chris@endgame.gsfc.nasa.gov (Chris Shenton) (03/09/91)
I'm trying to help a group of non-computer types to get their mailing lists and membership data organized. They were planning on using FoxBASE, but I would think hypercard could do the job easier for them. They'll need to be able to sort on different fields, such as name or zipcode -- it this do-able? done? I'm a Unix-type, so bear with my (current and temporary :-) ignorance. Thanks. [if this is completely ignorant and inane, email me your flames -- I'm getting the manual tomorrow :-] -- chris@asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov ...!uunet!asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov!chris
George_Wade@mindlink.UUCP (George Wade) (03/09/91)
you could try the address book stack that comes with hypercard. Just add data to it. define or redefine the fields to suit as necessary for your friends sorting. This can be done at any time, before, during or after data entry. Cut and paste data into appropriate fields when the design is finalised. I believe that you can print merge in the background under multifinder. If this quick fix works out well, you might want to do a proper custom job later.
andy@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au (03/10/91)
In article <CHRIS.91Mar8172714@endgame.gsfc.nasa.gov>, chris@endgame.gsfc.nasa.gov (Chris Shenton) writes: > I'm trying to help a group of non-computer types to get their mailing lists > and membership data organized. They were planning on using FoxBASE, but I > would think hypercard could do the job easier for them. > > They'll need to be able to sort on different fields, such as name or > zipcode -- it this do-able? done? > > I'm a Unix-type, so bear with my (current and temporary :-) ignorance. > > Thanks. > > [if this is completely ignorant and inane, email me your flames -- > I'm getting the manual tomorrow :-] > -- > chris@asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov ...!uunet!asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov!chris NO - Hypercard would NOT be easier. People who are non-computing types, who need to manage lists and sort on different fields should be using either FileMaker or FoxBASE. The reason - the laying out of columnar reports and sorting by different fields is all by easy menu-driven interfaces. The report-writing capabilities in either package are still superior to Hypercard. I would pick a package on the basis of FoxBASE - if they EVER need to do a programmed update - eg: add 1 to number-of-times-called FileMaker - easy multi-user (without server) and topnotch security. Andy Dent A.D. Software phone 09 249 2719 Mac & VAX programmer 94 Bermuda Dve, Ballajura a_dent@fennel.cc.uwa.oz Western Australia 6066 a_dent@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.AU (international)
korcuska@plato.ils.nwu.edu (Michael Korcuska) (03/12/91)
In article <5074@mindlink.UUCP> George_Wade@mindlink.UUCP (George Wade) writes: >you could try the address book stack that comes with hypercard. >Just add data to it. >define or redefine the fields to suit as necessary for your friends sorting. >This can be done at any time, before, during or after data entry. >Cut and paste data into appropriate fields when the design is finalised. >I believe that you can print merge in the background under multifinder. >If this quick fix works out well, you might want to do a proper custom job >later. If the database is going to be really big or used often I'd watch using hypercard. Maybe 2.0 is better but printing large stacks is very slow and very large stacks have trouble printing in one piece. It's also hard to view the database in any sort of list format or do sorts or merges. You could, of course, write all this stuff yourself but it will still be slow. There are also probably some mailing label hypercard products out there, but if you're going to buy something, buy a program that was designed to do mailing labels, etc. I've used something called Address Book Plus from Power Up! software which seems quite good. It'll print envelopes, labels etc and do simple flat file database stuff. It's cheap, too (or was when we bought it). I say this because i just spent a morning getting all the data out of someone's 8000 entry hypercard address book and importing it into Filemaker (not as cheap). -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Korcuska The Institute for the Learning Sciences korcuska@ils.nwu.edu Northwestern University -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
dlugose@uncecs.edu (Dan Dlugose) (03/13/91)
This is a n application well suited to HyperCard. If you do have thousands of members in the stack, or even hundreds, it will make a big difference in speed in how you program it. Som e people come to the premature conclusion that HyperCard is too slow to use in large stacks. From various HC books you can learn (or even from reading this newsgroup often) how to access information throughout a stack without greatly slowing down a script. I and many others in the group can also help anyone plan a large stack for speed. Dan Dlugose UNC Educational Computing Service -- Dan Dlugose Internet: dlugose@uncecs.edu UNC Educational Computing Service Box 12035, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2035