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1. Settings on opening the database Index _ Use global choices select the last index used Surnames bal Filter lV Use global choices select the last filter used Non Field map Bj Use global choices select the last field map used AddressLabel al Record Use global choices display the first record Display the last record used wal i Cancel Save For indexes filters and field maps the global choices option gives the choice between selecting no index filter field map or selecting the one which was in action when the database was closed which may be none In the local choices for each database you can also choose from the list of indexes filters and field maps a particular one to be in force when the database is opened For records the global and local choices options both allow you to select the first or last record according to the index and filter in use or the record which was in use when the database was closed 174 Impact Chapter 21 Choices 21 4 21 5 Backup Backup Wam _ Auto _ Ignore Backups saved 5 uA __ Timed Every The action of the backup facility described in Chapter 22 Making backups may be controlled from this section The first three buttons control what happens when a database is opened or closed which has been modified since its last backup Note that for each database backups must first be enabled using the backup tool as described in the next cha
2. Once the field has been created it cannot have its storage arrangements changed However you may switch between button and image display by editing the field attributes and clicking the appropriate radio button Image fields may be given a border by selecting a style from the Border type menu The available styles include a plain line and standard 3D styles If the Filled option is selected the field background will be filled in before the image is drawn using the colour you have selected from the menu provided Internal file fields Template files x ___ Editinternalfilefield Renee Lee Name Button _ Image area Program B lec Colour Border typ Drop template file here File type As described earlier see Section 13 5 if you click an internal file field button and there is no file stored in the field Impact creates a new file by making a copy of a stored template file If no such file is provided Impact will create an empty plain text file To specify an alternative file type say an Ovation Pro or other DTP file simply create a file it may contain text if required and drop it into the File type field on the above dialogue box The file will be stored within the database and the file type will be indicated in the field This file will then act as the template The Edit template button will be enabled if you have provided a template file and will open the template file in the appropriate
3. 114 text Text text t int s int n Extracts n characters from text string f starting at character position s If n is omitted all characters from text up to the end of the string will be extracted Either or both s and n may be negative to count from the end of the string e g Text abcdefghij 4 3 gt def Text abcdefghij 4 gt defghij Text abcdefghij 4 3 gt ghi Text abcdefghij 4 2 gt defgh Text abcdefghij 4 1 gt ghi Impact Chapter 16 Calculations Insert text Insert text t text into int start int length Inserts the text string into the text string into at the character position given by start The start parameter may be negative to count back from the end of the into string If length is positive that many characters are omitted from into If length is negative it counts back from end of string into e g Insert 123 abcdefghij 5 gt abcd123efghij Insert 123 abcdefghij 5 2 gt abcd1l23ghij Insert 123 abcdefghij 5 2 gt abcd123ij Replace text Replace text t text c text r Replaces every occurrence of character c with r in text string t N B Only the first character of texts c and r are used This is useful for replacing say commas with tabs etc Trim text Trim text t text chars Removes any characters found in chars from both ends of the text string t If chars is not defined white space characters are removed space tab
4. Junior Duke of Burgundy Chateau de Moutard nDijon 214 31st December 2011 Full We see that the fields are separated by commas and the first line contains what appear to be the names of the fields in the system which has produced the file A line listing field names is not compulsory in a CSV file and if it were not present we would have to look at the lines of data to try to work out what the fields might be There is a single address field and in the records we can see that line breaks are indicated with n This is a convention more commonly found with RISC OS or Unix software If the CSV file had come from a Microsoft Windows system then any multi line data would be exported with actual line breaks meaning that the records might be split over several lines of the file Here is how that would look in the text editor T X lt DPS HardDisc4 ImpactManual ImportExamples Excel Name Address MembNum Mem i Janes Black 16 Arnold Way Cambridge CB3 2ER 34 31st August 2013 Full Andrew thi te 49 Castle Street Erepmorign f FR43 4EH 78 31st October 2011 Associate Jemima Green Ascot House Ponbuny 2X81 3ER 22 3ist December 2011 Full Scarlet O Hara Windy Hook A B00 77 Lif Ee Pa i e Oscar Orange Letterland Dock he Gof WOMEN h i Fortunately Impact correctly handles each type of file without any user intervention The important
5. 1 2 Mr J Smith 15 Apple Tree Lane Little Marsh OLDTOWN OT1 5XY Label _ Sheet Delete Cancel Save 11 10 Selecting a label To select a label click the on the Label menu icon and choose from the styles displayed The name of the selected style will be displayed and an image representing the style will be shown in the Label Design window If the label size is too large for the allocated display area it will be scaled to half size or smaller the scale used being displayed At 1 1 the size of the displayed label will be close to actual size although variations in screen sizes and modes will cause some degree of error The Label Design window has two modes Label and Sheet selected using the two option buttons in the lower left of the window To display the single label design settings ensure that the Label option is selected To define the dimensions and spacing of labels on a sheet choose Sheet 11 11 Types of label There are two basic types of label text and graphic chosen by selecting the appropriate option button in the top right of the window Text labels These are printed by sending individual character codes ASCII to the printer these being rendered in the printer s built in font You are only likely to want to use these with a dot matrix or daisy wheel printer as you have no choice of font and cannot include any drawings Graphic labels These are printed by sending a picture of the labe
6. 16 7 is evaluated by converting date to the higher priority text type and the result is text for example Today is 24th May 1997 When a number is converted to a date it is interpreted as a number of days as illustrated in the previous section and when converted to a time it is interpreted as a number of centiseconds If a date or time is used as input to a function which is expecting an integer or real type parameter it will be converted to the appropriate type Times will be converted to the number of centiseconds since midnight while dates will be converted to the number of days since 1 January 1900 If a date is converted to a real rather than an integer it will generally be converted as the number of centiseconds since 1 January 1900 Putting date values into maths functions may therefore yield unexpected results In addition to these type conversions the result of an expression regardless of the field types it contains will always finally be converted to the data type of the field it is displayed in Null values Date and time types can have a null value if the datum is unknown This will appear as a blank entry in a record card and exported data In calculations and action scripts the null value behaves essentially as an unknown value Testing whether it is smaller larger or equal to anything else including another null value will always yield FALSE Adding days or months to a null date will yield a null date When conve
7. 6 B 8 0 1 2 i Dear lt Name gt af nt You will see that the merge commands simply appear as lt Date gt lt Name gt etc the last word of the merge command but they must be inserted in the document using the method described above They can be moved within the document by dragging with the mouse or using cut copy and paste and deleted using the Delete or Backspace key You can use the same merge command several times in a document if required by copying 68 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports To test or perform the mail merge operation you would need to open the appropriate database in Impact select the Impression merge tool and after entering the name of the document in this case Untitled in the Document box click on Test Fix or Print as described earlier in this chapter JEI Rx ntitled at 100 E 1 1 Master frame Text A Bal sJ Is Define Style Trinity Medium 6 12pt 5 B ZY l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ef 412 f 0 il i Dear Bill Smith 10 22 Entering merge commands directly from Ovation Pro To merge Impact data into an Ovation Pro document a merge command must be inserted into the document at the position where the data is required There are two stages to this process defining the commands and inserting them at the required positions This may be done in either order but it is probably easiest to define the commands first T
8. 7 7 to get Impact to check for that disc again Although Impact appears to store the full pathname to the file in fact the disc name is stripped off the front if the file is kept on the same disc as the database This enables Impact to behave correctly if you open the database across a network from another computer See 24 3 Using Impact over a network for more details To remove a file link see 7 71 Clearing fields Internal file fields These are held as individual files within the database and are created automatically by Impact You can store any content in an internal file field simply by dragging the file and dropping it onto the button on the card Files do not have to be confined to text or document files you can store images audio or even computer scripts When you drag a file and drop it on an internal file button you may be asked whether you want to overwrite the existing data in the field This is a precaution against users dropping content in the wrong place as it is not obvious that the content of the field has changed as it would be for other fields The new file is stored away inside the database but is only fully attached to the record when you save the changes to record as a whole so you also have the opportunity of navigating to another record and discarding changes If you open an existing file to view it in an editor you can re save from within the editor application using its existing file path and the content
9. 9 To tidy up you can now discard the CSV file and delete the field map and if you wish remove the export and import tools and the record number field you created Please note that simple filters defined on these types of field use the internal numeric representation of the data and so these will need editing and redefining if you have reordered the texts Changing the type of a field There are some circumstances in which you may wish to change the type of a field in an existing database For instance you may have a date field in which you need to record a date before 1900 or a number field in which you need to include letters or spaces In order to do each of these you would need to change the type of the field to text Or you may have an option field in which you wish to allow more than one item to be selected so changing it to a flag field would be desirable Or you may have an option field whose list of items is too long to be practical which you wish to replace with a browser or menu field Impact does not allow you to change the type of an existing field However using a method similar to that outlined in the previous section it is possible to delete the field and recreate it without losing your data Caution Do not attempt to use this method for a field which is used in a foreign database 1 Take a backup of your database in case anything does not go according to plan 2 Check through your indexes filters and field maps and
10. DocMerge DocMerge lt document gt Tell the document application to merge data The values of the merge fields in the document will reflect the fields in the current record e g DocMerge Invoice DocFix DocFix lt document gt Fix the merged data permanently DocPrint DocPrint lt document gt Print the document in its current state or in the case of merging to JmpEmail send the e mail message 138 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands DocClear DocClear lt document gt Clear any merged data unless it s been fixed Macro Macro lt macro gt lt document gt Ovation Pro only See also the Macro function in Section 16 13 Send the given macro command to the named document in Ovation Pro for execution The syntax of lt macro gt is that of a standard Ovation Pro macro command e g filescrap currentfile See your Ovation Pro manual for more details Other examples of macro commands are included in the example scripts Printing with Ovation Pro and Keeping a record at the end of this chapter 17 9 Label printing LabQueue LabQueue lt database gt lt label name gt lt copies gt lt multiple gt Queue labels for printing later The text queued for printing will depend on the current field map chosen If the lt multiple gt parameter is set all labels from the current one to the end are queued otherwise just the current record is queued To queue all labels in the database
11. Note that copies of databases produced by the backup tool cannot be opened in this way because their contents are compressed You may wish to open a certain database every time start Impact This may be done by including it on the command line at the very end of the Run file Run lt Impact Dir gt RunImage ADFS HardDisc4 Databases Photos If you give a database name without a path then Impact will open the first database of that name which can be found on lt Impact Path gt Run lt Impact Dir gt RunImage Videos Alternatively you could create an Obey file elsewhere containing a command as follows Run lt Impact Dir gt ADFS HardDisc4 Impact SampleData Videos The disadvantage of this approach is that if you have several Obey files set up to open different databases each Obey file will start another copy of Impact running and you may end up with several copies on the iconbar This is not generally a good idea as it wastes memory and can lead to conflicts over saving of choices accessing files etc Copying and renaming databases Copying and renaming of databases can be done simply by copying or renaming the database directory in a Filer window when the database is closed Even more straightforwardly you can use the Copy database tool from the card menu and this is described in 3 22 Copying databases There are a few traps for the unwary when renaming databases and these are explained here Caution should be exercised when
12. Such a filter will take precedence over any other filter which may be active e g TempFilter Videos hired amp amp Today hired gt 7 TempFields TempFields lt database gt lt field list gt lt cat list gt lt cat string gt 135 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Create a temporary field map containing the fields listed in lt field 1list gt with those fields listed in lt cat list gt concatenated by lt cat string gt if given Only one may be defined at any one time and will be destroyed when the script terminates The field map created will take precedence over any other which may be active Example TempFields title name address postcode name postcode This example defines a field map which produces two columns of output the first being the title and name fields concatenated and the second being the address and postcode fields concatenated The field values are concatenated using a single space between them 17 7 Record manipulation commands Record Record lt database gt lt record gt Select specified numbered record as the current record for the current or given database The record data will not be displayed in the card to display the data you should use the Display command instead First First lt database gt Select the first record in the current context for the current or given database e g First Videos First Last Last lt database gt Se
13. TextDay text TextDay int d Returns the day in the week number d in textual form where 1 represents Sunday 16 12 Maths functions In the event of an error in these functions such as x being out of range for the function an error will be displayed and the result will be zero in all cases Trunc real Trunc real x int n x truncated to n decimal places The value n may be negative as shown in the following examples e g Trunc 123 456 2 123 45 Trunc 123 456 0 3123 Trunc 123 456 2 100 Round real Round real x int n 119 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations x rounded to nearest n places The value n may be negative as shown in the following examples e g Round 123 456 2 gt 123 46 Round 123 456 0 3123 Round 123 456 2 100 Int int Int real x The integer value of x Int x is equivalent to Trunc x 0 Fract real Fract real x The fractional part of x This will always lie between 1 and 1 The sum of Fract x and Int x is equal to x Abs real Abs real x The absolute value of x Fact real Fact int n n the factorial of n Tan real Tan real x The tangent of angle x x in radians Sin real Sin real x The sine of angle x x in radians Cos real Cos real x The cosine of angle x x in radians ATan 120 real ATan real x Impact Chapter 16 Calculations The angle in radians whose tangent is x ASin real ASin real x The angle in radians whose sine is x
14. and we recommend that you read this part of the manual in full if you need to import data with overlay Example importing a file to a new database You may want to create an entirely new database using a file exported from another application You will first need to design and create a new database to receive the imported data This example takes you through the various decisions you would need to make in such a situation 163 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data You can follow this example on your own computer using the Tutorial directory supplied with Impact 3 40 onwards These files are also available for download from the Impact web site Open the Import subdirectory and locate the file named Members This contains some data that might form part of a membership database for a society Examine the input file Firstly we take a look at the file to be imported using a text editor Tx ADFS HardDisc4 ImpactManual ImportExamples Tutorial Import Members c Hane Address Hembdum MembExpires Memb ape James Black 16 Arnold of Led el 2ER 34 31st fuguet 2013 Full Andrew Hhite 48 Castle reet nFrognorton nFR4o 4EH 78 3ist October 2011 Ag Jemina Green Ascot House Ane capur ar 3ER 22 3lst December 2011 Full Scarlet O Hara ony Hook nOxford nOX2 80 77 Life Oscar Orange Letterland Docks nLetter Tand 102 30th November 2811 Junior Robber Red 07 Robber Towers nThieftown 1 31st March 2009
15. automatic backups to floppy disc without your inserting the disc in the drive Making a backup The easiest way to make a backup is to click on the Backup to set location button In this case the backup will be made to a location on the specified path and an earlier backup removed if the total backup count has been exceeded Alternatively the top directory icon may be dragged directly to any Filer window e g onto a floppy disc In this case the backup count is ignored and a single backup is performed which will overwrite any backup existing in the same location Automatic backups and warnings In the choices window see Chapter 21 Choices you may choose to have backups done automatically if needed when a database is closed by choosing the Auto option This setting will apply to all databases Note however that each individual database you wish to have backed up automatically will need to have the backup tool installed on its toolbar the backup location set and the Don t backup automatically option unticked in its Backup window It is possible to set backups to be performed at weekly or other intervals instead of every single time a change is made using the Timed option in the Choices window together with the Auto option which may provide a more useful variety of backups to restore from later If you prefer to make all your backups manually you may wish to be warned when your databases require backing up Choose Warn in the C
16. menu for this now dependent field There is no limit to the number of foreign key or dependent fields allowed on a card and it is quite possible to have say two customer s names key fields and addresses dependent fields on a card each address being dependent on its own key name field Key fields are non writable but a dependent field can have the Writable flag ticked in this dialogue box to allow remote editing of the data as described in a later section Type specific attributes The local attributes for a foreign field will be the same as the attributes of the field on its home card with the exception of caret order which can be set for its use on the current card Entering foreign data We now take a look at how to enter foreign data during normal use of the database The direct method Taking the above example if a customer hires a video then the customer s record must be found in the customer database usually by using the Find tool accessed by Alt double clicking on the name field The name field may then be dragged from the Addresses database card onto the key field the customer s name on the video database card When this is done the name will be copied across and the link established Dependent fields in the videos data card the customer s address for example will also be automatically displayed 104 Impact Chapter 15 Relational databases This action will flag the card as modified and you s
17. such as the time or the computer which is being used For example you might have a filter which shows people who have birthdays this month or a filter which detects file objects stored on the local hard disc Indexes are updated when a record is edited but will not be updated just because the time has changed or because you are using a different computer You must therefore be careful not to choose such filters in index definitions Manual record selection It is possible to create an index containing records which have been manually selected rather than have the index contents selected automatically This is done by selecting a set of individual records from a table display use the table tool as described in Chapter 9 Tables to open a table and select the records you require Having made the required record selections in the table display the Selection option should be chosen in the Edit Index panel The other settings except for a filter selection may then be made as described above to choose the field s to be sorted on etc We do not recommend using manual selection at present for anything other than short term storage of selections as it is very difficult to edit an index based on a selection Probably a better approach is to add a flag field to the database card which shows whether that record is required in the index and then use a filter on this field in the index definition Creating the index All that is further required
18. text Field text d The name of the currently selected field map in database d If d is not given the current database is assumed If there is no field map currently selected the empty string is returned Indexes text Indexes text d A comma separated list of index names defined for database d If d is not given the current database is assumed This function is useful for creating an index menu Filters text Filters text d A comma separated list of filter names defined for database d If d is not given the current database is assumed This function is useful for creating a filter menu Filters which have been set to be hidden will not appear in the list Fields text Fields text d A comma separated list of defined field map names for database d If d is not given the current database is assumed This function is useful for creating a field map menu Card text Card The name of the card from which the calculation was issued It is not permitted to use this function in the definition of a calculation field the default value expression for a field or in defining a calculation filter It is intended for use in action scripts only CField text CField The name of the field currently containing the caret if any This is in the form database field 127 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations Exists int Exists text f Returns 1 true if the field f exists in the local database 0 otherwise To test for the existen
19. 08 Jun 98 Bill Smith _ Bridge The __ _ Ppa When you Alt click over menu option browser or flag field a menu will pop up allowing you to choose the new value to be saved in the record Again press Escape to avoid making a change or click elsewhere outside the menu Because flag fields have several values which can be ticked or unticked independently the menu for these works slightly differently The lower part of the menu displays the possible values and clicking on these menu entries will toggle the values but not close the menu To close the menu click on Save to store the value or Cancel to discard the changes Addresses no filter no index no Address Dain fo c o Federa 9 Card list Ms Mary Lamb _ 123 Long Editing a foreign key field using Alt click will bring up the Find window allowing you to search for the record you wish to be linked See 5 6 Entering foreign data for further information 53 Impact Chapter 9 Tables a 3 08 Jun 98 4 08 Jun 98 eons 5 08 Jun 98 Bi Smith Find EX 9 08 Jun 98 e 10 08 Jun 98 Hugo Walter 12 e oanl Previous Next Find 13 08 Jun 98 J R Hartley ieee fisted a etal 16 08 Jun 98 Save data in record 3 po NB ocd 9 13 Editing several selected records together If you have two or more records selected in the table you can save any changes to a field in all selected records at once Find one of th
20. ACos real ACos real x The angle in radians whose cosine is x Log real Log real x Log to the base e of x Log10 real Logl0 real x Log to the base 10 of x Sart real Sqrt real x The square root of x Exp real Exp real x e raised to the power of x Hyp real Hyp real x real y Hypotenuse of a right angled triangle with sides x and y Rads real Rads real x Angle x in degrees converted to radians Degs real Degs real x Angle x in radians converted to degrees 121 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations Pow real Pow real x real y x raised to the power of y Pi real Pi The value of n 3 1415926 Min real Min real a real b real c The minimum value of a b c Max real Max real a real b real c The maximum value of a b c BaseConvert text BaseConvert text x int base to int base from Convert number x from base base from to base to The bases can range from 2 to 36 Letters A Z are accepted for digits from 10 to 36 On input they may be in mixed case Output is in upper case if you want lower case you can use the LCase function to convert it If base from is not specified base 10 is assumed Only integers may be converted The number is considered terminated if a space or control character is reached Spaces at the start of the input string are skipped Errors are raised if the bases are out of range an out of range input character is fo
21. File image and foreign key fields may have their contents cleared in the current record by following the arrow by Clear item from the card menu and clicking on the Clear button Clearing a foreign key field will also clear any dependent fields Impact Info b Database choices Copy database Find name b Clear item name Clear ite b ENE is Edit card Clear New card ar Close card Close database Deleting records Individual records may be deleted using the delete tool available from the toolbar ed Single records or multiple records may also be deleted from a table display by E selecting them and choosing Delete selection from the table menu Removing fields from a card Before you remove fields from a database card we strongly recommend making a backup of the database as described in Chapter 22 Making backups in case anything goes wrong as a result of your deletion To remove a field choose Edit card from the card menu to bring up the card editing window Click Menu over the field you wish to delete and choose Delete from the Field sub menu You will be warned if this is the only occurrence of this field so that you can change your mind Then click on Save in the Field Selection Window to save the updated card design The data from the deleted field will be removed from the disc If the field was used in a filter index or field map these will be updated or deleted as appropriate Impact will not
22. If you have a filter active when importing data then each incoming record will be tested against the active filter If it does not pass the filter test the incoming record will be discarded and will not be imported The filter also has an effect on the operation of overlay If you want all incoming data to be inserted into the database ensure that no filters are active 160 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data 19 3 Indexes Indexes only have an effect on the operation of overlay During import all local indexes will of course be updated to include the new data where appropriate Example importing into an existing database You can follow this example on your own computer by using the files found in the Tutorial directory supplied with Impact 3 40 onwards These files are also available for download from the Impact web site Please open the subdirectory named Import to see the example files used in this chapter Examine the input file Usually the first thing to do when importing a file is to take a quick look at it using a text editor such as Edit Zap or StrongEd to see what is in it We need to work out whether it has comma or tab separators between fields and whether it is suitable for loading into the current database We will use an example file named Addresses This contains some names and addresses which we might want to add to the sample Addresses database supplied with Impact You can open the file with your favourite text
23. Impact merge window avoiding the need to find and display the relevant filer window 10 12 Selecting data records If the document only contains merge commands specifying data fields with no reference being made to the data record required as may be the case with a mail shot letter for example then the currently selected record will be used If the Multiple option is selected from the merge window then all records From start or all records from the current one to the end of file From here will be merged In this case separate copies of the report or letter will be printed or e mailed one for each record Any active filters or indexes will affect which records are merged It is also possible to merge a selection of records chosen from a table display using the Selection option 59 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports 10 13 Entering merge commands from Impact The simplest method to insert commands is to use the Command box at the bottom of Impact s merge window which is accessed by clicking on the Edit icon At Then drag the Command box into your document at the required point It is possible to type merge commands directly into the Command box but it is easier to construct them using the command building panel at the bottom of the merge window as that allows all possible commands to be built without knowledge of the command syntax The command you have constructed will appear in the Command box and you ma
24. Label window or click the Save button to display a standard Save as dialogue box and save the file for printing later A saved label file may be printed by dragging it onto your printer driver Label printing is handled by LabPrint automatically Alternatively you can click the Queue button to queue individual or groups of labels for printing later when convenient When there are labels queued the Print and Save buttons will operate on the queue More action buttons An action button Q Label on the Addresses data card automatically selects the appropriate field map and label style and queues a label without the user having to do all of these singly The Write to button will load a letter template file merge the current name and address permanently move the merged document into the Letters database and log the event A similar button Send will create a fax and merge the fax number for automatic transmission via ArcFax The Letters button will open the Letters database A phone call may be dialled via a modem by clicking the Call button next to the phone number and an e mail may be created by clicking the Mail button next to the e mail field Suitable internet software must be available for this to work This could also give direct access to web sites etc Creating a database You may be thinking at the end of this that setting up a database must be a complicated operation Not so If you select Create from the iconbar men
25. SubText function 117 142 28 90 100 144 145 141 33 120 121 134 113 116 114 207 Impact Syntax action commands calculations functions merge commands Sys function System variables T Table action command Table functions Table merge command Table tool Tables choices of search results Tan function TechWriter exporting data to TempFields action command TempFilter action command Text fields attributes entering data multi line placing Text function Text selection TextDay function TextMonth function Time fields attributes format codes Today function Tool action command Toolbar adding or removing editing Tools help text 208 132 107 110 61 117 183 145 111 64 29 16 23 29 49 176 48 120 156 135 135 87 93 43 83 94 156 158 82 114 177 119 119 87 95 192 117 145 14 22 27 86 86 27 86 tool action scripts tool sprites ToolState function Total function TotMax function TotMean function TotMin function TotSqr function TotStd function Trace action command Trim function Trunc function TSV export TSV import U UCase function Url action command UrlEncode function V Val function Valid function Variables creating W Web sites launching in a browser While action command WimpPoll action command Word function Writable fields entering data making non writable X XOR Y Year function Index
26. They are particularly useful where there are a large number of options which would take up too much space on the card if implemented as Option buttons Note that it is not possible to insert additional choices part way through the list of texts any additions must be made at the end of the list You can choose to have the texts displayed either in alphabetical order or in the order they were created If you need to change the order of texts in another way please see 24 6 Changing the order of texts in option menu and browser fields 13 10 Menu fields A menu field is identical in use to the browser type described above except that the available choices are displayed in a pop up menu invoked by Menu El clicking the menu icon This field type has the advantage that all the choices are visible at the time of selection but may not be useful where more than twenty or so items are to be made available as the menu size may be too long You can change a menu field to a browser field or back very easily if you 89 Impact Chapter 13 Field types decide later on that the other type will suit you better 13 11 Calculation fields The calculation field type may be used to display the results of a calculation made using other fields from the card as required The result may be a date number or Calc text The calculation is done whenever the card record is displayed or when the field is included in a report merge operation or exported
27. a field keeps the menu open to allow us to select the next Concatentation of fields is ignored for import purposes so all we have to do is enter a name for the field map such as Import and click Save Here is what the field selection menu 161 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data looks like for the new field map when we have finished Field selection 4 H notes Concatenate fields O 57H Cardlist 2 Title 3 address 4 Postcode fax email phone rec Import the data Make sure the Import field map is selected and open the Import tool We need to set up the tool for CSV import with quoted text fields We need to skip the first line in the file because that was indicating the field names we do not want to create a new record with a name of Name and an address of address Drag the Addresses CSV file and drop it in the area indicated to import the records The import tool dialogue is updated to show that five records have been imported D Import to Addresses File format CSV TSV L Separator V Quoted text fields V Special characters prefixed with _ Ignore lines starting with Wv Skip first line _ Overlay 5 new records imported View O existing records overlaid View O records filtered out View O records with errors discarded View B Close Check the results Click on the View button to show the new records in a table FIX N
28. and having insufficient space for any individual entry File fields File fields allow you to link to files anywhere on your computer or to store data of File any length and format in a separate file inside the database The field appears on the card as an action button Impact Chapter 13 Field types 13 6 There are two types of file field e internal file formerly called Notes The file is stored inside the database structure e external linked file In this case the field stores the full pathname of the file which may be on any disc accessible from your computer For internal files you may create them either by dragging a file and dropping it on the button this will create a copy of the original file or by clicking on the button to create a new file A new file is made as a copy of a template or sample file which you can supply Without a template file Impact will provide you with an empty plain text file to edit One advantage of using a plain text file is that it may be merged into an Jmpression Ovation Pro document like any other field on the card and the content may be shown in tables Full details of how internal file fields are handled in record editing are given in 7 6 File fields while setting up a template for the field is explained in 74 14 File and image fields For external linked files the link is created by dragging any available file directory or application from the desktop and dropping it
29. and field map using the tools on the record card and then open a table window using Impact s table tool The table in the merge document will contain the same data and columns as that opened by the table tool Automatic line numbering in a table in Ovation Pro In Ovation Pro it is possible to automatically assign line numbers to each row of the table Highlight the table merge command in the Ovation Pro document and select TextFormat from the menu or press Ctrl F Tick the Auto insert box and choose Number with the format you require for example 23 n Click OK in the Auto bullet and number and Modify format dialogue boxes You should find that your chosen starting number or letter now appears next to the merge command When the merge is performed each row of the table will be numbered according to the format you have chosen Table command syntax Impact lt database gt Table all lt fieldmap gt i lt index gt f lt filter gt c lt calculation gt Tables are exported using tab field separators so the tab settings in Impression Ovation Pro should be set accordingly to produce a neat layout In Impression you can apply the Table style to this merge command to display a table with lines drawn between columns etc Filters and indexes set in a Table command will not persist beyond the end of the table However if you do not wish to apply an index or filter to the table and one has previously been set by a Record command or i
30. any key is pressed which is not used by Impact itself an action script in this directory is sought If a file is found having the same name as the key s Wimp number then this is executed Key actions apply to all databases 26 Impact Chapter 3 Introduction to tools 3 1 3 2 Chapter 3 Introduction to tools This chapter describes the use of the main database tools to select cards and to set filters and indexes etc Many of the tools available are described in more detail in the following chapters The card menu A Menu click anywhere over a record card will cause the card menu to be offered as shown here Impact Info Database choices Copy database Edit card New card Open card Close card Close database The nfo option leads to a general information box showing details about the database From the Database choices window you can define the index filter and field map you wish to have active when the database is initially opened and which record is displayed For further details see 27 3 On opening a database The Copy database option opens a save box from which you can make a complete copy of a database or just of its structure excluding the actual data This is described fully in 3 22 Copying databases The Find option leads to the find tool as described 3 18 Finding a record The name of the field which will be searched is shown on the menu Clear item is available for certain field
31. button to the right of the filename icon This provides a convenient method of choosing a directory in which the copy will be saved After adjusting the database name if necessary you can then just click the Save button to make the copy The directories offered in the menu are those which Impact examines when generating the menu of databases on the iconbar menu By default this will be the UserData directory but Impact 31 Impact Chapter 3 Introduction to tools can be configured to look for databases in several different places For more information please see the following sections of the manual 24 2 Storing databases in diverse locations for information on how to configure Impact to include databases stored elsewhere on its menus 24 4 Loading databases by unconventional means which explains how to open a database whose directory is not included on Impact menus It is also worth taking a look at 24 5 Copying and renaming databases for further advice on copying particularly handling relational databases backups and mail merge documents The Copy database tool will warn you and ask you to confirm before overwriting an existing directory It also tries hard to prevent you from overwriting a database with copy of itself as this would destroy the data It s possible to circumvent this protection by doing wacky things with shared drives or symbolic links but in normal use you should be safe Impact also has a useful backup t
32. card will be exported If you select Multiple you can choose to export all records From first or all records starting from the currently displayed record From here Or you can export a selection of records by opening a table selecting those you want and clicking on the Selection option Choosing an export format The export tool comes with a number of pre defined export formats so that you can quickly choose the settings appropriate to the task The export formats can be chosen via the menu button at the top right of the window 155 Impact Chapter 18 Exporting data CSV Excel H CSV Excel Save format Delete CSV Impact EasiWriter Plain text TSV LaBella TSV MySQL You can add extra formats to the menu yourself by choosing the settings you want entering a name in the box and clicking on the Save format button The formats which are supplied with Impact are protected from alteration and deletion By default the first format on the menu will be activated when you first open the export tool You can choose a different format to be used by default from Impact s Choices dialogue See 21 10 Default export format for details CSV Excel Export to Microsoft Excel is catered for with a variant of CSV file The settings ensure that multi line text files are imported into Excel correctly If the file is saved with a filename ending esv then when transferred to a Windows PC with Excel the user can usually
33. containing the backup to the appropriate area of the backup window A warning will be given asking you to confirm the action Restoring a database which cannot be opened If a database has become corrupted through some fault it may not be possible to open it in order to use the backup tool Providing a backup has been made at some point in the past it is possible to restore from this backup in the following way Open the directory where your database is stored usually called UserData in the same directory as the Impact application and find the directory which bears the name of your database Rename it to something else or move it to a different location on your hard disc Now in Impact choose Create from the iconbar menu to create a simple database with the same name as your faulty database i e the name it had before you renamed it All you need to do is place the backup tool on the toolbar and a single data field on the card e g a text field and give the database the correct name Save your card design and click on the backup tool Once you have set the backup path to the right location you should now be able to restore from a backup of your original database in the normal way overwriting the card you have just created 180 Impact Chapter 23 Deletion 23 1 23 2 23 3 23 4 Chapter 23 Deletion Clearing field contents Writable fields are most easily cleared by placing the caret in the icon and pressing C rl U
34. d is omitted and returns its number A value of zero indicates that no more records are available Previous Safe int Previous text d Selects the previous record according to context in database d or the current database if d is omitted and returns its number A value of zero indicates that no more records are available int Safe text d Returns non zero true if it is safe to change records in database d or the current database if dis omitted The action depends on the user s settings in the Choices window If there is any unsaved data on a card it is either ignored saved automatically or the user is warned Zero false is returned only if the user selects Cancel in the message window It is not permitted to use this function in the definition of a calculation field the default value expression for a field or in defining a calculation filter Modified int Modified text d Returns non zero true if the record currently displayed in the card has been modified since it was last saved If the database d is not specified the current database is assumed This function essentially reflects whether the database card is displaying an asterisk at the end of the window title 123 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations Note that if the user is editing the contents of an existing file field changes are not detected by Impact when the file is saved so such modifications to file fields are not reflected in the wi
35. database name as you choose and drag a couple of label and two text fields to the card Name address Caretorder 4 _ Default Text lines 4 _ EY Word wrap Max text length EA Bj Non writable Justify E Z B The picture shows how we might set up the name and address fields with four text lines and a generous 160 character limit for the address field To examine the field definitions in the MembersDB example switch to card design mode by choosing Edit card from the menu over the card Now we return to the CSV file and see what we might do with the other fields The next is called MembNum7 and it appears that all the records have a number in this position We could use a number field or perhaps a sequence field here There is nothing stopping us using a text field however if we think we might want to have text in the field in the future The following picture shows how we might set up a suitable number field x Edit number field C Name membnumj Caret order 6 _ Default Dec places O _ _ Leading zeros Minimum digits jad LA _ Range checking Minimum value V Blank zero Maximum valu ma Ej Plus sign ja Show negatives in red Non writable Justify E E B Note that the number of decimal places shown has been set to zero and the Blank zero option is ticked which will leave the box empty if nothing zero is entered in the card The MembExpires field clearly need
36. disc wear and tear Instead an index is kept like that found at the back of a book allowing any required record to be quickly found This index lists records in ascending or descending order of a specified field or group of fields This method allows several indexes to be kept allowing the appropriate one to be selected for the current purpose The actual order of records on the disc is not affected Impact allows you to build named indexes on as many fields as you like sorting in ascending or descending order It is even possible to create an index which only contains certain selected records and this will be found to be useful when exporting data or producing reports and mail shots This is done using filters See Chapter 5 Indexes Field maps It is often necessary to select the data fields to be used in an operation so that for example a label may include a name and address but exclude other data Impact provides the facility to create named field selections defining both the fields and their order As with indexes and filters these named field selections or maps may be saved for future use SeeChapter 6 Field maps Merging data into other programs An important feature of Impact is its support for the Jmpulse module This public domain module allows all programs written appropriately to communicate with each other both requesting and sending data or sending and receiving commands Using this system Impact is capable
37. editor to see what it looks like TIX RAM RamDisc0 Addresses e Hame Title address Postcode Bill Smith he 17 arthur Avenue nPetswoods nkent PE3 Andrea Arl ingtop anM 37 Church Lane nkirk Hallam nDerbyp Maurice Ravel Mr 12 rue des Pommes nRennes nFrance f Houghton Mifflin 55 South Street Durhan DHI 40P f Carl Fearney Prof The Queen s College nOxford OX1 4f It is obviously a comma separated value file CSV we can see the commas We can also clearly see that it contains data for the name title address and postcode fields Create a field map The first step is to create a field map which contains those fields in the right order We open the Addresses database and click Menu over the field map tool A single field map AddressLabel is shown If we select it then click Adjust on the field map tool to edit it we can see from the field selection menu that although it contains the right fields they are not in the right order for the incoming data Field selection 4 74 notes Cardlist Concatenate fields 1 74 mak 1 Title Name AddressLabel il 2 Name 3 address 4 Postcode fax email phone rec So we click Select on the field map tool to deselect the field map and then click Adjust to create a new field map We select the four fields we want in the correct order on the field selection menu clicking with Adjust to select
38. error will be generated if the file cannot be found or if the name leads to a directory rather than a file You could use this in an action script attached to a file field to check that the size of the file falls within chosen limits if FileSize CardFile Picture gt 1024 1024 Error The Picture file must be 1MB or less in size FileContent text FileContent text n int limit This function takes a full path to a file as its argument The function loads the file and returns the content In order to avoid problems only the first 16K of the file is returned You can stipulate a different limit using the optional second parameter which sets the limit in bytes Note that with a binary file i e one which is not simply text then any content after the first null byte will not be returned This is because Impact s expression engine uses the null byte to terminate string values An error will be generated if the file cannot be read or the name indicates a directory This function can be used in conjunction with the FileName function to read the content of a file linked to from a database record 125 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations FileContent FileName Picture Flag int Flag int f int b This function can be used with the value of a flag field to determine whether an individual button is selected In the sample Addresses database there is a flag field called Cardlist We can test whether the first and on
39. etc Uses include computing and displaying VAT on a sale the age of a person based on their entered date of birth etc Calculations are fully described in Chapter 16 Calculations 13 12 Sequence fields A sequence field will display a number which is automatically incremented for each new record created The next value to be used may be set at any time and Sequence an optional prefix and or suffix may be specified It is a text field with a fixed width of 12 characters It is set whenever a new record is created but may be edited at any time later It is most useful for assigning unique codes such as membership numbers or serial numbers But note that Impact does not prevent you from editing two records later so that they have the same value in a sequence field 13 13 Action buttons An action button is not really a database field as it does not store data When clicked a pre defined sequence of commands may be executed to carry out Action complex operations at the click of a button For example indexes filters and field maps may be selected labels or reports printed field values changed etc The commands available are fully described in Chapter 17 Action commands An action button can also be represented by a menu icon where clicking on it will open a menu and the action resulting depends on the user s menu choice You can see an example H of this in the Videos sample database where choosing from the Category me
40. example Text abcdefghij 4 3 gt def indicates that the result of the expression Text abcdefghij 4 3 is def Constants Constants are recognised by their format Text constants must be enclosed within double quotes and numeric constants must start with a digit Impact cannot recognise date constants as these can be expressed in a variety of formats However literal dates can be included by using the Date function Examples Text string constant Hello world Numeric constants 234 56 2 345653 scientific notation Ox2AF hexadecimal number Date constant Date 15th May 1999 Control codes in text strings Text strings used in calculations and action commands may include control characters prefixed by backslash Allowed codes are 107 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations 16 5 n newline XZ carriage return t tab yn double quote to embed quotes into a literal string X any ASCII character where should be hex digits to insert a backslash e g 59 High Street nLondon nN10 2GT will split the address over separate lines in a multi line text field Reading values from fields The full syntax of a field name is lt database gt lt key gt lt field gt where lt database gt is the name of the database containing the field or key lt key gt is the key field in the local or named database providing the link to a foreign database lt field gt is the actual field name in t
