Vu-File ------- A general purpose filing system - an essential software package for every Spectrum owner. Use for names and addresses, club membership, records, catalogues, diaries, accounts and lists of all kinds. Many features include formatting, packed records to minimise storage, enter search lists and print commands. Gazetteer on side B is a useful example including essential information on every country in the world, (48K Spectrum), or Europe, (16K Spectrum). At both home and work we continually use lists, card indices, filing cabinets etc. to store in an ordered manner repetitve data for all kinds of information. In the home this includes address books, lists of members of clubs or societies that we may belong to, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. At work, schools, colleges, businesses and particularly government departments have numerous filing cabinets and card indices for all manner of information. VU-FILE is a computer program for the electronic storate of lists or files based on the Spectrum. The advantage of a computer for doing this is not only that the information can be stored easily and compactly, but particularly that the computer is very powerful in ordering, sequencing, searching, finding and listing such files. The file consists of a collection or list of "records" where every record may contain various items of information. Each item of information on a record is called a "data-field". VU-FILE allows you to lay out or format the standard record of a particular file in a manner of your own choosing. Each record will appear as one page on the screen and you may have as many data-fields in each record as is consistent with your layout on the screen. After laying out or formatting the record a whole series of commands allows you to develop the file and interrogate it. In addition you can save the file permanently on your own cassettes and retrieve it from the cassette for subsequent use. Throughout VU-FILE you will find the command or information heading in the top four lines of the screen. This heading continually prompts you as to what to do next and in addition tells you the present command under which you are acting. The rest of the screen always shows the general or current record. After loading the program from a virgin or original cassette, the program will automatically enter record formatting. Otherwise the main menu will appear. Formatting a Record: VU-FILE is a general purpose computer file. In the initial option of RECORD LAY OUT, the user may lay out or format standard headings, titles, colour etc. to format the general records as he wishes. On entering, a red cursor square will be situated in the top left-hand corner of the record. The keyboard may be used as a simple typewriter to enter standard titles and headings. In addition the cursor may be moved more rapidly around the screen with the aid of the arrow keys. Only information which is fixed or repeated on every record should be entered at this stage. The colour for paper and ink can be varied throughout the record layout by pressing "EDIT", (caps shift with key "I"). The current attributes will be displayed and may be altered. When the standard information has been entered the user may exit from this mode with the "STOP" command (shift A). After exiting from the RECORD LAY OUT mode the program will immediately enter a new mode called DATA-FIELDS. A new command heading will appear at the top of the screen. The mode allows the user to define the position on the record where he wishes to place variable information items. For example, if a field was being created for names and addresses each record might show the word "NAME:" followed by the particular name say "BROWN JOHN" of a particular record. The letters "NAME:" would have been entered in the record lay out mode and are fixed on every record. The letters "BROWN JOHN" are a "data-field" and vary from one record to another. The user must specify the position on the record where the data-field (e.g. "BROWN JOHN") is to appear, namely after "NAME:". Move the cursor square with the arrow keys to a position immediately after "NAME:" and press ENTER at the correct position. You will be asked to define the paper and ink colours for that field. The position of the data field will now be marked with a ? Continue to define the position of each data-field you require on the record. Press the command "STOP" to exit. VU-FILE Commands: After exiting from this mode the programme will automatically enter the main VU-FILE command point (option 2 from the main menu). The main commands available to the user are ENTER, ALTER, INFORM, FORWARD, BACK, RESET, ORDER, SELECT, QUIT, LIST, PRINT, COPY, DELETE. If the file is empty, the ENTER command will automatically be effected. Most of these commands are self-explanatory and can be implemented from any point of VU-FILE (under option 2) by typing the first letter of each command. Entering, Deleting and Altering Records: From the command point press "E" to enter a new record to the file. The screen will show a blank record with the standard titles and headings which have been entered previously. The red cursor box will be situated at the position for the first data-field. You may now simply enter the information for the field and for the record that you require. In the example included on side B of the cassette "Gazetteer" the first item of fixed information on every record is the word "COUNTRY" and the first data-field following this is the particular country which which varies of course, from record to record, for example Afghanistan, Albania etc. If you were entering this as a record you would now type in Afghanistan followed by "ENTER". The cursor will then automatically move to the start of the next data-field for you to type in the next item of information. When you have entered the information for every item on a record, the display will automatically bring up a new blank record. You may continue to enter by this means as many records as you wish. If however you have completed the new records you require, press the key "STOP" to exit to the main command point. A record may be deleted by finding and displaying the particular record fllowed by the command "D" for DELETE. The information on a record may be changed with the aid of the ALTER command. First find the record you wish to change and press "A" for ALTER. The record will be shown with the red cursor box situated at the beginning of the first data-field. If you wish to change this item of information simply type in the new information followed by "ENTER". The new information will be recorded and the cursor will automatically