FETCH * WABASH COLLEGE INFORMATION SYSTEM * 05-Jan-74 * PAGE 1 'FETCH' IS A GENERAL-PURPOSE DISK FILE EDIT ROUTINE DESIGNED PROVIDE A SIMPLE MEANS OF MAINTAINING FILES ON THE WABASH COLLEGE INFORMATION SYSTEM (WCIS). IN ORDER TO USE IT YOU MUST BE FAMILIAR WITH THE TIME-SHARING SYSTEM, YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO USE A TERMINAL (TELETYPE OR CRT), AND YOU SHOULD BE ACQUAINTED WITH THE LAYOUTS OF WCIS FILES. THE 'FETCH' PROGRAM HAS THREE OPERATING MODES: THE DEFINITION MODE, THE SEARCH MODE, AND THE EDIT MODE. THESE WILL BE DISCUSSED IN TURN BELOW. I. DEFINITION MODE DEFINITION MODE IS SET UP WHEN YOU FIRST 'RUN' THE PROGRAM. IN THIS MODE THE PROGRAM OBTAINS INFORMATION ABOUT THE EDIT SESSION; YOU MAY STOP THE PROGRAM WITH A CTRL/C (^C) AT ANY TIME WHILE THE PROGRAM IS IN DEFINITION MODE. FIRST THE PROGRAM IDENTIFIES ITSELF: WCIS FILE EDIT V05A OPTIONS (DEV:/M)? TWO OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE: (A) AUXILIARY LISTING DEVICE AND (B) RECORD MARKING. (A) IF YOU ARE WORKING ON A CRT AND YOU WISH TO HAVE A PRINTED VERIFICATION OF YOUR WORK, YOU MAY REQUEST THAT AUXILIARY LISTINGS BE DIRECTED TO A HARD-COPY DEVICE SUCH AS A TELETYPE (DENOTED BY KBN:, WHERE N IS A NUMBER BETWEEN 0 AND 14) OR THE LINE PRINTER (DENOTED BY LP:). SINCE YOU WILL TIE UP THAT DEVICE DURING YOUR ENTIRE EDIT SESSION, BE SURE THAT NO ONE WILL NEED IT DURING THAT TIME. (B) IF YOU WISH TO HAVE COPIES OF THE RECORDS ADDED OR CHANGED DURING YOUR EDIT SESSION PULLED FROM THE MASTER FILE FOR VERIFICATION AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED, YOU WILL WANT TO 'MARK' THESE RECORDS. USE THE '/M' OPTION FOR THIS PURPOSE. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EITHER OPTION, SIMPLY HIT A CARRIAGE RETURN () IN ANSWER TO THE 'OPTIONS' QUESTION. HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES OF POSSIBLE OPTIONS: KB0: USE KEYBOARD 0 AS A LIST DEVICE. /M MARK THE RECORDS FOR A LATER CHECK. LP:/M USE LINE PRINTER FOR LISTINGS; MARK RECORDS. HELP PRINT THE 'HELP' TEXT (HOW TO USE 'FETCH'). IF YOU TYPE THE OPTION INCORRECTLY THE COMPUTER WILL GIVE AN ERROR MESSAGE AND ALLOW YOU TO RE-ENTER THE OPTION. NEXT THE PROGRAM WILL ASK FOR: FILE TYPE? THIS IS A THREE-LETTER CODE WHICH TELLS THE COMPUTER HOW THE DATA FIELDS ARE ARRANGED WITHIN EACH RECORD OF YOUR MASTER FILE. FETCH * WABASH COLLEGE INFORMATION SYSTEM * 05-Jan-74 * PAGE 2 BE SURE THAT YOU GIVE THE CORRECT TYPE FOR YOUR FILE (IT IS GIVEN ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE FILE DIRECTORY IF YOU HAVE ONE). EXAMPLES: ALU=ALUMNI, ADM=ADMISSIONS, STD=STANDARD ADDRESS, ETC. AFTER THE FILE TYPE HAS BEEN LOOKED UP AND STORED, THE PROGRAM WILL REQUEST THE: FILE NAME? A VALID FILE NAME CONSISTS OF FROM 1 TO 6 ALPHANUMERIC CHARACTERS; (FOR EXAMPLE: FIL300 EXTRAS JOE 0012 XXX ). A FILE MAY BE STORED ON ONE OF THE FOUR SYSTEM DISKS, WHICH HAVE THE NAMES DK0: , DK1: , DK2: , AND DK3: . THE DISK NAME ALWAYS IS APPENDED TO THE FILE NAME