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AA-P088A-TV

December 2000

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Document:	Compsoft Limited Data Management System User Guide
Order Number:	AA-P088A-TV
Revision:	0
Pages:	106
Original Filename:

OCR Text

)

User Guide

Dec Order No.

AA-PO88A-TV

mhis’dacument is distributed =)' Digital Eguizment
Co.

Limitad under

licence

f£rom Compsoft Ltd,

and

may not be cmgied*in whole or in gpart, for any

‘@urpwfia, without the written permissicn oI Ccmpsoit
Ltd.

COPYRIGHET 1952 COMPSOFT LTD

28.6.82

ADDENDUM
TO DMS CP/M MANUAL

UNLESS YOU ARE USING RE LEASE
-

2.2

REFERENCES TO THE LETTER WRITER.

YOU

SHOULD

IGNORE ALL

5.1

2.2 Cowim ttm master disks.
2.3 Creating the master disk system.

2.4 Canfigurrmg DMS bo ymur 3y3t@m.

2.5

2.6

REAT ING TEE FILE CEFINITICN

This opticn is the essential first stage in gettingstarted with DMS.It
talls IMS what infonmatimm i3 to be stored, and in what fm»wwtsm
.1 Introduction to crwating the file definition.
Usm' instmctim

.10 Estting theamountof disk space required.
szcrlcu 4 - XEY

This program is used for tyming records onto disk. It mmdlw individual
ords

Screen display,

printing,

amending or d@i@t*cn. ror data

entryhu?ingspeczalscggamf@rmats see Section 8.

Creating r@mmrfls,
Specizl facilities in Kev.
Ubdating cr d&letlmg *mcords.

>gram allowa users to search for batches of records that
me&t

varlmua se&rch

displayed on sereen,

parameters.

printed,

These

orocessed,

batches

(}3’\30\@@

mu‘smmm

5.1 Intreducticn to W@lectzan maramfiters~
5.2 Selection parameters.
5.3 dbw to use selecticen.
-

records

can

then

passed into other files ete,

laciang cn multiple parzmetars.
Selecting on character fields.
Sewecnxng cn numeric fislds.
Selscting cn date fislds.
Ccmbining search parameters.

ete.

SECTION 6 - REPORTING

This is the part of DMS that prints lists of records (standard report
printing), cr user deflned reporta, wherm virtually any report laywut can be
o1 Introauctian to REPCHT.
.2 Standard reports.

.2.1 Type A reports (tabular or column displays) An *ntrmductlcn.
.2.2 Type B reports (simple lists). An introduction.
;
.3 User defined reports (introducticn).
|
|
.3 Labels. An introductien.
.5 User defined report opticns.
6 Option A. Using standard reports.
7 Settlng tailored reports.
.8 Heading informatian,
-9 Sub-headings.
.10 Details in repert.
.11 Subtotalling
|

.12 Printing thfi ‘tailored r@porta.

e
B

13 Printing labels.

14 Setting up letters.
15 Printing letters.

SECTIN
7 - SORT

Records in DMS are stored in random crder cn disk, but may be sort@d on any
criteria ready for printing, screen display, etc. Records may be put into

either date, numeric or alphabetic order. The sorting times are mnid and
the sorted indexes may be stored on disk for future use.

7.1 Introduction to $arting
7.2 User instructions
|

7.3 Using selected records.
7.4 Sorting.

?5 Cuunttm@ r@cmrds in DMS.
This part of DMS allows the user to create different scrwenvf@rmats;forju®e~

during data entry or amendment. Fields may bedeleted from the screen,

- longer cperator prompts can be inserted, and calculatimn can bevw%wfarmfid on
screen as data is entered.

8.1 Introduction to MASX.
8.2 Creating a2 MASK.
8.3 Options in MAK.

8.4 Incorporatmng calculaticns or other processes l¢t0 %mfiK

8.5 Using a MAXK.
8.6 Help messages in MAK.

Thia pmgm a:..llawa users tm browse through records on screen, amending,
m'im;im, etec as rmimd J‘ her mlect.m batches of records may be seen
sorted

indexes

recalls

means that there

is no need to get an mct

| data mtch for rmorfim in @rdm* tc:: recall them. This is the best option to
use to "tag" records.

9.1 Intmductim m bmwaing

'l’his pwt mf D«I S allows th@ umr to perform calculaticns cn either the whole
file or on pmma@lected bat&h@fl of mcovda (+#, -, *, /). Other batch
processes include batch deletioms etc.
|
10.1 Intreduction to batch processing.
10.2 User instructions.
10.3 Setting up the pmemw‘

10.4 User hints.

10.5 Executing the process instructions.
"“?,‘ 11 - LIXK.

This program allows users to link with wordprocesscrs such as Wordstar,
Spellbinder,
ete, and with user written software. It can also be used in
conjunction with COPY for merge DMS files.
11.17 Intreduction.
11.2 User instructions.
11.3 Optim A. Linking with erdpmemmmw

11.4 Cotions

A and B.

SECTICN 12
- COPY
This is the part of DMS that allows users to merge DMS data files,
input from other software, Datastar.
|

and take

12.1 Intreduction.
12.2 User instructicns.
12.3 Printouts.

SECTICN 13 - BACKUI

This pgrt g EMS al..m users to back-up frem hard disks cnto floppi w,
13.2 Umr instmc

13. 3 Backing up.
13.4 Restore.

APPENDICES
1.

2.
3

A quick reference to scme commen
The use of passwords.
|

4
5.
?.

8
9

1 0.

Main menu explanation.

functions.

A ccomparison between XEY, MASX,and 3RCOWSE.
File definiticn exzmples.
|
Nen cursor addressable VDUs.
Detailed configuration rcutines.
Error messzges.
Glossary.
Index.

INTRODUCTION TO DMS

rts the following:

1 compatibility
mode. **
:

e
and

lmfi

Umr am strmgly

heed thiswarning

The

symmm uwa

only Sm-tmg tags m» s@lm‘m*ds..
V
~ Access to data is via a prime key or a

sorted index file.

There are no limi LS to the numbm of screen layouts, sal@ctim pwmwtw
files,

process files,

report layouts ete.

All DMS files are standard CP/M files, and as such may be PIP ed in the
nermal way.

1:1

SECTION 1 - AN INTRODUCTION TO DMS

TEE REASON FOR DMS
1.3 There are three prime reascns for [MS:
1.
2.

Reduce the cost of software on m
cmpu!
~
|
Provide a system that is f’lexible enough to r-esmond ta a users
changing needs.
By keeping the system mmnle to undarstand tm open up
possibilities for the nen mert to use a mcmcmmputer.

The way that DMS reduces the cost of software is that anyone can use it to
tackle their own particular problems. Where there is not a package avmlable

to solve a pmblem, DMS can be used to find a solution.

Until mmtly, if there wasnt a package for your par-tic:ular omblem, you
would have to pay for a special program to be written. This is very costly
and has resulted in many jobs still being dene by hand, when, in rmlz.‘":r, a
micro is the ideal tocol to use.
With DMS, this cost has been reduced to an amwtabl.e level by allow..ng thm«

users themselms to explain
to the computer what they want fmm it.
One of the other problems that

DMS overcomes

th@t

changing

requirements. Wnat you need from a computer system can change in two ways:
Firstly, thare may be changes foreed on ycm fmm mtside, e. g changmg
lam, tak,@m etm o

fm' L

In fact, one of the uses that DMS is often put to is to snow a user what 2
system will look like. Having agreed cn the basic printouts, screen layouts
ete, the programmer/system analys.... can then design the ccmplete system inz

cost effective way.

How DMS wor*k;S”" )
1.1 DMS is a suite of programs written in a very special way, in that it has
-

not been written with any particular use in mind.
This may seem a strange way to write a program, but what it means is that

you, the user, tell DMS exactly what you want it to do. This is not the
daunting task it may seem, because DMS will ask you questions in English,
and yowr replies will also be in English.

If you are new to computers you may find it difficult to understand now they

work.

Now,

although

DMS

very

powerful,

understand hcw it werks and what it is doing.

1:2

there

simpls

way

Everyone is familiar with a. m mdwc system where you have a box of index
cards. Each card
holds
rmation sbout a particular item e.g. a person or

a stock item, and ym my hmm one bmx of cards for one use and another box

for a diffemt use.
Of ccurse, sometimes you may use a filing cabinet instead of a box of cards,
but the prmeiplw is 'che same.

DMS is a verysophisticated card index eguivalent, and th
ual
we shall be mfwim to a card indwc system in order tomlain hm: DMS is
working.

Where to use DMS
1.5 Having purchased DMS you may use it for as many different projects on

cne machine as you require.

Anywhere you need to keep lists of information is where you can use DMS.
There are some users using it for as many as seven different jobs.
To stm' with our card index analogy,

the fmllmwing is a list ofsome of the

advantages DMS has over even the most sophisticated card index systmm
1.

2.
3.
4,
W

7.
7

No misplaced cards.

Less storage needed.
|
Faster access to each card
Printout of %lm ed cards in any order as often as you
like.

Wmltlma calwlatims

Passwmecztim asmitive information.

8.
9.

Daplicatim of the file takes only a few minutes.
CW@Mmay be made nmtly without bad writing and

10.
11.

Cm mt vmriows operations without losing cards.
Youmay request DMS to get on automatically with these

pemtwm while you do other work.
As you read thia mmml you will realise that you need never use a card
- index system aga

A few notes on this manual
1.6 Before going any further you should have a quick look at the glossary in

the appendix.

Although every attempt has been taken to explain everything you will need to
know, we cannot attempt to explain either CP/M or how your particular
computer has been set up.

- For example,

if you have a special VDU you may be best to obtain the help of

your dealer when first setting up DMS to mun on your particular system.

dmks, »all

You will do tm mllmwing

Generate a test file and follow a w.rk
an insight into how IMS works.

wm l@

tfl

gim Yw

1d knew how to use the following functicns in

CP/M:

Format a disk (£loppy users

Traznsfer your 3ystam image to afloppy disk.
files f;wm'diskto diax‘;_pHow to uaa smfir to find aut now mumh disk smaa@ you nhave.
This mrtmular part of themanual should be read from start to fimish. You
ahmxld allow about 1 hour to set up DMS,

and from 1

£0.3 hours for the

mmwmmw

How you do this will vary from machine to machine. You may haw a mmgram

called sm@thmg like COPY, t‘mt will allow the whole disk to be copied, or
you may need to use PIP.
Hard disk users with only cne floppy are advised to PIP 21l the DMS programs
tg ‘..hie*r hard disk, and then immediately PIP them back to some more
f‘

“‘*‘

;

2.1

‘

SECTION 2 - GETTING DMS READY TO RUN ON YOUR MCHIN'E |
A

SIS

DMS will a.m*ive, ‘depending cn disk farmt
must make sure ths 'c you copy tkwm all.

cn f‘mm cne to thr'% disks,

you

If you are in any doubt about this, then phom your dea..ez* mther‘ than mkfl

a mistake.

On the general subject of backups. DMS has a very robust file structure and
should someone pull the plug on you, there is every chance that your DMS
file will be the most likely one to survive.

However, if the disk gets physically damaged then you will lose a.ll ycur'
files. YOU MUST TAKE REGULAR backups.

CREATING YOUR DMS MASTER SYSTEM DISK
2.3 HywmathiskuaerthmPIPa.ltheDMSfil@s tayaurharddwk
platter, and skip to the section on configuration.
The purpcse of this part is to put all the DMS programs cn a disk that will
also contain a2 system image for your machine.
The aim is that you should have one dz.sk with all the DMS pmgrams, your
copy of CP/M, and PIP and STAT on it.
***fi*******&

Um YOUR DMS COPIES FOR TEE FCLLOWIN
R

R RN

The method of doing the above may va.r'y fmmvmachine to machine, however
there “‘mllows a fairly typical sessicn for a floppy system with disks A and

Put your CP/M system disk in drive A, and Y blank floppy in drive B.
- Use yourformat command to format the disk in drive B to tm maximum
|
~capacity that your drives will support. .
.
B
o
Move your CP/M system image from the diskin drive A to tbe disk in
drive B. 'I’his is often done with a program called SYSGZN. =

Using PIP, copy PIP.COM and STAT.COM to drive B. The commands Nlll be
B:=A:PIP. COM and B:=A:STAT.COM.
Remmve your system disk from drive A. Put the disk you bave just
ereated in B into drive A. Either press contrel/C or mmmm ycur . machine.
|
|

Having re-pooted C”/M, place the first of the DMS master d% sks in drive
B and type PIP A:=B:¥.* , This will transfer =211 the program files from
B to A.

2.2

&mmmm

To recap, you shouldnow have the following dmka~

The. tm or more mrig

disks that name Wit

The wpiea of the above dmm

%e, (cw mum f‘m* users with diskmte camcitieg lew

Put all the dmm othmr thm m@ mm(s) mmumDMS msrwa

safe place.

Alt*mugh DMS is then to run ¢cn any cmmpuwr that mll support
C2/M,
are a number offeatures that wlll vary from cre machire to another.

th@m

The most f’mqu@nt diffwema between one machi% and another will be the

Cmnfigumtimn of BMS is ummlly very. aasy, pmtiaulmy £ you have a

popular make ofcomputer.
If you find uhm thmm are not going too well then you should g2t some.
expert help and
read
the section in a@ endix 7 aboutamfigumtwm

Y RUN ON YOUR MACHINE
SECTION 2 - GETTING DMS READTO
The first thing to do is to get DMS up a.nd r*unmng ‘rm math:* J’.S
very
simple and 13 the one
youwill always use. =
Ir you ar'ev ma f:'..opny syst

CP/M pmmpt typ@ DMS am'l pmm mtum

The main DMS menu will appear on the scmmMlmt the CONFIQURE optim by
pressing A, no RETURN is needed.
|

G@namllyr, when replylng to DMS questions, *i;. the questicn mfls \m."ti‘i a colon
(e.g. Reply Y/N:) you need only reply with one key stroke and do not need %o

press MURN

Having selected A, you will see z menu on the screen with a numbar* of VDU

‘cypes displwmu At this point it is important to rezlise that these are not
ma
VDU, some of them refer to the method that theVDU uses to talk
to your computer‘ For example, at Compsoft, we have 3 different mzkes of
VDU, but they all use ADMBA to talk to the camputer.

If you can’t see your type of VDU on th::..s menu then you will have to supply
all the codes needed. This can be a complex job and you shouldget some
expert help and/or read the configuraticn sects.m in par't u,
For those who have selectef* a VDU from the menu, we can now carr'y cn.

You will now be

if ymx wish to mmdify thest ‘:‘ydm*d twminal codes.

Reply
N to thw auw’cim,_ unless you really know
!mmw what you are mi%

DMS will now dwplay the codes that yc.m will use to move the cummr' around

the screen, delete characters and insert characters. Most keyboards will

have four keys with arrows pointing up, down, left and right. DMS will
default to these keys in most cases. Some screens dc:m t have these keys and

you have to use a control key pressed at the same time as another key, DMS
represents this by displaying an up arrow, e.g. A means press the contml |
key at thesmtlmeastheAkey
-

If you look cn the screen you will see which codes DMS will use.
Changing these codes is very simple,

you may, for sxample, be running

Wordstar and require the cursor control codes to be the same in DMS and
Wcar‘datar
o
|
|

Assuming vou wish to éhangé these codes, DM.S will ask you, one by’% drie; to
press the Key (or key cmmbmatwn) that you require to use.

The next question is about the rrinter, and concerms the length and denth of
your print. It is set to 132 characters in width and 66 lines per page, if
you wish to change it make the correct replies.