41. follow very closely the style of the table display currently on view in the table window particularly in the style and size of the fonts and the widths of the columns If you do not want any data truncated because it is too wide for the column remember to use the menu option to Resize all columns as described in 9 4 Resizing table columns Printing a table Choosing Print will open the print dialogue box to allow you to choose settings before printing to your current printer A large table may be split over several pages and you have the option of choosing whether each new sheet should repeat the table title as shown at the top of the window and the column headings at the top If your table has rows selected you may choose whether to print all rows or just the selected ones and whether to print the selected lines in red in the same way that they appear in the window 51 Impact Chapter 9 Tables IV Include table title lV On all pages lV Include column headings lV On all pages Output selected lines only Output selected lines in red B Cancel Preview Print Print table J Portrait Landscape Auto _ Fit on one page across v Print page numbers Copies ra _ Collate By default the orientation of printing will be chosen automatically to minimise the number of sheets of paper required at a scale which is not much less than 100 If you want to force the printing to be landscape or portrait yo
42. individual fields and calculation expressions Impact supports merging of entire tables of data with a single command See the VideoList example in the Addresses sample database supplied with Impact which lists the videos on loan to an individual Displaying the tables accurately in a plain text e mail requires the recipient to view the message using a fixed width font By default ImpEmail is configured to use the Acorn font Corpus which is very similar to Courier on other operating systems but that will only show you what the message will look like in ideal conditions the recipient may be using a variable width font ImpEmail makes a good job of displaying tables as plain text including handling multi line text fields and correctly aligning columns of numbers but if there are too many columns to display the resulting message will inevitably be hard to follow Most e mail software on other platforms can display HTML the mark up language which is used for building web pages If ImpEmail detects that a table has been merged into the message then as well as building a plain text version of the e mail an HTML version will be included which will tend to display better You can turn this off via the Choices window Table merging into the To and Cc fields ImpEmail also supports table content being merged into the fields defining the e mail addresses of the recipients of the message The table content will be scanned automatically to identify whic
43. is not required or where it may be desirable to hide sensitive data The toolbar Each record card has its own toolbar displaying a row of tools giving instant access to all the main facilities from simple record browsing to report generation and label printing When a new card is created a default set of tools will be placed on the toolbar Tools can be added removed or arranged in a different order using the card editing facilities Where a database has several cards designed some of them may not need any tools in which case a toolbar need not be added See Chapter 3 Introduction to tools for a description of each tool and Chapter 12 Creating a database for details on how to design toolbars for your own databases Password protection There are situations where people may require access to a database who should not be allowed to see or alter certain sensitive information To allow for this it is possible to set password protection on a card Once this has been done the card may not be displayed without the user 22 Impact Chapter 2 An introduction 2 5 2 6 2 7 entering the required password See 12 10 Setting a password Table display mode In addition to the card display which shows the content of one data record at a time a table display is also provided which shows many records in a scrollable window similar to a spreadsheet display Use C rl Select over any record line in this display to open that record in
44. is found it will be displayed in the card and the From next record option will be automatically selected Replacing the data If a calculation has been entered clicking the Replace button will cause the field to be replaced Note that if more than one field is searched then only the first field which matches the data will be replaced Since the From next record option is now selected further clicks on the Search button will cause the search to be resumed from the next record Again the Replace button may be used if required During this action messages will be displayed in the window s display box to keep you informed of progress Where the Partial match option has been used on a text field the replacement text will be used to replace the matching sub text not the whole field content Automatic replacement When you are happy that the replacement operation is being performed correctly clicking on the Replace all button will cause Impact to search and replace continuously through the database The number of records altered will be shown in the display box Tabulating finds If the Display table option is selected the database will be searched throughout taking note of any filters which may be active and the matching records will be displayed using the table display facility You cannot use Replace if you are displaying a table of the search results If this selection of records is to be saved for later you can use the Sel
45. line text or note field displayed in a table will be shown as a single line concatenated with commas Blank lines at the start and end of such fields will be omitted from the display The table menu Clicking with Menu over a table display will open the table menu Column Customer Column Customer v Left align Resize all columns Centre Show hidden columns Right align Select all Resize Clear tior Hide Invert selection Count records gt Find duplicates Table title gt Font name gt Font size b Export text file Export Draw file Print This offers several actions associated with record selections as well as the opportunity to reformat and print the table or to export it in various formats Aligning content of columns When you open a table the contents of each column will be aligned left right or centred 49 Impact Chapter 9 Tables 9 4 9 5 9 6 9 7 9 8 according to the setting for that field in the record card You can change the alignment from the Column submenu of the table menu Resizing table columns Column widths can be adjusted by placing the mouse over the line which separates adjacent column headings The mouse pointer will change shape and you can drag the column boundary to the width of your choice Alternatively double click on the boundary to resize the column to fit the text in the table exactly You can also do this by selecting Resize from the C
46. load the file simply by double clicking If you examine the content of the file on RISC OS you will see that multi line text fields are split across several lines of the file which looks very odd if you are expecting each line of the file to represent a new record Excel seems to like it this way but you won t find many RISC OS applications interpreting this style of file very well CSV Impact EasiWriter This style of CSV file is perfect for export to TechWriter and EasiWriter and will result in a table being inserted into the document It is also a useful format for re importing to Impact for example if you are changing the data type of a field or rearranging the order of menu fields see Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use In order to ensure records are re imported exactly as they were the option to Trim surplus line breaks is turned off but can be turned back on if preferred Plain text A straightforward plain text format has been provided where each new field appears on a new line Multi line text fields are exported on a single line with a comma and space separating the content of each line of the original field of data TSV LaBella LaBella is a freeware label printing application which offers a wider range of formatting than LabPrint but which is not so closely integrated with Impact The best way to transfer data to LaBella is using a variant of tab separated value format Please note that LaBella version 6 33 determines
47. network 186 Close tool 28 restoring data 180 Closing a database see Databases closing BaseConvert function 122 Comments in action scripts 135 Beep action command 143 Compound filters 34 Boxes on record cards 90 Concatenating fields 202 Impact field maps 40 Conditional calculations 129 Conditional commands 140 Constants 107 Context see Execution context Control codes in text strings 107 Copy action command 141 Copy tool 28 Copying a database 31 see also Databases copying and renaming Copying fields card editing 85 Cos function 120 Count function 111 Creating a database see Databases creating CSV export 154 CSV import 159 D Data editing see Editing a record entering new data see Entry tool saving see Saving data Data entry tool see Entry tool Databases choices on opening 174 closing 25 31 copying and renaming 31 186 creating 20 82 database menu 176 deleting 182 loading by unconventional means 186 opening 13 relational see Relational databases storing in diverse locations 184 DataName function 113 DataPath function 113 Date fields 87 attributes 95 entering data 43 Index format codes 192 importing 169 Date format codes 192 Date function 118 Date merge command 67 Day function 118 DaysInMonth function 118 Dbox action command 140 Degs function 121 Delete action command 137 Delete record tool 28 Deleting a database see Databases deleting Deletion 181 Dependent fields 103 DFor
48. newline carriage return form feed e g Trim abc def gt abc def LTrim text LTrim text t text chars As for Trim but only removes characters from the start of the string e g LTrim abc def abt c def 7 RTrim text RTrim text t text chars As for Trim but only removes characters from the end of the string AddSlashes text AddSlashes text t text chars text escStr The text string is processed so that certain characters listed in chars are converted to another form introduced by an escape character given in escStr By default the escape character is a backslash and the characters to be converted are newline carriage return 115 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations tab and double quotes The newline carriage return and tab characters are converted to the conventional form described in section 16 4 Any other control characters listed in chars will be converted to hexadecimal form preceded by the escape character and x Other characters are simply preceded by the escape character The escape character will itself always be escaped if it occurs in the string t whether or not it appears in chars If chars is specified as an empty string no characters are converted at all The string can be unescaped using the StripSlashes function Note that escaping the lower case letters n r t or x will give rise to ambiguities when stripping slashes later For example list AddSlashes item woul
49. of the lt Merge gt insert It is therefore necessary to move it to the start of the next line ready for the next field otherwise the next lt merge gt will be placed before the previous one rather than after it Subsequent fields The following fields may be merged explicitly in the same way as the first or by using a series of Fetch next commands specifying the last field to be used on the label probably a postcode field Providing you supply enough Fetch next commands this will fetch all non blank fields after the name field finishing with the postcode field The order in which fields are merged when using the Fetch next command is that shown on the field menu This order is defined as the caret order when creating a data card or may be alphabetical according to the setting of the Choices option see 21 5 Field menus Check the single frame first When this single label is finished it can be checked by using the Test option from the Impact merge window If your label document has not been saved then type the name at the top of the Impression Ovation Pro window into the Document box in this window so that Impact can tell Impression Ovation Pro which document is to be merged Replicate the frame When all is well select the label frame by clicking in it and select EditCopy frame from the Impression document menu or Edit gt Copy Text frame from the Ovation Pro document menu or the Ctrl C keyboard short cut to place a cop
50. once but by merging a table into the To field it is possible to send to a group quite easily Nonetheless you may have a need to use a script to assemble the list of e mail addresses As ImpEmail does not respond to the Ur1 command the script would need rewriting using a slightly different approach Let us assume we are using the sample Addresses database First we create an ImpEmail document stored inside the documents area for the database 1 Open the Merge tool and click the menu icon next to the Document box 2 Select New from the Documents menu The Create new merge document window appears 3 Make sure mpEmail is the chosen application and enter the name for the document we will assume it is called Test and click Create 150 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands A new ImpEmail document window should appear At this point we can type any parts of the message which might remain constant like the From address the subject perhaps and the body of the message with a signature To be able to send the message to a group of people at once dynamically identified by the action script we need a merge command for J mpEmail to send to Impact to fetch them the easiest way to do it is to use a calculation expression with a local variable In the To box enter the following text merge Impact Addresses Calc EmailAddrList The variable name we have chosen EmailAddrList can be changed to anything you
51. operation Using the full spectrum of field types also allows you to create data cards which are fully consistent in style and integrate well with other desktop applications The available types and their general use is summarized below Date time fields Date time fields allow a date or time value to be stored and displayed in almost any format from a simple 23 11 95 to 23rd November 1995 You can specify a different format for each date or time field Using date fields instead of text fields allows records to be sorted in date order and allows filters to be used to select records having a specified range of dates It also allows calculations to be carried out on these fields Number fields A number field may contain any numerical quantity and is used for things like Number money amounts a person s age a club membership number etc The format in _Number_ which the number is displayed may be selected to show a specific number of decimal places if required or none at all It can show zero quantities as blank or zero and can show negative amounts in red Text fields This is probably the most common data type consisting of a single or up to 32 Text lines of text and is often used to hold names addresses and telephone numbers Text for example The text entered is stored in a fixed size block on the disc therefore the amount of space needed must be specified A trade off must be made between wasting disc space
52. or filter defined by a Record command remains in effect until turned off or replaced by another The default choice on each menu is Not set which retains previous settings To turn off an index or filter choose None Index Surnames gt El Not set Filter Not set al J Calc filter Sorted AN pcs Z Surnames Command syntax It is not necessary to understand the command syntax in order to use the command building panel but it may be useful for interpreting existing commands found in a merge document The syntax for each command should be interpreted as follows Items shown in square brackets are optional and may be omitted Items within lt angle brackets gt should be replaced with the appropriate name For example where lt field gt is given this should be replaced with an actual field name Items in curved brackets separated by the bar character represent alternative items Only one of the items listed should be provided All other items should appear exactly as given 10 15 The Fetch command This is the most used command which requests data from a named field of a database to be fetched from Impact and merged into the document at the position of the merge command Direct insertion With the caret positioned within the document where the merge command is to be inserted you can insert a simple Fetch command simply by dragging the required field from the card into the document Note that this acti
53. point to note though is that we will need to create a multi line field to hold the address This is good news as on the whole it is easier to handle address data in Impact using a multi line text field than in a series of separate fields If you subsequently need to add capacity for a longer address it is easy to edit the card to add space for another line but if you store the lines of the address each as separate fields adding an extra field is quite an undertaking as the new field might need adding to field maps and merge documents too We would need to scan through the file to get an idea as to how long the text fields will need to be When creating a text field the upper limit on the size of the field must be set It can be adjusted easily later but if it is set too small then the field values will be truncated on import Impact will warn you during the import if any of the values have had to be shortened and by how much so it is easy to delete the imported records adjust the field size and import again if necessary 164 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data Create a new database At this point we might start creating the database to receive the imported data You can work through this example if you wish or you can just study the example provided by dragging the directory MembersDB to Impact on the iconbar If you want to work through the process yourself start by using the Create option from the iconbar menu fill in the
54. programs Label printing Import and export Import and export using drag and drop Database backup Disc access Closing databases Shortcuts and hot keys 13 13 13 14 14 14 15 15 16 16 16 17 17 17 18 19 19 20 20 22 22 22 22 22 23 23 23 24 24 24 24 24 25 25 25 25 26 Contents Impact Chapter 3 Introduction to tools 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 6 3 7 3 8 3 9 3 10 3 11 3 12 3 13 3 14 3 15 3 16 3 17 3 18 3 19 3 20 3 21 3 22 The card menu The toolbar The browse tools The data entry tool The copy tool The save tool The close tool The delete record tool The select tool The search tool The merge tool The label printing tool The data import tool The data export tool The backup tool The index filter and field map tools The table tool Finding a record Finding related data Editing a record Closing databases Copying databases Chapter 4 Filters 4 1 4 2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 4 7 4 8 4 9 Creating and editing filters Simple filters Calculation filters Compound filters Creating the filter Deleting a filter The Hide option Filter tests Default settings for filter selection Chapter 5 Indexes 5 1 5 2 5 3 5 4 5 5 4 Creating and modifying indexes Selecting the sort fields Text fields The last word Case matching 27 27 27 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 29 29 29 29 29 29 30 30 31 31 31 33 33 33 34 34 35 35 35 35
55. records depending on the settings in the merge tool window The e mail or e mails will be sent to the outgoing mail queue without further intervention This is the method you would usually use for sending messages in bulk Powerbase The Data merge window is opened by dropping a saved ImpEmail document onto the Powerbase record card There are several different ways to process the merge commands depending on what you want to achieve 1 Clicking the Merge button will process the merge commands for a single record You can then send the message by clicking Powerbase s Print button or ImpEmail s Send button Using Powerbase s tool pane you can move to another record and the merge commands will be reprocessed In this way you can send a hand picked selection of e mails 2 Clicking the Merge button and then clicking Edit will process the commands for the current record but the message is returned to an editable state so you can make any further adjustments before clicking ImpEmail s Send button Note that saving the message in this state would overwrite the version containing the merge commands be careful You do not have to save in order to send 3 To send an e mail for each record in the database ensure the Print all option is selected before clicking Merge Message transmission and logging If you are using a Newsbase transport ImpEmail will put the messages in the queue to be sent by POPstar or Hermes when you next send a batc
56. renaming relational databases as if another database has 186 Impact Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use 24 6 foreign fields drawn from the renamed database Impact will be unable to find those fields when opening the database Your database may include documents for mail merging with Impression or Ovation Pro If so be aware that the merge commands in the documents refer to the name of the database and will need updating if you have renamed the database It is fairly straightforward to do this in Ovation Pro and the method is described in 70 22 Entering merge commands directly from Ovation Pro You will also need to exercise care regarding backups of a database If you wish to restore a backup using the backup tool only backups which have the same name will be shown Renaming the appropriate directory in your backup location at the same time as renaming the database directory avoids this problem If you copy a database rather than renaming and wish to be able to access the backups of the original version from the new one you will also need to copy the backup directory If you have made a copy of a database with the same name as the original by placing it in a different directory on Impact Path you will need to set the backup location for the copy to point to a different location from the original otherwise the two sets of backups will get mixed up and overwrite each other Changing the order of texts in option menu and browser fi
57. start the journey at origin OX1 4AW 148 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands if PostCode Error No postcode available Ask user for date of journey dd DFormat Today SZDY ZMN CE YR d AskDate Enter date on which you are travelling dd Ask user for desired departure time Local t t Menu Departure time 0800 0900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 if t Abort Abort if user chooses nothing Construct URL for www transportdirect info See http www transportdirect info Web2 downloads BusinessLinksTechnicalGuide pdf http www transportdirect info web2 journeyplanning jpLandingPage aspx et jp amp 00 p amp o UrlEncode origin amp do p amp d UrlEncode PostCode amp dt DFormat d SDY8MN SCE YR amp t t amp da d amp p 1 E amp E amp E Se eaoeaeaeeaese amp I Url u Scanning through a database This example shows how to loop through a database and perform some action on each record In this case to find the total sales and vat values for a VAT return The filter VatPeriod is used to restrict action to records having a date within the current VAT period The final totals could be merged into a report printed within this script or the variables made global and used externally Local a b co Filter VatPeriod Use current period sales First Select first
58. such as fields containing postal addresses also present a problem Multi line text fields convert line breaks to Line break _ New field _ Comma space _ n Unix _ Trim surplus line breaks The line breaks in the data can be output as they are this is useful for Microsoft Excel You can choose to treat each new line of a text field as a separate field in its own right It will appear in the output with your chosen field separation just like other fields enclosed in double quotes as desired If you are splitting the multi line text fields into separate fields you will probably wish to pad the shorter records out with blank fields so that the columns of data continue to align but this option may be turned off if it suits you to The Comma space option has some special features This is designed with plain text output in mind where the need is for the output to be human friendly rather than formatted for computers The multiple lines are joined with a comma and space separating each one but any commas or spaces included at the end of the lines within the data are stripped off to avoid unsightly double commas appearing Most Unix applications and some RISC OS applications such as Impact and EasiWriter prefer the line breaks to be shown as a backslash followed by n if they are to be interpreted as line breaks when the file is read back in Finally there is the option to trim surplus line breaks from the exported recor
59. the Save button If a field map with the same name exists you will be asked to confirm if you wish to redefine it If the name is unique a new map will be created Deleting a field map Having chosen an existing field map it may be deleted by clicking on the Delete action button A warning will be given before the selection is deleted Default settings for field map selection You can choose whether a field map will be activated when the database is first opened Impact can remember the field map which was active when you were last using the database or a specific field map which you may wish to apply when opening the database For example if you have a database with a large number of fields per record you might have a convenient selection of fields defined in a field map suitable for displaying the records in a table Having this field map active each time the database is opened would allow you to open a table and jump quickly to the record you require These options are explained fully in 21 3 On opening a database 41 Impact Chapter 7 Data entry 7 1 7 2 7 3 Chapter 7 Data entry This chapter describes how to create new records using the data entry tool and how to modify existing records Modifying existing data As normally displayed a data card will be displaying a particular record Any field may be readily amended and the record re saved When a field has been modified the card title bar will show an aster
60. the database The simplest solution is to make sure that the Impact backup choices on Beta are set to Ignore and perform all backup operations from Alpha instead If you want to be more ambitious and all of your databases store their backups in lt Impact BackupDir gt then you can define this variable in the Impact Run file on Beta to point to the appropriate directory on Alpha If you use global variables in action scripts you will have to decide whether you want the variables to be truly global being the same whichever computer is used to open the databases or whether you want the potential for the variables to take different values on the two computers For truly global variables you need to set the Impact Globals variable in the Run file on Beta to point to the Impact choices directory in Alpha instead Set Impact Globals Share Alpha Boot Choices Impact It is possible to set things up in ever more complex ways should you wish to be able to store databases on both computers For example you could set up Impact Path on Beta so that first databases from Alpha are listed and then databases stored locally on Beta by using the following two lines Set Impact Path Share Alpha Impact UserData Set Impact Path lt Impact Path gt lt Impact Dir gt UserData Loading databases by unconventional means You can load a database into Impact from anywhere on your computer simply by dragging the database directory to Impact s iconbar icon
61. the number of fields per record by examining the first line of its input file If any subsequent lines have more fields the extras are discarded The supplied export format therefore has the Pad with blank fields option ticked to ensure that all exported records have the same number of lines However if you are exporting records with a multi line address field and a separate postcode field this then has the effect in LaBella of putting blank lines before the postcode on the labels with shorter addresses Turning off the Show blank lines setting in LaBella will correct for this Note also that by default LaBella will strip double quotes that surround fields before display The export format suggested for LaBella does not enclose the data fields in quotes but if any of the actual fields are surrounded by quotes LaBella will strip these too unless the Show quotes 156 Impact Chapter 18 Exporting data 18 5 18 6 option in LaBella is ticked TSV MySQL The final export format provided by default is for exporting databases to the open source database server MySQL This database server is popular on the internet and may be available with your web space hosting The settings chosen are such that the LOAD DATA INFILE command in MySQL can be used with its default options without having to specify different field or line terminators Exporting the data Clicking the Save button will display a standard Save as box from which the file ic
62. the same time using H the table editing features See 9 73 Editing several selected records together for more information This tool will search through the database for records matching the data you supply and will optionally replace the found fields with a new value or with the result of a supplied calculation Calculations are used in other parts of Impact and are fully described in Chapter 16 Calculations Using this tool it is possible for example to switch off flag fields which are on multiply a number field by some factor or perform a more complex calculation or add a given number of days to a date etc This may be done with an index or filter active to control which records are affected The search window Search Addresses Search fields al Test _ Case sensitive Fn oy be _ Calculation Search from start _ From next record B Cancel Replace all Replace Search This window is displayed when the search tool is selected or F4 is pressed The fields to be searched may be chosen from the field selector by clicking on the Search fields menu icon The search can be done over several fields but it is only sensible to search over similar field types For this reason some fields will become faded following your initial selection The test to be used on the fields must then be selected from the Test menu These tests are the same as those described for simple filters in 4 8 Filter tests For tex
63. tool action files If the final optional parameter lt exclusive gt is true then the tool button will be reset to its normal state on all cards in all other databases For example this is used in the Backup tool script because the Backup dialogue may only be open for one database at a time Trace Trace lt expression gt Causes the expression to appear in a throwback window This can be useful for tracing bugs when developing action scripts lt expression gt may be any valid expression WimpPoll Url WimpPoll lt time gt Embedded in a While loop allows multi tasking while the loop is executing WARNING Avoid doing anything which may upset the commands being executed like closing the database If lt time gt is given this command will also pause the current action for an interval up to the number of centiseconds given Url lt string gt This command provides a means of sending e mail or accessing web sites from within 145 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Impact by launching a URL e g Url http www google com Url mailto someone somewhere com Local u u mailto email u Subject UrlEncode Message from Impact Url u Note that the workable length of a URL launched in this way depends on the receiving application and the method of dispatch For best results please ensure that the AcornURI module is installed on your computer You can check to see whether this is activate
64. unused characters will be filled with leading zeros Using this feature numbers may be displayed in a fixed width such as 00074 for example Range checking With this option selected an entered value will be checked when an attempt is made to save the record to disc and if outside the bounds of the range given an error message will be generated Selecting this option will cause the minimum and maximum value boxes to become writable allowing the limits to be entered Blank zero If this option is selected a zero value will be displayed as a blank field rather than as zero digits Plus sign If this option is selected the displayed value will always show a sign plus or minus as appropriate A negative sign is of course always shown when required Show negatives in red If this option is selected all negative numbers will be displayed in red rather than black This only applies to the card display and does not affect merged or exported values 14 13 Date time fields x Edit date field c Namel Caretorder 10 _ Default _ Range checking Min 1 1 1900 IV Null allowed Max 31 12 2247 Bi Time Format dy mn ce yr E Non writable Justify E B Range checking Selecting this option will cause the Min and Max fields to become writable and allow the entry of an acceptable date range With this option selected a check will be made when an attempt is made to save the record and an e
65. wheel to indicate that the merging machinery will work out which file is to be attached at the point of sending For an internal file the name of the attachment will be set up the same as the name of the field because the filenames within Impact s database structure are not meaningful outside Impact But an external linked file field will show as unnamed and the actual filename will be substituted on merging In each 71 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports case a suitable file extension may be added to the end of the filename to help Windows PC users You can override the default naming behaviour using the attachment attributes window which can be accessed by double clicking the attachment in the JmpEmail editor The simple drag and drop method will not work in all circumstances It is not possible to drag the file field if it is shown as a button or if the field is empty for the current record The command builder found in Impact s merge window offers a straightforward solution for all file fields by means of an Attach file tick box as part of the Fetch command This actually constructs a Cale command to fetch the filename rather than the content of the file as this is what ImpEmail needs ir e Addresses to ImpEmail Document Al wl Current record Application ImpEmail 6 J Multiple From Star lection Here B P7 Cancel Test Clear Fix E mail Command Impact Addresses Calc FileName
66. will be immediately printed by the currently selected printer driver If there are queued labels see below the Print button will read Print Q and the queued labels will be printed instead of the currently selected ones Saving labels A file of labels may be saved to disc for later use by clicking on Save which will cause a standard Save as box to be displayed The label icon may then be dragged to a filer window or directly to a printer on the iconbar A saved label file may be printed at a later date if required either by dragging it to a printer or by double clicking on it Note that the file contains all required label texts as extracted from the database when the file is saved If the database is subsequently modified these changes will not be reflected on the labels Other choices such as the name of the label style the number of copies and the next label to be used etc are stored within the label file and will be used at the time of printing Note that label style name is saved so that if this label definition is subsequently modified then the modified definition will be used at print time Label printing is handled entirely by LabPrint so that Impact does not need to be installed to 76 Impact Chapter 11 Printing labels 11 6 11 7 11 8 11 9 print a label file If the computer has seen LabPrint then double clicking on a label file or dragging the file to a printer driver will result in the lab
67. will be to import CSV data and the window will be pre set for this You may need to use TSV data transfer if the exporting application does not support CSV If you are unsure whether a file has CSV or TSV data in it open it in a text editor such as Edit Zap or StrongEd to check whether the fields are separated by commas or tab characters In the event of the field separator being neither of these for example I or another character select the Separator option and enter the character in the box provided 159 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data 19 2 Quoted text fields Standard CSV files have double quotes placed around text fields so that commas within the text are not interpreted as field separators These quotes are normally stripped from the incoming data If this action is not required this option should be switched off but it is usually all right to leave it turned on Special characters In CSV or TSV files originating from other RISC OS software or from Unix systems there is a convention that certain characters are prefixed with a backslash to negate any special function For example a backslash preceding a comma would mean that the comma was part of the field rather than forming the field delimiter of a CSV file Again it is often safe to leave this option active whatever the source of your file but it can be turned off if necessary For more details about the methods of specifying special characters see 16 4 Con
68. 189 189 126 111 111 111 111 111 111 145 115 119 154 159 114 145 116 116 128 110 142 145 140 145 114 43 93 36 118
69. 36 37 37 37 37 38 38 Contents Impact 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 5 10 5 11 The sort order Using a filter Manual record selection Creating the index Deleting indexes Default settings for index selection Chapter 6 Field maps 6 1 6 2 6 3 6 4 6 5 6 6 Creating and modifying field maps Field selection Concatenating fields Creating the map Deleting a field map Default settings for field map selection Chapter 7 Data entry 7 1 Te 7 3 7 4 7 5 7 6 1 1 7 8 7 9 7 10 7 11 Modifying existing data Using drag and drop Entering new data Writable fields Date fields File fields Image fields Flag and option fields Menu and browser fields Saving the data Clearing fields Chapter 8 Search and replace 8 1 8 2 8 3 8 4 8 5 8 6 The search window Entering replacement data Starting the search Replacing the data Automatic replacement Tabulating finds Chapter 9 Tables 9 1 9 2 9 3 9 4 9 5 The table tool The table menu Aligning content of columns Resizing table columns Hiding and reordering table columns 38 38 38 38 39 39 40 40 40 40 41 41 41 42 42 42 42 43 43 43 44 45 45 45 45 46 46 47 47 48 48 48 49 49 49 49 50 50 Contents Impact 9 6 9 7 9 8 9 9 9 10 9 11 9 12 9 13 Changing the title of the table Changing the table font and size Selecting records in a table Exporting the table as a text file Exporting as a Draw fi
70. 8 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes Choosing the field type Menu and browser fields are very similar types the only difference is in how the values are entered into the record cards via a menu or via arrow nudge buttons Unlike other field types you can easily switch a field from a menu type to a browser field and back by using the radio buttons Entering texts Texts used in the menu are numbered from zero upwards and should be entered into the writable icon Pressing the Return key will cause the number to be incremented allowing the further items to be entered If you require a blank entry to be available in the database note that you will need to create an entry with some text in create a further entry and then go back and remove the unwanted text from the one you wish to be blank The blank entry must not be the last one in the list as this will be ignored when the menu browser list is constructed The up and down arrows may be used to select any entered text which may then be edited if required You will always find one extra blank text at the end of the list to allow additional texts to be entered The texts will be displayed in the database in the order in which they were created or you can tick Display entries sorted to have them sorted into alphabetical order Note that additional texts may only be added to the end of the list and apart from choosing alphabetical order the order of texts on the menu may n
71. At this stage you will have your original data unaltered apart from the extra calculation field and a CSV file whose first field uniquely identifies records for matching Using the newly defined field map import this CSV file with the overlay option turned on Filters and overlay If you have a filter selected when using the import tool then any incoming records which would not pass the filter are discarded and will have no effect on the records in the database But when overlay is in operation the current filter also affects which records are searched for possible matches Any record which does not pass the current filter will not be considered for matching and will not be overlaid Instead a new record will be created providing the proposed new record from the import file passes the filter test of course Indexes and overlay The currently selected index will only have an effect on the import operation if you are using overlay The index will affect the order in which the records are searched for a match and in fact which records are even considered for a match with the incoming data in the first place Without an index being selected the value in the first field of each incoming record will be searched for in the database starting with the first record in the database and working through until a match is found If an index is selected the order will instead be according to the chosen index Only the first matching record will be mo
72. Chapter 16 Calculations Displays a menu and returns the user s choice where t is the menu title c is a list of comma separated options and d optional is the default entry item number which will be ticked If the user does not make a choice the default is returned if supplied If any of the items in the list contain commas these will need to be escaped using the AddSlashes function 16 10 Text functions These functions manipulate text strings or produce text from other data types DataPath text DataPath text d Returns the full file path for given database If d is not given the current database is assumed i e the one from which the action script is executed DataName text DataName text d Gives the name of the database specified by d If d is not given the current database is assumed i e the one from which the action script is executed or in which the calculation is evaluated FieldText text FieldText text f Returns the textual version of the value of field fin the current record formatted as it would be displayed on the card This is particularly useful for flag fields which otherwise yield a numeric value To read the value of a field which is not in the local database f may include the database name in the form database field e g FieldText Videos type If you wish to read the numeric value of a flag option menu or browser field use the FieldValue function CardText Len text CardT
73. Favre s CSVamp or a spreadsheet You could even import into Impact temporarily without overlay and re export the data with the fields in the desired order A value which is guaranteed to match uniquely is the Impact record number and this will not change for the life of the record A sequence field is almost as good But these are only likely 167 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data 19 6 to be available if you are importing data from a source which obtained the records from your Impact database in the first place To match by record number you would need to create a calculation field of numeric type with the calculation expression being Record See the Videos and Addresses sample databases for examples you can copy If you do not have any field which is sufficiently unique to use for matching it is possible but fiddly to combine two or more fields for matching For example you might have a surname field and a forename field and the two together might be sufficient to distinguish all your records First of all import the data as new records without overlay being turned on Next create a calculation field whose expression 1s along the lines of surname forename Create a new field map containing all the fields you had imported from the file but with the new calculation field first in the field map Using this field map export the new records to a CSV file and then delete all the new records from the Impact database
74. Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Mrs etc is to be printed preceding the name field on the same line separated by a space TempFields title name address postcode name LabQueue L7160 Printing with Ovation Pro This action script prints a merged document assumed to be stored in the Documents directory within the database Using Ovation Pro has the advantage that a document may be closed after use using the Macro command to send a macro to Ovation Pro See Ovation Pro s manual for details of the filescrap command etc N B Automatically closing the document afterwards cannot be done via Impression which always leaves the document on screen to be closed manually but the rest of the script would work the same way Script to print an invoice Printer LaserJet 6 Select printer MergeTo OvationPro Specify OvPro DocLoad Invoice Load document DocMerge Invoice Merge document DocPrint Invoice Print it Macro filescrap currentfile Invoice Keeping a record The next script is executed from the Addresses database It copies a master letter into a letters directory merges and fixes the merged data then saves the merged version The event is logged as a new record in the Letters database and a reference code generated by the sequence field ref used as the filename This method keeps a permanent copy of all letters sent and a record in the Letters database An action button co
75. ImpactChoices Path 183 ImpactChoices Write 183 ImpEmail 193 mail merging example 55 merging attachments 71 Importing data 24 29 159 Impression reports see Merge tool Index Index action command 135 Index function 126 Indexes 15 24 29 37 creating and modifying 37 deleting 39 effect on importing 168 in merge commands 61 64 65 selection indexes 38 selection on opening a database 174 Indexes function 127 Insert function 115 Int function 120 IsNull function 128 K Key fields 103 Keyboard shortcuts 26 KeyDown function 126 KillQueue action command 140 L Label design see Labels designing Label tool 29 LaBella 156 Labels 19 24 75 action commands 139 default label style 77 designing T11 exporting to LaBella 156 field maps 76 printing 76 queuing 77 saving 76 using images 79 using the merge tool 73 Labels on record cards 82 90 attributes 100 LabPrint action command 139 LabPrint application 75 LabPrint LabelFile 183 LabQueue action command 139 205 Impact LabStyle action command Last action command LastButton function LCase function Len function Less than Local action command Local variables Log function Log10 function LTrim function Macro action command Macro function Mail merging see also Merge tool Maths functions Max function Menu fields attributes entering data importing in calculations reordering texts Menu function Merge commands dragging from Impact entering from Impact ent
76. To OvationPro Specify merge application DocLoad destfile Load document DocMerge docname Merge document DocFix docname Fix merged data permanently Stop at this point if document is to be edited If Query Do you wish to edit the letter Abort Otherwise save and print document then close it Macro savedocument docname Printer LaserJet 6 Select printer DocPrint docname Print it Macro filescrap currentfile docname 153 Impact Chapter 18 Exporting data 18 1 18 2 Chapter 18 Exporting data Simple export using drag and drop Impact allows any single displayed data field to be dragged from the displayed card and dropped into any other application that will accept it such as Impression Messenger and many others Some applications such as TechWriter and EasiWriter display a ghost caret which indicates exactly where the text will be inserted when it is dropped Note that if you hold down Shift while dragging the exported data will also be deleted from the field on the card If you have partial text selection enabled see 27 11 Text selection you can select part of a field and export that by dragging Alt dragging will export the whole field Exporting several fields When a field map is active dragging any field from the card or dragging from the card background will export the data from those fields in the map regardless of which field you drag fro
77. abase Scan Scan lt database gt Scan records in a database starting with the current one using the index filter field map currently set in order to be able to use table calculation functions in a similar way to the Scan merge command To scan from the start of the database you will need to first issue the command First to select the first record in the database For example if you had a database of cash transactions with a field named amount you could obtain the total as follows TempFields amount First Scan 137 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Message Total amounts Total l 17 8 Document merging and printing These commands allow complete control over document merging and should be used in preference to the old Merge and SendLetter commands Examples of their use can be found in the example scripts Printing with Ovation Pro and Keeping a record at the end of this chapter MergeTo MergeTo lt application gt Select the application to merge to e g MergeTo OvationPro Printer Printer lt name gt Select the named printer The name should be in the form which appears under the printer s icon on the icon bar e g Printer BJC 210 DocLoad DocLoad lt document gt Load the file named lt document gt into the application If just a filename is given the document is loaded from within the database s Documents directory Or a full pathname can be given to load it from elsewhere
78. aces or by using peer to peer networking such as ShareFS Networked fileservers requiring users to log in This sort of system is generally found in workplaces and educational institutions rather than at home A network licence for Impact may be purchased and the software can be installed on the fileserver and executed from any RISC OS computer which is connected Impact provides the means for databases to be stored separately in the user root directory of each user ensuring that 184 Impact Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use the databases are only available to the user who created them To use this mode of operation unset the system variable Impact Path in Impact s Run file using the command Unset Impact Path When Impact Path is not set Impact will use a directory called ImpactWork located in the user root directory or URD as defined by the fileserver at login Within JmpactWork a directory called DataFiles will hold the databases and a directory called Choices will be used for saving the user s choices Alternatively you could set up Impact Path and Impact Write if required for each user and the choices would then use the standard choices system Peer to peer networks By using ShareFS or other peer to peer networking you can make the hard drives of each computer on a small network available to the others With care many of the facilities of an Impact database can be made available to the other machines on the net
79. action script when choosing a flag field Note that you must give the field a name before you can create the action script Clicking on the Program button will cause Edit or your configured text editor to display a text file window If you are editing an existing card field this window will show the current commands Action scripts are fully described in Chapter 17 Action commands Having entered or edited the commands the text should be saved to its existing filepath within the database If you have only changed the action program on the card there is no need to also use the Save button to store the new action 14 16 Option fields Name Order 14 _ Text colour al Buttons 1 EA i Default option o EA Button Left J Right Program Option field settings are identical to those for flag fields as described above except for the way default settings are chosen Instructions on how to reorder texts can be found in 24 6 Changing the order of texts in option menu and browser fields Default option Choose from the Default option menu which option should be selected by default The options are numbered sequentially downwards beginning with 1 A setting of O will result in no button being pre selected 14 17 Menu and browser fields X Menu attributes C Name si Order EN ahs Field type Menu Browser Texts o lA __ Display entries sorted Default o l Menu title OoOo e B 9
80. ailable and may be opened in another application by double clicking or dragged and dropped into other applications If Impact is unable to display the image itself a filetype icon will be displayed for the appropriate file type instead Impact can display sprite JPEG and Draw files on all current versions of RISC OS and on RISC OS Select a much wider range of file types is supported If the image is an external file which cannot be found a red warning triangle will be displayed instead A question mark in a red circle shows that the disc is inaccessible 44 Impact Chapter 7 Data entry 7 8 7 9 7 10 7 11 To remove an image see 7 71 Clearing fields Flag and option fields These types are set by simply clicking the appropriate button As with many _ Adult other applications radio buttons can be deselected by clicking with Adjust if you wish none of them to be set General L Child Menu and browser fields These fields are set in the normal desktop manner either by clicking the Tuesday a browser arrow icons or clicking the menu icon and making a selection as uesday appropriate Note if you wish to clear the value you must have a blank n option available on the menu cod bune kal Saving the data To save any changes it is necessary to click on the save tool or press F3 By default pressing the Return key in any field will also save the changes If you prefer in the E Choices window you can make
