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^C^1PC-FILE III
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^CButtonWare 


|E~1PC-FILE^N creates databases.  A small businessman might use |E~1PC-FILE^N to create a 
database that keeps track of office inventory.  Each piece of equipment in the 
office would have its own record.  Each record would display important 
information about that item: the name of the item, when and where it was 
bought, and warranty information. (In database parlance, each piece of 
information in a record is called a "field.")  Others might use |E~1PC-FILE^N to set 
up a name and address database or a database that keeps track of their software 
libraries. 

Of course, a file cabinet can store information -- the real power of |E~1PC-FILE^N 
(or any database) is in how it can find and manipulate data to generate 
reports.  An employer, for example, could ask |E~1PC-FILE^N to search a personnel 
database and to print the names and addresses of only those employees who are 
male, married, and between the ages of 35 and 45.  |E~1PC-FILE^N gives you several 
options for searching and sorting fields, merging databases, and sharing data 
with other widely used commercial software products. 

|E~1PC-FILE^N is a full-featured database program.  Before you seriously begin using 
it, you will need documentation to guide you -- more documentation than |9~3Big 
|9~3Blue Disk^N can provide.  (The printed |E~1PC-FILE^N manual is 112 pages long.)  
Fortunately, there is a file on the |E~1PC-FILE^N disk that contains detailed 
information on the functions and commands used by |E~1PC-FILE^N.  We encourage you 
to print this file and use it as your primary reference guide. 

To print a copy of this documentation, follow these steps:

1. Boot your DOS system.
2. Put the PC-FILE disk in drive A.
3. Type A: and press ENTER.
4. Type PCDOC and press ENTER.

Make sure you have plenty of paper -- the printout is over 100 pages long. 

Note: while you may run |E~1PC-FILE^N from the |9~3Big Blue Disk^N operating system, in 
most cases you will not want to bother going through the |9~3Big Blue^N menus.  To 
run |E~1PC-FILE^N directly, boot your DOS system, insert the |E~1PC-FILE^N disk into drive 
A, and enter |E~1PCFILE^N.  Also note that the |E~1PC-FILE^N disk does not have room to 
store the databases you create:  you must have a hard disk or a formatted 
floppy ready to accept your data. 


AN INTRODUCTION
--------------

Let's go through the steps necessary to create a simple database that keeps 
track of names and addresses.  When you run |E~1PC-FILE^N, the program first 
prompts for the destination drive for the database that will be created.  Next, 
it asks for a "path" for the data --for our purposes, you can ignore this 
prompt right now and press ENTER to continue.  The next screen asks you to 
choose an existing database or to create a new one.  For the database's name, 
enter ADDRESS, then press F10. 

Once you have named the database, you need to "define" it -- i.e., set up the 
fields that will be used in the records that go in the ADDRESS database.  
Answer (y)es when the program asks if you want to define ADDRESS. 

The next work screen asks you to enter the field names and the length of each 
field.  Field names can be up to 12 characters long; field lengths can be up 
to 65 characters long.  (For more information, press Alt-H to see the |E~1PC-FILE^N 
help screen.)  Enter "name," "street," "city st," and "zip" as the field 
names.  For each field name, try to determine the maximum length that might be 
needed for the data appearing in that field.  Here is what part of the work 
screen might look like: 

FIELD NAME    LENGTH
name||        30||
street||      30||
city st||     30||
zip#||        5||

Press F10 when you have entered all of the data.  The program will give you 
another chance to edit what you have defined, then give you information on how 
to use "masks" when setting up your records.  For our purposes, ignore this 
information and press ENTER to go to the |E~1PC-FILE^N main menu. 

The |E~1PC-FILE^N main menu has many options to add, modify, delete, or display 
records.  Press F1 to choose the ADD record option.  The program will display 
a blank record where you enter a person's name and address.  Once you have 
entered one record, the next blank record will be displayed.  When you have 
entered all of the records to the database, follow the screen prompts to 
return to the main menu.  NOTE: to prevent accidental loss of data, always 
return to the main menu and press Alt-F9 to properly exit from |E~1PC-FILE^N. 


A FINAL NOTE
------------

While we have provided an overview of how to create a simple database with |E~1PC-
|E~1FILE^N, there is much more for you to learn. Fortunately, |E~1PC-FILE^N is user 
friendly; a little exploration and experimentation will help you discover more 
about the program's capabilities.  However, if you intend to become a serious 
user of |E~1PC-FILE^N, one who pushes the program to its limits, we recommend that 
you consult the instruction file printout for information on how to become a 
registered user of the program. While you must pay to be registered, registered 
users get the printed |E~1PC-FILE^N manual and can receive technical support from 
ButtonWare if they need it. 