When you use the user defined reports there is an option to mrint a f“* matmg
currency sign in front of any value fields. This questi@n allows you to
select the characters you wish to print.
|

2.4

Tm cmly @tm ;;;qumtian
*,‘ut“t

-~'tar m ammwmm with the lmtwv

tim& being.. hen you come to tm lattm* writer you will see that a.ll m

mlmnm thm

Lastly, you are asked if you wish to chang

Thi:s d@faults w dmka | A

me' VDU dwesn t have an MMMM@M
All that remains to be done is to ensu w

.
,,,—'c, if ylu are on a flnp v

system, ycu have a blank formatted disk to create your DMS

Fflllflwmg the liat of pregrams, you willfind a trai v mer i $ A
that are supplied with the wflt@m.

If you are fairly sure that you know what you wa.nt tm do you can continue
and set up your own files. However, it is strongly recommened that you take
the time to scan through this mamual mric:zr te &mmg any important work.
RN
N0 RN

~ The following files must be cn all your IMS disks:
ms CQM

mmmm%mmmm

WEERE TEE PROGRAMS NEED TQ BE SPLIT OVER MORE THAN ONE
CIDE TEE EEST SPLIT FOR YOUR APPLICATION, IN ADDITION°m 'rm ABO
THE FCLLOWING:

System configuration
File creation
|
Access files by key
- Sert
Createselection criteria
Change field names
- Set up a2sereen layout
Use a screen
Standard reports

|
—

N
th very then
M

Possibly;”"

Define user reports
Print user report
Define letters

**”““Pvznt lettera

Erwwae through a file
Set up a2 process run
Apply a preocess file

RSV

d user files
to cutput
Use

N
Y
CECRE VIS S

- Used to input user files
Backup

d files
to recover
Use

2.6

ARE

= g g2

mpm e N

byst

Thw section ahmuld take a2 maximum of one hmur, a.n;d wil;l give mu a gomd
grasp of the following parts of DMS:

Re-creating a DMS file from
disk.

ia an
Defining 2 selection criter

| Laying | cmt, and printing a user defined report.
You will need:

The DMS MASTER P ROGRAM disk you created.

The back-up copy of the second (or if you had three, the third) DMS
distribution disk.
A printer.

Between cne and three hours of un-interrupted ccmputer time.

Fer floppy usem,
flopy in drive B.

rut the MASTER PROGRAM disk in drive A and your mmttg

Type in IMS.

From the main menu select the CREATE cpticn, z2nd follow the in structicns.
The prompts are in CAPITAL letters, and the replies in lower case. The
prompts are not intended to bte exactly thesame as theyaprear cn the screen

and at varicus tmas you will be requestedto perform a number of staps by

yourself. Thisshould mean that you will have to tn:mx 2 bit,
get a better understanding ofwmDMS is about

2.7

and tmmfom

mm%mmm

Fi.}.e cmtimn

Access CREATE “rcm the mein menu.
Type in the following responses to the screen mr-vpta. The gist of the
pmmpw appear on the left in umper case, a.nd e...he mpues on the right in

ENTER DATE
DO YOU WANT TO BA.% Tifls FILE ON A PREVIOUS FILE DEFINITICN
ENTER DRIVE ON WHICH DATA FILE IS TO BE CREATED B
ENTER THE NEW FILE NAME
CLIENTS
|
ENTER A DESCRIFTICN CF TEE FILE
Perscmnel r-mmds |
At this point

we have told DMS we are going to create a ,Wle ‘that the

computer will call CLIENTS and we know as Personnel records.
We are now going to fill in the datalls about the type of mformat”on we
wish to stere on this file.

ENTER THE EEADING FOR FIELD NUMEER 1
ENTER THE FIELD TYPE

NAME

You have now described the heading, tyre and length for field 1.
Now input the following field information, remember that we are not entering

but mly the description of the data,

30
30
30

UZZO0000000

actual data,

40
80

1
10
10

2
2

After each entry you should have conf:.r'med it, and then nmssedhe space

bar after be;mg shown thefile definiticn.

Instead of ente”

r the beading for field mmbew 12,

amw mtum and thm the space bar.

s:.mpl..y "ym in *END and

Having reviewd the options press P to print the file defm:.’cion, and after
it has been printed press F to format the file on disk.

DO ¥YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE DISX IN DRIVE B ¥/N
ENTER TEE REQUIRED NUMBER CF RECORDS
100

The file will now be formatted on the disk.
Press E to retumn to the menu.

2.8

The next thing to do is
|
option.

add some
F

ecords to the file. Access the key
R
LERF R

IMS will ncow display the file definition, press tm

2 na

ne,

When you have entered
a

info
"*tim Write tae
'mz to theme;

‘

Tr'y amm ing a cmme mmm rm ;%,«,;,,m, m _tMn Qal.l.,‘ bmk J@ [ES AND CQ by

a that wh@n ym are callim 2 mord bmk lw its k@y *“ield

the name

'equires little thought in
of mmm lamuts wm.. Latm" m ycm wi..l see how to layout cne or

more sews for a fim, | dmlay only certain fields z2nd attach some

pmemw

w wm‘rfi@

’

;

Exit to the main memu

The next ammi% will
‘distribution dmmtt@.

be m use an

axmtmg file supplied mn ywuw

The file is held as a DMS bacmm fil@, a.md tl generate it vou will ham tm
use the restore part of the bmkup program

Make sure that you have your DMS preogram disk cn drive A,
option from the main menu.

Select cpticn R because we are going to

select the backup

restcre a file.

Remove the MASM’% PRCGRAM disk from drive A and insert disk 9 or 3 of the

DRIVE

FRCM WHICH INPUT

IS TO COME

ENTER
NAME OF FILE
PECPLE
ENTER DRIVE ON WHICHDATA FILE IS

20 records will be copied to the output on B.

2.9

SECTION 2 - GEI'TIHG DMS READY TO RUN ON YOUR MACHIN'E
A

PEOPLE.DAT,
all on B. Together these make up 2 DMS data file.
You will now have three files callec

PEOFLE.INX and PEOPLE.DEF

There will be another file on your distribution disk called PECFLE.TRM, PIP
this across to drive B as well.

We will now go on to using thia file for some further

exam
nples, it contains

20 records so we will be able to do some sorting and printing.

Put the BMS MASI'ERl‘ RAM: in dri‘m A, and get inta DMS main mnu,
Select option D fcr the sort, supply the date and seleat the file called ;
PEOPLE. N.B. Them m no n%d to tyoe the DAT,

We willnow sort the people file into name within dwartment order-. i.e. All
the first dept. with all its members in name order, fallowed by all the
secmm dept with all its members in order, etc. e
e
e

Hem is a pr-int of the f‘*le definition for this file:

Vvl sapins.
P"’OPLE Fil@ Title = Perscmnel wecgmg,

BQ/NOV/M - Last accessed 22/JAN/82 R@cm"dsused = 20
‘NxMar of f‘ields 13 Record length = 344
Mzximum mcmrds 20
Field name

Nc.

Type

Length

Field name

ADDRESS2

ADDRESS3

DEPMW\E
EXPERIENCE

7
9

C
C

15
80

QUALIFICATIONS
PWSION SCHEME

8
10

JOINING DATE

No.

Type Length

c
-

. C . 40
Cc
1
E

Now make the following replies on the screen:

DO YOU WANT TO USE A PREVIOUSY DEFINED RECORD SELECTICN
D
ENTER THE FIELD FOR KEY 1 OR *END

You will see that it is not necessary tc input the whole field name, in Faot” "

there are four ways of inputting the field you require, by full name, by. .
part name, by field rumber, or just keep pr'essing return wntil DMS shows you
the one you want.

SUPPLY TEE START POSITION IN TEE FIELD
ENTER TZE FIELD FORKEY 2
N
SUPPLY THE START POSITION IN TEE FIZELD
SUPPLY THE NUMBER COF CHARACTERS
15
ENTER THE XEY FCR FIELD 3
¥*END

har,

2 d W Qm tn@ sort m f ifliflh “

, call the sort file

Return to the main menu
Select the repart aptimn H, and then 3@l®¢t option A.
Look at the file defxnitian,,nmtaitn@re are 20 rmmmrda,cn the file.
We will now msm the

the records.
following:
a

standard DMS report writer to print cut details of all

We won’t print all the fields in ezch mamrd, just the

Dept, name, join date, salary
and we will request the total
rinted. Press the space bar.

Select cption A.
e m ANT TO vm?fi. PREVICUSLYSORTED IMS FILE

Do’m‘ WISH TO SELECT . FIELDS FOR PRINTING
Now s@lect fields 7, 1,

13 and 11

Type *END, chfick your selections and typeY or N
fcu can then print the fields you selected.
Follow the instructions for printing the report.

User defined reports
We will now prir
Get to the main

report using the userdefined report writer.

menu, select option Ezna th@nmption,fi

Press the spaae bar, and then answer the fmllcmirm q&]mtlcns

D0 YOU WANI TO USE A PREVIOUSLY DEFINED REPORT
i

0O YCU WANT THE
DO YOU WANT THE PA

028

,
SNUMBERED

CO YCU WANT TEE REPOHr DATED

ORMAT TON FOR THIS FEPORT

“Y

SECTION 2 - GETTING DMS READY TO RUN ON YOUR MACEINE

Now you will see a line of markers on the sereen. These can be used as 2
ruler when you set up sub-headings. If you look at the report we just
printed you will see that DMS generated a sub~heading between two lots of
dotted lines, now you will set these up for yourself. (if you don’t want

any, Jjust press retwn)

However for cur example put the following in colums 1, 40, 60

DEPARTMENT

SALARY

- NRME

Press return, and press return again to ignore | the seccnd line of headings.
Now we are going to tell DNS which fields we need to prmt,

bar mim aftar reading the messages.

press the space

FIELD 1
1
DCOWNWARD POSITION

O
START POSITION
1
NUMBER CF CHARACTERS
30
CONFIRM then space bar twice.
FIZLD 2 11
DOWNWARD POSITION

START POSITION

NO. CHARACTERS

NUMBER OF CECIMAL PLACZS

ACCUMULATE TCTAL
Y
CONFIRM then space bar twice.

FIELD 3
7
DOWNWARD POSITION

START PCSITION

NO. CHARACTERS
15
CONFIRM and press the space bar twice.

FIELD 4

*END

WE now goon to tell msabout the various totals we reguire:
DO YOU WISH TO AMEND THE REPORT
N
DO YOU WANT SUETCTALS
Y
DO YOU WQUM LEVEL 1 TOTfiL BREAKS

DO Yw REQUIRE Lm 2 TOIAL BREAKS

DO YOU WANT TO SAVE THISON DISK Y
SUPPLY THE REPORT NAME
FEPOM’ T

We have now d@f.ned the wholeof the Mpm'
, sm‘ retl

t’m tm ~ rnenm "

Now re-access report (H) but this tim& use sub-opmc‘m C whlch mll px*m*'
the tailored report. (* we will come back to t‘lis)

question.

Make sure you are at the main menu .
Press the space bar.

LD CR A msmowr: TH
20 Yw WISH TJO SUP%E T%“‘!
ifl' RUN T H’E

ENTER A CONSTANT

Sales

DO YOU WANT TO SEE IF THE CONSTANT OCCURS ANYW"RE WITHIN TEE

- above mmifiw that we wish to aelac*' a.l.., tne people in the sales dspt.

‘a

We will now supply a search critm*ia cn sw we will look f‘w neople with
range of 3alarifl3, Th@ actual mnm ifi }:m ce pmvid@d oy m omemmr ac

m—}z mm FOR mcrmm 2
SNTER AN owmm

,,s e

RN (THIS IS T5E RANGE

SEARCH)

DO YQUWISH TO ENI'"""R TFE CONSTANTS & RUN TIME

ary
CONFTS SUPPLY A PRCMPT (30 CHARACTZASMAX)= sal
Y

SUPPLY THE ”fi.fl FOR SELECTICN 3

SUPPLY TEE CCNNECTOR BETWEEN

SELECTICNS 1 AND 2

Press the space tar, z2nd czll the file SALA

2.13

mm%wwmmmm

Return to the main menu.

Proaesa;gg
Sblect the process option K.

DO YOU‘WISH’TO UsE AN EXISTING PROCESS FIBE

Raad the mnfltuctlons, and presa the space bar.
‘

SING INSTRUCTION NUMBER 1

SALARY=SALARY#1.1
¥END

ENTER PROCESSING INSTRUCTION NMEER 2

DO YOU WANT TO AMEND TEE PROCESSING INSTRUCTIONS

N
DO YOU WANT TO SAVE TEE PROCESSING INSTRUCTIONS ON DISK
SUPPLY A PROCESS FILE NAME

SALARY1

Return to tna mamn~wwkw"‘

BHERBHRHHNNR

Note than in defining the selection and process parameters, we havent dome
w

use.
anything other than store them away for future
%366 % B

% 60NN

As 2 last example we will use the selection and prme&ss parammtarfil&s to
increase the salaries of all peomle in sales, or have salaries betwean 10000
and 16000 pounds by,10%.
Select the process option, and then omtion B B

SUPPLY THE PROCESS FILE

EmLARI1

Select the print optin as C

DO YOU WISH TO USE A mvzoum DEFINED mcrmm m.s:
SUPRLY TEE FILE NAE

Yau wlll now be ask@d for the‘upper and lower limits for the salary r

remember that this was one of the criteria we smec*fled when we def‘med t"u.s
set of selection parameters.
:

Select 10000 as the lower, and 16000 as the upner limit.

ESSING

DO YOU WISH TO VIEW RECORDS BEFORE PROC

The selected record will be displayed, and, if you choose;J
processed.

2.14

SECTION 2 - GETT ING DMS READY TO RUN ON YOUR MACHINE
The final part of the example is to use a specially designed screen layout
to update the PEOPLE file.
Get back to the main menu, and select the mask opticn.
We will rmw use a mask file called PEOPLE.TRM. This was copied to drive B a2
aragraphs

ago.

This

screen

will allow us

to update

or create records

the PEOFLE file.

To use it follow the instructions in section 8. When you get to the part

where screen layout is displayed, and you are asked for a key field, type in

Black Miranda. Try changing information as shown in secticn &, and then try
creating a new record with a key of Arthur James.

Den’t forget the ESCAPE key for help messagses.
This is the end of the formal training, but it may well be a good
idea to carry on with some of your own ideas.

You shculd now have encugh of an idea of how DMS works to be able
to set up your first job.

2.15

SECTION 3 - MASTER FILE CREATION.

3.1 Before you can store informaticn via DMS you need to tell DMS what kind
of information vou need it to store.
You will need to tell IMS the following information.

The name that you wish oMS to call the muectim mf infm, mation that

you are about to enter. This corresponds to

name v

the front of a card tray or filing ‘cabinet, ard ifi used &

to remember where it has put all your

“Stock”, “People”, “Sales” etc.

ould w:.te on

mzute:

mfmrmmtimm Examplm are

You need to decide how you are going to break up the information into

“fields”’. e.g. Name, address 1, address 2, county, age,

salary etc.

etc.

You then tell DMS the name of each bit of information ycu are going to
store, you may have upto 60 fields, and each field may have a

description mf upto 15 characters.

What kmd of mformatmn @mh £ield can contain. In DMS there ares three
Date fields can contain dm:m in the fm'm 27JAN82.
Character fields can mntain anythm;and be 80 characters lcrg.
Numeric fields can only co
numbers,
1 be used with the
various ar ithmetic fu <;,;~'c:t..,mnm ‘I‘hw cmn cmntm.n upto 14 numbers

with 4 dmmal places.
The first field on your file definition ( see appvendix 5 for examples of
file definitions) is most important. This is the £field that DMS will use to
reference each record as it is stored away on the disk, and is the field you
will have to fill in in order to retrieve a given record. Examples of key
fields would be stock number, personnel number, company name, car
registration etc.
|
|
|

The way IMS works is as follows.