81. aller display Caller display Database Field Database Action This feature controls the program actions when a telephone call is received if Caller display is in use see Chapter 20 Caller display The required syntax is as shown in the item label and is described in Chapter 16 Calculations Database Field This specifies the database and field which will be searched for a matching phone number Database Action This specifies the database and action field which will be executed when a call is received Placement grid Placement grid Default On x 16 es of 30 73 These settings control the x and y spacing of the placement grid used for card design editing and whether it is on or off by default 176 Impact Chapter 21 Choices 21 10 Default export format Export Default format None l You can pick which of the export formats will be selected when the export tool is first opened If you do not make a choice then the first option on the formats menu will be chosen See Chapter 18 Exporting data for more information 21 11 Text selection Text fields on cards __ Enable partial text selection You may wish to be able to drag to select part of the text in your text fields for copying amp pasting dragging amp dropping into other applications etc This is not enabled by default To enable partial text selection tick the box Partial text selection only applies to text fields and not to other wri
82. application to allow you to make alterations Templates may be removed using the Delete template button 96 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes External file fields Max path length X Edit linked file field 5 Name D Button Image area Program i __ Filled Colour Border type Concave l Max path length RA A linked file field holds the full pathname of the file directory or application dropped onto it and sufficient space on the disc must be allocated to hold this If your file is held in a deeply nested directory structure you may need to increase this allocation This can be increased at a later date if problems arise such as the Filer complaining it cannot find the file or that the file name is invalid These errors may be due to the file name having become truncated Program It is possible to invoke an action script when a new file is dropped on an internal or external file field Note that you must give the field a name before you can create the action script Clicking on the Program button will cause Edit or your configured text editor to display a text file window If you are editing an existing card field this window will show the current commands Action scripts are fully described in Chapter 17 Action commands Having entered or edited the commands the text should be saved to its existing filepath within the database If you have only changed the action program on the card there i
83. are two options for how e mail is sent off One is for ImpEmail to communicate directly with your ISP s SMTP server the other is to use a Newsbase transport such as POPstar or Hermes If you choose to use a Newsbase transport messages will be placed in that transport s queue for sending later if you use direct SMTP messages will be sent immediately if the server can be contacted If you choose to use direct SMTP enter the name of your SMTP server e g smtp myisp co uk and change the port number if necessary Note that ImpEmail does not support SMTP servers which require authentication If your server requires a username and password to be sent we recommend you use Hermes instead of direct SMTP Hermes is part of the NetFetch application which may be purchased from R Comp If you prefer to use a Newsbase transport you may have to run your e mail software first to ensure ImpEmail can find all the possible transports All you then have to do is select the one you use from the menu if that has not already been placed in the box You do not usually need to be running any other software while using ImpEmail this is just to enable the initial configuration To change the configuration at a later date simply choose Choices from ImpEmail s iconbar menu Composing messages To create a new message click on the ImpEmail iconbar icon An editor window will open 193 Impact Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual showing From To Cc and Subj
84. atabase record by record The arrows with bars select the first or last record You can also move to the first record by shift clicking on the previous arrow and to the last record by shift clicking on the next arrow All actions are reversed by clicking with Adjust If an index has been selected browsing will take place in indexed order If a filter has been selected only those records which pass the filter tests will be displayed eal The data entry tool Selecting this tool clears the record card ready for the creation of a new record If a default entry has been defined this will be displayed For more details see Chapter 7 Data entry wy The copy tool This tool creates a new record which is a copy of the current one BE The save tool This tool saves the current record This may also be done by pressing the F3 key X The close tool If clicked with Select this tool closes the current database If Adjust is used and several cards are open on this database only the card containing this tool is closed gt The delete record tool Clicking this tool will delete the current record after a warning gg The select tool Selecting this tool allows data fields to be selected for drag exporting Fields may be selected in any order clicking with Adjust to add to the initial selection See Chapter 18 Exporting data H The search tool Selecting this displays the main search and replace dialogue box For more details see C
85. ay be closed by clicking the Cancel button or by clicking on the label tool icon to cancel it Label styles To print a set of labels it is first necessary to select the label style required and this may be done using the label selector near the middle of this window Simply click on the Label menu icon and select the label required from those presented When you do this it is LabPrint which displays the menu and there may be a few moments delay while this application is started if it is not already running The chosen label style will be shown in the label selector display Click on Preview label to see how data from the current record would look in this label style The label definitions are held within LabPrint which is supplied with a set of pre defined label styles from the Avery Laser Label set You can design your own label styles or modify those supplied from within LabPrint as described later Multiple records As first displayed the Current record option is selected In this mode the record currently displayed in the card will be printed If you select Multiple you can choose to print all records From first or all records starting from the currently displayed record From here Or you can 75 Impact Chapter 11 Printing labels 11 3 print a selection of records by opening a table selecting those you want and clicking on the Selection option Copies of each label The number of copies of each label may be
86. base will be automatically updated at the same time as the local database fields The key field the customer s name cannot be edited remotely Clearing foreign fields Since data is entered into these fields by dragging and the key field is not editable these fields cannot be cleared in the normal manner Instead click with Menu over the key field and follow the arrow by Clear item to display a window showing the current field contents To clear the field simply click on the Clear button This will result in the link to the foreign database record being broken Any dependent fields are also cleared This renders the card modified and the save tool must be used to permanently save the change to disc Opening the record in the remote database Although you may have several fields from the remote database displayed in the local database s record card it is often still necessary to view or edit the record in the remote database using the full record card for that database For example the Videos database displays the name of the borrower as the key field and the address of the borrower as a dependent but to obtain the postcode or phone number of the borrower you will need to go to the Addresses database itself Impact provides a convenient way to open the right record in the remote database Simply click Ctrl Select on the key field and the remote record card will be opened at the correct record 106 Impact Chapter 16 Calculati
87. bases are shown ticked on the database menu and while any databases are open the Impact icon on the iconbar will show an open drawer in the filing cabinet To ensure that all databases are closed and their data safe the iconbar menu option Close all should be selected All databases are closed automatically when Quit is chosen from the iconbar menu or the program is terminated using the Task Manager Copying databases Each Impact database is stored in its own directory usually inside the UserData directory that sits alongside the Impact application directory If Impact is not running you can simply copy the database by copying its directory A wider range of copying options is available using the Copy database tool on the card menu Copy Addresses database O marse lV Include records lV Include documents B Cancel save This tool allows you to make a copy of a database when Impact is running You can choose whether or not to include the records in the database copy and whether to include any documents for mail merging or internal file field templates Producing a copy of the database without including the records is useful if you have created a database and wish to share the design with another Impact user In most respects the Copy database tool is a standard RISC OS save box You can drag the directory icon to a Filer window to make a copy of the database wherever you like You will notice however a menu
88. be presented in date order The highest number will always be the last one saved and have a maximum value equal to the number of backups set in the choices window see Chapter 21 Choices as earlier backups are removed To store more backups you will need to alter the Backups saved setting in the choices window Setting the backup location By default a newly created database will have the location to store backups set to 178 Impact Chapter 22 Making backups 22 4 22 5 22 6 lt Impact BackupDir gt which is a system variable set up in Impact s Run file It normally points to a directory called BackupData in the same directory as the Jmpact application itself You may choose to set the backup location to something else just find or create a suitable directory on your hard disc You may use the same location for as many databases as you like as each will be stored under its own name You may type the new location name into the box or drag the directory from the Filer window to the box Alternatively open the Filer window showing the contents of the backup directory and drag the small directory icon from the Backup window to that window If you wish to use a floppy disc for your regular backup path the easiest way to set this up if you are using RISC OS 4 or above is to insert the disc into your floppy drive and drag the small directory icon to the floppy disc icon on the iconbar Note that Impact will not be able to make
89. bels The label design window Selecting a label Types of label Selecting a font Positioning the text Using images on labels Rotating text and images Label sheet design Saving the design Using a different sample text in LabPrint Chapter 12 Creating a database 12 1 12 2 12 3 12 4 12 5 12 6 12 7 12 8 12 9 12 10 12 11 12 12 12 13 A simple example Placing and editing labels Placing and editing a text field Multi line text fields Adjusting the card Saving the database Editing a card design A choice of field types Multiple cards Setting a password Card attributes window Copying fields Editing the toolbar Chapter 13 Field types 13 1 13 2 13 3 13 4 13 5 13 6 13 7 13 8 13 9 13 10 Why have field types Date time fields Number fields Text fields File fields Image fields Flag fields Option fields Browser fields Menu fields 76 qi T11 77 77 78 78 78 79 79 79 79 81 81 82 82 82 82 83 83 83 83 83 84 84 84 85 86 87 87 87 87 87 87 88 89 89 89 89 Contents Impact 13 11 13 12 13 13 13 14 13 15 Calculation fields Sequence fields Action buttons Labels Boxes Chapter 14 Changing field attributes 14 1 14 2 14 3 14 4 14 5 14 6 14 7 14 8 14 9 14 10 14 11 14 12 14 13 14 14 14 15 14 16 14 17 14 18 14 19 14 20 14 21 14 22 The Field editing menu Common features Editing legends The field move tool The field edit box Fiel
90. ce of a field in another database f may include the database name in the form database field e g Exists surname Exists Videos film Valid int Valid int rec text d Returns 1 true or 0 false according to whether the record numbered rec exists passes the current filter test and appears in the current index of database d If the database is omitted the current one is assumed If the record number is omitted the current record is assumed IsNull int IsNull lt expression gt Returns 1 true if the expression yields a null result 0 otherwise Null is a value meaning the datum is essentially unknown a text field which has been set to an empty string or a number field set to zero are not considered null Null values currently can only appear in date fields e g IsNull Date gt 1 IsNull Date 10 i cael IsNull gt 0 Macro 128 text Macro lt macro gt lt document gt Ovation Pro only the Macro function may only be used in action scripts after a merge connection has been established by the action command MergeTo OvationPro Sends the given macro command to the named document in Ovation Pro for execution and returns the result which must be a string See also the Macro action command in Section 17 8 The syntax of lt macro gt is that of a standard Ovation Pro macro command e g macv itos getunits See your Ovation Pro manual for more details Note that if the Ovation Pro functi
91. commas in the railway names 105 Impact Chapter 15 Relational databases 15 7 15 8 15 9 Local list choice Set up local variables Index Railways sorted Turn on index to sort railways First Railways Start from the beginning list AddSlashes Railways name First menu item While Next Railways Move through Railways d base list AddSlashes Railways name Add to the list choice Menu Railway list Put up menu and get user s choice if choice Abort Abort if user chooses nothing First Railways Go back to Railways d base Find Railways name choice Find the record chosen railway Record Railways Set value in our foreign key field Note that this method is only reliable if the values in the key fields are unique so would not be so much use for linking to a database of people where two might easily have the same name To avoid this problem you might need to include the foreign record number in the value displayed on the menu and extract that from the user s choice Remote editing Foreign dependent fields may be edited remotely if they have been flagged as writable in the foreign fields attributes box This permits the customer s address for example to be updated from the video record card if required without the need to display the customer database When the local record in the Videos database is saved the appropriate fields in the related Addresses data
92. configured grid spacing In addition a pop up menu may be displayed by clicking on the group with the Menu button and this allows the field or group to be copied moved or deleted Editing legends Several field types such as file action flag and options have a text legend which may be edited directly on the card by clicking once with Select When you do this the legend will be given a white background and the caret will be placed within it ready for editing in the normal manner Pressing the Return key will return the field to its normal appearance as will clicking on 91 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes 14 4 14 5 14 6 another field The field move tool If you choose Move from the Field sub menu this will open the move adjust tool shown below Mover c x 166 y 144 Width 472 Height 132 lt Move _ Snap to grid Move 7 _ Adjust size B This tool allows fine adjustment of the field or selected group to be made by clicking on the arrow icons to move the field in the appropriate direction Clicking with Adjust of course reverses the direction For fast moves holding down either Shift key will cause the field to move in larger increments and all the arrows will auto repeat if the mouse button is held down The radio buttons may be selected to toggle the tool action between move and adjust the button legend changing to reflect the current mode In adjust mode the appr
93. ct Calculations are fully explained in Chapter 16 Calculations 102 Impact Chapter 15 Relational databases 15 1 15 2 15 3 Chapter 15 Relational databases This chapter describes what relational databases are and how they may be implemented within Impact An explanation A relational database is the term used when data is stored in more than one database and where the data in one database is related to the data in another For example a database containing a list of videos used in a video library might include a field showing the customer currently renting the video Since one customer may be allowed to rent several videos at one time it would be very wasteful of disc space if the full customer details were entered for a every video rented Also if a customer s address required updating it would be necessary to find all references to that customer and ensure that they were all updated correctly This is clearly not efficient Instead a separate customer database is kept so that each video database record need only have some reference to the relevant record in the customer database In this way the customer database could be referred to by many other databases while keeping the customer details all in one place Foreign fields In a relational database system Impact uses the following terminology Where the video data card may contain a copy of the customer s name field from the customer database then th
94. ction continues until the end of the document is reached when the editor will tell Impact that it has finished merging If printing or e mailing has been requested by the user Impact will then send a print command to the editor again specifying the document and the editor will carry out the printing or e mailing operation and tell Impact when this has been completed For all this to work the appropriate commands must be embedded in the document As we have seen in the example these can be created easily by dragging from Impact but they can also be created directly in the editor without having to have Impact running The merge window A window similar to the following is displayed when the merge tool is selected The last button will be labelled E mail for communicating with ImpEmail and Print for Impression Ovation Pro ql _Merge Addresses to lt none gt Printer PDF3 Document ol Current record election Here i g Cancel Test Clear Fix Print This window provides facilities for controlling the data merge operation with Impression Ovation Pro and provides tools to aid in creating mpression Ovation Pro documents Clicking on the Edit icon g extends the merge window to provide facilties for building merge 8 af 8 p commands Click with Select to switch between the small window and the full window with command building panel and with Adjust to switch between the small window and the C
95. culations A test could be made to compare the contents of two fields and pass the record if they are equal without needing to know the actual field contents Or the test could include data from another database to filter one database s records according to the selected record in another Another use may be to select records according to a date field applying a test relative to the current date Say all records dated before today or more than 8 weeks old Testing flag fields One particular case where a calculation filter is useful is for testing whether one of a set of flags is ticked You can have several tick boxes stored in a single flag field and the value stored in the database is built up like a binary number see 76 15 Using flag fields for details Supposing you have a set of flags with the field name Status and you want to test whether the second flag in this set is ticked The calculation expression you would need to enter in the filter definition is Flag Status 2 If you wanted to filter for records where the second flag was not ticked you would use this expression Flag Status 2 These expressions both use the Flag function which is described fully in 76 713 Miscellaneous functions Compound filters It is possible to combine the effects of two existing filters so that both tests will be applied and their results combined in some way to decide the final result The two filters used may be any co
96. d selection is temporarily disabled in all cards Copy selected text to new caret position Dragging from an icon Export selected text Export whole field Export whole field Export whole field Export selected text and delete Export whole field and clear field Dragging to an icon Insert text at pointer Append to field if text field Replace whole field otherwise Mouse clicks with Select Select word keep clicking to Open find tool extend the selection Open find tool Open find tool Place caret If a foreign key field open related database card for that record Edit field in external editor OLE 191 Impact Appendix 3 Date format codes Appendix 3 Date format codes The full list of date format codes is as follows Upper or lower case may be used The current hour in 24 hour clock format The current hour in 12 hour clock format The number of minutes past the hour The number of seconds past the minute The number of centiseconds hundredths of a second The letters am or pm as appropriate The letters am or pm as appropriate The day of the week string in full e g Tuesday The first three characters of the weekday name The weekday s number Sunday 01 The day of the month e g 01 The suffix st nd rd or th as appropriate The month name string in full e g August The first three characters of the month name The month number Januar
97. d add an item to a comma separated list escaping any commas in the item itself with a backslash This is useful if you wish to present a menu to the user using the Menu function StripSlashes text StripSlashes text t text escStr Unescapes characters in text thus reversing the action of the AddSlashes function By default the escape character is a backslash but this can be set to a single character of your choice using the optional second parameter escStr UrlEncode text UrlEncode text t Converts the string so that it is suitable for use ina URL All characters except letters numbers underscore and dash will be converted to nn where nn is a two digit hexadecimal code This function is useful for encoding data as though it has been typed into a form on a web page and then submitted See the street map and journey planner action scripts in Section 17 16 Val real Val text t The numerical translation of text string t Format text Format real x text f The textual version of number x formatted according to f The format codes are those used in the C programming language e g 1 2 to format a real number to two decimal places RomanNumber text RomanNumber int n Number n represented by upper case Roman numerals If lower case numerals are 116 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations required you can use the LCase function to convert the result The number must be in the range from 1 to 3999 Money text Money real
98. d by pressing C rl F 12 and typing help acornuri Several examples of the use of this command are found in 7 16 Examples 17 15 Using action fields as functions An action button s field name may be used like any other to represent a value The value used is defined using the Return command within the action script This facility allows very complex calculations to be performed and the results used in merged reports other calculations and even other action scripts 17 16 Examples It is often easier to learn a new programming language by modifying existing scripts so a number of examples are provided here There is also a script in 5 6 Entering foreign data relating to editing foreign fields For further ideas it is worth studying the action scripts for the various buttons in Impact s sample databases Opening a table An action button which opens a table display with appopriate field map filter and index applied can be a real time saver compared with manually applying the settings and opening the table For example in a database of the members of a society you may wish to list those whose membership has expired in surname order with a certain selection of fields The following action script can serve as a model for this Index BySurname Select surname index Fields BriefDetails Select field map Filter Expired Select filter to apply Table Membership expired Open table showing suitable title T
99. d names Order or caret order Default entries Making writable fields non writable Justification Text fields Number fields Date time fields File and image fields Flag fields Option fields Menu and browser fields Action buttons Sequence fields Box items Label items Calculation fields Chapter 15 Relational databases 15 1 15 2 15 3 15 4 15 5 15 6 15 7 15 8 15 9 An explanation Foreign fields Creating foreign fields Foreign field attributes Type specific attributes Entering foreign data Remote editing Clearing foreign fields Opening the record in the remote database 90 90 90 90 90 91 91 91 91 92 92 92 93 93 93 93 93 94 95 96 97 98 98 99 100 100 100 101 103 103 103 103 104 104 104 106 106 106 Contents Impact Chapter 16 Calculations 16 1 16 2 16 3 16 4 16 5 16 6 16 7 16 8 16 9 16 10 16 11 16 12 16 13 16 14 16 15 16 16 16 17 16 18 Expressions Syntax definitions Constants Control codes in text strings Reading values from fields Types of expression Functions and variables Table functions Query functions Text functions Date functions Maths functions Miscellaneous functions Conditional calculations Using flag fields Using option menu and browser fields Using file and image fields Operators Chapter 17 Action commands 17 1 17 2 17 3 17 4 17 5 17 6 17 7 17 8 17 9 17 10 17 11 17 12 17 13 17 14 17 15 17 16 E
100. database from a saved backup ral Backups may be stored on a pre defined filepath or by dragging a directory icon to any desired destination Any backup may be restored in a similar manner All backup copies are compressed to save disc space the compression ratio being near to 50 Compression and de compression are automatic The need for backups Making systematic backup copies of all databases is an essential part of all computer management operations from large institutions to the single home computer There are many ways in which data may be lost or corrupted from a simple power failure or computer crash to computer theft fire a disc drive fault a damaged disc or other catastrophe The backup window Selecting the backup tool from a database toolbar will display the Backup window TIX Backup Addresses G Make a new backup Backup to set location Drag this icon to disc to make oe a one off backup elsewhere Stored backups 5 10 39 01 May 06 Restore Restore from a one off backup CO by dragging and dropping it here Settings Location to store backups lt Impact BackupDir gt oO v Don t backup automatically B Save settings The Stored backups section will show the date of the last backup done and the Settings section will show the backup location for this database which is likely to be blank if the database has not been backed up before You may cycle through the previous backups which will
101. des a backup monitoring system which ensures that you cannot quit the program without being warned that a backup is required Provision is also made to simplify the saving and restoration of backup copies of all databases Impact will keep a selectable number of past backup copies of each database and allow you to restore any of these later if necessary Backup copies are squashed and stored on a user defined backup path which may be another hard disc a floppy disc or network fileserver etc See Chapter 22 Making backups Disc access It is important to understand that Impact accesses data directly from the disc While this has the advantage of allowing large files to be maintained irrespective of the amount of memory RAM available it does mean that the disc files need to be kept open while record cards are displayed Further since one database may access other related databases there may be several files open at any one time even where the record card is not displayed Open databases are indicated by a tick on the database menu Closing databases A database is closed by clicking Menu over an open card and choosing Close database While databases are open a drawer in the filing cabinet iconbar icon will be shown open When all databases are closed the icon will revert to its closed form While a database is open a few records are held in memory This is done to speed access to the data and cut down on disc access and unnece
102. dified thus if the field value matches more than one record currently in the database the choice of index may determine which record is actually overlaid If a further record in the imported file has the same first field value it will match the same record again not any subsequent record further down the index If the current index applies a filter or is a selection index then there will be an even more dramatic effect on overlay because only the records included in the index by either forming part of the selection or passing the index s filter test will be searched for matches If a record has its first field matching a record in the imported file but yet is not included in the index then overlay will not occur and instead a new record will be created This aspect of the import process is rather complicated and for the most part users will get better results by ensuring that there is no index selected when using the import tool Import and field types Data type translation Within a CSV or TSV file all data including numeric values is stored as text During the 168 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data import process each field will be converted into the data type appropriate to the field it is entered into For example text fields are normally listed between double quotes in CSV format files but Impact will attempt to translate these into another form such as numeric or date etc if necessary Similarly where numbers are
103. ding c lt calculation expression gt The calculation must not include spaces unless they are within a quoted string If however you are creating the calculation in the command building panel you may include spaces and they will be stripped out by the command builder The specified index or filter remains in effect until replaced by another i e the command Record next will select the next record in the previously selected index To turn off a previously index or filter without selecting a new one the command should include to turn off an index i to turn off a filter f i e setting an index or filter with a minus sign instead of the name f will also turn off calculation filters set with c Examples Impact Addresses Record first i Sorted Impact Videos Record first c hired amp amp Today hired gt 7 The first example selects the first address record in the index Sorted the second selects the record for the first video which has been on hire for more than 7 days 10 17 The Table command This command may be used to automatically include a table of data in a document consisting of a sequence of records Each record will be terminated in a newline character while all fields will be separated by tab characters or padded with spaces in ImpEmail This is modified if a field map is in force Correct formatting of the table will depend on the tab settings being correctly positioned within Impression Ovation Pro The mer
104. dit these records and re import them you will need to save the file to a new location first 170 Impact Chapter 20 Caller display 20 1 20 2 20 3 20 4 20 5 20 6 Chapter 20 Caller display This chapter describes the support given to the caller display unit and software available from Octopus Systems Background When a phone call is about to be received the phone company send a coded message down the phone line giving the phone number of the subscriber who is calling This may be received and used in various ways This service may be available for free or be subject to a charge from your phone company The Caller display unit This is a small box having a standard phone lead on one end and a serial port cable on the other In use one end is plugged into the phone line usually via a two way splitter and the other end into the serial port on the computer When a call is detected the data is converted to ASCII characters and sent to the computer via the serial port Serial ports If your serial port is already being used by a modem for example it will be necessary to install extra serial ports by purchasing a serial port card many of which are available on the general market Support software The software supplied by Octopus Systems is fully described in its own manual and is not covered here One of the functions of this software is to broadcast a standard Wimp message to all running applications
105. ds If active this setting causes blank lines at the starts ends and in the middle of fields to be removed Any padding with blank fields if the New field option is in force is performed after the trimming has taken place Other options You may wish to Export field names to provide headings for the data when it is loaded into other software The option to Include record selection details allows you to keep a note of the field maps filters and indexes which were in force when the export was performed It is not really suitable fo use with CSV or TSV output but is handy for a textual report Padding data with spaces to create fixed width output is handy for display in a text editor with fixed width fonts or for use with some really old software applications which do not support CSV The widths of the output fields are calculated to be just wide enough to accommodate the longest data in the output so it will vary according to the records you are exporting and will not necessarily be the same spacing if you export a different selection 158 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data 19 1 Chapter 19 Importing data This chapter describes how to use the import tool to import data into Impact from another O application Data may be accepted in CSV comma separated value or TSV tab separated value format Almost all databases and spreadsheet applications can export data in at least one of these formats There is also the option to impor
106. e Note that this is possible although surnames are not stored separately Note that only the videos which are currently on hire are being displayed This is because the index has been created with a named filter so that only a sub set of records is included Filters are described below As their name suggests indexes consist of a look up table held in memory giving direct access to the records held on disc You may create as many as you require and select them as required They are automatically kept up to date as data is entered and deleted Clicking with Adjust on the index tool will display the index definition window the use of which is fully described later in the manual Filters A filter in Impact is very much like a filter in real life in that it lets some records through w while keeping others out as a coffee filter separates the coffee grounds from the liquid Using filters allows you to extract the required records from a database to suit any situation The filter tool is similar to the index tool described above If you now click with Menu on the filter tool you will be presented with the filter menu from which you should select the On Hire filter This is the one used in the Customers index to select all videos which are currently on hire If you deselect the index tool by clicking on it again browsing records will now display all currently hired videos but in record number order since there is no index active Reco
107. e The fields selected will be numbered on the menu to show the selection order A selected field may be de selected by clicking on it a second time To select fields from the card click on the Show field selection option button When you do this any already selected fields will be shown selected on the record card Further selections de selections may be made on the card using the Select and or Adjust mouse buttons as usual The field order will be the order in which you select them on the card and this will be reflected on the field menu when displayed Concatenating fields This feature allows you to define which fields are to be concatenated when printed or exported A field flagged as concatenated will be joined onto the end of the previous field after optionally inserting specified characters between them Any characters to be inserted should be entered into the writable icon labelled Concatenate with for example one or more spaces Fields for concatenation may be chosen from the concatenate fields menu This menu will show the fields selected in order and provides a useful check that the fields have been selected in the 40 Impact Chapter 6 Field maps 6 4 6 5 6 6 desired order Note that the first field will be shown faded as in this case there is no previous field to concatenate it with Creating the map To create the field map enter a suitable name in the Name box or edit the existing one if required and click
108. e video database is termed the local database which contains a foreign field the customer s name Similarly the customer database is referred to as the foreign database It is thus possible for the local video database to contain many references to the foreign customer database Impact places no limit on the number of databases which may be related in this way and a local database may reference a foreign field which is itself a reference to a further foreign field Key fields Even if it is required to include several fields from the foreign database in the local data card such as the address fields in addition to the customer s name only one link field is needed and this is referred to as the key field This is the field which contains the link to the foreign database record Dependent fields Other fields such as the address fields are known as dependent fields as they rely on the key field to provide a reference into the foreign database The difference between a key field and a dependent field is that the key field establishes the link between the two databases The dependent fields are simple copies of the foreign database fields displayed in the local database card as required Creating foreign fields Impact provides a simple and logical way of including foreign fields in a card All that is necessary is to drag the required field from the foreign database the customer database in the above example from its card
109. e Range user defined user defined variable none none 8 bytes 1 79E308 5 bytes 1900 2247 4 bytes 0 31 4 bytes 0 31 4 bytes 0 31 4 bytes 0 31 12 bytes Maximum length up to 999 characters up to 255 characters up to 49 digits up to 12 characters The disc space shown above is the space taken per record and applies whether any data is stored in a record or not In the case of images additional space is also used for all images stored 190 Impact Appendix 2 Mouse and key actions in record cards Appendix 2 Mouse and key actions in record cards The table below shows the effect of various key presses drags and mouse clicks on fields in Impact cards and the differences arising having partial text selection enabled for text fields Action Text field with text selection Text selection is disabled or the enabled field is not a text field Ctrl A Ctrl C Ctrl U Ctrl V Ctrl X Ctrl Z 10 Shift drag selected text Drag A lt drag Shift drag Drag or Shift drag Ctrl drag or Shift Ctrl drag Double click A C C lt double click trl click trl double click Key presses Copy whole field if text field Paste at caret if text field Cut whole field if text field Delete current line if text field Dragging within an icon Select text or move selected text Start export of field contents to new caret position Note that while another card design is being edite
110. e descriptive legends anywhere on the card They are most useful for labelling writable field icons or for providing a title for the card They may have a border and be filled with colour However in normal use they should appear black without a border Colour should always be used with discretion Remember that some people are colour blind while others may be using a monochrome display where colours may not be easily readable Use colour where it conveys some purposeful meaning 100 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes x Edit label Cc Name PS Text colour a _ Pont Font Justify Border type None bia __ Pilled Fill colour i Name It may at first seem strange that a label can have a name like a real data field However it is possible to assign a text to a label within an action script to change the label text under certain circumstances We suggest you leave the label un named until the need arises Text colour Text colour may be selected from the menu Font If you wish to use anything other than the standard desktop font for your labels tick the Font box and choose a font from the menu and the font size you require Justification Normally a label for a writable field will be placed on the left of the field and be right justified A title panel may require centre justification Select the icon required as shown above Border type You can select a border style from the Bord
111. e function 16 17 Using file and image fields Internal file fields where the files are stored within the database will return the content of the file but only if the file is a plain text one For external file fields the filename is returned instead It makes no difference whether the file can be found or not the value is the full pathname of the file as seen by the computer on which you are running Impact There are various functions which will help you get the name or content of the files more consistently no matter whether the file is stored internally to the database or externally FileName The file name of the material stored in the field CardFile The file name for a file field which is not yet saved from the record card to disc FileContent A function to read the content of any file takes a filename rather than a field name as its argument 16 18 Operators Operators are applied according to a priority rating For example multiplication is always done before addition as addition has a lower priority The following table gives all operators and their priorities 130 Impact Operator Note that it is not permitted to use assignment operators Action assignment add and assign subtract and assign multiply and assign divide and assign mod and assign conditional construct logical OR logical AND bitwise OR bitwise XOR bitwise AND equal to not equal to less than greater than less than
112. e in this box Note that when you drop a file in the attachment area ImpEmail may adjust the name as it will appear to recipients to help ensure that they are able to use the file correctly The file type of an attachment is defined in an e mail using the Content Type header in a cross platform standard way E mail software widely used on Windows PCs ignores this and instead relies on the filename extension so ImpEmail will apply the appropriate extension for you when you attach the file In the screenshot above you can see that while the RISC OS filename of the file is simply Picture ImpEmail has added jpeg to identify the file type to users of Windows e mail software The slash will be converted to a full stop on sending You may also define what will happen when the e mail is sent if the attached file cannot be found or read at that stage To continue the previous example if you move the membership guide document forgetting that it is linked from your new member s welcome message it would be best for ImpEmail to alert you to this by refusing to send the message and giving an error There may be circumstances for example if the attachment is drawn from a file field in the database where you would wish to send the e mail message anyway but omitting the attachment You can choose what will happen using the radio buttons at the bottom of the attachment attributes window Merge commands The whole reason for the development
113. e selected records in the table and simply Alt click the field to be edited to start the editing process as usual Then when you save the change you will be prompted as to whether the other selected records should be affected too Mr R Higgins Fred Smith Us Jane Plain 2 Tall Blocks Rotten Road Newtown Que trom Imp Do you want to save this new value in all 6 selected records Save in selected records Cancel save Save in single record Please note that to avoid users accidentally editing many selected records the option to save the change in all selected records does not appear if you move to another field or record using the Tab or cursor keys but only if you use the Return or F3 keys 54 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports 10 1 Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports This chapter describes the merge tool and how to use it to send data to 4 Vee Ovation Pro Impression or ImpEmail to create reports or perform a mail merge to send a customised letter to different people This facility is provided via the Impulse module written by Computer Concepts now public domain The process for each application is very similar but any differences between using Ovation Pro Impression and ImpEmail will be highlighted as the process is discussed Throughout this chapter it is assumed that you are familiar with the relevant features of these applications For the sake
114. e that unlike for data fields themselves the toolbar help applies to all databases As the file is currently stored within the Jmpact application directory customisation of the help text may be lost when upgrading to a newer version of the software The Edit script option is for advanced use only It allows you to redefine what the tool does but affects the action of the tool across all databases 86 Impact Chapter 13 Field types 13 1 13 2 13 3 13 4 13 5 Chapter 13 Field types This chapter gives a description of all available field types and their general use together with descriptions of other items which may be placed on a card How to set the various attributes of individual field types is described in Chapter 14 Changing field attributes while a summary of the disc space required and the range of data that can be stored is provided in Appendix 1 Field types Why have field types You may think at first that you only need to store text and you could indeed build a database using only this field type However you could not for example sort records into date order if they were entered as text August would come before January and the 31st would come before the 2nd However there are other good reasons for the many field types available in Impact For example Menu fields allow a user to quickly select an item from a pop up menu and be confident that there are no spelling errors which would foil a search
115. e this to Set Impact Path Share Alpha Impact UserData and save the Run file When you run Impact again on Beta you will find that the databases stored on Alpha are available New databases created on Beta will be stored on Alpha s hard drive There are some things however which will not work You are encouraged to read the following paragraphs carefully and try some experiments before you end up setting up your databases the wrong way References to files will work from both machines if the files are stored on the same drive as the database In this special case Impact stores the filename with the filing system and disc name stripped off so starting with the and can therefore put the correct discname on the front when accessing it from either machine If the database is stored on Alpha and you make a link to a file stored on Beta while running Impact on Alpha it is likely that the file will also be accessible when running Impact on Beta 185 Impact Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use 24 4 24 5 because the ShareFS name of the disc used to access the file from Alpha will also work on Beta If however you were running Impact on Beta with the database stored on Alpha and created a link to a file stored on Beta s hard disc this will not open correctly when running Impact on Alpha because Impact cannot know how Alpha refers to Beta s hard disc Problems also apply to the location of backups which can be defined within
116. eadMe A further example is given in the Keeping a record script at the end of this chapter 134 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands 17 5 17 6 Comments The characters and may all be used to indicate the start of a comment whether at the start or part way through a line If you wish to place a comment on the same line as a star command only may be used Indexes filters and field maps Index Index lt database gt lt name gt Select the named index which will be active until changed or until the end of the action script If lt name gt is omitted any current setting will be cancelled Examples Index BySurname Sort by name in current database Index Videos DateHired Sort videos by hire date Index Videos Clear index for Vidoes database Filter Filter lt database gt lt name gt Select the named filter which will be active until changed or until the end of the action script If lt name gt is omitted any current setting will be cancelled Fields Fields lt database gt lt name gt Select the named field map which will be active until changed or until the end of the action script If lt name gt is omitted any current setting will be cancelled TempFilter TempFilter lt database gt lt calculation gt Create a temporary calculation filter Only one temporary filter can be defined at any one time and will be destroyed when the action script terminates
117. earned amount Several other things have also been done that are not obvious If you select the databases menu again you will see that a database called Sales has been opened Select this database to view its data card This database is used to log all sales transactions If you shift click on the next browse tool on the Sales card to move to the last record in the database you will find the sale you just made has been entered The record shows the total hire fee and a VAT breakdown All this was achieved by the action script executed when you clicked on the Return button Other action buttons on this card will cancel a hire without logging it as a sale list all the videos currently on hire and any videos which are overdue for return etc You may view the action scripts associated with these buttons by clicking on the button with Adjust The commands used are fully described later in the manual and comments within these scripts will indicate what is going on Producing reports Impact has the best reporting facility of any database available on RISC OS computers teal We can say that without fear of contradiction since Impact uses both Impression and Ovation Pro as report writers These provide all the power of the best desk top publishing software available rather than relying on necessarily inferior built in report generators Impact does this by interfacing to either of these DTP programs via the Impulse module originally written b
118. ecord then the current record will be saved whenever you press the Return key in a writable icon on the card You can instead choose to have the caret move to the next icon when Return is pressed Finally there is the option to have the caret move to the next icon until the final icon is reached whereupon the record will be saved Whichever option is chosen pressing Return when in a multi line text field will insert a blank line and move the caret down to the start of it Saving or moving to the next writable field will only take effect when the caret has reached the last line of the text field s box 173 Impact Chapter 21 Choices 21 3 On opening a database There are four settings which you may wish to have control over each time a database is opened the choice of index filter field map and record to avoid having to select these every time you want to use your databases On opening a database _ Don t select an index Select the last index used J Don t select a filter Select the last filter used _ Don t select a field map Select the last field map used Display the first record Display the last record J Display the last record used These are set at a global level from the main choices window above and may be overriden locally for each database by choosing Database choices from the card menu and unticking Use global choices for each item as required in the dialogue box below E Database choices Addresses
119. ect fields with a large box for the message nx lt untitled 1 gt l From H To Cc Subject Format of From To and Cc fields You may simply put the e mail address of an individual in any of these fields support sinenomine co uk If you wish to include multiple addresses in a To or Cc field separate the addresses with comma and space It may help you to identify the recipients if you also include their names Each name should be placed inside and then the e mail address should follow it enclosed in lt gt For example Joe Bloggs lt spamhater address co uk gt Arthur C Clarke lt author 2001 com gt We will explain the format of merge commands later in this manual but for reference if you are inserting a name and e mail address from the Impact Addresses database using a merge command the To field might read merge Impact Addresses Fetch Name lt merge Impact Addresses Fetch email gt You can see an example of inserting both name and e mail address in the Addresses sample database supplied with Impact Look at the merge document called VideoList With the database Powerbase the merge commands are slightly different This example assumes the e mail address is in a field called EMAIL and the name is in a field called NAME merge Powerbase GetField NAME lt merge Powerbase GetField EMAIL gt Setting up a default From address In the Choices window you can enter one or more address
