Index

Overview

About CardBase

Screen layout

The Menu bar

Selecting menu options

Navigation

Editing

Scrolling

Using the Clipboard

The Main menu

The File Menu

The Edit Menu.

The Search Menu

The Card Menu

Printing

Creating a new database

Registration


Overview

CardBase is a program for storing and maintaining any type of information which can be logically divided into two parts - a heading (or title) and a body. This includes data such as names and addresses, family details, journal abstracts, your collections of things such as books, stamps, first-day-covers, paintings, records, cassettes, CD's and (almost) everything else.

A CardBase file is organised as a deck of cards. Each card has a title area and a data area. The card titles are stacked on the left. The right half shows the contents of the current card, Use the UP and DOWN cursor keys to move through the deck.

Press ALT-F4 to quit the program.

Instructions on how to use the help facility can be found in the Help option which can be found in the menu bar of all HELP windows.


About CardBase

CardBase is shareware. Please register

You may freely distribute CardBase to your friends, provided no fee is charged for this purpose.

NO COMMERCIAL USE OR MODIFICATION IS PERMITTED.

This program is Copyright (c) 1996, Kartik Patel, Bombay, INDIA.

The package consists of the following files:

Program file : 	CBW.EXE

Sample database : CARDBASE.CBS

Help file : 	CBW.HLP

Readme file :	README.TXT


Screen Layout

The top of the window shows the program name and the name of the current database which has been loaded.

This is followed by the menu bar, containing the main menu options.

The main window is divided in two parts. The left half lists the titles of the cards. The window showing the current card title is highlighted with a thick border (blue on color monitors, black on monochrome monitors). The right half displays the contents of the current card, whose number is also displayed on a status line at the bottom of the window.

The status line also displays extra information from time to time.

There are two scroll bar columns on the extreme right. The outer one is used to indicate your position in the database. You can use the mouse to scroll through the database file by clicking on the appropriate region of this scroll bar. The inner scroll bar is a used to scroll the contents of a single card.


The Menu Bar

Below the program title bar is the main menu bar. You can move to the menu bar by either pressing F10 or the the Alt-key. Use the LEFT or RIGHT arrow keys to move through the main menu choices. Press ENTER or the DOWN arrow at any highlighted choice to display a pop-up (pop-down?) menu consisting of more options related to the main menu selection.

Use the UP or DOWN arrow keys to move over the pop-up menu options. Pressing ENTER selects the current highlighted option. If you press the RIGHT or LEFT arrow keys the pop-up will move to the neighbouring main menu choice. As you browse through the menu, the status line will display additional information about the particular option which is currently highlighted.

Press ESC to close the menus and return to the file.


Selecting menu options

All the main menu choices have one letter underlined. You can press the Alt key and the underlined letter together to display the corresponding pop-up menu.

Some of the options in the pop-ups also have one letter underlined. You can press that letter on the keyboard in order to select that option. You can also select the option by placing the mouse pointer on it and clicking the left button, or by moving the highlighted bar (with the help of the UP and DOWN arrow keys) to that option and pressing ENTER.

Some options also have keyboard shortcuts. These are a combination of the CONTROL key and a letter key. Pressing both together selects that option directly without going through the menus. A keyboard shortcut is indicated to the right of the relevant menu item.

At times some options are displayed in text which is gray or dim in color. These options have been temporarily disabled because they are not meaningful in the current context. They are again enabled when their selection leads to some relevant operation. For example, the 'Card-Collect marked cards' option is dimmed when no cards have been marked in the present database.


Navigation

You switch from the title to the card (and back) by using the TAB key. A flashing vertical line (the cursor), as well as the thick window border, tells you where you are.

When you are in the card title area (left side), you move to the preceding card by pressing the UP arrow key and to the next card by pressing either the DOWN arrow or ENTER. The thick border also moves to indicate the current card.

You can also use the PAGE-UP and PAGE-DOWN keys to move through the cards rapidly. The display on the right side will change to show the contents of the new card which becomes the current card. The status line will also show the number of the current card.

When you are in the card data area (right side), the UP, DOWN, PAGE-UP, PAGE-DOWN and ENTER keys function as in any text-editor. The inner scroll bar on the right can be used to move the card contents.

The scroll bar on the extreme right can always be used to move to another card, either up or down.

You can't move more than one card beyond the last card in the database.

See also Scrolling


Editing

Card Titles:

When the cursor is on a title its contents can be modified. The title is restricted to 80 characters. (Why? Some legends say that in ancient times a line on the computer monitor used to contain only 80 characters) The text scrolls to the right as you type to accomodate new data.

Press BACKSPACE to correct any mistakes.

Use the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to move through the text.

Press HOME to jump to the beginning of a line, END to jump to the end.

CONTROL+RIGHT or CONTROL+LEFT arrow keys will jump to the next or previous word.

The text will scroll to the left or right as required to keep the cursor visible.

Pressing ENTER (or Carriage-Return, CR) moves you to the next card title. You can also do this by pressing the DOWN arrow.