You tell IMS about your file in the way described above.

You specify how many records you think vou want to store.
DMS uses the number of records and the length of the records to work
out the length of the file.
You then tell DMS which disk drive you want your £ile stored on, and
DMS will try and allocate encugh space on the disk.

SECTION 3 - MASTER FILE CREATION.

If there is not encugh space on the disk, two things can haprpen:
' If there is not encugh rcom for more than 100 records then DMS will not
try to create tne file.

If there is room for more than 100 records, but not enough for the
whole file, then DMS will tell you how many records you can save. You

‘can then create a file with this number of records, or, much better,
as
you don't want to £fill the dx,sk at this point,
with fewer records.|

tell DMS to start again

Before crea‘.mg a f£ile, make sure that ycu have the DMSMASTER PROGRAM disk

on drive A and a formatted disk in d&rive B.

3.2 Access “CREATE” by selecting option “B® from the menu.

DMS will respond with the message “Loading programme, Dlease wait.”,
followed shortly bv a request for the date.

LMS then asks if you wish to use a previcus file definition. If this is your

first file then answer
“N here. (If you have already created a DMS file
then you can recall the file definition from disc, ard use it as a basis for
a new file.) Enter informaticn, as prompted, to tell DMS which drive holds
the data file (B in most florpv systems).
A file name of up to 8 characters is then required. As several files may be
held on one disc, make a note of the file name as this will be used to
recall the file for other gurposes.
e.g.
CARS, Person, Patient.

The file title can be a longer version of the file name
characters), and is used to head prmtm.zts ete.
e.g. Car Sales Information.
|

(up to thirty

IMS is now asking what information needs to be held on this File.

At this stage we are producing the headings, or field names; cn an old

marual systam this would be the printed, standard line headings on an irdex
card. Later on we will £ill these records in with apprcpriate information.

3:2

SECTION 3 - MASTER FILE CREAT
You can store up to sixty fi&ldm and up tm one thousand characters of
information per record. Typical mmlem are as fmllows.
3.3

Selling price

Price plus VAT

enewal

Date

Profit

Mz.lme

Joining

Supplier

Date

Address

Address 2

Qualifications

ars of

Smt

Mte

ete., etc..

g a rmrd isin firm: field, ard that the

For example, a person’s name, a job number or a stock number is
unlikely to be duplicated, and is therefore a good “key field”, or
first field. In our example, in the car file, the registration number
is ideal becaus
i
3.5 DEFINING OTHER FIELDS We can now decide on whether the information in
each field should be character (alpha), numeric (for calculaticns), or date.
These may be selected by presmngC" “N°, or “‘D°. Note that the first
field cannot be of type N’
T

If C° or “N° (character or numeric) are chosen then the maximum field

length can be specified. For numerics the maximum is 14 characters,
including the sign and the decimal point. For character fields the maximum
length is 80 characters. It is advisable to think of the longest possible
entry here, and allmw fmr it. Althouqh changw can be 'nada later, it is
easier to think in advance now.
You should select “N° xf you think you are ever going to do any arithmetic
cn this field.
On the numeric cpticn,
minus signs,

allow for decimal points, decimal places, ard plus or

and include these in the field length allowed.

field handles prices,

If a numeric

money etc.,then always cot for two decimal places.

A date entry requires no further informaticn ~..Iwa;m it be cmnume date,
this is auwmtmally validated.

3:3

SECTION 3 - MASTER FILE CREATION.

As each field heading is typed in and checked, press Y. If the field is
not correct then hit “N°, and enter the field again.
Having chosen the first (key)
order - whatever suits yvou.

field the other headings can ke entered in any

3.6 User hints, read before you create your file
1.

Remember that DMS can retrz.eve information on parts of fields. There is
no need to allocate a separate field for each bit of information. The
only excepticn to this rule is when you wish to print cut fields, it is

notmssxble to print cne field on more than 1 line.

Therefore a string of qualifications could all be put in ore field, but
an address should be put in three or more fields.
Character fields can hold any information ycu like,

eg 27 Hz.gh Street.

Store things like phom numbers in character fields.
You may need to include extra fields in ymr file definition to hold
the results of calculations. For example, in a stock file you may need
to calculate gross profit, inventory value etc. These would not be
filled in by the cperator but by a DMS processing run.

If you are coing to pass information to a word processor, the remember
you will need a “salutation f£ield”’. You may wish the letter to say"
“Dear John,” but the envelope to be addressed to Mr. J. Smith.

Consider using things like address, phwm rmmber for the key field.
If you are going to lay out your own screens,

and vou are going o

allccate a torder round the screen, rememkber that any “character £ields

you cdefire as 80 characters will coverlap tze border. You could restrict

the field to 78 to
mercmme ‘this.
If

the

flle must be split mto two or

identical marts

(for

instance because of limited disc space) the first file can be creatsd,

and then that file definition recalled,
ard subsequent fmles.

and used to create the second,

If extra fields need fi...o be added to an em.st:.rw fz.lm containing data,
then recall the criginal file definition ard amend it, creats the new
file, and use “LINK and “COPY” =o transwr: data to the new file.

3.7 After the last field.
Having set up the file to contain the relevant information for your needs,

at the next prompt of ‘Entew the neafi:.ng,.. type “*END”.

3:4

SECTION 3 - MASTER FILE CREATION.

3.8 You will now See a menu shmwmgymmmsmmms to do with editing
and saving the file definition.
i.

S - D:.spwy the file definition as it stands.

:
tthe file definition. (See beliow for more details)
PPrmt the file d@fmitim.

5.
6.

F Fmrmt tm flm, m mve ttm mw definiti
X - Exit to the menu.

Editing the file definition.

Option “E” from this menu displays a further menu, relating to the editing

facilities.

From this menu extra f£ields can be added (option A), £ields can be deleted
(option D), the definition for a field can be changed “in situ” (option
R),or the order in which the data is stored can be changed (option M). In
addition the file definition can be displayed, or printed.

Field positions, where requested, can be entered in one of three ways. N.E.
This applies for the whole of DMS except when entering processing
instructions.
Firstly by entering all, or the first few characters of, the field
name. DMS will scan the f£ile definition until it £inds a field name
which matches the charmtem supplied, and ask for mfmmatmn. If o
field matches then the message ‘Inval:.d field name” is displayed, and
the name is requested agam.

Secondly, by hitting <return> when asked for a field name. DMS will
present each field in turn, and request confirmation. If “N” is entered

then “Invalid field name” is displayed, and the name is regquested

again.

Finally the field can be specified by number. (This is the number in
the second column of the file definition.) No confirmation is
requested.

Cotion “F” from the menu will format the file, ready to accept data, and
save the file definition on disc. DMS needs to know how many records you
require. This may be as many as twenty-six thousand, or as few as one
hundred, but is limited by the amount of space available on the disc. As you
will also need to store sorted and selected subfiles, it is impertant to
estimate how many of these you will require, and allow space accordingly.

3:5

SECTION 3

- MASTER FILE CREATION.

3.10 Estimating the amcunt of disk space required

Find out how much space ycu have on your disk by using the CP/M function

STAT.

Calculate the amount of space I:MS will need by the following formula:

Space in characters = rumber of maracters in cne record mltzpli@d by the
number of records, and add 20 percent.

Don"t be temptad tc push things to the limit regarding space on file or
disks. Allow as much leeway as possible.

Having formatted the file,

DMS will allow you to construct further fa.les,

or, by pressing “E” to return to the main menu.

'SECTION 4 -

4.1 Introduction

As explained in the create section the key fmm is the first field on the
file description.
Within a DMS file each record must have its own umqtm key, and this key can

then be used for rapid access to that individualrecord within the file.
It is important that the distinction between accessing a record by the key,
as distinct from any other f:wld or cmmmnatmm of fields within the
mwrfl, should m urdersteed.
‘

personnel

file

where

the

cbvicus

key

the employee’s

large mmw@f t:m time vou will m searching the file

Y, dam of birth etc.

So the fastest way of memmg, updating or prmtm a record is to supply

DMS with the contents of the key field
record that you want.

(e.g.

the persons name)

for the

There are thme ways to access a DMS file by a key field, KEY, MASK and

OWSE. See appendix 5 for more information on these programs.
&asmally R’EY allows cr thn, ed:z.tmg and deletion mf recmrds by the key

musethase
KEY will use a standard screen arnd printer layout.
4.2 User Information

Use ocption C from the main menu. If asked, supply the date and the name of
the file ycou are working on.
4.3 The first quwtmn you will be asked is..

If you answer Y to this, then all record changes, creations ard del@t...ons,
that you do during this run, will be noted on the printer. It is a gocd idea
to select Y for all your runs, as this provides a useful record of all the
changes done on a fmlm«.

DMS will now display the file definition. Check that the record count and
the file update date are mrrwt.
Press the space I;:m'

SECTION
4 - KEY ACCESS FOR CREATION/UPDATING/DELETION

4.4 The next opticn offers four alternatives:

To ccntinue,get the next record.

To display the file description ie. the field h&wifigs .

To restart the programme.

|
|

‘

Press the C key. .

We are now asked to put the information into cur first field (key field) and

DMS prompts you as to what this should be.

There are three possible actions

at this point, f:x.rstly we could press the escape key to return to the
previcus memu, secondly supply the key for a record that is on the file and,
lastly supply a key for a new record. As soon as you input the key field,

DMS w111 check tm See if there is any menticn of this record cn the f:.le.

I.et s assume we are cmat:.ng a record.
4.5 Record creation

The f:.rst message, having inout a new key, will be ‘m veu ‘want to create a
racord » £eply Y.
|

- DMS will now ask, fiéld by field, for infcmrma.tim about this recopd.
Now we continue thmugn the record,
each field.

filling in the relevant information for

4.6 Special furctions for data entry
There are two special functions that can be used while cmax.,wg new recmds.

The first of these is when you are inputting records where one or more
fields are the same from record to record. If, instead of inputting data
into a field, you press the control key and the D at the same time. DMS will
£ill in the field with the same mfarmatmn that you supplied to the
previous record.

The mcond function can be used when yeou are in the mlddle of creating a

record and you have typed scome incorrect information into some of the
earlier fields. If this happens, you can press the escape key, (this mav ke

control plus the "[" key on some machines),

and DMS w:.ll al..lmw vyou

mputtmg again at field 2 of the current record.

to start

Date fields can be filled in automatically by pressing "C" when asked to
supply information for a date. This inserts the current date that you tyred
in when starting to use the oprcgram.

Where there is rno data for a field, you can press the return kKey. Charactar
fields will be filled with blanks, numeric with zerces, and dates with a

‘null” date.
A rull date

is the smallest date IMS can use,

- 4:2

e.g.

lass than 0LJANCL.

To mnd a record using‘ REZY, where you get the message:
Please supply a2 recoré key, or <escape>... etc.

| Type in the key mf the rmmm ymu wish to am@nd., ! ~ or lmwer case we

DMS will now display the record. Any record on file can be accessed with

this rapid search time using this method. Press the space bar to see what
can be done with the record at this point.

The following opticns are available:
C - Continue, get the next record.
A - Amerd a field in the currsnt record.

S = Store the amende

record on £ile.

P - Print the current record.

D = Delete the current record.

(N'omvtimt»when vou have changed a record the S optmn will show in reverse
These options are self-explanatory,

but the amend cption needs further

As explained, there are three basn.c: tynes of field,
numeric and date.

thnat is character,

For character and date fields you may replace the information that is in the
record with new information of the same kind.With numeric fields you have a
number of other coptions, you can add,divide, multiply, subtract, replace
ard zeroise.

Having selected the amend cpticn, you will be shown the file definiticn and
asked to enter the field name you wish to amend. You may enter the whole
field name, the first few characters or the field mumber.

Znter the field you wish to change, and you will be shown the urdate cptions
that are available for the type of field you have selected.
ter the update vou will be shown the record on the screen. Pressing the
space bar gives veu the cpticn to amend ancother £ield. If vou have f£inished
all the amendments then reply *ENIL
:

mmmmmw

You will then be returned to the--above option. On screens with enhance
mcdes, you will notice that the “S - store the amended record on £ile” is in
enhanced mode. This will remird you to save the record.

If you don“t want to update the record then select cption C.

In this way you can go through the file amending information record by
record. Eowever there are- many times wmn thw meth of umdating ymr file
would be very time consuming.

For a faster method see section 9 - Arithmetic and character processing. |

4:4

SECTION 5 - SELECTION CRITERIA

There are two methods of getting at records on a DMS file, the first of
these, by key, we have discussed under DMS file creation. The second method
is searching the whole of a DMS file record by record, searching for some
information that may be contained in one or more of the fields.

For example you may have a personnel file where the key field is name, and
normally you would select a record by the name of the person you wish to
look at.
However, imagine that you want to search the file for all the people who
will be 21 in the current month. You could cbviocusly search the file name by

name, keying in each name one by one, and check if they are 21, but this
Which brings us
the selection function where vou are saying to DMS, start
at the beginning of the file, look at each record in turn to see if it
contains the information you are looking for, and, if it does, then print
it, display it, or transfer it to another file.

2 point to r:mmmber is that, having set CM: going, you can go away

andlwve z.ttmgetmmth‘&wwb mhm

DMS allows upto eight selection criteria on one pass of the file,

each

selecticn criteria may be joined using AND and/or OR

The selection rcutine m:l.uate‘s the selection criteria in the following way:
1.

Each selection criteria is allccated a number i.e. 1-8.

Each selection pair (i.e. 152, 384 etc.) is joined with an AND or
an OR.
Ezch pm.r is tl*mx evaluated, and given a true/not true indicator.
This gives a maximunm of four true/not true answers, one answer per

3.
4.

5.
6.

These pairs (i.e.(l&2)&(3&4), (5&6)&(7&8) ) are then joined with an
AND or an OR and evaluated.

This gives a final pair of true/mot true answers that in turn may
be ANDed or ORed,

giving it a final true/not true answer.

The record is then selected if the final answer is true.
The use of AND and OR in computers is much the same as in ordinary language,
but becomes a bit more d:z.fficult where there are multz.ple auwtimns. Fmr
example consider this selection from a mailing list of maagazine customers.

5:1

SECTION 5 - SELECTION CRITERIA

Select the following: Customers on rate 3 who live in France and sgeak
English, or all French customers who live in the UK and are on rate 3 or
rate 5. This would be represented by the following diagramm:

1 rate = 3
AND

2 lives
in Frarce

3 maks English
4 rate = rate

S nat. French
AND
6 lives in UK

7 Rate
=3
OR
8 Rate
= 5

N.B Selection 4 will be true for each selection, it is there to “balance”
the selection so that selection 3 can be evaluated with the result of
selmtmns 1l and 2.
DMS will fi:st evaluata the answers to the pairs of cmestmns on the left of
the page, giving a true/not true answer. It will then takethese answers and
apply the final selection c¢n the right.
An answer can e krue/not true, and selections work as follcws:

true

AND

not true
true
-+

AND
AND

true

= true

true
not true

= not true
= ot true
= not true

not true

AND

not true

true

= true

not true

true

= true

true

nct true

|
,

not true

= true

not true

= not true

It”s a gocd idea, when first working out selmctmns, to try them cut on a
piece of paper.

The individual selections can take a number of forms,
within a certain

characters etc.

e.g.

select a number

range, search a character field for a given set
Full details of the varicus selections ars given below.

Having decided cn a given set of selecticns,
a disk for later usage.

veou can ask DMS to save them on

Choose the SELECT option. This allows you to set up and store the required
|

selections on disk.

