

SEARCHING or SORTING is a very simple process of looking through all of
the records in a database for those records that match a specified
condition (for instance you may sort the Food database for all those
canned foods that are single servings).

In order to begin a sort you must select the SEARCH menu option from the
top menu and select the DEFINE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS submenu item.  You
will be presented with a blank Information Card with numbers in each of
the data fields.  To search a particular data field simply enter (at the
flashing prompt found at the bottom of the screen) the number of the
field.

FOR INSTANCE:

To search the Food file to find all the types of SOUP you have in your
inventory simply enter the number 6 at the prompt.  Next you will be
asked to enter the operator for the search.  You will notice a list of
numbers identifying the type of operators you may select.  In our example
we are searching the Food File for SOUP so we would select the first
operator (1 - is equal to).                 

Finally you are asked to enter the data to search FOR - in this case
'SOUP'.  It is important that you enter the search data perfectly
because the program will search for all records that contain what you have
LITERALLY typed.  You would next be presented with the main screen showing
only those records that match your search criteria.

You may save this SubFile to the hard disk or you may simply print the
list and then re-load the Main File.  It is possible to have as many
SubFiles as you have storage capacity and furthermore you may even do
searches on SubFiles.  In fact there is really no limit as to how deeply
you nest the sorts (you could do a sort on a sort on a sort on a sort
....).  By nesting the sorts you can search for very complicated criteria
(e.g. all Maintenance Items that fall under the category Engine and are
scheduled prior to August 1st and have not been done since May 1st!)).

SUMMARY

Searching is THE most important aspect of the Shelter Island Press system.
It allows you to find and manipulate data very quickly.  By nesting the
searches (sorting on a sort of a sort....!) you can utilize the full power
of the database.