Australian Open Access User Group

8 June 1999

Vale Bruce Ritchie

News - OAWinbase

It comes with a word processor and "Desk Manager" (the equivalent of Desktop in OA - including value convertor,calculator etc).

The software, including sample data, takes up about 22Mb.

Search our website

A search feature has been added to the User Group website. There are now dozens of pages so it is best to try the search facility to narrow in on the pages that cover the topic of interest. If possible, please use this before contacting a User Group member for help.

Q & A

Wal Shand is still having problems with a network crashing after about half an hour. It was suggested that WIN98 might have less problems than WIN95. It might also be due to the use of a network card that was installed on a previous machine. It might be worth investing in another network card (~$35) to see if this fixes the problem. Also try replacing the t-piece terminator (~$2) which must have a resistance within a crucial range - sometimes they are marginally out of spec

Installing Windows Software

Keith has found that it is well worth saving the Windows registry (Run Regedit/Registry/Export Registry File) after the PC is set up satisfactorily. Then if the set up is losted you can import the saved settings.

Modems

With some PC systems running Open Access before using a Windows communication package, such as Netscape Navigator will produce an error message that the modem is in use. To avoid this load Open Access after the Windows Program.
 
Printing to a network printer from OA

In Windows you need to change the properties of that printer. Details/Capture Printer Port and select an LPT value. In Open Access go to Utilities/Printer Parameters, select the printer and press <F6:change> then change the Port to either LPT1 or LPTx. If the LPT number is more than 1 then the user will need to nominate that number each time the printer is used in OA.

Backing up
 
The Backup program that comes with WIN95 has some good features but doesn't seem to save the destination when you save a "file set". Therefore it cannot be fully automated - it might be possible to specify a destination in the properties box of a shortcut icon (tell us if you know how). Also it uses the archive bit to determine which files should be backed up in an incremental backup - be careful if you cycle the backup disks because some files might not be backed up on the latest set if they were backed up previously (when the archive bit would have been reset)

Writable CDs are an alternative for backing up. They can store 650Mb of data. Writable CDs cost around $3 each. Rewritable CDs cost about $30 each but cannot be read by a normal CD drive so, at this stage it is best to stick to Writable CDs. It is important to also make a "startup" floppy disk. Writable CD drives cost around $500 installed. This is for a 2X write speed which is probably best if you are installing it on an older PC, otherwise the PC (particularly the hard disk) might not be able to keep up with the CD Writer. These devices do tie the PC resources so it is worth looking at installing them on a "spare" PC.
 

August Meeting - Converting databases to MS Access

Inserting a unique identifier in Memo fields

A datafile failed to VERIFY and indicated two memos sharing the same datafile record. FIXing this resulted in the loss of one memo, but I had no idea which one this was. To assist in this event if it recurrs is to identify the memo with the number which identifies the correct datafile record.

Attached is the routine I have used to tag memo fields so that it should
be possible to identify memos which are incorrectly linked to the
corresponding data file. The datafile must have a unique record ID number to use this routine.
I haven't written the corresponding routine to check for mismatches
bewtween memos and datafile records yet. I was wondering if this would be a useful exercise at an OAUG meeting?

DATABASE DOCUMENTATION

This is another subject altogether but it may interest people running
larger databases, particularly on networks. It is a combination of data
dictionary and metadata for databases where you need to (or should) document many of the known and unknown attributes of an application.

I have called it metadata although it is more of a hybrid as described
above. It is a series of data files making use of large memo fields. One of the
features of Open Access I utilise extensively in this application is the
versatility of its use of text files. The main data for the database is
stored in text files. These were intially created in the word processor
because formatting is more automated than in notepad. The text files were
then inserted manually into the respective memo fields. However when you
are working on something else you get those flashes of 'must put that in the metadata'. It is usually most convenient to then load the respective text
file into Notepad, add your notes and save it for later transfer to the
database. These changes are then added to the database manually or by
using the programmer routines attached below which update single or all memos
automatically. These routines make use of memoload function to delete
exisitng memo contents and load the updated text file.
 
