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1. Here s what they re saying about Fast Memory Upgrades Ooooh like this More palmtops to follow Satisfied upgrade customer mtopPaper com It works great Steve Carder x Up eed tae ehh eos Wow is that thing fast And all that memory highly in the box with Manuais Free One Year Warranty extendable recommend the Thaddeus Palmtops for anyone thinking fanse II e Only NOW 5619 00 6 MB 2006 of upgrading Robert J Vondra NOW 659 00 8 MB 2001 NOW 895 00 32 MB 2032 NOW 1175 00 64 MB 2064 No Risk 30 Day Money Back Guarantee USED Used means Like New We buy a lot of palmtops We resell the best We maintain very high standards Warrantied Guaranteed Proven Affordable for palmtops we resell Those that don t make the grade are used for parts HP NEW A Refurbished HP 200LX engineering combined with Thaddeus Computing s quality control processes R d d Upgraded to 5 8 32 or 64 MB ensures that your Used palmtop will meet or exceed your expectations el uce Upgraded to DoubleSpeed _ Pricing Free 90 Day Warranty extendable Upgrade your HP 200LK Palmtop e 30 Day Money Back Guarantee FROM TO Sor6MB 8 MB 32 MB 64 MB e Only 349 00 5 MB 2ous 1 20r4 MB 119 00 UP5 159 00 UP8 395 00 UP32 675 00 UP64 399 00 8 MB 2008 S or 6 MB N A 124 00 U86 2600 0 326 640 00 U646 5599 00 32 MB 20LN 8 MB N A N A 230 00 328
2. Ed Keefe ow do you speed up the speed locate feature in a large database How can you sort a database ona date or time field and still use the speed locate feature How do you display all the items in a database that belong to two cat egories but not to a third category How do you display items that have empty date or number fields How do you find the most recent ly entered items in a database file How do you check for invalid data in a database Got Questions Database developers started ask ing the above questions almost as soon as they started using the Database Phonebook NoteTaker and WorldTime databases in the HP 100 200LX Palmtops They noticed that as databases grew larger they also grew more lethargic They real ized that the more data they had to key into a database the more likely it was that they d miss filling in a field or two and the more chances they d have of entering invalid data Database developers discovered another problem They could sort their databases by dates or numbers but then found that the speed locate feature failed to work properly We ve Got Answers These problems begot questions and over time the questions begot answers Most of the answers involved a better understanding of the subset function in the Palmtop s database engine In this article we ll start at the bot tom of the subset learning curve and describe what subsets are and what they re good fo
3. Press F6 and use the file pick er to select a drive and directory for the CDF file Then press ALT N and give it the name TEST CDF 10 Optional Press F7 and use the file picker to choose a suitable directory for a Log file Name the file TEST LOG A log file will save any error messages so you can trouble shoot the translation process later 11 Press F8 to open the Field Mapping dialog box Leave the Name field as it is Highlight the word Title and press the F7 key to Remap the field Select lt unmap gt from the list of field numbers Press Enter Do the same for all the other fields except the Category and Notes fields Highlight the Category word and press F7 to remap this to Field 3 Screen 3 Select Notes and remap this to Field 2 12 Press Enter several times to return to the XLATE Merge opening screen Press F6 to run the translation The Field Mapping function is XLATE s way to mimic the Smart Clip feature of the database programs To bring TEST CDF into the NoteTaker file repeat steps 3 11 above This time use Notetaker as the File Type and key in XLATE CDF to NDB in the description field In the Settings window make the File Formats CD Files and HP 100 200LX Use the F5 and F6 keys to specify the Source as TEST CDF and the Target file as TEST NDB The Mappings don t need to be changed THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 29 Dat CARRE TEST Nan
4. lation once and then press the F4 func tion key to Run All of them as a batch process Merging Files with XLATE The database programs on the HP Palmtop have a command namely MENU File Merge that will let you merge two files of the same type and structure If you ve ever used this feature you realize that Merge should have been called Combine For example if you merge your 1000 item Phone book file with that of your partner who also has 1000 entries you ll wind up with a Phonebook file having 2000 entries even though 800 of them are identical On the other hand if you use the Cpack s XLATE program to merge the same two files you would wind up with a Phonebook having 800 30 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 common entries plus your 200 unique entries and the 200 unique entries from your partner s Phonebook XLATE s Merge operation let s you specify whether you want to per form the process interactively by telling the program to stop each time it detects an item that has some fields that are the same and some that are different You can also perform the process quickly and tell the program to give either your file or your part ner s file priority in resolving any dif ferences Later you can look at a log of conflicts and resolve any differ ences that remain The XLATE Merge application will also let you Synchronize two Database Phone Book Quicken or Appointment Book files This me
5. to each abbreviation you cre ate After a note taking session in which you ve used your abbrevia tions run the dictionary program and you ll have notes that are readable 12 THE HPPALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 and relatively complete Another must have word orient ed tool is a GREP type program GREP will let your track down a word or phrase in all the different files on your Palmtop and list the lines on which the word occurs Sure the MENU Options Text Search command in Filer will do almost the same thing but it doesn t go far enough It will find all the files that contain the word for which you re searching but it doesn t actually find the word On the other hand the Global Search program GS EXM is System Manager compliant and when GS finds a word in any of the files cre ated with one of the Palmtop s built in applications it will let you auto matically launch the application and run the built in Find command It may not be the fastest program you ll ever run but it sure beats digging through pages of hand written notes looking for a lost reference This is especially true at the end of a semester when you re preparing for a final test A good drawing program is always handy for taking notes that require graphics I use AutoSketch 1 01 on my palmtop along with the Cirque Easy Cat touchpad The Easy Cat is a very small and very inex pensive companion for the palmtop It gives me all the flexibility
6. 704 588 1780 Find latest drivers at www cardlink com THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 5 REVIEW Manage Your Files with Magellan an se Do Ss en Ba sone De tue F lar EAST E CNC TESIS NDB nique sae gt A a A Az a A H A Al aet gii EEESTIS AT ERRER at FP i EREE Sog eE Som Diga So eer 5 2 z aj a 700 DRS G EAE RAL Fe F Fa p F5 Restore Unde l zi Unzip Aui Mes har cie inet og ptr etd KHuUltiple addresses tia example i 4 ie pptieds tee There are he other coategor ry the hileber h catego vrar fice ta w a SO J t gt Too pew T a 6630 c0RPUSe rye CORA 2125800 PUS oO rut COM F E gan have only one category field in any databas limit of 2595 characte f 1 this database has cat euorles such or i to 16 of le ild ow se a oF the da Shape ue Hai Rora ubset Suse nae he able sehen aii f Fy YOu can always have floa ine a at i e u subsets you can use them to create subsets om th axi x imne 3 F E7 F Fo Fig Com Uerifi U iar k DD ir Dero 123152 1 j a Him H E ie S g Fil Yew i Fup screen 4 Madellan will lel you look inside a ZIP lile You can also adjust lhe size of he windows Magellan upon exit No Support from Lotus Unfortunately Lotus stopped sup porting Magellan a few years ago As a result there was never a Windows version of the program although it operates fine un
7. Call us for more info and vendors meet to swap ideas solve problems and do business 41 5 6 41 2 4 5 0 Stay on top of the most exciting trends only at the Expo Join us online now for help in planning your mobile strategy by participating in focused discussion groups or to register l ir mas fntermec citrix KA HENES 7 omoe SYBASE DAUPHIN GAMES IBM i i ae a Thaddeus Sales se CASIO SHARP symbol ORACLE Pen Computing epa comming n Attormation AREEN 61999 World Market Strategies Ltd PDA Ine IEW REVIEW REVIEW RUE Vell EW REV Manage Your Files With Magellan A longtime user of the Magellan file manager file viewer shares his insights into the program s unique features by John B Hickman ith the disk capacities of an HP Palmtop being enhanced to 8 16 32 or 64 megabytes file management has become an increasing problem Filer HP s built in file manage ment program is excellent for navi gating and even finding files on a well organized Palmtop However my HP 200LX has never been that well organized and I doubt that it ever can be It currently has over 1000 files spread over more than 50 direc tories and subdirectories on two phys ical disks With all that stuff how can I find older files and eliminate unneeded ones After all the purpose of keep ing old files is the probability that they will be useful later on for some purpose Eventually however there comes a time to p
8. Database Files The WorldTime application is another instance of the database engine in the HP 200LX The appli cation is designed to use only one data file WORLD WDB There is no command in the application to open another data file Here s a way to get a general data base to appear in the WorldTime application It s a tip best suited for database power users and hackers To make this tip work you ll need a hex editor DEBUG will do ina pinch If the WorldTime application is open close it In Filer go to the C _ DAT direc tory and Move F3 the WORLD WDB and WORLD ENV files to any other directory to make room for the new WORLD WDB file Pick any Database file and copy it to the C _ DAT directory and rename it to WORLD WDB Use the hex editor to change byte 000C in the renamed WORLD WDB file from the letter D to the letter W hex 57 and save the file If you re using DEBUG type the following commands and press Enter after each one This will change the character at location 000C 010C in DEBUG format to a W DEBUG WORLD WDB e 10c 57 W q Start the WorldTime application and press F9 to get beyond the Welcome screen The database file will appear You won t be able to change the on screen appearance of the file and you ll have to live with the limited File commands The highlight bar will blink once a minute and there s no Data Card However you will be able to
9. PCX file Give the file a new name and press Enter Load the negative image file into WinGIF to see what it looks like Adding Text Optional Paint Shop Pro will let you enter text in an image WinGIF will not In the latter case you can use an older version of Window s Paintbrush to add text In that case use the out line font style to make the text stand out against a grey background When adding text pick a font that sets off the image Make sure the text stands out from the background Use font size 12 or larger and make the text bold When you re satisfied with the composition of the image save it on your PC Use whatever transfer method you prefer to get the image onto your Palmtop Using Setup to Select New Image Tell your HP Palmtop about your new Topcard by opening the Setup application CTRL Filer Press MENU Options Owner ALT Picture and pick the PCX file you created Press F10 OK F10 OK MENU Quit Close all open applica tions and admire your new Topcard If you want owner information to appear in the middle of your Topcard you must store your PCX file in the C _DAT subdirectory with the name New Link A Printer I Smaller size amp Attached cable Link A Printer II is a serial to parallel converter that allows direct printing from your OmniGo 100 to any parallel printer It also works with the 79 HP 100 200LX Link A Printer I has a built in connectivity cable t
10. Screen 1 shows the original List View of the GENERAL GDB file Our goal is to show all the items rows in the database but we want to rearrange the columns so the Date Field column is on the left edge of the screen Here s how to do this Press the F6 key to start the subset function and then press the F2 Define key The Define subset screen will appear Immediately press F10 OK and you ll see the Name entry box You could give the subset a unique name but you don t have to Just press F10 to keep the Unnamed subset label and press F10 OK to return to the List View To rearrange the columns in the List View press the F8 Column key Move the cursor to the Date column and use the F7 key to move it to the left side of the screen Press F10 Done and you really are Done You ve got a new way to view the data To sort the items by date press F7 and then press the D key to set the Date field as the 1st sort field Press Tab and the Spacebar to check the Ascending box and press F10 to return to the List View You can return to the original view by pressing F6 subset and selecting the All Database Items subset When you want to have the data sorted by date just press F6 and pick the Unnamed subset from the list and 22 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 press Enter or F10 Suppose you want to review the last ten items you keyed into a data base Here s a subset that will let you
11. Trap You can stop the subset creation process by pressing Ctrl MENU Break If you absolutely must have this type of subset here s a way to speed up the subset Suppose for example you want a subset that shows only those items in which the Note fields contain tip or Trap Start by selecting the All Database Items subset and in the List View use the MENU File Modify command and add a new field to the database Name the field tiporTrap and select Check box from the list of Field types Now create a temporary subset by putting tip Trap in the Note field and pressing F10 When the sub set finally appears open each item and check the tiporTrap box for that item Finally press F6 highlight the tem porary subset and press F4 to edit the definition Delete the words tip or THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 23 HOWTO USE Programmer s Corner Database Subsets and SSL Edit General Screen 3 An SSL Statement is Generated Automatically Trap from the Note field and put a check mark in the new tiporTrap box Press F10 twice and watch how quick ly the subset appears Of course this is cheating because you searched the database beforehand and checked the relevant items but this corner cut ting method will make your database a lot faster Here s another way to create a subset using a field type other thana category field Suppose in the GENERAL data base
12. 610 00 U648 5899 00 64 MB 20u6 32 MB N A N A N A 455 00 U643 Upgrade any HP 100 200LX to DoubleSpeed only 75 00 UPCD Used Palmtops currently in short supply although this may All memory upgrades normally include DoubleSpeed You may also upgrade your MB 200LX to 2 MB change 64 MB and 32 MB orders processed first 89 00 with DoubleSpeed U12D or 49 00 without DoubleSpeed U12 2 Meg units with serial numbers greater than or equal to SG6 will upgrade to 6 Meg UPG RADE YOUR HP 200LK WARRANTY Upgrading speed and or memory voids HP s warranty Thaddeus Computing provides a free 90 Day Warranty on all Used and Upgraded e Upgrade to 5 8 32 or 64 MB Sera eg hiss One Year Warranty on New Palmtops You have the option of extending these farranties as fOloOws Upgrade to DoubleSpeed 90 Day Warranty extended to One Year 25 00 1YRW wage 3a he powers Free 90 Day Warranty extendable 90 Day Warranty extended to Two Years 75 00 2YRW 5 en laaidli eag e Prices from 5719 to 675 One Year Warranty extended to Two Years 50 00 1X2W Order Online www PalmtopPaper com or Call 800 373 6114 515 472 6330 Fax 515 472 1879
13. Book via MS Excel and the Intellisynch pro gram from Puma A second attempt at transferring files is also available but purportedly only works for the HP 100LX These interim solutions may be found at www PalmtopPaper com download htm Just type outlook in the search box and click Fetch Download APPTMAKR and OUT LOOK Apparently no one has attempted to synchronize Outlook s Contacts and Journal applications with the HP Palmtop s Phonebook and NoteTaker If anyone solves this problem please send e mail to Hal Goldstein hal thad deus com Y2K and cc Mail In the Sep Oct issue of The HP Palmtop Paper we mentioned that Lotus Development Corp had declared that its cc Mail program was not Y2K compliant We took this declaration at face value Subsequent investigations most notably those by Martin Paul have con vinced us that our acceptance of the Lotus statement was unjustified Martin Paul who runs the palmtop com email service has demon strated that cc Mail is just as Y2K com pliant as any of the other System Manager programs in the HP Palmtop The program will not always display a four digit year but it will deal with information that contains dates for 2000 and beyond It will sort information by date and correctly time stamps all cc Mail messages This means that ALL of the built in functions of the HP Palmtop are indeed Y2K compliant Enough said One of my new millennium resolu tions will be no
