Personal Computer News


Database

 
Published in Personal Computer News #106

Put your disks in order thanks to this database program for the Atari. Called Diskfile Manager, it's by D. A. Dodson and it includes a safety check as well as a search facility.

Disentangle Disks

Put your disks in order thanks to this database program for the Atari. Called Diskfile Manager, it's by D. A. Dodson and it includes a safety check as well as a search facility

Diskfile Manager for the Atari is designed to be used as a disk file database. It automatically reads the directory of a disk and creates a file of it on a 'database' disk. It works for all standard DOS directories, and for non-standard directories it incorporates a manual alternative which allows the user to type in titles of up to 11 characters. It should make Atari disk handling significantly easier for you.

When the directory has been input, either automatically or manually, a prompt for a disk number appears. The user then types the number corresponding to the number of the disk from which the directory has been taken, and is then prompted to insert the master disk, which will hold the records.

Failure to install the correct disk won't result in your source disk being overwritten, as the program first checks to see if a failsafe record is present, and re-prompts you if it is not.

The program includes a search facility which allows you to input one or more of the first characters of a known record. You then tell the computer which disk file to start the search from, and it will flag each title/heading with those starting characters. A utilities option allowing you to perform most of the available DOS functions from Basic, i.e. Delete, Lock, Unlock, Rename and Format, is also included.

The listing of the program includes some control characters which should be typed as follows:

Line 270 Press [Esc] and hold [shift] and press [Clear]
Line 330 Press [Esc] twice, press [Esc] hold [Ctrl] and press [Cursor Down]
Line 440 Press [Esc] hold [Ctrl] and press [2]
Line 1080 Press [Esc] hold [Ctrl] and press [Cursor Down]

D. A. Dodson