move to the next data-field. If you do not wish to change the information of a particular item press the key "down" (SHIFT-6). After all items on the record have been dealt with the user is returned to the main command heading. Ordering, Listing and Printing the Records: The whole file may be listed or printed in a number of different sequences which the user may define. The particular sequencing required is defined through the command ORDER. The order of the whole fie can be defined by the leading alphabetic characters of any particular data-field. Ordering or sorting is according to the first character of a data-field which, if the same for two or more records, will be followed by the second character etc. Precedence is given to numbers over alphabetic letters (strictly speaking precedence is given by the character code, see page 183 of the Spectrum manual). After pressing the key "O" for ORDER the command heading will change asking the user to define the data-field for the particular ordering required. When the correct data-field is identified press the key ENTER and the program will return to the main command heading. If the user has not defined a particular data-field through the ORDER command, ordering will automatically be carried out according to the first data-field. The commands, RESET, FORWARD, BACK, LIST AND PRINT are all affected by the order. The command "R" for RESET will bring up the first record of the file. "F" for FORWARD will step forward from the present record to the next record. "B" for BACK will step backwards one record. The command "L" for LIST will list all the records of the file from the current record and according to order with each record displayed for a short time for the user to observe. The listing can be frozen at any record pressing any key. To continue listing thereafter simply press "L". To list the whole file it is of course necessary to RESET the file to the first record. The "PRINT" command operates similarly to LIST except that the records are printed out on the printer as opposed to being displayed on the screen. Press "P" for PRINT. To stop the printing at any stage simply press any key. As opposed to printing out the whole file or part of the file a particular record may be printed with the COPY command. Press "C" to COPY the current record display. Selection and Data Processing: One of the most powerful features of VU-FILE is the ability to pick out, find or select a particular record or a particular set of records as opposed to the complete file. This is achieved by the "SELECT" command. From the command heading press "S" for SELECT and the command heading will change to ask the user to pick out a particular data-field to which the SELECT is to apply. If the SELECT is to apply to any field press "ENTER", otherwise press any key to move the cursor automatically to the data-field required and then press "ENTER". The picking out or finding of a particular set of records is then carried out by compating the data-fields with a "string" of characters which the user defines. Having defined the appropriate data-field the command box will change to allow the user to return to the main commands and leave the character string selected for all subsequent operations of LIST, PRINT, FORWARD, BACK or RESET. This enables the user to carry out simple data-processing. For example, in GAZETTEER (example side B) if the user were interested in all Spanish-speaking countries of the world he could use the select option to define the "languages" data-field followed by the string select "SPANISH". If he then returns to the main command heading and enters "L" for LIST a list will immediately be shown of all Spanish-speaking countries. Searching for or Finding Particular Records: In many applications the user may wish to use the file like a card index. For example, if the file consists of a set of names addresses, telephone numbers, accounts and other possible business information, the user can load the file from cassette in the morning and leave it stored on his machine throughout the working day. In response to a telephone call or enquiry the record for that person or company can immediately be obtained by simply typing in a few characters from the name. This provides an immediate and powerful indexing system. The search mode is obtained from the main command point by typing "S" for SELECT to select the required data-field as before. After pressing ENTER the search mode command box will appear at the top of the screen. Different records can now immediately be accessed by simply entering an appropriate character string followed by ENTER. By this means individual records can be found efficiently. Inform and Quit: Information on the status of the file can always be obtained by pressing the key "I" for INFORM. This information includes the number of data-fields in each record, the number of records in the file, the current ordering being used and the extent in which the file is full. To return to the main command point press any key. To return to the main menu to save the file press the "Q" for "QUIT". In many cases it may be necessary to format the file for printer output in a different way from the record format on the screen. This is to avoid using an excessive amount of printer paper. To format records for the printer enter the option 3 from the main menu when you will be asked to lay out the record for the printer in a manner precisely the same as for the record lay out on the screen. You can achieve this more compactly through option 3. SIDE B: GAZETTEER "GAZETTEER" is an example of the application of VU-FILE. The word GAZETTEER means a geographical dictionary and the file GAZETTEER is a file of records for every country in Europe, (16K Spectrum), or in the world, (48K Spectrum), giving the name of the country, the capital city in that country, the main language spoken, the currency used and other information. This file can be interrogated and manipulated with all the commands of VU-FILE. SUMMARY OF COMMANDS FOR VU-FILE: A - Alter the current record B - Move backwards one record C - Copy the current record to the printer D - Delete the current record E - Enter a new record F - Move forward one record from the current record I - Information on all parameters of the file L - List all the records in the file from the current record to the last record O - Order the file P - Print the file on the printer Q - Quit VU-FILE to return to the main menu R - Re-set the current record to the 1st record of the file S - Select a data-field for searching for a record by a character string. (C) Copyright 1982. PSION Ltd. Made in U.K. (Transcribed by Robin Stuart)