AS A PREFIX (FOR EXAMPLE, DK1:MARY , DK2:0012). IF YOU ARE EDITING A MASTER FILE , OF COURSE, YOU MUST KNOW THE NAME OF YOUR FILE AND ON WHAT DISK IT IS LOCATED. IF YOU ARE CREATING A NEW FILE, YOU SHOULD CHECK WITH THE COMPUTER CENTER TO FIND OUT WHAT DISK TO USE AND WHAT NAMES TO AVOID. (THE COMPUTER CENTER WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOSS OF FILES WHICH WERE CREATED WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE STAFF.) IF YOU GIVE THE CORRECT FILE NAME FOR AN EXISTING FILE, THE PROGRAM WILL OPEN THE FILE, REPORT ON ITS CONTENTS, AND GO INTO SEARCH MODE. FOR EXAMPLE: FILE CONTAINS 1376 RECORDS [FILE IS IN ID CODE ORDER] FILE CONTAINS 832 RECORDS PLUS 43 CORRECTIONS [43 ADDITIONS HAVE NOT YET BEEN MERGED INTO THE MAIN FILE] IF YOU MISSPELL THE FILE NAME, OR GIVE THE WRONG DISK, OR IF THE FILE DOES NOT EXIST (DESIRABLE IF YOU ARE STARTING A NEW FILE), THE PROGRAM WILL REPORT: FILE 'XXXX' DOES NOT EXIST DO YOU WISH TO CREATE A NEW FILE NAMED 'XXXX' (Y/N)? AN ANSWER OF 'N' WILL HALT THE PROGRAM AND ALLOW YOU TO START OVER. A 'Y' ANSWER WILL CAUSE THE PROGRAM TO SET UP A FILE WITH THE REQUESTED NAME AND GO INTO SEARCH MODE. ONE FINAL EXAMPLE; SUPPOSE THAT WE WISH TO EDIT AN ADDRESS FILE NAMED 'MONTCO', LOCATED ON DISK 2, FORMATTED WITH TYPE 'STD'. WE WISH TO MARK THE RECORDS BUT WE DO NOT NEED A LISTING DEVICE. THE FOLLOWING CONVERSATION SHOULD OCCUR: RUN DK1:$FETCH WCIS FILE EDIT V05A OPTIONS (DEV:/M)? /M FILE TYPE? STD FILE NAME? DK2:MONTCO FILE CONTAINS 345 RECORDS ID: FETCH * WABASH COLLEGE INFORMATION SYSTEM * 05-Jan-74 * PAGE 3 II. SEARCH MODE THE 'FETCH' PROGRAM ANNOUNCES THAT IT IS IN SEARCH MODE BY PRINTING 'ID:' AS SHOWN ABOVE. YOU MAY STOP THE PROGRAM AT ANY TIME BY TYPING 'S'. (DO NOT USE CTRL/C !!!!!) FOR EXAMPLE, ID:S FILE 'DK2:MONTCO' IS CLOSED READY IF YOUR FILE CONTAINS ADDITIONS WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN MERGED INTO THE MASTER FILE, YOU MAY TELL 'FETCH' TO PERFORM THIS OPERATION WHEN IT FIRST ENTERS SEARCH MODE. THIS IS NOT ESSENTIAL; THE PROGRAM WILL ACCESS ALL THE RECORDS, INCLUDING THE ADDED RECORDS. HOWEVER, IF THE NUMBER OF ADDITIONS BECOMES GREATER THAN 100, THE SEARCH TIME WILL BECOME NOTICEABLY LONGER. IF YOU WISH TO PERFORM A MERGE, SIMPLY TYPE 'M': ID:M MERGE * PASS 1 * PASS 2 * DONE ID: THE PROGRAM WILL REPORT ON THE VARIOUS PHASES OF THE MERGE (SO THAT YOU WILL NOT THINK IT HAS HALTED) AND EVENTUALLY RETURN TO SEARCH MODE. THE MERGE IS NOT INSTANTANEOUS; FOR A FILE CONTAINING 100-200 RECORDS IT MAY TAKE 1-3 MINUTES; FOR A FILE CONTAINING ABOUT 7000 RECORDS IT COULD TAKE 15-20 MINUTES. THE MAIN PURPOSE OF SEARCH MODE IS TO SEARCH FOR A GIVEN RECORD IN THE MASTER FILE AND PLACE A COPY OF THE RECORD IN A WORK SPACE WHERE IT MAY BE EDITED. A RECORD IN THE FILE IS UNIQUELY IDENTIFIED BY A CODE CONSISTING OF 6 ALPHANUMERIC CHARACTERS. (THIS CODE IS USED TO ORDER THE RECORDS IN THE FILE.) TYPING IN A 6-CHARACTER CODE WILL CAUSE THE PROGRAM TO SEARCH FOR THAT