799.TXT
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R:BASE 5.0 Questions and Answers
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PRODUCT: R:BASE VERSION: 5.X
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AREA : General Information CATEGORY: General Information
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We have compiled a list of questions and answers about using R:BASE
5.0 and about differences with earlier versions of R:BASE. Many of
the questions were raised by our beta sites.
General Questions
Question: I connect my 4.5++ database in R:BASE 5.0, choose to create
a new form, and a message appears about upgrading the database. I
thought there was no database conversion for R:BASE 5.0. What does it
mean if I upgrade my database?
Answer: The upgrade process creates the fourth database file,
dbname.rb4, and makes new system tables in R:BASE 5.0 for forms,
reports, and labels defined in 5.0. The upgrade is necessary to use
the new BLOB data types. You will still be able to connect to the
database with 4.5++, but not with any earlier versions of R:BASE.
Only 4.5++ is "BLOB aware". Upgrading your database is not required,
but you cannot create new forms, reports, or labels, or use the new
data types until you upgrade the database.
Question: When I press [Enter] in the Object Manager, nothing happens
even though an item is highlighted.
Answer: No action has been selected. The item is highlighted, but no
button is active. R:BASE does not know what action to take on the
highlighted item so nothing is done. You can press [Tab] or use the
mouse to highlight a button; then when you press [Enter], that action
is executed on the highlighted item.
Question: I can open more than one Data Browser window, but when I
click on the R> prompt button more than once, only one R> prompt
window opens.
Answer: Only one R> prompt window can be open at a time. In addition,
only one of the Form, Report, Label, or Application Designers can be
open at a time.
Question: The "Press any key" message box appears in the middle of
the screen and is too big. It covers part of the screen and you can't
see what's behind it.
Answer: The message box is movable. Move it to an area of the screen
where it does not cover data you need to see. After moving it, R:BASE
remembers the new location. The next time the message box is
displayed, it appears in the new location.
Question: I tried to open another R:BASE 5.0 session and got a
message about "Cannot run multiple instances of a DLL under WIN32S,"
and then a message about an "abnormal termination." I had plenty of
available memory and could start other Windows applications.
Answer: You can only open one session of R:BASE 5.0 at a time. The
messages are standard Windows messages coming from WIN32S, the
program that allows Windows 3.1 to run 32-bit programs such as R:BASE
5.0.
Question: Can I change the font in the R> prompt window like I can in
the Data Browser or for fields in forms and reports?
Answer: At the R> prompt you have a choice of three fonts: OEM
( the default font), system, or ANSI. All are non-proportional fonts
and display the data in a columnar format. To change the font, use
the SET FONT command, for example, SET FONT SYSTEM. The different
fonts display different character sets.
Question: I took a snapshot of the screen but was never prompted for
a file name. What happened to my screen shot?
Answer: The screen shot was copied to the clipboard. Open the
clipboard and save the file to a filename. Alternatively, you can
copy to the clipboard using the [print screen] or [Alt][print screen]
keys. A snapshot creates a graphical image in the clipboard.
Question: I used to be able to copy commands from the R> prompt to
RBEdit using a screen snapshot. Now my snapshots are always graphical
images and not ASCII files. How can I copy commands from the R>
prompt to an ASCII file?
Answer: You can use keyboard keys to cut and paste from the R> prompt
to RBEdit. Once the text is in RBEdit, save it to the appropriate
filename. To copy a command line, place the cursor on the line or at
the end of the command. Press [Ctrl][Ins] to copy the command. In
RBEdit, choose Edit: Paste or press [Shift][Ins] to place the command
as text.
Question: I saved a file in RBEdit and it wrote over my original
file. It didn't prompt me for a new file name like it used to in
4.5++.
Answer: In a Windows application, Save File from the File menu does
an incremental save and saves to the file you are currently editing.
To save to a different file name, choose Save File As from the File
menu. You will not be prompted to overwrite a file.
Reports and Printing Questions
Question: I made a new report, and now I can't figure out how to save
the report and exit the Report Designer. I choose Exit from the File
menu and it exits me from R:BASE 5.0.
Answer: The Report Designer is an MDI child window within R:BASE 5.0.
To save a report, choose Save Report from the File menu. To leave the
Report Designer, double click on the system menu for the Report
Designer window. You will be prompted to save or discard report
changes when you close the window.
Question: I defined breakpoints in a new report, and need to reset
variables, but I don't want to reset all the variables. I see all
the report variables listed. How do I delete the variables I don't
want reset from the box?