14. However if the field contains numbers dates or times speed locate fails An unsatisfactory workaround for this is to store dates in a text field rather than a date field The problem with this workaround is that when you sort the items using a text field you will wind up with 11 29 99 coming before 8 12 98 in the list The best solution is to keep dates in Date Fields but add a text field to the database Use the MENU File Modify command and press F2 Add Call the field DateSort or whatever you wish and choose Text as the Field Type Press ESC to cancel the Add field operation and if you wish resize the field to a min imum since it will always be empty Press F10 OK to return to the List View Press F7 Sort and use the DateSort field as the Ist sort item and the DateField as the 2nd sort item Check the Ascending box for both fields Press F10 Done You should now be able to use the speed locate operation with dates Expect that speed locate may be slightly slower than it usually is The reason for the slowness is because the Date Field is not the Ist sort field A similar strategy will let you use speed locate on a Number field You ll need to add a new Text field NumSort Be sure the Number field is located in the first column and use the NumSort field as the Ist sort field and the Number field as the 2nd sort field Make sure that both fields are sorted in Ascending order This clever trick was discovered by D
15. PCreate Your Own ALT Sho Tip PCreating a blank copy o Technique O6 JAN 939 PCustomize The Fields In Tip PDatabase PhoneBook Wo GenlInfo Wna aa screen 1 The List View lets you speed locaie an item 14 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 Technique Technique Categ Lim Categ 13 Where s the report genera tor for the Palmtop s database programs The Answers Not Necessarily in the Order of the Questions This article uses a custom data base file as a medium for describing some of the tips traps and techniques involved with using and creating databases on the HP Palmtops Even though the topics in the article will emphasize the Database application they will apply to the Palmtop s 0g JAN 99 9 45 amg 06 JAN 99 06 JAN 939 06 JAN 39 06 JAN 39 RAA46 444445 Columns Open ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ed Keefe is an author and editor of The HP Palintop Paper and the book PC In Your Pocket Information When You Need It Ed is also a former college instructor of logic and computer sci ence and a consultant in the computer industry Ed can be reached at ed thaddeus com 10 JAN 9399 4 58 am Phonebook NoteTaker and World Database GENERAL Text Field FO Text field sample T BACCOMMOdating multiple Alt Database Items eee lt Arithmetic Missing but Supplied 07 JAN S9 Time databases as well These four database applications are what I call feel alike inst
16. and they re limited to about 20 characters If you need more than 20 charac ters for a label you can use several label fields and place them next to each other If you want a vertical label you can create a label field for each character in the label and put the fields beneath one another Cance Done Note field on a separate page The database will work more quickly that way This is especially true if the Note field contains a lot of text or if your Palmtop has not been turbo charged with a double speed upgrade If you want to speed up a database 2 There s a good reason to put the even more install the FASTDB TSR eral gdb ALT Database ttens EEU T ESTEE REET program in the C _DAT directory and reset the Palmtop FASTDB pre vents the database engine from pack ing the disk file every time you edit a database file A Note field can have almost 30 C1763 Page il Database SUSEN SEMA Quit About a ACCOM Tt Aritrmatic Hissini et criteria retat SUM valus SUM Average MEAN value Minimum MIN value Haxinum LMAX value Fustomice the Fieida AITIM 4999701706 Database PhoneBook Wo Genina screens enough to hold 32 000 bytes of text but you can only have one Note field per record Each Note field in the Exemplary Database contains from four lines to several thousand lines of text Rather than key in the information you can use the System Manager s clipboard to copy text from a Memo
17. com download htm The preinstalled version of Magellan is also available at this location as well as on this issue s The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK Topping Off Your Palmtop Personalize your Palmtop by creating a set of custom Topcards All it takes 1s the right tools and Gene Dorr s definitive recipe Eugene Dorr s any good carpenter will tell you the right tools makes all the difference between doing a job well or not doing it at all The same is true when creating Topcards for your Palmtop Selecting The Right Tools Although it is possible to create Topcards using just the Palmtop itself the best tools for the job are those that work on a desktop PC with Windows 3 1x 9x NT Here are a few of the software tools that I and other users have tried Start with a couple and add others as needed The more tools you have the easier it will be to create Topcards with pizzazz Commercial Drawing Software If you have a commercial drawing program from Adobe or Corel you ve got the best tool already On the other hand if you re looking for something less costly here are a couple of share ware and freeware programs that will perform almost as well Paint Shop Pro Paint Shop Pro PSP is an image conversion and enhancement program available for all versions of Windows It s shareware and is available on CompuServe in the Graphsupport forum PSP will let you convert color images to black and white change thei
18. do this Press F6 Subset press F2 Define and press F10 Done Name the sub set NaturalOrder and press F10 twice Now press F7 Sort and make sure that all three sort fields have the word None in them If necessary clear the Ascending check boxes Press F10 OK The last items entered should be at the end of the list An Undocumented Non Feature Suppose you want to speed locate an item dated 08 JAN 99 using the Unnamed subset If you press the 0 key the cursor will not move However when you press 8 the cursor will hop to the last item in the list It may come as a surprise that the speed locate feature does not work with date fields Apparently it only works with text fields note fields and categories It doesn t work with dates times and numbers This isn t a bug it s a feature that should work but doesn t and the User s Manual doesn t say anything about it I suppose we could call this an undocumented non feature The sidebar describes a clever way to make the speed locate feature work with date number and time fields Rearranging columns may seem like a trivial use of the subset function but it turns out to be quite useful especially if you have a Phonebook file with thousands of names and addresses In a Phonebook file all the fields are text type fields so speed locate will always work Simply move a cho sen field to the first column in the List View and you re almost ready to use spe
19. document and paste the text in a Note field An easier way to bring text into a Note field is to press the F3 key to get a full screen view of the Note field and press F3 again Then type in the name of a text file that contains the infor mation and press Enter This will insert the text into the database To make a Note field more read able format the text before you insert or paste it into the Note field Use a text editor or word processor that will let you remove tabs and extra spaces from the text Format each paragraph so it has a hard carriage return only at its end This will insure that the Note field will wrap the text within its bor ders and prevent ungainly line breaks The first page of the Data Item view starts with a Text Field You can have as many text fields as you want in a database up to 99 and a Text field can be anywhere from two to almost sixty spaces wide When you enter data in a text field you ll be able to enter about 50 more characters than the width of the field Text fields have one minor nuisance feature you can t use the CTRL arrow keys to hop from word to word when you re editing I included the Date Time and Number fields to show how the data base engine handles these field types When you enter a date or a time in its respective field the date or time will change to the format chosen in the Palmtop s Setup application Ctrl Database Categor ies Categ Database Item Can Hold Ti
20. empty field is with the SSL statement Fieldname However the technique for finding empty number date and time fields is not documented in the User s Manual Without further ado here is the SSL code that gets the job done To find items with empty date fields use the SSL code Date Field For empty number fields use the code Number field i e NOT wildcard field name Note you can also use NumberField 0 but this will give you fields that contain a 0 as well as empty fields For empty time fields use TimeField The use of the wildcard operator with a field name is not supposed to work but it does at least for the date and number types of fields The same trick fails to work for time fields so we resort to looking for time fields that do not contain a colon as in 12 34am If you re using a time format such as HH MM SS you ll have to substitute a comma in place of the colon Speeding Up subsets with a System Macro Once you ve started using subsets to slice and dice your Database or Phonebook you ll wind up with a number of subsets that you use fre quently You may also begin to notice that switching from one subset to anoth er takes a long time This delay hap pens the first time you switch sub sets Subsequent switches happen almost immediately The delay is caused by the data base rebuilding the subset each time you open your Database or Phonebook To get over the hurdle of waiting for the subset
21. for yourself If you don t like it simply return it for a full refund You take no risk The HP Palmtop Paper s CD InfoBase TO INSTALL Run INSTALL EXE whily in Winding r The CD InfoBase is one of those happy situations where the value of a product vastly exceeds cost Here s what HP Palmtop users have to say about The HP Palmtop Paper s The CD InfoBase is the ideal reference source David Shier Shier Systems All palmtop users would benefit from having this CD Dara Khoyi Florida It s a great product and well worth the money Thomas Rundel Germany The CD is a downright bargain Stan Dobrowski TeamHP I thought the CD was terrific very useful Dorothy Colton Hewlett Packard SPECIAL LOW PRICE Ist Time Buyer 99 95 Reg 129 Save 29 CDRM Upgrade from 96 97 98 CD 59 95 Reg 79 Save 19 CDRU Why wail The sooner you order the sooner you can start enjoying the benefits of a fully empowered palmtop Act now Order Online www PalmtopPaper com or Call 800 373 6114 515 472 6330 Fax 515 472 1879 Publisher s Message nan industry of constant change our HP Palmtop platform stays the same Yes we can add more memory double the speed and add a variety of software and accessories Still fundamentally the HP DOS Palmtop has not changed since the 100LX was The HP Palmtop Paper introduced 6 years ago
22. generate printed columnar reports complete with subtotals and grand total The Database engine in the HP Palmtop does not have such a function However several users have found that you use the Smart Clip function to produce the raw material for a columnar report The Smart Clip func tion will let you set the spacing for each output field You can also spec ify whether you want data to be right or left justified or centered in a print ed column Granted getting the Smart Clip to produce a readable report using the built in spacing commands takes some trial and error Others have found that it s simpler to use the Smart Clip function to pro duce a Comma Delimited Format file They just print the data to a disk file and then import the CDF file into Lotus 1 2 3 or DataPerfect Both of these programs have good to excellent report generating capabilities com plete with page and column head ings date and time stamps and auto matic page numbers Freeware mentioned in this article GENGDB ZIP is available in this issue of The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK and at www PalmtopPaper com download htm DBVIEW is available on the 1999 CD InfoBase as well as on Compuserve in the HPHAND library and at www PalmtopPaper com download htm BOW TO USE YOUR PALMTOP Programmers Corner Database Subsets and SSL To slice and dice your databases and serve them up your way use the built in subset function and add a dash of SSL
23. gory subset for the GENERAL data base you could define a subset that would look like Add on Subset amp Tip which would gener ate a list of all items that belong to either the Add on OR Subset AND Tip categories You can also create subsets using fields other than the Category field For some examples of this variety of subsets turn to the User s Manual The section Using Check Boxes and Options Buttons in a subset Definition is quite good To use Text and Note fields to cre ate subsets go to the Define subset screen and fill in a Text or Note field with the word or phrase for which you want a subset For example in the GENERAL database you could type the words tip Trap in the Note field Omit the quotes but keep the comma it signifies that you want ee Se EE en Delete B Cancel items with tip OR Trap The sign signifies that you want the word Trap exactly as shown i e case sensitive Since tip doesn t have an equal sign the database engine will do a case insensitive search for the word If you want only those items in which the Note field contains both tip AND Trap use the phrase tip amp Trap The ampersand stands for the word AND If you do create a subset by putting tip Trap in the Note field you can expect to wait a looong time for the subset to appear after you press F10 The database engine has to search through all the Notes looking for tip or
24. in May 1993 The 1995 HP 200LX added a few usability features and changed the color of the case but basically it is the same machine ncreasi JUT aS a Increasing Your Personal Power By Expanding Your Palmtop s Potential I know some would like backlighting and a color Volume N screen without a loss in battery life and a faster processor Synchronization March April 1999 with Windows applications would be appreciated However the 200LX o remains an incredibly durable flexible and practical tool for our daily hand ete pare secret nels activation Publications Director Richard Hall The stability of the HP palmtop platform gives us the luxury of exploring Managing Editor its nooks and crannies yielding surprisingly useful results Ed Keefe editor Ed Keefe of the HP Palmtop Paper has been given carte blanche to dig up hidden trea Art Director sures His in depth discussions of the data base applications phone notetaker Al Constantineau database bring more possibilities to already useful applications both for Technical Editor casual and power users gangy Department Editor aat i Wayne Kneeskern We have discussed a number of times how to view great literature on the Contributing Writers palmtop In this issue you will learn how to view great art on the palmtop David Sargeant Eugene Dorr Read Gene Dorr s tutorial on porting graphics files to the palmtop for great John B Hickman topcards Advertising Tiffany Lis
25. is the first field on the second page This field serves two purposes It reminds me to edit the text and it improves the navigation between pages Ordinarily you can move from page to page by pressing the Page Up and Page Down keys However if the Note field is at the top of the page the Page Down key will put the cur sor inside the Note field where press ing the Page Down key only moves 1 I could have squeezed all the 18 THEHPPALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 OS JAN 9339 J N d serves as a place holder Prev Next 9 45 am 09 JAN 99 9 46 am passaas hadintssthediontessesdissispineniasiessene Sissiasahasttesetaptrtaiatiagetaieet tet te aerate ss pany menr remem g sees ield h Li ited diti i arees aa 6 the cursor in the Note field The only way out is to use the Tab key to move back to the first page Putting a field ahead of the Note field gets around this surprising behavior of the PageDown key While we re on the topic of Check boxes here s a tip If you re designing a database that has several Text fields for key words change the text fields to Check boxes When you re entering data in the database it s easier to move to a check box and press the space bar than it is to type in the same key word over and over again The second page also demon strates a couple of tricks you can do with the Label Field Labels usually describe something on the screen They don t appear in the List View
26. or both and save the layout as a subset To get back to the original view you simply press the F6 subset key highlight the All Database Items subset and press Enter There s no need to reload the whole database itself Once you ve created and saved a subset you can retrieve it just as quickly The important thing to realize is that subsets do not change the origi nal information in a database No mat ter how many columns you appar ently delete no matter how many rows you wind up with you won t wipe out any data from the database In the same vein if you press the Enter key on a selected row in a sub set you ll see that the Item View is the same as it is for the All Database Items subset In other words subsets do not alter the underlying structure of an item In short subsets are a non destruc tive way to rearrange the informa tion in a database for your viewing pleasure Since you can save subsets and call them up whenever you want they can act as information filters to AL Database bd ate Technique 0O7 JAN 939 Technique O7 JAN 99 Categ Lim O7 JAN 99 Categ PhoneBook Wo Genintfa 24 JAN 939 11 55 am we TAN Er 06 JAN 39 06 JAN 99 06 JAN 99 06 JAN 99 06 JAN 99 06 JAN 99 2688664866645 Co lu unns let you examine parts of a database that are relevant to your needs They do this by hiding the columns and or rows that you don t want to see A Simple Example
