Super Card 1.3 Shareware B.Ware 1991 ----- ---- --- --------- ------ ---- " An Excellent Program. It's very easy to use, fast in operation, surprisingly flexible, and it behaved perfectly during the review period. It's just the sort of program you need for quickly setting up all those little catalogue files you always promised you'd do on your computer, but never got round to. It's one of those indispensable 'useful' programs that should be in everyone's collection, and offers great value for money. Buy it." New Atari User - Issue 44 . Welcome to Super Card, the answer to 90 % of your home, school, or small business database needs. This version is an update on the Super Card that was released almost two years ago for Twenty Five Pounds. With the advent of Super Card 2, especially the latest version with Assembler routines - poor old Super Card 1, despite being discounted to Twenty Pounds, was heading for obscurity. So instead of doing a scrooge impression and letting a good program die, we decided to give it away ( well almost ! ) as Shareware. What is Shareware ? ---- -- --------- - Shareware is a program that can be freely distributed any way that you can think of, so that as many people as possible get a copy. Then we call on your honesty to send us a fiver if you like and use the program, in return for which we will send you an official Super Card manual, Demo Disc, and unprintably low offer price on Super Card 2 ! If you don't like the program then just pass it onto someone who does, and then forget all about it. But if you do like and use the program, but are too tight to send us a fiver, then you'll only be hurting yourself in the long run, as no more B.Ware software will appear as Shareware. We particularly look forward to receiving contributions from all those Pirates, Software Liberators, or whatever they call themselves now !, to back up the letters that they keep sending to magazines in support of their activities to the effect that they are only doing it to lower the cost of programs ! Ever tried writing a real program guys ? Anyway - I'm sure that I can look forward to lot's of fivers, and that you can look forward to many and better B.Ware programs in the future for half the price of a CD ! History ------- Super Card owes it's roots to B.Base 2 on the ST, and B.Base 1 on the 130 XE ( 8-Bit! ) The concept running through the programs is pretty unique. First the Atari ST has a lot of available memory unlike older machines, so rather than leave all the data on disc we thought it a good idea to have it all in memory at once. Multi-Billion dollar corporations might find this method a tad restrictive, but the average user isn't going to fill up 512 k (or 4 megabytes !) of memory in a hurry - We have taken four years to arrive at a customer database of 600 k ! And it was the average user that this program was aimed at. No Field structures to set up or stick to, no wasted disc space as you get with field data bases, and very fast and easy methods of getting data in - and more importantly - out again. Users, Small businesses and Magazines loved and used the program, and so we hope will you. Theory of Operation ------ -- --------- The program is run, The data file is loaded, the data is edited, the data is saved, the program is quit ! - pretty easy ! Running Super Card ------- ----- ---- Run the SUP-CARD.PRG file in the usual way. The program will only work in High Resolution, or Medium Resolution - Not Low. You can move the program to another floppy or even Hard disc, but remember to take over the SUP-CARD.RSC and READ-ME.NOW files. Welcome Screen ------- ------ Just click on the OK button, or press Return or Enter to carry on. Note that a lot of forms have default buttons ( thicker border ) that are linked to the Return and Enter keys to make operation faster. Initial Menu ------- ---- Select Disc File Back-Up (.BAK file produced ? ), whether you want a health check on all discs inserted, and finally how many Record Cards you think you will need on this session. Then Select Finish Selection. The Main Menu --- ---- ---- The program revolves around this screen. There are three ways to get data into Super Card 1. ADD - Click on Add to bring up a Record Card writer. 