ycs16a03@merrimack.edu (03/29/91)
I've managed to track down one PD database manager. It's called DataEasy
and it's on Fish Disk 417. I've played with it a little bit, and it seems
to be pretty flexible, but it also has some (major) problems. Here's a
summary of my initial impressions about the program, though I really recommend
you try the program for yourself and not rely too much on this quick review.
The good news:
1. Fields - pretty much whatever you want, any number, any size.
2. Add/remove fields even after data has been entered.
3. Sort according to any field (string sort only, no numerical sorts)
4. Flexible search options.
5. Use sequential or random-access files.
6. Flexible printing options.
7. Very easy to use from either mouse or keyboard.
8. Dials phone numbers if you have a modem connected.
9. Speech option will speak anything printed to the screen.
The bad news:
1. It crashes every time I try to exit the program.
2. Written in compiled BASIC which means:
a. Program is huge (200 K) for what it does.
b. Program is sluggish in some parts (sorting, some data entry).
3. Seems to need a lot of memory to run (wouldn't run with 500 K free).
4. Can't sort fields numerically.
5. Adding many records at once is slow and tedious (you keep having to
select Add Record, and there's a short delay each time the record is
added.)
Once again, these observations are based on only an hour or two of using
DataEasy, so I could be mistaken about some things. The crashing problem
might just be due to some peculiarity of my system setup, so you should
really try it for yourself to see if it suits your needs. The person who
recommended it to me didn't have this problem (I don't think).
If anyone knows of any other PD or shareware database managers please
post a message because there seems to be a big demand for them.
Steve Borden
david@starsoft.hou.tx.us (Dave Lowrey) (03/30/91)
In article <1991Mar29.103018.21517@merrimack.edu> ycs16a03@merrimack.edu writes: > > > I've managed to track down one PD database manager. It's called DataEasy > and it's on Fish Disk 417. I've played with it a little bit, and it seems > to be pretty flexible, but it also has some (major) problems. Here's a > summary of my initial impressions about the program, though I really recommend > you try the program for yourself and not rely too much on this quick review. > > > The bad news: > 1. It crashes every time I try to exit the program. > > Once again, these observations are based on only an hour or two of using > DataEasy, so I could be mistaken about some things. The crashing problem > might just be due to some peculiarity of my system setup, so you should > really try it for yourself to see if it suits your needs. The person who > recommended it to me didn't have this problem (I don't think). > Try increasing your stack before running the program. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These words be mine. The company doesn't care, because I am the company! :-) Dave Lowrey | david@starsoft.hou.tx.us Starbound Software Group | Houston, TX | "Dare to be stupid!" -- Weird Al Yankovic