Re: Using XyWrite as an address book

[Carl Distefano cld@xxxxxxxx]

Reply to note from Bill Troop  Thu, 10 May 2012
12:12:00 +0100

Bill:

> I have been using a plain text file in XyWrite as my preferred
> address book for some time, because it is quicker to search
> than any known alternative. My problem is that it is
> unstructured, and therefore unsortable.
> ...
> Does anyone have any suggestion for structuring the data so
> that I could at least sort by last name? ...

I suppose you could come up with some sort of structure for a text
file, but it would be a bear to maintain and hard to read -- the
kind of thing one uses a text file to avoid. If sorting on fields is
what you're after, then I think you have no choice but to go over to
a relational database.

My address book has been a XyWrite file from Day One. The entries
are separated from each other by an embedded LeaDering command
(). Usually I just SEarch the file, but I also have a U2 frame,
REFS, that will list all entries containing a specified string. I've
adapted it below to work with any separator (not just LeaDering);
plug the desired separator string into  where indicated.

The frame can do case-absolute searches (framename REFSA) and
accepts SEarch command switches (e.g. /W for whole-word searches),
and you can use wildcards in the search string. Here are some
examples ("[wO]" stands for the OR wildcard):

REFS 914-[wO](914) - List entries with area code 914
REFSA/W Smith - List all "Smith" entries (case-absolute)
REFS M.D.[wO]Dr. - List doctors
REFS ology[wO]ologist - List specialties/specialists

You get the idea. Hope this helps.

XPLeNCODE v2.0
b-gin [UNTITLED]
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]
-nd
XPLeNCODE

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx