1 Language used to write program: Dbase Compiler used: QuickSilver _________________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM SPECIFICATRIONS _________________________________________________________________________ Maximum no. of sound recordings indexed: 99,999 Maximum no. of performers per recording: 30 Maximum no. of composers and composition titles per recording: 32 Maximum no. of keywords per composition title: 1 Maximum no. of characters per record title: 50 Maximum no. of characters per record label number: 40 Maximum no. of characters per composer: 50 Maximum no. of characters per composition title: 50 Maximum no. of characters per associated keyword: 45 Maximum no. of characters per associated timing : 25 Maximum no. of characters per performing artist: 45 _________________________________________________________________________ HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS _________________________________________________________________________ IBM PC or compatible with 640K of memory and a monochrome or color monitor. DOS version 2.0 or later. One floppy disk drive and a hard disk. A second floppy disk drive may be substituted for the hard disk, however this will limit the number of recordings that can be indexed. One printer (optional). _________________________________________________________________________ INSTALLING THE PRINTER _________________________________________________________________________ The program assumes that the printer you are using is a parallel printer capable of printing in compressed mode. If your printer is not capable of printing in compressed mode, type "SET COMPRESSED=FALSE" before running the program. If your printer is connected to a serial port, type "SET PRINTER=COM1," or "SET PRINTER=COM2" depending upon which port you have the printer connected to. Other options include "SET PRINTER=LPT2," or "SET PRINTER=LPT3" if you have a parallel printer connected to one of these ports 2 3 _________________________________________________________________________ INSTALLING THE PROGRAM ON A SYSTEM WITH A HARD DISK DRIVE _________________________________________________________________________ Make sure that there is a CONFIG.SYS file in the root directory of the hard disk. The CONFIG.SYS file should have the following statement in it: "FILES=20. A sample CONFIG.SYS file has been included on the program disk if you do not have this file. Insert the program disk into drive A, and copy all of the files from drive A into a subdirectory of your choosing. Type "RECORDS to begin the program. _________________________________________________________________________ INSTALLING THE PROGRAM ON A SYSTEM WITH TWO FLOPPY DISK DRIVES _________________________________________________________________________ Make sure that there is a CONFIG.SYS file on the DOS disk that you use to start the computer with. The CONFIG.SYS file should have the following statement in it: "FILES=20." A sample CONFIG.SYS file has been included on the program disk if you do not have this file. Make a backup copy of the program disk. Insert the backup disk into drive A, and a blank formatted disk into drive B. Type "RECORDS" to begin the program. _________________________________________________________________________ GENERAL NOTES ON USING THE PROGRAM _________________________________________________________________________ The program is a menu driven and is arranged in a hierarchical manner with most menu choices leading to new menus. Selecting choices from menus may do done in two ways: 1) using the arrow keys to move the light-bar to the menu choice, followed by pressing "Enter"; 2) pressing the first letter of the menu choice. The program will work on a system with either a monochrome or color monitor. When a color monitor is used, colors will be displayed. At the beginning of the program an animated display of recordings being arranged is shown. If this becomes annoying, you may eliminate this display by erasing the file "WINDOWS.DBF." The first time the program is run the following files will be created: RECORDS1.DBF RECORDS2.DBF ACCESS1.NDX ACCESS2.NDX C_TITLE.NDX COMPOSER.NDX KEYWORD.NDX LABEL.NDX PERFORM.NDX TITLE1.NDX 4 TITLE2.NDX These files will be installed on the floppy disk in drive B unless you are using a system with a hard disk. The files with the names "RECORDS1.DBF" and "RECORDS2.DBF" should be backed up every time significant amounts of data have been entered into the program. The files with the extension of "NDX" are index files which are used for searching the program. After significant amounts of data have been entered into the program, it is possible that these files may become unbalanced, which results in lengthened searching times when querying the database. To reduce searching time, start the program by typing "RECORDS UPDATE". This will cause the program to rebuild these files for maximum efficiency, however it takes a significant amount of time to rebuild these files, so this should only be done infrequently. It is strongly recommended that a hard disk drive be used for running the program. The program requires extra disk space for temporary work files during nearly every phase of operation. Lack of disk space can cause the program to fail. _________________________________________________________________________ ENTERING INFORMATION INTO THE DATABASE _________________________________________________________________________ Select "A) Add Information" from the main menu. You will see the first data entry screen appear. There are a total of ten data entry screens. Information may be entered in the parts of the screen where reverse video appears. You may can forward to a new screen by pressing "PgDn," or backwards by pressing "PgUp." When you are finished entering data press the "End" key while holding down the "Ctrl" key. If you wish to return to the main menu without saving your data, press the "Esc" key. On the first screen you will see an area for "Record ID number." You should enter a number here which corresponds to the number of the recording on the shelf (It is assumed that you have already numbered your recordings starting with 1, 2, 3, 4, ...n). Where it says "Record Label No.," the program refers to the manufacturer's standard label and number which appears on each recording, such as "Columbia MS 7194," "AGL 1-2706" or "KM 32659." Where it says "Record Title" enter the name of the record title as it appears on the record jacket or on the record disk label. Also on the first screen there will be an area for entering the names of performing artists. Single names should be entered last name first, however names of performing groups may be entered in normal order. The second through ninth data entry screens are for entering information about individual composers and titles of compositions. Where it says "Composer," you should enter the name of the composer, last name first. Example: "Beethoven, Ludwig Van." Where it says "Composition Title," enter the title of the piece on the recording. Where it says "Timing" enter the amount of time it takes to perform the piece. Examples of valid input include: "23 minutes," "About one 5 hour," or "15:22." Where it says "Keyword," enter a word which describes the piece recorded, such as "Jazz," "Blues," "Baroque Music," "Pop tunes," etc.