27. original image should have a landscape or horizon tal orientation and be about twice as wide as it is high Lf you find an image that doesn t meet this criterion you can crop it to fit the Palmtop s screen Resizing and Cropping the Image The Topeard image on the HP Palmtop requires a black and white image of exactly 640 by 200 pixels Here s how to create an image that will fit Start Paint Shop Pro or WinGIF a ON ec ORCL A AE gt ae Ete ao w e gt gt e Me mhas r eent r FE rt a A N f TriZ SK NE Le KH Y s lt Riese ES a z S ae s Pink cits a a Babylon 5 Space Station on your desktop computer and open the image file on which you want to work If your image is too large or too small reduce or enlarge it so that the width is 640 pixels Let the pro gram adjust the height so that the resized image has the same height to width ratio The next step involves cropping the image Follow the instructions for your graphic program and select an area of the image that you want as your Topcard The trick here is to crop an area of exactly 640 X 240 pixels Later in the process you ll reduce the size to 640 X 200 If the area you select is less than 640 pixels wide then resize the image again so that the width is 640 pixels Let the program maintain the same height to width ratio When you enlarge or reduce an Graphics Terminology Aspect ratio the ratio of an
28. to be rebuilt use a sys tem macro that you run each time you open the Database or Phonebook The macro would consist of a series of expressions like F6 F10 F6 Down F10 F6 Down F10 F6 Down F10 and so on for as many subsets as there are in the database Rather than wait around run the macro and leave your Palmtop alone until the task is done From then on you should be able to use the subsets quickly Two Final Speed Up Strategies There are two must have pro grams that will speed up databases FASTDB TSR and DBVIEW EXE Both of these programs were mentioned in the Data Basics article on page 14 Fastdb tsr will make editing your databases much faster Once you ve completed a database the DBView pro gram will let you view it without hav ing to wait for subsets to be rebuilt each time you want to use the database In this article we ve covered a lot of the tips traps and techniques of using the Palmtop s Subset function and its SSL language In the process we hope that we ve answered most of the questions that you may have as you continue to use the database applications in your Palmtop W A Database About the HP Palmtop s Database The database file used throughout this and the next several articles is called GENERAL GDB and is available on this issue s The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK as well as on the Web at www palmtoppaper com downloads htm Enter GENERAL in the search field and click Fetch The file
29. users of the forum If you access the forum with a Windows based program e g WinCim you should not have noticed any dif ference Palmtop users can use acCIS 4 0 Earlier versions of acCIS don t support HMI www rundel d com O The Expo is a tightly focused 2 l aaeoa 99 D A F N yZ tense Mobile Connect with the Experts amp Learn the EXPO Latest in Palmtop Computing amp More Kais Learn all you can before developinga Customer Service aial a i Mia strategy Attend ANE RLL 2il 2 Where customers Work Order Management hive wor Mobile University Ga EACE R aAa and Transportation Logistics niversity Learn what s new in i ee YOUN FUGE Public Safety the computing areas of Emergency Services gt mobile TEST DRIVE the latest solution sets of key corporate vendors gt portable DISCOVER strategies first hand from corporate end users gt wearable implementing this leading edge technology the lessons gt hand held learned and the shortcuts to success gt PDA VOICE your questions and opinions live at the Expo gt smart phone MEET the movers and shakers in the industry and make gt wireless data valuable contacts INCREASE your knowledge in highly interactive results oriented sessions REDUCE your cost of purchase or SALE of this new technology and how to use these to increase productivity while decreasing costs This conference is where the industry s key players customers
30. 1975 starting with the HP 65 calculator More recent projects include CMCalc VClock and PwrMon for the HP 200LX Palmtop He finances his electronic gadget addiction by programming in Java for Progress Software in Bedford MA THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 7 HOW TO USE Topping Off Your Palmtop MIR Space Station need a scanner or a digital camera If you want to draw your own pictures you can try using a mouse but most Fa REN he ROT BER al bs Sis ae WE computer artists prefer a digital pen and tablet Where there s a DoubleSlot there s a way To use 2 PC Cards at the same time even copy files between Cards To run multiple PC Card products SRAM fax modem memory cards etc To connect Type Il and Ill Cards even a Type II and III at the same time To externally power PCMCIA Cards for those power hungry PCMCIA peripherals To run ATA flash cards and hard drives like the notebooks can DoubleSlot PCMCIA Slot Expander reaching new heights of performance for your HP Palmtop World s smallest 3 5 floppy drive PCMCIA type II compatible For Palmtops or other DOS Windows computers Use it to transfer files archive or run programs directly from disk Portable like your Palmtop goes anywhere Uses inexpensive 44 Mb or 720K diskettes g 48460 Lakeview Blvd Fremont CA 94538 6532 510 668 4900 FAX 510 668 4905 sales accurite com http www ac
31. 40 More Easy To Learn Easy To Use Pre configured with the very best freeware and shareware Games Utilities and Applications available for your Palmtop Here s a brief preview of what SUPER Games Years of challenging fun Applications HV Hypertext Viewer LHA HTML browser to view Web down Fi archivercompressor Software Carousel does for your palmtop loads y i LXPIC c AMENO shor wth many sgn GP MPL enhancements including spellchecker rear g VR Vertical Reader More readable palmtop font Lets you read doc files and electronic CloseFi books vertically on the palmtop oserir sungur is incresenta DBV DataBase Viewer Close Filer to save memory BERRES Borres Fast phone appt and database file Buddy a viewer Zillion utilities in one View fastdb Lets you vie files froma variety of Speeds up database programs a word processing formats e g Phone ay ane maap limitation of 7 EXM files SE l a Metr d tuner MINGAN TIES SEAE i l aat as oe are ee Enable software like ZOOM F PU A Via Hist Hi Fast PC to palmtop serial transfer pro Typing Tutor a ETSA gram Type taster on the palmtop Draw Zoom Palmtop drawing paint program Wonderful Magnify like program that PC Outline enlarges and makes more readable any section of the screen in built in apps nize them into a hierarchical structure more readable phone numbers Stereo Shell Subst DOS File Manager DOS 5 utili
32. 540 620 to convert a GDB file toa NoteTaker file and you ll be able to open a second database file in NoteTaker and still keep your Phone Book file open The easiest way to do this is to put the GDB2NDB COM file along with a copy of the DEBUG EXE pro gram from the D DOS directory on the Palmtop in the same directory as your database file The DOS com mand to use is GDB2NDB DBName Do not add the GDB extension to DBName Press Enter and the con version will be done You ll end up with a file called DBName NDB which you can open in NoteTaker The upside is that you can now use the System Manager clipboard to copy and paste from one database file to another without having to close one file and open the other GDB2NDB is the second in a matched pair of programs The flip side to GDB2NDB is the program called NDB2GDB Jorge created the pair of programs so he could convert a NoteTaker file to a database file with NDB2GDB He could then open a NoteTaker file in the Database appli cation and use the command MENU File Modify and add a date field to his NoteTaker file He used the GDB2NDB program to change the modified file back to a NoteTaker file that contained a new date field For the purposes of this tip you only need the GDB2NDB program However you ll want to keep the other program handy just in case you want to modify the structure of your expanded NoteTaker file Worle imine Using WorldTime to Display
33. 55 If you need more than 32 options consider using Check boxes instead When you re entering data in a work ing database it s easier to fill in a check box than it is to pull down a list and look for the right option On the other hand once you type in a category option you don t have to type it again Just press the down arrow key to activate the drop down list and type the first letter of the category word as often as needed to find the option you want and press the spacebar You can also combine options For instance some items in the Exemplary Database are both Tips AND Traps To combine options just pick more than one category word The database will add a semicolon between the words automatically To delete a category option you have to pull down the list box and highlight the option and then press the Delete key You can t delete the word merely by pressing the Delete key when the drop down list is not visible f The region labeled 6 shows another use of Label fields and Group boxes I wanted the title Exemplary Database to appear in all Data Item screens To accomplish this I created two Label fields called Exemplary and Database moved them to the lower right of the screen and then surrounded them with a group box If you look closely you ll see that the Field Name for the Group box is actu ally a minus sign Modifying the Database When you get a copy of the GEN ERAL GDB fil
34. A0 Canada Registration 40 WinGIF version 1 4 shareware SuperSet Software Corp PO Box 50476 Prova UT 84605 0476 Registration costs 15 Paint Shop Pro shareware 69 00 available from JASC Inc PO Box 44997 Eden Prairie MN 55344 USA 800 622 2793 or 612 930 9171 FAX 612 930 9172 LXPIC freeware from Stephan Peichl available from www PalmtopPaper com and on the 1999 CD InfoBase from Thaddeus Computing Inc BOW TO USE YOUR PALMTOP USER PROFILE A Student and a Palmtop A busy college student takes time out to describe how he uses the Palmtop in and out of the classroom by David Sargeant ince 1994 when I joined the HP S Palmtop community my life has changed drastically One thing that has stayed constant however is school It seems I m always going to one class or another There s always a report a presentation or a project due in the next few days How do I manage to fit fulltime course work into my busy schedule of full time family duties fulltime career overtime avocation The answer of course is that I use my Palmtop fulltime The HP 200LX is well known for being a multi talented machine Most if not all of these talents can be put to use by students of all types to make the educational experience less painful and more rewarding There are several different aspects of the Palmtop savvy student s use of the 200LX each of which I ll describe Th
35. C the phone numbers above E mail us at SOWA Garou EEN a a rE te eye eran Mts are ae Rs el ne he vee ret 16 aipee ora ca SHPBR SOMME ort e Ses Porch citees dee hated tres rSrasdinte te ees aco ie came AN 17 IM die MOP raper con i tact Tiffany Lisk at phone 303 948 2840 Fax Upgrad Your Palmtop eoram aa ae eben bie A AA TEREA BC 303 979 4322 Technical Support es eae See A ae deen Ep HP Technical Support HP offers technical Software on The HP Palmtop Paper oN DISK support from 8am Spm PF5 T Phone 970 March April 1999 392 1001 On Line Support offered by these bulletin board services which is now sponsored by our Web site www PalmtopPaper com You can find all the software described in this issue at www palmtop net super html 0 COMPUSERVE GO HPHAND FORU Ja eerie EAE or 2 ae ee PRODUCT LOCATION FUNCTION FREEWARE SHAREWARE G AMERICA ON LINE Keyword dbleam zip Database emulates flash cards Freeware PALMTOP Call 888 265 8001 for membership information d2w Zip Batch files for Quick Tips Freeware Q INTERNET NEWS GROUPS gengdb zip General database Freeware news comp sys palmtops h Taa a4 revecontpieys handheld j wee Bie it ati Beep news alt comp sys palmtops hp maagzinst zip Magellan 2 pre installed Givaware HPLX L mailing list To subscribe send mmB06f zip Meal Master database Givaware an email to LISTSERV UCONNVM ptp44 z1 The HP Palmtop Paper text file N A UCONN EDU In the message bod
36. ER s Filter Feature Start FILER and go to the C _ DAT directory If needed press ESC until C is displayed in the top right corner of the screen If you find yourself in the Available Drives screen highlight C and press ENTER Then highlight DAT and press ENTER Press the MENU Options keys and observe that the word Filter is the first option in the pull down menu Also note that the hot key for this operation is F4 At this point you can press either F F4 or ENTER to open the Filter box Type in wk1 and press ENTER FILER will show only those files with continued on page 32 ess QUICK TIPS All Quick Tips are by Ed Keefe unless otherwise noted WNA i C 4 c iL a iT S ee See 2 and Converting Database files to Notetaker files XLATE is part of the HP 200LX Connectivity Pack This program is the best tool for those who want to import or export files into the HP databases The latest version of this program 1 02 can work with custom data base files something the earlier ver sion could not do Two freeware programs GDBIO and GDBUTIL will do much of what XLATE will do GDBIO can t handle Note fields in the databases XLATE on the other hand adds the ability to merge or synchronize files as well as translate them Like other conversion programs XLATE may fail to trans late large Note fields It seems to trun cate Notes that are larger than 2400
37. NEWS An Independent Fubiication tor Users of AP Paimtop Computers j7 U S 7 95 Manage Your Files With Magellan i A longtime user of the Magellan file manager file viewer shares his insights into the program s unique features 9 SS e M Hi ow TO Topping Off Your Palmtop i Personalize your Palmtop by creating a set of custom Topcards All it takes is the right tools and Gene Dorr s definitive recipe S SN A m ip SO iis F iin i naa za A Student and a Palmtop 1 A busy college student takes time out to describe how he uses the Palmtop in and out of the classroom 7 7 AAD i 2 8 Damp og DATA DATA ppt ora CRIA TAN Lip 7 orn DATA DATA RR W PORTE oR op A DATA mal A DN ANN TTT OTTEY ids Ar ter ny AUR RIR A DRA DATA D DATA DATA ISAT AQAA EY ES Through the Looking Glass IO ro par WB borer bab ORR OTR Wah aN ek a DAA Bae ro Si han bee ote ee 1 Oy zrrrrrenrel fo had et DATA EMNAT AVA DURIN TRIR CAN NY A DA aN Ed presents a compendium of tips tricks traps and tech BIA ERIR A DATA Di DATA DATA li NNN RAO SO databasa applcatonsin he HP TOD200000 LER DAIR DATA DA TA DATA BATA ORIG ARW ANR AAA NS RS AS BRIR OAT ZATA DATA DATA DATA sy A SAAR RRR yy a S AY waTA HOTS AOS TOTO Not am TAATOA Programmers Corner sssssssssss 21 ZAIR ORTR DATA DATA DATA DRR WNR NNN VINN atakao Eikaas and SEL To slice and dice your databases and ser
38. PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 27 eee BASIC TIPS eee Unless otherwise noted the Basic Tips are by Ed Keefe Resetting the Palmtop If your HP Palmtop freezes or locks up here is a set of keyboard options to use to remedy the situation The options are given in the order of least risky to potentially dangerous Try each of them in the order given 1 Press CTRL MENU or CTRL C Break several times to see if that will unfreeze a non responding program 2 Sometimes pressing CTRL Z once or twice will end a program that is waiting for a response 3 Press and hold CTRL ALT and then press DEL to doa warm boot 4 If the warm boot doesn t stop the misbehaving program press CTRL Left Shift ON a cold boot and answer NO to the question about reformatting the C drive Do NOT answer yes otherwise you will lose all the information on the C drive Finally if the cold boot does not work and in seven years of experi menting with the Palmtop I ve never had an occasion when it didn t you may need to remove the batteries If you do this remove the backup bat tery first then remove the AA cells If you leave the backup battery in place it will maintain the state of the machine until it eventually dies which is probably not what you want to have happen An Aid to Memory If you ve never had to do a cold reboot on the Palmtop you probably won t recall the reset keystrokes when you real
39. Table is a great reference for chemistry students and SkyGlobe is probably the handiest resource an astronomer could ask for CMCalc helps do computer related math and PSpice on a palmtop is a great elec trical engineering tool The ability of the palmtop to com pile C programs is a very handy one for computer science students C is generally the language taught these days In my last programming class I was able to type all of the pro gramming assignments into the palm top often during the lecture and compile them right there Sometimes I d have the entire assignment done during class and I could then e mail it right from the palmtop using Post LX to the grader for comment You can bet I got an A in that class Making the Most of Limited Time The third aspect of using a palm top as a student is more philosophi cal Students are busy They re trying to learn material that s often difficult and they are usually judged by results rather than effort Because of this the 200LX is uniquely suited for student life The powerful PIM functions can help organize your activities so that you don t waste time or forget what you are supposed to be doing Along these same lines having a Palmtop with you at all times allows you to work on assignments whenever you have the time A large essay can quickly be cut down to size when you work on it a few sentences at a time during breaks at work or at a stop light or i
40. ZIP and GPA ZIP available on this issue of The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK and from www PalmtopPaper com down load htm Derive The Mathematical Assistant avail able from SOFT WAREHOUSE INC 3660 Waialae Avenue Suite 304 Honolulu HI 96816 U S A Phone 808 734 5801 FAX 808 735 1105 Web www derive com Cost 199 69 for teachers or students with proof of school affiliation Collins Dictionary Thesaurus and Collins Multilingual Dictionary available from Thaddeus Computing Inc Web www Palmtop Paper com Easy Cat 26 95 is available at most computer stores e g CompUSA AutoSketch 1 01 no longer available Post LX part of the WWW LX suite by D amp A Software A demo is available at www dasoft com and includes instruc tions on registration Detect Plot Radioactivity On Your HP 100 200LX Complete RM 60 System 149 50 To order or for more information call 800 729 5397 45 day back AWARE Electronics P O Box 4299 Wilmington DE 19807 Phone Fax 302 655 3800 E mail aware aw el com Visit us at http www aw el com THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 13 JOW TO USE YOUR PALMTOP Through the Looking Glass Data Basics Ed presents a compendium of tips tricks traps and techniques some old some new for creating and using the database applications in the HP 100 200LX by Ed Keefe efore diving into this article B please take a few seconds to se
