

                 P A R A D O X   R E P O R T   V I E W E R

    One of the problems with Paradox versions 1 to 3.5 was the screen
    viewer for reports. While it worked okay, it was not very user
    friendly. For example, you can't scroll back through a report, or if
    the report is wider than 80 characters then you can't see the extra
    text down the right hand side. Which is often a problem because the way
    we often design our reports is with the totals and such like printed
    down the right hand side. And if the user doesn't know you can press
    CTRL-BREAK to abandon a screen report, they must scroll through the
    whole report to exit. Three hundred pages later .....

    But there is a better way....

    Borland distribute on both the Runtime and the Full System disks a
    program called README.COM which you probably used to view the README
    file on the installation disk. (If you haven't then you should as it
    contains the latest info not contained in the printed manuals.) The
    point is, that although the README.COM defaults to reading the README
    text file, you can get it to read other files by specifying them on the
    command line just like normal DOS. Using this README.COM program, the
    trick is to use this to create a simple but effective report viewer for
    PARADOX.

    Here's how....

    When coding a section of program to output a report to the screen you
    probably use something like this:

                {Report} {Output} select TBL
                select RPT {Screen}

    Where TBL and RPT are variables that hold the respective table and
    report names. With some minor changes and additions you can modify the
    code to this:

                {Report} {Output} select TBL
                select RPT {File}
                typein "dummy.rpt" enter                         ; new
                if menuchoice()="Cancel" then {replace} endif    ;
                Run Norefresh "README dummy.rpt"                 ; code
                Run NoRefresh "DEL dummy.rpt"                    ;

    Note the two last lines, the first of these calls the README program
    with the appropriate file name, while the second deletes the file once
    the user has finished viewing (keeping the disk tidy). As long as the
    README.COM is found in the PATH statement, then everthing works fine
    and you have an excellent report viewer with the following great
    features:

          . Fast
          . A small program (only 4k in size)
          . Press [Esc] to quit at any time
          . Print any page to the printer at LPT1
          . Help text for the report viewer
          . Using the [F5],[F6],[F7] and [F8] keys, the colors can be
            changed
          . Scroll left and right, up and down, top and bottom
          . Has a character string search (with case-sensitive option)
          . Can display a ruler on the top of the screen

    One thing you will need to watch, is if there is not enough room on the
    disk to accomodate the disk file to hold the report...but you use the
    DRIVESPACE function don't you....

    README.COM is very similar to LIST.COM written by Vernon D. Buerg which
    has been available on BBS's and Shareware files for quite some time.
    However README.COM is copyrighted by Borland, although they do give
    PARADOX developers the right to distribute README.COM with the Runtime
    system files (see PARADOX Runtime Guide pg 4). I trust Borland would
    correct me on this matter if this is not right.

    While PARADOX 4 does have an improved report viewer, I still feel the
    README.COM program offers superior features. I find it is definitely
    quicker and my clients LOVE it !!! Try it, I think you will too !!!

    Oh..remember I don't accept responsibility for how you use the program,
    so use it at your own risk.

    Adrian M. Williams  [100026,220]
    AdSus Computer Systems
    PO Box 62
    Napier
    New Zealand

    Ph / Fax +64 6 834 0201