PARTICULAR RECORD AND REPORT ON THE RESULT. ONE OF SEVERAL REPORTS MAY BE OBTAINED. (A) IF YOU ARE WORKING ON A CRT AND TYPE A AFTER THE 6 CHARACTERS, THE PROGRAM ASSUMES THAT YOU ONLY WANT TO LOOK AT THE RECORD. IF FOUND, THE FIELDS ARE PRINTED AND A '#' APPEARS. HITTING WILL RETURN TO 'ID:'. IF NOT FOUND, 'ID NOT FOUND' IS PRINTED AND YOU RETURN TO 'ID:'. (B) IF YOU ARE WORKING ON A TELETYPE AND YOU TYPE AFTER THE 6 CHARACTERS, THE SAME RESULT IS OBTAINED AS IN (A) EXCEPT THAT THE '#' IS NOT PRINTED. (C) [CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE] FETCH * WABASH COLLEGE INFORMATION SYSTEM * 05-Jan-74 * PAGE 4 (C) IF YOU ARE WORKING ON A CRT AND YOU WISH TO ALTER A RECORD, DELETE A RECORD, OR ENTER A NEW RECORD, YOU MUST HIT THE 'ESC' OR 'ALT MODE' KEY (LOCATED ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE KEYBOARD) AFTER THE 6 ID CHARACTERS. THIS KEY ECHOES A $ SIGN BUT ACTS AS A SORT OF CARRIAGE RETURN. IN THIS CASE, THE RECORD IS DISPLAYED IF FOUND; OTHERWISE, THE MESSAGE 'ID NOT FOUND' IS PRINTED AND A BLANK MASK IS DISPLAYED. THE PROGRAM NOW IS IN EDIT MODE. (D) IF YOU ARE WORKING ON A TELETYPE AND YOU WISH TO EDIT THE RECORD (AS IN PART C), YOU MUST HIT THE 'ESC' OR 'ALT MODE' KEY. THE PROGRAM MOVES TO EDIT MODE WITHOUT PRINTING THE RECORD OR A BLANK MASK. III. EDIT MODE WHEN 'FETCH' IS IN EDIT MODE IT PRINTS A '>' CHARACTER. THE PROGRAM MUST NOT BE HALTED IN EDIT MODE; TO HALT, TYPE 'EX' TO EXIT FROM EDIT MODE AND RETURN TO SEARCH MODE; THEN TYPE 'S' TO STOP THE PROGRAM, LIKE THIS: >EX ID:S FILE 'DK2:MONTCO' IS CLOSED READY THE MAIN PURPOSE OF EDIT MODE IS TO ALLOW THE OPERATOR TO EDIT FIELDS WITHIN A RECORD. EACH FIELD IS IDENTIFIED BY A TWO- CHARACTER MNEMONIC. YOU MUST EITHER MEMORIZE THE FIELD MNEMONICS FOR THE FILE TYPE YOU ARE WORKING ON OR YOU MUST HAVE AVAILABLE A FILE TYPE DESCRIPTION SHEET (THIS MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE COMPUTER CENTER). FOR EXAMPLE, THE FIELD MNEMONICS FOR THE 'STD' FILE TYPE ARE AS FOLLOWS: NM NAME A2 ADDRESS (LINE 2) A3 ADDRESS (LINE 3) CT CITY SZ STATE-ZIP (IN47933) TO ENTER A FIELD, SIMPLY TYPE THE MNEMONIC AND THE INFORMATION, AND HIT A . DO NOT LEAVE A SPACE BETWEEN THE MNEMONIC AND THE INFORMATION (UNLESS YOU WANT THE FIELD TO BEGIN WITH A SPACE.) FIELDS MAY BE ENTERED IN ANY ORDER AND THEY MAY BE RE-ENTERED AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WISH. TO REMOVE (BLANK OUT) A FIELD, SIMPLY FETCH * WABASH COLLEGE INFORMATION SYSTEM * 05-Jan-74 * PAGE 5 TYPE THE MNEMONIC AND HIT A . FOR EXAMPLE, SUPPOSE WE ARE ENTERING A RECORD WITH ID CODE 'SMI500': ID:SMI500$ <--'ESC' WAS TYPED ID NOT FOUND >NMSMITH ROBERT CARL >SZIN47933 <-- ANY ORDER! >A2515 N. MAIN ST. >CTCRAWFORDSVL >NMSMITH ROBERT CARLTON <-- DID NOT DO IT RIGHT FIRST TIME >OK ID: NOTE THAT WE ARE WORKING ON A TELETYPE BECAUSE A FILE MASK WAS NOT PRINTED. SMI500 IS A NEW RECORD ('ID NOT FOUND'). THE 'OK' COMMAND RETURNED 'FETCH' TO SEARCH MODE. IN EDIT MODE 'FETCH' MAY BE