

  Dear Maxess User,

  Maxess is a BBS especially designed to use with Access - the database
  system from Microsoft.  In fact, Maxess is partially embedded in Access.
  As far as files and messages are concerned, it is very similar to other
  BBS.  What is new and exciting in Maxess is its ability to perform
  complex queries in Access tables.
  Each Access table has a set of fields.  For instance table Users has
  fields like Name, Zip, Country, Phone, etc.  You will be able to search
  on one or more of these fields simultaneously.  All you have to do is
  select which field(s) you want, and then specify a search criterion.

  When you select "S" (for <S>earch in table) from the Main menu, a list
  of table fields is displayed.  You may choose one or more field numbers
  separated by commas and press Return. 
  By entering asterisk (*), all records from the table are displayed
  at once.  By entering plus sign (+) all field numbers are selected.
  After the selection, you have to specify a search criterion for each
  of the chosen fields.  Prompts might be skipped by responding with Return.
  By default all criteria are combined with the AND logical operator,
  unless the OR keyword is explicitly used.  Here is an example :

     Search in Files by:
       1. FileName        3. Size
       2. Location        4. Date
     Enter numbers (ex. 1,3,4) or +/* > 1,1,4,4
     (T) FileName [.TXT OR
     (T) FileName [".DOC"
     (D) Date !<1/1/93@
     (D) Date <7/1/93

   This query specification is translated as:
   "Find all file-records with extension TXT or DOC and dates between
   1/1/93 and 7/1/93 sorted by date".  Please notice the duplicate
   selection of fields 1 and 4 and the explicit use of the OR keyword.
   The "at" character (@) at the end of the first date condition
   determines the sort order field.  The sort order is always ascending.
   There is a field type shown in parenthesis in front of each field
   prompt.  Field types have conditional operators related to them:

      Field Type         Operators          Description
      ----------         ----------------   -----------
      (D)=date           = or < or >
      (N)=number         = or < or >
      (T)=text           = or < or > or [   [ means "contain"
      (L)=logical        =T or =Y           T is "true"(or Y for "yes")
      -"-                =F or =N           F is "false(or N for "no")
      any                !                  NOT (to be input first)
      any                @                  SORT BY (to be input last)

   All operators are considered comparison operators except !(NOT), AND
   and OR, which are logical operators.  The order of precedence for
   the logical operators is : !(NOT), AND, OR.  According to this rule,
   expressions with negation (!) are evaluated first, AND expressions
   next and OR expressions are evaluated last.
   Please,notice that operators are strictly related to their own field
   types and should not be used with other field types.  For instance,
   operator =T for logicals (L) cannot be used with text fields (T).

   Note: APPEND and EDIT tables
   Enter triple dash (---) to delete the current field content.
   Enter upper-arrow (^) to return to the previous prompt.
   Quit at any time with the Escape (ESC) key.
   
   Note: Communications
   If you are using Windows Terminal communication utility to connect,
   make sure your terminal emulation is set to "TTY (Generic)". 

   Lets hope this will help you get started and allow you to use the
   full capacity of Maxess BBS.

   We enjoy having you online !