41. ake a look at the SSL statement above and imagine that the database engine is examining a Number field To complete the picture SSL throws in a couple of extra operators a gt SH and The first is a range or set operator the second is a sub string operator and the third is called a wildcard operator To see how the range operator Overcoming the Subset Limit The following tip is workaround for the limit of six teen subsets per database file The tip assumes that your database contains a Note field and it relies on the fact that behind every subset there s a SSL statement Even if you create a subset from the Define subset screen the database engine will generate the equivalent SSL statement in the background You can view and edit the SSL statement by pressing the F2 General key in the Define subset screen THE TIP Look through the list of subsets and identify those that you use infrequently When you find one press the F4 Edit key and if needed press the F2 General key Press Fn Copy and then open Memo and paste the contents of the clipboard in an empty document On a separate line in the document describe the SSL statement e g subset of all who have met sales quota When you ve gone through the list and copied the SSL state ments to Memo you can use the F7 Delete key to remove those subsets from the list Save the Memo document as Futi Se en Ne vae following are xtra SSL stateme
42. ances of the Palmtop s database engine The fifth instance of the database engine the Appointment Book is so unique that it belongs ina PCateogory Tleld has the SChanging Categories In 8Copy Note To Appt Toda Copying Phone Book ent Create Your Own ALT Sh How to add the missing arithmetic capabilities ta built in 1W04200LK Database using the built in Lotus program GCreating a blank copy class and an article by itself They re All The Same Not only do these four applica tions feel alike they are alike They re all instances of the same pro gram The only thing different about them is their data files and apparent ly the only thing that makes a NoteTaker file different from a Database file is one character If you change the twelfth character byte in any file that has the extension GDB NDB PDB or WDB you can open that file in the general Database Phonebook NoteTaker or World Time See the Quick Tips article in this issue for the way to change GDB files to either NDB or WDB file The database applications feel alike because they all present infor mation in the same way When you open a database file in any of these applications you ll see a list of data items The User s Manual refers to this as the List View Screen 1 If you highlight an item in the list and press the Enter key you ll see all the information in the item The User s Manual calls this the Data Item view On th
43. and sort view File Organization Beyond cleaning up files one may also wish simply to organize them in a more logical fashion Screen 1 Magellan simplifies file organization For example my Lotus 1 2 3 files fre a ol fer a Nauti Nveloc hag Q 2 A ST C eH D D gt IME LS F2 F3 F4 Restore UnDel Zip imt of SALA 2 SCLOLIICLID taratara PAIP PPI E a AANODDDDDDDDI f2 Age HERAMELES A F2 F3 Restore UnDel Screen 2 You can look inside 1 2 3 tile and scroll around quently need reorganization usual ly place newly created 123 files in the default directory C _123 Using Magellan I can inspect them and move them to appropriate subdirec tories This keeps the default directo ry clear of clutter while placing the files in smaller directories where can be more easily found Fuzzy Searches Fuzzy searches are easy and very useful when looking for files containing common elements To do such searches it is necessary to keep a file index The index can become quite large For my 20 million bytes of files the index is about 500 000 bytes However once it is built the index allows you to search quickly for any string of words that may appear in files The fuzzy search results in a list of files having any of the words These are ranked by a goodness of match score The goodness of match can vary from 0 no match to 100 perfect match Files with a
44. ans that both you and your partner would wind up with identical PhoneBook files I have not used the Synchronize option since it s just as easy to merge two files into one and then use Filer s Copy command to make a duplicate of the master file Using Notetaker to Display Database files If you have a number of databas es and or Phonebooks that you want to open at the same time you have a couple of options One option is to use Software Carousel to create multiple System Manager sessions and open different databases in different SC sessions The latest version of Software Carousel ver 7 07 prevents you from opening the same Database or Phone Book file in more than one session This restriction eliminates one of the major causes of corrupted database files It is possible to open two Phone Book files or two Database files in one System Manager session For example you could open two data base files e g DB1 GDB and DB2 GDB by using the MENU File Rename command to give DB2 GDB the file named DB2 PDB Once you ve done that you can open DB2 with the Phone Book and DB1 with the general Database program If you want to keep your Phone Book file and two database files open at the same time there s even a way to do that You can use NoteTaker to open a second GDB file However this trick takes a little more effort It s not as simple as renaming a file Use the utility program GDB2NDB by Jorge Trevino Csi 72
45. avid Sargeant Be sure to read David s column on page 11 to see what he does in his spare time works consider the SSL statement above It looks for all items whose Number fields are outside the range 10000 700000 We could use the range operator to write an equivalent SSL statement NumberField gt 10000 700000 Note the NOT operator before the parenthesis The expres sion would read give me all items whose values are in this range NOT That is if the expression inside the parentheses is true the whole expres sion will become false Likewise if the inner expression is false the outer expression will become true I don t recommend using the range operator for creating subsets It seems to be slower than the equiva lent expression using relational and logical operators You could key in SSL statements but why bother Use the fill in the blank method It s faster and there s less chance to making typing mistakes screen 4 shows a complicated sub set definition screen and the equiva lent SSL statement Take your pick Both types of subset definitions get the job done Here s another example It assumes that you want to see only those items in which the Text field contains numbers Screen 5 shows the text field filled with the ten digits sep arated by commas It also shows the SSL statement generated by the data base engine The sign stands for contains The code says in effect If t
46. bytes in length For example if you want to export an HP database file for use in DataPerfect or dBASE you would start by converting the HP database file into a Comma Delimited Format CDF file You could do this on the Palmtop with the Smart Clip func tion and then print the file to disk The XLATE program will do the same thing but faster and with less chance of making a mistake XLATE will add the quote comma quote characters in all the right places for you It will also put a pair of quotes around words that already have quotes and strip off the quotes when it imports a CDF file It will not put quotes around numbers dates or times Hopefully the target database pro gram will have a way to import the CDF file The database applications in the HP Palmtop cannot import CDF files For this you need a program like XLATE or GDBLOAD GDBLOAD is part of the GDBUTIL package Several users have found that GDBLOAD will not handle files larger than 200K bytes As an example of how to use XLATE we ll describe how to con vert a Database file to a NoteTaker file XLATE will not convert a Database file to a NoteTaker file directly It does so indirectly using a two step process To demonstrate the process we ll use a modified Phone Book file like the one shown in Screen 1 Tip in a Tip To modify a Phone Book file for example TEST PDB rename the file as TEST GDB and open the file in the Database program The
47. ceipk Wf fru tears Fxcettive Eaitorisl ket for ten years and is still the calculator of choice for many professionals Circulation Marketing and Advertising Offices 110 North Court Street Fairfield A 52556 Telephone 515 472 6330 FAX 515 472 1879 Copyright 1999 Thaddeus Computing Inc all rights reserved No part of this publication may be repro duced without written permission Reasonable efforts are made to provide accurate and useful information but the reader must make his or her own investiga tions and decisions the Publisher and Editorial Staff cannot assume any responsibility or liability for the use of information contained herein POSTMASTER Please send any address changes to The HP Palmtop Paper Attn Thaddeus Computing Inc 110 North Court Street Fairfield LA 52556 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH AFRIL 1999 1 News and New Products Over the past couple of months we ve received at least thirty requests from HP Palmtop users asking if there s a way to synchronize the Palmtop s Appointment Book ToDo List Phonebook and NoteTaker with Microsoft s Outlook We wish that we had the answer to this oft repeated request but as of now we do not We ve looked at the problem of syn chronizing the two different programs and have tried coaxing veteran Palmtop programmers to solve the problem The best that has been done so far is a one way conversion of Outlook s Calendar to the HP Appointment
48. ckman jbh wph com is Chairman and CEO of the W P Hickman Company a manufacturer headquartered in Asheville North Carolina Mr Hickman holds a Master s Degree in Engineering from the University of Michigan He has been a computer hacker since 1958 and owner of an HP Palmtop since 1991 Exploring Directories Magellan offers a very powerful Explore feature that slices through complicated directory structures to present carefully tailored subsets of your files for viewing moving delet ing and even editing The subset of file names appears on the screen regardless of the directories in which the files reside This way related files may be grouped together without dis turbing their actual locations on any disk The directories are of course clearly identified Archiving Using PKzip 1 1 Archiving files using PKzip is a very simple task Simply shake outa set of files that may need archiving Then highlight the ones to be archived A couple of keystrokes later the files are compressed to a ZIP file with a name of your choosing Once zipped this way it is easy to view those files again without unzipping Just highlight the zipped file and a list of its contents will appear Then high light a file of interest and immedi ately its contents are displayed on the screen Unfortunately the built in MG zip is an early version that won t read or unzip files zipped by the cur rent Version 2 04g of PKzip File Viewers Mag
49. command in your graphics program This time de select the Resize to Scale or Maintain Aspect Ratio checkbox Then change the width to 640 and the height to 200 pixels and click the OK button The image will appear somewhat flattened but that s the way it should look at this point Converting the Image to Black and White The goal in this step is to produce a two color black and white version of the image Two colors is the maxi mum that the HP Palmtop s Topcard viewer can handle If you re using Paint Shop Pro use the Colors Grey Scale command If you re using WinGIF continue work ing with the color image Use the con trast and brightness commands in your graphics program to get a bright high contrast image Then and only then convert the image to black and white In WinGIF do this by selecting the Edit Monochrome Dither com mand In PSP use the menu and select th HEWLETT LA PACKARD Authorized Palmiop Competence Center NOW gt ORDER YOUR EASY USE CATALOG FOR FREE NEWEST PRODUCTS AND TOP PRICES We offer the full range of HP Palmtop PC 200LX 1000CX opt 8 32MB DS HP OmniGo 700LX Communicator Plus NOKIA 2110 HP Palmtop PC 360LX 620LX 660LX WinCE Cabling Memory Cards Modem Fax Cards Adaptors Leather Cases Micro AC Interface Card TransPC Card Double Siot TravelFloppy and all HP accessories Software Special palmtop software DOS PAL amp WinCE Services Custom
50. copy and paste to another System Manager application You can scroll through the list use subsets view the data items and perform searches Can you use this hack to change WORLD WDB to a Database amen able file NO I changed the 12th byte of the default WORLD WDB file from W to D and tried loading the file into the Database application This prompt ly produced a Divide Overflow error and a hard crash On The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK we ll include a couple of batch files and Debug script files that will make the process of converting Database files to NoteTaker files and or WorldTime files a little easier Freeware mentioned in this article NDB2GDB GDB2NDB available on the 1999 CD InfoBase from Thaddeus Computing Inc and in the HPHAND forum of CompuServe Freeware 1994 D2W ZIP contains batch files related to the Quick Tips in this issue Freeware available on this issue s The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK a ae eee a PETF ey i m wc l m tay ca i g rr A E Te PICU Ti Lilies dil lLitcic HP Connectivity Pack for the HP 200LX available from Hewlett Packard and from Thaddeus Computing INC 110 No Court Fairfield IA 52556 Email orders thaddeus com or online at www PalmtopPaper com Software Carousel v 7 07 available from Thaddeus Computing Inc THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 31 How To Contact Us Please note The HP Palmtop Paper does not Products Ad
51. curite com 8 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 ae i Siew ny ee So ne Finding Images Once you ve gathered the right tools the next task is to find or create images that will eventually become Topcards Unless you re rich or famous you won t find images of yourself or your family floating around in cyberspace but you can probably find something that relates to your life your heritage your hobby or your job There are literally millions of images available on the World Wide Web and CompuServe These images range from clipart to prize winning photographs One of the best sources for these images is the Art Today web site at www arttoday com It has over 750 000 copyrighted images and fonts enough to fill 160 CD ROMs You can download as many images as you want and use them for any purpose once you pay the 30 per year subscription fee However you may find what you re looking for on one of the free Web pages devoted to graphic images The HPHAND forum on Compu Serve has several collections of Topcards but many of these have not been correctly sized for the aspect ratio of the HP Palmtops When you re looking for images select those that have moderate to high contrast and don t depend on fine detail A picture with over two million colors may look great on a color display but will look like a ran dom pattern of black and white dots on the Palmtop If you want an image to fill the Palmtop s screen the
52. der Windows 95 98 and even has mouse support To use a mouse execute the program MGMOUSE EXE instead of the usual MG COM I use it almost daily on my Pentium machine in preference to Windows Explorer The worst part about the lack of support from Lotus is that there are no viewers for files created by newer pro grams Lotus Freelance for DOS files pop right up but the Windows ver sion files can t be examined DOS ver sions of MS Word and Word Perfect files are viewed perfectly but neither can be viewed in their Windows 95 98 versions While older PKzip version files can be viewed and even unzipped the newer version is unsup ported although itis said that witha copy of PKzip 2 x and the Magellan launch feature a macro can be creat ed to work around that problem I haven t tried that though Tutorial As you might expect your freely downloaded copy of Magellan won t come with a manual although it will have a file MGMOUSE DOC explain ing the mouse setup Magellan is easy to learn by trying different features It s hard to make any serious mis takes The download will include a very good tutorial program with sam ple files that will lead you to other fea tures of the system CompuServe Fortunately there is a CompuServe Forum for Magellan It is Section 7 of the LOTUSB forum Lots of helpers lurk there Not only that but CompuServe messages have a spe cial viewer that displays the file head ers To see a messa
53. e SSL of the HP database engine is what drives the subset function To see what a typical SSL state ment looks like we ll use the subset definition in which the Number field has lt 10000 gt 700000 in it If you press F6 subset and then press F4 Edit you ll see the Edit General subset Definition window In the SSL Statement field you should see NumberField lt 10000 NumberField gt 700000 as in Screen 3 This is the SSL code that is gener ated automatically when you enter the expression in the Number field The bar or pipe symbol stands for the OR operator If you re not familiar with the Logical Operators amp and ie AND OR and NOT think of them as being like the arithmetic operators wer and multiply add and negate C C programmers take note Since these are logical operators you ll probably want to use amp amp and instead of amp and which are the symbols for the bitwise AND and OR operators Resist the temptation and go with the flow of SSL The User s Manual refers to these operators as Boolean Operators since they only work with values of 0 and 1 True and False Boolean comes from the name of the founder of two valued arithmetic George Boole SSL also has a standard set of sim ple relational operators namely gt lt greater than less than and equal to It also supports the compound relational operators gt lt lt gt grea
