5.5 Retrieval - Search, Get, and Replace You have two basic methods of retrieval, GET and SEARCH. Neither is case-sensitive: capitals and lower case can be freely mixed. These commands can be accessed from the Main screen via their own individual buttons, or from the List screen via the 'Find recs' button. FIND also includes a search-and-replace command which can be used to locate and update, or simply locate, ANY text string - not just keywords. (NOT IN FREEWARE VERSION) 5.5.3 Replace (NOT IN FREEWARE VERSION) Overview -------- A "search and replace" command which allows you to locate ANY text string in the database (not JUST keywords), and update it. You can also use it simply to locate. Replace is accessed via the 'Find recs' command on the List screen. Click that or type F, then click 'Replace' or type R. The Replace panel or window that pops up consists of a text input panel, five check boxes, and three buttons: Edit, Ok, and Cancel. The text input panel has two lines, headed 'Replace:' and 'With:'. Click Edit or type E, and a cursor appears under the top line, 'Replace:'. Here, enter the text string you wish to locate. When done, hit or Tab (normal edit mode rules, in other words, as in the Mod command). When you finish entering that string, the cursor moves to the second line, headed 'With:'. Here, enter the new text string - the text you want inserted in place of all occurrences of the original string. This can be a "null" string, ie. nothing. Whatever you type under 'With:' before hitting or Tab is what will be inserted into the relevant database records, exactly. (Case sensitive, in other words!) You can cycle between these fields endlessly using Tab or Shift+Tab, or by clicking them. Hitting when the cursor is on the 'With:' field, or clicking "off panel", or hitting F2, ends editing and allows you to proceed. ---------------------------------------------------------- BEWARE: If your "With" string is longer than than the original, truncation may occur. In other words, text further along the line may be "pushed off the end" if the line isn't long enough to contain it after replacing. ---------------------------------------------------------- Replace remembers any text strings entered and options selected, but only for the duration of that session. If you exit BlueBook, shell to DOS, or run a program via a record, the settings are forgotten. Options ------- The check boxes let you set various options. An X in the box means it is "checked" (ie. selected, on). You can choose to search the WHOLE DATABASE, or just the CURRENT LIST (these are mutually exclusive). You can also choose from - Find only (no update) - Case-sensitive match? - Ask before modifying? FIND ONLY just locates. If checked, all records containing the 'Replace:' string will be displayed one by one, but nothing will be updated regardless of what you enter into the 'With:' line. CASE-SENSITIVE MATCH? If checked, this will locate only occurrences of the precise text string that you enter under 'Replace:'. If not checked, ALL occurrences of that string will be located regardless of whether they are in capitals or "little letters", or any combination of the two. ASK BEFORE MODIFYING? If checked, any record containing the string to be replaced will be displayed BEFORE it is updated, and you will asked if you want to update it, skip past it (no update), or cancel the Replace search. If ASK BEFORE MODIFYING? is not checked you will NOT be given the opportunity to approve or disapprove changes. Fast, but dangerous. ---------------------------------------------------------- For this reason ASK BEFORE MODIFYING? is always set to "checked" each time you come into Replace. FIND ONLY will always stop and display, regardless of whether ASK BEFORE MODIFYING? is checked or not. ---------------------------------------------------------- To check/uncheck a box, just click it. For keyboarders, the dot to the left of the box indicates the currently selected box: use Tab or arrow keys to change, to check/uncheck. Approving Replacements ---------------------- If ASK BEFORE MODIFYING? is not checked, replacements will be done automatically - fast. If it IS checked, or FIND ONLY is checked, the relevant record will be displayed each time a matching string is located, along with three small buttons marked U, S and C - Update, Skip, and Cancel. The text to be replaced is highlighted in yellow. Click Update/type U to approve and action the replacement. Click Skip /type S to ignore and move to next occurrence. Click Cancel/type C to abort that replacement and halt further searching. If FIND ONLY is checked, Update and Skip amount to the same thing, because no changes can be made. The "next occurrence" is likely to be found in another record, but not necessarily. It may also be in the Program/Parameters section of the same record, since this is searched also. Replace can be aborted while searching is in progress as well as Canceled when an occurrence is being displayed: just click or hit any key.