When you want to usae the report, screen d:.splay, sort, process, label or
link options you will be asked if you want to use a previously defined
wlact:.on m:x.mrm.

So, the sequence of cperations is to dmfinu your vmrimus aelactimns BEFOR

actually umng them on the data on the
|

file.

5.4 Se

You can specify upto 8 selections at one time. 'I‘hwe selections can be on

different £ields, the same field, apmifiied parts mf fmms or involve a
search through a field for a given bit of information somewhere in a field.

Depending on the type

ocptions available.

DMS can match up information that occurs anywhere in the field.
A gocd example af this is where there are a number of codes, e.g. me codes,

to be stored in one field. Because they can be m:mmd in any order in the
field you will not know which part of the field to search on for a gwen
ggge, therefore you ask DMS to search the whole of the field for a given
e.

Having asked

for

| cmtwn on the main menu, and selected a

the

- field, the fir fessame will be:

Do you want to use the whole or the positicn in the field?
Answer "W" for whole, this allows either an exact match on thls field
or a search for a given code anywhere on the field.

“Answer "P" when you know the exact position within a field that the
information vou require to match on has been stored.

5:3

SECTION 5 - SELECTION CRITERIA

Whether you selected P or W on the last option you will then have the

following comparison ava:.lablm to find records where information is:

Equal to

Not equal to

In a range of

If EQ or NE are selected the next cption allows you to compare against a

constant, which you supply, or against information contained in another

£ield ("C" or "F".

A constant is something that you supply, and will ramain the same for
the whole time you use a given selection. On the other hand
contents of a field can vary from record to record.

the

Quite often you will wish a constant &o chm@ every time you use the
selection. DMSwill allow you to input a message that will prompt the
cperator at the time of running the selection.

The RN option is more complex, but basically requires that you tyre in the
two constants that vou want searched cetween, e.g. all records between A and
E, or between 678 and 8967 etc.,etc. You simply enter constants, as
mptad, for the lower ard upper erds of your search varameters.

The last questwn you are asked is if you want to see if the constant cccurs
anywhere in the line.

This cption allows ycu to specify sliding string or window searching.

Imagire you have a file with cars in it, and one of the fields contains

accessories.

You want a print of all cars that have a tow bar, however
some cars have a description such as “Sunshine rcof, radio, tow bar,

clock”TM while another cne has “Leather seats,

tow bar,

radio”.

To select cars with “tow bar®, you will have to tell DMS to search for
tow bar anywhere in the field.
When using EQ or NE ycu must be aware that, in DMS, blanks are the same as
other characters. For example, “FRED
(FRED followed by two blanks) is

never equal to TRED.

If you wish to carry cut this type of comparison then

either use the partial field omazatmrs, or include the blanks in ycur

constants.

5.6 NMumeric Fields

All that has been said about character fields applies to numeric fields,
with the exception that you can’t specify individual parts of a numeric
field.

c fields S

More options are available for numeri

Greatef than

Greater than or equal t©

25
N

Ina mma of ’

Once again you may compare with a constant or another field ("C" or TFM).

You can opt to search either on whole dates or parts of dates, e.g. any
information in 8l or in March etc. If you want to find information relating
to Mar8l simply ask for two selections
on that particular field.

Using the BN (range searching) vou can search for information between two
particular dates, e.g. cars mamufactured between April 79 and March 80.

5.8 Cambining Search Criteria

There are many occasions where you will wish to combine more than cone search
criteria, for example, select all cars where the registration number ends in
an M and are estate mrs.

You may jmn the mlectwns together with A for and, or O *‘or or, evaluation
takes place in the following order:

Result of (ls2, 3&4), result of (5&6, 7&8).

The result of the two answers above.

Selection can become quite complicated,
per search of the file.

and can have upto eight selecticns

5.9 Using mull fields for selections
Null fields are created during record creation by pressmg the the return
key instead of putting in any information.

Null character fields are blank, null numeric fields are zero, and mull date
fields are set to a2 low date.
‘
When selecting on null character fields you must use the partz.al field
operator, e.g. if you wish to check if an 80 character f:.eld is blank, then
just check the first few positions for spaces.
If selecting a null date field, press return when asked to supply the
constant. e.g. selecting all dates where they are not equal to a null field
is perfectly valid.

We have seen that it is poasihle to cmtain a print of a mnql& rmmrd that

has been selected by key, however it is most mftwm
whole, or selected parts,
its key.

of a file without having to choose

There are basically two types of printing in DMS.

w print the
h

record

There is the printing

that tells you what has happened (e.g. transacticn logging in the key update
section), and there is the type mf prmting that, for example, prints ocut

all invoices that have been cutstanding for more than 30 days.

This section daals with the latter type, fm:
process, select, key or copy.

w lesmf the former see

There are four criteria t:mt need to be cmmn.d@md
requesting a printout frem a IMS file, these are:

l.
2.
3.

when

Which records.
Which fields to print in each record.
Whmh @rdez to print tm infanmtmn m.

All the DMS remm allmw you o use the selection fmme and sorted files.
They alm allow ycu to select which fields
:m a record you want printed.

There are four tyms of remrt, tw@ standard, mm user dafmmm and the

letter writer.

This is the classiccomputer
t:;w printout that produces tabular reports.

F‘iel& frcm ewh rmrd are prmtm across the p&ge with heMmga at the top
You may suwly a am:e and a title. Page bmaks and numbers aregenerated
automatically.
You can request totals,

field.

and page changes on the contents of a particular

Field headings are used from the file definition. If a heading is longer

than the contents of the field,

then the heading will be truncated.

If the length of a printed line is longer than the width of the paper, DMS
will automatically move the heading and the contents to the next line.
This is a quick way of getting neat and compact rerorts from a DMS file.

SBECTION 6

REPORTING

6.2.2 Type B

This differs from print 1 in that the information is printed down the page
with the field headmgs to the left of the line.

It w mf pmtmular use whem smmmm is to writ& mmments alongside the
formation that has been printed.

Both Type A and Type B can generate mtals of numeric fields.

Where one of the standard r:eport layouts is not smtable for a partz.culaz
printout, ycu can define your own layout.
o

This is a very powerful report generator and allaws you to mix fields,
constants ard numeric totals anywhere on a page of printout.

‘The first step in creating your own report is to sit down with a bit of
paper, ard laycut how you want the informaticn m be displayed cm“the page.
You may freely mix information from fields on the DMS file in any order
(mludmm the same field more than om:a) along wz.th text and numbers input

DMS will divide t:he page mto rows ard columns mord.wg to the rumbers that
you input into the configuration section for page width and length. You can
tell IMS, which row ard column you require each pzece of information to be
printed on.

You may supply a tz.tle, that will ampear on the top of each page, and a

heading that will be included in two lines of. *"s, under the title, at the
top of each page.
You may select mtals o be pr:inted at upto three mntml breaks.

A control break is when the contents of a prn.nted fz.eld changes,

and you

require a total of a numeric £field for all the previous lines where the
informaticn in them was the same.

For control breaks to work,

order.

the printout must be sortm into the correct

For example, assume you were printing a personnel file that had been sorted
into the following order:

Lecation

Section

Department

The information you are printing is salaries, and you want a total of the
salaries for each of the atove.

smtwmg cmtrml ’break 3’mthmn*wary time mw mf thwa fields changes vou
will get a mm of salanes for that mtim, - - :ma orlocation.

- page;

cer page, a good hint is to print a
this will force DMS to go to the mt

nstant can, of course,

be a2 M if neede:

There is one final type of print, and that is a user defined label format.
Mmum m.w um lots mf chffmmt typm of lam:{. stationery
five labels across the page, each
lak
:
You may print upto
ing runs, or you can print the same 1m1 wto 50 tlmes.

If your printer has an expanded print capam.lity you can use this, along
with the multiple label option, to create labels for stock containers etc.

Press A m print standard DMS rémrt.
Press B to set

tailored reports.

Press C to print tailored reports.

6.6 Cption A
This allows mpont printing where the layout of th@ information on the page
is worked cut by the computer, making it easy to mbmm printouts in the

simplest manner possible.

There are two types of standard reports available:

Tyre A

Prints with the field hemingw across
the top of the page, and the information
in columns beneath.

Type B

Prints with the headings mpeated for

every

record,

information.

6:3

placed

the

SECTION 6§ — REPORTING

Orce again you will be given the cption to use previocusly cmat&d or sorted
film, which are accessed via their file names.

You may tell DMS hoew many blank lines are to occur between the printed
records (0-10), or have one record printed per page by typing in -L

Individual fields may be selected for printing, or, you can simply have the
whole record printed out. If you reply ¥ to the “Select individual fields”
essage, you will be asked to type in the field headings for those fields
which you want printed.
You are then asked whether or nct you want the printout to print totals of

numeric fields, and finally cre more mnfirmation is needed before pcinting

While the report is printing out, you can stop it at any time by pressmg

the “S” key. Baving prewed this, you are then gi‘mn the option to continue

printing by pressing the space bar, “R® to restart the print or end by
pressing “E°. These same three options apply when a printout has run
summfully and prz.ntmd cut all the records.

This option allows you to create layouts according to your own
specifications. Baving defined a report layout you will then store it on

disk to be used in cpticn C, which prmts user—defined reports. Ycu may also

change existing report definitions using this cption.

Firstly you must say whether or not you are geing to use an existing rerort
definition. If you are setting up a cmmmletely new report dmfzmtmn you
will reply “N” here.
|
;
|
6.8 Then you have the cption to set up heading information for
the report. This includes options such as report title, page
numbering, use of expanded print (only available on certain
printers) centralised title ard page numbering. Answer Y or N as
appropriate.
6.9 You may also put in two lines of sub-headings which will be
printed cut urder the report title. A ruler appears on the screen
to assist yeou in spac:mg these sub-heamngs cut. You can just hit
the return key if you do not require sub headings.
:
8.10Now you can specify up to 60 report “fields” - these are the “chunks” of
information that go to make up the report. Some of the information will ke
already contained in the DMS record, but other parts will be original,
perhaps words and santencm that serve to 'na.ke the report or letter more
readable.
|

g:d

DMS rmmrds or they may be string mnstanw - i...e.. mmgiml bits of text
that will be stored in the repm:t and mrinted fm: emc:h recmrd., It is worth

spending a little tm

exactly where on the page ymz infmmatm i@ qmim

paper to

wo:

For each report field, vou must tym in the field heading to indicate which
DMS field the infm:mtion is tocome from,
W*W)

(for a string constant, enter
.

You are then required to specify where you want thisinformation

printed on the page. Thus information can be printed in any line dmwn the
page, starting at any position across
1, or line 18, start position 40 etc.

the page, e.g. line 1, start pecsition
DMS shows where the previcus field was

plmw fm your g V;Mame,mwml m!',',f“:j:f‘;:iwmay M made on MYone line, of
For character Mmmatimn ym can say how many charmmm you want printed,
axfi fm: mmm:ic i_
you can specify the number of a@cmal places,
whether

you

wan

ounds

rling

sign

front, and whether

the

field is

w be tmtallmn I%te that tmtala will be automatically plamed in thm same

position on the page as their respective numeric report fields.

DMS fits as many records as it can onto each report page, so that if your

“lowest” report field is on line 18, and the page is 66 lines long, you

would get 3 rmrds prmtm on each page.

If this is not dwimhle, it is aimply a mattm: of aaymg that you wmt a
thu fmwiw DMS to print onlyone
66,
string constant to be printed online
record per page. (This 3‘&.1!’@ mstmnt can of course be a blank field).

When amend:.ng an mxzstlnq

remrt definition,

you can’t delete

lines.

However, you can accomplish the same result by changing the line to a blank
constant, ard smcifymg that it should print after the previcus field.

Having defined mux report fields we now hwe the mpm.cm of pr:mting subtotals.

To d@ this, we must Mk the program to print sub-totals when there is a
difference between a pm:timm line of a DMSrecord, mfl the _same line in

the next record. For example, if we were printir@ out a “cars’ file and we
wanted sub-totals of all our Fords, Renaults etc., we would specify “MARETM
as a sub~total field and then sort the file by “MAXKE” so that all the Fords
would be printed in one group, and then after the last Ford we would get a
sub~total and then continue with the next make of car.

As well as these fairly straightforward (level 1) sub-totals, we can have
another twc lw&lm sothat if we made cur level 2 mport field “COLOUR’,
ard thensorted bycolour withir ewh make before printing, we could obtain
sub-totals for all wh:.m Fords, all red Fords, all white Renaults etc.,etc.
The important thmg is to remember to sort the data file into the correct
order before using the sub-total fmillty

6:5

SECTION 6 - REPORTING

Having defined cur complete report, we can change what we’ve done so far, or

carry on ard save cur definiticon on disk, giving it a meaningful file name

for later use.

Note that when c:hanging a report definition ymu can only amend
existing report fields,
add

and no further report fields can be

Having defined your report layout, return to the main menu.
6.12 Option C Printing the tailored reports.

This cption allows you to print reports according to laycuts that have been
set up using option B. You must tell DMS the report definition file name,
and if you want to sort ard/or select you must supply the sort/select file
If you are printing a report with totals at various control breaks,

request
a summary only report.

i.e. only the total lines print,

individual records that make up the totals.

you can
not

the

A f£inal confirmation is required before the report begins to print, and
whilst printing, ycu can use the “5° key to stop the print as in cption A

Notice that in the case of any numeric wg:o:t’ fields where the value to be

printed is greater than will fit into the field length,
printed to indicate that overflow has cccured.
|

a “!” will be

Sticky labels can be printad with information from CMS files e.g. names ard

~addresses. You may use sorted files and selected files to produce lakels:
which case supply the appropriate file names as requested.

in
|

Up to 5 labels across may be printed, and a label may be printed up to 50
times over. Expanded print is also available if your printer has this
facility. DMS matches the informaticn onto virtually any lakel staticnery by
asking such information
as how many characters need to be allcwed for in
each line.
|
|
|

What is the meximm width of a line cn a lakel.
DMS works out automatically what the maximum number of characters across
are, having taken into account the number of labels acrcss, and shows this
figure for your guidance. It also needs
to know what position the first
label needs to be started at, and having typed this in (normally 1-5
depending on your label stationery), it will cuide vou as to start positions
for subsequent labtels across the page. There is nothing like trial and error
for matching.-up your labels.
|

Fields can be mmn fmm anywhem in the record, and the order of occurance

may be changed. Lines may be left blank by inserting * instead of a field
name. The program then asks you to type in the hwdmgfi of the fields you
want to use.

Up to three fielfls may be printed on each line of the label. ’I‘h@y will be |

printed one space apart with all trailing blanksremoved

Having told DMS what mfc:rmtim
want trmfm:rm to labels, you will be
affm'm the mtim af a test pr:.m:. Ifthis fits
onto you labels, prm the
DMS then prints the labels. If for any reason, ( e.g. labels not running

through

smoothly,

susperd/abort/restart.

) you want

to stop the print type

The label program allows you to store a

in “8° to.

label format for later or repea

6.4 The let‘cer writer

This is the part of DMS that you can use to write standm:d letters to
cusmmers am. Emh letter can consist of text and information frem the DMS
file,interming.
ou wishe
|

'me most common way of ufling the letmr wrimr is to mclude names and

Demmmlls,

Thank ym for your ercuiry about hozse sh
as possible.

If you need any further information then please call us.
Yours sincerely,

The underlined information will be supplied from the DMS file for each
record as it is read, the rest will stay the same from letter to letter.