120. ection option available in the Edit index panel See Chapter 5 Indexes 48 Impact Chapter 9 Tables 9 1 9 2 9 3 Chapter 9 Tables Tables allow you to view and manipulate several records at once They offer an easy way to locate a particular record to select several records for output to print or delete multiple records and to find duplicate records in a database You can also edit much of the data displayed in a table direct without having to call up the record card The table tool Clicking with Select on the table tool will open a table display This will show all records consistent with any active index or filter and will display data fields according to any active field map Each record in the table is displayed on a single line with the field values in columns You may change which record is currently displayed in the data card simply by clicking with Ctrl Select on that record in the table Several tables may be open on a database at once Individual tables may be closed by clicking on the window s close icon or all tables may be closed by clicking with Adjust on the table tool It is possible to make multiple record selections from the table display and form an index containing the selection This is fully described in Chapter 5 Indexes Selections from a table may also be used for exporting records printing labels and report creation as described in the relevant chapters Note that the lines of any multi
121. ed and are available for subsequent merge commands or calculations See the example below and 16 8 Table functions As with the Table command a field map filter and index may be defined for this command by selecting them from the appropriate menus Scan command syntax This command syntax is identical to that of the Table command Impact lt database gt Scan all lt fieldmap gt i lt index gt f lt filter gt c lt calculation gt Examples Impact Videos Scan ReportMap2 i BestSellers Impact Videos Calc Total 3 Count The first example scans the table which would be presented if you opened the table tool with the ReportMap2 field map and BestSellers index selected The second example calculates the total of the values from the third column of this table not counting the Record number column divided by the number of rows i e the average fee earned by each video which has been hired 10 19 The Calc command The Cale command allows calculations to be entered as merge commands to be computed at merge time 66 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports _ Fetch _ Record Calc ted sid _ Table Type _ Text Integer _ Real _ Date J Scan Calculation Format 1 _ Date The Type and Format options allow the result type and format to be defined in a similar manner to the facility provided when designing a card for entering calculation fields The format menus present popular option
122. ed as part of a compound filter An error message will be given if this is attempted If you have made changes to a filter clicking the Cancel button will close the filter panel ignoring all changes made The Hide option If this option is selected the filter will not appear on the filter tool s menu This may be found useful where a simple or calculation filter has been defined whose only purpose is for inclusion in a compound filter and will not be used on its own To edit a hidden filter open the edit panel first then select the filter from the Name menu which will now show all filters including the hidden ones Filter tests This section describes the filter tests in detail Simple filter tests These are the actual tests carried out on each record The table gives the condition for the test to pass that is for the record to be used 35 Impact Chapter 4 Filters 4 9 Test Operation Equal to Field content equal to test data Not equal to Field content not equal to test data Greater than Field content greater than test data Less than Field content less than test data Range Field content equal to or greater than lower limit but strictly less than upper limit Partial match Field content includes test data Text data types only For text fields matching may be case sensitive or insensitive according to option setting Matching is otherwise done according to the ASCII code sequence The Partial match test wil
123. ed fields usually a single space As with indexes and filters an active field map affects all other database operations where relevant It will of course have no effect on the card display or record browsing but its full effect may be seen by displaying the database in table format Before proceeding click Menu on the field tool and select the ReportMap2 field map The table display If you now click on the table tool you will be presented with a tabulated list of all videos E which are currently on hire The table will only show records which pass the selected filter and the fields defined by the selected field map When displaying non text field types such as option buttons user menu selections etc Impact will show the text equivalent For example if an option button field is displayed the table will show the text from the selected button Despite the many and varied field types available in Impact it is possible to edit most fields in the database directly from the table display by holding the Alt key and clicking on the cell to be edited However if you prefer to edit the data in the record card just click Ctrl Select over the record in the table and that record will be displayed in the record card allowing instant access to all data editing features Groups of records may be selected from the table using Select and Adjust in standard desktop manner This selection may be controlled from a pop up menu which also provides
124. ed order you can also choose which fields are to be concatenated onto the end of the previous field the two then being treated as a single field This feature is useful for example to cause forename and surname fields to be printed on the same line of a label It is also possible to specify a character or characters to be inserted between the two concatenated fields often a single space Creating and modifying field maps To create a new field map from scratch you must first deselect any currently active field co map by clicking with Select on the field map tool if this is depressed If you wish to edit an existing field map or create a new one by copying an existing field map definition that field map must first be selected by clicking with Menu on the field map tool In all cases you should then click with Adjust on the field map tool to open the edit field map panel Field selection 0 l Ej Show field selection Concatenate fields 0 l Concatenate with Nam 1B Delete Cancel Save If you are editing an existing field map its definition will appear in the panel Field selection There are two ways to select the required fields by selecting them from the field selection menu or by selecting them from the card Using the first method click the Field selection menu icon and select the required fields from the menu If you do this with the Adjust button the menu will stay open allowing several selections to be mad
125. efault label style in the LabPrint application LabPrint will be installed on the iconbar as soon as you select the label tool from the Impact toolbar Otherwise it may be started in the normal manner by double clicking on it in its Filer window To choose the default label style click with Menu over the LabPrint iconbar icon and select Choices from the menu In the dialogue box presented tick Default label style and choose the style you require from the menu You will need to click on Set amp save to save the choice you have made for future use Even if you have a default label style set it is still possible to choose a different style when required simply by selecting a different label style from the menu in the Label window Designing labels This is done from within LabPrint which should be installed on the iconbar This is done automatically if you select the label tool from the Impact toolbar Otherwise it may be started in the normal manner by double clicking on it in its Filer window The label design window To display the Label Design window select Create from the LabPrint iconbar menu amp T1 Impact Chapter 11 Printing labels TJ Label Design Label L7165 2x4Fragi cm L inches Font Homerton Medium B O Text Graphic Font size 18 pt Spacing Label Width 9 91 Height 6 77 _ Vv Cent Margins Sides 1 00 rah Top 1 00 _ Rotate 90 Export picture Delete picture Scale
126. efix or suffix to the field as if the value to be inserted in a new record is too long it will have to be truncated x Edit sequence field Name Caretorder 1 _ Ej Leading zeros Minimun ts 1 ial Non writable Prefix Sux Next value 0 Justify li Leading zeros Selecting this option will cause the Minimum digits selector to be un faded This is described below Minimum digits If Leading zeros is selected this controls the minimum number of digits used to represent the sequence number excluding any prefix or suffix Unused spaces will be filled with zeros Next value This field indicates the next sequence value to be used and may be edited at any time If you are creating a new database enter the first value you require here Prefix amp Suffix These fields optionally contain a text which will be used to precede or follow the number when entered into the field If you want a space to appear between the prefix and the number you must add this explicitly at the end of the prefix and similarly for spaces preceding the suffix 14 20 Box items These are not real data fields but may be used to group fields together in a logical manner x Edit box G Bj Background colour B The Box attribute dialogue box permits the choice of a background colour if required Colour should be used with discretion 14 21 Label items Like boxes these are not real data fields but may be used to provid
127. elds This section describes in detail how to reorder the items on a menu field A similar method can also be applied to browser and option fields Suppose that on your database card you have an existing menu of Apples Grapes Pears and you wish to add Bananas as a fourth option Logically you might wish your menu to remain in alphabetical order and so place Bananas between Apples and Grapes Using the menu field attributes window the only way to add Bananas to the menu is to add it after Pears in which case your menu would read Apples Grapes Pears Bananas If you were to alter each menu option text so that Grapes changes to Bananas Pears to Grapes and Bananas to Pears you would get a menu reading Apples Bananas Grapes Pears but you would find that all records which previously said Grapes now said Bananas and those which previously said Pears now said Grapes This is because the menu field data for each record is actually stored as a number reflecting the position in the menu of the chosen text Clearly it would be nice to be able to reorder the texts in a menu without altering the data in the record Here is a method of doing this 1 Take a backup of your database in case anything does not go according to plan 2 If you do not already have one on your card create a calculation field of type Number with the calculation expression Record Give the field a name This field will display the record number of each record in the databa
128. els being printed automatically Queuing labels If you click on the Queue button the label will be appended to a file called LabelQueue stored within the Impact application Once this has been done you will not be able to change the label style until the queue has been printed as all labels in the queue must be printed on the same style sheet s Records _ Current record Multiple From _ First Here Label 7163 2x7 Address Preview label Copies of each label 1 pS Next label to use 1 Bes V Shrink text to fit label Queued labels 8 B Cancel Kill queue Queue PrintQ Save Q While the display shows that there are queued labels clicking on the Print Q or Save Q buttons will cause the queued labels to be processed When this is done the settings on the label window will be obeyed so that if you had had the number of copies set to two when queuing the label and still have it set to two when printing the queue you will get four copies printed This also means that you can set the first label to be used which will have been ignored during queuing to take account of partially used sheets before clicking the Print Q button You can abandon the current queue by clicking on the Kill queue button Choosing a default label style You may find that whenever you print labels you use the same label style each time To avoid having to choose this style every time you use the label tool you can set a d
129. emo Load the RISC OS Help application from your Apps folder or any of the popular replacements such as BubbleHelp and help messages will appear when you hover over icons and tools with the mouse Most of Impact s dialogue windows have a little help icon If you click on this the relevant i chapter of the HTML version of the manual will be opened in your web browser Opening a database To start display the database menu and click on the Videos database When you do this the Videos main record card will be displayed You can have any number of databases open at the same time 13 Impact Chapter 1 A guided tour 1 3 1 4 1 5 Ta bse Videos Main c ac AAA Ped PIE H 1 Fim cit Run time 190 Stock No v 005 Child Borrowed by Bill Smith Date hired 218 Crescent Drive Petswoods Kent Over due Hire count 1 o Days Total earned 0 00 Category al Hire fee 2 00 Sales On loan Cancel Returned Hired The Videos database represents the type of database which might be used in a video hire shop giving details of all videos stocked and the name of the customer if any that currently has the video on hire This is an example of a relational database where the customer s details are imported from the Addresses database which Impact has opened automatically although it is not displayed on the screen A feature of all database record cards is a toolbar along the top having a set of to
130. enu over the card If you do not wish to have a toolbar on your card you can click with Menu over the card and choose Remove toolbar To add a toolbar you can either drag the Toolbar icon from the Field selection window or choose Add toolbar from the card menu A default set of tools is supplied when a toolbar is placed on the card Clicking with Menu over a tool will open the edit tool menu shown below Card leads to the card attributes window described earlier in this chapter Tool index Edit script Edit help Insert space Remove tool Edit Tool index Card Tools Remove toolbar To remove any tools you do not want simply drag them off the toolbar or choose Remove tool from the Tool sub menu To add new tools choose Tools to open the Tools window or just double click anywhere over the toolbar area Drag the tools you require to the toolbar Tix Tools x a X backup close copy delete a J F entry export fields filter N e Be first import index labels t d a last merge_i merge_o next N BE H previous report save search a E select table I PEE IREE IEEE o You can change the order of tools on the toolbar simply by dragging and dropping them in the desired position You can insert or remove spaces to the right of a tool by choosing Insert space or Remove space from the Tool sub menu Each tool has help text which may be edited by choosing Edit help from the Tool sub menu Not
131. er position in the printer Paper type The Sheet feed or Continuous options simply control the sending of form feed control codes to the printer while printing text type labels Continuous should be selected when using continuous fan fold paper as you will not want the entire sheet to be ejected after one or two labels have been printed With sheet fed printers such as laser types a form feed control code will required to tell the printer to eject the page so Sheet feed should be selected Note that these settings are not required for graphic label printing 11 17 Saving the design To save a new design enter a suitable name in the writable Label icon at the top of the dialogue box and click Save You can of course overwrite an existing design by using the same name To abandon any changes made click on the Cancel button You can delete a saved label using the Delete button 11 18 Using a different sample text in LabPrint To use a sample text of your choice when designing labels simply drag a CSV or text file containing the text you wish to use to the LabPrint label design window The new text will be displayed on all designs until you quit LabPrint 81 Impact Chapter 12 Creating a database 12 1 12 2 12 3 Chapter 12 Creating a database This chapter describes the process of designing a new database and gives an example Name and Address database The subject of relational databases and how to include foreign fie
132. er tool if this is depressed If you wish to edit an existing filter or create a new one by copying an existing filter definition that filter must first be selected by clicking with Menu on the filter tool If the current record does not pass that filter test Impact will issue a warning to this effect You can ignore this if you wish to edit the filter In all cases you should then click with Adjust on the filter tool to open the Edit Filter panel There are three types of filter simple calculation and compound A simple filter applies a single test to a single data field A calculation filter uses an expression to determine the result of the filter test A compound filter combines two existing filters defining a logical operation between them such as AND OR etc Simple filters Simple filters define a single test applied to a specified field To define a simple filter select the Simple option button Filter type _ Calculation Simple _ Compound Field Test Equaito Hf Data V Case match _ Hide Namef sid l B Delete Cancel Save The field to be tested can be selected by clicking on the Field menu icon and selecting from the menu offered Next the filter test should be selected by clicking on the Test menu icon and choosing from the range of tests offered Each test refers to the data to be entered in the Data box For example if Greater than is selected then the test will pass if a given record has a
133. er type menu This may be useful for creating a title panel for a data card Fill colour Select the Filled option if you require the label to have a filled background the colour of which may be selected from the Fill colour menu provided 14 22 Calculation fields When a calculation field is first placed on a card you must select the calculation result type you require by selecting from the options in the dialogue box shown here When you now double click on the calculation field the attribute dialogue box for the field type selected will be displayed allowing type dependent attributes to be set Refer to the date number or text field types above for details of how to set these types 101 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes x Edit date calculation yt Name Caretorder 11 _ Null allowed Max 31 12 2247 _ Time dy mn ce yr Non writable justify E B In each case the required calculation should be entered into the Calc field on the appropriate dialogue box Remember that the fields on a card including calculations are updated in caret order and this may affect the calculation result You would normally place calculation fields last in order If the box is not long enough for your calculation expression you can Ctrl double click to load the expression into your text editor via OLE Object Linking and Embedding After making changes saving the file will transfer it back into Impa
134. er window and a shift click on the button would correspond to a shift double click on the file itself There are two types of file field e internal file formerly called Notes The file is stored inside the database structure e external linked file In this case the field stores the full pathname of the file which may be anywhere on your computer External file fields You can drag any file directory or application from a Filer window and drop it on this field to create a link When this is done the displayed legend will turn green indicating that the data has been changed but not yet saved and the card s title bar will show that the card data has been modified by the addition of an asterisk Note that Impact simply stores a note of the location of the file not a copy of the file itself so the file may be altered later without any need to amend the Impact record If the file has been moved or deleted since the record was edited the button s legend will be red to indicate that the file could not be found If you click on such a button you will get an error message which tells you what file it was linked to To avoid irritating repetition of errors when a disc cannot be found Impact keeps a note of which discs cannot be found and does not attempt to access the same disc again If the disc becomes available later but the file button is still coloured red you need to click on the button 43 Impact Chapter 7 Data entry
135. erge Impact Addresses Fetch Name If you need to include double quotes in the merge command they should be doubled up merge Impact Addresses Table AddressLst c Title Mr This corresponds to a calculation filter with expression Title Mr If you wish to include braces in your message for other purposes an opening brace should be escaped by preceding them with a backslash and similarly a backslash must be escaped with another backslash 10 24 Merging and attachments in JmpEmail In JmpEmail an attachment is recorded simply as a link to a file the content of which will be read and attached to the message when the e mail is sent This makes it perfect for data merging with the file being fetched from one of Impact s internal or external file fields or from a file whose name is worked out on the basis of some other aspect of the data The merge command required is a little more complicated than a plain Fetch command because we need to ensure that the filename of the file is fetched from Impact not the content of the file but Impact tries to make it easy to add merged attachments to ImpEmail The simplest way is by dragging the field from the Impact record card and dropping it on the ImpEmail attachments area In this example the user has dragged the picture field from the sample Addresses database to the JmpEmail editor attachment area aa weave Attachments picture The file icon appears as a little cog
136. ering from ImpEmail entering from Impression entering from Ovation Pro Merge documents deleting templates Merge tool permanent merging previewing documents printing documents selecting data records 206 139 136 126 114 113 36 142 142 121 121 115 139 128 19 119 122 89 98 45 169 130 187 112 61 60 71 68 69 182 177 18 24 28 58 58 59 59 selecting documents MergeTo action command Message action command Min function Mins function Modem action command Modified function Money function Month function Index 57 138 144 122 117 144 123 117 118 Multi line fields see Text fields multi line MySQL exporting data to N Networked use of Impact Next action command Next function NOR Not equal to Notes fields see File fields Null values Number fields attributes entering data O Operators Option fields attributes editing legends entering data importing in calculations reordering texts OR Ovation Pro reports see Merge tool Overlay P Partial match Passwords 157 184 136 123 36 36 110 87 94 43 130 89 98 91 45 169 130 187 36 167 36 22 84 Impact Pause action command 144 Peer to peer networks 185 Phone function 129 Pi function 122 Pow function 122 Previous action command 136 Previous function 123 Printer action command 138 Printing labels see Labels printing Q Query function 112 Quick sea
137. es to be available on a menu for easy insertion in the From field The first address will be the default value and others can be chosen by clicking on the menu button next to the From field If you want a menu of addresses but prefer the default to be blank simply enter a blank line at the top of your list of addresses You may wish to store your name as well as your e mail address in the Choices list e g John Smith lt johnsmith myhomeisp co uk gt J R Smith lt jr smith work address com gt Display options You may change the current font name and size by clicking Menu over the editor window The default font to be used can be set in the Choices window Note as the messages are sent in plain text this is just the font that you the editor see and it is not transmitted to the recipient of the message 194 Impact Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual A4 3 Shortcut keys Ctrl A Select whole text Ctrl C Copy selected text Ctrl V Paste at caret Ctrl X Cut selected text Ctrl Z Clear selection Ctrl F2 Close the editing window F3 Save display the save dialogue Ctrl F3 Save saves straight away to the location the file was loaded from F10 Delete current line ImpEmail supports the global clipboard using the shortcut keys shown above and also the drag and drop protocol Dragging a selected region to another part of the same e mail document will move it Dragging with Shift held down will copy the region When dragging a selected
138. ew records created from imported file Pemanane Prefas ee 25 Bill Smith Mr 17 Arthur Avenue Petswoods Kent ES 2B Andrea Arlington Ms 37 Church Lane Kirk Hallam Derbyshire HELA 4ER TEA 27 Maurice Ravel Mr 12 rue des Pommes Rennes France 28 Houghton Miffiin 55 South Street Duram 29 Carl Fearney _ The Queen s College Oxford OX1 4AW T FE ee EEEE oe T If you compare it to the original CSV file you will note some differences The Title field in the 162 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data 19 4 Addresses database is a menu field and has a limited range of options which did not include Prof Professor Carl Fearney has therefore been imported with no title You might want to rectify this by editing the database design and adding Prof as an option for the title menu field The entry for Houghton Mifflin has the town in the postcode field and the postcode has not been imported On inspecting the CSV file we see that the imported line is defective the address has not been entered in one field but is split into two meaning that there actually five distinct fields listed for that line Impact will silently discard any fields which are surplus to the requirements of the field map Another problem is that we now have two Bill Smiths in the database as the first record in the database was also a Mr Bill Smith of Petswood It is clear that he has changed his address and for this we should ha
139. expression which will be evaluated and placed in the field This means for example that default text should be entered between double quotes Calculations and expressions are fully explained later If the box is not long enough for the expression you can C rl double click to load the expression into your text editor via OLE Object Linking and Embedding After making changes saving the file will transfer it back into Impact Making writable fields non writable Writable fields such as text dates and numbers can be set to non writable by ticking the Non writable flag This is useful where you wish the field to be updated by an action script rather than by a user typing _ Non writable 14 10 Justification For many field types the text or value in that field may be left centre or TY cel ee right justified within the field by selecting the appropriate justify icon Justify E 14 11 Text fields N Edit text field c Name Caretorder 8 _ Default Textlines 1 _ Ej Word wrap Max text length AA _ Non writable Justify E B Max text length An important attribute of a text field is the maximum number of characters it is required to hold and this should be set as required using the adjuster arrow icons or by entering the value directly The maximum length can be anything up to 999 characters A trade off must be made between allocating sufficient space and wasting disc space The space occupied on di
140. ext text f The currently displayed content of field f on the record card whether saved to disc or not To read the current content of a field which is not in the local database f may include the database name in the form database field e g CardText Videos film int Len text a The length of the given text string a i e the number of characters 113 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations UCase text UCase text t int a int b Converts b characters in text string to upper case starting from character a If b is omitted all characters from character a onwards will be converted to upper case If a and b are omitted the whole string will be converted Either or both a and b may be negative to count from the end of the string LCase text LCase text t int a int b As for UCase but converts to lower case SubText int SubText text a text b Returns the character position of text string b within text string a with the numbering starting from one for the first character position A value of zero is returned if b is not found e g SubText abcdefghij def 34 Word text Word text t int n Extracts the nth word from text string t If n is negative extracts the nth word from the end counting backwards The function returns an empty string if there are fewer than n words in the string A word is considered to be any sequence of characters other than the space character e g Word This is a string 1 gt string Text
141. field may be given a name later as required Field names cannot be changed after being defined Once a name has been entered in the writable icon provided it will become permanent either when you press the Return key or when the attribute window is closed by any means It is recommended that you use lower case letters for your field names as this will avoid clashes with current or future names of functions which are used in calculation expressions 92 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes 14 7 14 8 14 9 Order or caret order Most fields may also be given a caret order sometimes just referred ar to as order This is a number indicating the order in which the caret Caret order 1 Fis will visit writable fields during data entry and editing The caret order may also be used to determine the order in which fields are shown on field menus but these may be displayed in alphabetical order according to the settings in the Choices window see Chapter 21 Choices Caret order numbers are allocated on an increasing basis as fields are placed but may be changed at any time They do not have to be sequential and two fields may have the same value In this case the actual ordering will be arbitrary Default entries Most fields may be given a default entry that is data which will be displayed automatically when a new record is created In writable fields such as text dates and numbers the default entry is entered as an
142. field value greater than the value entered in the Data box If the Range test is selected then the Data box will be split into two and a minimum and maximum value for the test may be entered The test will pass if the field value is equal to or greater than the first record and less than the second i e a range of 100 200 will select all 33 Impact Chapter 4 Filters 4 3 4 4 values from and including 100 up to and including 199 If the Partial match test is selected text fields only then the test will pass if the field contains the sequence of characters entered as data Text field tests may also be carried out in case sensitive mode by selecting the Case match option If upper and lower case characters are to be treated as equal this option should be off Calculation filters Calculation filters use an expression to determine the result of the filter test To define a calculation filter select the Calculation option button 2 Edit Filter 7 Filter type Calculation _ Simple _ Compound a Calc _ Hide Name sd B Delete Cancel _Save Save The expression used in a calculation filter may include field names from any database When executed the result is converted to a number data type Any non zero value will be taken as true and result in the current record passing the filter test A value of zero false will cause the record to fail the test See Chapter 16 Calculations for details of how to construct cal
143. field will be concatenated with commas When using the export tool you can choose whether to separate or keep multi line fields together Word wrap Selecting the Word wrap option on a multi line text field will cause text to be wrapped onto subsequent lines during entry 14 12 Number fields x Edit number field ig Namel Caret order 9 _ Default Dec places 2 _ iE Leading zeros Minimum digits ees WA Ej Range checking Minimum val E Ei Blank zero Maxi Ef Plus sign f Show negatives in red _ Non writable Justify ZJ E B Decimal places The required number of decimal places may be set using the adjusters provided by Dec places If only whole numbers are required this may be set to zero in which case no decimal point will be displayed Minimum digits These adjusters set the minimum width of the displayed number and is most useful in conjunction with the leading zeros option described below It specifies the minimum number of characters to be used for the whole value including the decimal point and decimal places as well as any sign required or specified If the value requires fewer than the specified number of digits it will be padded with leading spaces up to the given number If the value requires more characters these will be used 94 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes Leading zeros If this option is selected and the minimum number of characters has been defined as above then any
144. file e the filetype of any other type of internal file Image fields Image fields are exactly the same as file fields except that the image is displayed on the card instead of a button It will be scaled to fit the display area preserving the Image aspect ratio If Impact cannot render the image itself it will display the filetype icon for the image instead In either case you may double click on the image to load it into another application Images may also be exported by drag and drop like other fields For images which are external linked files if the file has been deleted or moved a warning triangle will be displayed on the record card If you double click on the warning triangle you will get an error message telling you what file it was linked to If the file is located on a disc which is not currently accessible a question mark in a red circle is displayed 88 Impact Chapter 13 Field types 13 7 13 8 13 9 You may change between image and button view for a file field by editing the card Flag fields A flag field is displayed as a text legend with an associated tick box and may be used to indicate any on off option such as whether a club member has paid this year s yvy Flag subscription The legend shown may be edited to suit A single flag field may consist of up to 32 individual buttons each with their own legend and each may be selected independently of the others This is in contrast to the option field ty
145. found in the input these will be treated as text if they need to be entered into a text field Note that during this process if a text field is read into a number field an attempt will be made to interpret the given text as a number If the text does not start with digits a decimal point or a plus or minus sign then the outcome of this will be a zero in the number field If you are importing date fields check the format of the dates in the input file and edit the date fields in your database to use the same format or at least one which is in the same order or Impact may not interpret the dates correctly You can always change the date format for the field back again after finishing the import job so that the dates are again displayed in the way you prefer Internal file fields If an internal file field appears in the field map data will be imported by creating a text file containing the appropriate value from the imported file If the imported value is blank then no file will be created and if an internal file existed for an overlaid record it would be deleted It is not possible to have new internal files created with a filetype other than text via the import process you would have to alter them manually afterwards if necessary Browser and menu fields The values expected for import into browser or menu fields are the text strings which appear in the field or menu display The imported value is matched case insensitively again
146. ge command could also have a table style applied to it within Impression defining the tab stops and other requirements Experimentation may be required to ensure that the longest field used will fit within the specified column width 64 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Fetch Y Index Sorted Al _ Record Filter Cardlist 2 Table _ Calc filter J Sean C Calculation Field map None a fies n i pianeta Soe AddressLabel Import Various A field map filter and index may be defined for this command by selecting them from the appropriate menus Filters and indexes set in a Table command will not persist beyond the end of the table However if you do not wish to apply an index or filter to the table and one has previously been set by a Record command you will need to turn it off by selecting None from the menu Field totals and other values are accumulated which may be used in subsequent merge commands or calculations See Section 16 8 Table functions If a field map is used this may have been defined to concatenate certain fields Tab characters will not be inserted in the output between fields which are concatenated by the field map If you are using Ovation Pro pressing Ctrl I will reveal hidden formatting codes such as tab characters so that you can see what is going on Another tip if you are having trouble with your table command definition is to set the same index filter
147. ge window and the messages will be sent to your e mail software s outgoing message queue Note the e mail addresses for the imaginary people on the CardList are all invalid so if they are sent off the messages should bounce back to you You will be able to inspect them and delete them while they remain in your queue You could compose a similar letter in Ovation Pro or Impression to use for those people on your Christmas card list who do not have an e mail address having set up an appropriate filter For an example showing report generation in Jmpression Ovation Pro see 1 14 Producing reports 56 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports 10 2 10 3 10 4 The data merge process Merging is initiated by Impact sending a merge command to the editor specifying the name of the document to be merged The editor then begins to scan the document and as it finds embedded merge commands it sends these to whichever application is specified in the command If these are received by Impact and it understands the command sent it will execute the command This may be a command requesting data to be merged in which case the requested data is returned to the editor The text will be incorporated into the document at the position of the merge command The command may not only request data but may do other things such as access records satisfying a filter inserting a table of records performing a calculation etc This a
148. ged data into the document so that it may be edited before printing if required If you do this do not re save the report so that it overwrites the original un merged version The Clear button will return the report to its editable state provided it has not been fixed Creating report documents may be done using the Document edit button and this is fully described later in the manual Mail merging The merge tool can also be used to create single or multiple letters or e mails personalised with information on your database For example you might wish to e mail all your contacts to let them know your address is changing a video hire shop may wish to send messages to recall overdue loans or a software company may wish to inform registered users about a new version of its product and advise them how much it would cost to upgrade from the version they currently have Using the ImpEmail application such messages may easily be created for electronic communications while for paper versions Ovation Pro and Impression can create a document with your customised letterhead etc Printing labels Label printing from Impact is handled by a separate application called LabPrint but this action is fully automatic and handled seamlessly from Impact To print some labels go to the Addresses database and choose the AddressLabel field map from the field map menu Now select the Label tool from the Addresses card This will display the window shown belo
149. h column contains the e mail address Any other columns will be joined to form the person s name This feature allows you to send a single copy of a message to several people at once with them all being able to see and reply to the other recipients Be careful to ensure that all the rows of the table contain valid e mail addresses If any are syntactically invalid or empty then the whole message will be rejected before transmission If all the e mail addresses basically look right but one or more happen not to exist then it will depend on the transmission method used as to whether the message is delivered successfully to the other recipients Merging attachments You are not limited to attaching a particular static file to ImpEmail messages by dragging it and dropping it in the attachments area of the editor window If you open the menu over the attachments area there is a New attachment option ImpEmail simply records the path to the file you wish to attach and the boxes in the form can accept merge commands just like the other areas of the ImpEmail editor So if your database includes a field containing a filename you can just merge this field into the Full pathname box to have the file attached to the 197 Impact Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual A4 5 A4 6 message during the merging process See Section 10 24 Merging and attachments in ImpEmail of the Impact manual for a full description of this process Merging data f
150. h of e mails off You can view the queue from Messenger Pro and edit or remove the messages while they are waiting to be sent If you are using direct SMTP ImpEmail will attempt to send the messages as soon as possible If ImpEmail is unable to communicate with your SMTP server the messages will remain in ImpEmail s queue and you can send them later or next time you run ImpEmail A status window will appear whenever a message is sent by SMTP so that you can monitor the progress of the transmission If you need to stop the transmission click on Stop This button will read Send if there are messages waiting in the queue after an internet communication problem iF X ImpEmail status r 2 emails sent Save copies View log 2 emails not sent because of errors View log 1 emails waiting in queue Stop Resolving smtp myisp co uk ImpEmail keeps a record of the messages sent with a log for successful messages and a log for unsuccessful messages which details the reasons for failure The logs are cleared out the next time ImpEmail is run After sending an e mail or a batch of e mails using mpact s merge tool ImpEmail s status window will open to show a count of successes and failures and to allow you to view the logs If you need to access the status window at other times it can be opened from ImpEmail s iconbar menu 199 Impact Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual You can also save the successful e mails by clicking on Save co
151. hapter 8 Search and replace The merge tool This tool gives access to the data merge dialogue box for controlling a mail merge operation 28 Impact Chapter 3 Introduction to tools 3 12 3 13 3 14 3 15 3 16 3 17 or report generation using Ovation Pro Impression or ImpEmail It also provides facilities for creating such documents For more details see Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Three different icons are provided for the merge tool so the user can choose the one they are most familiar with or like best but they all link to the same merge dialogue box The label printing tool This tool allows you to print database records onto sheets of labels via the accompanying LabPrint application For more details see Chapter 11 Printing labels The data import tool This provides facilities for importing data in CSV or TSV format from a file or another application For more details see Chapter 19 Importing data e The data export tool The export tool allows data to be exported in CSV or a selected format either to a data file or another application For more details see Chapter 18 Exporting data The backup tool The backup tool provides a quick way of saving a compressed backup copy of the database either to a pre arranged file path or by drag and drop A saved database may also be restored using this tool if the current version should be corrupt or for any other reason For m
152. have to do is check the message make any small adjustments and hit the Send button The mailto URL scheme can support various e mail header fields including To CC Subject and Body but which ones are available depends on your e mail client We have tested Messenger Pro and have succeeded in sending quite lengthy texts over 70K through from Impact as the body of the message The following script takes an address from a database field called email and the body of the message comes from an internal file field called message The script uses the UrlEncode function to process the body and subject line correctly for including in the mailto URL Note that the first e mail field is introduced by and subsequent fields are introduced with the amp This works in the same way as submitting forms on web pages 147 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Compose e mail with a subject line and body text specified Local u Set up a variable to build the URL if email error There is no e mail address u mailto Trim email u Subject UrlEncode E mail from Impact u amp Body UrlEncode message url u Another example for composing a single e mail to a group of people is given later in this section A more straightforward way to send e mails from Impact is of course to use ImpEmail which is described in Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports and Appendix 4 ImpEmail ma
153. he last field you could possibly want to fetch You would use a succession of Fetch next commands to retrieve several fields up to but not beyond the selected field This is most likely to be useful in a database where the lines of addresses are stored as separate fields rather than one single multi line text field For example suppose there are several fields following a Title field some of which may be blank and we want all following non blank fields up to the Postcode field to be used without blank lines but do not want fields following the postcode to be printed In this case we could create the merge command to fetch the Title field by selecting Fetch field gt Title Then we could create three merge commands for the next three fields using the Fetch next command by selecting Fetch next gt Postcode This would ensure that if any field was blank it would be ignored and no fields after the Postcode would be used Note that each merge command only merges a single field and that sufficient Fetch next commands must be provided to complete the address The quantity of data which may be fetched may be limited by the application which is receiving it there is no particular limit within Impact It is known that Impression Publisher does not handle fields of 14 000 characters or more for example a large note field when merging but will handle fields of up to at least 6 000 characters Fetch command syntax Impact lt database gt Fetch
154. he local named or related database Examples phone Represents the field phone in the local database name phone This uses the local key field name and then finds the field phone for the related record in the foreign database to which the key refers Videos name phone Since the database name is specifically given this would refer to the same field as that above but may be used in a third unrelated database In this case the record currently displayed in the Videos database would be used Addresses name Since no key field is specified in this case name refers to a field name in the Addresses database Again since this specifies the database by name it may be used in any other database and will refer to the record currently displayed in the Addresses card The database name is not needed if field name is in the local database Only databases stored in the same directory as the current database may be accessed by this method You cannot for example access fields in databases stored in SampleData from a database stored in the UserData directory 108 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations 16 6 Types of expression Number expressions These are expressions which result in a numeric value For example 3 5 4 5 cost l vatrate 100 where cost and vatrate are assumed to be the names of fields on the same card Text expressions These are expressions which result in a textual value For example Mr forename su
155. he only current way to remove unwanted variables The file format is lt name gt lt type gt lt value gt where lt type gt may be Number Date or Text For example fred Text This is a text string vat Number 17 5 used Date 1 6 97 17 14 Miscellaneous commands Abort Abort Aborts the execution of the current action command file Break Break Causes rest of current command block to be skipped In a While loop this command will also terminate the loop Beep Beep Causes the computer to beep Error Error lt expression gt This causes a standard error box to be displayed showing the given text Execution of the action file is aborted lt expression gt may be any valid expression Export Export database lt filename gt lt multiple gt lt style gt The records of the database are exported to a text file according to the index filter and field map in force at the time This action command provides a way to automate the type of exports possible using the Export tool see 718 2 Using the export tool If the lt multiple gt parameter is not zero all records from the current one to the end are exported otherwise just the current record is exported To export all labels in the database you will need to first issue the command First to select the first record in the database The optional lt style gt parameter should be a string matching the name of one of the pre saved sets of export
156. he table was opened if opened by the table tool or what was searched for if opened as the result of a search This can be altered from the table menu The same title will be used if you print out the table Changing the table font and size The font and size of type to be used in the table are selectable from the table menu The desktop font will be used by default for the first table you open after running Impact After selecting a different font name or size tables opened subsequently will use the new setting Selecting records in a table Selecting a field in the table display by clicking on it with Select will cause that record to be displayed in red and any previously selected records in any table which is open will be deselected Only one table window may have records selected at once Clicking with Adjust will add to an existing selection as with a filer window You can also drag with the mouse to select several records and adjust drag to alter the selection The Select all option causes all records in the table to be selected while Clear selection will remove any selections made Invert selection causes any record which was selected to become unselected and all those which were not selected before to be selected instead 50 Impact Chapter 9 Tables 9 9 9 10 9 11 The Delete selection option will delete all selected records from the database This option should be used with care A warning will be given before this acti
157. her a number or a text string If a number is produced the value will be assigned directly to the field For example assigning the value 2 to a menu field will cause the second menu text item to be shown in the field If the expression produces a text string value this will be matched against the captions of the field options or the menu texts and the appropriate item will be selected and shown on the card In the case of flag fields multiple values may be selected by listing the text captions of all those required separated by commas All the other flags will be deselected Assigning to date fields Some expressions may yield a date field directly for example AddMonths ExpiryDate 4 but other may require conversion from a text string If so the format of the date in the text string must match the format used on the card for the display of the field Suppose you had a date field called ExpiryDate and a number field called Year which was set equal to 1990 It is no good trying to assign ExpiryDate 4 May Year if your date field is formatted as ce yr mn dy and would show the above date as 1990 05 04 To get round this situation you may need to convert the string to a date explicitly by using the Date function with an appropriate format ExpiryDate Date 4 May Year dy mo ce yr Assigning to foreign fields Dependent fields may be assigned new values by whatever means is appropriate for the underlying data type Assig
158. his does not change the choice of index filter or field map selected on the record card but changes them in the context of the action script only so that these are in force when the table is opened by the action script You could omit the setting of the field map for example in which case the table opened by the action script would use the field map which was in force on the record card The field selection does not have to be applied using a field map which as already been defined a temporary field map may be created and applied using the TempFields command The TempFilter command provides the equivalent for filtering Here is an example from the Addresses database which lists all the videos on loan to the person shown in the current record 146 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Display table of videos on hire to current person Select videos whose name field points to the currect record in Addresses TempFilter Videos Record name Record Addresses Index Videos DateHired Select date order Fields Videos HireList Select fields Table Videos Videos hired to Name Display table Note the use of the database name with the action script commands The action button resides on a card in the Addresses database so we need to name the Videos database explicitly to get the commands to take effect in that database The TempFilter command stores a string defining a temporary calculation filter which w
159. hoices window and ensure that Don t backup automatically is not ticked in the database s Backup window This will mean that if you close a modified database without first making a backup or open it again a warning will be given that the database has not been backed up If you do not wish to be warned or to have automatic backups for any database choose Ignore in the Choices window Backup all From the main iconbar menu you can choose the option Backup all which will back up all the databases which are currently open Databases which are not currently open will not be backed up by this process Again each individual database must have the backup location set in the backup window if this operation is to produce a backup 179 Impact Chapter 22 Making backups 22 7 22 8 Restoring data Clicking the Restore button will restore the backup displayed which will be latest one when the window is first displayed A warning will be given reminding you that any data entered since the backup will be lost and the restoration will be carried out if you click OK If required any previous backup may be selected by scrolling through those available before clicking the Restore button If you do this a warning will be given asking you to confirm the action You will also be given the option to remove any backups which are dated after the one being restored To restore from a backup not saved on the specified path simply drag the directory
