An easy to use database?
It's really good when you use something that actually
matches up to the manufacturers advertising. Habaview is a database
that really is simple to learn and use.
Habaview is a flat (card) type database, or as we
now call them Information Management Systems. No fancy dialog boxes
with indescript messages but a pleasant and immediately efficient
system which will cater for most applications. Being Gem based, most
of the features and commands are operated from the menu bar at the
top of the screen and are very easy to use. Some of the commands can
also be executed by pressing the ALTernate and corresponding letter
key at the same time - e.g. to QUIT press ALT-Q.
The database can be seen in two different formats
'list' and 'form'. Generally you define the file in the 'list'
format and enter data in the 'form' format. The file is best viewed
in the list format. To enter your data in Habaview, you have to
create a file by firstly defining your data fields and secondly,
saving these fields to disk. Once you have decided on how many
fields you require and their subsequent length it's a simple, and I
really mean simple, operation to produce a data file.
CREATING FIELDS
To create a datafile, you select NEW from the drop
down menu, type in your column name (all the fields are in
columnular format) then choose from six different types of pre-set
formats - Text (letters, numbers, symbols), Date, Yes/No, Amount
(numerical, dollar, commas, decimals), Time and Alpha (letters
only). Repeat this procedure for all fields as the program
automatically moves onto the next column to the right. Columns are
easily sized, just move the mouse pointer to the dividing line
between fields and drag right or left to the desired width. Files
can be changed before data is entered, although once data is entered
fields can be added but modifying them is limited to changing the
field name. Fields may be moved or deleted at your discretion
without any problems.
All data is entered in the 'form' layout. This
screen layout can be altered to suit your individual requirements by
dragging the fields across the screen and 'clicking' to fasten down.
Type in your data, press RETURN and move onto the next field,
continuing with the same procedure until your 'form' is complete.
One excellent function of the form fill is Automatic Capitalization,
which means that when you enter information into Text or Alpha
fields the first letter will automatically be a capital. This
feature can be toggled on or off.
As previously stated, the best way to view your
data is to use the list format. You can arrange your columns in any
way, hide them from view or truncate the records seen on the screen
without losing any information from your file. Data can be sorted or
selected and viewed in that format. The screen will only display
thirteen lines at once but by using the slider bars, the screen will
scroll up or down and left to right, thus enabling complete scanning
of the file. For ease of viewing, a grid defining your columns can
be toggled on or off.
Records can be sorted by any field or combination
of fields. Select your chosen field by clicking on and highlighting
the Title box. Sort high to low or vice versa. If you need to sort
by more than one field, then a progressive sort is called for. This
enables you to, say, sort alphabetically as first priority and sort
economically as the second priority, e.g. Bradford and £20.00 would
come before Bath and £30.00.
There are times when you need to select certain
records to meet your requirements. Conditions available are by
Example or by Range. In the Example mode further conditions are
Include (meet the conditions) or Exclude (fail the condition) and
further parameters are Equal, Not Equal, Less Than, Greater Than,
Less Than and Equal, Greater Than and Equal, and'*' as a wildcard
for characters.
PRINTING
The printing to a hard copy is of the 'What you
see is what you get' (Wysiwyg) system commonly
associated with Gem based software. To achieve your print-out, you
can alter the screen list to suit your requirements and away you go.
Just select Print from the menu bar, it couldn't be much simpler. If
you choose Amount as a column format, when printed the column will
automatically be added up. If required your list can be sent to disk
in ASCII format for merging with an ASCII word processor. Habaview
can also print mailing labels although in a limited fashion. Five
lines of thirty characters is the maximum size of label available.
To achieve label print you have to move into the form layout and
modify your data layout to fit into five lines by dragging fields to
suit your requirements.
Once set up, printing is continuous, using your
file as the default. If you wish to print only certain files then
you must select your data as described earlier and this data will
become the default file. To print a number of labels with the same
data however can become rather tedious as you have to click on the
print routine for every label.
CONCLUSION
Habaview is an excellent database, suitable for
the majority of applications, particularly in the home and is quite
useful in a working environment. Unfortunately, there is no
provision to merge two Habaview files together but, one way,
possibly, to overcome this (according to Haba) is to dump the file
to disk, load the file to Habawriter and merge it with another file
in Habawriter. You will need to have the same number of fields and
conditions to make this work.
As new versions come available registered users
will be entitled to update for £20.00 plus VAT per disk. Overall I
feel Habaview is an excellent program complete with a very good
manual, well presented and packaged. Priced at £79.95 it is in the
middle range of database prices but certainly near the top as
regards quality!
Habaview was supplied by York Computer Centre,
to whom I extend my thanks
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