SECTION 6§ - REPORTING

Creating a letter is very easy, if ycu have used MASK ‘then you are mmt of
the way there. For those who have used mask and don“t want to read this

sectmn, the differemes Between this and msa: are as follows:~

1. You can’t attach a processing file.
2. You can’“t protect fields.
3. Yau can’t have fields in highlight.
4¢.You can have upto 88 lines per letter, the screen scralls to allow
this.

5. A new “escape” cption of T takes you to the top of the letter.

6. You can type over the end of a line, DMS will “word wrap”’.
Paragraphs must end with a carriag@ return in orderthat DMS can

justify the paragraph and remove any trailm blanks from information

taken from the DMS file.
7. Putting up arrow followed by N and a carriage return will turn off

justify unt.xl the next up arrcw, N, carriage return.
8. You can’t amend fields cn the letter as it orints.

For the rest of us, select the D cption in FEPCRT.

Cotion D - creating
a letter
The first question you will be asked will be Do you wish to use an existing

letter file”. Answer Y to this lf vou require to modify an exn.stmg letter,
otherwise mply N.
|

The screen will SO blank with the exception mf tbe tcp line, the cursor will
be placed in position 1 of line 3. The tcp line is tell:.rg you which keys to
press to move the cursor arcund the screen. Note that the keys vou need to
press are those that you selected in the configure option when you first

used CMS. Ycu should find that you can use the keys on your kevboard marked
with arrows instead of using the control key and the key indicated.
|
In addition, pressing return will move ycu to the start of the next lme cn
the screen.
Try moving the cursor around the screen, type in a2 few lines of text and
generally get to know the keys. You will notice that if vou type cver the
end of a line, DMS will automatically adjust the text so that the line is
split between two words. So, éc not press carriage return at the end of each
line, cnly at the erd of a paragrarh.
|
When you are ready press the escape key.

When you press the escape key and wait for a few moments, ycu w:z.ll see that
you have the mllcm.ng cptions:|

When you have f:mz.shed lav:.ng cut your letter: you will save lt for
later use with this cpticn.
At any time you can reguest DMS to display the file definition, dont

6:8

This is how you get DMS to include a field from a DMS file into your

letter.

The field will be included at the place the cursor was

positioned prior to you pressing the escape key. Note that when the
letter is beLng printed, any spaces will be removed from the field and
the rest of the paragraph closed up. Spaces are removed from the back
| of character fields and the front of numeric fieldm
you press the I, DMS will prompt you m supply a DMS field name o
number. Supply a field and you will be returned to the letter, mmr
note the following. ‘Ihe field you selected wz.ll be shown on vour letter

by a line of

, ard the name of the field will be displayed on

limtmofthemx%n.'~

This cption will delete a DMS field from the letter. The fim m

will be the cne that you had the cursor in prior to prmm
T

Returns you to the start of the letter.

Give up this letter.
layout exactly
as it appears on the screen.

Finally the space bar will return you to editing mode.
You can type your letter just as you would on a typewrimx:,there is only
one special code that you need to know. Suppose that in the middle of your
letter you include some text that requires a special layout, i.e. you don’t
want DMS to perform any automatic justification. The way to do this is to

enter a lme, by itself, with "N followed by carriage return. You can turn
the

space mw and juatlficatim bmk on by mtm'xm

6:9

the same ccde

SECTION § - REPORTING
L

Here is an emmple of a sz.mnle letter containing a name and address shown as
—— ard some numeric informaticn that must not be justified. N.B C/R means
carriage return, this would mot be shown on the screen but shows where you

would have pressed it.

Dear -

—/C/R

Enie

Thank you for your enqui'ry :egarding e
|

are as fol;lms:-C/R

- Widgets
mk2

—

— | -, the prices]

=———C/R

"NC/R

Yours faithfully,C/R

A.N.Other.C/R

)

W.W. ‘escape ard
X to save the letter.

’

‘

'CptimE prmtaletter
If you want a strmght print of a letter that doesn’t use any fields from a

DMS file, then you can do this with the L option at thetime you created the
letter. When you require to print a letter that has some fields from a CMS
file then you must use this cption.
Select cption
E from the REPORT menu and select the lettar f£ile that ycu
require.

You will be given the cptiocn to use a sort file and a select file, if you

wish to use one of these then give the file name ycu require.

6:10

There are now three questions that relate to the letter writer:-

If you are using continucus stationery then reply N to this question.

If you are using a cut sheet feeder then reply N.
If you are using individual sheets reply Y
Start fram letter number

Normally reply l. If you have lost some letters due to a printer
problem then give the approximate letter number you wish to start on.
Number of ccpies

Allows vou to get mldple copies of each letter.

Having replied to the above, make sure that your printer is set up and press
the space bar to continue.

While not attempting to explain how cut sheet feeders work, vou should be

aware of the follcwing.
Printer offset
Some cut sheet feeders require that the left hand margin on the printer
|
should be mmt.
Page length
- Most cut sheet feedm:s require that the prmter and the prmt program

have a longer page length than the paper that is being used. Typically
78- lines for 2 normal A4 sheet.
the actual end of the sheet!).

(N.B. make sure you don”t print after

You will £ind a detailed explanation of how to do this in the configuration

6:11

are many times when printing a DMs fil@ that the order of the
,t tm immrmnt. 'l'h@m a.x:c:tha: tiw whem in either

oroblem DMS allows you to create as many indexes

. e. Ym are only limited by disk spac

In order to understand how DMS precduces it’s sorted indexas you need to

consider the following:
1.

2.
3.

You do not need to sort the whole of a DMS file if you are only
interested in a few records from that file. You can ask DMS to
mlect fl'm rmmrds you rwuim primr: to wrying cut the sort.

The smaller the number of ch:

sort on, the cuicker will

be thw“rt, and theamall@r the &iak spacerequired to hold the

index.
There can ke as many duplicate fields on the file as ycu want. In
key we used the example of employee name as a fairly unique field
for me kay, I'wwmr, :.m:t.rg th@ mrt we can cmmmte an index w...th
' 'you may erase it as it forms

Y generated

. you may

keep
lt,w

lom as you like,

but you must

embe: that any rmmm admd m tm main file will not ke included in the
mdex. Wh@n ym %lmt an mdm:, mms w:.ll mll you if updates have been made

Records stored in DMS may be mrted using any field of information as the

basis of the sort. It will thus sort on numeric or character fields of
information.
These sorted files can then be named and stored cn disc for use
in other DMS programs e.g. mmrt, sc‘*em display, lm«els etc.
Ycu may use the s&lectwn faatum to select the records that are £o be
sorted.
Do you want to use the selecticn feature Y or N?

If you want to use a previously defined selection then type in the name
given to that file created during a SELECT run.

7.4 Perfmmim the sort
Whether using a selected file or the whole data file, the next informaticn
you need to type in is the heading of the field on which you want the sort
e.g. Price.
You may sort on upto three fields at one time.

7:1

SECTION 7 - SORTING AND PRODUCING INDEXES

Character fields have an extra facility in that the sort need not
necessarily be done on information in the whole field. You can ask DMS to
start the sort anywhere along the field by telling it which position to start
the sort on, and how many charac:tms following on from this point should be
used as the sort criteria.

The full mntents éf 2 date or numeric field will be used for sorting.
DMS will request the drive that is to be used as a work disk during the
smt~

This must be a formatted dz.sk, ‘and DMS wz.l.l allow you to chme the program
disk in drive A for the duratz.on wf the sort.

DMS c‘!ms not sort all thedata on the fz.le, but only sorts tags.
The size of a mrt@d mdw: can be calculate& by multlplying tha number of
records in the index bv two, this gives the index size in bytes. |

75mmw:mds

If yeu need to know the mumber of rmmrdswnaWsz.le thatmbev |
a certain criteria, then you can also do this in smrt.
A

After supplying the selection file name, you will be given the obtion to

either carry on and specify the sort parameters, or to scan the file and
count how many records pass the selecticn.
:
This is a much faste: way of countmg records than using a pr:z.ntout.
7.6 Sort work areas

During sorting, DMS will require room on disk for work files. These work
files exist for the time of the sort, and may be on any drive that has
encugh space.
o
|
The amtmt of space needed far the work files is:

The number of records selected for the sort, times the length of the
sort keys, times two.

(This gives the area in bvtes/charac;tm:s) B

After the sort has finished, the actual sort index occupies the mllowmg space:

The rumber of records times two.
The work areas are deleted at the enrd of the sort.

7:2

This secticn deals with how you will design ard use your own screen layouts

If your VDU does not possess a cursor that is addressable you will need to
There are two stages in using a mask. Pirstly there i

where you draw
the screen layou

econd

There is no doubt that the hest'waym learn touse the mask facility is to
try it cut on one of your own files.

You will be asked for the date and the name of the file that you wish to

If there is already a file that you wish to amend,
questicn. If you are creating a new one reply N

ke placed in position 1 on line 3.

reply Y to the next

top line, the cursor will

The top line is telling you which keys to press to move the cursor around
the screen. Note that the default options, although shown con the screen as

"H (control plus H), will, unless you changed them in the configure cpticn,

be thesame
as the

keys marked with arrows.

Press the key for down a few times, then for right a few times and you
will
see that the cursor mowves arcurd the screen.
|

Now type in a few ****”s, move the cursor back over them and move them

across the screen with the key combinaticn for inserting, control/
I on most
screens. Move the cursor into the ***°s and try deleting them,
when you’ve

got the

hang

of moving the cursor, place it scmewhere in the middle of the

screen ard press the escape key.

After a few seconds ycu will see a help menu of 8 cptions appear on the
top
of the screen.
|
|
Two points here. Firstly,

if the menu has cverwritten part of the screen yeu

laid out don’t worry because as scon as vou get back o the screen it
will
all be restored. Secondly, it took a few seconds to display
the help menu,
but when you get familiar with the options you will be able to supply
the
option ycu want without waiting for the menu.

8‘1

SECTION 8 - PRODUCING YOUR OWN SCREEN LAYOUTS
8.3 Options in MASK

Locking at the qations cne by one:
X

When you have fmxshed lav:.ng ouat your mask you will save it w:.th this
‘option.

At any time you can request DMS to display the file definitimn, once
again don’t worry about DMS overwriting your screen layout.

This is how you get DMS to display a field on your mask. The way it
works is to ask you for the field name, number (or if you can’t

remember either of them just press return) that you want dwplayed.

Note the prompt a.t the battm cnf the screen.
The field will be inserted into your mask at the point you left the
cursor pz:mr to pressing escape. You will know that there is a fz.eld at
this position in two ways. Firstly DMS will draw lots of
*
the position on the mask that the field will cccupy, and, secondly, J..f
you move the cursor into the field the second line on the screen will
tell you the name of the field.

You can use wark fields by putting ” followed by the field rumber e.g.
"1

Before pressing emape put the cursor into the fleld that ym wish to

delete from the mask. Pressing D will then remove this f:.eld.

The idea of putting fields on your mask is, of course, so that when vou
come to use the mask you can amend the data in the field. Fowever there
are times when you only wish to allow pecple to see information but mot
to change it.
Put the cursor

into the field you want to protect and select this

option. You will notice

when you place the cursor into a field, that

the second line on the screen not only skmws you the name of the fmld,

but also if it is protected or mot.

The P option works on the toggle basis,

in other words itwill

protect an un srotected fmld. am unm:otec:t a protected field.

This allows you o specify that a field _hmld be dlsplayed in r:evez:se
cr enhanced video.

Give up on this mask.

This cpticn allows you to print the screen layout.

Finally the space bar will return you to editing mcde.

8.2

8.4 Attaching a

ing routine to IMS

When you save the
mask on disk you will be given the option to attach a
processing file, protect the screen with a password and to inhibit record

If you require to do some processing and haven’t created your process file

at this point, reply N to the message

about the prccess file, save the mask,

create the process file, re-enter the mask create and call up the file
again. Save it, and this time reply Y to the message about attaching a
process file.
|
|
|
:
.

Access the mask cption and then select cpti 23 B*

| |

Select the name of the mask file that
you wish to use.
Reply Y or N to the tramsaction logging message.
o

1 1%

[he T mask you have selected is displaye i on the screen in exactly the
way you formatted it.
s
|

The top line of the screen shows the cursor control keys.

The cursor is at the front
of the key field, and the prompt on the

bottom of the screen is asking you to enter a key field.
First a few general notes:

The cursor is moved arcund the screen by pressing the return key. Each

time you press the return key the cursor will move to the next, non
protected, field. If the field is the last one on the screen then it
will move to the tcp of the screen again.
Once you are in a field you may edit it in any way you choose,
inserting, deleting or overtyping. Note that if you are editing a
numeric f£ield you must ensure you leave a space to the right of the
number you have entered unless ycu are against the right limit of the

field. For example a field that is 5 long and contains the number 2335,
and you wish to change it to 9987. You type 9987 but leave the 5 i.e.
the field contains 99875 and will be wrong. The following example will
show what I mean:
|
v
122.33 27 = 122.33 but 122.3327 = 122.3327

Enter sémething into the key field, if you don’t know a key that”s on the
file don"t worry just create a record and play around editing ik

8.3

SECTION 8

- PRODUCING YOUR OWN SCREEN LAYOUTS

8.6 Belp msmges in MASK

Once again pr»ssmg ...ne escape key g‘.ves 2 help menu with the “cllowmg
|

mesmges.

Will delete the displayed record from the disk.
Will quit the current record without

changing the record on

Writes the current record o the disk.

This option applies the process f£ile to the contents of the screen.
N.B. The process file used is the one you attached to this mask when
vou created it
You can run the process agamst the record as many times as you like,

Quite useful for workz.ng cut mtemst a.fter l 2,3 ete. years.

List the screen to the print..r

This forces DMS to tidy up all the mumeric .;.z.elés cn the screen. It is
automatic prior to processing or saving or printing, but it is nice to
clear these fields to ensure that anv editing vou have done has been
accepted in the format you expected.
Pressing the swce ‘bar mturmyoutm edit mcde.

8.4

—

IMS files are organised to mdme the time taken to access a record by its

key to the minimum. In addition, beamme @f th:w organisation,
files never require lengthy reorganisations

wvery active

Eowwwr thme are timm whwn you may wa.nt to mcwa a DMS flm by a field

tm rmwxd& Mm m‘“:

’

by Yole)

and subject, rather than book rumb
hor
aut
by
e
fil
s
thi
to do this
by a function called screen mmllmg
wans mm
through a file using an index file. The mdmt

>an be m any field in the record, character,

nummic or date. Mm, Mcmum y@u are using an index created by sort, you

are allowed to have duplicate information in the index.
there is going mbemrethmmbmkper author.

In our bock example

When using an index you can access the DMS file in two ways. Firstly, you
can supply a key and DMS will use the index to find the record on the DMS

file that either matches this key, or, £ailing an exact match, the record
that has the nearest key. Secondly,
record at a time.

ycu can browse up or down the index cne

Records that are selected can be updated or printed cut.
e
is
anot
WSEthat allows you to scan the file withcut any
mrtwd index. This fumtmn can be used where you just want to scan all the
records cn a file, ard just update the odd one that catches your eve.

Select the BROWSE cption from the main menu.

The first question you are asked is “Do you want to use screen scmllmg

¥/N°. If you reply Y to this you must have produced a sorted index in the
sort option. A reply of N will allow you to browse through the file,
no'particular order.

Assuming you selected Y for the previcus question.

but in

The next questicn asks you for the name of the sorted index that you wish to
use. DMS will read in the file and ask you to confirm that it is the correct

cne.

You will now see a help screen telling yeu what field was used for the sort,
ard askirg you to supply an entry that it can use to search the ircdex.

