I am hoping this will help some of you who may want to create a
medical history database, or piano tuning one, or whatever you
want. I tried to get both sets of commands in, and as always,
the QWERTY commands are in parenthesis.
To create a new database, select Database Manager from the Main
Menu. KeyBase prompts: "Database to use?". Instead of selecting
an existing database, you will now type the name of the database
you wish to create (such as Medical History) and press ENTER.
KeyBase will prompt: "File does not exist. Create a new file?".
Confirm that you wish to create a new file, by typing Y.
You will then be led through the process of creating a new
database. This includes the following:
Field Definition List.
Once you have created a new database by typing and confirming
the new database name, KeyBase will display "Field definition
list for Medical History".
Think of all the information that you want to keep. Each piece
of information becomes a field and you can have up to 150
different fields in your database. Also consider which order you
want the fields presented when you add a record. You will need
to decide on the type of data to store in each field. Is the
data a date, time, number or text only? The type of data you
store in each field is known as a field type and there are 8
choices:
For the Medical History database, the following fields and
field types will be entered in the order below:
Reason for appointment -- String
Appointment Date -- Date
Appointment Time -- Time
Medical Practitioner -- String
Prescription Issued -- Yes or No
Notes -- Document
Medical Center Name -- String
Medical Center Cost -- Number
Prescription Cost -- Number
Think carefully about the field type, because if you change a
field type after you have added data to your database, any data
already stored in the previous type will no longer be displayed.
When you are ready to start defining the fields, press SPACE at
the prompt: "Field Definition List". KeyBase will prompt "Field
1 name?". Type a name for the first field that you want to be
presented with when you add records and press ENTER. In the
example of a Medical History database, the first field is "Reason
for appointment".
The prompt "Field type for Reason for Appointment? Currently
string" will be displayed. To confirm that this is the correct
field type for this field, press ENTER. KeySoft will then prompt
"Field 2 name?". Type "Appointment Date" and press ENTER.
KeySoft will then prompt: Field type for "Appointment Date?
Currently string". This field is a date field not a string field
and you must therefore change the field type. To cycle through
the list of types, press SPACE with dots 3-4 repeatedly (Ctrl
with Space), until Date is displayed and then press ENTER.
KeySoft will then prompt Field 3 name?. Continue on adding all
the fields in the order you want them presented.
You can review the field names and types you have already added
by pressing SPACE or BACKSPACE. While reviewing the fields you
can change the field names, as well as inserting, deleting, or
changing the order of the fields:
To change the name of a field, either type the new name and
press ENTER or edit the existing name using the standard KeySoft
editing commands. Note that if you are using a Braille keyboard
you can type field names in your preferred keyboard grade. When
you review the field names, you will notice that they are
displayed in your preferred reading grade. However, KeyBase
stores field names internally as text, so if you edit a field
name you must make sure to edit using computer Braille.
To insert a field before the current field, for example to add
"Medical Center Address" before "Prescription Cost", press SPACE
with dots 2-6, (Ctrl Enter.) The current field and all subsequent
fields are moved down one place to open up a gap for the new
field to occupy.
To delete a field, for example, the Appointment Time field in
your Medical History database, press BACKSPACE with dots 1-4,
(Ctrl I). KeyWord will prompt: "Delete Appointment Time field.
Sure?". If you type Y, the field will be deleted from the
Database Definition. The subsequent fields will move up a place.
In other words, "Medical Practitioner" will take the place of
"Appointment Time" and "Prescription Issued" will take the place
of "Medical Practitioner" and so on.
To move the current field up one place in the Field Definition
List, that is, closer to the beginning of the list, press
BACKSPACE with dots 2-3, (Ctrl with 7). If the field can be
moved up by one place, the field name prompt will be repeated and
the new position number is displayed. For example, "Field 2
name? Currently Appointment Date", becomes "Field 1 name?
Currently Appointment Date". This move will then force the first
field in the list, "Reason for Appointment", to become Field 2.
To move the current field down one place in the Field
Definition List, that is, closer to the end of the list, press
BACKSPACE with dots 2-3, (Ctrl with 7). If the field can be
moved down by one place, the field name prompt will be repeated
and the new position number is displayed. For example, "Field 4
name? Currently Medical Practitioner", becomes "Field 5 name?
Currently Medical Practitioner". This move will then force the
next field in the list, "Prescription Issued", to become Field 4.
There are numerous options available for each field, depending
on the field type. To review these options for the current
field, press BACKSPACE with O (Ctrl with 2) after the Field Type
prompt. To exit the Field Definition List, press SPACE with E,
(Escape). KeyBase will prompt: "Sort Order is Reason for
Appointment. Change?".
Note: If you decide to change a field type after records have
been added, any fields that had been assigned with the original
field type will not be displayed. This situation does not apply
for string and document field types as they are interchangeable.
A string is a sequence of characters. For example, you can enter
a string to retain important phone numbers; months of the year or
the symbol representing a currency. A string can be presented in
text or any grade of Braille and is sorted alphabetically.
The maximum length of a string is 255 characters. For longer
entries or multiple line entries, use a document field type.
Note: When you include characters and numbers in a sequence,
they are treated as words. To store the sequence with the
numbers in numerical order, put a 0 in front of numbers 1-9.
Number.
This Field Type applies to any sort of number, but can only
contain digits, the negative sign and a decimal point. The
number field type is therefore unsuitable for storing phone
numbers as they may contain spaces, brackets, and so on.
