BCLERK Revisited

[Bob Stockler]

I've just deposited the latest version of BCLERK on Jean-Pierre
Radley's ftp site (ftp.jpr.com); it should be found there in the
filePro directory.  It's a gzipped tar archive of "./bclerk",
a directory containing all the files to let you try it out very
quickly and simply.

If you're on a UNIX/Linux system (and have the KornShell, or get
it) you should try this.  It's the quickest way I've fount to get
some information (from a shell prompt) out of a filePro file.

BCLERK is a filePro on UNIX program that lets one access a filePro
mailing-list or address-book type file from the command line - it
can work with any filePro file, but the automatic-installation
program "binstall" it uses to create a demonstration of it is based
on those types of files.

On executing "binstall" the user is prompted for information about
the fields in the target file, then it writes a sort-selection table
in that file.  The whole thing takes about 3 minutes.  Then, on
executing something like:

  bclerk -b smith d            ##### -b starts it up in Browse Mode

from the command line, a Browse screen displays:

 Smith                Clotilde             Miss 210 East Main Street
>Smith                David                Mr.  1505 South Preston Street
 Smith                Deborah              Ms.  37 South Third Avenue
 Smith                Dorothy              Mrs. 705 Juno Drive
 Smith                Earl B.              Mr.  RR 2
 Smith                Eleanor              Ms.  535 Bardstown Road
 Smith                Elena                Mrs. 300 Breckinridge Lane
 Smith                Elenora              Mrs. 907 Sparky Way

The first record in the index matching "smith d" is highlighted and
a ">" cursor marks it.  Up and Down Arrow keys move between records,
and PageUp and PageDown keys move between pages of records, in much
the same way as on a real filePro Browse Screen.  Pressing [Enter]
selects the highlighted record and displays:

        Mr. David Smith
        1505 South Preston Street
        Louisville, KY  40329-2357
        (H) 977-6326   (W) 897-4834


        [N]ext [P]rev [S]eek [W]rite [Q]uit: _

At this screen the user may move between records with the N or P keys
(or the Arrow or Page keys), or seek to a new record with the S key.
The W key causes the address data to be written to a temporary file,
which is printed to standard output when the program exits.  B returns
to the Browse display, and Q quits the program from either display.

The Browse display can be enhanced to show more information by editing
the processing table (as explained in the documentation):

 Smith, Miss Clotilde       210 East Main Street          776-1298     584-2323
>Smith, Mr. David           1505 South Preston Street     977-6326     897-4834
 Smith, Ms. Deborah         37 South Third Street         426-9382 
 Smith, Mrs. Dorothy        705 June Drive                336-5746
 Smith, Mr. Earl B.         RR 2                      417 346-9268 417 346-8776
 Smith, Ms. Eleanor         535 Bardstown Road            487-6849
 Smith, Mrs. Elena          300 Breckinridge Lane         364-9184     584-2107
 Smith, Mrs. Elenora        907 Sparky Way                945-2134

As a dedicated program, BCLERK displays the needed information from a
record faster than by going into [dr]clerk to get it.  Also, the Write
function can produce an ad hoc list of mailing labels, or a call list,
very quickly and easily (simply pipe its output to a file or printer
on starting it up).

Bob

PS - BCLERK can also be used to edit fields in records (technically
     speaking, it can be used to _replace_ the data in fields).

PPS - Historical Note - "bclerk" was originally a filePro program
      used to let users of Radio Shack's original laptop computers
      access filePro files (via a serial connection).  I wrote the
      first version of my "bclerk" to help someone with such an
      early laptop access a filePro file on a computer that did not
      have filePro's "bclerk" on it.  That explains the default size
      of its display (which may be modified).

-- 
Bob Stockler - bob at trebor.iglou.com
Author: MENU EDIT II - The BEST Creator/Editor/Manager for filePro User Menus.
Fully functional (time-limited) demos available by email request (specify OS).