2. LOAD - Load an OLD .SCF File 3. MERGE - Merge an OLD .SCF File to one in memory LOAD/MERGE ---- ----- Use the File Selector to LOAD/MERGE .SCF Files. ADD --- New Record Cards can be added line-by-line. Mistakes should be corrected before the Return key is pressed, otherwise you will have to use READ/EDIT to make repairs. Inputting certain characters instead of Record Card lines will produce the following : - * - Finish and ADD the New Record Card. # - Finish, ADD, and Return to Main Menu. *P - Finish, ADD, and Print New Record Card. ? - Abort inputting Record Card. All Record Cards can be from 1 to 16000 lines long, 0 to 78 characters per line, and up to 32000 characters long. There is one way to find Record Cards and/or make changes to them EDIT/READ ---- ---- Takes you to FIND, READ and EDIT via FILTER. Filter ------ The Filter Screen is used with the READ/EDIT, PRINT, SAVE and PRINT OUT selections. And allows you to narrow down your Record Cards to the few or one that you are interested in. There are four filters that can be used together to narrow down your search. Text typed into the Filter 1, Filter 2, Filter 3, and Filter 4 fields is compared to text in your Record Cards. You can select the Search to AND or NOT, which will give you Record Cards that Do or Don't contain the Filters. You can also select whether the case is to be dependent. i.e. will 'A' just find 'A', or will 'A' find 'A' and 'a' ? The Clear All button will wipe all your filters, and the Finished button will perform the Filter Find Record Menu ---- ------ ---- If you have selected READ/EDIT and then performed a filter, then you will be taken to the Find Record Menu. You can narrow down your search by looking through all the Record Cards selected by your filters, to just one Record Card. Other possibilities PRINT e.t.c. are selected by pressing the key 'P' e.t.c. on the Key board. Arrow Keys - Move to other Record Cards R - Go to Read Menu E - Go to Edit Menu D - Delete Record Card F - Filter again C - Copy Record Card A - Call ADD Routines P - Print Q - Back to Main Menu Read Menu ---- ---- Similar in many ways to the Find Menu, the Read Menu allows you to take a closer look at your Record Card especially bits that fall below the 19 lines shown on the Find Menu Arrow Keys - Move around Record Card Page-by-page G - Goto line in Record Card Undo - Return to Find Menu Edit Menu ---- ---- Allows you to make changes to an existing Record Card Arrow Keys - Move around Line-by-line +/- - Move around Page-by-page D - Delete Line E - Edit Existing Line A - Add New line below cursor I - Insert Blank line above cursor F - Finish Edit Undo - Cancel changes, and go back to Find Menu PRINT OUT ----- --- The Print Out button on the Main Menu allows you to prepare a list of all or some of your Record Cards. After filtering, you will be taken to the Print Out Menu. Here you can : - 1. Select if it is to be paged - YES = Skip Perforations, NO - Continuous/ Single Sheet paper. 2. How many lines to print/ Total lines per page - only if paged is set to YES will these settings be used. 3. Alpha headings ? - i.e. will --- A --- be placed before all Record Cards that begin with 'A' e.t.c. 4. One Per Page ? - Print Record Cards on separate pages ? 5. Space Between Records ? - Set gap on paper between Record Cards 6. Start Line , 1 to 16000 - can start printing from any line. 7. Finish Line, 1 to 16000 - can finish printing at any line. Quit - Forget it ! OK - print RENAME ------ Your Record Cards will have a title as shown on the Main Screen, clicking on RENAME will allow you to change it. STATISTICS ---------- Gives you a percentage of Filtered Records against all Record Cards in memory. ACCESSORIES ----------- Allows access to any .ACC files in memory. DEFINE Macro's ------ ----- - Macro key combinations can be assigned to the Ten Function keys Shifted and Unshifted - giving 20 possibilities. This Menu allows you to make changes to the Macro's which are saved and loaded along with your data. IMPORT Macro's ------ ----- - Allows you to Import macro key combinations from other .SCF files. DELETE File ------ ---- Select a file and delete it to make more room on a disc. READ ME ---- -- The READ ME button brings up text and screens refering to Super Card 2. The operation of the program isn't affected otherwise. All files produced with Super Card 1 will load into Super Card 2. Have a nice day, and please don't forget the fiver ! Mark Butler B.Ware B.Bytes Computer Systems 19 Southfield Road Hinckley Leics LE10 1UA Cheques payable to B.Bytes Computer Systems Please - Ta !