9:1

SECTION 9 - BROWSING

3.3 Supply an entry and DMS will display on the screen, either
the record

you selected,

or the nearest one it can find.

cptions that are available. They are:

You will be shown the varicus

Left and right arrow
- move up or dcwn the index.

A - amend the record dlsmlaym
P - print the record.
R - reselect another record.
E exit the program.

The only cotion needing further explanation is the amend mion. This
works

in mctlv the same way that the amend option in m works,

exception that you can“t create or delete rmrds.

wz.th the

The index is cnly valid at the tz..me you create it, :.f you have
an ac:mva
fz.lethenymmytryarfidmymrmdat&saba’cchatatmmusmgm.
Generating indexes is fairly quick, on a florov based systam an index
for a
file of 1.000 record it shmld take in th@ regz.cm of 5 minutes.

S8:2

DMS has a powerful batch processing facility whereby
a whole series of

calculations can be performed on either the whole file or on pre-selected
records, eg., you can ask for the selling price of every “P°
to be decreased by 15%,

read “special offer”.

and at the same time change

the

“comm

10.2 User ins

Select the pmmfiwv cption from the main menu.
You will be given the following two options:

Press "A” to set up the prccessing instructions.
Press B” to execute processing instructions.

pessible having
set scme up.)

(Naturally, this is only

10.3 Opticn A Setting up the process routines

This cption allows you to define sequences of processing instruction to be
carried cut. EHaving created a set of instructions, you will then store them
for use under option "B” (execute processing instructions). You may also
change existing processing instructions using this option.
|
Firstly, you must say whether or not you are going to use an existing
processing-instructions file.
If you are setting up a completely new set of
instructions, you will reply "N here, otherwise ¥ which will give you the
cpportunity to recall, by name, a previcusly defined set of instructions.

Processing consists of a series of instructions to DMS,

perform certain operations on the records in a file.

=+
-

telling it to

acdditicn
subtraction

/
*

divide
maltiply

make equal to

There is a further crerator for deleting records, see section F.

These cperations are performed on fields from the DMS file, accumulators or

10:1

SECTION 10 - NUMERIC AND CEARACTER PROCESSING

In setting up for the first time, you can key in up to 15 separate
instructions, each instruction being up to 100 characters in length. Some
examples of processing instructions would be:

(ie. reduce the selling pr.ice by 15%)

(le. change the cmmnt fmld to read Specml offer”)
3‘

TOTAL COST=CCSTL+COST2+COST3-ALLONANCE

There are several “language rules” govermng
instructions so that the computer can understand:
A.

how

we can wrlue

these

There must be rno spaces between the operators (=, +,/,*) ard their

surrounding characters, and there can only be one = sign in each
line.

‘Numeric constants (ie. non DMS fields) must be preceded by $%.
Character or date constants must be preceded by @ and be a valid

format/length.

The current date (at time of running opt:.on B), may be inserted
into a date field by saymg

There are 30 “accumulators” - these may be included in the
:.nstructionsby puttmg ~ followed by the a.ccumulator number (1 30).

The accumulators are snllt into 3 groups each with distinct
functions.
ACCUMULATORS 1-10

- These are cleared to zero as each record
processirg begins on that record.

is read

ACCUMULATORS 11-20
These are also cleared to zero for each record,

in,

before

but afker each

record is processed any non—zero accumulaters will be printed cut.
ACCUMULATORS 21-30

These are only cleared to zero at the very start of the processing
run. At the end of the run, any non-zero accumulator will be
printed cut.

[X ]

10:2

tructions are evaluated fram left

right, ie.

TOCK="1*%0.5*"2

accumulator 1 by 0.5, multiply the result by
the final result in the field called STCCX

when satisfied, sam tlwm on dmk by supplying a pzme%ing
imtmmtimm file name.

m@rds may ke batch d@leted by ircluding a precessing

line with an up arrow folm by DELET!
Proces

statements

afw t;his

upto this will

smtmnt will be

)

be carried

cut,

iqmmd-

Then you have the cption to do a printmt of the inmrmtimm which you have
sat up, after which you may pmm E to return to the ms meru, or press the
pace bar to rmtm:tthw m

104Umrhinm

1If ymu are dmng a large numbm: of selections on a £ile, you can

use the process option to add. a 1 into a field on the file for
every time the record is selectad.
%

So if you do 10 sets of selecticns, this field would equal 10 for
any record to be selected 10 times.
2.

The delete option can be very useful when combined with a
Mlectwn option, eg., delete all invoices prior to January that
seen

paid.

When calculatmg percentages, increasing a figure by 23% can be

done in cne instruction of *$#1.23.
10.5 Opticn B

the process routines

This option will actually execute the processing instructions that yeu set
up in coption A.
First you must supply the prm@ssqu instruction
allocated when you stored the file in option A

10:3

file

name

that you

SECTION 10 - NUMERIC AND CEARACTER PROCESSING

Now you have the choice of

different printouts

process:.ng is being carried cut.

which will occur

Press “2° to print the complete record contents, both before it is
mmcewsed ard again after

1t is wmcessed.

Press s o print mt complete record cmntentsafter processing.
Press T to print ocut only

cse fields

that have been affected by

the

Press “D” to print arv er*ars that occur, eg.., t*'vmg to put too large
a number in a i..ml....

Now you can supply a selecticn file name to apply selection criteria to the
processing, eg., vou may cnly want to ‘mm::em cars under
4 vears uld.

Now the pracessmg will begin,

and,

as m tne remrt prmtmg faatures,

can press “S° to stmp the mmceasmm
WARNING!

yeu

If vou press “S° and abort the run, all mcmrds mrmess&d so far

will NOT be charged back to their original state,

as they have alreacv been
dealt with.
t is alwayvs useful to have a backup disc for use in this case.

SECTION 11 - LINKING TO A WORD P OCESSOR OR USER SOFTWARE

This section wxpmmfi how to use the LINK option to cmam an input to a
lmerge run usmg MicroPro”SWORLSTAS

In acddition Wu can u

L
‘package or SPELMR

produce a sorted,

s«elmm sequential file

that can be usefl by amthw pim of mftware, or by t.he COPY option in DMS

If you are going to use f;hx.s for passing data to a word processor you should

have an idea of how the Mailmerge/Spellbinder packages work.
Altlm.mh WS has a mw@rful zemrt gmeramr, there will be many times
that thepower and flexibility of a word processor can be combined with

| infarmmimn on a DMS fil@ to produce vmrwus types of mailing ghmts.
(The glossary andindex were prepared by DMS ardMailmerge)

In particular the use of the processing and selection options in DMS

allow a veryvaried approach to personalised mailing. Examples are
many, ranging from such things as mer last service was 3 months -age,
and you are now due for vour next one”.
Used with lmaglnatmn, DMS can be a great help in obtaining extra
business, ard gives your customers tbe feeling that they are known as
lmw'lduals

Wordstar and DMS compatible files have the fmllmwinq format. Fields are
sep&rated by commas and r@amms by caxrmq& returns,

if fields contain

- Select the LINK cption from the main menu.

Make

sure you have

enough

room on

the output disk

hold

all

the

information to ke written cut. Maximum space requirement will be the total
of all the lengths of the fields passed to the ocutput file multiplied by the
number of records + 2 thousand characters.
Tou will ke given 3 options:

Press “A°

to creata a standard sequential file for use

Press “B”
Press “E”

to create a fill file for Spellbmder.,
to return to the MENU

ROSTAR or another software package.

SECTION
11 -

LINKING TO

A WORD PROCESSOR
OR USER SOFTWARE

11.3 Ooction A - Linking with the wordorocessor arnd other software

After looking at the file definition, press the space kar to continue.
You will then be given the coption to use a2 sorted file wn/ic:h has been
created previocusly (ie. if you want the output in order of “surname”, for
example), and a previously defined record selection if you only want to
cutzut certain records.
In each case, supply. t.he mrmrmtez.le name.

If you have prevmuslv saved a set of transfer mrametersp vou can now m:md
them in.

If you haven’t defined anv reply N

Now you can specify the individual Zields within each *mrfi that are am.ng
to be transierred
to the cutput.

DMS now asks if you require to select individual fimlds for mtpu*

You can

enter up to 60 fields which are to be transferred, in any order, and the
same f£ield can be cutput mere than once if necessary.
Znter *END when all the field names reguired have been keyed in and then
renly ¥/N to "is this CK"
- if you re'oly ‘N° you can re-enter the line names

again.

I you reply “Y you can get 2 printout of which fields are going to

be transferred.

11.3 Opticns
A and B
For both link options, you must now enter the drive and £ile name cf the
cutput f£ile.
This file name will be given the extension of “.MRG.

Now LINR will read through the DMS data file, writing the appropriate
recoréds into the cutput f£ile,
....t is transferred across.

and displaying the key field of each record as

At the end of the LINK, press “E” to return to the MENU.

‘

SECTION 12 - COPY, UPDATE DMS FILES FROM DISK

P m in some ways the opmsita to LINK. Link w1ll pwduca a sequential

file that can muwm by a word processor or a umr written program. COPY,

date a DMS fil@ from a ww file.

You may want to run CCPY for the fml_mmg reasons:
To mfitrmmm a DMS fil@ that yau hava pmvmmly ¢mated, but now

;
update a DMS file with informatmn fmm amth@r system, a user
program, or frm another IMS file.
Two examples of this are. Firstly, you may wish to use a special program
to validate your data entry, and then automatically add this
infmrmmtim to an existing DMS file. Secondly, you may wish to update a

“summary” file from one or more DMS files, e.g. you have a job file
containing varicus cost information, each job has an account number and

youwant w add up all th@ msw per wcmum number mtm another DMS
Before you can run this part of the system ycu must have a DMS file, with or

without x:mards on it,and a sequential file.

Copy produces standard format sequential files with fields separated by

ccommas and records by carriage returns.

12.2 User
i

Select the COPY cption from the main menu.
The first message allows you to insert the disk containing the sequential
file that is going to be used as inmput to the updats. Change the disk, or if
yeu do not need to change the disk then just press the space bar.
You now have to tell DMS which dr:we the input (sequentml)
from.

file is to come

You will be shown the files that are available cn the disk you specified.
Select one of these files, and DMS will display the file definition. Press
the space bar.
The

cption

allows

vou

specify

already creatad

set

of ccpv

parameters. You will get the cpticn to save the parameters later.

There is now a uescripti@n of how you are going £o cet the DMS file, ard the
sequential file to match.

12:1

Press the space bar.

You will see a short version of the file definition of the file you are
about 0 update. The field names run from left o right on row cne an@ then
left to richt cn row two etc. etc.
~
When you supplied the name of the seguential £ile, DMS scanned the first

recerd to work out how may fields there are on it. We will now tell DMS
where o put
field from the sequential file cnto the IMS file.

You specify the fields in the sequence they are on the sequential file. This
‘will be the szme as the sequence you specified in LINK or your own program.
e.g. the first £ielé on the segu ential file is to goto the fourth field on
the DMS file, the second field is to goto the second 'Fz.el& on the DMS file
EW«.

etCm

As well as savmg which fields match with which, yvou can tell DMS how it is
to update the field. Character fieldscan be used to replace the existing
information in the field, or they can be added to the end of the ex:.stmg
information in the f£field (e.g. the two lots of information are merged)
.
With rumeric fields the cptions are more complex. With these fields you can
acd, subtract, mult:.plv, divide or renlac;e the information from the
sequential file into the IMS file.
|
|
|
You must supply this mfmrmatmn for all the .x..mlds on vou. inout sequential

£ile. If you don"t wish to use one of the z.m::ut fields then mp‘w with an
-fi*.fi

You must allccate cne of the fmlds to the key fmld, otherwise DMS will not
be able to matech th& sequential £ile rec:wrd$ mA.h the COtI@Cw DMS file
records.
You should only match .a..mlds of the same type, e.g. character with
character, numeric with numeric, and éate with date. Failure to do this will
result in unpredictable umdates. |

Ezaving specu.z.ed the matching, you can save these parameters for later use
12.3 Prior to the update taking place you are given four reporting cptions:
A.
3.
C.

DPrint ccmmlete records before and after update.
Print ccxmlete records after update.
Print only record kevs.
‘

Print cnly errcrs ard excemtmns..

If vou select option D, you will be given the further cption of asking DMS
to cutput the messages
to
t'.be screen.
|

When the upcGate has f:..mshed, select cotion
E to rsturn to the main menu.
You will be given the opticn to replace the program d‘ sk m c::zr:we A should
vou have changed it at the start of the cory.

N.B. If you are dcing a LINK followed by a COPY you must remember to log on
to the new file to be updated. If you don"t, you will end up updating the

same file as you ‘an’ from. Use t.he reset optlon on the main menu to
charge files.

t--l

SECTION 13 - DMS

FILE BACKUPS

As stated at the front of the manual, it is most important that you keep
copies of your files.

On floppy systems this is easy, you either use a dmk to disk copy routine

or PIP.

If ymu have a hm:d disk without a backup system ymu cmuld be m tmuble if
MS file that is larger than the capac
ur
£leppy
di

Bowever, with th& bmkup mti@m vou can copy a lm:cm EMS fz.le from your hard

disk to one or mmm floppies. DMS will keep a careful check on how many

floppies are needed anfl put an indicator on each disk so that when you come
ile

you can be sure you haveusedthe correct disks.

‘We do not suggest you try bmkn.m up a 3M byte f:.le onto mmc flcmms

| Tbe program is m o parts, l:mkm ard restore.

Select the bmkup optim cn the main menu.
You are asked if you are going to do a restore or a backup (R/B), to take
these cne by cne.

13.3 Backup

This is the action c:f copying a DMS file to one or more floppies. In the
event of your main file being corrupted by machine failure etc., you can
then use the flawms to recover the file.

Select the B ontmn..
Supply the drive and name of the file that is going to be backed up i.e.
copied from. Next surply the date which will ke entered on the tackup disks.
You will then ke shown the file definition, press the space bar. Now sumlv
the disk drive that you want the backup to be on. If you are using a hard
disk, then this will normally ke a flcpmy drive.

If required chance disks. DMS will now cutput the backup file which will ke
called by the same name as the master file, sut with an extension of 32X.

13:1

SECTION 13 - DMS

FILE BACKUPS

13.4 Restore

This is the action of recrsating a DMS master f£ile from one or more "’lmms
that have previously been created bv a backup run.
Select the R option.

Mount the x@irfi disks and press the space bar.
Supply the drive and name of the file that is to be used for input.
Znter the drive that you want the restored IMS file to go to.

DMS will now start to reconstruct the file. Firstly it will format the file
in the same way that the CREATE option creates a new DMS file.

You will then be askm w insert the florpies that contain the backup. These
can be inserted in any order. DMS will t@llymifyou trymzmutthesame
one twice, and will check that you put all the disks in that are needed to
restore the file mrrec:tly
You can rmstcrm cver an existing £ile :.f you need to,

but be care‘u..

After 211 the disks have been used return to the main menu.

13:2

‘Used to tailor
following:

the system

to your cmmpumx,

and will change

the

Prinmr m.dth and mmth

of dmk drives.

Create a IMS file.

Describe the type and amount of information you wish to store.
Use an existing file as a base for anew file definition.

Rey
C:m, update ard delete records by key.

mmlimmsinforma

Amerd any fii@ld in the record.
indard DMS screen lay
out.

Sort the file for reports, links or browsing.
Count how many records mbey a certain selection criteria.
The sorted file is saved for future use.

Set up a sequence mf selections to be apmlz.ed to a file
during sorting, printing, linking or processing.
Store the selections for future use.