Card data:

When the cursor is on the right side you can edit the contents of the current card. The length of the card data area has been limited to 1000 characters (because it's only a card, right?). This is (only approximately) the number of characters visible on a normal VGA monitor when the CardBase window is maximized to occupy the full screen. All the normal functions of the Windows Notepad text editor are available. As you enter data, the text will word-wrap at the end of a line.

Do not press ENTER to move to the next line, unless you wish to begin a new paragraph. At the bottom of the window the lines will scroll up to accomodate new text as you type.

Use the LEFT, RIGHT, UP and DOWN arrow keys to move through the text. Press HOME to jump to the beginning of a line, END to jump to the end of the line.

Press CONTROL+HOME to jump to the beginning of the card. CONTROL+END will take you to the end of the card. Pressing CONTROL+RIGHT arrow or CONTROL+LEFT arrow key will take you to the beginning of the next or previous word.

You can highlight text by using the SHIFT and arrow keys, or by dragging the mouse pointer over the text. Anything you type will replace the highlighted text. Press DEL to clear the highlighted text. The highlight will disappear if you press any of the cursor keys, leaving the text intact.

If you make a mistake, press CONTROL+Z to regain the text which has been lost.


Scrolling

When you are in the title area, pressing PAGE-UP or PAGE-DOWN will move your position in the database up or down by one window height.

When you are in the card data area, pressing PAGE-UP or PAGE-DOWN will scroll the card contents up or down.

You can also use the mouse to scroll the card contents or move to another card. Click on the scroll bars, or click on the card title if it is visible.

The scroll bar on the extreme right scrolls you the database up or down. The scroll bar 'thumb' indicates the approximate position of the current card in the file. It can be grabbed by the mouse and moved up or down. The database will scroll up or down and the current card will change accordingly.

The inner scroll bar moves the card data up or down.

See also Navigation


Using the Clipboard

The Windows clipboard is used to transfer data from one card to another, and also between another application and CardBase.

First go to the card title or data area which contains the text you wish to copy.

Select the text by using the SHIFT and the arrow keys, or by dragging the mouse pointer over it. The selected text is displayed in reverse video.

CONTROL+C will copy the selected text to the clipboard, leaving it intact in the card.

CONTROL+X will delete the selected text from the card and copy it to the clipboard.

Once the data has been transferred to the Clipboard, it can be pasted anywhere inside CardBase or even in any other application.

If you wish to paste the data in another card move to the card title or data area where you wish to put the text. Position the cursor at the correct location.

CONTROL+V will paste the text which is in the clipboard at the current cursor location.

If you wish to paste the data in another application, switch to that program and use the required keystrokes as required by that program to paste the data from the Clipboard.

If you wish to recover from a wrong operation inside CardBase CONTROL+Z will undo the last edit change.

See also Editing


The Main Menu

There are four choices on the main menu:

File

This has the following options - New, Open, Save, Save As, Merge, Print, Printer Setup and Exit.

Edit

This has the following options in its pop-up - Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete.

Search

This pop-up has two options - Search card titles and Search card data.

Card

This has five options - Mark/UnMark a card, UnMark all cards, Insert card, Delete card, and Collect marked cards (which leads to another pop-up menu).

Help

This contains two selections - Help and About

Some of the pop-up menu options have shortcut keys, which are also indicated in the menu. Using the shortcut keys from anywhere in CardBase will select that option directly without going through the menus.


The File Menu

New

Select to begin a new database. The title bar will show "(untitled)" to indicate that no previously existing database has been loaded. The cursor is placed on card number 1.

Open

Select to load an existing database. The standard File-Open Dialogue Box will be displayed. Choose your file. It will be read and the cursor will be positioned on the first card.

Save

Select to write the database to disk. It will be written only if it has been modified. It is advisable to save your file often when modifying or adding to a database.

Save As

Select this to save the database under another name. The standard File-SaveAs Dialogue Box will be displayed. Type the new name or select an existing one and press ENTER.

Merge

You can use this option to append another CardBase file at the end of the current database. A filename has to be specified in the file-open dialog which will be displayed on selecting this option. The total number of cards in both the files should not exceed the allowed limit.

Print

Select this to print your database, either in whole or in part.

Printer Setup

Choose this to specify options specific to the printer you have installed, or to select another printer from the set of printers you have installed via Windows Control Panel.

Exit

Select to quit CardBase. You will be reminded to save the file if required.


The Edit Menu

Before using the Edit menu, you must highlight the text on which the operation is to be done.

Undo

Select to recover the contents of the card after the last Clipboard or delete operation. You can also press the short cut CONTROL+Z (together) instead of choosing this option from the menu.

Cut

Select to remove the highlighted text from the screen. It will be transferred to the clipboard. The shortcut is CONTROL+X.

Copy

Select to copy the highlighted text to the clipboard, leaving it intact on the screen. The shortcut is CONTROL+C.

Paste

Select to transfer the clipboard contents to the screen. The shortcut is CONTROL+V.

