
                        The Snap Filer

                           Version 1.0
                (C) Copyright 1986 by Marty Franz

                  ────────────────────────────

  Please feel free to copy and share this software with your
  friends.  If you have found this software to be of value to
  you, then your donation of $25 to the following address will
  be appreciated:

                           Marty Franz
                        525 W. Walnut St.
                       Kalamazoo, MI 49007

  Donation will register you as a valid user of the Snap Filer.
  This entitles you to notification of updates, access to the
  Turbo Pascal source code, and the gratitude of the author.

.pa
INTRODUCTION

  The Snap Filer is a database program with many of the features
  of a spreadsheet built-in.  With The Snap Filer you can keep
  track of names, addresses, sales, or anything else that can be
  kept in a list.  You can sort, search, and calculate using this
  data.  You can also place commands in macros to automate
  tedious data entry.

  Using the Snap Filer is easy, but you should take the time to
  read either this help file or the .DOC file that came on the
  diskette or archive.

  To use this program, you need an IBM PC, XT, PCjr, AT, or close
  compatible with at least 192KB of memory and one diskette
  drive.  The amount of information you can keep is determined by
  how much memory you have; a 256KB system should hold several
  hundred records.  The Snap Filer requires MS DOS 2.0 or
  greater, and a monitor capable of displaying 80 columns of
  text.
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BASICS

  The Snap Filer's screen is divided into several areas:

  The status line is on line 1 and tells the name of the file
  you are working on, the record number and field you are
  currently at, and the amount of memory remaining.

  The pulldown menus are displayed below the status line.  They
  are activated by pressing /.  You can then either choose an
  option with the Arrow keys or the first letter of the option,
  or press Esc to resume editing your data.  The pulldown menus
  allow you to design, edit, select, and analyze your data.

  The work area is the remainder of the screen.  This shows you
  up to 20 records of the file, with up to 80 characters of
  information visible in each record.

  When you make a mistake, the program will beep, display an
  error message, and ask you to press Esc before allowing you
  to continue.
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RECORDS AND FIELDS

  A record in the Snap Filer is a collection of up to 255
  fields of information.  You can have as many records as will
  fit in memory.  Each field in the record has a definition,
  which must be one of these types:

    Info        general information
    Name        a person's name
    Money       a dollar amount
    Amount      a numeric field with a decimal
    Quantity    an integer (no decimal) amount
    Phone       a phone number as DDD-DDDD or (DDD) DDD-DDDD
    Date        a date in MM/DD/YY format
    Time        a time in HH:MM (military) format

  Only the Info type is not formatted; all other numeric fields
  will be right-justified and padded with leading blanks to the
  appropriate width.  Name fields are switched to last name
  first for correct sorting and searching.
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MOVEMENT

  You can move around the work area with the arrow keys and the
  WordStar movement commands:

    ^D      move one field right
    ^S      move one field left
    ^E      move one record up
    ^X      move one record down
    ^R      move one page up (also PgUp)
    ^C      move one page down (also PgDn)
    ^Q^R    move to top of file
    ^Q^C    move to bottom of file
    ^W      move to first field in record (also Home)
    ^U      move to last field in record (also End)

  These keys also work when you are editing the contents of a
  field, with the exception of top and bottom of file.
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EDITING

  WordStar's editing keys also work in the Snap Filer.  These
  include the following:

    ^V      insert a record (also Ins)
    ^Y      delete a record (also Del)
    ^T      blank the contents of the current field
    Esc     edit the current field as a separate line

  When you edit a field as a line, you can use the editing and
  movement keys to position the cursor.  The Del key will
  delete a single character; so will ─ (backspace).  The Ins
  key toggles character insertion and overwriting.  ^T will
  delete successive words, and ^Y deletes the entire field.
  Press Return to "take" the new field, or Esc to put the old
  one back.
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BLOCKS

  The block editing commands of WordStar are also available,
  including:

    ^K^B    begin block mark
    ^K^K    end block mark
    ^K^C    copy block to cursor (acts as a fill command)
    ^K^V    move block to cursor (entire records only)
    ^K^Y    delete block
    ^K^H    unmark block

  The block can get larger with successive marks, but never
  smaller, or an error message results.

  The copy block command works a little differently than
  WordStar's.  The field under the cursor is considered to be the
  source of the copy if a group of fields are marked.  This
  lets you fill fields from a single field.  If records are
  marked, the copy command places the records marked after the
  record on the cursor.
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OPTIONS

  There are eight menus available to you when you press /:

    File    handles loading and saving data files; also used to
            exit the program.
    Edit    repeat of block editing commands; also lets you
            locate and change information.
    Go To   jump to any record or field in the file.
    Analyze these commands include the ability to perform a
            calculation and selectively include or omit
            records.
    Select  search for information in the file.
    Print   handles printing of records.
    Design  file layout and setup options, including adding and
            removing fields and changing a field's format.
    Options allows you to change searching and calculating
            methods, select a report title, or include
            automatic totals in reports.
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CALCULATIONS

  You can define a formula with any field, or enter a formula at
  any time for a single item.  The standard numeric operations
  are defined, as well as the functions:

    RecNo          returns the current record number
    FieldNo        returns the current field number (1-10)
    Count(fieldno) counts the items in a field
    Sum(fieldno)   totals the items in a field
    Min(fieldno)   returns the smallest item in a field
    Max(fieldno)   returns the largest item in a field
    Avg(fieldno)   returns the average of the items in a field

  Use the Design/Formula option to assign a formula to a field.
  When you use the Calculate option, the current field will
  hold the result if no block is marked.  If a block is marked,
  all the fields marked will hold the result.  The Go to/New
  format option will recalculate the values of all the formulas
  defined in a file.  Otherwise, changing a field value will
  cause recalculation to occur unless you turn this off from the
  Options menu.
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SEARCHING

  The Snap Filer recognizes more than just text to search for--
  you can also specify a "regular expression", including the
  following special characters:

    %       is used to indicate the start of the field
    $       is the end of the field
    ?       is any character; a wildcard
    [ ]     encloses a set of characters, any one of which can
            match
    [~ ]    encloses a set of characters, all of which must
            not be present.
    \       is an escape character, used for entering any of
            the characters shown above literally.
    &       when changing text, inserts the matching portion of
            the string that was found.

  For example, the pattern %[aeiouy] will match any field that
  begins with a vowel.  When specifying a set of characters, you
  can also use a - to indicate a range:  [A-Z] matches any
  uppercase letter, for example.
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PRINTING

  The Print menu is controls printing of reports.  The Begin
  option will print the current file or block on the printer.
  You can optionally select a title, include a date/time/page
  number heading, and set the page length and width using other
  options.  Pressing ^U (Control-U) will cancel printing.  You
  can set the width of a field with the Format option.  A
  width of zero for a field will cause it to not be printed on
  the report.

  You can include automatic totals in the report by choosing the
  Automatic totals item from the Options menu.  This will
  automatically compute the total of any Amount or Money
  fields and print them at the bottom of the report.
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MACROS

  You may enter any combination of keystrokes into a field and
  execute them by pressing ^P.  To enter control characters,
  place a ^ in front of them.  ^[ is used for the character
  Esc.  You might want to define a Macro field (column) in your
  file for this.  You can avoid printing it by setting the
  field's display format to zero (0).


DIF FILES

  The Export DIF and Import DIF options of the File menu
  allow you to load and save files from other software packages,
  such as Lotus 123.  Export DIF will save a marked block as a
  DIF file including field definitions.  Import DIF will replace
  the file currently being edited.


END OF HELP FILE