160. hould save the new data by clicking on the database s save tool or pressing F3 The indirect method This method does not require the foreign Addresses database to be displayed on the screen If you Alt double click over the foreign Name field on the Video database card to display the Find window you will find it has extra buttons as shown below ___ Find in Addresses Name__ Search _ Local Foreign database Find smith ex ii Cancel Previous Next Find When first displayed the Foreign database option is selected When you click on the Find or Next buttons the foreign Addresses database will be searched and the first Smith found will be displayed in the grey box If this is the customer you wish to use click on Insert data in current card If not use the Next and Previous buttons to browse the Addresses database for further Smiths This action is directly equivalent to dragging the chosen customer from the Addresses database card without the need to have this card displayed and is generally the preferred method Selection from a menu With Impact version 3 39 onwards it is possible to attach a menu button to foreign key fields This is done by ticking the Attach menu button option in the field attribute dialogue box Clicking on the menu button will open a menu showing the foreign records The user can select the record to link to very easily by this method The field attribute dialogue box also allows you
161. hristmas Card list all we are doing is telling mpEmail that we want to insert a merge command in our document to insert the contents of that field when we perform a merge from any record In the body of the JmpEmail window you should compose your letter You could address each e mail personally by starting Dear with the name of the recipient To do this after you have typed Dear you could drag the name field from the Addresses card to the JmpEmail window in the same way as you did for the e mail address Or alternatively insert the command using the section at the bottom of the Merge window choose Fetch and then select Name from the menu of field names Either method produces the same result To Cc Dear merge Impact Addresses fetch Name Happy Christmas I m writing this to test out my fantastic new softward Now click on Test in the Merge window to see how your e mail would look if you were to send it to the person in the current record Of course the letter would look better if the database had a field containing the person s name in the way you would like to address them so that the letter read Dear Bill rather than Dear Bill Smith To send the e mail to everybody on your card list who has an e mail address you will need to first switch on the filter CardListEmail which combines those requirements and then choose Multiple from the Merge window Then click on E mail in the Mer
162. ill be tied to the table The Record name part is in a string hence the backslashes to get the double quotes into the string and so will be evaluated every time the filter is used but the Record Addresses is outside the string and so is evaluated only when the action script is run and the temporary filter is first created If you were on the first record of the Addresses database the temporary filter would be stored as Record name 1 The table stays with the original person no matter what record you have since moved to in the address database The table will also refresh when further videos are borrowed or returned Composing an e mail In a database of names and addresses it is useful to have a button which will open your e mail software and start composing an e mail to the person shown on the record card You can see the following script in use in the demonstration Addresses database Action script to invoke an e mail send A suitable e mail client must have been seen i e Pluto Messenger etc The field containing the e mail address is named email If your e mail address field has a different name modify the script accordingly if email url mailto email else error There is no e mail address Depending on your e mail client you may be able to set the subject of the message and even the text of the body of the message by using a variation on the ordinary mailto URL All you might then
163. ilter will cause the first command to select the first record in the index which meets the filter conditions Similarly the next command will select the next such record If you wish to set a filter which is not on the database s filter menu you can select Calc filter and type a calculation expression into the box to define a temporary filter for use by the merge command Any filter or index included within a merge command will have precedence over any selected from the toolbar and remains in effect until replaced by another or turned off with None i e a Record next command will select the next record in the previously selected index Record command syntax Impact lt database gt Record lt specifier gt i lt index gt f lt filter gt c lt calculation gt Where lt specifier gt may be one of next first The specifier next causes the next record in the named database to be selected while first causes the first record to be selected Examples Impact Addresses Record first 63 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Impact Addresses Record next An index filter or both may be specified by following the command with one or both of the following To include an index add i lt index name gt and a filter by adding f lt filter name gt The i or f tells Impact that an index or filter name follows A calculation filter which is not in the database s filter list may be included by ad
164. imported are in the correct order required by the local database This problem is resolved in Impact by using an appropriate field map active on the database This allows the incoming data to be inserted into specified fields in a defined order Because a field map is usually required Impact will warn you if you open the tool window without having selected one With no field map active the incoming data will be assigned according to the internal ordering of the fields in the database Any concatenation settings in the field map will be ignored during import the import process will expect those fields to appear separately in the imported file If the field map lists more fields than actually appear for any record in the file then the data will be read for as many fields as possible and the remaining fields will be imported as though the file contained a blank for those fields Number fields would thus be set to zero and a date field to a null value Conversely if any records in the file being imported have more fields than are present in the field map any data from the surplus fields will be discarded silently If the field map contains calculation fields then data for these will be expected in the file being imported but will be skipped over and not written to the records created or updated during the import process The same is true of foreign dependent fields Either of these field types may be used as the first field in the field map fo
165. ing related data Now open the databases menu by clicking with Select on the Impact icon on the iconbar You will see from this that the Addresses database is open as shown by the ticked menu item Impact has opened this database in order to display the customers names and addresses on the Videos card If you selected the Addresses database from the menu the addresses data card would be opened You can also open the Addresses card from the Videos database Find a video database record showing a customer turn on the Customers index to find one quickly and press Ctrl while clicking with Select over the Borrowed by field This will cause the customer s record to be displayed in the Addresses database card This feature is useful where you need access to customer information not shown on the video data card Making relational links With both record cards on the screen select a video which has not been hired turn off any filter or index and select any customer in the Addresses database To log the hire of the video to the chosen customer you might simply drag the customer s name from the Addresses card into the Borrowed by field on the Videos card When you do this the customer s name and address will be inserted into the card If you wish to save this change to disc it is then necessary to click on the Save tool Note however that other videos have Date hired set and Hire count increased when hired Action buttons allow us to do all
166. ining support Index 179 179 180 180 181 181 181 181 181 182 182 182 182 183 183 184 184 186 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 201 202 Contents 11 Impact Contents 12 Impact Chapter 1 A guided tour 1 1 1 2 Chapter 1 A guided tour This section offers an introduction to Impact in the form of a hands on demonstration of the principal features of the program Full details and explanations of all the features described here are given later in the manual To start Impact double click on its icon in the directory display so that it appears on the f iconbar The iconbar menu All Impact features are available from the iconbar menu in the first instance This is invoked by clicking with the Menu mouse button over the iconbar icon in the normal desktop manner Info b Notes Database gt Create Choices Close all Backup all As you can see this menu provides access to all databases via a sub menu and provides for the creation of new databases The database menu can also be obtained by clicking with Select on the iconbar icon The iconbar menu also offers access to the Impact set up choices window and backup facilities The Help option opens the HTML version of this manual in your web browser this may not be supplied with the demo version of Impact Full interactive help is also provided throughout the application and we strongly recommend that you use this during the d
167. ioa B Default option 1 _ Button Left J Right Program SE Associate In a real life example you might well play with several different database designs before settling on the one which will work best Add the import tool Finally do not forget to add the Import tool to the database toolbar it is not there by default Double click on the toolbar when you are in database design mode to open the tools window or use the menu over the card Save the new database design Once you are happy it is time to save the card design and to try importing the file In the field selection window enter a database name such as MembersDB and then click Save The database is now ready for use Import the data You can now import the data from the file into the newly designed database The process for this is exactly the same as importing into an existing database as shown in the previous example If we have created the fields on the card in the same order that they appear in the import file there is no need to create a field map and you can ignore the warning when opening the import tool Tick to skip the first line containing the field names and drop the CSV file onto the import tool window Once the import has completed you can view the new records in a table 166 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data by clicking on the View button 19 5 Further reference Field maps It is unlikely that the fields in the data being
168. ions this means that literal text must be given between double quotes to distinguish them from a field name Expressions are fully described in Chapter 16 Calculations Many commands may optionally include the name of a database If this is not given the database to which the action button belongs will be assumed so that in most cases it may be omitted Note that if supplied the database name must be terminated with a colon Named databases are opened automatically but their cards are not displayed unless requested by an action command Field assignments gt lt database gt lt field gt lt expression gt If a keyword is not recognised Impact will attempt to interpret it as a field name and assign the evaluated expression to the field In cases where lt database gt or lt field gt may clash witha keyword using the optional gt character at the start of the command will force the command to 132 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands be interpreted as an assignment The expression is executed and assigned to the field specified in the current record When this is done the appropriate card s will be flagged as modified requiring the Save command or a click on the save tool in the relevant database to save the modified data to disc In effect assignment only modifies the contents of the card on view Assigning to flag option menu and browser fields When assigning to these types of fields the expression may yield eit
169. ious Next Find The Foreign option is selected by default The search will be made for a matching record in the foreign database If a match is found the data is displayed in the grey box below the search term and the Insert data in current card button is enabled Click on this button to enter this data in the current card When the record is saved the new foreign link will be formed replacing the previous one Selecting the Local option causes a search to be made on the local database as normal 30 Impact Chapter 3 Introduction to tools 3 20 3 21 3 22 Editing a record Whenever a data card is displaying a record the data displayed may be edited When this is done the card s title bar will display an asterisk indicating that data has been changed but not saved Changed data may be saved to disc by clicking on the save tool by pressing F3 or by pressing the Return key in a writable field this may be disabled in the Choices window Editing and entering new data is described in Chapter 7 Data entry Closing databases Clicking on the close tool or selecting Close database from the card menu will cause the database to be closed Note that where relational links exist between databases Impact will open the related databases automatically Closing a database will close all related databases provided they are not referred to from another open database or currently displayed on screen All open data
170. ired by linking through the local key field name to find the appropriate customer record in the Addresses database Videos total Videos name hired This does the same as the previous example but may be done from a third unrelated database as it has explicitly included the Videos database name Note that using the key field syntax in this manner it is not necessary to know the name of the Addresses database as this is implicit in the key field definition Note that though it is possible to read the value of the field hired in Addresses by referring to it as Videos name hired it is not possible to assign a value to the field hired using this expression 17 4 Star commands Action scripts may include RISC OS star commands such as copy echo etc Multiple expressions enclosed in parentheses may be evaluated in the star command For example suppose the phone field equalled 345181 The following star command in an action script echo phone x 45 2 is the correct number would be equivalent to echo 345181x90 is the correct number Star commands are terminated by a or which is not within double quotes or within parentheses or else by the end of the line Note that star commands should not include the character as this is interpreted as the start of a comment see below If you need to include in your command put it in double quotes within parentheses e g wipe ReadMe which will be interpreted as wipe R
171. is aborted when this command is executed lt expression gt may be any valid expression SerialDev SerialDev lt name gt Loads and initialises the serial block driver given by lt name gt The SerialDev application is required to have been seen so that the system variable SerialDev Path has been defined 144 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands This enables instructions to be sent using the SerialSend command to modems and other devices connected to serial card podules etc SerialSend SerialSend lt string gt lt port gt Sends the given string to the currently loaded serial block driver which must have been loaded using the SerialDev command The command is equivalent to the Modem command but allows devices other than the internal serial port to be used The optional second parameter is an integer specifying the port number which may be needed for some serial interfaces Table Tool Table lt database gt lt title gt Causes a table to be displayed as defined by the current context The optional title parameter allows you to set the text shown in the title bar of the table window Tool lt database lt name gt lt state gt lt exclusive gt This command may be used to control the tool on the toolbar for the current or given database If lt state gt is true the tool button will be depressed if false it will be shown in its normal state This command is principally used within
172. is re saved within the database As the user can see what changes have been made via the editor the changes are immediate and do not depend on saving the record card You can of course save a copy elsewhere or export the file into another application If the button legend is shown in grey then clicking the button will create a new empty file after prompting you to confirm that you wish to do so If the file field has a template provided it will be copied and used as the basis of the new field The new file will then be loaded into an appropriate editor A template may be of any file type and may be empty or have some default content as you wish If there is no template file Impact will create an empty plain text file when needed However you can supply another type of template file say an Impression document if preferred This is fully described later see 14 14 File and image fields Different records may have files of different types stored in an internal file field if you wish they do not all have to follow the same template You will be warned when dropping a new file on a field if the filetype of the new file does not match the template for that field and you can choose whether to proceed or not To remove internal files see 7 1 Clearing fields Image fields An image field is simply an internal or external file field where the image is displayed in the card instead of showing a button The image is scaled to fit the space av
173. isk after its title in conventional manner This is a reminder that the changes made have not yet been saved to disc In general modified or new data must be saved to disc by clicking on the save tool on the toolbar but this depends on the options chosen in the Choices window described elsewhere Modifying existing data is similar to entering new data which is described below for each data field type Using drag and drop Data may be dragged from one Impact field to another within one card or between different cards or different databases A simple drag will copy the data replacing the contents of the field in which it is dropped Shift drag will move the data clearing the field from where the data was dragged Ctrl drag will append to the existing field data instead of replacing it If you have partial text selection enabled see 27 71 Text selection then these actions are modified when text fields are involved as you will not necessarily be copying or moving the whole contents of a field See Appendix 2 Mouse and key actions in record cards for a table showing the difference made by enabling text selection Text or images may also be dragged into an Impact record card from another application For example a name or address could be selected in an e mail or wordprocessing document and dragged directly into a field on the data card This will replace the existing field data or if it is a text field and you have enabled partial text se
174. it icon will change back leaving you with the new text Placing and editing a text field Next place a text field by dragging the white Text field from the Field selection window and place it to the right of the word Name If Placement grid is ticked all placed items are snapped onto an invisible grid to aid alignment but do not worry too much about exact positioning at this time This text field as placed is too short but you will find you can drag the right hand edge out longer using the Adjust button Drag it out to a couple of inches wide If you now double click Select over the field the Edit text field window will be displayed allowing various field attributes to be set The only thing we need to do is to set the Max text length longer than that shown Use the arrow icons to bump the number up to 20 Note that this has no effect on the displayed width of the field but sets the amount of disc space available to 82 Impact Chapter 12 Creating a database 12 4 12 5 12 6 12 7 12 8 store the text entered Multi line text fields Now repeat the above procedure and create a second text field immediately below the first but change the label to read Address We need more than one line for the address so double click Select over the lower text field to display the Edit text field window again and increase the number of Text lines to three using the adjuster arrows We also need more than the displayed maximum text le
175. itions from the LabPrint directory in Choices and write them to lt Choices Write gt LabPrint but this can be overridden by setting LabPrint LabelFile to a filename of your choice 183 Impact Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use 24 2 24 3 Storing databases in diverse locations By default Impact looks for user databases in a single directory called UserData in the same directory as the Jmpact application This may not be desirable in all circumstances You may for instance have several distinct groups of linked databases which you wish to keep separate for clarity You may wish to create two databases with the same name You may wish to keep one or more databases with other documents relating to the same subject It is easy to do all of these things by altering the Impact Path system variable to contain a comma separated list of the directories you wish Impact to look in for databases Foreign fields When you have more than one directory on Impact Path you need to ensure that all the databases you wish to link are contained within the same directory Impact will not allow you to create foreign fields from a database which is not in the same directory as your local database Databases with the same name You may create and open multiple databases with the same name if they are located in different directories If they have identical card designs the only way to tell which of the databases you are looking at is to look at the Info windo
176. l pass records where the text given is found within the field data For instance if the test data is Smith and the field contains Mr John Smith then the record will pass the filter test Partial match is only available on text fields Compound filter tests These are used to define the relationship between selected filters when creating a compound filter The condition required for the compound filter to pass a particular record is given in terms of the pass state of the two sub filters Test Condition for filter pass AND Both filters must pass OR Either or both filters must pass XOR One and only one filter must pass NOR Neither of the filters must pass Default settings for filter selection You can choose whether a filter will be activated when the database is first opened Impact can remember the filter which was active when you were last using the database or a specific filter which you wish to have active when opening the database For example if you had a database of current and former members of a club you might wish the database to open showing the current members only These options are explained fully in 21 3 On opening a database 36 Impact Chapter 5 Indexes 5 1 5 2 5 3 Chapter 5 Indexes This chapter describes indexes and how to create or modify them An index is a list of field entries held in memory in sorted order allowing fast sorted access to the data records on disc As records are entered or dele
177. l sheet showing the selected layout of labels It also shows a warning in the grey box if the numbers you have put in make the labels too large for the sheet or if the labels will overlap each other 79 Impact Chapter 11 Printing labels ig Label Design Label L7165 2x4Fragil I em D inches Across Down Sheet size 21 00 _ f Label size 9 91 FA Labels EA 4 fA Pitch 10 16 fA Offsets 0 47 _ FX _ Show printer page size Sheet feed _ Continuous _ Label Sheet Delete Cancel Save Choice of units The following adjustments are concerned with actual dimensions and these may be displayed in either inches or centimetres whichever is the most convenient When altering sizes you can use the adjuster arrows to change the size in steps of 0 1 or by holding down the Shift key in steps of 0 01 Using the Adjust mouse button reverses the arrow directions in the standard manner For large adjustments it may be quicker to type in the required dimensions Sheet size This is set by default to the size of an A4 sheet but may be adjusted for other sizes If you select Show printer page size the size of paper defined for the current printer driver will be automatically displayed In this mode the print margins will also be displayed in grey as a rough guide This may indicate that parts of labels near the sheet edges may not be printable In this case it may be worth checking that the pri
178. l to the printer as a bitmap image and has the advantage of being able to use any font available on the computer and to include pictures or diagrams on the label 11 12 Selecting a font This applies to graphic labels only To select a font click on the Font menu icon and select from the fonts displayed The name of the selected font will be shown and the label display will show an address in the selected font The font size should be selected by entering the required point size in the box provided 78 Impact Chapter 11 Printing labels To help with automated mail sorting by the postal service it is recommended you use a clear font such as Corpus or Homerton and avoid fancy script Line spacing is defined as a percentage of the font point size so that 100 represents single line spacing However it is normal to allow a little more than this 120 being typical You can type in a value or use the arrow icons in the normal way 11 13 Positioning the text The exact position of the label text may be adjusted using the Margins controls and the justification buttons As adjustments are made the displayed text will be moved accordingly The size of the label itself which is set on the Sheet design pane is shown above the margin settings for your information 11 14 Using images on labels To include images on labels graphic labels only such as the glass in the example shown they must first be created as Draw files and then dro
179. ld be useful if you have regular communications which you need to send to people For example if you are running a club you might have a welcome e mail message for new members to which the club s membership guide is attached as a PDF In your membership database you could store the welcome message as an ImpEmail document with the attachment pointing to the location on your hard drive where the guide may be found If you update the guide in the mean time the next time you send a welcome message to a new member the latest guide will be attached Editing attachment attributes From the menu over an attachment there is an Edit option This opens a window where the 195 Impact Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual A4 4 attributes of the attachment can be altered You can also open the window by a double click on the file or icon Ie Edit attachment attributes _ Full pathname RAM RamDisc0 Picturd Name to appear in e mail Picture jpeg Iffile is not found Do not send e mail _ Just omit attachment Cancel Update The full path and file name are shown in the first box in the form This is used to locate the file when ImpEmail needs to attach the content when building the message for sending The next box shows the name by which the attached file will appear to recipients of the e mail This is usually just the name of the file without the details of the disc name or directory names You can put whatever you lik
180. lds in a card is fully described in Chapter 15 Relational databases A simple example What follows is a description of how to create a simple Name amp Address database All the actions described are more fully explained in a later chapter so do not worry about the details for the moment First select the Create option from the iconbar menu When you do this a blank untitled card will be displayed with a toolbar containing a default set of tools together with the Field selection window shown below Ir Field Selection Window _ Drag fields to card Browser _ lV Flag Option Action B Pie v Placement grid Database name i Password Cancel Save This window contains examples of all the field types available Each field type is described in more detail in Chapter 13 Field types Box Placing and editing labels First place a field label by dragging the Label box from the Field selection window into the top left corner of the blank card the black outline box will not be copied This is not a database field but a simple text item used in this case to label the real field to be placed next to it To change the text into something more useful click Select once over the text Label you have just placed on the card When you do this the text will change into a fully editable icon with the caret placed in it ready for editing Delete the word Label and insert Name When you press the Return key the ed
181. le Printing a table Editing data within the table Editing several selected records together Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 10 5 10 6 10 7 10 8 10 9 10 10 10 11 10 12 10 13 10 14 10 15 10 16 10 17 10 18 10 19 10 20 10 21 10 22 10 23 10 24 10 25 Introductory example The data merge process The merge window Selecting a document Creating a new document Previewing the document Permanent merging Printing reports Aborting a print run Sending e mails Saving your document Selecting data records Entering merge commands from Impact Technical notes The Fetch command The Record command The Table command The Scan command The Calc command The Date command Entering merge commands directly from Impression Entering merge commands directly from Ovation Pro Entering merge commands directly into ImpEmail Merging and attachments in ImpEmail Creating label sheets in Ovation Pro and Impression Chapter 11 Printing labels 11 1 11 2 11 3 11 4 6 The LabPrint application The label window Field maps Printing labels 50 50 50 51 51 51 53 54 55 55 57 57 57 58 58 58 59 59 59 59 59 60 60 61 63 64 66 66 67 68 69 71 71 73 75 75 75 76 76 Contents Impact 11 5 11 6 11 7 11 8 11 9 11 10 11 11 11 12 11 13 11 14 11 15 11 16 11 17 11 18 Saving labels Queuing labels Choosing a default label style Designing la
182. lect the last record in the current context for the current or given database Next Next lt database gt Select the next record in the current context for the current or given database Previous Previous lt database gt Select the previous record in the current context for the current or given database Find Find lt database gt lt field gt lt data gt lt match gt 136 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Search the given field for the given data from the current record If a matching record is found this record becomes the current one otherwise there is no change If lt match gt is given and is true case sensitive matching is used Examples Find Name smith Find Addresses Name smith Find Addresses Name Smith 1 Case sensitive search Local field term field AskText Enter name of field to search term AskText Enter search term Find field term Delete Delete lt database gt lt record gt Delete the given record number e g Delete Addresses 23 Save Save lt database gt lt record gt Save all changed data to disc in the given or current record If the database is in entry mode then the record number will be ignored and the data saved in the next available record Display Display lt database gt lt record gt Display specified record or current record if not specified in all open cards in the current or given dat
183. lection insert it at the pointer If the other application does not support direct drag and drop you may need to select the text and then drag from a Save box rather than directly from the document The interpretation of the imported text will depend on the field type the text is imported into For example if importing into a date field Impact will do its best to interpret the text as a date Entering new data To make a new record in a database click on the data entry tool This action will clear the card and place the caret into the first writable icon You can also use the Insert key short cut When this is done any default data entry defined for the field will be inserted after the card has been cleared This data may be kept or edited as required Setting default data is described later in Chapter 12 Creating a database In this mode successive records may be created whenever data is saved to disc by pressing Return the card will be automatically cleared ready for the next record To exit this mode de select the entry tool by clicking on it again Data entry methods vary between the different data field types so each will be described separately 42 Impact Chapter 7 Data entry 7 4 7 5 7 6 Writable fields These include text number and date field types which all appear as a white writable icon Data is entered by first placing the caret into the field if not already there by clicking the Select mouse bu
184. ller description When designing a database think carefully about what information you need to store and what form it should take It is a good idea to make a rough sketch of your proposed card before you start and think about how you propose to use the data For example if you are designing an address database for mail merging you may find you need a field containing a suitable familiar name such as Sue for use in the letter salutation Dear Sue in addition to a more formal name for the address label You may also need fields containing Mr Mrs Ms etc full forenames and initials But do not worry if you get it wrong the first time as Impact lets you add fields or modify existing ones even after you have started to enter data All field types are described in Chapter 13 Field types 83 Impact Chapter 12 Creating a database 12 9 Multiple cards Where a database needs to hold many fields it may be appropriate to design two or more cards and split the fields between them in some logical manner To create a second card click Menu over the first card and choose New card from the menu If you want to add a duplicate field to a card simply drag the required field from the first card into the card being edited Data from duplicate fields is only stored on disc once but is displayed on all cards containing the duplicates 12 10 Setting a password One reason for having multiple cards may be to keep sensitive informati
185. lt field gt next lt field gt Examples Impact Addresses Fetch Name 62 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Impact Addresses Fetch next Postcode The first example requests data from the named database and field The second example will fetch the next non blank field after the last field fetched provided it is not after the field Postcode which will be the last field it can merge 10 16 The Record command This command does not directly insert data into the document but may be used to select a particular record to be used in any following Fetch commands Note that if you wish to use the current record shown on the Impact card you need not issue a Record command as this record is already selected by default gt Fetch Index Surnames Not set feces Filter Not set l _ Table _ Calc filter _ Sean _ Calculation Record First _ Date _ Next The bottom two options allow selection of the first and next form of this command to select the first record or the next available record after the current one respectively The next form of this command is particularly useful for inclusion into label sheets see 10 25 Creating label sheets in Ovation Pro and Impression and permits data from more than one record to be included in a single document The Index and Filter menus allow any index or filter to be selected from those defined for the database Selecting an index or f
186. ly as it happens button in this field is set by obtaining the value Flag Addresses Cardlist 1 In general terms the function returns a non zero value which will test as true if button b is selected in flag field f Itis equivalent to f amp 1 lt lt b 1 where amp is the bitwise AND operator The buttons are numbered from 1 to 32 The function may also be used with binary values other than flag fields Button int Button The mouse button being pressed at the time the function is used Returned values are 0 none 1 Select 2 Menu 3 Adjust LastButton int LastButton The mouse button last pressed values as for Button KeyDown int KeyDown int n Returns non zero true if the given key number is currently pressed Key numbers are as given in the RISC OS Programmer s Reference Manual ToolState int ToolState text t Returns non zero true if the given tool is selected shown depressed Index text Index text d The name of the currently selected index in database d If d is not given the current database is assumed If there is no index currently selected the empty string is returned 126 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations e g Index Videos Filter text Filter text d The name of the currently selected filter in database d If dis not given the current database is assumed If there is no filter currently selected the empty string is returned e g Filter Addresses Field
187. m click with Adjust to add to the selection and export these by dragging to any required destination This overrides any chosen field map Alternatively using the select tool it is possible to select several fields in a defined order Ey Saving to the Filer It is also possible to drag a field into a Filer window to create a text file containing the field s textual content or to export a copy of an image field You will be warned if an existing file is about to be overwritten File names are given as follows Selection of fields Selection External image field the name of the file Internal image field the name of the field or Image if the field has no name with the record number appended Other single field name of that field or Unnamed if the field has no name Using the export tool The rest of this chapter describes how to use the export tool to export data in plain text CSV or TSV format from an Impact database Itis opened by selecting the export tool from the database toolbar or direct from the menu over a table 154 Impact Chapter 18 Exporting data 18 3 18 4 rt from Addresses Records Current record J Multiple Selection CSV Excel l Fron First Here Save format Delete Field separators Handling field separators in the data Comma _J Do not process data specially J Tab Enclose in quotes and double up quotes Excel _ Space _ Enclose in quotes and prefix quotes with Unix b Li
188. mails attributes clearing data editing legends entering data in calculations over a network File fields internal importing FileContent function FileName function FileSize function FileType function Filter action command Filter function Filter tests Filters creating and editing deleting effect on importing flag fields hiding from menus in merge commands selection on opening a database use in indexes Filters function Find action command Find tool Fireworkz exporting to First action command Flag fields attributes editing legends entering data filtering importing in calculations Flag function use in filtering flag fields Index 71 96 45 91 43 130 185 169 125 124 125 125 135 127 35 15 23 29 33 33 35 168 34 35 61 64 65 174 38 127 136 16 30 158 136 89 97 91 45 34 169 129 126 34 Impact Foreign fields 103 attributes 104 clearing 106 creating 103 entering data 104 importing 169 Format function 116 Fract function 120 Functions 110 G Global action command 142 Global variables 142 Greater than 36 H Help while using Impact 13 Hot keys see Keyboard shortcuts HourGlass action command 144 Hrs function 118 Hyp function 121 l Iconbar menu 13 If action command 140 Image fields 88 attributes 96 clearing data 45 entering data 44 Impact BackupDir 179 183 186 Impact Globals 183 186 Impact Path 183 185 Impact SampleData 183 Impact Write 183
189. make a note of the definitions of any which include the field whose type you wish to change as when that field is deleted it will be removed from the index filter field map definition If the field is the only one used in the definition then that index filter field map will be deleted entirely 3 If you do not already have one on your card create a calculation field of type Number with the calculation expression Record Give the field a name This field will display the record number of each record in the database If you wish to retain this field for later use you may wish to alter the number of decimal places to 0 as it looks nicer but this is not necessary for what we are trying to do 4 While you are in card editing mode add the export and import tools to your toolbar if they are not already present 5 Save the changes to the card Create a field map consisting of your record number field and the field whose type you wish to change with the record number field being the first field in the map 188 Impact Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use 6 Make sure you have no indexes or filters active Activate your new field map and click on the export tool From the menu choose CSV Jmpact EasiWriter to enable appropriate settings Save a CSV file to the location of your choice This will contain only record numbers and the data from the field whose type you wish to change 7 Re enter card editing mode and delete the field whose type y
190. many copies to print The number of copies set within the Print dialogue in Impression Ovation Pro controls the number of identical copies of each merged document to be printed Thus if the number of copies has been set to 2 and 10 records in a database are being merged then a total of 20 documents will be printed Aborting a print run It should be understood that mail merging is a cooperative action between Impact and Impression Ovation Pro If it is found necessary to abort a print run pressing Escape while documents are being printed may have different effects depending on which application has control at the time However if the Escape key is held down then when Impact next gets control the printing operation will be completely terminated 10 10 Sending e mails The E mail button will first cause a merge to take place and then JmpEmail will be instructed to send the message If you are merging from multiple records each message will be sent separately ImpEmail keeps a log of which messages have been sent successfully and which generated errors 10 11 Saving your document Merge documents may be stored anywhere on any disc and may be dragged into the merge window when required However in order for them to appear on the document menu from this window they must be stored in the Documents sub directory within the database to which they belong This may be done by dragging the file icon from the editor s save window into the
191. mat function 119 Dialogue boxes displaying from action commands 140 Discussion list 201 Display action command 137 DocClear action command 139 DocFix action command 138 DocMerge action command 138 DocPrint action command 138 Drag and drop 25 42 154 E E mail 147 193 EasiWriter exporting data to 156 Editing a record 31 42 Else action command 140 Entry action command 141 Entry tool 14 28 42 Equal to 36 Error action command 143 Excel exporting data to 156 Execution context 132 merge commands 60 Exists function 128 203 Impact Exp function Export action command Export formats Exporting data Expressions action commands F Fact function Fetch merge command Field editing menu Field function Field maps creating and modifying deleting effect on importing selection on opening a database Field types changing technical data Fields assigning values in action commands attributes caret order clearing default entries editing legends help text justification moving names order on menus placement grid reading values in calculations removing from a card Fields action command Fields function FieldText function FieldValue function File fields 204 121 143 155 24 29 154 107 109 132 120 61 91 127 16 24 29 40 40 41 167 174 23 87 188 190 132 91 93 104 45 181 93 91 91 93 92 92 175 176 108 181 135 127 113 124 87 attaching to e
192. maximum number of characters is 32 The match setting has no effect for numeric fields such as numbers or dates etc The last word If this option is selected the sort will be made using the last word found in a text field and this may be conveniently used to sort names on the surname only The Match setting is still used Case matching It is also possible to choose whether text comparisons are to be made having regard for upper and lower case characters If the Case match option is selected then upper case capitals will be regarded as filing before lower case characters and will be sorted accordingly With this option off upper and lower case characters will be considered to be equal The sort order Records may be sorted either in ascending or descending order by selecting the appropriate option This setting will apply to all fields chosen Using a filter Normally an index will contain all records in the database However it is possible to form an ordered sub set of data records by selecting a suitable filter This may be done by clicking on the Filter menu icon and selecting from the displayed menu Filters are described more fully in Chapter 4 Filters If a filter is selected in the index definition then only records which pass that filter will be indexed which saves memory It is possible to define filters such that whether records pass the filter depends not just on the record data but on some external characteristic
193. mbination of simple calculation or other compound filters To define a compound filter select the Compound option button 34 Impact Chapter 4 Filters 4 5 4 6 4 7 4 8 Edit Filter Filter type _ Calculation _ Simple Compound Filter 1 Eee l Test SA l D l rait __ Hide Name li Delete Cancel Save It is now possible to select the two filters to be combined to form the compound filter and the Test menu used to select from the range of tests specifying the way in which the two filters are to be combined These are AND which will require both filters to pass OR requiring either or both to pass NOR which will assume a pass if both filter tests fail and XOR exclusive or which will assume a pass if one and only one of the two filter tests pass Creating the filter All that is now required to create the filter is to enter a suitable name and click on the Save button Once a filter is created its name will appear on the Filter menu from the filter tool If the displayed filter name is the same as an existing one you will be asked to confirm that you wish to redefine the filter If that name has not been used before a new filter will be created Deleting a filter Having selected a filter as described above it may be completely deleted by clicking on the Delete action button Note however that you cannot delete a filter which is used in an index definition or one which is us
194. merging multiple records or a selection of records from a particular database using the Record next command for that database will affect the merging process For example if you had nine records in your selection and a merge document which fetched fields moved to the next record and fetched more fields then the second document printed would commence with the third 60 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports record in the selection This can be used to good effect as described in 10 25 Creating label sheets in Ovation Pro and Impression If the document merging is initiated by action script commands then the Record next command will change which record is currently selected whether or not the database is that from which the document was loaded In addition any selection of an index or filter in the merge commands will be carried back into the context of the action script Indexes and filters The Record Table and Scan commands can select indexes and filters If no selection is made then any index or filter which is currently active on the database will be applied The index and filter menus in the command building panel allow any index or filter to be selected from those defined for the database If you wish to set a filter which is not on the database s filter menu you can select Calc filter and type a calculation expression into the box to define a temporary filter for use by the merge command Note that any index
195. mpact user manual Impact Impact user manual First edition Second edition Third edition Fourth edition Fifth edition Sixth edition Seventh edition Eighth edition Ninth edition Tenth edition Eleventh edition Twelfth edition Thirteenth edition Fourteenth edition Fifteenth edition Sixteenth edition Seventeenth edition Eighteenth edition Nineteenth edition Twentieth edition by John Skingley October 1995 June 1996 November 1996 January 1997 February 1997 revised by Hilary Phillips October 2005 May 2006 October 2008 February 2009 April 2009 December 2009 October 2010 April 2011 January 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 October 2012 April 2014 August 2014 Impact Contents Chapter 1 A guided tour 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 15 1 16 1 17 1 18 The iconbar menu Opening a database Browsing records Entering and saving data Data selection Indexes Filters Field maps The table display Making searches Displaying related data Making relational links Using action buttons Producing reports Mail merging Printing labels More action buttons Creating a database Chapter 2 An introduction Dell 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 2 10 2 11 2 12 2 13 2 14 2 15 2 16 2 17 Program style Cards The toolbar Password protection Table display mode Field types Filters Indexes Field maps Merging data into other
196. n construct described in the previous section to control the result For example cost vat 1 175 1 will compute a total including or excluding vat according to the setting of a flag field called vat since vat will be 1 if set and O otherwise Where there is more than one flag button in a set the Flag function may be used to test if a particular button is set Flag field button This will return a non zero result if the given button number 1 32 is set in the given flag field 129 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations For example Flag types 4 Type 4 None The Flag function is very useful for setting up filters on flag fields See 4 3 Calculation filters for more information A textual form of the flag button selection is given by the FieldText function Merging flag fields When merging flag fields a textual representation is used rather than numerical This text is formed by concatenating the legends from all selected flag buttons in the set with comma separators This form is also shown in the table display 16 16 Using option menu and browser fields Using an option menu or browser fields in a calculation results in text the value being taken from the legend of the selected option or the text of the menu or browser item If the field has no value set the text used in the calculation will be blank You can obtain the numerical form of the field as stored internally in the database using the FieldValu
197. ndow From the Misc sub menu select InsertMerge tag or press Ctrl Shift M Field number Cancel OK The Mail merge tag window will open in which you simply type the number of the merge command you defined earlier Unt Pas Document o sis oasa Dear Merge 2 You will see that the merge commands simply appear as Merge 1 Merge 2 etc but they must be inserted in the document using the method described above They can be moved within the document by dragging with the mouse or using cut copy and paste and deleted using the Delete or Backspace key You can use the same merge command several times in a document if required and they do not have to appear in numerical order To test or perform the mail merge operation you would need to open the appropriate database in Impact select the Ovation Pro merge tool and after entering the name of the document in this case Document in the Document box click on Test Fix or Print as described earlier in this chapter 70 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Documenti Dear Bill Smith 10 23 Entering merge commands directly into mpEmail To merge Impact data into an JmpEmail message a merge command must be inserted into the message at the position where the data is required This is simply done by typing merge with the merge command inserted between the double quotes For example merge Impact Date m
198. ndow title Dragging a new file into a file field is reflected in the modification state however It is not permitted to use this function in the definition of a calculation field the default value expression for a field or in defining a calculation filter FieldValue int real text date FieldValue text f This function returns the value of the field fin its internal format i e e the numeric value of a number flag option menu or browser field e the text of a text or sequence field e the date or time for a date or time field e the filename as text for an external file field e the contents of an internal file if it is a text file otherwise the name of the filetype e the result of an action or calculation field e the caption of a label field e g FieldValue Videos type For a function which returns the contents of a field in a textual form see FieldText FileName text FileName text f int force The name of an internal or external linked file field must be passed to this function The function will return the full pathname of the file referenced or contained in the current record or a blank string if there is no file present The main use of this function is in making e mail attachments with ImpEmail based on external or linked file content For internal file fields it can sometimes be useful to know the filename that Impact would use to store the file even if there is no file currently stored Setting the