Delete

Select to delete the highlighted text; the shortcut key is DEL

See also Using the Clipboard


The Search Menu

Card Titles

Select to search the card titles for a particular word or phrase. The shortcut is CONTROL+T.

Card Data

Select to search the card data for a particular word or phrase. The shortcut is CONTROL+D.

After you make the selection, a Find Dialog Box will pop-up for you to type the required word or phrase. Press ENTER to begin the search after typing it. You can also click on the 'Find Next' button or move to it by using the TAB key. Press ENTER when the button is highlighted.

If the required text is found in any card, the database scrolls until the card title is on the top on the left side. The card will be displayed on the right. The required text will be highlighted in reverse video

The Find dialog box remains on the screen in case you wish to search for more occurrences of the same word or phrase. If so, press ENTER or use the mouse to click on the "Find Next ' button to find the next occurrence of the word or phrase.

If you wish to stop, then press ESCAPE or click on the Cancel button to erase the Find box.

If the word or phrase is not found, a message to that effect will be displayed, with the Find box still on-screen.

Please note:

The search operation is case-INsensitive. That is. upper and lower case letters are not distinguished during the search.

The first search operation begins from the first card. So long as the Find Dialog Box remains on the screen, all subsequent search operations begin from the position where the word or phrase was last found.

To begin the search operation again from the first card, press ESCAPE to remove the dialog box, and select the required search option again from the Search menu.


The Card Menu

Mark/UnMark

This marks or removes a mark from a card. A red border indicates that the card has been marked. On monochrome monitors the border will be black. This option is a toggle. A marked card will be unmarked when you choose this option.

CONTROL+M is the shortcut key combination.

Cards which have been marked can be collected at one place, printed, deleted, or written to another file.

UnMark all

This selection removes the marking from all the cards in the database.

The shortcut is CONTROL+U.

Insert

Insert blank card at the current location. All the card titles are moved down in order ot make space for the new card. If you are working in the card data window when you select this, you may be surprised to see the card vanish. This is because your card has moved one position down the deck, and you are in the data window of a new blank card.

The shortcut is CONTROL+I.

Delete

This deletes the current card. All the cards below move up one place to close the gap. Use this option with care. Once a card is deleted, it cannot be recovered .

This selection has no shortcut.

Collect marked cards

This leads to another pop-up menu containing options related to cards which have been marked.

You can gather cards which have been marked and place them at the top or bottom of the database. You can also write marked cards to another file. Lastly, all marked cards can be deleted.

Collect marked cards - Place at top

Selecting this places all marked cards at the top of the deck,in the same order in which they are marked.

Collect marked cards - Place at Bottom

Selecting this places all marked cards at the bottom of the deck, in the same order in which they are marked.

Collect marked cards - Write to file

Selecting this option saves the marked cards in another file, whose name you will have to supply. The cards will NOT be deleted from the current loaded database

Collect marked cards - Delete

Selecting this option deletes all the marked cards. NO RECOVERY OF DELETED CARDS IS POSSIBLE.


Printing

Choose the Print option from the File Menu to initiate the printing of your database.

The program will open a dialog box, in which you can choose one of the following :

Print the current card which is highlighted and whose number is on the status line

Print only marked cards. You must first mark the cards. If no cards are marked when you choose this option nothing will be printed.

Print all cards

Print a consecutive range of cards. You must enter the numbers of the first and last card of the range which is to be printed. The program will not accept numbers which are invalid.

Click on the PRINT button to start printing, or the CANCEL button if you change your mind.

If you press ENTER without selecting any option the current card will be printed.

The program will send the output to the default printer and will utilise the print options as installed from the Windows Control Panel.

If you wish to change any of these, then first select Print Setup from the File Menu. You can make the required changes to the print options or choose another printer from among the available installed printers.

You may also stop the process by clicking the Cancel button while the database is being printed.


Creating a new database

You can begin entering the title of the first card as soon as the program  starts.

Press TAB to move to the data area, where you can fill in the details of the rest of the card. Press TAB again to move back to the title area.

You can then press the DOWN arrow to move to the next card title. You can also click on the lower arrow of the outermost scroll bar to move to the next card title.

You can save the data by selecting Save from the File Menu.. A Save-As dialog box will be displayed in which you should enter or select a file name.

If you do not type a extension to the file name the program will use the default extension ".CBS"; if you do type one, the program will keep the extension you prefer.


Registration

CardBase is shareware. You may try it for 30 days. If you like it and continue using it beyond this period, then please register your copy. For users in India, the registration fee is Rs 100, For users in other countries the registration fee is $10.

Registration fee can be sent through cheque, postal order or money order to:

Kartik Patel

510 Nilgiri,

Anushaktinagar,

Bombay, 400-094, INDIA

Please send bug reports, suggestions, and any other comments.

Now for the standard disclaimer in fine print:

The program is shareware and is provided 'as-is'. In no event will the author be liable for consequential damages arising from the use of, or inability to use, this program.

Enjoy!