type for a column because some cell in the first row did not contain data. Add appropriate data and the conversion will work. If you want the entire spreadsheet converted into a database, just leave the cell range empty, and press the Enter key. Report Writer: Select this option to use the Report Writer. The Report Writer allows you to create custom reports, output the reports to printer or disk, and save the report specifications for future use. Read a Text File: Use this option to read any text file which may be on your disk. Erase a File: Use this option to erase any file on your disk. Change Directory: Use this feature to change to any other directory on your hard disk. The currently active database will be closed when you select this option. Format Dates: Use this option to select the date format you want to be used in your database fields. Weights and Measures: use this handy conversion utility to convert a variety of weights and measures. Create Mailmerge File: use this option to create a mailmerge file for your favorite word processor. Time Period Anaylsis: use this option to conduct a time period analysis of your records. Communications: If you do not have a modem, this feature will not affect you. If you do have a modem, this new feature allows you to tell Data Master what COM port your modem works on and what your modem's baud rate is, to call RKS Software's private Bulletin Board, and to call RKS Software's Remote Control tech support line. FUNCTION KEYS F1- Use this to read the Users Manual on-line F2- Use this to invoke the browse mode. F3- Use this to temporarily exit to DOS. You could use this feature to temporarily leave Data Master and, for example, run your favorite spreadsheet program or word processing program. To return to Data Master, type EXIT at the DOS prompt and press the Enter key. F6- Use this to display a pop-up printing calculator. F7- Use this to display a current record count. F8- Use this to display a calendar. TECHNICAL SUPPORT We do not charge a fee for normal technical support. You may reach us via: 1. Compuserve: 72357,2034 2. Mail: Correspondence answered daily. 3. Voice... 703-534-1726 4. FAX..... 703-534-4358 5. BBS..... 703-534-7812 -- DATA MASTER REGISTRATION -- Please call 703-534-1726 to register. If you prefer to pay by check, please complete this form and mail to RKS Software, Inc., 3820 N. Dittmar Rd., Arlington, VA 22207. Enclose your check for $39.00, plus $4.00 shipping/handling for U.S. and Canada, or $6.00 shipping/handling for other international orders. We accept all U.S. and foreign Postal Money Orders, and will also accept checks drawn on foreign banks. SEND TO: Name: _________________________________________________________ Address: ______________________________________________________ City: _______________________ State: ________ ZIP: ___________ Phone:_________________________________________________________ Send: ___ 5 1/4 inch disk __ 3 1/2 inch disk ---------------------------------------------------------------