INTEGRATING WORDSTAR, DBASE II AND SUPERCALC by Peter Yee People who use AppleWorks are probably aware of the advantages to combining a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database management program. A word processor, as the name implies processes words much more efficiently than a database management program or spreadsheet. A database management program is better than a word processor for indexing things into alphabetical order or for locating items that meet a certain criteria. For example phone numbers that begin with 684 or items that cost more than $20.00. When it comes down to "number crunching", nothing beats a spreadsheet. After working for several months with dBase II, WordStar and SuperCalc, it occurred to me that it might be useful to dump information from dBase II into WordStar, edit the information, format it, and than print it. Actually, the idea occurred to me out of frustration. I didn't quite understand dBase II well enough to format information the way that I wanted it and yet I knew that it would be a simple matter for WordStar to handle. Alternatively, WordStar can be used to write command files for dBase II, in the non-document mode. The advantage to this is that WordStar has a much more powerful editor than dBase II for moving words, deleting words and moving blocks of text. SuperCalc can "dump" information into dBase II for indexing into alphabetical order, or for locating certain information. The only exception to this movement of information between programs is this. SuperCalc will not accept information from dBase II or WordStar. You must enter the information through the program itself. SuperCalc2, I've read will accept information from WordStar and dBase II, although I haven't tried the program yet. The chart below shows which way information can be sent and the information below the chart explains how to dump information between the programs. The arrow heads indicate which way the information can be sent. You need to know a little about the programs to make use of this information. WordStar /\ / \ / \ /______\ dBase II SuperCalc dBase II TO WordStar These instructions will allow information created with dBase II to be put onto a file with extension .TXT which is then accessible by WordStar for further editing. dBase II REMARKS .USE filename1 This is your database file .SET ALTERNATE TO filename2 This is your file that gets .TXT added to it. ALTERNATE means, your disk drive, not printer. .SET ALTERNATE ON This activates the command. .LIST Or alternatively, you could say DISPLAY ALL, or LIST OFF, etc. .SET ALTERNATE TO This closes the file. NB!!!!!! .MODIFY COMMAND filename2.TXT This allows you to view the information. You can now access the file filename2.TXT with WordStar. An alternative way to do this follows. .USE filename1 This is your database file. .COPY TO filename2 SDF " This copies the database contents to filename2 as a standard data format file without delimiters and with .TXT as the extension. dBase II TO WordStar AND MAILMERGE Database information can be used with WordStar and Mailmerge if you do the following. dBase II REMARKS .USE filename1 This is your database with the information that you want used in WordStar and Mailmerge. .COPY TO filename2 DELIMITED WITH " This delimits each character field with quotes, so that Mailmerge can access the information. WordStar TO dBase II To create information to be accessed by dBase II, use the non- document mode. Information can be data, Command Files, etc. If WordStar is used to prepare a data file, in which fields are separated by commas, the data file should have a .TXT file extension. Be sure the fields are organized in the proper sequence and their widths are compatible with the field widths of the dBase II database file. Once the data file is created and saved, start up dBase II and do the following. dBase II REMARKS .CREATE This forms your database. Answer NO to the question, Input Data Now? .APPEND FROM filename.TXT DELIMITED This specifies that the data is delimited by commas. Alternatively, if the data is only separated by a space, and not a comma, replace the word DELIMITED with SDF (to let dBase II know that the appended file is not a database file, but a stan- dard format file). Watch the field widths in the SDF case when CREATE- ing the database, otherwise you may lose some information. If the non-document mode of WordStar is used to create a command file to be used by dBase II, the extension .CMD should be attached to the file name. SuperCalc TO WordStar To use WordStar to edit information created with SuperCalc, type the following. SuperCalc REMARKS /O This is the output command with SuperCalc. D This means Display. ALL Type this when asked for the range. D This specifies disk drive. filename.TXT Type in the extension .TXT, so that the information is in SDF (standard data format) for access by Wordstar or dBase II. SuperCalc TO dBase II To access Supercalc information with dBase II, eliminate all borders, headings, etc. Do the same as for SuperCalc to WordStar, and then the following. dBase II REMARKS .CREATE This forms the database structure to accept the SuperCalc informa- tion. Be sure that the field lengths correspond to the field lengths found in the SuperCalc file. Otherwise, you may lose some information. .APPEND FROM filename.TXT SDF The 'filename.TXT' is the name you used for the file in Super- Calc.