54. e Built In Apps Most of the built in applications can be put to good use by a student The most obvious use and the reason I bought my Palmtop originally is to use Memo to take notes in class The HP 200LX s keyboard is unsurpassed in the palmtop handheld world for speed of entry with rates of 40 words per minute not uncommon One user even reported 70 wpm on the palm top keyboard in Memo You may not be able to record every word that comes out of the professor s mouth but you ll come close and the outlin ing feature of Memo will make it easy to organize lectures into logical blocks that can be learned more easily When you re finished taking notes you can copy them to your desktop if you have one If not a serial or infrared printer can be used to print a quick copy right from the palmtop On the other hand why print The 200LX is easy enough to carry around and less likely to get torn or lost You can review study material on the screen while watching your favorite movie And try not to get distracted The Appointment Book is anoth er very useful application for stu dents What I do is create a repeating appointment for all of my classes and then as I get due dates I add new appointments set to go off well in advance so I won t put off a crucial paper until the night before When I get a homework assignment I hit F3 ABOUT THE AUTHOR David Sargeant lives in Boulder City Nevada with his wife and tw
55. e HP 200LX the Database NoteTaker and Phonebook also havea Data Card View which is a split screen view witha partial List View on the left half of the screen and a limited Data Item View on the right Screen 2 The List View lets you seroll through the items in the database file It also has a feature called speed locate that lets you find an item quick ly Just start typing and the highlighter will jump to an item that matches the characters you ve typed When the match fails the Palmtop will beep In the Data Item View you can press the F7 or F6 function keys to move to the next and previous items in the file The Data Item view can have up to PCustomize The Fields I SDatabase Phonebook Screen 2 The Data Card View is a split screen view four screens Pressing the Page Up or Page Down arrow keys Fn Up Arrow or Fn DownArrow will cycle you through the screens What s a Database Good For Most Palmtop users are familiar with the Phonebook database Many have turned it into a contact manag er and some have made it a small project manager For these folks the Phonebook is their business You don t have to tell them what this it s good for they ll tell you Palmtoppers who work with ideas and words seem to prize the NoteTaker database It s a great way to eliminate all those Post It notes A couple dozen keystrokes is all it takes to save recall improve or wipe out a passing thought that might other
56. e bonuses Reference L otus 12 4 and Best Tips PC Card Review Subscriber PowerDisk DOS 5 Guides 1YEAR 39 PTP1 2 YEARS 69 PTP2 shipping per year U S FREE Can Mex 6 Quiside N Amer 18 Lotus 1 2 3 1 PC MS DOS MicroREF Quick Reference fotus 124 and Dos 3 Guides MLOT MDOS Interested in Microsoft s new Windows CE operating system What better way to stay on top of it than with a magazine from Get the DOS and Lotus Answers You the publishers of The HP Palmtop Paper Need Fast and Easy i Locate subjects fast Numerous examples and illustrations Tar superior to any other guide cheat sheet or original documentation an excellent guide for all users Highly recommended John Dvorak PC Magazine Subscription includes 6 bi monthly issues Annual Handheld PC Magazine Windows CE Buyer s Guide Special Report 12 Important Things Every Windows CE User Should Know FREE Subscription Bonuses EACH 14 95 BOTH 25 00 MBOT Pocket ap irr Winco Handbeld PC Magazine s Goodies Disk the 20 best PC In You r Pocket Windows CE based freeware shareware games utilities and applications PP HP Palmtop book peer Ideal for users great gift for interested friends The editors of Tbe HP Palmtop Paper have organized some of their best material into a read 1 YEAR 19 95 HPC1 2 YEARS 34 95 HPC2 PRICES Shipping per year U S FREE Can Mex 6 Outside N A
57. e gigantic palmtop knowledgebase for fast searches 99 CD infoBas 2 CD Deluxe Edition Thousands of products in one A Complete Manuals MicroREF DOS and Lotus 1 2 3 200LX User s Guide 100 200 700LX Developer s Guide 10 Ten minutes to load and master Ten seconds to find any answer de All the freeware and shareware from 45 1991 98 issues of The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK and Bonus Issues 49 1991 98 Issues of The HP Palmtop Paper and Bonus Issues in an easy reading fast search hyper text format 650 Megabytes of fast answer hyper text info palmtop soft ware and e text classics Project Gutenberg e text files for you to download and read on your palmtop Classics historical documents and more A lifetime s reading as a free bonus So much material it gets its own CD 1200 Shareware and Freeware Games Programs and Utilities All the software that has ever been pro vided on The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK The HP Palmtop Paper s New 1999 CD InfoBase It s not one product it s thousands The new 1999 CD InfoBase is the most powerful tool for your HP Palmtop because it contains thousands of others If you already have the 96 97 or 98 CD here s your chance to get everything from 1998 for what the 98 ON DISK Back Issues alone would cost If you ve never owned a CD InfoBase we urge you to take advantage of this no risk offer today and see
58. e if you can answer some questions about the database appli cations in the HP Palmtop If you can answer all of the ques tions you already know everything about data basics You can skip this article and wade into the article about using the Subset Language in the HP Palmtop s database engine page 21 A Baker s Dozen of Questions 1 What are the HP Palmtop s database applications 2 What are the two views in each database application 3 What additional view does the HP 200LX have that the HP 100LX does not What s this new view good for 4 How many pages can a database application have What key s do you press to get to a different page 5 Where can you find dozens of sample databases for the HP Palmtop 6 How do you start to create a database and where do you go after you get started 7 What are some guidelines for creating a custom database 8 What are the various types of fields you can have in a database 9 What are the limits to the various types of fields in a database and to a database file itself 10 What are a couple of ways to get large amounts of text into a Note field 11 What s a subset and how do you create subsets 12 What s a smart clip and what is this feature good for PACCOmmodat ing multiple PArithmetic Missing but PCategory field has the PChanging Categories In oCopy Note To Appt Todo Clip FCopying Phone Book entr Clip Tip
59. e in the right order Take care when moving the fields The trick is to get the cursor to move x x x x value EEEL JAI x x 1999701706 x 19 x 99701706 x x x x x 1999701706 x C Dune E Oren DO from left to right and from top to bot tom in the working database To make sure this happens superimpose one field on top of the other until the hor izontal borders seem to grow dim use the Shift arrow keys for fine move ments then slide the field left or right The Number field on the first page is there mostly to remind me that the database engine doesn t do math which for many database program mers is the greatest shortcoming of the database application As a workaround for this short coming you can quit the database engine and load a database file in the DBView add in program DBView will do simple arithmetic on number date or time fields for either the whole database or subsets of the database Screen 4 tains two sets of Group buttons to show that you can display these groups either vertically or hor izontally Group buttons are useful since they give much more flexibility in creating subsets for a large data base see the article on subsets on page 21 The only trick to using Group buttons is that you have to put them inside a group box Unlike Check boxes they cannot stand alone but must be wrapped up in a Group box Group buttons are sometimes called Radio buttons since they are like
60. e s how Backgammon FreeCell Chess and a Go tutorial look on the palmtop Other games include Tetris Checkers a music selection and a palmtop therapist System Requirements Includes the complete version of Software Carousel plus lots of additional software Runs on HP 100LX 200LX or 1000CX on flash disk or in system RAM C drive Full package requires 5 meg a little over 2 meg for applications 2 meg for games and meg for Software Carousel sessions Even more applications than listed are included on CD ane Elona IEkift r a i kittie jag pers Taterial HOWTO USE Through the Looking Glass Data Basics Jatabase GENERAL Text fields present sope fIext Field ext field Sample Tea base applications Here s what my want list con tains I want this database to 1 serve as a pedagogical tool 2 contain all known tips and tech niques about the Palmtop s data base applications 3 illustrate all the different types of data that the database engine can handle 4 illustrate the traps and techniques in constructing a database 5 be modifiable so that others can change the layout delete and add fields and add yet more tips 6 be visually appealing and easily navigable Designing the Data Item View In the good old days designing an input editing screen for a database was a task that started with paper and pencil Once you had a detailed picture of the screen s layo
61. e you can make it your own by deleting the superfluous fields adding your own fields and arranging the others to your own liking To do all this get to the List View and use the MENU File Modify command MENU FF In the Modify Database screen the Tab key is the only key that that will let you move from field to field The arrow keys will either move the field or resize it Use the F7 key to delete fields and the F4 key to change the names of the fields For instance you could change the field name Text field to Title If you delete all but the Title Category and Note fields you ll have the equivalent of a standard Note Taker file which will be smaller and faster To move the Note field to the first page tab to the note field cut it with the Fn Cut key and press the PageDown key and immediately press the Fn Paste key Use the Move and or Resize key F3 to put the fields in a NoteTaker layout Finally press F10 when done All of this will trim about 4000 bytes off the size of the file However even though the data base file has the look and feel of a NoteTaker file you won t be able to open it in NoteTaker not even if you 20 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 rename the file to GENERAL NDB However all is not lost See the Quick Tips article in this issue to discover three ways to convert a GDB file into an NDB file Generating a Report Many other database programs have the ability to
62. ed locate to find a Name a Zip code or a City To make sure that speed locate really is speedy sort the database in ascending order using the first col umn as the 1st sort field Speed locate will work even if the data is sorted on some other field but you may have to wait for a second or two between keystrokes On large databases the wait can grow to three or more agonizing seconds between keystrokes More and Different subsets The previous example showed how to use a subset to view all the items in a database file The only thing that changed was the arrangement of the columns in the List View Another use for the subset func tion is to limit the number of rows in a List View The purpose of this type of subset is to gather together items that have something in common so that you can look at just those items and filter out all the others Since there are fewer rows in this reduced item subset the speed locate and the search operations will work more quickly The simplest way to generate a reduced item type of subset is to use a category field in your database Screen 2 shows a partial list of the subsets for the GENERAL database Most of these subsets were created using the different category options in the database Building subsets with categories makes sense After all when you cat egorize something you re limiting it in some way So why not show the limited set of items that belong to the ca
63. ellan examines both the file extension and the file s structure to decide what kind of file it is Then it selects an appropriate viewer for dis playing that file There s an override to change the viewer if the wrong one is selected One of the viewers is actu ally a crude text editor that can be used to edit or create files On the HP Palmtop the simple text viewer will let you peek inside Database Phone book and Appointment Book files The files won t look like they do nor mally but text information will be there to read File Cleanup Magellan simplifies cleaning up a disk full of files After extracting a subset of files say all 123 files on A and C they can be sorted in either ascending or descending order by file name extension path size time date as well as other criteria The list shows the path size and creation time and date of listed files By highlighting the file name and pressing the Enter key one may see a file s contents One way of cleaning up obsolete files is to find exact duplicates These would be files sorted by name regardless of path that have the same size and creation time and date Sorting files by size can reveal iden tical files that have different names If you are unsure of the contents there is a compare function that will com pare two files and report whether their contents are the same or differ ent The compare feature works with out disturbing the current file subset
64. ems in a database it s only human to leave some fields empty and promise yourself that you ll come back later and fill them in However when the database has grown to hundreds or thousands of items it s problematic that you ll catch all the records with empty fields The subset function can save a lot of time tracking down those items Here s a recipe for creating a sub set of the items that have empty fields in your Phonebook Open your Phonebook and press F6 and F2 to define a new subset In the Define subset press the Spacebar and the Enter key to put a space in each field Then press the F2 key to look at the SSL code It will contain a Jot of statements like Name amp Busi ness etc Highlight and copy all this code and paste it in Memo Use the Replace key in Memo to change amp to and replace with Remove any fields along with their OR opera tor that you don t care about such as Address2 Copy the modified code and paste it back in the General subset screen Press F10 OK two or more times and you ll see how many items are missing important data Note the difference between the operator and the operator In this case we wanted to find those fields that were exactly blank rather than those that might contain a blank somewhere in the text This recipe will work for the Phonebook since all the fields are text fields and the way to test for an
65. estion arises if you can have subsets that include all the items ina database why bother In other words what are subsets good for To get a better appreciation of the value of subsets consider the following Think of a database as if it were a spreadsheet The data items would be the rows in a spreadsheet and the data fields would be the columns In a spreadsheet if you wanted to view the information in a different way you could move the columns around THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 21 HOWTO USE Programmer s Corner Database Subsets and SSL Database GENERAL CO Te xt f ALELA sample Te nanita SACCOMModat i ng multiple BArithmetic Missing but Category field has the eChanging Categories in eCorpy Note To Appt Todo Clip DCopying Phone Book entr Clip Tip 6Create Your Own ALT Sho Tip BCreating a blank copy o Technique O6G JAN 939 eCustomize The Fields tn Tip BDatabase Add F Note I F ind p Clip Screan 1 The List View of the General Database and delete or hide some of them Similarly you could select a few rows from the spreadsheet and display them all by themselves on the screen However with a spreadsheet like Lotus 1 2 3 once you rearrange the data there s no easy way to get back to the original layout To do so you d have to retrieve the original spread sheet and thereby wipe out all your hard work With the database engine you can rearrange the columns or reduce the number of rows
66. g Motdctein Hel T Cateqoru Business Phone Bus Email hal th addeus con i f 7 Thaddeus Computing Inc Company Data Item 6 31 arm Tille a Last Contact Meza p aad 7 IEEE i 800 373 6114 7 Fax 515 472 Eam Addrwssd 116 North Court Str Cert Addross2 i City Fairfield PED Note CIS 75300 2443 Stale fa IC I CASSIE vem ra pramenom rap Tree T hs Screen 1 Modified Database File Nept Book Phone Book 1 Dat ahasoe NHotetaker Pocket Quicken AIAT W Fi alei Mann ina PEEN P FI Lc Source ee BAKLE ANDBNTEST GDB i C BAKLXY A DBS TEST _CDF l BAKLX A DBNTEST LOG 4 ey es LD t e reee rpe ee re epee e G 5 mmer Fio eTe mE iar a ST ta CE a Aiek vt teawind p giet Ha Me We amt Apel teed add sf Screen 3 Map the fields you want to Translate Press the F10 key to return to the starting screen of the XLATE pro gram and press the F6 function key to Run the translation If an error mes sage File not found appears it means that the translator could not find the TEST NDB file that should have been created in Step 1 above When you quit the XLATE appli cation it will ask if you want to save the setup Answer Yes The setup can serve as a reminder of how to use this somewhat confusing program If you decide to use XLATE on a regular basis to perform a group of translations you can build each trans
