By C.J.Richardson. For Phil Arundel.
This database will hold 6588 separate
records of information about singles.
The program will allow you to:
Create a new file
Add records to an existing file
Edit records
Search by artist or title
Search by record company
Search by year of release
Sort alphabetically by Artist
Send output to a printer
For the program to work correctly, it
requires a double sided 80 track disc
drive. DFS ONLY.
For the sort to work, you MUST have a
twin disc drive.
Insert the program disc into drive 0,
hold down SHIFT then press and let go
of BREAK. Choose option 1 from the menu
and the main database will be loaded
in.
Before the program can be used, you
must insert a blank 80 track double
sided disc in drive 0. Do this and then
press a key.
If this is the first time that you have
used the program, (the disc has no file
on it called "Records"), the program
will ask you if you want to create new
data files. Do this by pressing Y.
An empty file called "Records" will be
created on both sides of the disc in
the current drive.
The program will then ask for the
details of the very first record. This
is the only time that the program will
ask for a record without you pressing
"1". The reason for this is that there
must be some data on the disc for the
program to use.
After the very first record has been
entered you will be presented with the
main menu. This is the menu that will
appear immediately on future occasions.
These are the options available:
Press 1 or A:
To enter a new record.
The program will ask for 5 things:
a. The name of the group or performer.
Enter no more than 26 letters.
If you enter more than 26 they
will be chopped off.
Enter only letters between A
and Z for the first letter.
b. The A side title.
Enter no more than 15 letters.
c. The B side title.
Enter no more than 15 letters.
d. The record company.
You will be shown a list of record
companies.
Enter the number corresponding to
the record company. Enter 0 if the
company is not shown in the list.
e. The year of release.
Enter a two figure number, ie 93.
Press 2 or E:
To alter a record that you have already
entered.
The program will ask you for the number
of the record. Use option 3 to find out
what the number of the record is.
When you have entered the record number
for editing, the program will show you
the original record.
You can then enter the record again in
exactly the same way that you enter a
new record. See option 1.
Press 3 or V:
View all data.
The program will ask you where you want
to start in the data.
When you have entered the start record,
you will be shown all the records up to
the end of the file.
Depending on whether the printer option
is on or off (see option 8) the display
will be different.
If the printer option is off, you will
be shown a screen full of data, press
SHIFT to see more.
If the printer option is on, the
program will then ask you to prepare
your printer and press a key to
continue. The screen display will be
corrupted, this is to make the printout
more readable.
Press 4 or T:
Search by performer/title.
Enter the search string.
All matches will be printed
out. As with option 3, if the
printer option is on, output
will be to the printer.
You may enter as many letters
as you wish as the search
string. The fewer letters you
enter, the more matches will
be found.
Press 5 or R:
Search by record company.
As with entering a record into the
database, you will be shown a list
of record companies. Enter the
number adjacent to the company.
Press 6 or Y:
Search by year of release.
As with entering a record into the
database, enter a two figure number
ie 93.
Press 7 or S:
Sort by artist alphabetically.
The program warns you that you MUST
have a blank disc in drive 1 and the
disc with your data on it in drive 0.
Press C to continue with the sort. Any
other keypress will abort the operation
and return you to the menu.
If you press C the sort will begin.
It is only a simple sort. The search
begins at the start of the full disc
looking for entries beginning with the
letter A.
As it finds one, it saves a copy onto
the new disc. When the end of the old
data is reached, the search then begins
again at the start of the data, this
time looking for the letter B.
This continues until either all the
records have been sorted, or Z is
reached.
If the database is full (6588 records),
the sort, in theory will take 5 hours!
The reason for this is the large
quantity of data in the database.
With smaller amounts of data, the sort
will be more rapid, but it is advisable
to set the sort off when you are not in
a hurry, and when will not need your
computer.
When you are entering records into the
database it is also advisable to bear
in mind the way that the sort is
carried out.
If you enter records by the same
performer consecutively, they will stay
together in the database when it is
sorted.
Press 8 or P:
Printer on/off
If the printer option is off, the
printer option will be switched on.
If the printer option is on, the
printer option will be switched off.
Press ESCAPE at any time to abandon
what you are doing.
AVOID pressing ESCAPE whilst the disc
drive is SAVEing data, if you do this,
or if you press BREAK at the wrong
moment, it is possible to mess up your
data and make it unuseable.
However, don't panic if this ever
happens. Return your disc and return
postage directly to my address, shown
at the top of the program, I will
attempt rescue the data for you if you
cannot do it yourself.
It is possible to change the record
company names in the program.
Add the names to the DATA line in the
program. The last statement must be an
empty string ( "" ). Do not change this
DATA line after you have built a
database though, as previously entered
data may then become incorrect.
Do not enter any more than 40 record
company names, as the display will be
corrupted.