5.0    USING THE PROGRAM

5.1    The Main screen

       BlueBook has only two "screens": the Main screen, which
       shows ONE record in full, and the List screen, which
       displays the Key lines of up to 16 at a time.

       (Each record has a KEY line which is the basic "title" and
       searching field, plus room for other information.)

       The record shown on the Main screen is the CURRENT RECORD.
       This simply means it is the one BlueBook returns to if you
       cancel out of the List screen.

       The Main screen has all controls relevant to handling that
       single record, plus a "File" menu for handling the database
       as a whole, and the "eXit" button - just click, or type the
       [C]apital letter in each button.

       For a full explanation of screen layouts, run the program
       and click Help, then Screen.

       ----------------------------------------------------------
       BlueBook uses only the left mouse button, and there are no
       double-clicks (although some buttons do have to be clicked
       twice, for confirmation).
       ----------------------------------------------------------

5.2    The List screen

       Each time you search the database, you generate a List,
       ie. a group of records that answer to your request.

       The List screen displays the Key lines of those records,
       16 per "page".  Use it to work with SETS of records at a
       time.  You can delete records, include or exclude them
       from the List, alter the dates of one or more Listed
       records, sort, etc; or simply browse.

       At any one time, it is possible to see only whatever
       portion of a database is currently on the List.  But that
       can easily be the whole if you want: the Get command lets
       you List ALL records very quickly.  There's no performance
       penalty in listing more records.

       A much smaller subset is often perfectly adequate, though.
       Use the current List freely, and regenerate it without
       hesitation.  It doesn't matter WHAT'S on the List, so long
       as it includes the records you want!

       Whenever you add a record to the database, it is appended
       to the current List.

       The Main screen's information line and List position
       indicator panel carry over to the List screen, as do the
       DOS and Help buttons.

       The List position indicator (top) shows the number of the
       items currently on the LIST, and identifies (by position
       number in the List) the currently highlighted item.

       The information line (bottom) shows the total number of
       records in the DATABASE (left) and the actual absolute
       record number of the current record (right).

5.3    Choosing records and switching between screens

       To get from the Main screen to the List screen, click the
       List button or type "L", or hit Esc.  To get back, either
       Esc from the List screen, or click Main/type M, or jump to
       another record.

       To jump by mouse, click a record to highlight it in
       white (*), then click it again.  The main screen appears
       with the chosen record displayed in full, making that the
       new current record.

       To jump by keyboard, use the normal navigation keys
       (PgDn/PgUp, Home/End, etc.) to find the record you want.
       Highlight it with the arrow keys as a prospective current
       record.  Then hit <Enter>, or U (for jUmp).

       ----------------------------------------------------------
       * - in this manual we assume you haven't changed the
           default colours
       ----------------------------------------------------------

5.4    Record layout - the fields

       BlueBook is an informal free-text database with ONE
       simple, fixed, all-purpose record layout.  If you need to
       alter this, or create your own data structures, then you
       need another product (but see note below).

       With luck, you won't need to.  The record layout is more
       a strength than a weakness because it's designed to be
       both easy AND flexible in day-to-day use.  You have

       (i)   a GROUP or TOPIC field (20 characters, unlabelled)
       (ii)  a KEY line (48 characters)
       (iii) a DATE field
       (iv)  four NOTE lines (62 characters each, with word wrap)
       (iv)  three SUPPlementary fields (20 characters each).

       The last, labelled SUPP 1-3, are intended primarily for
       telephone numbers, etc.  But how you use ANY of these
       fields is entirely over to you, as are the conventions you
       choose for EACH database.

       By default, the Topic field is unlabelled on-screen.
       But you can change that, and all other field labels, by
       entering new labels in the appropriate section of the
       BLUEBOOK.INI file (either manually or via BBIni.Exe).

       Each record occupies precisely 512 bytes on disk: half a
       kilobyte, split between the files "<DBasName>.BBI" (58
       bytes of key data), and "<DBasName>.BBD" (454 bytes, the
       remainder).

       ----------------------------------------------------------
       NOTE: Records do not NEED to be infinitely flexible or
       extensible.  They are intended to be brief text notes or
       "headers".  If the data you want to store exceeds one
       record's capacity, you can either create another JOINED
       record, or offload the extra information to an external
       file, or run a relevant application, OR create a whole new
       dependant database (see 7.7).

       The Exec command allows you to review external files
       directly from a record (by running BBView or some viewer
       program/batch file), or actively update them using a DOS
       editor (you can update "offline" in Windows using NotePad,
       etc); or, in fact, run ANY DOS application.

       You are free to set this up how you like, Lego-style, for
       EACH record, and you are not restricted to text: using an
       appropriate program, you can access ANY data type.

       If you have PKZip/PKUnZip, you can keep any numnber of
       small files packed away in compressed archives using
       BBPull.Bat (supplied - see "Zipping.Doc").
       ----------------------------------------------------------