67. ge one simply highlights a header and then views it by pressing Enter Downloading Magellan Lotus has placed a number of its older programs and certain Frequently Asked Question FAQ files on an FTP Web site To download your copy you can search for Magellan on either 6 THEHPPALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 www palmtoppaper com down load htm or www palmtop net and you will get to the Magellan site quickly One of the files that will show up on a search is called MAG2INST ZIP This is a copy of Magellan 2 0 that has been pre installed on an HP 200LX The splash screen shows the user name and company as Courtesy of Thaddeus Computing Inc You can download this file onto your HP Palmtop and use the command PKUNZIP d MAG2INST ZIP and the file will expand into an automatical ly created MAG2 directory When you re satisfied with the performance of Magellan you can download a copy of the program along with the viewer files you want and reinstall the program to suit your own tastes Summary Magellan is a superb file manage ment program well suited to the HP 200LX Itis easy to use and offers fea tures beyond those available in HP Filer HP users should seriously con sider including it among their favorite utilities E Freeware mentioned in this article Magellan 2 0 available as copyrighted freeware from Lotus Development Corp It is available on both the 1999 CD InfoBase and at www PalmtopPaper
68. hat plugs into your OmniGo 100 Since it does not require batteries or extra cable Link A Printer II is simple and easy to use Also Available Link A Printer Requires connectivity cable and optional battery Features auto on off fixed 9600 baud GREENWICH tel 704 875 8490 Fax 704 875 2801 WSTRUMENTSUSA toll Free 800 476 4070 59 Greenwich Instruments LTD European Distributor Tel 011 44 181 302 4931 Fax 011 44 181 302 4933 10 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 TOPCARD PCX If the Topcard does not appear and you hear a beep then there s some thing wrong with the Topcard file Either there are too many colors remaining in it or the size is incorrect Sample Topcards I get bored looking at the same pictures all the time In my office I change the wall hangings every so often On the other hand I let my Palmtop change its own Topcard I use the following two System Macros to do this Select a Topcard Setup menu oo Alt Pa usr pcx _pex Enter Tab Finish selection F10 F10 Menu q You ll need to adjust these macros to suit your own setup If you end up with a collection of Topcards on your Palmtop you may want to cre ate a subdirectory just for storing Topcards mine as you can see from the above macro is a usr pcx E Freeware Shareware mentioned in this article Graphic Workshop v 7 0e shareware from Alchemy Mindworks Inc P O Box 500 Beeton Ontario LOG 1
69. he Textfield contains a 0 or if the Textfield contains a 1 or if the Textfield contains a 9 then the item belongs in the subset If it does nothing else this exam ple shows the advantage of letting the database engine do the coding Moreover the code can be quite use ful in trapping a common error Suppose you ve entered 500 or 26 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 more items to your Phonebook and you want to check that the phone numbers and Zip code contain only numbers and no other characters Here s how to expedite this Highlight the SSL code above copy it to the clipboard and paste it into Memo In Memo use the F5 Replace key to replace all instances of Textfield with Zip Put an exclamation mark i e the NOT oper ator before the opening parenthesis and add amp ZIP at the end to eliminate any blank ZIP fields from the subset Copy the new version of the SSL code to the clipboard and it into the General subset Entry box in your Phonebook and press F10 OK a couple of times to activate the sub set See Screen 6 for a picture of this code Hopefully you ll wind up with an empty subset which shows that your Zip codes include only the dig its 0 through 9 The operator is called a wild card operator The User s Manual and the Help screens for the subset func tion give a couple of examples of how to use it Detecting Empty Fields When you re filling in it
70. image s height to its width Dithering to reduce color images to black and white by replacing col ors with dots dashes and x s that at a distance give approximately the same impression as the original image Filters alter an image or selection to achieve a particular effect Filters alter each pixel s color based on its current color and the colors of any neighboring pixels Grayscale Depending on the display there may be between 4 and 64 dif ferent shades of gray that may be substituted for the colors in an image Orientation If an image is taller than it is wide the orientation is referred to as portrait Otherwise the orientation is called landscape File Formats There are almost as many ways to store a graphic image on disk as there are producers of these images Here are a few of the more common file name extensions for such graphics files ART PFS First Publisher BMP Windows EPS Adobe PostScript GEM IMG Ventura Publisher PCX PC Paintbrush PIC Lotus Graphic File RLE Older Windows TGA Truevision Targa GIF CompuServe Graphic Image File TIF Many scanners HGL HP Graphics Language JPG Joint Photographers Graphics MAC MacPaint WPG WordPerfect Graphic WME Windows Meta File image it will sometimes appear grainy This effect will disappear when the image is converted to black and white Adjusting the Aspect Ratio Once you have a 640 X 240 pixel image that looks good use the Resize
71. is about 110K bytes in size and contains a wealth of informa tion Much of the information in the file has appeared before in the pages of The HP Palintop Paper About 10 of it is new Be sure to get a copy of the database That way you can play along as you read this article To construct the database I began by looking at the HP Palmtop s User s Manual on the 1999 CD InfoBase I searched for and bookmarked the relevant sections of the electronic User s Manual that dealt with the Database PhoneBook Notetaker and WorldTime After reviewing what was in the User s Manual I used the CD InfoBase to do a complete search on the words database phone and notetaker and came up with almost 800 citations including everyth ng from passing ref erences to complete articles on the database applications I also referred to my own databases called BTIPS and OTIPS and found about 40 or so tips dealing with the data base apps It was a bit overwhelming and left me scratching my head how to present this information without making it a re hash of the User s Manual It took about two hours to decide on the layout of an exemplary database file and create it It took several days to organize the information that would go in the database and another day or two to develop and test eight new tips In the end I had a database with over 60 data items all of which pertain to the same topic THE HP
72. ized solutions Mobile InterCom Bundles 02202 951780 Germany International 49 2202 951781 E Germany 02202 951782 OUR CE international 49 2202 9557760 cffe Germany Kundan easy usa de L7 5 International customers sasy use com PLEASE VISIT http www easy use de German OUR WEBSITES http www easy use com English EASY USE Aug Kierspel Str 18 20 D 51469 Berg Giadbach THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 9 HOWTO USE Topping Off Your Palmtop Colors Decrease Color Depth 2 Error Diffusion Floyd Steinberg This will dither the image i e turn pix els on and off to emulate different shades of grey At this point you should have a good idea of how the image will appear on the Palmtop If you don t like what you see try adjusting the brightness and contrast and dither the image again Repeat these steps until you are satisfied Reversing the image Since the Topcard viewer in the HP Palmtop presents a negative ver sion of the image you ll need to create your own negative image so that the two negatives will make a positive Paint Shop Pro will let you create a negative image with the Colors Negative command WinGIF does not have such a negative image feature Instead save your image and switch from WinGIF to the DOS prompt and run LXPIC on your desktop Just load the positive image into LXPIC press the I key to invert it and press F5 to save the screen as a B amp W
73. k l P Circulation Regular columnist David Sargeant well known in the palmtop community Sharon Lloyd Marge Enright thanks to his www hplx net web site profiles himself Engineer father of Sandy Spees two and webmaster David describes his creative uses of his palmtop in his Executive Advisor role as a full time student Finally those with many files on a PC card or on a Rita Goldstein memory upgraded palmtop will want to read about Magellan This power C A ful file manager once a several hundred dollar product and one of my ed thaddeus com favorites is now free For orders or customer service orders thaddeus com The good news is that although HP will not market or improve the HP The HP Palmtop Paper ISSN 10656189 is pub 200LX all indications are that it will continue to sell it Based on the number pair by parnm Sorter eee 4 y North of upgrades we do and the continued support and enthusiasm of users I would wai at RRAIN a Secor me Die not be surprised if the HP 200LX is not around for another six years U S dollars checks drawn on a U S bank or by credit card one year 539 two years 64 Postage U S and U S possessions free Canada Mexico add Ed Keefe claims that the HP Palmtop is the computer equivalent of the ven 6 per year other countries add 18 per year AT 14 t Published bi monthly Please allow four to six weeks erable HP 41C programmable calculator The HP 41C held its place in the mar For cre
74. lds per item or more than 5 000 items per file then it s time to get an add in database such as DataPerfect The limit of 5 000 items is stretch ing things a bit If you have records with lots of fields or large notes the 5 000 item limit drops to 3 000 or less Building a Database Suppose you have some informa tion and you want to try building a database Where do you start Actually the best place to start building a database is at your desk with your Palmtop turned off Take a piece of paper and write the words LT want my database to at the top of the paper Then write down what you want the database to do for you when it s working An Exemplary Database Let me illustrate the process by describing a database that contains information about the Palmtop s data THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 15 Not just for the technological elite OK It s true Software Carousel has long appealed to the technologically elite e This elite understood the usefulness of switching between built in applica tions and DOS sessions with a hot key and were willing to endure a techy manual that required experimentation Now Software Carousel is for the rest of us HP Palmtop Paper editor Ed Keefe completely rewrote the user manual His Getting Started Tutorial ts all you need to be fully functional in less than an hour Even better choose Super Software Carousel and in five minutes you
75. lets you use your database like a set of old fash ioned flash cards like the ones you used in elementary school You can enter questions in one field of the DBLearn database and put the answers in another field DBLearn will then randomly select questions for you to answer and keep track of the score This is extremely handy for memorizing anything from formulas in a statistics book to the answers for your favorite Trivia game Lotus 1 2 3 is also a great tool for a student It allows sophisticated mathematical analysis in the palm of your hand I use 1 2 3 to keep track of data points during the course of labs and then instantly analyze the data sophisticated formula that lets me compute the score must get ona test to avoid failing the class As if an HP 200LX user would ever fail a class Thus we see the main student uses for the built in applications on the palmtop Which brings us to External Applications The built in applications are great for student use but with a few well chosen external applications added to your arsenal you can become aca demically invincible You ll want a good dictionary on your palmtop Thaddeus Computing sells an excellent product in the form of the Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus This is an absolute must for school All colleges require a solid core of language skills and you want to avoid misspelling and misusing e built in applications are great for student use but with a few we
76. ll be using any of its 40 plus applications and adding new appli cations Have up to 12 Palmtops in One An easy to use control panel allows you to customize up to 12 DOS and or System Manager sessions to your exact needs Switch between DOS and Built In programs as easily as you open NoteTaker Don t know what to do with all this new palmtop potential Check out SUPER Software Carousel on the next page to see how Thaddeus Computing can save you many hours of loading and configuring and provide you countless hours of happy and pro ductive palmtopping a aa a lt recom ae ie r E y l a T 4 p i ha as 4 With Windows like flexibility SOFTWARE CAROUSEL Absolutely fabulous Quick everybody run out and buy Software Carousel Larry Nielsen Great with 8 32 64MB DoubleSpeeds or Flash Card Talk about a Next Generation 200LX Combine Software Carousel and especially SUPER Software Carousel with the speed and memory of an Upgraded Palmtop and you re talking about unleashing the full potential of your palmtop Works with Flash card memory too Not quite as fast So if you already have an Upgraded Palmtop or you re thinking about it Software Carousel is the ideal way to make the most of it And of course we offer a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee so you can find out for yourself New Version BUY or UPGRADE Thaddeus Computing Software Carousel 7 0 fixes bugs fr
77. ll chosen external applications added to your arsenal you can become academically invincible Loe eee eee RP PRR RRR ERE RRR RE RR RRS RRR RE RRS REE Se ESEE FE This allows me to fill out the reports faster and more accurately than could do on my own In addition I use Lotus 1 2 3 to enter the grades from my report card and have it report on my semester and cumulative GPA s You have to keep on top of these things when you have scholarships Ed Keefe just sent me a copy of his GPA WK 1 worksheet amp It looks rather complete It works for grading sys tems that use A A B grades as well as the usual A B C grades It even has a formula to compute what GPA you must earn down the road to maintain or improve your final overall GPA HP Calc is of course useful for math classes and also statistics and accounting courses The Solver appli cation has allowed me to develop a words in any case Poor language skills will not only affect your grades but could send an otherwise sterling resume into a thousand circular files In short get a dictionary for your palmtop even if it means buying a larger flash card Those studying other languages will want to check out the Collins Multilingual Dictionary as well Since most dictionary programs let you enter new words you can use this feature to create your own list of abbreviations and use them to improve your typing speed Just prepend an easy to type character e g
78. ly need them Here s a memory aid you can use Use a copy machine to duplicate this page and cut out the following box Tape the small reminder to the inside of the battery cover on the Palmtop Hopefully if you decide to pull the batteries this note will jog your memory and save you from wasting your C drive Wey Peel feo Ad fi 2 A 1 be el a k Roots of Numbers in CALC You can find cube roots fourth roots etc in the following way Put the HP calculator in Math mode with Menu Applications Math This will expose the LN e x LOG and 10 x functions To take the 5th root of a number for example all you have to do is divide the LN of the number by 5 and then do the e x function This would work exactly the same with the LOG and 10 x functions A simpler way is to realize that the cube root of a number is simply the num ber raised to the one third power That is the cube root of 27 is 27 1 3 If you re using RPN the keystrokes would be 27 Enter 1 Enter 3 The answer is 3 00 Likewise the fourth root of a number is Number 1 4 and so on Stan Dobrowski 76711 2302 Help in FILER Most people know that pressing the F1 function key in FILER opens a Help screen Unlike context sensi tive help screens the HP Palmtop uses a combination of hypertext and func tion keys to access the Help you want On the Palmtops hypertext appears as words surrounded with boxed borders When
79. mer 18 HP 100 200LX Developer s Guide Attention Palmtop Developers and Enthusiasts able practical book about the The Developer s Package includes everything you need to write software design hardware or sim HP Palmtop The book is filled ply understand the inner workings of the HP Palmtop The Package includes with hundreds of reallife examples of the HP Palmtop s 1 Printed copy of 586 page Developer s Guide features and capabilities Busy professionals describe how they use the HP Palmtop to organize their time 2 Disk containing HP created source code and utilities for developers information and money to be more effective Order 3 Complete set of kits for marketing your Palmtop product directly from us and we ll include a disk containing most 4 CompuServe starter kit CompuServe is where Palmtop programmers hang out of the software mentioned in the book Written both for 5 PAL a C source code library for developing software with the look and feel of the HP Palmtop users and for those considering purchasing an HP built in applications Palmtop AO tODRY 19 95 PCIP Order Online www PalmtopPaper com or Call 800 373 6114 515 472 6330 Fax 515 472 1879 WANT CCC Matin Memory Maximum P Double Your Speed Reduced 9 0 32 or wE O4Megs up to 35 off Great Options BRAND NEW Get the Best of the Best A Brand New HP 200LX 7 Upgraded to 6 8 32 or 64 MB www Pal e Upgraded to DoubleSpeed