Used to change the names of fz.&lds, usually to change the headings in a
standm'd report.
Masi

————————

This cption consists of two parts.
‘mrstly, it can be used to set up your own screen layout.
This allows you to password protect the screen, define view only
fields, attach a prccess file.
Secmndly, it allows you to use the mask to create, update, delets and
print a record. This option allows full screen editing of thm f
ldfi
and repeated mllcatmn cf a pr:me% £ile,
‘
|
Print screen lamut.
-

Arperdix l:1

APPENDIX 1 - MENU DESCRIPTION.

There are four parts to this program:
Standard report across the page.
Standard report down the ‘page.

User defined reports
The letter writer.
Both the standard reports are very easy to use.

'I’ney will allaw you to
print selected fields from sorted and selected records. You may request
totals, line spacing etc.

The user defined report is in two parts, creation and use. The method
of creation is more complicated but allows greater fcrmattmg and
subtotals.
|

Report formats may be saved for' later use.
Labels

Allows you to specify various label formats, including the m51t3.on of
the labels, how many you wish to print, how large the lahel 15 and how
many spaces there are between labels.
o

Label formats may be saved for future use.

Each lébel can be printed upto 50 times.
Browse

Using this cption you can browse through the £ile in any order that you
choose. You can update records in the same way as in KEY, plus you may
directly access a record by a field other than the key field.
You must have produced a sorted index before using this option.

Process
Process is used to create a file of process instructions for use m

updating a whole file or for attaching to a screen mask.

Process has two cptions. Creating the instructions and then using them.
Prccess instructions can be saved for later use.
Linj

Used to produce files for mput into wmrdmmcessmg pac:kages,
software or the CCPY option in DMS.

user

Cooy
Used to update/create records on a DMS file,
LINK run,

the input can come fmm a

from a package like DATASTAR or from a user progmm..

Appendix 1:2

——
:

MENU DESCRIPTION.
;

Will backupa IMS file to one or more floppy disks.

Used to change from cne DMS master file to another. It will ask for the
date, the disk drive, ard the file you wish to use.

The date supplied here can be used in the rest of DMS. Whenever vou are
asked for the date you may reply with a C, and DMS will automatically

insert tm date you supplied in this cption.

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

This section can be used by as a guide m c:mrvwg ocut certain standard tvpe

cf work on DMS.

For thefirst time user it can be used to ulan their way through a part of

DMS that rwm.ms a series of steps, for the expermmm user rt: is a useful

mind-jogger.
-

You will still need to read -he chapters on the individual parts of DMS
before usmg tkm ysStem.
|
‘

Each section is dwn.dm into four parts:
l. Subject
2. Prerequisites
3. Action
4.

Result

Zach section is labeled with a letter, this letter is then refered to in
later sections. For example, if a wmmquwita for section K is A,3,H then
you have to perform the function in those smtww pricr to being able to
use wtlm K.

Subjects covered are:

A. Configuraticn.
B. File creation.
C. Record creation/edit/Geletion - bmm mum

Recoré creation/edit/deletion - advanced

E. Printing records - basic method.
F. Prcducing a sorted index to a DMS file.
G. Prcducing a selection £ile.
H. Creating a prmass f:a.lm .

K. LINKing to the mmde mxm.' >

L. ng smuantml files into DMS

APPENDIX 2 - QUICK

A‘l‘ Confi

REFERENCE GUIDE

tion

Used to tailor IMS for your particular screen/printer.

A.2. You must have copied the DMS masters to you own dlskettes, or hard
disk.
You should be logged cnto the disk that 1s going to be your normal DOMS
program disk.
You need to know the type of VLU you have, This is not the actual name
of the VDU, but the protocol it uses, e.g. ADM3A.
If in doubt, call your hardware supplier. Even better get him to
configure DMS for you.
Boot up your system, get into IMS and select cption A.
Two files will be created on the logged disk, DMSCNFIG.DAT
and
CMSQNFIG.RND. N.B.
MO

CMSCQNFIG.DAT may not ke present ocn later versions of

These files must then be copied to all the dlSkS you are gomg to use
for holding DMS prcgrams.

B.1l

B.2

File creation

Supplying
DMS with the information needed for you to be able to store
data on a DMS file.
You w:Lll need to run this prior to usirng any of the
other DMS cptions.
|
You shcoculd have run A above.:

If you are on a floppy system you will need to have a formatted disk in
drive B. Ensure that you have enough room on the disk for your file,
space needed is a function of the number of records times the length of
the record + 20%. This is the minimum space neededa and you wz.ll be
well advised to allow more than this.
Bring up IMS ard use option CREATE
:
|
Three files will be created under the nameymz supply, the file will
then need records adding to it.

"fii"é"'fs

n/edit/deletion

asic

method

- Basic M

ad'a*nq data

to your

f£ile.

requires

thought and works in a simple quéstionand answer mode. It also allows
existing information to be charged.
You should have run B above.
Select the key option on the maln menu, supply the name of file vou
wish to use.
Records will have been created, updated, deletad and individualy
printed.

D.1l

Record creation/edit/deletion/printing
- Advanced methcd

This
metnod requires a bit more though
but gives
t
thne advantages of

laymg cut the screen in your own way, only showing data you need and

using full cursor control for editing.
You sheuld have run B. akbove.

First

select

the

mask

opticn and

the A sub-option =o layout vyour

reen.

Having laid cut your screens you then use them by selecting the mask
cption ard selectlng the 3 sub-ooption.
You will have created and saved various different layouts for the
screen.

Nots you can layout as many screens per file

Arperdix 2:2

as vcu need.

1ting
out v«
n
the basic way, no mrtim or selection of
partmwlm: mmrds. You can either print across or
down the Dage.
You will have needed to create a file ard created some records.
Select the repmrt optwn from the main menu, ané then select the sub

report will not be inW i lm mrdez 4,S.\. : mav or may not ‘mve
The
totals depending on what you specif
m

St or
mrmt DMS files in a part: icular

| ’orde Thz.s part of DMS allowa you to produce an mmm tm a DMS file
mr:md on upto three fields in the record.
ou
car thm m this index in printing, browsing or wmn pmduc.ng a

smantml‘cu‘t:mt fz.le in LINK.
‘
1

the

SORT

,
1

and

M m rwmfis..
the

wvarious questions.

You will ‘w«m cmmt@fi an index under whatwer file name you
This £file can then be wed to pmvz.m a wrwfl index for ww::us,
- browsing and

G.1l

vhen grm%@g; ,mt "'v?:li«r',wmng wd 1inkmg you will often need to select

mrmcular records from a file. To do this you must first set up a file
of the selections you wish to use, each lot of selections are given a
name.

G.2
G.3
G.4

You must have set up a flle aefz.mtmn mrmx to defining the selection

criteria.

Use the SELECTION cotion cn the main menu.
For each set of selection criteria you will have created 2 named file
which can then be used in repocrts, processing, browsing and LINRK.

E.l

Creatil

H.2

by their key field. These »rocess instructions are then given a name
and saved on disk.
You must have set up a2 file definition prior to setting up a process

a Mwmm‘, £ile

ten youwill need
to carry out some prmesm« on either a whole

file, selected records from a file, or to individual

E.3
H.4

records called up

file.

Use the P wmw cption to set up the process vou wish to carrv cut.

For each setof processing instructions you will have creatad a named

file that can then be used in a process run, or to update an individual
'recmrdcall@dupwzhamask.

Appendix 2:3

APPENDIX 2 - QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
I‘l

I.2

I.4

Printing selected,

sorted records

Most of the time you
you will want to print mut sel@ct@d r@cords in a

particular order.

You must have created a file definition, created some ‘records and

created a sorted index and/or a selection file.
.
Select the print cption you reguire, and when asked supmly the name of
the sorted index and/or the selecticn file.
The report will be printed in the mqua.md order with only the records
that passed the selection criteria.

Brmmaffleusgamtedmm
.
|
Quite often you will need to access a flle by mformatmn other: than
the key field.
Create a sorted index in the m:dez: that ym w:r.sh to scan the file.

Access BROWSE, reply Y to screen sc::roll.z.ng, ard supply thm name of the
sorted index.
You will be given the option to access the fz.le by a fmld mther than
the key f:.eld, or to browse the file in the orcder ymsorted on.

To prepa.re data Eor either a wordprocessor or a user program. You can

use a sorted and/or a selection file to cutput the information.
Create a sorted irdex and/or a selection file if needed.
Use the LINK option ard specify your requirements.
A sequential file will be created with the infmrmatmn ymu ‘requested

from the DMS file.,

DMS

allows what
are
called 'batch upda.tes Records may ba creatmi or

updated using a secuential file as input.
There has to be a 3equentml £ile cmated m.ther bv a user pregram or
the DMS opticn LINK.

There has to be a IMS file in existance.
Select the COPY option in CMS.
The sequential file will ke used to update the BMS £file,
be created or updat@d on the DMS file.

rmmrds will

FESTRICTURE A FIIE

You have a DMS file with data on it, and you wz.sh to chanqe the

MQ 2
M.3

file structure in scme way. The reasons for this could be you wish
to
add or extend a field, or you want to extend the number of records
on
a file.
You must have the orlgmal file,

been creatsad.

and the new file definition must have

Use the LINK cption on the criginal file to produce a sequential file,
féhle.n use the COPY cption to add the sequential file to your new DMS
ile.

M.4

The new file will contain all the data frcm the olé ore.

Aprendix 2:4

APPENDIX 3 - USES OF PASSWORD PROTECTION

A password is an
8 character wc.mfl thatyouhwemumtmbeablewwmss
a f£ile or screen that m
j)
:
|

Every time vou access a file for the first time in a session DMS looks to
see J..f thm fil@ is password prote ;stm, this can result in two pmmwl&

The ,...J.le J.s rwt paawmrd protected (or as in the above it has the
£au
Dasswo
WS) in which case you will be asked if you wish

The file is password protected, in which case DMS will dismlmr thm
husttmcharmmmmfimymmmlytmofimr six.
You must supply all six characters, they must be in the
correct case ard blanks are significant..

To unset the password, type DMS ard
5 blanks. To allccate a

U@ersmays@tmtmlrmmmmlavw* in the part of DMS called MASR.
In order to use the screen create part of MASK vou will need to know the

file password.
After you have laid cut your screen, and before saving it, vou will be asked

if you wish to supply a2 password. Exactly the same rules apply to screen

passwords as to file passwords.

IZ you wish to remove or change a mssword from a screen, access the screen

create cption in MASK, tell it vou wish to amend the mask, and attach the
new passworc.

If a file is password protected there are only two ways to gain access to
it:
Firstly, by supplying the file password, and using any cption on the
menu.

Secordly, if you don"t know the file password, but you o know a screen
password you can access the file by that screen,

Appendix 3:1

and that screen only.

ES OF PASSWORD PROTECTION

The best way to explain the effect of this is to use an example.
Surpose there is a personnel file containing names and addresses, phone
numbers, salaries etc.

- As is normal, you won’t want the whole dept. to be able to look at all

the information on this file. The file itself is allccated a password
that only the senior in the dep. knows.

Two screens are created,

the first screen only shows name, address,

dept.and telephone rnumber. No password is allccated to this screen.

The second screen, however, shows salary information and is cr.z.ven a

password known only to the salaries d@partment.
In this way
information.

different

levels

of staff can gain

access

to different

‘One f:.nal word of warnmg, a programm@r can eamly read a file, password
protected or not.
The best form of secum.ty is to lock up the disk when any technlcal staff
are arcund!

Arcendix 3:2

KEY allows access by the cmntents of “iel& 1, the key £ield, the exact key
must be sup:t lmd.
.

All fmlds can be umc‘mted. cmrmtm ard date

r«wm

fields can have all the arithmetic coerators usm on them.

numeric

The key can be efiitm, therefore if vou have a large rumber of records with
different key fields this cption provides a quick way of creating them.
Where certain information is the same from record to record (e.g. date of
joining) you can duplicate the field from the previocus record.

Standard IMS record layout on screen ard printer.
all mput is via a question and answer session.
- MASK

Like KEY, access to a rscord is by the key field.

Screen lavouts are user cesigned and can include g:assmrdé, protected fields
and create/delete inhibit.

Full on screen editing of all fields, e.g. characters can be inserted in the
middle of fields etc.

You may attach a processing file for on screen calculations.
The screen can be dumped to the printer.

Eas the same updating ability as KEY but ycu can’t creata or delete records,

- charge the key field cor éwlmte information from one record to another.

You can apply a selection file to exclude certain records or you can scan
the DMS file via a sorted file.

Appendix 4:1

BROWSE really comes into it"s own when used with a sorted file. It allows
you to scan the DMS file in any order, it allows duplicate keys and will
search the mdex for a specz.fzc value.
For example imagine a book file that is stored by book number as the main
key. Using this option attached to a file sorted by, for example, author,

you could x:ap:.dly answer such questions as what bcoks have we got by Shelly.
DMS would position you at the first book, and by using the left and rlght
arrow keys allow you
|
browse up and down the f:.le.

Arpendix 4:2

TILI NAME IMPAGINT

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title

APPENDIX
6 - NON CURSOR ADDRESSABLE SCREENS

Versions 1 and 1.2 of DMS supported non cursor addressable screens,

enhancements

control.

the

to the screen handling in versicon 2 recuire full curscr

COMPSOFT can still supply the routines that were used in the original
version.

If vou are in the situation where vou are unsure abcut the above then please
consult vour dealer.

Arpendix 6:1

DETAIL CONFIGURATION

Easic mnfiqumtm is stmxgbt-‘mrwazd,

if the terminal in use is shown

the memu. If the tarminal is not sh@wn t:mn the mnfigumt..m must e dcrm

manually - see section 1.3 of this s Folement for

Select the terminal in use from t:he menu displayed, by pressing the
appropriate key. If the wnfi@umd kel ~imlis not to be changed then

Prmim <" will skip to thenextprompt.

skt

DMS allows the kays used to control cursor movement to be usaz-fiefimd..
These &:eys cmx b@ any kaw m t:m mnge A {cmtmlwm um Z, excmt M

function may m defined as a mmm' chamcmr (
ci@fme a k&y fummam &me tha

fsffffl"I mlm caf 127)

r:r:iam k@y combination at t.he

Cursor up
Cursor right
Insert to r:ight:

The cursor movement Keyvs correspend :othe values raturned ov the arrows
fitted to many terminals. (These ard mma other specizl zurpcse keys fitsed
£o some keyboams return a2 value in the correct range - it may not be
necessary to pra2ss the <control> kay smulmwly ). Scme machines, which

are dm:.camd mlmmlly m word-precessing, may return differsnt values

Appenrdix 7:1

APPENDIX 7 - DETAIL CONFIGURATICE

Printer configuraticn.

Conficuration of the printsr con“m...s is restricted o supplying the pace*
width, ard length in columns and lines respectively. Page widsh should be
8
or 250 ‘%ge length should be supplied in the range 66 to 82.
Expanded print canalso be used at certain mlaaes in the syvstem, arnd eight
codes each can be sunnln.ed to turn it on and off. This could be useé to
orovide other features, but they could only be used where expanded print is
currently availables
The next part of the configuration is needed when you aregoing to use a cut
sheet feeder. There are two things vou w:z...:..l need to sxr:mlv to use a cut
sheet feeder:
'
oo
~
~

1. The offset before primting starts.
2. The lencgth of the form being used.

Most
of this information will be supplied in vour printer and cut sheet
feeder manual. Normally you would set an offset of 20 characters in from the
left, this allows the print head to stay slightly %o tha richt of the left
margin of the sheets as thev are fed in by the sheet feeder. ‘Secondly, when
using A4 vou should tell the printer it has pa'oev* that is 78 lines long, DMS
that it has paper 66 long and to leave z 12 line margin at the botom cf
each npage.

