This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support
staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as
questions.
Note: In these answers we will follow a few shorthand conventions for
describing user-interface procedures. Key combinations will be presented like this: Ctrl+Alt+Delete,
which means that you should press and hold down the Control key, the Alt key, and the
Delete key at the same time. Menu selections will be presented like this: File->Open,
which means that you should open the File menu, and then make the Open selection.
- How do I ... ?
- Where can I find ... ?
- Why doesn't ... ?
- Why do my ... ?
- What is ... ?
1. Make Back-ups of PROSLIDE II.
It is recommended that you back-up your database
files, report files and format files frequently. By far the largest investment you will
make in a data base is the time spent at the keyboard entering information. Hard disks are
becoming more durable and reliable, however, they are mechanical devices and are subject
to friction and wear. Protect your investment by frequent backups onto disks, zip drives
etc. Please find specific directions on our What's New
page under Tech Note #1.
2. Make a quick print-out of the
whole database not a report.
You can make a quick print-out of the whole database easily from
Microsoft Excel. Since Excel reads dbase files (.dbf) directly you don't have to
import it. From Excel go FILE>OPEN, in the Open dialog box, change the file type (on the bottom) to dbase files,
then browse for your database file name under the directory pro2win\user_db\, click on
your database, hit OK and Presto your database is now in Excel. Just hit print.
1. Information on DATE Compatibility.
Right here! The date field in PROSLIDE II's (Windows version) database uses the
format given to it by your Windows operating system. You can change the default
format from a two digit year to a four digit year by clicking on your Regional Settings
icon under your Control Panel, then click on Date. Your dates in the PROSLIDE II
database will then immediately reflect the new format. 02/02/2001 rather than
02/02/01.
2. What version of PROSLIDE II for Windows do I have.
From the Main Menu go to HELP>ABOUT.
Look at the white text placed in the black region at the top. It should say ProSlide
II for Windows, Version ****.
1. PROSLIDE II for Windows support pin-fed labels.
Our Windows version 5.0 and above does not support pin-fed (tractor) labels. Most
users at this time have newer Windows printers and we don't have enough requests to
justify supporting the older tractor printers.
1. Screens or screen fonts look too
large or too small. Why does the text
sometimes not fit on the buttons.
Proslide II for Windows looks the best running at a resolution of 1024 x 768 using
LARGE fonts. Please refer to the Readme notes, #5 titled Screen Resolution/Colors
within the PROSLIDE II for Windows HELP.
1. The file type PROSLIDE II for Windows uses for its Databases.
Proslide II's databases are in a .dbf (a standard database file type) file. Any
program that can read .dbf files can read Proslide II's files directly. You can for
instance, look at PROSLIDE's databases in Microsoft Access. Even better, you can
take a database from Microsoft Access and directly read it from within PROSLIDE II.
2. The best printers for PROSLIDE II for Windows.
Inkjets, DeskJet's, Laser and all Window Printers work great with PROSLIDE II.
The Labels we offer called Sheet-fed or Laser work with all of these printer types.
3. The best field type to use for my ID number when designing my
Database.
If your ID number will include letters and numbers or any other characters such as
dashes use a CHARACTER field type. Character field types sort just as well only if
you have the same number of digits on both sides of the decimal place. i.e. 100.001 -
999.999 will sort correctly. However, 1, 2, 3, 4, 21, 23, would sort as follows: 1,
2, 21, 23, 3, 4. This is an appropriate ASCII sort for character types. You can
avoid this problem by making sure you have the same number of characters for all numbers
i.e. 01, 02, 03, 04, 21, 23. If you have numbers into the 1000's you would need to
add 0001, 0002, 3000, 3001. The good thing about using the CHARACTER field type is
that it won't drop the zero after a decimal point. For instance if you had the ID
number 100.010 it would appear as 100.01 when using a NUMBER type. As a CHARACTER
type it would appear properly as 100.010. However, when using a NUMBER field type,
your database will always sort numerically correct regardless of the number of digits.