80. n line at the bank This allows you more time to revise and to think about what you re writing lead ing to a higher quality finished prod uct Expect higher grades when you conscientiously use an HP 200LX to help with your studies Most importantly the HP 200LX can be used by students for the very reason they go to school in the first place to learn When there is a vast amount of information on a variety of subjects in your pocket you re more likely to learn and remember As a simple example suppose you step outside to take a break from studying one night and see a particularly bright star in the sky You wonder why that one is so much brighter than the oth ers If you were just an ordinary per son you would probably puzzle over it for a minute or two then shrug it off and forget about it Since you have your Palmtop you can start the SkyGlobe program and check it out From then on you ll remember what the name of that brighter than usual object is You ve learned something you otherwise wouldn t have thanks to the palmtop Given all that it s difficult to see why any student wouldn t want to use an HP Palmtop E Freeware mentioned in this article Global Search PSpice Palmtop Periodic Table CMCalc SkyGlobe 3 6 and XGREP all available from the download section of The HP Palmtop Paper Online www PalmtopPaper com download htm as well as the 1999 CD InfoBase from Thaddeus Computing Inc DBLEARN
81. nts that can be copied and pasted Thto the dumm SUL General screen to get around the limit of 16 subse This one wili fing empty number fields I Number field This finds Number fields that are either empty or O Number fietd 0 i These will find empty Time Fields cTime Ad a Sal Tietan p gt CTime fiel P2239 Se Seve As Asl insert Ciesr CE E e Cancei OK 3 Use Memo or a Database Item to save eXtra subset definitions C subsets txt In the database select the All database items subset and press F10 OK to return to the List View Press F2 to add an item Use a text field to label the item as Xtra subsets Press F3 twice to open the Note field and insert the file C subsets txt into the Note field Anytime you want to use a saved subset open the Xtra subsets item in the database press F3 to open the Note field Highlight and Copy the SSL statement Close the Note field and press F6 F2 F2 and paste the SSL statement into an empty General subset Entry screen Press F10 OK twice to activate the subset If your database doesn t have a Note field you can use the subsets txt Memo file as your Xtra subsets repository THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 25 HOWTO USE Programmer s Corner Database Subsets and SSL Getting Speed Locate to Work with Dates and Numbers Speed locate ordinarily lets you locate an item in a database by typing the first few characters of a selected field
82. o little girls He is a computer engineering student at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and computer system admin istrator for a local company In his spare time he maintains the www hplx net Web site that is devoted to things LX David can be reached at david hplx net Note and enter it into the appoint ment for that class on that day At the end of the day another appointment goes off and reminds me to check for homework lest I forget In this way I prevent myself from letting any dead lines slip by The Phone Book is a great tool for the typical student Not only does it allow you to keep track of the names numbers and e mail addresses of all your friends and study partners it lets you keep track of your profes sors and their pertinent information such as office locations and hours Who really keeps the syllabus for a class for the full semester Not me But having the contact information for an instructor in a special phone book has saved me from many misunder standings on assignments By knowing when to show up at the office to ask a question I ve narrowly avoided mak ing huge errors The built in database program has many applications that might be use ful for students One of the best edu THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 11 HOW TO USE Students and the Palmtop cation oriented databases is called DBLearn amp and it s available from the download section of www Palm topPaper com DBLearn
83. of a mouse in a smaller form factor This combination AutoSketch and a touch pad allows me to take notes in class es such as chemistry where I often need to draw circles and the like to represent atoms Derive is a math student s dream come true A powerful symbolic cal culation utility Derive can turn your palmtop into a lean mean problem solving machine Derive can handle tough integrals and derivatives with out batting an eye And it s a very compact program as well easily fit ting on your C drive Derive s inter face is not intuitive but the manual that accompanies it will make an expert out of you in no time There are plenty of utilities on the SUPER site for the more scientifical Using the 200LX to Cheat One use for a Palmtop computer that many students see right away is to use it to help out i e cheat on exams It s no secret that calculators like the HP48 and the TI 8x series can be used to store notes On a Palmtop this is taken to a whole new level Entire textbooks of information could be car ried into an examination and used I don t use my Palmtop in this way because of my ethical convictions I bolster my ethical convictions with the dire thought that I might get caught and my Palmtop would be confiscated and held indefinitely for evidence If that happened not only would I be out of school I d be out of business and maybe even out of my mind ly inclined student The Palmtop Periodic
84. of rea i I sons you may not see it for many months ry The highlighter will be on the Please understand that we cannot promise to View Up line run any particular article at any particular time eile l Press ENTER to return to the C If you can especially if you write a Palmtop Profile send us a photo of yourself root dir ectory If there are no files with WK1 in 32 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK Get all the great freeware and shareware you read about in each issue of The HP Palmtop Paper This invaluable supplement to The HP Palmtop Paper also contains detailed information from advertisers plus the full text of The WP Palintop Paper for text search PLUS The best palmtop tips and the best free ware and shareware on two 1 44 Meg floppy disks Included FREE with your be HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK subscription or can be purchased sepa rately Best Tips ON DISK comes free with The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK subscription 1 YEAR 99 95 0D1 2 YEARS 159 OD2 SINGLE ISSUE Specify Vol and No or Best Tips 33 SGLD Shipping per year U S FREE Can Mex 6 Outside N_Amer 18 Single Issue US iani CAN Mex Outside NAmer 9 The HP Palmtop Paper bas saved me countless hours of frustration steve micven subscribe Today Included with your six or twelve bi monthly issues are the M icrOREF Qu ick following one tim
85. om previous versions 6 8 6 92 PLUS An all new greatly improved User s Guide makes learning and configuring much easier Millions of people have purchased Software Carousel and the Palmtop Edition new or upgrade is just too palmtop ennich ing to pass up But don t order until you ve looked at SUPER Software Carousel How To Buy Simple If you only want Software Carousel as opposed to SUPER Software Carousel we ll send it on a 3 5 Disk with an easy to use User s Guide that will walk you through the installation and configura tion process You ll need at least IMB of flash or C driver space on 1OOLX 200LX or 1000CX SCN SCU Software Carousel NEW Software Carousel UPGRADE 79 95 19 95 How To Upgratie To take advantage of the Software Carousel Upgrade offer you must supply Proof of Purchase of your current version The easiest way to do this is to email us your serial number or send us a photocopy of your Software Carousel Manual or your disk We can also accept any other Proof of Purchase such as a receipt or confirmation from the company where you orginally purchased Fax mail or email proof with your order 010 472 1879 ro n ks ya ie a oe i es B Tile td p im nline WWW almto ae mO 12 i O E PRE i m sR T A z 0 373 6114 515 472 6330 Fax Just like Built In Apps 2 rs La ES int Spel I ig Re acer boc Like fast task switching Like the Built In Apps How About
86. p Screen 4 DBView Does Simple Arithmetic Filer The Number field type will also insure that you enter only num bers in the field These fields also demonstrate the use of hot keys Hot keys let you hop over fields when you re entering or editing infor mation Ordinarily you move from field to field by pressing the Tab or Enter key If you want to hop toa specific field give the field name a hot key For example the hot key for the Date field is ALT D To create this hot key put an amp ampersand before the chosen letter when you re entering the Field name in the Add fields dialog box Hot keys are tricky to get right On the one hand you can use the same hot key for more than one field For example the ALT I key hops to the Time and Intermediate fields in the Exemplary Database If on the other hand you want to avoid dupli cate hot keys you have to pick anoth er letter in the field name For instance to avoid duplicate ALT N hot keys for Number field and New I chose to put an ampersand before the u in Number An important tip en picking hot keys is to avoid using the letters F E V 5 O Q and H since the database itself has appropriated these keys for its pull down menu When you re designing a Data View screen it s often a good prac tice to add all the fields at once and press F10 OK when you re done Then you can move the fields around so they ar
87. quired field before you could con tinue Although the database engine does n t stop you from making mistakes the subset function can help you find and correct many data entry errors Here are a few examples Out of Range Values Suppose in the GENERAL data base we wanted to limit the values in the Number field to those greater than or equal to 10 000 and less than or equal to 700 000 To clean up the data we want to create a list of all items that have a Number field value less than 10000 or greater than 700000 Here s how Press F6 subset and F2 to define a new subset In the Number field of the Define subset screen type lt 10000 gt 700000 and press F10 OK two or more times and you ll have a subset of items whose Number fields are out side the valid range The values will be either less than 10000 OR greater than 700000 Suppose we want to check for date values that are before less than 1 6 99 or after greater than 1 9 99 If you enter lt 1 6 99 gt 1 9 99 in the Date field of the Define Subset screen and press F10 two or three times you may or may not get the results you want This subset defini tion will only work if the dates you 24 THEHP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 enter in the Define Subset screen match the date format selected in the Setup program I m not ready to call this a bug in the database engine but it is a Surprise The SSL Language The Subset Specification Languag
88. r Along the way we ll point out some subset features that should work but don t and con versely we ll mention some features that should not work but perversely do Finally we ll look under the hood at the Subset Specification Language SSL and explore its powerful docu mented features and some of its quirky undocumented features Throughout the article we ll use the GENERAL GDB file developed for the Data Basics article as an Exemplary Database By the way here are the quick and dirty answers to the questions asked above Use subsets and sort first on the left most field Sort on a blank field then sort ona number field Use the or not and SSL operators Use the Date or Number SSL commands USER PROFILE Sort the primary field with None as the 1st sort item Use the SSL range operator gt If you deem these answers to be sufficient you re way ahead of the rest of us On the other hand if the answers mean little or nothing to you then it s time to go Up the Learning Curve To start at the bottom of the sub set learning curve we ll describe what a subset is A subset is just what the name implies a small part of all the items that make up a database The HP database engine extends the idea of a subset In the Database Phonebook NoteTaker and WorldTime applications subsets may include not only a part of the database but all the items in the database So the qu
89. r brightness and contrast sharpen or blur them resize and crop them It will also let you magnify an image up Three Spheres Sample Topeard to 16 times to fill in details It can import almost any type of graphic file and convert it to a PCX file Graphic Workshop Graphics Workshop GWS is a graphic enhancement and conversion tool from Alchemy Mindworks It does almost everything that Paint Shop Pro can do except for drawing It s available as shareware in the Graphsupport forum of CompuServe There is even a version of GWS that will work on the HP Palmtop but on a standard speed machine GWS is ageravatingly slow WinGIF WinGIF lets you adjust the bright ness and contrast of images and con vert color or grey scale images to ABOUT THE AUTHOR black and white WinGIF is available in the Windows Software library of the CompuServe ZENITH forum On the World Wide Web you can find it at www rad kumc edu win31 viewers htm LXPIC Stephan Peichl created the LXPIC program for the HP 100 200LX Palmtop computers but it will also run on any DOS computer LXPIC will let you convert color images to B amp W and save them in PCX format On top of all this it s only 6K in size and it s freeware You can find LXPIC at www palmtop net super html Optional Hardware If you plan to create Topcards from photographs or print media you ll Eugene Dorr edorr pobox com has been programming HP handhelds since
90. rein use the MENU File Modify file MENU F F command and add delete and rename fields as you wish For example we added a date field called Last Contact and rearranged and resized some of the other fields When you re ready press F10 OK and quit the Database program To open the file in the Phone Book appli cation just rename TEST GDB to TEST PDB Since the Cpack s XLATE program won t work with modified Phone Book files we ll just rename the file as TEST GDB and use this as our file We want to extract the Name Note and Category fields from TEST GDB and put only this infor mation in a NoteTaker file called TEST NDB Here s the procedure to follow 1 Create an empty NoteTaker file by opening the NoteTaker pro gram and using the MENU File New command Call the file TEST NDB and then exit from the program 2 Within Cpack start the XLATE Merge program 3 Press the F2 function key to open the Add dialog window 4 Select Translate from the Task buttons and Database from File Type group Screen 2 5 Optional Type XLATE GDB to CDF in the description field 6 Press F8 to bring up the Settings Translate Database dialog window 7 Press TAB to select the Target field in the File Format box Press the up arrow key so that CDF Files appears Leave the Source category field as it is 8 Press F5 to set the source and use the file picker to find and choose the TEST GDB file 9
91. s later acquired by Borland International Selections amp Functions Inc has taken 2 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 over the development of Framework and has versions of the program that will run under Windows 95 98 as well as a version that will run on DOS palm top computers Framework V LX is a special version of Framework which can run on the HP Palmtop The program suite will not run under System Manager It requires either a separate Software Carousel DOS session or you must exit System Manager altogether with the More MENU Application Terminate command Framework is best run on a double speed Palmtop Its performance on a standard Palmtop may be unsat isfyingly slow Framework V LX is delivered togeth er with Framework V on a CD ROM The dual license to use Framework V on a desktop computer and Framework V LX on the HP Palmtop means that you can have the same programs and data files on both machines The LX version of Framework features Nettamer as its Internet browser and email manager For more details visit the Framework Web site at www fred com For pricing and availability of Framework please contact Selections amp Functions Inc at 781 545 3327 In Passing We note in passing that the CompusServe HPHAND forum con verted from ASCII to HMI transactions on or about Feb 10 1999 There was some hint that this would happen even tually but the actual changeover was without any alert to long time
92. score of 20 or less are suppressed That default level is adjustable by the user From time to time the index can be quickly updat F5 Undip e EXM C300 exm B7 OG Ai N utlNelock exm B B0 ioc ock utes LG B F9 F U wir MkDir Demo READY oo Psource 1A 1 fA O s DONS O01 SSAA SERRE A WS VOUS LE PENA OWONEUNAIWS SSSSSSS SASS SAS SNS NOVO tod CUOMO SROMOOSUON G hen p0opo o o OO NNSS e POE IAG g Poy be Sala Ce ala BENT LOMMANWAGREY COWS OP OOOO 2 NNI NE ARONES Ft BESS SAAS T bes br a j WANDO DJO TR S gt Cy z Sper oS pven copy and paste ed The update process adds only new or changed information to the index Launching Magellan can also launch pro grams Simply highlight the exe cutable file and press F7 If there s enough memory to run the program which is usually the case the pro gram will execute and return to Card Link for SRAM and ATA flash memory cards Why struggle with cables Transfer files the quick and easy way by adding a memory card slot to your desktop PC Works likea Noppy disk drive amp Connects to a desktop parallel port 179 95 Model CL680 for Type and Type Il cards 189 95 Model CL683 for Type I I and Til cards 199 95 Model CL682 has 2 slots for Type I We carry adapters for compact Flash cards Steele Creek Technologies Inc 14035 Appling Lane Charlotte NC 28278 Phone or Fax