The foll wing entries can be made:
%

l. S JEoly the codes to te 1 the prmter to set the laf: margin, up to 8
- ccdes may be supplied.
2. In certain cases the prmter needs to be spaced into the pesition

that you require the left margin prior to sending the abocve code. Enter

a number £rom 0 to 80.
3. Sumlv the code sequence to t=2ll the nrmtar £ expect a2 page length

of “n” characters, where “n” often is set to 78.

Disc érive configuration.
A map of the disc drive conf:.guratmn is held in the DMS configquration f£ile.

The default map is presented in the format:-

indicating that drives A and B are present. Reconfigure to the host disc
system by entering a space if a drive is absent, or a full stop if it is

Present. Pressing any other key will result in the entry for that drive
being left unchanged. Pressing <return> will leave the current, ané all
subsecuent drives, unchanged,
and will present the crompt "Please confirm
vour selection”.
v
You can now supply the drive number that vou would like DMS to default to
when looking for data files.

1.3

CG'stom terminal configquration.

Acperdix 7:2

APPENDIX 7 - DETAIL CONFIGURATION

L€

screen-nandling pmgrmmmw is considerably more
nat a be entrusted to
somebcdy with prmmus
installing soft
r hardware. A mermu of common

terminals is mwm*, m& mlwmmn mf amr one of these willprovide the
cedes for the specified terminal. If the terminal is not shown then the
control codes will have to be supplied by the user.

Mandamry entries.
The following information must be availzble o IMS.
Screen haight, in lines.
|
Screens not less than ten lines and not greater than thirty lines
e
supported. I the screen corcerned has more than thirty lines then
enter the number of lines to be used. This will result in any surplus
lines being left blank a.t the bottom of the screen.
Screen width, in columns.
Screen width should be a mnimum of mghty columns. Widths of up to
available.
ore hurdred ard thirty-two columns are

Arpendix 7:3

APPENDIX 7 - DETAIL CONFIGURATION

Screen clezar ard hare control codes ' and delays.
- Up to eight ccdes are available for this, and most other mul<si|

‘umtn.mm The sequence of ccdes sumplmdshould clear the screen,

~ leave the cursor in the top left hand corner (home). Some termi

also reguire a delay after acl ear screen character is sent, to a

time for the screen to clear ..zl...y. pecz.w a value in millisecend

Qursor a2déressing codes.

These codes must be avmlahle, and must be mrrect to ensure co

operation. No provision is currently made for user=-written cu
positioning subroutines.
Cursor control kevs.

“Z,

These are mnflgurab.«.e, and should be in the range “A (control/.
except "M (carriage-return). The delete left” may als

confn.gured as mcm" (ASCII value 127 or 7FH).

Printer dimensions.
Page width, in columns. This value should be 80-132.
Page length, in lines. Values in the rangefié—aa

‘Disc drive configuration.

A “map” is kept of a2ll logical disc drives attached to the syst:

Cotional features.
All other Zfsatures are optional, and are provided to enhance the cper:
of DMS. If these entries are not made, then DMS will not use them.
- Terminal initialisation codes. Up to eight bytes to be sent &
terminal at the beginning of the run.
Terminal de-initzialisation codes. Up to eight bytes sent &«
terminal at the erd of the run.

Reverse/Enhance videc. Eight bvtes each to turn on, and tur:
reversed or enhanced video.

Expanded print. Up to eight bytes each to turn on and off
expanded print facility on matrix printers. These codes could be
to make other features available, but could onlyv be used where exn:
crint is currently ava.z.lamle.
Installation - a detailed walk-through.

Select the configuration option from the menu. A menu will be displave
the screen, showing the standard terminals currently supported. I:
terminal concerned is not shown then enter “>° (None of the above). In
case see the section headed “Custom Termmal Installation’. If this is

“first-time” installation then enter “<” (No change) to skip over the
terminal configuration. Any other valid selec=ion will resul:
appropriate control cocdes being provided automatically.

Arvendix 7:4

of’wn mmxlm in apecial f@mmma b@inq added tm the onemtmn of
tanda rd tmrminmlm To cater for thm the option is glmn to altm: the

Custom T&:mml Installation
Gemml.
Ay

Sec

errors at thm

’

t&ga will mault in

1St

P1r

Nar flsm‘,;:w:

Cmefl.

Any

a t@tal fm.lwm of the programmes

concerned. Single byte ccdes are displayed as a prompt, followed by the

current value in smare brackets. Pressing<escape> causes the displayed
value to bw mm.m,; as the new mlum and tha mx’c pmmpt is dmplayed.
V

ences aredisplayed as aprompt,
followed by thenumbe
f@mw, md tha ASCII valuw of tm current cmd@s, all

re bwc:kmtmTm @mmmr is then prompted for a ¥/N

astion

e the
xcooocoocox codes? (Y/N)". Y presents
manner as flinqle byte cmdM, ‘\T' fiklm to the

Scrmn might. »f

Enter a value in the range 10 to 30. If your mmeu has mcore than

thirty lines then enter the number

of lines that ycu wish to use. This

will result in the bmtmmmmmt lines bemg unused.

common with the rest of the system, the smallest supportad screen

width :Ls e;:.qhty charactem,. T@rminals with an captwml screen wxdth

Up tw eight bytesmay m ent@md, Sp@elfy f:t.wtlv the number of

bytw to be used. The following
byte
the cursor in the tocp left hand corner (hme) )

Some twmmals

rchmrmmr, m <

requim a delay afmr Mnclmg a clear

screen

w the screen to clear
ful
wn examples are the
» and the E @ltine 1410. DMS usm a 'prmmwn timing
mw m gmmte the delay, amh execution of which generates a delay

of one millisecond. Specify a total delay in the range Oms to 255ms.
Note that these times are based on a Z2-80A processor running at 4MHz.
If the clock frequency of the host machine is,for example, 2MHz then

the ......... will generate a delay of 2ms.
accordingly.

Acrendix 7:5

;'just the supplied wvalue

APPENDIX 7 - DETATIL CONFIGURATION

Terminal initialisation codes.
|

Up to eight bytes

which are sent to the terminal before programme

- execution b&gxns. These can be used to turn on reverse video
attributes, set a new ..ma length, cr anv't:bmg else that may be need@d..

Terminal de-initialisation codes.
~
Up toeight bytes that are sent to the mmzl immediately before
returning to the main menu. Once again, these can be used for any
required purpose.
Qursor addressirg codes.
This is pessibly the most complex part of the installation precedure.
The variety of different adéressing methods implemented by aszarenb
manufacturers leads to a complex piece of software to address the curser on
a range of terminals. Ensure that the following marmgrapha are fullv
understood, before installing the terminal.
The cursor addressing sequence generally takes the form of a2 lead-in

code sequence, followed by the First co—~ordinate,

followed by a separator

code sequence, followed in turn by the second co-ordinate, and followed

finally by a trailing ccde sequem Many terminals, however,

dispense with

the s@marating and trailing codes. Up to m.gmt cmes‘may be suml:.ed for
each of these secuerces.

Coordinates can be used in many For"ns. The stanma.rd form is line

suzplied before column, both supplied in binary, and both supplied with an
offset of 32(decimal) (i.e. line 32 is the tep line o.a.. the screen). Zach of

these mameters is defined individually.

Line offset.

The decimal number 2dded to all line r&fe*mes before tney are sent

to the terminzal.

Line secuence format.
|
‘Coordinates are generally sent in binary (e.g. line 5, with an
offset of 32, would be sent as the byte 25H = a binary representation
of 37). Bowever, scme terminals demand that the coordinates be sent as
‘ASCII characters. In this case our example above would result in the

two characters “3° and “7° being sent to the terminal. Set this £flag to
zero, for binary, ard to 255 for ASCII fmmm
|
Column cffset, and column smama.

;

These parameters define the fmrmat fm column m"fimat_, . in the

same wav a.s theose above define the format for the line co-ordinate.
, Lfia;ne a.ml column parameters may NOT messarily be mqu:._ed in the same
rmat.

Column before line seguence.

‘Set this value to zero o send the line address b@fore the column
address. If a value of 255 is surplied then the cclumn co-ordinate will

orececde

the line co—-ordinate.

Arperdix 7:€

APPENDIX 7 - DETAIL CONPIGURATION

Reverse video “on” sequernce.
Up to eight codes to turn on a reversed or enhanced display mode con
Reverse video “off” sequence.
Up to eight codes used to turn reverse/enhance mcde off.

This should complete the installation of the terminal related inform-

ation.

Appendix 7:7

APPENDIX 8 — ERROR CODES

The following is a list of the common disk errors. Most of these will be
trapred by DMS, however there are cccasions where due to machine or cperator
problems scme of the errors may be displaved cn the screen.
In most cases returning to CP/M, fixing the problem and returning to DMS

In cases of doubt vou should run the DMS program VERIFY. This program is not

part of the normal DMS menu, but is on the distribution disk. You should
copy this program
to your system disk, and type VERIFY to run is.

n disk errors are:

Program corruption. Copy f£rom your backup

The file requested is not
cn the disk.

'Exit IMS ard restart.

Should be trapped, restart the program.

Charge disk, or delete some files.

Restart and use a valid file name

'rw many files are on the ‘di‘sk.. |

;This was pmpamd usmq DMS fm: data entry and sorting,

followed by

mninqmfimwrymtmmtructimnmthewmmmfaMfim.
Typical parts of DMS are processing, using COPY to update a file, and of
course reportinc.

oS a

BYLZ

defin

same as a character.

Charmters are thmgs lmke aA,wR, in fact anything you can type on the
keyboard.

CONFIGURE
To set up IMS for various VDUs and printers.

Whmn t.h@ control key is pressed AT THE SAME TIME as another key, th«e
computer uses the two keys tw@thm to give a composite key. In the manual
where you see an up arrow (7) followed by a letter, it means cress them bmh
together.

example in MASK, "I allcws you to insert a space in the middle of text.

CURSCR

The mmble magre that imlicates whem infmmtion is to ke t:yfped cn the screen
The ke15 that are used to mocve the cursor arocund the screen when. using the
maskpart of DMS, Often keyboards will have keys with arrows on them, other
keybcards will use a kay pressed with the control kesy.LMS can be conflgurad
for either.

Arperdix 9:1

CLOSSARY

APPENDIX

Information to be held bv the camutsr e.g names arnd adcresses etc.
DISK DRIVE

Most floppy systems have drives A and 3.
Haré disks may be upto drive P.

Used at various points in DMS to get ocut of a function or, in the case of
mask,to bring up 2 help message.
FIELDS
A field is a2 section of a record.
Numeric fields contam numbers for arithmetic use e.g. salary, quantity

stocked.

Character fieids contain all sorts e.g. telephone extension, address, name,
Date fields contain dates e.g. date of birth, date of joining.
|
FILE

A collecticn of similar mformaon e,.g. stock file, mrsomel file.
Usually éivided into rrds.
FH.E: DWTICN

The information DMS uses to describe a file, contains things llke the
number of records on the f:.le, the last used date, me mesc::mtz.on of the
fields ete.

FORMAT
V
A utility that will preca re
a new, or used, disk for new information.

Also called window or string search.
Allows you to search a whole field for a bl» of mfcrmatmn anywhere in t:hat

ThlS is computer slanq for a thousand, hence 250K bétes‘is“ZfiO
KEY FIELD
|
The first f£ield in a DMS record is defined as the key field.
Used for rapid retreival of information, and must be unique.

See LINK cotion.

Is used to pass information from 2 DMS f£ile to another system,

e.g a word pProcessor.

mfmmtmn may be selected, sorted and prmessed prwr to linking.

The action,
there,

usually on a multi user svstem, of %..ellz.m the camputer you are

Apperdix 9:2

—

srimpose atmmmk cver the main file definition, giving special screen

displmy facilities.

£illed with blanks, mumeric - 0, dates- also 0 1 e. 0ljan0l.

Note that.wh&n@emrchmng for mull fields, part;cularly'chaxmmtar fields,
,
airtial field operation.

~w“~wgt£ons telling IMS to do scmething. e.g. @mrt,ael@ct,labei etc.

EARTIKL FIEID
:
Not the whole of a fiald. Usually sp@alfmed with a start mosltlon ard the
numker of’chazactazs to be used. Used in sort and select.
PASSWORD

A combination
of 8 characters that may be applied o
a file and/or a mask to
restrict access to all or parts of
a file.
PRCCESS

Carrying
cut scme arithmetic or manipulative action cn a IMS file, may be done
-t a}whmle film: selected recordsfram a file, or anly to input racords.
PROGRNM mmsx
.The disks that contain
the MS programs.
PROTCCCL

Sametimes a language, or sometimes a type of electrical signal. It is the
methed that the individual bits of the computer use to talk to each other.

LTTUSET

SYS&EMKUNLESS YCU RNOW WHAT YCU ARE DOING.

The action of lmadlng /M, either when ycu first start in the.morning,
or after pressing the RESET button
on your computer.

RBECORD
Acollection of information about a zarticular item, e.g. on a steck file = She
stock item, on a personnel file - a person.
Will usually ke dividad into fields.

Apperdix 9:3

APPENDIX 9 - GLOSSARY

RETURN KEY
The key you press to signal to the computer that it is to take note of what

you have just typed, if you are rewlung to a prompt with a single character
vou may ot need to press the return key.
SETECTION

Aset of parameters to find all records on 2 £ile that meet certain criteria.

SORT

To put records inya/cextain order,
used prior to printing or “browsimg”.
TB%NSACEIIN LOGEING

Printcut of all aééitions, deleticns, updates mr mmccfifisflng as thev happen

CTILITY
A program, normally supplied with C@AM,

that allows you to do such things as:

Ccpy files - PIP. Format disks - FORMAT. Encuire about soace on a disk or th'
long a fxle is - STAT. Move CPM to another “disk - SYSQEN ete.

Arpendix 9:4

10.3
306' 6*4' llwz

(individual records)
(batches of records)

4.x, 8.%x,9.%
9.x, 10.x, 11 and 12.

3.3
9.%x

Arithmetic fields
(allccation of)
(searching on)
(calculations on)

3.5
5.5
10.x

Backing
up

13.x

Beoolean cperards
Browse

Calculations
|
(at data entry)

(batches of records)

8.4
10.x

Configuration

2.4, Appendix 7

Connectors

5.2, 5.8

Counting records

7.5

Create

3.%

Current date (insert of)

4.6

Cursor command

2.4, Appendix 7

Cut sheet feeder

2.4, 6.15 Apperdix 7

Latastar

12.x

(link with)

3.5, 5.7

Dates in DMS

Peletions
(individual records)

(batches of records)

4.4, 8.3,

- 10.x

Error messages

Appendix 8

anmattimg

3.9

Rey fields

(allccation of)

Irdex:l

3.4

INDEX

Layouts

(screen displavs)

Layouts (printed)

8.x

0.X

Letters

6.14,

6.15

Linking with wordprocessors
MASK

8.x, Appendix 4

Appendix 1

Numeric fields
(allccation of)
(searching on)
(calculations on)

5.5
A
10.x, 8.4

Passwords

Appendix 3

3.5

Printing
|

(individual records)

4.4, 9.3,
6.x

(batches of records)
(configuration)

2.4, Apperdix 7

Process files

10.x
8.4

in MASK

Screen fozmatting

8.x

Screen displays

9.x

Screen-scrolling

9.x

Selections parametars

S.x

Sequential files

11.x, 12.x
5.xX

searching
Subtotals

6.11

Sliding stxing searching
Sort work areas

Spellbinder ( link with)

5.5
7.6

11.3

Temporary totals

Totals

6.6, 6.12

Winéow searching

5.5

‘Workfields

10.3

Wordstar

11.3

(link with)

Index:2