199. ne break _ Prefix field separator with Unix gt _ Enclose numeric fields in double quotes too Line terminators Multi line text fields convert line breaks to Line feed Line break _ Return _ New field Pad with blank fields _ LF CR _ Comma space D CR LF n Unix 7 Export field names _ Trim surplus line breaks Bf Include record selection details _ Pad data with spaces to fixed width B Cancel Save CSV or comma separated value and TSV tab separated value are standards of data formatting common to many computer platforms and permit data to be transferred to many other applications including word processors spreadsheets and other database systems Unfortunately there are many variants of CSV file and it is important to pick the best one for your target application See the following sections for further advice on this Selecting fields and records As with the other tools exporting is done under the influence of any index filter or field map active in the database It is therefore possible to export any set of fields in any order and to specify fields to be concatenated into a single field Any set of records in sorted or un sorted order can be chosen Records Current record _ Multiple Salacton From First Here Ciald sanaratare Uandlina fiald sanaratare in tha e As first displayed the Current record option is selected In this mode only the record currently displayed in the
200. ngth so click the caret into the writable icon and edit the number to read 40 or use the arrow icons as before Adjusting the card Clearly the card itself is too large and we do not really need the scroll bars First use the window size icon the lower right corner and adjust the window to a suitable size The scroll bars can be removed by clicking with Menu on the card and following the arrow to the right of Card which will cause the Card attributes window to be displayed Do this and click all options off Saving the database The only thing left to do now is to give the database a name and save it to disc To do this click the caret into the Database name field in the Field selection window enter Example and either type Return or click the Save button When you do this the Field selection window will close and the card is ready for you to enter data or close the database as required You can subsequently re open the database from the iconbar menu Editing a card design An existing database card may be edited at any time even when there is data in the database To do this click with Menu over the card and choose Edit card This will open the Field selection window so that additional fields may be added and allow existing fields to be deleted or edited A choice of field types All fields of whatever type are placed and edited in the same manner as described above See Chapter 14 Changing field attributes for a fu
201. nment to a key field however expects an expression giving the number of the record in the foreign database to which the key field should be linked Field assignment examples The following are examples of action commands which might be used in a Videos database linked to a customer Addresses database dueback Today hireperiod assigns today s date plus the number of days indicated in field hireperiod to a local date field called dueback indicating the date the video is due back count count 1 increments the value in field count by 1 Addresses hired Addresses hired 1 133 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands increments the number of videos in the Addresses database which the customer currently has on hire name Record Addresses Where name is the local key field related to the Addresses database this command assigns the number of the record currently displayed in the Addresses database to the key field This has the effect of inserting the foreign name and address as though it had been dragged across It is possible to access data from the related record in the foreign database rather than from the currently displayed record This is done using the key field in the local database which holds the relational link as explained in Chapter 16 Calculations total name hired A local field total showing the number of videos hired by the customer is updated directly from the Addresses database field h
202. nnel photographs user defined pop up menu selectors calculated fields etc Impact also allows programmed action buttons to be included on a data record card to carry out often repeated actions with a single click Program style While you will find sufficient information in these pages to allow you to use this program if you are not wholly familiar with normal RISC OS desktop operation you are advised to study the computer User Guide supplied with your computer Throughout this manual you will be expected to understand the terms click drag etc and to know the mouse buttons Select Menu and Adjust These terms and action are standard across all conforming RISC OS programs so if you are unsure of these terms please consult the User Guide before reading on Cards Impact databases are designed simply by designing a record card This is similar to a card in a card index box and may be designed by selecting and positioning individual data fields in any desirable manner They may also display calculation fields showing the results of calculations made using data from other fields Calculations are not stored but are computed whenever the card is displayed or updated Cards may also contain items which are repeated on all records such as text legends etc Several cards may be designed for one database and the fields repeated on several cards or shared between them These may be used for specific purposes where the full data available
203. nt to be used for printing labels it is only necessary to create a single page which if merged using the Multiple or Selection option will be used several times to go through the whole database or records selected from a table Create the first frame The easiest way to proceed is to create a single frame in an Jmpression Ovation Pro document the same size as the individual labels on your label stationery and insert the required merge commands At this stage it is a good idea to check that the font style is set to a suitable type and size for the label Homerton medium is an easy style for automated sorting machines to read Select the record required The first command required will be the Record next command to ensure that each label uses data from the next available record Note you will need to delete this command from the first label on the sheet when the document is complete to ensure that the first label uses the first record in the database or the record currently displayed in the card The Multiple option will move the record number on for the start of subsequent pages Merge the first field Select the Fetch command specifying the first field to be used probably a name field This merge command may be on the same line as the previous record command which will not itself cause data to be merged and so will not take up space When placing merge commands by dragging them into the document the caret will remain at the beginning
204. nter s margins are set correctly and really do reflect the capability of the printer If this is correct there is unfortunately little one can do except change printers or more likely label sheets Label size This is the size of each individual label on the sheet Labels The Labels boxes control the number of labels in each direction on the sheet If you cannot get the required number of labels to fit check the individual label size Label pitch The pitch measurement refers to the distance from one edge of a label to the corresponding edge of the next not to the space between labels This measurement should be taken across several labels and the result divided by the number of labels This will avoid minor errors accumulating across the sheet 80 Impact Chapter 11 Printing labels Some types of label often known as die cut labels have a slight gap between each label and rounded corners For these labels the pitch values should be larger than the label size settings Other labels sometimes called butt cut have no gaps between the labels and square corners For these the label size and pitch values should be the same Label offsets These dimensions provide for margins at the top and left edges of the sheet When using continuous fan fold paper in dot matrix printers you should set the top margin to zero and align the paper with the first label The setting of the left margin should take into account the horizontal pap
205. nu places a code in the box and alters the hire fee accordingly A menu style action button could also be used to make it easier to choose foreign data in a relational database an example script is given in Chapter 15 Relational databases Action scripts may be edited either from the card editing window or by clicking with Adjust on the action button when viewing any record Note that the button must have been given a name before a script can be created 13 14 Labels These are not database fields but when placed onto a card may be used to label real fields to show their use They may also be used as card titles or in fact be placed Label anywhere for any reason 13 15 Boxes These are not database fields but may be used to group related fields together or for any other decorative effect Box 90 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes 14 1 14 2 14 3 Chapter 14 Changing field attributes All fields may be adjusted to appear and perform in a variety of ways For instance a number or date may appear in a specified format a text field may have a defined number of lines and contain a specified maximum number of characters This chapter describes how to set these various attributes The Field editing menu If you click with Menu over a field or a selection of fields and follow the first item on the edit card menu the field editing menu is opened Field address Field address Edit Card Move T
206. nual but using mailto URLs is very handy for one off messages where you do not mind editing and sending them off manually Looking up a street map The next script example takes the postcode from a field in the database and constructs a URL which will bring up a map of the area using the web site www streetmap co uk Note that while this script worked at the time of writing April 2011 the format of URLs accepted by web sites is liable to change without notice The field in this case is named PostCode but you can easily adjust the script to suit your own database Look up street map from postcode field Local u if PostCode Error No postcode available u http www streetmap co uk ids srf mapp idmap u amp searchp ids amp name u UrlEncode PostCode Url u Note the use of the UrlEncode function which converts the data into a form suitable for submitting in the URL Looking up travel information A more complicated example uses the postcode in a record card to plan a UK journey using the www transportdirect info car and public transport journey planner The user will be asked which day they intend to travel and at what time they wish to depart You would need to modify this script to set the starting point for the journey to your own postcode the example below starts from central Oxford Look up travel planning information Local u Local origin Local d dd Postcode to
207. o true the following lt command gt or lt command block gt is executed otherwise it is skipped Else Else lt command gt lt command block gt If used this must follow an If command and will result in the following commands being executed if the expression was false While While lt expression gt lt command block gt If lt expression gt is true non zero the following commands will be repeatedly executed until the lt expression gt becomes false This means that some item within the expression must be changed by the following commands or execution will continue forever If this should happen the Escape key may be used to halt it lt command block gt Commands such as If Else and While see above may be followed by a block of commands within curly brackets if a b command 1 command 2 17 11 Displaying dialogue boxes Various dialogue boxes may be opened from a command script Dbox Dbox lt name gt lt state gt This command opens or closes one of a number of dialogue boxes available within the Impact and is principally used with tool action files The boxes are 140 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands index The index definition box filter The filter definition box fields The field map definition box search The search box merge The document merge control box import The CSV import box export The export control box backup The backup control window 17 12 Card command
208. o define the merge command s required click Menu over the Ovation Pro document and select Mail merge from the File sub menu to open the Mail merge dialogue box Mail merge ped Ignore headings record Fields First Next Clear Fix Print record Set Cancel Print Now click on the Fields button to open the Merge fields window This will be blank if no merge commands have been defined for this document To enter a new command click on New and assign it a number and name The name can be a helpful reminder of what the command was supposed to do The new command will be added to the list in the Merge fields window where you can enter the actual command you require Note that for Ovation Pro the merge command is contained within a macro definition macv impulse Also note that since it is not Ovation Pro which must understand the command but the application to which is is sent it is not possible for Ovation Pro to check the validity of the command 69 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports 1 Today s date macv impulse Impact Date 2 Name Bcv impulse lmpact Addresses Fetch Name You can add or delete merge commands by clicking on New or Delete Click on OK when you have finished and then click on Cancel if you wish to close the Mail merge window To insert a merge command in the document place the caret at the required position and click with Menu over the document wi
209. of ImpEmail is to support Impulse based mail merging from database applications such as Impact and Powerbase This section explains how to format them and gives examples General format of merge commands Both Powerbase and Impact allow you to drag and drop fields and other merge data into the ImpEmail editing window Merge commands can appear in any area of the ImpEmail document including the From To Cc and Subject fields In ImpEmail the merge commands will be shown as mer ge wu with the merge command appearing between the double quotes You can edit the commands directly in ImpEmail if you wish Double quotes included in merge commands must be doubled up to be interpreted correctly 196 Impact Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual As merge commands are enclosed in braces if you wish to include an opening brace in your message for other purposes you will need to precede it by a backslash t to ensure that ImpEmail does not try to interpret it as a merge command Similarly if you wish to include a backslash in your message it must be preceded by another Merging data from Impact To include fields or tables from Impact in the message use Impact s merge tool to create merge commands see Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Alternatively you can type commands direct into ImpEmail following the guidance in that chapter as to the syntax of Impact s merge commands Tables and HTML e mails As well as including
210. of brevity we will simply refer to the editor for whichever application Impact is communicating with In order to merge to an application you must ensure that RISC OS has seen the relevant application or Impact will be unable to create or open the documents For Ovation Pro the Impulse applet must also be active Open the OvnPro application directory and check the subdirectory Applets to see if Impulse is present If not copy it to that location from the directory called DavidPilling Applets on your Ovation Pro CD It is also available to download from David Pilling s web site We will start with a simple example using mpEmail before going on to describe the merge process in general and to explain the merge commands Introductory example Suppose you have a database of addresses including e mail addresses and you wish to send an annual letter to all your Christmas card list In the past you may have simply composed a single letter and printed out multiple copies perhaps using Impact s label tool to print labels for the envelopes Now you wish to save paper and postage costs and send the letter by e mail ImpEmail allows you to send the same e mail to as many different people as you have e mail addresses for and you can personalise some of the text too Open the sample Addresses database provided with Impact Click on the merge tool to open the Merge window This window provides facilities for inserting merge commands in
211. of sending data to Ovation Pro Impression or ImpEmail when asked and also instructing these applications to merge data and print e mail the results See Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Label printing This is such an important feature that a separate application has been developed to provide it called LabPrint However this is controlled directly from within Impact in a seamless manner Labels may be dragged directly to the printer or saved to disc and printed later perhaps many times It is also possible to queue labels singly or in groups maybe from different databases and then print them in one go when convenient The LabPrint application has a large range of Avery labels pre defined and also allows other styles shapes and sizes to be created and saved See Chapter 11 Printing labels Import and export Impact is also fully equipped to import and export data to and from other applications or disc files in the conventional desktop manner Direct in memory transfer will be used where this is supported by the other application otherwise transfer will be via a scrap file on disc It is likely that you may already have important information stored within another application such as a spreadsheet or another database package and may wish to import this data directly 24 Impact Chapter 2 An introduction 2 13 2 14 2 15 2 16 into an Impact database This may be done provided the other applicati
212. of these things at once Using action buttons A powerful feature of Impact is its programmable action buttons which greatly speed up and automate many regular operations such as logging a new video hire A row of such buttons have been provided on the bottom of Videos card If you find another un hired video and click on the Hire action button lower right corner you will get a message indicating that the hire of a video to the selected customer is about to be logged If you select OK the customer s name and address will be inserted into the Videos card as though you had dragged it there as described above However several other things have also been done such as inserting today s date as the Date hired and incrementing the Hire count field Also the transaction has been saved to disc Note that you could have designed the database in such a way that all of this could be done manually programming is not necessary in Impact it just makes life a lot easier To show just how powerful action buttons can be try the following First edit the Date hired to 17 Impact Chapter 1 A guided tour be a few days ago to simulate the passage of time and save the change to the record by clicking on the save tool or pressing F3 Now click on the Return action button and click OK on the message window as before Notice that the customer s name has been removed and the days hired for this video has been increased as has the total
213. ol icons This toolbar will scroll like the computer iconbar if there are more tools than can be displayed in the width of the card The tools displayed on each record card are under the user s control and custom tools may also be created Browsing records The arrow icon tools to the left of the toolbar allow you to browse through all the records in the database The left arrow with a bar may be used to go directly to the first record while clicking this with the Adjust mouse button will display the last record in the database The other arrow icons conform to normal desktop protocol and may be used to browse record by record through the database Clicking with Adjust reverses the browse direction in the normal manner Entering and saving data The next tool to the right is the entry tool When this is selected the record card is EA cleared and any default entries are inserted The user may then make further entries or changes that are necessary Clicking on the save tool will save the data to a new database record and return the card e to view mode However pressing the Return key in a writable field will save the data while remaining in entry mode ready for further data to be entered Use the pop up help to explore other tools select Help from the iconbar menu or run the Help application if this is not already turned on All tools actions are defined by action scripts and are completely configurable by the user Data
214. olumn submenu of the table menu You can resize all columns at once by choosing Resize all columns from the main table menu Sometimes you may have a column of data where the heading is much wider than the data in the column By double clicking with Adjust on the column boundary the column will be resized so that all the data will fit in the width but the heading will be truncated There is an option in Impact s choices see Chapter 21 which will automatically open tables with columns the right width to fit the data This is turned off by default as with a large database on slow hardware this may cause the table to appear more slowly than desired Hiding and reordering table columns If you do not wish to view or print all the fields shown in the table you may hide columns by choosing Hide from the Column submenu of the table menu Show hidden columns will reveal all hidden columns again The order of columns may be changed in the table by dragging the column heading sideways until it moves to the desired location If you press Escape in the middle of a drag the column will be returned to its original position These operations only affect the table which is open at the time To save the columns displayed and their order for future use you should define a field map see Chapter 6 Changing the title of the table The heading in the table window s titlebar is set by default to show what filter index and field map were in force when t
215. ommand box if the command building panel is taking up too much of your screen space Selecting a document There are a number of different ways of selecting the document you wish to merge to 1 Select it from the Document menu This menu shows all documents stored in the selected database s Documents directory You can click on the small directory icon to view all such files which is the easiest way to delete any which are no longer required 2 Save a document from your editor directly to Impact s merge window This will save it in the database s Documents directory so that it is added to the Document menu 3 Drag a document to the merge window from any filer window 57 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports 10 5 10 6 10 7 4 If the document is already loaded into your editor type its name into the Document box Note that these last two methods will not copy the document into the database s Documents directory but merely set up the link between Impact and the editor If you wish to use the same document again you will need to remember where you saved it as it will not be shown on the document menu If your editor is not running and has not been seen by RISC OS you will get an error when you try to open the document You will need to open the directory containing the editor application you can then close it again and re select the document If you close the document Impact has no way of kno
216. on can export its data in comma or tab separated value i e CSV or TSV format which most do Impact has been made to import and export data in CSV standard with provision for handling some other variants It is also possible to export records one field to a line which is handy for printing a single label or exporting an address directly into Edit or other text editor etc See Chapter 18 Exporting data and Chapter 19 Importing data Import and export using drag and drop Text or images may be dragged into an Impact record card from another application For example a name or address could be selected in an e mail or wordprocessing document and imported directly into a field on the data card See Chapter 7 Data entry In the same way single fields or a selection of fields may be dragged from an Impact record card and dropped into many other applications If the receiving application supports the RISC OS drag and drop protocol a ghost caret will appear in the document for you to position where you wish to drop the data It is also possible to save data to a Filer window using drag and drop Which fields get exported when dragging is affected by the choice of field map and the selection tool See Chapter 18 Exporting data for more details Database backup It is very important with any computer application that a backup copy of stored data should be made at regular intervals to guard against loss of valuable information Impact provi
217. on context There is a subtle difference between actions carried out as the result of a tool on the toolbar being used and those carried out when an action button is clicked When an action button is clicked execution is carried out within a separate context This context inherits all existing settings of filters indexes field maps and the database record number when first started However all changes to these made within the action script only apply during its execution and are discarded when it terminates However this is not the case when a tool action script is executed allowing these to make permanent changes to the current record number and the filter index and field map selection Action command syntax Action commands consist of a keyword defining the action followed by one or more names or other data as described below In the following descriptions items within lt angle brackets gt should be replaced with the required item while items shown within square brackets are optional and may be omitted All other characters should be included as shown particularly commas Important All commands should be terminated with a semi colon Also all action commands are case insensitive However this does not apply to field names variables see below or functions which are case sensitive All data items following the keyword will be executed as expressions and may therefore contain references to fields As with other calculat
218. on is carried out to give you the chance to change your mind The Count records option will display a box showing the total record count and the number of selections made The Find duplicates facility can only be used if an index was active when the table was opened It causes all but the first of any duplicate entries in the index to become selected and is useful for finding duplicated addresses etc Any records which are still wanted may be unselected by clicking them with Adjust and the unwanted duplicates can then be deleted using the Delete selection option Exporting the table as a text file Having opened a table and rearranged or hdden columns you can export the data in one of two ways The Export text file option opens the Export tool directly rather than via the toolbar For more information on the facilities of this tool see 78 2 Using the export tool Exporting as a Draw file The second export method provided allows you to produce a Draw file of the table content which can be used in any application which can handle Draw files The dialogue box allows you to choose whether the column headings and a brief description of the table content will be included in the Draw file You may also select whether the whole table or just the selected rows will be exported Export table as Draw file V Include table title V Include column headings Output selected lines only B Cancel Save The Draw file will
219. on may be dragged to any acceptable destination This may be directly to another application or into a filer window etc Formatting the data Aside from the various export formats supplied with Impact you have full control over the options used for export and can save any combination of settings which you need frequently so that they appear on the menu of formats Field separators This setting determines what characters are inserted between each field of a record when it is exported The options are pretty self explanatory There are standard options in the form of comma tab and space The line break option starts a new line with each new field and inserts an extra blank line between records How line breaks are signified in the file is determined by the Line terminators option There is also the option of entering your own custom field separator string The box accepts codes such as n for a line feed character just like entering strings in action scripts and calculations see 16 4 Control codes in text strings Line terminators The four options for line termination represent the most common ways of signifying a new line in text files Most modern systems will accept a plain line feed on its own but some Windows software requires carriage return plus line feed CR LF and this format is generally required by older MS DOS and CP M software Prior to Mac OS X the Apple Macintosh used line endings consisting just of the carriage return cha
220. on the computer containing details of the call being received This message is recognised by Impact which may be configured to take certain actions Looking up the number When the message is received Impact will open and load a named database and attempt to find the supplied phone number in a named field The database and field name must be supplied from the Choices window available from the iconbar as described in Chapter 21 Choices If a match is found the record card will be displayed on the screen Taking action Impact will also execute an action script as defined in the Choices window This must specify a database and action script name The action button may for example insert the time date and phone number in a database of logged calls enter the time and date into a customer contact file etc For example assuming the call log database is called CallLog and the number was looked up in Addresses Clear CallLog CallLog date Today 171 Impact CallLog number CallLog name Copy CallLog Addresses called Save Addresses 172 Phone Addresses name Today Chapter 20 Caller display Impact Chapter 21 Choices 21 1 21 2 Chapter 21 Choices This chapter describes the user definable choices available which allow you to customize Impact to suit your own preferences The Choices window is displayed by selecting Choices from Impact s iconbar menu This is a scrollable window wi
221. on the pointer will change to a large cross when moved over it The Clear button will restore the document to its previous state showing the embedded merge commands and allowing any required modifications to be made Permanent merging If a permanent file copy of the previewed document is required the embedded merge commands may be permanently replaced with data by clicking on the Fix button after you have clicked Test This will restore the document to an editable state It is not possible to recover the merge commands once this has been done as the data are now an integral part of the document and may be freely edited as required The document may be saved to disc for future use or printed e mailed etc using the facilities provided by the editor Be careful not to save this merged version over the top of the one containing merge commands or the original will be lost 58 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports 10 8 10 9 Printing reports The Print button will first cause a merge to take place and when this process is complete Impression Ovation Pro will be instructed to print the merged document Note that the printing is controlled by Jmpression Ovation Pro in accordance with the settings current in the Print dialogue box within that application so you should check these before clicking on the merge window s Print button These settings may include which pages are to be printed and in what order and how
222. on the required field on the card or choose Find from the card menu to display the Find window and enter the data to be searched for Find in Videos director 3 Find spiel EX i Cancel Previous Next Find If the field is a text type a case insensitive search will be made for any record containing the entered text within the field If the field is numeric or a date type an exact match with the data will be sought irrespective of the format used Having entered the data the search will be initiated either by pressing the Return key or by clicking on the Find button To find further matching records starting from the current one click on the Next button or press Shift Return The Previous button will search backwards from the current one Find will always search from the first record in the database or current index The record displayed in the card will change to show the result of the search The Find window remains open to facilitate further searches and can be closed by clicking on Cancel The search terms which you have used are remembered and you can access them using the up and down arrow buttons to the right of the search term box or the up and down cursor keys Finding related data If the Find tool is invoked from a foreign relational field the Find window will display two additional options ____ Findin Addresses Name __ Search _ Local Foreign database Find smith Fis fi Cancel Prev
223. on together on one card where it may be protected with a password Clicking on the Password button in the Field Selection window will display the password entry box shown below Password Entn Please enter a new password Password Cancel Enter To provide password protection to the card simply enter a suitable password into the writable icon and click on Enter As you type the password will not be shown in case this is being observed You will be asked to enter the password twice for verification before it is accepted To remove a password clear the entry field and click on Enter DO NOT FORGET YOUR PASSWORD Please note that setting a password on a card does not provide a high level of security The protected data is not encrypted in any way and thus is accessible to anyone prepared to scan through the database files directly 12 11 Card attributes window Clicking with Menu over the card and following the arrow to the right of Card causes the Card attributes window to be displayed Ej Horizontal scroll bar Tools ei Vertical scroll bar Ej Adjust size icon x Toggle size icon lV Close icon Remove toolbar j Maxsize _ Mv Background Colour Ey Preferred card i This box allows the card size to be adjusted and the various scroll bars and window icons to be 84 Impact Chapter 12 Creating a database selected as required By default scroll bars are provided b
224. on will only result in a merge field being inserted if the Edit icon s has been clicked so that the Command box is visible in the merge window Otherwise the textual content of the field will be inserted instead as with a normal drag and drop action 61 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Using the command building panel Fetch Second Fetch field tt eco ey Tabl ee er notes able picture Scan _ Fetch next non blank field Cardlist _ Calculation but not if beyond the field named above Title Name eee address Postcode fax email phone rec The Fetch command comes in two forms The simple Fetch field fetches the contents of the field specified and this is what you will usually want If the field selected is an internal or external linked file field you have the option of ticking Attach file This is intended for use with JmpEmail The resulting command is actually a Calc command see Section 10 19 below constructed to fetch the name of the file from Impact rather than the content of the file See Section 10 24 Merging and attachments in ImpEmail for more information The Fetch next command will fetch the next non blank field after the previous field fetched in the order listed on the menu This order is defined as the caret order when creating a data card or may be alphabetical according to the setting of the Choices option In this case the field to select from the menu is t
225. on you wish to use returns an integer as with getunits above you will need to convert the result to a string using the Ovation Pro Impact Chapter 16 Calculations function itos Phone text Phone The last received number from a caller id unit see Chapter 20 Caller display 16 14 Conditional calculations Calculations may include the following operators A B C The value of this expression depends on the value of A such that if A is non zero the expression s value will be B otherwise it will be C where A B and C may be any valid sub expressions For example if male is a flag field containing a single tick box and birthdate is the date of birth then male 65 60 Age birthdate will calculate the number of years until retirement for either sex assuming men retire at 65 and women at 60 This is because the expression male 65 60 will have the value 65 if male is 1 the flag is set and 60 otherwise 16 15 Using flag fields When used in a calculation flag fields yield a numeric value according to which flags buttons are selected Each button in a single flag field is given a value and where several buttons are selected the field value is the total of the selected button values The values assumed are as listed below Button Value 1 1 2 2 3 4 4 8 5 16 etc For example if buttons 1 3 and 4 are selected the field value will be 13 These values are useful in the conditional calculatio
226. ons 16 1 16 2 16 3 16 4 Chapter 16 Calculations This chapter describes calculations which are used in several contexts within Impact such as default data entries for writable field types merged calculations and action script programming Expressions Mathematical expressions are used in the definition of calculation filters default field contents and calculation fields and may be used within action scripts An expression is a mathematical formula using operators etc and operands A full list of operators is given later Operands may consist of constants field names pre defined functions and user defined variables These may represent numeric values integer or real dates times and text strings Spaces may generally be used in expressions between operators and operands if desired but note that in some circumstances such as specifying a temporary calculation filter in a merge command spaces are not permitted Syntax definitions The syntax definitions used below are expressed using the following conventions Optional items are shown within square brackets optional item Items within angle brackets are to be replaced by the actual item required For example lt field gt should be replaced by the actual field name to be used excluding the brackets Other items should be included literally In the examples given for some functions an arrow gt is used to indicate the result of the expression given For
227. onto the button The path to the file will be recorded in the database record Note that if the file is subsequently moved or deleted Impact will not be able to find it A file field displays its legend in black when there is a link to a file in grey when there is not and in red when the file cannot be found When a link has just been created as described above the legend will be in green until the modified data is saved Clicking the button has the same effect as double clicking on the file in its Filer window This action will depend on the particular file type For instance a text file may be loaded into Edit a photograph into an image viewer or a sound file played The legend on the button may be chosen to reflect its intended use If you click on a file button whose legend is red you will get an error message telling you what file it was linked to To avoid irritating repetition of errors when a disc cannot be found Impact keeps a note of which discs cannot be found and does not attempt to access the same disc again If the disc becomes available later but the file button is still coloured red you need to click on the button to get Impact to check for that disc again For more information about use of file fields over a network see 24 3 Using Impact over a network If you have a file or field in a table display the table will show e the filename of an external linked file e the content of an internal file if it is a plain text
228. ool which allows you to produce regular compressed backups of data Users are strongly advised to take advantage of the backup tool to keep their data safe Please see Chapter 22 Making backups 32 Impact Chapter 4 Filters 4 1 4 2 Chapter 4 Filters This chapter describes filters and how to create and edit them No database is of much use unless data relevant to the task in hand can be extracted easily However the possible range of conditions you may wish to apply to select the required data records is potentially infinite and this often leads to the use of very complex and unfriendly query languages being employed Impact has been written to simplify this operation as much as possible reducing the actions required to simple menu selections wherever possible However quite complex selection criteria may still be used to enable the most demanding tests to be applied Filters are tests which may be applied to database records to select a set of records required for a particular operation Each filter specifies a single test condition on a specified field but filters may be combined to define more complex tests Unlike indexes filters do not use a list held in memory Instead Impact applies the filter tests as required to decide whether to use each record as needed Creating and editing filters To create a new filter from scratch you must first deselect any currently active filter by Ny clicking with Select on the filt
229. ools Copy x Remove toolbar Delete Edit help Snap to grid If over a single field Edit will open the field attribute box for that field enabling you to set attributes as described below If over a selection of fields Clear will deselect all of the fields Move opens the field move tool described below Copy Delete and Snap to grid do what you would expect Edit help will open a window for you to type a description of the field for use in pop up help Common features All field attributes are set when Impact is in edit mode either while designing a new database or when editing a card layout These actions are fully described in earlier chapters Once placed fields may be selected singly or in groups by clicking with the Select and Adjust buttons in the conventional manner Selected fields will be displayed with a red border and a red outline box will be shown around multiple groupings Several actions may be carried out on a selected group of fields Note that text fields cannot be extended to create multi line fields in this manner These fields are fully described later A selected group of fields may be moved together by dragging with Select or be extended horizontally or vertically as appropriate by dragging with the Adjust button For fine adjustment you can move selected fields around the card by using the cursor keys Holding Shift and pressing the cursor keys will move the objects according to the
230. opriate side of the field will be extended when an arrow is clicked The Adjust mouse button will reverse the action and reduce the field size on the appropriate side Note that some field types may only be extended horizontally and not vertically and clicking with the up or down arrows in this case will do nothing except to cause the computer to beep When adjusting a group of fields in this manner some may adjust in both directions while others will not and this should be taken into account when making a selection of fields for this purpose Snap to grid if ticked will cause the field s to be moved or resized in steps which fit Impact s set grid pattern The field edit box Double clicking on a field or clicking with Menu over the field and choosing Edit from the Field sub menu will open an field attribute box for that field Many of these have similar features detailed below Field names Most field attribute boxes have a writable icon to allow a field to be given a name Field names are used by Impact when offering a choice of fields in a menu as column headings in a table display and in relational links to other databases It is not necessary to name all fields and a database may be created without doing so However un named fields will not be shown in tables or on field menus and therefore cannot be exported merged or used in calculations etc Unnamed fields may not be searched using the search tool Any unnamed
231. optional second parameter to a true value will achieve this It could be used in an action script to copy a file from elsewhere to the correct location CardFile 124 text CardFile text f This function is similar to FileName You must pass it the name of an internal or external linked file field The function will return the full pathname of the file stored in the field but unlike FileName will return a value which has not yet been saved It is similar in concept to the CardText function For external file fields they behave identically but for internal file fields CardText returns the content of the file if it is a text file or the name of the filetype Impact Chapter 16 Calculations FileType int FileType text n This function takes as an argument a full pathname for a file or directory and returns an integer indicating the type of the file As well as the ordinary filetype numbers which range from 0 to 4095 0 to FFF in hexadecimal there are various special codes which may be returned as follows Type Type Meaning decimal hex 4096 1000 Directory 8192 2000 Application directory 12288 3000 Image filing system e g 3A91 Zip filetype filetype file 16384 4000 Untyped file load exec address 20480 5000 Incomplete file An error will be generated if the file cannot be found FileSize int FileSize text n The argument should be the full pathname for a file The size of the file in bytes is returned An
232. options It does not have to match the complete name the beginning 143 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands of the name will do or even part of the name and capitalisation is ignored If lt style gt is not provided then the default style as determined by the application choices will be used See 27 10 Default export format for details e g Export ADFS HardDisc4 records Export Addresses ADFS HardDisc4 address export First Export ADFS HardDisc4 records 1 Excel HourGlass HourGlass lt state gt Turns the hourglass on or off during long operations Message Message lt expression gt This causes a standard Wimp message box to be displayed showing the given text Execution of the action file continues when OK is clicked lt expression gt may be any valid expression Messages longer than 251 characters will be truncated Modem Modem lt string gt This command sends the given text string to a modem connected via the computer s serial port This permits such things as telephone dialling or even data transfer Consult your modem manual for details of commands supported Internal modems and podule serial ports are supported via the SerialDev and SerialSend commands Pause Pause lt time gt Causes execution to pause for the given number of centiseconds Return Return lt expression gt Defines a value for the action button see 17 15 Using action fields as functions The action script
233. or a database are stored within the Actions sub directory of the database The action script for a particular field has a filename corresponding to the field name Deleting unwanted filters indexes and field maps These should be deleted from within Impact by selecting them from the relevant tool and right clicking on the tool to open the editing window You can then click on the Delete button 182 Impact Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use 24 1 System variables The following system variables are set up in Impact s Run file Note that if you alter settings in the Run file and then upgrade to a later version of Impact your settings may be overwritten It is recommended therefore to make a copy of your customised Run file before upgrading Impact Impact Path Impact Path defines the user s working directory for accessing databases via the program menus This may be set to point to any combination of directories on any discs by listing them separated by commas It should not include the SampleData directory unless you wish to be able to create new databases in that area More information on how to use Impact Path is given in the next section Impact Write Impact Write may be set to define the directory in which new databases will be created If this variable is not set the first directory found on Impact Path will be used by default and the user will also be offered the choice of other directories f
234. or equal to greater or equal to bit shift right bit shift left add subtract multiply divide mod remainder bitwise not logical not Priority 2 OO AAI ADNAN BPWNYN NY NY WY LW e e e e e e e e e a ael A U wWWNYN NK KF OOOO 14 Chapter 16 Calculations in the definition of a calculation field in the default value expression for a field or in defining a calculation filter They are intended for use in action scripts only 131 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands 17 1 17 2 17 3 Chapter 17 Action commands This chapter describes the action commands available and gives examples of their use How to place an action button on a card and how to create action scripts is described in Chapters 12 14 Action buttons are a powerful feature of Impact allowing many routine actions to be carried out with a single key press or mouse click such as printing a label or report entering specific data into fields or displaying a table of selected information The action commands and calculation functions form a programming language for controlling Impact As with any programming language it is easier to learn by modifying existing scripts so some examples are provided in 7 16 Examples There are also several working examples provided in Impact s sample databases and it is well worth exploring these for ideas To see the script for an action button just click with Adjust on the button Executi
235. ore details see Chapter 22 Making backups asd The index filter and field map tools Clicking with Menu on one of these tools opens a menu of indexes filters or field maps to choose from If none is currently selected clicking with Select will also open this menu if one is selected then clicking with Select will deselect it Clicking with Adjust will enable you to edit the current index filter field map or to create a new one if none is currently selected The currently selected and active index filter or field map directly affects the function of all other tools For more details see Chapter 4 Filters Chapter 5 Indexes and Chapter 6 Field maps E The table tool Clicking with Select on the table tool will open a table display This will show all records consistent with any active index or filter and will display data fields according to any active field map Tables are described in more detail in Chapter 9 Tables 29 Impact Chapter 3 Introduction to tools 3 18 Finding a record 3 19 When a particular record is required a search may be done There are two ways to do this The search tool may be used to search over several data fields and this facility also provides a global search and replace across the whole database This is described in Chapter 8 Search and replace In addition you can search single fields using the find tool provided from the record card To use the find tool A t double click
236. ormatted reports where lt format gt is any valid date format string A format string consists of literal text characters and special fields starting with a percent sign indicating where specific data fields are to be inserted Example Impact Date zdy zmn cestyr If no format is given the default format string is used This is defined as Ssdysst smo cesyr which results in a date of the form 21st August 1995 The full list of date format codes is given in Appendix 3 Date format codes 10 21 Entering merge commands directly from Impression To merge Impact data into an Impression document a merge command must be inserted into the document at the position where the data is required This may be done from within Impression using the Impression merge command box available by clicking with Menu over the document window and selecting Merge command from the Misc or Utilities sub menu Impact Date Clear Cancel Set The required merge command e g Impact Date or Impact Addresses Fetch Name may then be entered into the writable box and will be inserted at the cursor position when the Set action button is clicked Note that since it is not Impression which must understand the command but the application to which is is sent it is not possible for Impression to check the validity of the command Tix titled at 100 fa 1 1 Master frame Text A i FQ x S ciin Define Style Trinity Medum E
237. ot be rearranged easily Instructions on how to reorder texts can be found in 24 6 Changing the order of texts in option menu and browser fields Default entries The Default menu may be used to select the entry to be displayed by default when entering a new record If you require a blank field to be selected this should be provided in the text list entered Menu title The menu may be given a title by entering this in the writable icon provided 14 18 Action buttons x Edit Action button Name Program B Programming the action Clicking on the Program button will cause Edit or your configured text editor to display a text file window Note that you must have given the action button a name before you are able to do this If you are editing an existing action button this window will show the current script commands Action script commands are fully described in Chapter 17 Action commands Having entered or edited the commands the text should be saved to its existing filepath within the database If you have only changed the action program on the card there is no need to also use the Save button to store the new action You can also edit an action script by clicking with Adjust on the action button when viewing a record card 99 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes 14 19 Sequence fields Sequence fields are limited to a total of 12 characters This must be borne in mind if you choose to add a pr