USED TO PERFORM OTHER OPERATIONS BESIDES THE MANIPULATION OF FIELDS WITHIN A RECORD. EACH OPERATION IS CARRIED OUT IN RESPONSE TO A SHORT COMMAND. A LIST OF THE COMMANDS IS AS FOLLOWS: OK WRITES THE RECORD BEING EDITED BACK INTO THE MASTER FILE ON THE DISK. RETURNS 'FETCH' TO SEARCH MODE. EX RETURNS 'FETCH' TO SEARCH MODE WITHOUT WRITING THE RECORD ONTO THE DISK. (USED IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY PULLED OUT THE WRONG RECORD.) /DE DELETES THE RECORD FROM THE MASTER FILE. 'FETCH' RETURNS TO SEARCH MODE. L LISTS THE RECORD ON YOUR TELETYPE. ALTHOUGH THIS IS RELATIVELY SLOW, IT IS A HANDY MEANS OF CHECKING YOUR WORK. IT IS UNNECESSARY ON A CRT, SINCE THE RECORD IS DISPLAYED AT ALL TIMES. 'FETCH' REMAINS IN EDIT MODE. L: LISTS THE RECORD ON THE AUXILIARY LISTING DEVICE, IF THE DEVICE WAS REQUESTED UNDER 'OPTIONS'. (OTHERWISE, THE LISTING APPEARS ON YOUR TERMINAL.) 'FETCH' REMAINS IN EDIT MODE. FETCH * WABASH COLLEGE INFORMATION SYSTEM * 05-Jan-74 * PAGE 6 IV. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AS MENTIONED ABOVE, 'FETCH' USUALLY IS HALTED BY TYPING 'S' WHEN THE PROGRAM IS IN SEARCH MODE. THE PROGRAM SHOULD REPORT THAT THE MASTER FILE HAS BEEN CLOSED. IF YOU ARE WORKING ON A REMOTE TERMINAL (OVER A TELEPHONE LINE) AND THE LINE ACCIDENTALLY IS DISCONNECTED, YOU MAY RE-DIAL THE COMPUTER AND RETRIEVE 'FETCH' MERELY BY REATTACHING THE TERMINAL TO THE JOB: HELLO WABASH COLLEGE TIME-SHARING 01-JAN-74 4:30 PM KB 11 JB 3 USER #100,100 PASSWORD: JOB (S) 4 IS DETACHED UNDER THIS ACCOUNT - JOB # TO ATTACH TO? 4 ATTACHING TO JOB 4 AT THIS POINT IT IS NOT OBVIOUS WHAT 'FETCH' IS DOING. THE BEST PROCEDURE IS TO TYPE 'EX' TO SEE WHETHER YOU ARE IN EDIT OR SEARCH MODE. THERE ARE TWO POSSIBILITIES: EX ** ID MUST BE 6 CHARACTERS - RETYPE ** ID: ---- OR ---- EX ID: IN EITHER CASE YOU ARE BACK IN SEARCH MODE AND ALL IS WELL. IF YOU HAVE DELETED ANY RECORDS DURING THE EDIT SESSION, THE FILE WILL BE LEFT WITH 'HOLES' WHERE THESE RECORDS FORMERLY WERE LOCATED. 'FETCH' AUTOMATICALLY WILL COMPRESS THESE 'HOLES' OUT OF THE FILE WHEN THE 'S' COMMAND IS GIVEN; A MESSAGE WILL BE PRINTED TO THAT EFFECT: ID:S ** NOW CLEANING FILE - WAIT PLEASE ** 15 RECORDS DELETED FILE 'DK2:MONTCO' IS CLOSED READY THIS PROCESS, LIKE THE MERGE, IS NOT INSTANTANEOUS. IT MAY TAKE ONLY A FEW SECONDS FOR A SHORT FILE OR IT COULD TAKE 15 MINUTES FOR A LARGE FILE OF 7000 RECORDS. AT ANY RATE, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INTERRUPT THE PROGRAM DURING A 'CLEANUP'. IF THE PROGRAM IS BEING RUN BY PHONE AND IT DETACHES, SIMPLY RE-DIAL, ATTACH TO THE JOB, AND WAIT FOR IT TO FINISH. IF THE PROGRAM DOES NOT GIVE A REPORT WITHIN A REASONABLE LENGTH OF TIME, CALL THE COMPUTER CENTER. IF THE SYSTEM CRASHES DURING EITHER A 'CLEANUP' OR A 'MERGE', THE FILE WILL BE LEFT IN A DISORDERED STATE. 'FETCH' CANNOT BE USED TO RECOVER THE FILE. IN THIS CASE, CALL THE COMPUTER CENTER FOR HELP IN RECOVERING THE FILE (SPECIAL PROGRAMS WILL HAVE TO BE USED.)