




                                   Dbscreen








                                 User Manual












                         Developed by Michael Speyer
                              1406 NE 154TH ST.
                              SEATTLE, WA 98155
                                (206) 365-7248















                      Copyright (C) 1984 Michael Speyer






















   Dscreen                                                   INTRODUCTION


                               1.  Introduction


       Dbscreen  allows  you  to  use  your IBM Personal Computer to easily

   create dBASEII screens; instead of entering row and number  designations

   into  a  format  file  for  your  screen fields, you simply `paint' your

   screen on the terminal in a full screen edit mode. You can  see  exactly

   what  your  screen  is  going  to  look like. Dbscreen will also let you

   modify print dBASEII screen formats.



       The purpose of this manual is  to  help  you  install  Dbscreen,  go

   through a tuturial to learn to use it, and once you have mastered it, to

   provide a guide for future reference.



   1.1  What you Need



        . An IBM Personal Computer with at least 64k of RAM.

        . An 80-column display.

        . At least one floppy disk drive.

        . The MS-DOS Operating System.

        . Dbscreen will run with either the color graphics or monochrome
          adapter.

        . A printer is recommended but not required.



   1.2  Making a Backup of Dbscreen


       Before  going  any further, you should make a backup of the Dbscreen

   diskette and put the original in a safe place. If you need help making a

   backup, consult the IBM manual Guide to Operations. First format a blank

   diskette; be sure to use the `/s' option. Then copy 'dbs.exe'  from  the



                                     - 2 -                                 





   Dscreen                                                   INTRODUCTION


   distribution  diskette  to your newly-formatted diskette. You will prob-

   ably wish to copy Dbscreen to your dBASEII program diskette. To do  this

   copy `dbs.exe' to that diskette.




   1.3  Running Dbscreen



       To run Dbscreen do the following:


        . Load your newly-created diskette into drive A and turn
          your computer on.

        . When the A> appears type `dbs' and press enter.

        . You will see the logo; press any key to continue.

         You should now proceed to the tutorial.

































                                     - 3 -                                 





   Dscreen                                                       TUTORIAL


                                   2.  Tutorial




       The  purpose  of  the  tutorial is to introduce you to the basics of

   using Dbscreen; that is, how to use the menu, what type  of  fields  you

   can enter, and how to use the edit keys. For purposes of the tutorial we

   will  make use of the Dbscreen diskette you copied from the distribution

   diskette. If you do not have the menu on your  screen,  follow  the  in-

   structions  in  the  Running  Dbscreen section. As you can see, the menu

   permits you to make four choices. To make a selection, simply  type  the

   first  letter  of  the selection you desire. Type `H'; this provides you

   with on-line help. To continue to the next help screen, press  any  key;

   the  function  key, F1, will return you to the menu when you've finished

   viewing the help screens. F1 will always return you to the menu.



       Now, return to the menu. For this tutorial we  will  create  a  very

   simple dBASEII screen but it will demonstrate how to create a screen and

   use  the  edit keys. The information you are to type will be enclosed in

   single quotes for the tutorial.



       On the menu, select `C', Create a dBASEII screen. Now you are  being

   asked  to enter a File Name. Type `TUTOR' and press enter. Dbscreen will

   append the extension `.FMT'. You  also  could  have  typed  in  a  drive

   specification as part of the file name, such as `B:TUTOR'.



       You  now  have  the  option  of  entering a comment line, which will

   become part of the dBASEII screen format file; the comment  is  provided

   as an aid in documenting your screens. As you can see, Dbscreen prefixes



                                     - 4 -                                 





   Dscreen                                                       TUTORIAL


   an `*' to your comment. Type `Customer file maintenance screen' and your

   name. Press enter when you have completed the comment.



       Your  are  now in full screen edit mode, allowing you to type screen

   data anywhere on the screen. Line one on the screen  is  an  information

   and prompt line. It shows the use of the Function keys, the name of your

   format  file, the use of special characters and shows the row and column

   numbers of where the cursor is currently located.



       Use the four arrow keys on your keypad to move  the  cursor  around.

   Notice  that  the  row and column numbers change as you move the cursor.

   Move the cursor to row 2, column 27 and type `Customer File Maintenance'

   and press enter; the cursor will now be in row 2,  column  1.  The  next

   entry  will  be  on row 4, column 17. Use the down arrow to go to row 4;

   use the tab key and the arrow keys to go to column  17.  Type  `Customer

   Number'  and  move the cursor to column 40. Type `^cust:no'; this is the

   name of an input variable into which the customer number will  be  typed

   on  your completed screen. The next field is customer name: position the

   cursor at row 7, column 17 and type `Customer Name'. The input field  is

   cust:nm, so type `^cust:nm' at row 7, column 40.



       So  far  we  have entered screen literals (ie., Customer Number) and

   input variables (ie., cust:no). But suppose you wish to display a  vari-

   able  on  the  screen.  This is accomplished by entering the name of the

   variable, prefixed by a `>' character. Move the cursor to row 20, column

   1 and enter `>frm:name'. For informational purposes,  for  example,  you

   may wish to display the form name in the field frm:name.




                                     - 5 -                                 





   Dscreen                                                       TUTORIAL


       You  should now experiment with some of the other edit keys; try the

   Ins, Del, Home and End keys. They will  facilitate  your  screen  entry.

   When  you  are  finished,  and  are satisfied with the appearance of the

   screen press the F2 key. This tells the program  to  write  the  dBASEII

   format  file  to  disk using the name `TUTOR.FMT'. When the file is suc-

   cessfully written to disk, you will be returned to the  menu.  When  you

   finish using Dbscreen you simply press `E' to return to DOS.



