Databank

ZX Computing

CONTROLLING YOUR CASH A useful selection of business aids for the home and office, including a personal banking system and programs for VAT and book-keeping. DATABANK ZX81 Sanderson Software has released an information storage, sorting and retrieval program for the 16K ZX81, called Databank. The package includes a good ferro C60 cassette tape with the three versions of the Databank program on one side, and a short example containing a record library on the other side, plus a 21 page (size A5) operating manual. Whilst a 21 page manual may seem daunting, in fact a considerable portion of the manual is taken up with explaining the concept of putting office routines on to a computer, a detailed "workthrough" of the 'MUSIC' taped program, and several more examples given in some detail. Each Databank program is in two parts: the main operating program, which is common to all three versions; and the setting up program with which the user sets up his own layout. With Databank(S), (S for Standard), the setting-up is done "on the screen" using only 3 keys to "DRAW" the required layout. As this takes up about 10% of the memory, versions (V), (for Vocabulary) and (B), (for BASIC) use another method, still easy to follow, which does not take up this memory space. The layout has the following limits for each data entry: 1 to 3 screen lines; 1 to 9 parts/fields; 1 character per part/field up to a maximum of 29. The program with the smallest data capacity is program (S) at 9000 BYTES, and as the number of entries is automatically related to the size of ENTRY, this is equivalent to over 100 entries with the maximum entry size of 3 lines with one part per line, to 999 with very small entries. The main operating program has the following major facilities (MENU displayed on the screen): Add entries, each part separately - checked for length, and right or left justified according to letters or numbers, and displayed immediately after pressing NEWLINE. CORRECT the last ENTRY - provided no other function has been operated after ADD. FIND, or SEARCH - on any selected part/field by inputting search information. SORT, - into ascending order of numbers and letters, (numbers first), on any selected part/field. SAVE, - saves the program plus OATA. Databank costs £5.00, and is available mail order only from Sanderson Software, [redacted].