Answer: You select the variables you want to reset. All defined
report variables are listed for each breakpoint and for the page.
Highlight the variables to reset at a particular breakpoint. Until
a variable is highlighted, it won't be reset.
Question: When I right click on a field in the Reports Designer, I
see the Field Settings option on the menu, but it is grayed out. I
can't figure out how to make the Field Settings option active.
Answer: The Form, Report, and Label Designers share many common
elements. The right click menu is one of them. The Field Settings
option is only applicable to forms; it is not used in reports or
labels. Alternatively, the Null Format option is grayed out in forms;
it is only used in reports and labels.
Question: When printing a report to the screen, I try to close the
report by double clicking on the system menu. Nothing happens.
Answer: You must press [Enter] to see another page of the report, or
press [Esc] to exit.
Question: I can't preview my report from the Print dialog box. The
Preview button is grayed out. What do I need to do to make it
available?
Answer: In this release, the Print Preview button is only active for
printing from RBEdit. You cannot preview reports or labels.
Question: I am printing an old report and it is printing in portrait
mode instead of landscape. I even tried using Print Setup to change
the orientation but nothing worked.
Answer: Reports created in prior versions of R:BASE are printed like
they were in the earlier version with respect to orientation and
other printer control codes such as compressed, underline, and bold.
To have R:BASE recognize printer control codes in the report, you
must have the correct .PRD file available from the previous version
of R:BASE as well as use the SET PRINTER command to make the .PRD
file active.
Question: My reports aren't printing. I see a message confirming that
pages are being printed, but I don't get any error messages or a
report.
Answer: R:BASE 5.0 prints new reports through the Windows Print
Manager. Press [Ctrl][Esc] to bring up the Windows Task List. Your
print job may be queued in the Print Manager. Once the print job is
sent to the Windows Print Manager, R:BASE no longer has control over
it.
Setting Colors
Question: Why don't I have access to the full Windows color palette
in the R> prompt window?
Answer: The R> prompt windows foreground and background colors are
identified by color names. The Windows colors are identified by
numbers. For compatibility with existing programs, R:BASE 5.0 needed
to support colors by name. The same is true for setting form and
report colors. You will be able to use the full Windows color palette
to set colors in the ODBC version of R:BASE 5.0 to be released later
this year.
Question: On my computer, the highlight on pop-up menus is dark blue,
the same color as the R> prompt window. On my co-worker's computer,
the highlight is cyan. How can I change the highlight color to cyan
to make it is easier to read the highlighted items?
Answer: R:BASE only controls the foreground and background colors for
the R> prompt window, and for fields in forms, reports and labels.
All other colors, such as menu highlights, are defined by Windows.
You define these colors in the Windows Control Panel.
Data Browser and QBE Questions
Question: The LINEEND setting isn't working right. In the Data
Browser, I enter [Alt][254] to place a LINEEND character in my data
and an underscore character appears. My data that already has LINEEND
characters in it is displaying the character as "_" instead of " ".
Answer: In Windows, when entering ASCII characters over 127 using the
[Alt] key, you must preface the number with a 0. For example, instead
of [Alt][254], you press [Alt][0254]. The character that is displayed
depends on the font being used. The default font for the Data Browser
is the System font. In this font, the LINEEND character, [Alt][0254],
is a "_". To see which character is displayed for a different font,
double-click on the Character Map icon in the "Accessories" program
group.
Question: I pressed the [F10] key to insert a new row in the Data
Browser and the cursor moved up to the main menu. Do I need to use
the menus to insert a row?
Answer: [F10] is a Windows hot key to move to the menu bar. The hot
key for inserting a row is now [F2]. To see the hot keys for the area
you are in, press [Shift][F1], then click the Hot Keys button.
Question: I pressed the [F2] key to insert a new row in The Data
Browser and nothing happened. Isn't [F2] the new hot key for
inserting a row?
Answer: You are probably in browse mode, not edit mode. The window
title displays either "Data Browser" or "Data Editor". Choose Edit
data from the Edit menu, or press [F4] to switch to edit mode.
Question: I want to build a query in QBE, but I don't want to select
all the columns from my table. I can't figure out how to select
columns and I don't see a menu option for selecting columns.
Answer: Place the cursor on the box with the table name and press the
right mouse button. A pop-up menu appears with a number of choices
including Select Column(s). You can also press the right mouse button
in the Form, Report, Label, and Application Designers to open a
pop-up menu with more options.