93. t to believe everything I read from Lotus Development Corp Meal Master Is Now Giveaware Meal Master v 8 06f a well known database program for recipe collectors is now being offered as copyrighted freeware by its parent company Episoft The announcement came to our atten tion about a week too late to make it onto the 1999 CD InfoBase from Thaddeus Computing Inc However we have included a copy of the MM806f database program on this issue s The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK and on our Web site at www PalmptopPaper com downloads htm Just enter Meal Master in the search box and click Fetch An older shareware version 7 02 is avail able on the 1999 CD InfoBase and from our Web site The originating site for MM6806 is http home1 gte net That site has links to several other sites with thousands of recipes for the Meal Master program t would be great if the recipes could be converted from Meal Master format to the database format of the HP Palmtop So far no one has tried doing this but don t let that prevent you from giving it your best shot Framework and the HP Palmtop In the days when integrated soft ware was popular Ashton Tate the company that produced dBASE also marketed Framework a suite of pro grams that knitted together a word processor outliner telecommunication spreadsheet database graphics pro gram personal information manager and the FRED programming language Ashton Tate wa
94. tegory The only thing wrong with this thinking is that even though you can have up to 32 different category options in a database you re limited to 16 subsets The second sidebar for this article describes a way to get around this limitation It s easy to generate subsets based on category options Here s how In the List View press F6 subset and then press F2 to define a new subset Use the tab key to move the cursor to the Category field in the Define Subset screen and press the Down Arrow key and select a cate gory option with the spacebar Press Database GENERAL Unnamed Subset View Subset 24 JAH 99 3 18 pmi Cancel Cerme Germe Court ee 2 59 Def ine Renane Edit E Sereen 2 Some ol the subsals in the General Dalabase F10 and give the subset the same name as the Category Press F10 twice to return to the List View and see what appears If you want a subset that com bines the items in two or more cate gories just pick the second category option with the spacebar before you press F10 The database engine will add a comma between the category options If you want to have a subset whose items belong both to one cat egory AND another just edit the line in the Category field and substitute an ampersand for a comma The User s Manual says that a semicolon separates multiple selec tions but on the HP 200LX it is a comma rather than a semicolon As an example of a multiple cate
95. ter than OR equal to less than OR equal to not equal to However these compound operators are not allowed in the Define subset screen They only work in SSL statements Both kinds of relational operators that contains 707070 70 The engine evaluates the expression NumberField lt 10000 as false 0 It evaluates the second expression NumberField gt 700000 as true 1 Then the OR oper ator takes over and evaluates 0 OR 1 1 i e false OR true is true Since the result is true the item does indeed belong to this subset The relational operators in SSL have been extended C folks use the term overloaded to work with text date and time values as well as numbers You can compare a field to a value or you can compare two fields of the same type to each other For example if you re building a data base to track projects you could use an SSL statement such as Begin Date gt EndDate to create a subset of all items that may have their date fields in the wrong order ee DET ine Subset Mest WSSU TE eer Time Field rn Date Field 9 Jan 99 Number Field 723 0 gt General SSL Statement SSL Statement Textfield O ield 37 tTe xtf i em iTextfieldk SSL Statement HS enor LZIPH I iZi Pu ZIPR G IPH aed AE 4 Screen 6 SSL code to check ZIP codes compare two values and give the result of the operation as 0 or 1 i e false or true To see how relational operators work t
96. the buttons on car radios If you depress one button the others will all be off You can have as many Group but tons and Group boxes as you need Group boxes have an unusual way 1 The Exemplary database con THE HP PALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 19 HOW TO USE Through the Looking Glass Data Basics of handling hot keys If you assign a hot key say ALT G to a Group box hoping that this will put the cursor on the GroupBox label you ll be sur prised to see the cursor jump inside the Group box and land on the Group button that is currently on or to the first Group button if all the buttons are off If you want to toggle the button off you ll have to use the arrow keys to move to another button and press Tab or Enter to lock it on The way to avoid this nuisance feature is to avoid assigning hot keys to group boxes The Category field in the 5 Exemplary Database points up the fact that you can only have one Category field per database If you want more than one try the fol lowing trick change the category options into a series of Check boxes After all the options in a Category field are just a group of check boxes disguised as a pull down pick list This trick of turning category options into Check boxes will over come another limitation of the cate gory field Theoretically you can have up to 32 options in a category field However the total number of char acters for the names of all the options cannot exceed 2
97. ty superior to ASSIGN as Loppen garlic Vclock Visible Clock Full screen clock timer stopwatch Fixes corrupt database files Whole screen clock and timer PKZIP o Fae archiver pampressot eae eN Thaddeus Comput ing 1 n T a Theirs Siit ivu a Bonus applications and utilities included on CD ready for easy installation ni c sg Me ge 4067 Mi GOD 373 B194 ihe nee ee tA ta 373 6114 oud Esai Baer SB tnaaerus cos ernn innar annee mnane Es Games pea ee paeta Dominoes Goll Mine Sweep Solitaire FreeCell Blackjack Reversi Othello many kinds rad Yahtzee Bridge Sokabin Therapist 42 LX Hearts Boggle Play Music Cribbage Backgammon Chess 3 D Tic Tac Toe Tiles Mah Checkers Go Worm Jhong Tetris TIT Klondike MasterMind Go Moku Here s how to order Super Software Carousel comes on a CD with complete easy to follow installa bon instructions and a concise electronic User s Guide ta Bie 14i ei is porreot Fungtien krai TE Man A pee ET LEL ee f Bi fr beara at a i Pre If you have Thaddeus Computing install it while your palmtop is with us free installation you ll still receive the CD You can even send your palmtop just for the free Software Carousel installation If you are upgrading from a previous version of Software Carousel see How Do I Upgrade on previous page to save 560 Super Software Carousel New 139 95 SSCN Super Searnure Coroana Upgrade 79 95 SSCU Her
98. urge useless files Whether you re looking for a file to use it or purge it the first problem is to find it Running Magellan My solution is to install Magellan 2 0 on my HP I have owned a regis tered copy since the early 1990 s when Lotus introduced the program Fortunately for HP owners Lotus has placed the program in the public domain so anyone may have a copy Magellan is too big to run under System Manager This means I have to press More MENU Application Terminate every time I want to use the program However being able to fire up Magellan is worth this small hassle Since I ve installed Software Carousel Magellan is always loaded on my HP and it is just a hot key away at any time in its own DOS session Here are some of the tasks Magellan will do File Management Magellan is primarily a file man agement program It has files called viewers that permit viewing many kinds of files without executing the programs that run them One can even cut text from a viewed file and either print or paste that text to a file Macro Language Magellan has a simple macro lan guage that lets users streamline repet itive tasks Any combination of key strokes can be combined into a macro By including Program Launch in a macro the possibilities are immense The macro facility makes it easy to cus tomize the program to suit your needs 4 THEHPPALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 ABOUT THE AUTHOR John B Hi
99. ut you would spend days coding and testing the program that would let users work with the screen The database engine in the HP Palmtop makes the task of designing a Data Item editing screen relative ly easy and code free To create the screen use the com mand MENU File Define New Database You ll see the Add Field dia log box At that point you can type in aname ofa field and press the Tab key tem 2 2 3 hallenges y Data 1 2 EXEMPLARY DATA BASE Find Clip Screen 3 Data Item or Record View to pick a Field type from a list of 10 dif ferent data types namely Text Number Date Time Label Group box Option Checks Category and Note Once you ve chosen the field type you want you can press F10 OK and use the arrow keys to move the field around the screen You can also press the F3 key and use the arrow keys to resize the field If you hold down the Shift key while pressing the arrow keys you ll get fine control over the position and size of the data field Screen 3 above shows the layout of the Exemplary Database The num bers with circles around them relate to the large numbered sections in the following discussion fields for the Exemplary Database onto a single page with a couple of lines at the bottom of the page for a Note field Instead I chose to use two pages The Data Item 2 2 at the top of the screen shows that this is the second of two pages The Check box called Edited
100. ve them up your way use the built in subset function and add a dash of SSL Jai Basit RDE prcatecdiateten hn atoms 28 Art Palmto the CUICK E E E E oe Advertiser s Index 0ceeeeeees 32 Files on March April 1999 ON DISK 32 i o N74 470183112019 IP P Palmtop The HP Palmtop Paper s What s NEW in 1999 Commercial DOS Programs FREE Lotus Agenda WordPerfect s DataPerfect Button s PC File Free form Square Notes Accounting Pro Lotus Magellan Over 200 new and updated Palmtop programs Great new software from Japan with English documentation New DOS finds Updated popular palmtop games and utilities PC In Your Pocket and HP Palmtop Technical Reference Manual in HTML From your desktop or palmtop web browser now you can read Ed Keefe s classic containing 100 s of ideas of practical uses of the HP Palmtop Programmers will appreciate a second copy of the Tech Reference Manual designed to be read using HV on the Palmtop More Gutenberg Etexts Our second CD of Etexts is now com pletely full Additional works from Verne Huxley Longfellow Marx Austen HG Wells Darwin Woolfe Lewis London Grey Burroughs plus documents such as the Federalist Papers have been added for your palmtop pleasure and reference 1998 Issues of HP Palmtop Paper All 6 1998 issues of The HP Palmtop Paper have been merged into th
101. vertised in This Issue of and cannot provide technical support Th H p p A p There are a number of ways to getin touch with The HP Palmtop Paper staff You can write e aim OP aper mail us a disk with your comments send a a Internet e mail fax or call Our mailing COMPANY PRODUCT PHONE FAX NUMBERS PAGE NUMBER address and contact information is J a F z Accurite Floppy Drives for 100 200LX Double Slot 510 668 4900 Fax 510 668 4905 8 Thaddeus Computing 110 N Court Aware Micro Roentgen Radiation Monitor800 729 5397 302 655 3800 Fax 302 655 3800 13 Fairfield IA 52556 USA Easy Use Palmtops amp Accessories 49 2202 951 Tai Fax 49 2202 9557760 9 Phone 515 472 6330 Greenwich Link A Printer 800 476 4070 or 704 875 8490 Fax 704 875 2801 10 or 800 373 6114 KSE Authorized Palmtop Center WWW easy USe de Wwww edsy Use com 9 Fax 515 472 1879 PDA Mobile and PDA EXPO LE a E A sina ee 415 641 2450 3 Internet letters thaddeus com Steele Creek Technologies CardLink Drives e000ceeee eee ren Phone Fax 704 588 1780 5 Thaddeus Computing ph byac A TAn ARETE FE TT 800 373 6114 or 515 472 6330 Fax 515 472 1879 any sicchtcane th veutaubecste tive conbint POGUE latnBasde sede sie cs os sauce eine cape E See wNNIES our subscription department Call or fat us at Knowledge products Subscriptions HP Palmtop Tech Ref Manual Ref Books CD IB
102. wise be lost Road warriors and world travelers have found the WorldTime database to be indispensable But what about the general Database application itself what s it good for The Database application is best suited for storing and retrieving more complicated information To get an idea of the kind of infor mation you can store in a database take a look at a few of the databases at www palmtop net hp_db htm There are almost 100 databases at this Web site that contain information ranging from area and country codes to USDA nutritional facts I m sure there are thousands of other databas es in daily use but the information in them is confidential We ll never know what they are or who uses them The best place to look for informa tion for a database is in your own areas 3 63 of expertise Hobbies jobs avocations and interests all contain data that you use on a daily or weekly basis f you re not an expert in an area but would like to be one the Database application can be a great learning tool Load in the information and take it with you The only type of information the Palmtop databases can t handle is anything that requires computations You can t use the databases to calcu late commissions track budgets or tally expenses If you need that capa bility there s always the built in Lotus 1 2 3 or Quicken programs Likewise if your information is such that it would need more than 99 fie
103. y put pep T ja SUBSCRIBE HPLX L or www sp uconn ptpdsk44 zip Database of files on disk N A edu mchem1 HPLX shtml qtips44 zip Batch amp Script files Freeware Py topcards zip Graphics files for topcards Freeware How to Submit an Article cooktmag zip agenda Recipe template for Agenda Freeware The richness of The HP Palmtop Paper comes grocer zip agenda Shopping list template for Agenda Freeware from the contributions of Palmtop PC users projec zip agenda Project Mgt template for Agenda Fiseiwers We and your fellow users welcome your sub missions We do not offer payment for articles your reward is knowing that you ve helped others BASIC TIPS continued from page 28 If you have a good idea and want to go for it send it in via CompuServe e mail 75300 2443 Internet hal_goldstein thad a WK1 extension The asterisk this directory the list will be empty OTE GOU OP BERAE O DONE OPY ideas is called a wildcard because it can and you ll be stuck you can send an outline of your idea We will stand for any combination of letters To get back to the _DAT directo et aute gorap o iden a paran thy and or numbers ry you ll have to press the F5 Goto need clarification or have any suggestions If the list is empty it means that function key and type DAT in the pirea Dich Your PHONE anaes WE 2a there are no such files in this directo Goto box and press ENTER or F10 want to use an article but for a variety
104. you press an arrow key or the Tab or Shift Tab keys a highlight hops from one hyper text word to another If you press the ENTER key you will get more Help on the highlighted word You may also navigate through the Help screens with function keys For example in FILER when you press the F1 function key twice 28 THE HP FALMTOP PAPER MARCH APRIL 1999 you ll get an Index of all FILER s fea tures The screen is almost entirely hypertext Press the arrow keys to skip from one word or phrase to another When you press the ENTER key the text will change to Help ona specific topic The F8 function key will return you to the previous screen Either the F9 function key or the ESC key will Cancel the Help function entirely You can use the F6 and F7 function keys or the PageUp or PageDown keys to move through the Help screens that have more than one page of content To try this out start FILER and press the F1 function key twice to open the Index screen Press the TAB key repeatedly until the word Filter is highlighted Then press the ENTER key The Displaying Matching Files screen will appear It tells you that you can press MENU O F Options Filter to open the Show Only box where you can type ina filter e g wkl and press the F10 OK function key to lock in the filter See the MS DOS Tip below for an explanation of wildcards and how to use them Using FIL
105. you want a subset of all items whose Number field is greater than or equal to 10000 0 If you open the Define subset win dow and type gt 10000 0 without quotes in the Number field and press F10 you ll get an error message telling you that this is an Invalid subset Definition Apparently you have to use the statement gt 10000 10000 to make this work This is another example of something that should work but doesn t A better way to build this kind of subset is to use SSL as we ll see Validating Data Most database programs have a method to keep you from entering invalid data For example they can stop you from entering alphabetical characters in a ZIP code field The database engine in the Palmtop has a small amount of data trapping built in For example you can t put alphabet characters in a Number field You can put alphabet characters in a Date field but the field will be cleared and the computer will beep if the entry is not something like 26 Jan 99 Something the database won t do is prevent you from putting values in a number field that are out of Subset Definition bounds for your particular applica tion Likewise you could accidental ly put alphabetic characters in a ZIP code field and the Palmtop will let you get away with it Similarly you can omit entering data in a required field and the data base will not stop you Other database programs would force you to fill ina re

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