The table structure is as follows.

FINALDB:METADATA.SMK
Screen Form Entries & Database Field Info.
 Name              Kind           Type         Width    Prec    Size
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATTRIBUTE          Unique key     Text         16       --      18
DESCRIP            Nonkey         Memo         78       --       4
REC#               Unique key     Number        2       --       4
UPDATED            Nonkey         Date         10       --       4

To date there are only eight records in this database. These cover the
following subjects concerning the database :-

HISTORY
CONVENTIONS
DATA HELD
DATA ARCHIVE
DATA SEARCHING
DATA SOURCES
DATA TABLES
MISCELLANEOUS

Searches for information on the database can be made using the SQL
CONTAINS function or F4 within the text file or memo.

VIRUS

Open Access files infected were OA4.EXE, WPF5CONV.EXE and OA-III.EXE. This didn't seem to affect performance or lose data.

Ginger leaves its calling card by marking infected files with  60 on the
seconds time stamp. Worst of all it originated in Australia in 1993. If
you do any Web searches for info on 'ginger' be careful - many of the worlds
XXX rated sites will be found!

My first attempt at cleaning infected files and fixing the MBR with FDISK
has not worked. I suspect that I missed some files and will attempt it again.
I hope this is useful.
(ed: see Commandcom for more information)
Regards

Shane Trengove.
 
 
 

! This routine converts the value in the unique record ID number field to a
! string and inserts it into the first line of the memo.

ct=''
OK=TRUE
view MC=FROM DATAFILE\\
        ORDER RECID
   USE MC
   FIND MC TOP
while recno(mc)>0
   ct=string(mc.recid)
   put at 3,5 mc.recid
      ok=memoinsert(mc,'notes',ct,1)    ! 'notes' is the memo field
      if ok replace mc            ! use insert command if creating new
records
      put at 5,7 'Recordnumber = ',recno(mc),' of ',count(mc),' records.'
      put at 5,10 'RECID ',ct,' inserted in memo'
      end if
   OK END
   find mc next
   !P=TRUE;GET P - enable this line for testing.
   put at 3,5 '';PUT DO CLEAR END LINE
end while
use mc end
mc end
ct end
p end

! The next routine views the results of the above
put at 8,8 mode error ' RETRIEVING LIST OF NEW RECORDS ..................'

VIEW UPDATED=FROM DATAFILE order RECID
use UPDATED
P=TRUE
WHILE P
   KEYS LIST UPDATED
      :K_CHANGE: DISPLAY UPDATED WITH DATAFILE
      :K_UNDO : P=FALSE
   END KEYS
END WHILE
PUT 8,8 MODE NORMAL ''
PUT DO CLEAR END SCREEN
USE UPDATED END
UPDATED END
P END
 
 
 
 

DO UPDMETA1
DO UPDMETA2
DO UPDMETA3
DO UPDMETA4
DO UPDMETA5
DO UPDMETA6
DO UPDMETA7
DO UPDMETA8

VIEW ME=FROM METADATA
USE ME
P=TRUE
WHILE P
   KEYS LIST ME
      :K_CHANGE: DISPLAY ME WITH METADATA
      :K_UNDO: P=FALSE
   END KEYS
END WHILE
USE ME END
ME END
P END
 
 
 

ENT='HISTORY'
!get at 5,5 ENT width 16

view md=from metadata where attribute =ENT
use md
md.updated=sysdate      ! updates 'updated' date field
ok=MEMOLOAD(md,'DESCRIP','HISTORY.TXT') ! '' would prompt you for a file
name
IF ok
   REPLACE md
   put at 5,10 mode usr_2 ' HISTORY memo updated ............'
   PUT AT 5,10 MODE NORMAL'                                  '
END IF
USE md END
md END
ok END
p end
 
 

Notice: Users should not act solely on the basis of the material
contained in this document. Items contained in this document are
presented as possible solutions to problems but do not
constitute advice. In particular, no assurance can be given that
the possible solutions will work in every situation or that loss
of data will not occur. Always back-up data before trying to
rectify a problem.

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