238. other actions such as deleting and printing Making searches There are two ways in which a particular record may be found The search tool on the toolbar allows complex search and replace operations and is described in Chapter 8 Search and replace In addition a single field search facility the find tool is provided from the data card Close the table display either using the table window Close icon or by clicking with Adjust on the table tool Then turn off any index filter or field map To use the find tool A t double click on the Director field on the card This will cause the Find window to be displayed This window allows you to type in data to be searched for and to re select previously entered data using the arrow icons on the right 16 Impact Chapter 1 A guided tour 1 11 1 12 1 13 Find in Videos director _ i Cancel Previous Next Find If you now type in spiel followed by the Return key or click the Find button the first record containing the director Steven Spielberg will be found and displayed To find further records click on the Next button The search will then resume where it left off and a further film directed by the same director will be found Note that the search is case insensitive and that it will match any record containing the text supplied The find tool is also available from the card menu Click with Menu over the field to be searched and choose Find Display
239. ou wish to change Create a new field of the type you desire If this is an option flag menu or browser field recreate the choice of items you need You can give the new field the same name as one you just deleted or a different name if you prefer Note that if you change the name then you will need to alter any calculation expressions which refer to the old name 8 Save the changes to the card Go back to the definition of your new field map which will have lost the deleted field and add the newly created field to the map Ensure the field map is activated 10 Click on the import tool Select Overlay and drag your CSV file to the box marked Drop data file here You should find that all your existing records are overlaid with the data from the CSV file and the new field contains the data from the old one 11 Go back through the indexes filters and field maps which you recorded in stage 2 and recreate them or amend their definitions to include the new field as required 12 To tidy up you can now discard the CSV file and delete the field map you created in stage 5 and if you wish remove the export and import tools and the record number field you created 24 8 Advanced tool editing The tool sprites are taken from Impact s Sprites file Tool sprites should have names beginning with t_ in order to appear in the Tools window There should also be a version of the tool sprite having the same name prefixed with t_ which shows the
240. pe described below where only one button may be selected at a time Flag fields may be used within calculations where they take the value of 1 ticked or 0 unticked and can have many uses in such a context This is explained in more detail in 76 15 Using flag fields They are also useful within filters so that records having particular flags set or not may be selected See 4 3 Calculation filters for details of how to create filters on flags When exported the legends from the ticked flag fields are treated as text with commas between Option fields These are displayed as a series of up to 32 radio buttons and are used to select one item from a range of mutually exclusive options The displayed legends may be Option chosen to suit their use When merged or exported these fields are treated as text the legend from the selected button being used Instructions on how to change the order of option legends can be found in 24 6 Changing the order of texts in option menu and browser fields Browser fields This field type consists of a display icon and a pair of arrow icons Clicking the arrows allows one of any number of user defined texts to be Browser _ selected This could be used to select for example from a list of personnel titles such as Mr Mrs Ms etc or from a list of club membership categories When merged or exported these fields are treated as text the currently displayed choice being used
241. picture Database Addresses bia Fetch oo Fetch field IV Attach file eco picture al Table Sc Fetch next non blank field J Scan C Calculation but not if beyond the field named above _ Date To add the command to JmpEmail first select New attachment from menu over the attachments area in JmpEmail and drag the command from Impact s merge window and drop it in the Full pathname box of the form Ir Add attachment Full pathname rge Impact Addresses Calc FileName picture If file is not found G Do not send e mail _ Just omit attachment Cancel Create If you want to specify the name which should appear to the recipient of the e mail fill in the second box of the form also This box can also include merge commands The Cale command which is used to fetch the filename is fairly straightforward though once the double quotes are doubled up for use in JmpEmail it looks rather worse merge Impact Addresses Calc FileName picture ImpEmail offers you a choice as to whether the e mail should be sent or not when there is no available file to attach from a particular record 72 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports 10 25 Creating label sheets in Ovation Pro and Impression Impression Ovation Pro may be used to create labels in addition to the facilities built into Impact and this may be useful where a more complex label design is required To create a docume
242. pies which provides you with a file of type amp B86 which can be loaded into Messenger Pro Pluto or other e mail software or saved to disc You can keep the file separately and double click to view the messages using Messenger Pro or the file may be dropped into an e mail folder in Messenger Pro to add the e mails to that folder To import the messages into a Pluto mail folder just drop the file on Pluto s iconbar icon The format of the file is very simple so if you have no other way to read it using a text editor is quite sufficient 200 Impact Appendix 5 Obtaining support Appendix 5 Obtaining support E mailing Sine Nomine Software You can e mail us direct by clicking the button labelled Send e mail which you will find on the Info window which you can reach from the application s iconbar menu We will try to reply promptly but there are occasions when we are busy or on holiday Discussion list An e mail list hosted by Yahoo has been set up to support Impact and ImpEmail It is not a very busy list but has quite a few users as members so we would encourage you to join Please use this list to ask any questions you may have regarding Impact ImpEmail or LabPrint We monitor the list and will respond when needed All users can benefit from the discussions and ideas which result To subscribe to the e mail list simply go to the Impact List home page at Yahoo Groups and click on the Join This Group button Thi
243. pped onto the LabPrint Label Design window To create an image which will be positioned correctly first note the size of the label you are going to use In Draw you may find it useful to turn on the display of the grid Mentally position the label in the bottom left corner of the Draw window and use the grid to position the image in the right place on this label Then save the draw file to the LabPrint Label Design window to try it out You can adjust the position of the text on the label by altering the margin settings Existing images on label designs may be edited or moved by clicking on Export picture to load them into Draw Images may be removed from label designs by clicking on Delete picture 11 15 Rotating text and images You may wish to rotate the content of the label by 90 for example if you wish to print in landscape format directly onto envelopes which are too big to go in your printer the other way round or if you simply wish to print sideways on a sheet of labels To do this just tick the Rotate 90 option having set up the label design as if for portrait mode printing The sheet design part of the Label Design window will still show the labels in portrait mode which is the way the sheet should be inserted into the printer 11 16 Label sheet design Selecting the Sheet option will cause the centre panel of the Label Design window to display the label sheet design values This displays a scaled representation of the labe
244. pter before these choices will have any effect Warn With this selected a warning message will be displayed informing you that the database has been modified since its last backup Auto Selecting this option will cause the database to be backed up automatically if required whenever it is closed As only a limited number of backups are stored it is advisable to use this feature in conjunction with the Timed option detailed below This will mean that your saved backups cover changes in your data over a reasonably long period of time thus enabling you to restore an old version of the database several days after a drastic alteration was made You can of course make a backup manually at any point if you wish using the database s backup tool Ignore If you select this option the program will not warn you or do a backup automatically It will be up to you to create backups whenever you like Backups saved This sets the number of past backups which will be stored When this count is exceeded the earliest backup will be overwritten with the new Timed Selecting this option encourages backups to be made at set intervals chosen from half daily daily weekly or 4 weekly using the adjuster arrows If a database has been modified since its last backup then you will be warned if Warn is selected or a backup made automatically if Auto is selected only if the set time period has elapsed since the last backup was made Field men
245. r the purpose of record matching when overlaying data however Overlay When importing records using overlay Impact assumes that the first field in each record will uniquely identify it and so will search the existing database for a record having the same content in this field If one is found that record will be over written with the incoming data Fields not included in the import will not be changed If no matching record is found a new one will be created as with a normal import When you are attempting to overlay data from a source you have not used before it is wise to test it by importing with overlay turned off initially so that none of your existing records are altered If you happen to have got your field map wrong and data are ending up in the wrong fields you can easily select the new records and delete them again but any changes to existing records are harder to repair Overlay should be used with great care as the first field may not be unique in your existing database so you may find the wrong records are replaced For example if the first field is a person s surname in all but the very smallest databases there are likely to be duplicates Beware also of matching on a field whose value might conceivably change a person s surname being a case in point If the field you want to match on is not the first in the file you are importing you may be able to rearrange the file prior to import by using a tool such as Ray
246. r using the same name to modify the existing index or with a new name to create a new index Selecting the sort fields The first thing to do is to select the field or fields on which the sort should be made and this is done by selecting from the Fields menu If you do this with the Adjust button the menu will stay open allowing several selections to be made The fields will be numbered on the menu to show their order of priority A selected field may be de selected by clicking on it a second time A second or later field will only be used in the sort where the first field has two or more matching records While it is quite possible to select many fields the field data for all selected fields will be included in the index which could become unduly large Care should be taken to include only those fields which are really needed according to the application In most cases it is unlikely that more than two fields would be needed Text fields If the chosen field is a text type then the space taken by the field data within the index could be large If it is unlikely that any two records will match over more than the first few characters it is useful to restrict the number of characters used during the sort and therefore minimise the memory space needed 37 Impact Chapter 5 Indexes 5 4 5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 This may be done by setting the number displayed in the Match box using the adjuster buttons provided The
247. racter Handling field separators in the data A problem which affects CSV output in particular is what to do if any of the fields of data contains a comma There are several approaches to handling this Handling field separators in the data _ Do not process data specially Enclose in quotes and double up quotes Excel _ Enclose in quotes and prefix quotes with Unix _ Prefix field separator with Unix mj Enclose numeric fields in double quotes too The most common method is to enclose text fields in double quotes so that commas within the data cannot be mistaken for the start of a new field but then the problem arises of what to do if any double quotes appear in the data Impact offers doubling up the double quotes which is 157 Impact Chapter 18 Exporting data the approach favoured by Microsoft Excel Fireworkz and many other spreadsheets Some RISC OS applications Impact and EasiWriter among them favour the Unix style solution of escaping the special characters by preceding them with a backslash This also entails preceding genuine backslashes with an extra backslash There is also the option of simply prefixing the comma or other field separator with a backslash to signify that it is not to be interpreted as a field separator but as part of the data field Again backslashes found in the data require prefixing with a further backslash Multi line text fields handling line breaks Multi line text fields
248. rch tool see Find tool R Rads function 121 Range 36 Record action command 136 Record cards 22 card attributes window 84 creating 82 deleting 181 editing the design 83 multiple cards 84 Record function 122 Record merge command 63 Records deleting 181 selection on opening a database 174 Relational databases 103 displaying related data 17 example 14 finding related data 30 making relational links 17 Renaming databases see Databases copying and renaming Replace function 115 Replacing data see Search and replace Reports using Impression or Ovation Pro see Merge tool Restoring data 180 from corrupt databases Return action command Return key RomanNumber function Round function RTrim function S Safe function Save action command Save tool Saving data updating records automatically using Return key Scan action command Scan merge command Search and replace Search tool see also Find tool Searching Index 180 144 173 116 119 115 123 137 28 14 45 173 173 137 66 46 28 46 complex searches see Search and replace single fields see Find tool Secs function Select action command Select tool Sequence fields attributes SerialDev action command SerialSend action command Setting a password see Passwords Shortcuts see Keyboard shortcuts Show action command Simple filters Sin function Sprites see Image fields Sqrt function Star commands String functions StripSlashes function
249. rd order is quite arbitrary reflecting the order in which data was originally entered and any subsequent deletions As with indexes any active filter affects all other database operations such as browsing export mail merging etc Filters may also be used to filter imported records via the CSV import tool described in Chapter 19 Importing data Filters are essential components of an Impact database Unlike indexes described above they 15 Impact Chapter 1 A guided tour 1 8 1 9 1 10 do not take up a memory by using look up tables but are used on the fly to accept or reject records during database operation Like indexes you may define as many as you require and select these from the menu whenever needed Field maps Having sorted the data records and filtered out the ones you want the next thing to dois to decide which individual fields you require from each record For example if you wish Se to print labels you will probably want a name and address but not a phone number or other information Field maps provide the facility to do this allowing a selection of fields from the card to be chosen in any order It is also possible to define which fields should be concatenated joined together with other fields and this is useful for example to print forenames and surnames on the same line of a label when they are stored in separate fields You may also specify characters to be placed between the concatenat
250. record a totcost Initialise totals b totvat c total 149 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands While Next Loop through database a totcost Add field values b totvat if within VAT period c total Tell user the total values Message Sales tat VAT b Total c E mailing a group of people By looping through the database as in the previous example we can produce a script to send a single e mail to a group of people The idea is that you would apply a filter to identify the records and then click the action button which might be labelled E mail all The script also reports to the user the number of records where no e mail address was found so that the user is alerted to make contact with these people by other means Local addresses n First Move to first record if email addresses email else n 1 While Next if email addresses email else n l addresses Text addresses 2 Remove comma from start if n gt 0 Message n records did not have e mail addresses if addresses Url mailto addresses Since the release of JmpEmail it is generally more satisfactory to create a message using ImpEmail and generate messages to multiple people using Impact s ordinary mail merge facilities ImpEmail is most frequently used to send individual e mails to individual people rather than one message to a group all at
251. region and dropping it outside the e mail document for example into another e mail or to another application the operations are reversed a plain drag will copy the selected text while a Shift drag will move it This standard is supported by many other RISC OS applications prominent examples being EasiWriter and TechWriter Attachments You can drop files from a Filer window in the attachment area at the bottom of the message editing window Each file will appear with the appropriate icon and the filename alongside SUHL UVLULS CU SL TA GACLULLALLUNU YEEateatl CuUpiua deserunt sint anim qui aliqua velit ad pariatur Attachments 5 Picture jpeg A menu over the attachments area allows you to select and remove attachments and edit their properties You may also edit the properties of the attachment by double clicking the name or icon How and when ImpEmail attaches files It is important to realise that ImpEmail only actually stores the path and filename of each attachment The complete content of an attached file is only placed into the e mail at the point you send it One consequence of this is that you cannot drag files direct from an application and attach them to an e mail they may only be dragged direct from the Filer It also means however that if the content of any attached file changes before the message is sent it is the version of the file at the point the message is sent which will be attached This cou
252. rname Here the names used are the names of text fields on the card and the expression will result in the content of these fields being concatenated together with a space between Note that in any expression unquoted words such as forename or cost are always assumed to be the names of other fields on the card In order to include literal text such as Mr and the space in the example above it is necessary to enclose them within double quotes Date and time expressions It is also possible to have an expression resulting in a date or time For example date 28 This may for example compute the due date for payment of an invoice by adding 28 days to the invoice date Adding a number to a time will result in another time with the number to be added being interpreted as centiseconds Mixing data types Where an expression includes values of different types Impact will automatically convert types before performing an operation For example in the above date calculation a date field and an explicit number have been used with an add operator In these circumstances values are converted according to a priority list as given below In all operations the value with the lowest priority will be converted to the higher type before the operation is performed Data type conversion priorities Type Priority Integer 1 Real 2 Time 3 Date 4 Text 5 For example the expression Today is date 109 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations
253. rom Powerbase The merging process is described in chapter 9 3 of the Powerbase reference manual That chapter currently only refers to Impression and Ovation Pro but the same principles apply to ImpEmail To create a simple merge command to fetch a field shift drag the field from the Powerbase record card and drop it in ImpEmail s document window The merge command will look something like this merge Powerbase GetField FIELDNAME Note that unlike with Impact Powerbase has no way of specifying which database should be used for the fetching of the fields You must make sure you have the correct database loaded in Powerbase to make sense of the merge commands in a saved ImpEmail document Powerbase has a few other merge command variants which can be accessed via Powerbase s main menu using the option Insert merge tags These allow you to fetch data from validation tables and to move on to another database record during the merge process Examples merge Powerbase PreviousMatch merge Powerbase NextMatch merge Powerbase GetExpanded COMP 4 Saving messages Messages can be saved by pressing F3 or choosing Save from the menu over the editor window Pressing Ctrl F3 will save back to the location the file was loaded from To load a saved message back into ImpEmail just double click on it Messages do not have to be complete to be useful for mail merging You could for example set up your From address and an e mail
254. rom a submenu Impact BackupDir Impact BackupDir may be set to define the directory used for storing backups of databases The variable appears by default as the backup location setting for each newly created database but can be overridden for each database from the backup tool window ImpactChoices Path and ImpactChoices Write Impact will read its choices from Choices Impact for preference and if they are not found there will look for them in lt Impact Dir gt Choices or lt Impact Dir gt Choices the former also being used if there is no Choices structure on the machine Choices are written to the standard location of lt Choices Write gt Impact The following two variables can be set to override this behaviour ImpactChoices Path a comma separated list of locations to search to read choices and ImpactChoices Write a directory to write choices to Impact Globals The global variables for action scripts are stored by default in the Globals file in the choices directory The Impact Globals variable can be set to the name of an alternative directory to use for both reading and saving Impact SampleData Impact SampleData should point to the sample databases supplied with the system They will appear at the bottom of the database menus and the directory will not appear on the Create submenu as an option of a location for creating new databases LabPrint LabelFile LabPrint the label printing package will load its label defin
255. rror generated if the entered value is outside the range specified With this option not selected dates will be checked for their value being between 1st January 1900 and 31st December 2247 as only this range of dates can be stored in a date field Null allowed If this option is ticked then it is permitted to leave a date field blank Date or time format The required date format may be entered directly into this field or the menu button may be 95 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes clicked and a suitable format chosen from the menu offered Date fields may be tagged as time fields by ticking the Time option If this is done an alternative menu of formats will be offered Times are stored in the same way as full dates and the formats may be mixed However setting this option ensures that entered data is interpreted as a time and not a date The pre defined formats offered on the menu are taken from a file within the Impact application directory and may be edited by the user to provide alternative selections The format definitions are described in Appendix 3 Date format codes 14 14 File and image fields When a file or image field is first placed on a card you must choose whether the files are to be kept inside the database or linked to elsewhere on your computer using the dialogue box shown here File location _ Internal files hidden inside the database _ External links to files stored on your computer
256. rted to a number a null date yields the value O as does 1st January 1900 In a simple filter however you can test for a date being null by simply leaving the Data box blank Null dates will not be retrieved if your filter tests for a date being greater than or less than another Functions and variables Please note that unlike action commands variables and field names are case sensitive and must be entered exactly as shown below All functions start with an upper case letter To ensure user defined field names and variables do not clash with current or future functions we recommend that these contain only lower case Syntax The definitions of functions given below are presented as follows type Function type a type b where type indicates the data type of the value returned by the function and the types of the parameters required and may be one of int An integer value 1 2 3 etc real A real value i e 12 34567 date A date or time code text A text string Items in square brackets are optional Where no parameters are required the parentheses are optional 110 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations 16 8 16 9 Type conversions It should be noted that all supplied parameters will be converted to the required types shown below before the function is evaluated It is not necessary therefore that the parameters be supplied as the required types as long as they may be converted meaningfully Table f
257. s Show Show lt database gt lt card gt Displays the given card on screen e g Show Addresses Actions Close Close lt database gt lt card gt Closes the given card If the card name is omitted the database will be closed e g Close Actions close card named Actions Close Addresses close Addresses database Close close current database Clear Clear lt database gt lt card gt Clears the named card or all cards for the current database This is useful prior to entering new data and using the Copy command Copy Copy lt database gt lt card gt Saves the currently displayed data to a new database record Entry Entry lt database gt lt state gt Sets entry mode for given database according to lt state gt which should be true or false 141 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Select Select lt database gt lt card gt lt state gt Sets given card into select mode allowing fields to be selected in groups for drag exporting etc 17 13 Creating variables User defined variables may be created using these commands Note that unconventionally the variable names may be given as expressions A variable may represent any data type numeric text or date depending on the value assigned to it and does not have any intrinsic type Note that the assignment fred 12 6 97 will not assign a date to fred as Impact cannot recognise free format dates a
258. s dates and is likely to assume a numerical value The Date function is correctly used in this instance fred Date 12 6 97 Local Local lt name gt lt name gt Creates a local variable called lt name gt e g Local fred bill Local variables are only accessible within the command file in which they are defined and take precedence over any global variables or built in functions of the same name Attempts to create a local variable with the same name as an existing one will cause an error message Global Global lt name gt lt name gt Creates a global variable with the given name e g Global fred bill Global variables may be used in calculations elsewhere in the program in other databases and in action command files They take precedence over any built in functions of the same name and are preserved from one Impact session to another even if the machine is switched off Duplicate definitions of a global variable are ignored without error Note that normal database fields take precedence over all variables and built in functions where the names are the same We recommend using all lower case for fields and variables to avoid conflict with current or future built in functions 142 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Global variable storage Global variables are stored between program runs in Impact s Choices directory in a file called Globals This file is editable which is t
259. s method requires a Yahoo username If you do not have one and do not wish to create one you can join the mailing list by sending a message to the group s subscribe address impact list subscribe yahoogroups com 201 Impact Index Index commands 134 attributes 100 A Break action command 143 Abort action command 143 Browser fields 89 Abs function ioo Emne data ACos function 121 importing 169 Action buttons 17 20 90 in calculations 130 attributes 99 reordering texts 187 editing legends 91 Browsing records 14 28 menu style 90 105 Button function 126 using as functions 146 C ACON canas aa Calc merge command 66 CHOIRS EIDE Calculation fields 90 commands see Action commands i attributes 101 delet Calculation filters 34 from flag fields 97 98 from option fields 97 98 5 ae Soe RA aN T T 119 Calculation merge command see Calc merge command AddSlashes function 115 Calculations 107 AddYears function 119 Caller display 171 Age function 118 ch ices 176 AND 36 Card attributes window 84 ASCII function 117 Card t ncti n 127 ASin function 121 Cota Gaba 27 AE Pateungion 112 CardFile function 124 pean unon H Cards see Record cards PE TEON rte CardText function 113 plan Tacugn 120 Caret order see Fields caret order Eo CField function 127 Automatic ee 179 ee ae Choices 173 B Clear action command 141 Backup of data 25 29 178 Clearing fields see Fields clearing choices 175 Close action command 141 over a
260. s no need to also use the Save button to store the new action You might use such an action to verify the content of the file or to do other processing such as setting up field values based on the content of the file 14 15 Flag fields Flag attributes c Name si Order 13 _ Text colour l Buttons 1 FEA i Show defaults Set defaults Button Left J Right Program Buttons This adjuster allows the number of flag buttons to be selected These are created as you adjust the value immediately below the placed field If you require flag buttons placed elsewhere on the card you must create a separate field Default selection To choose which flags are selected by default tick the boxes on the record card which you require and click on Set defaults Click on Show defaults to show on the record card which ones are selected by default Button position Which side of the text the button appears may be selected by clicking the Left or Right option 97 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes button Text colour This may be chosen by clicking on the Text colour menu icon and selecting the colour required It is strongly suggested that black is used unless there is some over riding need perhaps where some colour coding is important on the card The colour will be applied to the text associated with the button which was originally clicked on to invoke the dialogue box Program It is possible to invoke an
261. s selected on the database card you will need to turn it off using i orf as described under the Record command Examples Impact Addresses Table all i Sorted 65 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Impact Addresses Table Address f CardList Impact Videos Table ReportMapl c hired amp amp Today hired gt 7 The first example will include all fields in the table and all records on the index Sorted The second example will produce a table containing the fields specified by the field map Address and include all records which pass filter CardList Note that the field map will specify both the field selection and the field order The third example will use the calculation filter defined to produce a table of overdue videos containing the fields specified by the field map ReportMap1 Note the calculation must not include spaces unless they are within a quoted string If however you are creating the calculation in the command building panel you may include spaces and they will be stripped out by the command builder Quotes within quotes must be escaped by preceding the inner quotes with a backslash In most circumstances it is probably easier to create a calculation filter within the database and use that 10 18 The Scan command This command causes the database to be scanned subject to any active filter as with a Table command except that no data is merged However the field totals and other values are accumulat
262. s to be set up as a date field if we are going to do anything useful with it Impact is fairly tolerant about date entry formats but one thing which is insisted upon is that the different elements of a date are entered in the same order as the display format chosen for the field In the example CSV file they are in the order date month year so providing we choose that order for the display of the date field in our new database we should be all right The import file has the month in words but Impact will still read it properly even if the display format has the month in digits 165 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data x Edit date field C Name expirydate Caret order Ez x Default Ej Range checking Min 111900 v Null allowed Max 31 12 2247 Ej Time Format zdy zmn ce yr l Ej Non writable Justify EJ g Here I have set up the date to display in the format dd mm yyyy The MembType field looks like it has a limited range of values Full Associate Life and Junior We might want to set up a menu or browser field to receive these or a set of radio buttons option fields But we could equally well place these values in a text field In a more complex example the membership type might actually be a foreign field linking to another database where the subscription voting rights etc of that type of membership can be looked up Vv Ora Name type Order UN Sh Text colour al Buttons 4 _ J Life S
263. s with descriptions and examples of the same value being formatted differently Calc command syntax This command allows calculations to be directly inserted in a document without having to have a calculation field on the record card The syntax is Impact lt database gt Calc lt expr gt lt type gt lt format gt Examples Impact Sales Calc cost vat Impact Sales Calc 1 2 cost 1 1 2f Notes 1 There should be no spaces within the calculation though if you are creating it in the command building panel you may include spaces 2 The data type codes must be one of O Integer 1 Real 2 Date 3 Text default 3 The format for Integer and Real should follow the printf syntax of the C programming language the date format is as described in Appendix 3 Date format codes Knowledge of this is not necessary when using the facilities provided by Impact but may be of use to advanced users 10 20 The Date command This command causes the current date to be inserted into a document and is useful for letter heads etc The menu allows a date format to be specified If no format is given the displayed date will be of the form 21st August 1995 Note that this does not simply insert today s date but inserts a merge command which will always display the current date on the day the document is printed Date command syntax Impact lt database gt Date lt format gt 67 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and f
264. sc for a text field is the same for each record in the database It is better to keep the space allocation to a minimum as this may always be increased at a later date if more 93 Impact Chapter 14 Changing field attributes space is required Note that the maximum number of characters set and the size of the text field icon are unrelated quantities In the case of multi line text fields there may be far more space available in the display than will ever be used in practice Multi line text The size of a text field s box may be increased up to a maximum of 32 lines by adjusting the Text lines setting although between 1 and 6 is more usual If you require more consider using an internal file field instead The available space as discussed above under Max text length will be distributed over the lines as required when text is entered or displayed In some circumstances all the space might be used in a single line Multi line text fields may contain more lines of text than set in Text lines in which case a scrollbar will be added to the field so that you can view the whole content However if Text lines is set to 1 then the field is restricted to only containing one line of text and if multi line data is imported the new line characters will be converted to spaces Note that if you have a multi line text field in your record card then when the record is displayed on a single line in a table or in a report the lines of the multi line
265. se If you wish to retain this field for later use you may wish to alter the number of decimal places to 0 as it looks nicer but this is not necessary for what we are trying to do 3 While you are in card editing mode add the export and import tools to your toolbar if they are not already present 4 Save the changes to the card Create a field map consisting of your record number field and menu field with the record number field being the first field in the map 5 Make sure you have no indexes or filters active Activate your new field map and click on the export tool From the menu choose CSV Impact EasiWriter to enable 187 Impact Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use 24 7 appropriate settings Save a CSV file to the location of your choice This will contain only record numbers and the selected text from the menu item for each record 6 Re enter card editing mode and edit the texts in the menu field so that they appear in the order you require but remain identical in wording 7 Save the changes to the card At this point the data in the menu field in many of your records will have been changed and will be incorrect 8 Ensure you still have your field map selected and click on the import tool Select Overlay and drag your CSV file to the box marked Drop data file here You should find that all your existing records are overlaid with the data from the CSV file and the menu field in each record now contains the correct data
266. selection A database is useless if the data contained cannot be extracted easily Impact provides three 14 Impact Chapter 1 A guided tour 1 6 1 7 main ways of selecting data and these may be used alone or in combination Firstly data records may be ordered using indexes Secondly particular records may be selected by applying filters to screen out unwanted records Lastly the fields in a record may be selected as an ordered set known as a field map Each of these selection mechanisms may be defined and named by the user and selected by pop up menus at any future time to suit the task in hand Indexes filters and field maps are each defined and selected using the appropriate tools as described below Indexes An index in Impact provides a means of sorting records into some defined order either as Ap an aid to finding a particular record or to facilitate the production of output lists and C reports showing records for example in alphabetic or date order You should now click with Menu over the index tool and select the Customers index from the displayed menu The tool icon will be shown depressed indicating that an index in active The index may be de activated by clicking again With an active index all database functions will be dependent on the index including data export label printing table displays etc If you now browse through the records they will be displayed in order sorted on the customer s surnam
267. set using the adjuster arrows or by typing in the required number This sets the number of duplicate labels to be printed from each record Next label to use Very often you may wish to print on a partly used sheet of labels and this is possible by setting the first label to be used either using the adjuster arrows or by typing the required number into the box In this context labels are assumed to be numbered across and down the sheet Caution Before inserting a partly used sheet of labels into your printer please consult your printer manual and the label packet to check whether this is advisable Shrink text to fit label Selecting this option will mean that if the text to be printed on a label is too large to fit at the predefined point size e g one person s address is unusually long the text for that particular label will be reduced to a size which will fit If this option is not ticked the text will be truncated so that it fits onto the label so you may not get the complete address Field maps You will probably also need to choose a field map to specify which fields in each record are to be used and in which order You will be warned if no field map has been selected when opening the label window Any blank or empty fields will be skipped during label printing If you specifically want blank lines enter a space character into the appropriate field Printing labels This is done by clicking on the Print button The labels
268. signature and save the message to Impact s choices window to make a default message which would be used when creating a new merge document You can also save messages after they have been sent complete with the merged values from the database by accessing ImpEmail s status window See below for further details The messages are saved in a format suitable for loading into your standard e mail software Sending messages To send a message exactly as it is currently shown in the ImpEmail window click on the Send button If you need merge commands to be processed first the options depend on the application Impact There are three ways of processing the merge commands 1 Use the Test button in Impact s merge tool The commands will be processed just for the current record of the database You can check over the message and then click ImpEmail s Send button 2 Use the Test button and then the Fix button from the merge tool The commands will be processed for the current record but the message is returned to an editable state so you can make any further adjustments before clicking Send Note that 198 Impact Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual saving the message in this state would overwrite the version containing the merge commands be careful You do not have to save in order to send 3 Use the E mail button in the merge tool The merge commands will be processed for the current record for all filtered records or for the selected
269. sing Copy from the Field sub menu opened from the first item on the card edit menu This enables you to easily create new fields with the same or similar characteristics to existing ones They may also be copied by certain drag and drop actions as described in the table below depending on whether you are dragging to the same card another card on the same database or a card on another database Mouse action Same card Same database Another database Drag Moe Copy Copyasforeign Shift drag Copy as new Copy as new Copy as new Ctrl drag Copy as foreign Copy as foreign Copy as foreign Copy as new creates new fields in the same way as choosing Copy from the Field sub menu It creates a completely new field based on the characteristics of the old one The name of the new field will be blank Action scripts will not be copied as the field does not yet have a name Copy allows a field to appear on more than one card of the same database Both copies will be updated in tandem Copy as foreign creates a foreign version of the same field Itis possible to create foreign references to the same database in this way With all of these drag methods it is possible to copy a selection of fields all at once 85 Impact Chapter 12 Creating a database 12 13 Editing the toolbar To add or remove a toolbar or to change the tools which are shown on the toolbar you need to be in card design mode For an existing database select Edit card from the m
270. ssary wear and tear This means that if there should be a power failure or other computer crash then some modified data may be lost as would happen with most programs 25 Impact Chapter 2 An introduction 2 17 Note that if you attempt to close a database the program will not close it if it is currently used by another related database It will however flush all data to disc to ensure that it is up to date The Close All option from the iconbar menu closes all open databases Quitting the program from the iconbar menu Quit option or from the Task Manager will always close any open databases before the program terminates Shortcuts and hot keys The following keyboard shortcuts are available For these to work Impact must know which database you are using and so the the caret must be placed in the card Page up Select previous record Page down Select next record Home Move to the first record except in RISC OS 5 Insert Go into entry mode to create a new record Ctrl F2 Close current card provided no data needs saving F3 Save displayed data to disc F4 Open the search tool Ctrl D Insert the current date into a field Ctrl F Open the find tool to search in the field currently containing the caret Key actions are defined using action scripts which are saved in the Keys directory within the Impact application and further keyboard shortcuts may be added by the user creating additional scripts in this directory When
271. st each possible value for the browser or menu field and the first one which matches is used for the imported record The whole of the value must match truncated values do not match If the imported value matches none of the possible values of the browser or menu field then the field will be assigned the first value in the list not the default value Flag and option fields As for browser and menu fields the values expected for import are the text strings which appear by the tick boxes or radio buttons on the record card Matching is case insensitive and the whole of the string must match the whole of the button labels In the case of option fields the first option which matches is selected and if no options match none of them will be selected on the resulting record Flag fields are more complex Here several flag values belonging to the same field may be given separated by commas Any which are matched by labels on the card will have their boxes ticked in the resulting record Obviously the commas separating the flag values in the import file must be distinguished from the comma used for field separators either by having the whole set enclosed in double quotes or by the commas being escaped by a preceding backslash Importing into foreign fields It is possible to import data into foreign key fields This will not import data into the foreign database but will search the foreign database for a matching record and establish the rela
272. stop you from removing fields which have been used as foreign fields in other databases Think before you delete Deleting a card If a database has more than one card defined you may delete any of these cards by choosing Edit card from the card menu to bring up the card editing window and clicking on Delete card in the Field Selection Window You will be asked to confirm this action but you will not be warned if any of the fields were unique to that card Note that you cannot delete the last remaining card of a database in this way Again we strongly recommend making a backup of the database before you delete a card 181 Impact Chapter 23 Deletion 23 5 23 6 23 7 23 8 Deleting an entire database By default Impact databases you have created will be stored within a UserData directory Each database consists of a directory containing several files To delete the database you simply need to go into the Filer window and delete the directory with the right name Before you do this make sure that if you are running mpact the database you wish to delete is not open Also make sure that the database is not referred to from any other database you wish to keep Deleting unwanted Ovation Pro and Impression merge documents If you wish to retain a database but delete documents you have created using the merge tool you will find these in the Documents sub directory of the database Deleting unwanted action scripts Action scripts f
273. t data with fields separated by a custom character of your own choice The Import window shown below is displayed when the import tool is selected from a database toolbar m Importto Addresses __ File format CSV TSV L Separator V Quoted text fields lV Special characters prefixed with ii Ignore lines starting with _ Skip first line _ Overlay 0 new records imported O existing records overlaid O records filtered out O records with errors discarded View B Close It is easiest to explain the import process by going through a few examples This chapter therefore starts off by listing the key options briefly After explaining by example the steps required to import data there is a further reference section which goes into more depth about the options Read this after you have looked over the examples and refer to it as necessary when importing data into your own databases Before importing into an existing database we strongly recommend you backup your current data see Chapter 22 Making backups in case the incoming data is not interpreted in the way you expect You can import data directly from another application if you know what format it is going to be exported in Before dropping the file onto the Drop data file here icon in the Impact import window make sure the field map and import options have been set appropriately Import options Tab or comma separators The normal requirement
274. t fields you can also choose to apply the test in a case sensitive manner if required The data to be searched for should then be entered in the Find box Where text is being searched for the Case sensitive option may be selected if required If searching on a flag option browser or menu field the data should be entered in text form That is you should enter the text shown on the card for that item For these types of field the matching will always be case insensitive There may be more than one flag contained in a single flag field and you can search for records with a combination of flags ticked by separating the flag texts by commas in your search string A database of books might have flags labelled Paperback Illustrated and Non fiction If you wished to retrieve records for illustrated non fiction you would enter the search string Non fiction Illustrated Note the order of the flag texts does not matter However when searching for flags the search tool will only find those records which exactly match the flags listed so in the example above those records which have Paperback selected will not be retrieved even if they are also illustrated non fiction 46 Impact Chapter 8 Search and replace 8 2 8 3 Entering replacement data Simple replacements The simplest way to replace the contents of a field is to type the text number or date you wish to use in the Replace box Ensure the Calculation op
275. t to double clicking on the file in a filer window causing the file to be run loaded into a text editor or a DTP program etc It could also depending on the file type run an Acorn Replay movie a music file etc See Chapter 13 Field types Filters A filter in Impact as in real life is a device which will only let certain things through holding others back What passes through is what we want what remains is discarded as with say a coffee filter You may define many different named filters for the same database and select which one you want to use so that for example only certain people will receive a mail shot and nobody else For complex situations it is possible to combine two or more filters For example we may want the addresses of all club members over 18 who have not yet paid their subscriptions Filters may be combined in many ways and saved as compound filters for use on future occasions Compound filters may themselves be used in other compound filters to construct any desired filter criteria See Chapter 4 Filters 23 Impact Chapter 2 An introduction 2 8 2 9 2 10 2 11 2 12 Indexes In a card index box it is normal to store cards sorted in some way for easy reference In Impact records are stored in whatever order they are entered with new records re using the space vacated by any previously deleted record This is because moving data about on the disc is not only time consuming but adds to
276. table icons Enabling text selection affects the action of various mouse clicks and drags for full details see the table in Appendix 2 Mouse and key actions in record cards 21 12 Merge document templates Merge document templates Drop default documents here In order allow Impact to create a new merge document from the merge tool it needs to have a default document to copy This section of the Choices window shows which applications have default documents available A default JmpEmail message is provided with Impact but can be overwritten by dropping a replacement on this part of the Choices window To add a default document for another application simply create one and save it to this part of the Choices window To open any of the default documents for editing just double click on the appropriate icon in the Choices window 21 13 Implementing changes fii Cancel Save Set To implement any changes made to the settings in this window click on the Set button If you wish to save the settings so that they are used the next time you use Impact then clicking on the Save button will both implement any changes and save the settings to disc If the Cancel button is clicked the window will be closed and any changes ignored 177 Impact Chapter 22 Making backups 22 1 22 2 22 3 Chapter 22 Making backups This chapter describes the use of the backup tool available from the database toolbar and gy how to restore a