       Once the format `TUTOR.FMT' has been created, you use the `M' option

   on the menu if you need to make changes to the format. Modify mode works

   the  same  as  Create,  except that rather than having a blank screen in

   edit mode, you will have the format displayed as you entered it.



       When you exit Dbscreen and are back in DOS, type `Type tutor.fmt' to

   list the dBASEII format file which was created. This format could now be

   accessed by a dBASEII program with the `SET FORMAT TO tutor.fmt'  state-

   ment. Or it could be merged into a dBASEII program file.



       This completes the Tutorial. You should be able to use Dbscreen now;

   the  following  reference section is provided if you have any questions.

   The on-line help is also available.
















                                     - 6 -                                 





   Dscreen                                                      Reference


                                3.  Reference






   3.1  Entry Modes


       The Dbscreen menu provides four options: Create,  Modify,  Help  and

   Exit.  To select the desired option type the first letter of your selec-

   tion.



   3.1.1  Create Mode.  

       The purpose of the create mode is  to  allow  you  to  build  a  new

   dBASEII  format file. When asked for the file name, the name you type in

   must be a new file. Once you have entered the file  name,  you  will  be

   provided with the capability of entering a comment line to document your

   format  file. Dbscreen will prefix your comment with an `*', as required

   by dBASEII. After entering your comment, you are provided with  a  blank

   screen  into which you type your screen format as you wish it to appear.

   When satisfied with your screen, press the F2 key to  write  the  format

   file to disk.



   3.1.2  Modify Mode.  

       Modify  mode is used when you wish to change an existing screen. The

   file name you enter must exist. In this mode  Dbscreen  will  read  your

   format  file  and  display  it on the screen; you can then make your re-

   quired modifications. When satisfied with your changes press F1 to write

   your changed format to disk.

       The modification mode requires that your file be of  the  following:

   the  first  line  can  be  a comment line (`*' in column one); all other


                                     - 7 -                                 





   Dscreen                                                      Reference


   lines must be valid dBASEII screen  commands,  `@  rr,cc  SAY(or  GET)',

   where rr=screen row designation and cc=column designation. The remaining

   field  on  the  command line must be a screen literal, input variable or

   display variable. Row and column designations must be either one or  two

   characters  in length, separated by a comma. If your file is not in this

   format, Dbscreen will not allow you to proceed.



   3.2  Edit Keys


       Dbscreen provides several keys to  facilitate  screen  entry.  These

   keys are described below:

           Arrow Keys on Keypad         Move the cursor one position in
                                        the direction indicated.

           Backspace Key                Delete the character to the left
                                        of current cursor position

           Delete Key                   Delete the character at current
                                        at current cursor position.

           Ins Key                      Toggles insert mode. When in
                                        Insert mode, the cursor is
                                        a flashing square, and all
                                        characters typed will be inserted
                                        at the cursor location.  To get
                                        out of insert mode, press the Ins
                                        key again.

           Home Key                     Send cursor to position one on
                                        current line.

           End Key                      Send cursor to end of current line.

           Enter Key                    Position cursor at position one of
                                        next line.

           Tab Key                      Move cursor five positions to the
                                        right of current position.

           F1 Key                       Always returns to the menu.

           F2 Key                       Write format file to disk.

           F3 Key                       Print the screen to hardcopy.



                                     - 8 -                                 





   Dscreen                                                      Reference


   3.3  Screen Literals


       When  you wish to display a literal, for example, an screen title or

   field description, you type the literal in as you want it to  appear  on

   your  screen.  This will generate a dBASEII command in the form "@ rr,cc

   SAY `your literal'".



   3.4  Input Variables


       Input Variables are fields into which data is to be  typed  on  your

   completed screen. To create an input variable prefix it by a `^' charac-

   ter.  Dbscreen  will  then generate a `@ rr,cc Get xxxxx', where xxxx is

   the input variable name to be used in your dBASEII screen.



   3.5  Display Variables


       If you wish to display a variable on your screen prefix  your  entry

   with  a `>' character. This will generate the dBASEII statement '@ rr,cc

   SAY xxxx', where xxxx is the display variable.























                                     - 9 -                                 





   Dscreen                                                    Error Messages


                              4.  Error Messages


       Dbscreen handles error messages by displaying a description  of  the

   message  on line 23 of the screen along with the message `- press return

   to continue'. In many cases, you should perform some  corrective  action

   and press the return key. The error messages are as follows:


      Disk Drive not ready           The diskette is not in the drive
                                     or the door is open.  Insert the
                                     diskette and close the door.

      Diskette is bad                You may need to replace the diskette.

      Diskette is full               Mount another diskette and press enter.

      Diskette is write protected    Remove the protect tab and press enter.

      I/O error on disk drive        You may have a hardware problem.

      xxxxx.FMT already exists       You tried to create a file that already
                                     that already exists.  Use modify.

      xxxxx.FMT has wrong format     The file contain invalid dBASEII screen
                                     commands.

      Unable to locate xxxxx.FMT     You attempted to modify a format which is
                                     is not on the requested drive.

























                                                                           





   Dscreen                                                   


                              TABLE OF CONTENTS


   1. Introduction .....................................................  2
      1.1 What you Need ................................................  2
      1.2 Making a Backup of Dbscreen ..................................  2
      1.3 Running Dbscreen .............................................  3

   2. Tutorial .........................................................  4

   3. Reference ........................................................  7
      3.1 Entry Modes ..................................................  7
         3.1.1 Create Mode .............................................  7
         3.1.2 Modify Mode .............................................  7
      3.2 Edit Keys ....................................................  8
      3.3 Screen Literals ..............................................  9
      3.4 Input Variables ..............................................  9
      3.5 Display Variables ............................................  9

   4. Error Messages ................................................... 10





































                                                                           