Suitable numbers to have in your database, include quantities,
ages, and event years. Numbers can also represent measurements,
such as temperature, and quantities (dollars and cents, for
instance).
Numbers are sorted numerically.
Yes or No.
The Yes or No Field Type provides two options to choose from;
yes or no. This is useful when you want to include a question
requiring a yes or no answer in your database, for instance, "Was
there a prescription issued?".
Document.
The maximum length of data allowed in a string field type is
equivalent to 255 characters. If you think the data you want to
add to a field will be beyond this limit, use a document field
type. In the case of a Medical History database, you could add a
document that outlines details of your treatment schedule or
lists the ingredients in your medication.
An advantage of using the document field type over a string
field type is that a document is two dimensional. That is, you
are able to read and edit it as you would with a document in
KeyWord.
Date.
The Date Field Type is useful for keeping a record of events
such as your last dental check-up or when you purchased an
appliance that is under a fixed warranty. If you want to enter
the date for today, type "today".
A date is sorted chronologically. Time.
The Time Field Type is useful for keeping a record of events
such as what time you spoke to someone on your Ham Radio or the
time of a medical appointment.
Field Options
There are numerous options available for each field, depending
on the field type. These can be reviewed or changed by pressing
BACKSPACE with O (Ctrl with 2) when a field type prompt is
displayed.
The Field Options are displayed as a list. Move forward or
back through the list by pressing SPACE or BACKSPACE. To change
an option, either select or type the new value and press ENTER.
When you are happy with the options, return to the Field
Definition List by pressing SPACE with E, (Escape).
For String Fields, you have 4 options to choose from that are
exclusive to this Field Type:
"Braille Option?"
This is used to determine how the field will be entered and if
Braille code or Unicode is stored in the database for this field.
On units that have a Qwerty keyboard, Unicode is used
universally.
If you have a unit with a Braille keyboard, the options are:
Preferred Keyboard Grade, which is used for general strings
such as names, descriptions, etc. Your entry will be stored and
displayed again, exactly as you entered it.
Computer Braille, which is used when combinations of letters,
punctuation and/or numbers are entered. For example, email
addresses, post codes, etc.
Back-translate from preferred grade. You will be able to use
grade 2, or whatever your preferred keyboard grade is when adding
this field, but the field will be stored in the database as
Unicode. When the field is displayed, it will be displayed in
your Preferred Reading Grade. Use this for fields you will be
sorting on to ensure that they are sorted correctly. If you
select a string field type as one of the fields in the Sort
Order, KeyBase will automatically change the Braille Option to
"Back-translate from preferred grade".
"Braille Prefix?"
If you are using literary Braille, you can choose between
Capital Sign, Double Capital Sign, Auto Number Sign and None.
"Field Context?"
This option is used for many different purposes, including
controlling how the contents of the field will be displayed.
Fields usually contain fragments of text that by themselves, do
not denote context. For instance, in some cases the
pronunciation that is used is dependent on the context. For
example, "Dr" in a "Title" field is "Doctor", but in an "Address"
field, is most commonly the abbreviation for "Drive".
The options for Field Context are as follows:
General (the default)
Spell
Name
Address
Town or City
State
Country
Organization
Password
Email address
Phone number
"Maximum Length?"
The default maximum length is 255. Numbers between 1 and 255
can be entered. If you need longer fields, use a Document
field-type. Usually you would leave this set to 255. However,
if you will be using the database in a situation where you are
printing on pre-printed forms, for example, where there is a
specific limit on the length of a field, then set this
appropriately to ensure that your entry will fit in the
pre-printed space.
For Number fields, you have 1 option that is exclusive to this
Field Type:
"Number format?"
The options are preferred setting (this is the default and uses
the Number Format setting in the Review Options List); digits and
words.
The settings below, apply to all field types and follow on from
the settings above:
"Help message?"
Any entry in this option will be displayed when you request
"help" on this field in the "Add Record" option. It is displayed
in addition to the standard KeySoft help and the default for this
setting is blank.
"Default value?"
The default for this setting is blank. When a new record is
initialized, the field is set to the default value. For example,
a "City" field with a default of "Auckland", will appear as
"City? Currently Auckland", in the "Add Record" option.
There is no difference in the amount of work involved in
changing the city than there is to assign a field without a
default value. However, if the majority of new database entries
have "Auckland" as the city, having "Auckland" as the default
improves the efficiency.
Note: If a default value is specified, this value is actually
added to all records and uses storage space that would not be
used if the field was left blank.
For date and time fields, "auto" can be entered as the default
value. This sets the field to the time or date when the record
was created.
"Display option?"
The display options are normal; read only and hidden.
An example of when this setting can be used is with auto time
and date fields. You want the date and time logged as well as
used to print, emboss or merge the data, but you don't need to
review or change it.
Another example of when the display option is useful, is for
filling in forms using KeyBase. There may be some fixed fields
on the form, such as a tax number. These are set with a default
value and they would otherwise clutter the list when adding or
reviewing fields.
Sort Orders.
After you have defined the fields you require for a database,
the next priority is to define how you want the records sorted.
This determines the order in which the records are presented
during the lookup records process. For example, sort the records
in chronological order by the "Appointment Date", when looking
for all records with "sore throat" in the Reason for appointment
field.
After you have set your sort order, and you press E chord,
(Escape), you will see that the database for "medical history",
or whatever name you chose does not exist. You will be asked if
you want to create a database with that name. You would say
"yes". Remember that this is your hidden file, (your (Cdb file).
This is the file that you would write your records in.
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