277. ted all index lists are kept up to date automatically As this does not affect the order of records on the disc it is quick and also allows many indexes to exist at the same time and to be chosen when needed with a simple menu selection Many named indexes may be created for the same database and each may be sorted on any number of fields Once created an index will automatically appear on the menu available from the index tool Impact loads all indexes for a database into memory when the database is opened in order to effect fast access and this may consume a large amount of memory RAM This should be borne in mind while creating indexes if your computer does not have much spare memory Creating and modifying indexes To create a new index from scratch you must first deselect any currently active index by g clicking with Select on the index tool if this is depressed Bo If you wish to edit an existing index or create a new one by copying an existing index definition that index must first be selected by clicking with Menu on the index tool In all cases you should then click with Adjust on the index tool to open the edit index panel Edit Index Sort order Ascending _ Descending a Selection Fields bal Match 32 _ Chars __ Last word Filter None a _ Case match Name B Cancel Save When first displayed the panel will display details of the currently selected index if any This index may be edited and re saved eithe
278. th sections referring to various parts of the program Record updating Record updating Warn if data has been modified _ Automatically update database _ Ignore modified data The first three buttons in this window control what happens when browsing or selecting new records when the displayed card data has been modified The effect of each button is described below Warn if data has been modified If this is selected a warning message will be displayed whenever a modified record card is about to be replaced by another or the database closed Clicking on Cancel in this message window will cause the current action to be cancelled so that the modified data may be saved before continuing Clicking on OK will cause the modifications to be lost and the new record to be displayed Automatically update database If this option is selected no warning will be given but the modified data will be automatically saved before the new record is displayed Ignore modified data With this option selected the modified data will be lost and the new record displayed No warning will be given In this mode any changes must be explicitly saved before attempting to select a new record Return key action on cards There are three options available for the behaviour of the Return key when you are editing data on record cards Return key action on cards _ Save record Move caret to next icon J Move or save if last icon If you choose Save r
279. the Return key move to the next field instead of saving the record If you attempt to deselect the entry tool or browse to a new record while there are unsaved changes displayed the program action is dependent on the current settings in the Choices window available from the iconbar menu as described in Chapter 21 Choices Clearing fields File and image fields may have their contents cleared by choosing Clear item from the card menu Follow the arrow to the right to see a brief description of the field data in the example below the file name and click on Clear if you wish to remove the object For internal files the file will be deleted for an external linked file it is just the link that is removed Impact Info b Database choices Copy database Find fill b Clear item fill Clear ite b ADFS HardDisc4 Talk rtf Edit card Cleg New card ar Close card Close database When this is done the card will be flagged as edited and will need saving to make the change permanent File fields will have their button text changed to red to indicate that the change is not saved When the card is saved the button text will change to grey to indicate that this object contains no data 45 Impact Chapter 8 Search and replace 8 1 Chapter 8 Search and replace This chapter describes the use of the search tool to carry out global search and replace operations It is also possible to make changes to many records at
280. the card Most types of data can be edited direct in the table by holding the Alt key and clicking in the relevant cell The table display may also be used to define a database record selection as described later A table menu is also available to control record selection and multiple record deletion Tables can be exported as text as Draw files or printed See Chapter 9 Tables Field types Each data field may hold one of several different data types and these are presented using familiar RISC OS desktop features such as radio buttons pop up menus etc The most common of these is the text type used to hold all manner of textual data such as names and addresses and these fields may be single or multi line While it is possible to hold any data such as a number or date as text this method has several disadvantages Such numbers cannot be used in calculations they cannot be used to sort records into order 200 would count as higher than 1000 as text since 2 is higher alphabetically than 1 and large numbers would take up more disc space For these reasons special field types are defined for non text fields such as numbers and dates and these should be used whenever appropriate Special fields are also provided to hold images flag or on off indicators multiple option buttons user defined pop up menus and files A file field enables any computer file or directory to be linked to a record Clicking on such a field is equivalen
281. ting labels This chapter describes how to design and print labels using the label tool Labels may also be printed using other label design software such as LaBella by exporting the Impact data as a CSV or TSV file as explained in Chapter 18 Exporting data and loading it into that application Printing labels using Ovation Pro and Impression 1s discussed in Section 10 24 Creating label sheets in Ovation Pro and Impression The LabPrint application This application supplied with Impact handles all label printing operations using the label tool This is done using inter application messages and is completely controlled from within Impact Label sheet design is carried out using LabPrint and this is described later The label window ___Printing Addresses Labels to PoScri Records Current record _ Multiple Fron First Here Label a Preview label Copies of each label 1 PS Next label to use 1 EA V Shrink text to fit label Queued labels 0 B Cancel K jeue Queue Print Save This is displayed by clicking on the label tool from a database toolbar This window allows the selection of pre defined label styles and controls the label printing process Labels may be printed directly saved as a file for printing later or queued for later printing in a batch As with other Impact tools the records used to print labels are controlled by any currently active index or filter When finished the label window m
282. tion allows a second parameter to be passed which is a comma separated list of texts for the buttons to present to the user There may be more than two buttons the maximum number permitted depends on the version of the operating system which you are running The first button listed will be highlighted as the default and will appear right most in the message box Other buttons will appear in order leftwards If the second parameter is given the value returned from the function will be 1 for the first button 2 for the second and so on x Query Please choose a colour Red Green Blue In the above example the buttons will appear from left to right in the order Blue Green and Red with Red being highlighted as the default If the user clicks on Blue then x will be set equal to 3 AskText text AskText text q text d Displays a query box having question g and optionally supplying the default reply d The user may edit the reply and or click Enter Clicking Cancel terminates execution of the action script AskDate date AskDate text q text d text f As for AskText but returns a date The optional third parameter f specifies the format the date is to be expected in If this is omitted day month year is assumed Date formats are explained in Appendix 3 Date format codes AskNum real AskNum text q text d As for AskText but returns a number Menu text Menu text t text c int d 112 Impact
283. tion is not selected For option flag menu and browser fields you should type the text of the item which you wish to have selected To select more than one tick box in a flag field separate the items by commas in the same way as the example above Using calculations in replacements For more complex replacements data may be entered in the form of a calculation by ticking the Calculation option Calculations are fully described in Chapter 16 Calculations but some examples are given here Suppose you have a Price field in which you wish to increase all your prices by 20 You could search for Price not equal to 0 and enter the replacement calculation Price 1 2 If you wish to extend all your current members subscriptions by four months you could search for ExpiryDate greater than today s date and enter the replacement calculation AddMonths ExpiryDate 4 Suppose that in your membership database you have options to indicate the type of membership held and you only wish to extend the subscriptions for those whose Type is marked Personal you could use the replacement calculation AddMonths ExpiryDate Type Personal 4 0 This would add four months when the expression Type Personal is true and no months otherwise If the membership type is a flag field rather than an option you must use the numerical value of the flag settings instead Suppose Type has three flags marked Complimentary NoMailing and Personal If you wish
284. tional link For this to work there must be a matching record in the foreign database so if you are going to import a file into the foreign database too you should do that first If no matching record is found then no link is established but no error message is given 169 Impact Chapter 19 Importing data 19 7 If foreign dependent fields are included in the field map then data for these must appear in the file but will be skipped over and not written to the records created or updated during the import process Viewing the results of an import The Import window includes a View button beside each reported count of records For records which have been imported or overlaid clicking the View button displays the records in an Impact table This enables you to check that the data have been imported correctly and if there are any problems the imported records may easily be deleted again Note however that deleting a record which has been overlaid will not return you to the previous version of the record which is why it is advisable to take a backup of your database before overlaying For records which have been discarded either because they failed a filter test or because errors occurred clicking the View button will open a file listing them in your text editor so that you can examine and amend faulty records where appropriate This file is only temporary and will get overwritten by Impact during the next import so if you wish to e
285. to documents and controlling the data merge operation Merge Addresses to lt none gt Printer No printer installed Document ol Current record g Cancel Test Clear Fix Print We want to create a new e mail so we click on the Document menu button and choose New from the top of it This will open a window for us to choose the application we wish to merge to ImpEmail will be selected if we have not previously used the merge tool with another application and the name of the document Type XmasLtr and press Return This will open a blank e mail in mpEmail for you to edit If you have not previously used I mpEmail it will ask you for some setup information first so that it knows how to send e mails on your computer See Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual for more information q You will need to supply your e mail address in the From box 55 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports Then you need to put an address in the To box As you will be sending the message to all of your card list this is where Impact comes in You are composing the message as if it were going to just one individual Click on the Edit icon y on the merge window to tell Impact that you want to insert a merge command Now drag the e mail address field from the current Addresses card to the ImpEmail To box It doesn t matter whether the current record actually has an e mail address or is even in your C
286. to create the index is to enter a suitable name in the Name box and 38 Impact Chapter 5 Indexes 5 10 5 11 then click on the Save button If the name is that of an existing index you will be asked to confirm that you wish to replace this with the new definition Index creation may take a few moments if the database is large Once created the new index will appear on the index menu available from the index tool and will be automatically updated when records are added or deleted Deleting indexes Existing indexes may be deleted when no longer required and this will save some disc and memory space To delete a named index click the Delete button Confirmation will be requested before the index is deleted Default settings for index selection You can choose whether an index will be activated when the database is first opened Impact can remember the index which was active when you were last using the database or a specific index which you may wish to apply when opening the database These options are explained fully in 21 3 On opening a database 39 Impact Chapter 6 Field maps 6 1 6 2 6 3 Chapter 6 Field maps This chapter describes field maps or selections and how to create them Field maps consist of ordered lists of data fields which are given a user defined name They are used whenever a selection of fields is needed for example when printing labels In addition to selecting the fields in the requir
287. to extend the subscription for all personal members the third flag in the field regardless of the other flag settings it is easiest to use the Flag function AddMonths ExpiryDate Flag Type 3 4 0 If you wish to make a replacement in a flag option menu or browser field using a calculation then the calculation may either yield a text string which will be matched against the field s item texts or a number which will indicate which item s should be selected For menus and browsers the items are numbered from zero for options zero indicates that nothing is selected and the first item is numbered 1 For flag fields the number is bit significant to indicate which flags are selected i e 1 indicates the first alone 2 the second alone 4 the third alone 3 the first and second 5 the first and third etc To set the third flag of a field called FlagField and leave the others as they are you could use the calculation FlagField 4 More information on flag field values may be found in 76 15 Using flag fields and the Flag function is described in 76 13 Miscellaneous functions Starting the search When first displayed the Search from start option is selected so that clicking the Search button or pressing Return in either of the writable boxes will begin the search from the start of 47 Impact Chapter 8 Search and replace 8 4 8 5 8 6 the database or from the start of the index if one is active If a matching record
288. to select an index and a filter which will be used in constructing the menu These are each taken from the indexes and filters defined in the foreign database The index will determine the order in which the records are displayed on the menu Choosing a filter allows you to limit the records from which the user can select to a subset of those in the foreign database An index might also restrict the records shown in the menu 1f it is based on a selection or includes a filter in its definition Note that you can always access the full range of foreign records by using the direct and indirect methods of editing described above The index and filter will only limit the records shown in the menu Using an action script to generate a menu Prior to Impact version 3 39 if you wanted to choose the foreign data from a menu you would have had to use an action script In most cases it will now be simpler to attach a menu by using the option in the foreign field attributes However in some cases there may be particular need to use an action script for greater control so this example is still retained Suppose for example you had a database of railway photographs and a related database containing the names of the railways Using a menu style action button you could pick the railway in the photograph without having to search for it in the related database Here is an example of the script you might use Note the use of the AddSlashes function to escape any
289. to the card being designed When first placed all foreign fields are assumed to be key fields Dependent fields are formed by giving them a reference to a key field from the foreign field attribute dialogue box as 103 Impact Chapter 15 Relational databases 15 4 15 5 15 6 explained below Foreign field attributes Double clicking on a foreign field will cause the following attribute dialogue box to be displayed x __ Edit foreign 19 Name Database Addresses Order 3 _ Foreign field Name Key field _ Attach menu button Index None _ Dependent on In the above illustration the Name field from the Addresses database has been dragged to the local database card being created The attribute box shows the name of the foreign database and field The Key field radio button is selected to show that this is a key field Note that all foreign fields must be given a name whether they are key fields or dependents This may be done as described in Chapter 14 Changing field attributes by entering a name in the dialogue box for the foreign field as shown above and pressing the Return key Field names must be unique within each database but there is no reason why the same name cannot be used in different databases To include the address fields as dependent fields drag these onto the card in a similar manner then click on the Key field flag to un tick it This will allow you to choose a key field from the
290. tool button in a style to be used when it is depressed A selection of suitable sprites is provided but new ones may be created by the user using Paint or other graphics software The behaviour of each tool is defined by an action script which may be edited by adventurous users by selecting Edit script from the Tool sub menu The script name is the same as the sprite name but without the t_ prefix Note that once the tool action file is open it may be left on screen for testing the script when card editing has been completed When a change has been made save the file and click on the tool to test it then re edit the script if required Note that if your text editor supports throwback errors in the script will be shown in a throwback window which may then be used to indicate and display the line containing the error Note that any alterations to tools will affect all databases which use those tools not just the one from which you edited the scripts Also if you upgrade to a later version of Impact you will need to copy your scripts sprites elsewhere before upgrading to avoid their being overwritten 189 Impact Field type Text External file Internal file Actions Calculation Number Date Flag Option Menu Browser Sequence Appendix 1 Field types Appendix 1 Field types The field types available within an Impact database are listed below together with the disc space used the maximum numerical range etc Disc spac
291. trol codes in text strings Comment lines Rarely CSV files contain comment lines to ensure these are not interpreted as data you can tick Ignore lines starting with and enter the comment character in the box Skip first line Some applications export the data field names as the first line of the file so this option has been provided to enable that line to be ignored Impact does not have any automatic mapping from field names contained in your import file to the fields found in your database Overlay If you wish to match existing records in the database with the ones you are importing and update the fields with the imported version you need to use the Overlay option Details of this feature are discussed later in this chapter Other settings affecting import Field maps Impact needs to know which pieces of data from the imported file need to be assigned to which fields of the database To do this you need to design an appropriate field map and select it before importing the file As you will usually require a field map to be active when using the Import tool a warning will be given if you open the tool window without having selected a field map If you have no field map active the incoming fields will be applied according to the internal ordering of the fields in the database See the examples below for an explanation of how to construct a field map for importing data and the reference section for further details Filters
292. tton over the field Alternatively the up and down cursor keys or the Tab key may be used to move the caret between fields in the standard desktop manner With the caret in the writable field data may be typed directly into the field and normal editing may be carried out using the Delete key etc Date fields Dates may be entered in almost any format regardless of the field s display format How to define the date format for a field is described later in 74 13 Date time fields When the record is saved the date will be validated and any unrecognised or illegal dates will be rejected Any date between 1900 and 2247 is acceptable If you enter a year in abbreviated two digit form numbers from 20 99 will be assumed to be in the 20th century and those from 00 19 will be assumed to be in the 21st century i e 19 will be assumed to mean 2019 and 20 will be assumed to mean 1920 To enter any dates before 1920 or after 2019 you must use all four digits To avoid confusion it probably makes most sense to type in all four digits for any year you require Note if you wish to store dates outside the range 1900 2247 you will have to use a text field File fields This field type appears as a click button and displays its legend in black when z there is a link to a file in grey when there is no link and in red when the linked File file cannot be found Clicking on such a field is equivalent to double clicking on the file in its Fil
293. types as a method of clearing the contents of the field as described in Chapter 7 Data entry Selecting Edit card puts the card into edit mode displaying the field selection window This permits the card and toolbar to be modified as required The New card option causes a new blank card to be displayed together with the field selection window ready for a new card to be created for that database Where a database has more than one card defined the Open card option leads to a sub menu of cards available for that database enabling you to open any hidden cards The last two options are used to close the card or the whole database The toolbar Each record card open will display a toolbar for use on that database Tools are selected for the toolbar during the card editing process It is not necessary for every card on a database to have a toolbar but for most tools it is the only means of access Most tools are activated by clicking with Select when the tool icon will be displayed depressed Selecting most tools also causes the display of a dialogue box providing full control over the tool actions such as label printing merging etc The following is a brief description of each of the above tools Most of them are described 27 Impact Chapter 3 Introduction to tools 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 6 3 7 3 8 3 9 3 10 3 11 more fully in later chapters H gt A The browse tools These allow you to browse through the d
294. u Table display Caller display Placement grid Default export format Text selection Merge document templates Implementing changes Chapter 22 Making backups 22 1 22 2 22 3 22 4 10 The need for backups The backup window Setting the backup location Making a backup 155 155 157 157 159 159 160 161 163 167 168 170 171 171 171 171 171 171 171 173 173 173 174 175 175 176 176 176 176 177 177 177 177 178 178 178 178 179 Contents Impact 22 5 Automatic backups and warnings 22 6 Backup all 22 7 Restoring data 22 8 Restoring a database which cannot be opened Chapter 23 Deletion 23 1 Clearing field contents 23 2 Deleting records 23 3 Removing fields from a card 23 4 Deleting a card 23 5 Deleting an entire database 23 6 Deleting unwanted Ovation Pro and Impression merge documents 23 7 Deleting unwanted action scripts 23 8 Deleting unwanted filters indexes and field maps Chapter 24 Advanced Impact use 24 1 System variables 24 2 Storing databases in diverse locations 24 3 Using Impact over a network 24 4 Loading databases by unconventional means 24 5 Copying and renaming databases 24 6 Changing the order of texts in option menu and browser fields 24 7 Changing the type of a field 24 8 Advanced tool editing Appendix 1 Field types Appendix 2 Mouse and key actions in record cards Appendix 3 Date format codes Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual Appendix 5 Obta
295. u you will be presented with a blank card and a selection of fields and other items in a separate window All that is required is to drag the required fields onto the blank card give the database a name where indicated and click the Save button Done 20 Impact Chapter 1 A guided tour Well OK there s a lot more that can be done Such as naming fields setting various options default entries date formats etc These things are simply achieved by selecting from the card menu Tools may be dragged onto the toolbar and re arranged as required by further dragging And all this may also be done later when the database is in use Try Edit card from the card menu while browsing one of the sample databases 21 Impact Chapter 2 An introduction 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 Chapter 2 An introduction This chapter briefly describes the main facilities offered by Impact and introduces some general concepts and terminology Further details of all facilities described may be found in the following chapters Impact is a general purpose relational database program providing facilities for the creation editing import and export of data as well as allowing data to be merged into Impression Ovation Pro ImpEmail or other Impulse supporting programs for direct mail shots report generation etc The data contained in any database may be pure text numbers dates flags indicating on off or yes no conditions scanned images such as perso
296. u can use the radio buttons provided If the table is very wide Impact may use more than one sheet across to print all the material without having to scale down the text size unduly The breaks between pages will coincide with the column boundaries where possible You can force the printout to be scaled to fit a single page width if you like While the most useful print settings can be controlled using this dialogue box for finer control you can use the Preview button This will show the table using DrawPrint where you can set margins control the scaling and page breaks and can even crop the output if desired Preview ol page of 1 ol Image options Portrait _ Landscape 100 Scale 100 Pages across 1 AN Alignment __ Scale to fill page width More page setup options Print all pages J this column _ this row Jtrom 1 Ja tol 1 v a __ Collate _ Print Open overview window _ current page Videos on Hire Sorted by Customer at 100 Videos on Hire Sorted by Customer 1 01 Jan 98 Bill Smith 2 31 May 98 Bill Smith 3 08 Jun 98 __ Major Paigne_ 4 08Jun98 Fred Smith 5 08 Jun 96 Bill Smith 9 08 Jun 98 __ Captain J T Kirk 10 08 Jun 98 Hugo Walter 13 O8Jun98 J R Hartley 16 08 Jun 98 George Sanderson 22 08 Jun 98__ James Longbottom 27 08 Jun 98 Bill Smith For a full explanation of the options see DrawPrint s o
297. uld be included in this database to load and display the letter using the reference field from the card Note in this example how the star command Copy is used to make a copy of a master template document file If the parameters to any star command are enclosed in brackets they will be evaluated as expressions within Impact before being passed to the operating system Note also the use of the Query function to ask the user if the document is to be further edited after merging the name and address information from the database If the user clicks OK the script is aborted at that point otherwise the document is saved and printed before being closed Again the Macro command is used to send instructions to Ovation Pro in this case to save the fixed document after printing and to close the window Create record of new letter in Letters database Clear Letters Main Clear card in Letters d base Letters date Today Set date field to today Letters name name Set name field to local name Copy Letters Make a new record from card 152 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands Copy blank letter template to Letters database Local docname scrcfile destfile docname Letters ref Use reference as filename scercfile DataPath Letters Documents Template destfile DataPath Letters Letters docname xcopy scrcfile destfile v cf Load and merge the document then fix the data Merge
298. unctions The following are assigned values during a Table or Scan merge command and may be used to merge column totals and other statistics following the table or used in an action script following the use of the Scan action command Total real Total int n The total of column n TotMin real TotMin int n The minimum value of column n TotMax real TotMax int n The maximum value of column n TotMean real TotMean int n The mean value of column n TotSqr real TotSgqr int n Sum of the squares of column n TotStd real TotStd int n The standard deviation of column n Count real Count The total number of records processed Query functions These functions all cause the display of a message question or menu and wait for the user to 111 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations respond They return the result of the user s choice It is not permitted to use any of these functions in the definition of a calculation field the default value expression for a field or in defining a calculation filter They are intended for use in action scripts Query int Query text q text buttons This causes a standard message box to be opened containing the given text g and Cancel and Continue buttons The returned value is zero false if the user clicks Cancel and 1 true if Continue is clicked This is most useful in an action script for example If Query Are you sure Abort A variation of the func
299. und or a decimal point is found or on overflow e g BaseConvert 255 16 gt FF BaseConvert 255 8 gt 377 BaseConvert FF 10 16 255 16 13 Miscellaneous functions Record int Record text n If n is the name of a database returns the number of the current record selected in that database If nis not given the function returns the number of the current record in the 122 Impact Next Chapter 16 Calculations database from which the calculation was issued Record numbers are assigned as positive numbers starting at 1 and are not changed throughout the existence of the record If n is a valid foreign key field name returns the number of the record in the foreign database to which the field is referring The foreign key field may be given in the form database field if you wish to state the database explicitly otherwise the current database is assumed Returns zero if the specified database or foreign field does not exist If the specified database was not open when the function is evaluated it will be opened in the process but a zero value will be returned In common with all other calculation functions only databases which are held in the same directory as the current database may be accessed Thus a calculation expression in a database in UserData may not access databases in SampleData int Next text d Selects the next record according to context in database d or the current database if
300. urn 29 Date date Date text t text f The date translation of the text t If the date cannot be converted or the date does not exist an error will be generated The optional f parameter specifies the format the date is to be expected in If this is omitted day month year is assumed For example to convert an ISO format date yyyymmdd you could use Date 20050220 Scesyrsmnsdy Impact will accept months in numbers or words wherever mn mo or 3m3 is given For a complete list of date format codes see Appendix 3 Date format codes Age real Age date b date d The age of a person at date d if born on date b If d is not given today s date is assumed The result is in years and may be fractional 118 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations AddMonths date AddMonths date d int m Return the date m months from d The integer m may be negative If the resulting month does not have enough days in it for the day to remain the same the last day of the month will be used AddYears date AddYears date d int y Return the date y years from d The integer y may be negative If the resulting month does not have enough days in it for the day to remain the same the last day of the month will be used DFormat text DFormat date d text f Returns the given date d in format f Date formats are explained in Appendix 3 Date format codes TextMonth text TextMonth int m Returns the month number m in textual form
301. us Field menus _ Sortbyname Sort by order These options define the sort order used for field names on menus throughout the program Sort by name Selecting this causes all field menu items to be displayed in alphabetical order 175 Impact Chapter 21 Choices 21 6 21 7 21 8 21 9 Sort by order Selecting this causes all field menu items to be presented in their caret order as set during card design in the field s attribute box Database menu Database menu _ Two level database menu By default all databases known to Impact will appear on one long menu They are grouped according to the directories in which they are held You will usually have a UserData directory and a SampleData directory the latter containing the demonstration databases supplied with Impact but it is possible to set up further directories which Impact will examine to find databases to list on the menu If you have a large number of these a two level database menu can be beneficial The top level menu will then list the directories such as UserData and SampleData and the databases contained in each will be listed on sub menus Table display Table display _ Resize all columns on opening Ticking Resize all columns on opening will ensure that all tables will have columns wide enough to display the whole of their data Calculating the column widths may be slow for a large database on old hardware so this option is not selected by default C
302. ut these will generally be removed after the card has been correctly sized to suit the contained fields Note that even if you choose not to include a close icon it will be possible for the user to close a card from the card menu The maximum size The arrow icons may be used to set the card s maximum size Note that this is not the displayed size and the effect of these buttons may not be seen directly unless scroll bars are visible or the card has been toggled to full size A card may be arranged to toggle between two set sizes and this is useful where some data fields will not often be needed To do this first use the adjustment arrows in the Card attributes window to set the maximum card size to be large enough to hold all the fields Then reduce the card s displayed size by dragging the size icon in its lower right corner until the unwanted fields are no longer visible For convenience they should be positioned at the bottom of the card Then remove both scroll bars but leave the toggle size icon Save the database while the card is in the small state It may then be toggled to the larger size when in use revealing the hidden fields as required The card background Ticking Background enables you to choose a background colour for the card The preferred card Tick Preferred card to make this card the one which is opened when the database is opened 12 12 Copying fields Single fields or a selection of fields may be copied by choo
303. ve used the Overlay feature to match and update existing records Make corrections and import again If we are unhappy with the import we might want to make adjustments and try again The quickest way to delete the new records is to choose Select all from the menu over the table of new records and then Delete selection from the menu We can now tick the overlay option and import the file again This time the dialogue box shows four new records imported and one overlaid Sure enough the address and postcode of record 1 in the database have been updated to reflect Bill Smith s new address Import to Addresses File format CSV TSV _ Separator v Quoted text fields lV Special characters prefixed with Ej Ignore lines starting with lV Skip first line lV Overlay 4 new records imported View 1 existing records overlaid View O records filtered out View O records with errors discarded 7 B Close 3 Address 17 Arthur Avenue Petswoods Kent Post code PE3 5KK Bl Card Phone 850 353 C Note that when matching records with the overlay option only the first field in each row is considered In this example the name of the individual must be exactly equal for the record to be overlaid with new data Any fields not included in the field map such as the telephone number are unaffected by the overlay process Techniques for overlaying data are discussed in further detail below
304. w 19 Impact Chapter 1 A guided tour 1 18 Records Current record _ Multiple Selectio From First Here Label val Preview label Copies of each label 1 FPS Next label to use 1 EA V Shrink text to fit label Queued labels 0 B Cancel Kill queue Queue Print Save Click on the Label menu icon in this window The first time you do this LabPrint will be loaded and its icon will appear on the iconbar The menu of label types is displayed by LabPrint and offers a range of pre defined Avery laser label formats You can define your own label formats and this is fully described in the manual Select any of the label styles and its name will be displayed in the Label window Click on Preview label to see how data from the current record would look in this label style Choosing the AddressLabel field map will ensure that only names addresses and postcodes are printed This map also causes a person s name and title to be concatenated and printed on the same line and ensures that the address fields are in a sensible order When first displayed the Label window is set to print a single copy of the record currently displayed in the data card If the Multiple option is set all records or just those from the current one to the end of the database will be printed You can also force printing to start on a given label on the sheet when the sheet is already part used To do the printing click the Print button on the
305. w accessed from the card menu You should also be wary of backups Initially the backup location for a database is set to the BackupData directory in the same directory as the Impact application If you do not change this default then those with the same name will get muddled up there and overwrite each other s backups It would be advisable therefore to set the backup location individually for each database The database menu Databases will be grouped together on the Impact database menu according to the directory in which they are held You can choose whether all databases appear on one long menu or whether a submenu is created for each directory on Impact Path by opting for a two level database menu in the Choices window as described in Chapter 21 Choices Creating a new database If there is more than one directory on Impact Path then the Create option on the iconbar menu will offer a submenu of directories to select the one in which you wish your new database to be located Using Impact over a network Although Impact does not permit simultaneous access of a single database by more than one user it is possible to store databases so that they can be accessed at separate times from more than one computer Impact will warn the user if a database is already open on another computer allowing the user to cancel the operation Access across a network might be done via a fileserver which users have to log in to common in schools and workpl
306. want but needs to correspond to the name used in the action script The name of the database Addresses might need to be changed if you were using this technique with your own database The action script above then translates to the following Local EmailAddrList n First Move to first record if email EmailAddrList email else n 1 While Next if email EmailAddrList email else n 1 EmailAddrList Text EmailAddrList 2 Remove comma from start if n gt 0 Message n records did not have e mail addresses if EmailAddrList Change next line according to name of the document file DocLoad Test MergeTo ImpEmail DocMerge Test DocFix Test The DocFix command at the end fixes the merged elements into the document and makes the message editable so you can edit it further before sending Alternatively the DocPrint command could have been used instead to e mail the message off without further editing This general technique of building more complex content in a local variable and fetching it into a merge document can be very powerful It is equally valuable when used with Impression and Ovation Pro Printing labels It is often useful to have a button to queue an address label for printing later This simple script performs this action A temporary field map is created to specify the fields required and in this case a title field Mr 151
307. wing this You will need to re open it using one of the above methods before the merge facilities can be used Creating a new document Impact can create a new document for you for ImpEmail Impression or Ovation Pro To do this it copies a default document which is saved in Impact s Choices directory A default document for JmpEmail is supplied with Impact You may wish to edit it to insert your e mail address and or your signature and replace the default tenplate To be able to create new a new Jmpression Ovation Pro document you will first need to run the relevant editor and save a document to Impact s Choices window Your default document may be blank or it may contain your letterhead or other text See 21 12 Merge document templates for more information on saving and editing default documents Alternatively you may create a new document simply by doing so in the editor application whence it can be saved to the Impact Merge window as described in the previous section Previewing the document It is useful to be able to check that all is well before printing and this may be done by clicking on the Test button This will cause the editor to start a merge operation and the merged data will be displayed in the document Only the current record will be used even if the Multiple or Selection record option has been selected That is only a single document will be displayed Once merged the document is not editable and in Impressi
308. wn manual which you can open using the Help option from the DrawPrint menu or by pressing F1 52 Impact Chapter 9 Tables 9 12 Editing data within the table The data for most types of field may be edited direct from the table You can thus easily update several records in turn without calling up their record cards one by one Notes fields may not be edited in the table Fields which cannot be edited in the record card such as calculation fields or any field marked as non writable cannot be edited from the table either Finally table columns consisting of several fields concatenated using a field map may not be edited To edit a value shown in a cell hold the Alt key and click Select For text number sequence date and file fields the caret will appear in the table and you can edit the value direct Press Escape to discard changes and Return or F3 to save You may save the value and move to an adjacent table cell by using Tab and Shift Tab to moved right and left and the Up and Down cursor keys to move to the previous or the next row of the table In a multi line text field pressing Return will only save the changes if the caret is on the last line otherwise a line break is inserted Pressing F3 will save the changes no matter which line the caret is on a EER O1Jan 98 BillSmith JFK 2 31 May 98 Bill Smith Frankie amp cams 3 08 Jun 98 Major Paigne Little Man Tate 4 08 Jun 98 Fred Smith Dances With Wolves 5
309. work though again it is not possible to open the database on more than one computer at a time How to do this is best explained by an example Suppose we have two RISC OS computers whose drives are shared via ShareFS The drive of one machine is shared under the name Alpha and the other under the name Beta We will call the respective computers Alpha and Beta also Impact has been installed in Impact on Alpha and some databases have been created in Impact UserData We now want to open the databases on Beta We can see the Impact installation from Beta as it appears in Share Alpha Impact but if we try running it we will get an error saying that the copy is licensed for use on another computer Your licence permits you to install Impact on two machines so the first step is to dig out your Impact CD or the downloaded package and the licence zip file and install on the second machine If you then run Impact on Beta you will see a separate set of demo databases and will be able to create new databases on Beta s hard drive But we want to be able to load the databases from Alpha on the copy of Impact running on Beta To do this we need to modify the Impact Run file Shut down Impact and then shift double click on the Impact application on the hard drive to open the application directory Load the Run file into Edit or your favourite text editor and find the line which says Set Impact Path lt Impact Dir gt UserData Chang
310. x A text string representing the given amount in sterling This is useful for cheques and receipts etc e g Money 2 34 gt Two Pounds 34 Pence Char text Char int n The character represented by ASCII value n Ascii int Ascii text c The ASCII value of the first character of text c Sys text Sys text v The translation of the given RISC OS system variable v If the variable is not defined a blank string is returned 16 11 Date functions Where dates are entered with a two digit year years less than 20 will be assumed to be 2000 2019 while values of 20 and higher will be assumed to be 1920 onwards Today date Today Today s date time code Secs real Secs date d The seconds for given date time d to the nearest hundredth of a second N B This function returns a real number to two decimal places Mins int Mins date d The minutes for given date time d 117 Impact Chapter 16 Calculations Hrs int Hrs date d The hours for given date time d Day int Day date d The day number for given date d e g Day Date 18 April 2009 gt 18 Month int Month date d The month number for given date d where January is numbered one February two and so on Year int Year date d The year in 4 digit form for given date d DaysInMonth int DaysInMonth date d Returns the number of days in the month containing the date d For example DaysInMonth Date 20 2 2000 will ret
311. xecution context Action command syntax Field assignments Star commands Comments Indexes filters and field maps Record manipulation commands Document merging and printing Label printing Conditional commands Displaying dialogue boxes Card commands Creating variables Miscellaneous commands Using action fields as functions Examples Chapter 18 Exporting data 18 1 18 2 Simple export using drag and drop Using the export tool 107 107 107 107 107 108 109 110 111 111 113 117 119 122 129 129 130 130 130 132 132 132 132 134 135 135 136 138 139 140 140 141 142 143 146 146 154 154 154 Contents Impact 18 3 18 4 18 5 18 6 Selecting fields and records Choosing an export format Exporting the data Formatting the data Chapter 19 Importing data 19 1 19 2 19 3 19 4 19 5 19 6 19 7 Import options Other settings affecting import Example importing into an existing database Example importing a file to a new database Further reference Import and field types Viewing the results of an import Chapter 20 Caller display 20 1 20 2 20 3 20 4 20 5 20 6 Background The Caller display unit Serial ports Support software Looking up the number Taking action Chapter 21 Choices 21 1 21 2 213 21 4 21 5 21 6 21 7 21 8 21 9 21 10 21 11 21 12 21 13 Record updating Return key action on cards On opening a database Backup Field menus Database men
312. y 01 The century e g 19 The year within the century e g 89 The week number Mon Sun in the year The day number in the year e g 048 In addition a z may be included before relevant fields to suppress any leading zeros as in szdy Note that though WK and DN may be used for display purposes Impact will not accept dates input in these formats The formats M3 and W3 give abbreviations which are three letters long when the operating system is set to use English but in other territories the abbreviations may be of differing lengths 192 Impact Appendix 4 ImpEmail manual A4 1 A4 2 Appendix 4 mpEmail manual ImpEmail is a simple application for composing and sending e mails designed for mail zs merging in conjunction with Impact or any application which supports the Impulse C protocol such as Powerbase Configuring ImpEmail The first time you run ImpEmail it will prompt you to set up your choices to determine your method of sending messages and via which SMTP server or e mail transport application your messages will be sent m ae ImpEmail choices _ Sending email _ Send direct to SMTP server port Use Newsbase transport Hermes al Fa If merged content includes tables generate HTML as well as plain text From address menu Enter one address per line The first will be the default Display options Font Corpus Medium Gy Size a Cancel Save There
313. y Computer Concepts but now public domain which allows two way communication between programs To show this in action click on the merge tool A window similar to the following will be displayed Merge Videos to OvationPro Printer PDF3 Document l ol Current record Selection Here B g Cancel Test Clear Fix Print If you now click on the Document menu icon and select either mpReport or OvPReport depending on which software you have the video report document will be loaded into the appropriate application and displayed 18 Impact Chapter 1 A guided tour 1 15 1 16 _OvPReport __ Cae SeA sis Pose A Video Hire report Merge 2 List of Videos Currently on Hire Merge 1 Videos in Order of Popularity Merge 3 The average fee per hire Merge 4 If this does not happen it may be that the computer system has not seen either of these programs In this case locate your copy and install it on the icon bar Then repeat the report selection as described above With the report document on the screen click the Test button on the above window to start the data merge operation The result should show two tables of information extracted directly from the two databases Note the current date at the top of the report the average fee calculation etc The Print button will tell the DTP program to merge and print the report while the Fix button will permanently fix the mer
314. y of the label onto the clip board 13 Impact Chapter 10 Mail merging and formatted reports It is now only necessary to duplicate the label using the Edit gt Paste frame or Edit gt Paste Text frame menu option or the Cirl V keyboard short cut Labels will be filled during the merge operation in the order in which they are created so it may be helpful to duplicate them across and down the page The exact placement of frames should exactly match the position of labels on the stationery which may be done precisely with the aid of a ruler and the Alter frame dialogue box in Impression or Modify text frame dialogue box in Ovation Pro Finally do not forget to remove the initial Record next command from the first label on the sheet or one record will be skipped on each printed sheet Printing the labels If you wish to use a particular selection of records you will need to set these up within Impact in a table filter or index and have that active If you wish to use all records ensure any such filter or index is not active To test or print all the required records you should choose Multiple or Selection if you wish to use a selection chosen from a table from Impact s merge window and click on Test or Print Note that Test will only produce one page of labels but Print will go through the entire database or selection producing as many pages as required 74 Impact Chapter 11 Printing labels 11 1 11 2 Chapter 11 Prin
315. y then drag it to the document You may select any database which is on the same path as your current one if you wish to merge data from another database into your document All the writable icons in the command building panel support OLE Object Linking and Embedding so if you need to enter a command or expression which is too long to be displayed in a box simply C rl double click to load it into your text editor After making changes saving the file will transfer it back to the merge window The following sections look at each command in turn briefly discuss their use and explain the command syntax Document lt a al al Current record Application ImpEmail ImpEmail E D yen l B oF Cancel Test Clear Je E mail Command Database Addresses bal Fetch Fetch field ttach fil _ Record _ Table a _ Scan _ Fetch next non blank field C Calculation but not if beyond the field named above _ Date This system makes use of the Impression Document Description Format DDF or the Ovation Pro Document Description Language DDL depending on which application is in use This means that if a merge command is dragged into another application such as Edit what appears will be in DDF or DDL 10 14 Technical notes Execution context The selection of indexes filters and records from merge commands embedded in documents will not have any effect on the current settings of your database card However when
316. you will need to first issue the command First to select the first record in the database If lt copies gt is zero or negative one copy of each label will be printed The label name parameter should be a string matching the name of one of the label designs in LabPrint It does not have to match the complete name the beginning of the name will do but the case of the letters must match precisely e g LabQueue L7168 LabPrint LabPrint lt copies lt first label gt lt auto shrink gt Print the current label queue The optional parameters correspond to the Copies of each label Next label to use and Shrink text to fit label settings from the label printing window The default is to print the queue once from label number 1 with the text not being shrunk to fit the label if it is too large If lt copies gt is zero or negative the queue will be printed once LabStyle LabStyle lt label name gt This command may be used prior to displaying the label tool box to pre insert the 139 Impact Chapter 17 Action commands preferred label style into the box KillQueue KillQueue Cancel any queued labels 17 10 Conditional commands If If lt expression gt lt command gt lt command block gt where lt expression gt is any valid calculation resulting in a numerical value and lt command gt is any other valid action command Note the brackets are required If the result of lt expression gt is non zer

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