                                    
                                    
                                    
                                    
                                    
                                    
              MCBase: the Music Collection dataBase system.
                                    
                                    
                                    
                            Revision history











          Author:

          Harry Doldersum
          Weerselose straat 26
          7623 DA BORNE
          The Netherlands, Europe.

          Phone:    +31 (0) 74 266 8480
          Fax:      See phone. Standby on request.
          Host:          See phone. Standby on request.


          Electronic mail addresses:

          CompuServe:    100270,2132
          InterNet: 100270.2132@compuserve.com





MCBase revision history list:

Feb. 15th, '97 Updated version 2.3e to 2.4: a new release.

               Following changes and improvements have been made:

               - 1) The behavior of the Find dialog has been extended with
                    a "preset" function, to (when one or more data dialogs
                    are already present on the desktop) display that
                    record from a database, that was either most recently
                    focussed or most lightly to be needed. (This is de
                    pending on the instance that invoked the Find dialog).
                    This provides a timesaver when, for example, a user
                    wishes to reselect the same record again, in both
                    editing and browsing.

                    When using the Find dialog with the "Browse" options,
                    all browsing is now based on alphabetical order. (For
                    reasons, that have now escaped me, I had used a non-
                    alphabetical approach in previous versions). 
                    Also, the Find dialog's preset option is used during
                    browsing, to automatically find the first valid match
                    for a selected item.

               - 2) An additional button, called "Album edit mode", has
                    been added to the "Browse an album" dialog, that
                    enables a direct connection between this dialog and
                    the "Edit/add an album" dialog. This allows you to
                    switch freely between browse and editing functions on
                    album record level, while carrying the currently
                    browsed album with you to it's edit dialog. Together
                    with the already existing "browse/edit" functional
                    switch on song record level, editing your collection
                    is now more flexible and productive than ever.

               - 3) Normally, MCBase checked the FILES=xx statement in
                    your config.sys during initialisation to verify that
                    the setting is sufficient to open all databases,
                    indexes and other user files. Recently, a user re
                    ported that this wasn't enough for his specific con
                    figuration: it still could occur that MCBase would
                    crash on a runtime error # 4: "Too many open files".
                    Therefor, an errorhandler routine has been added, to
                    respond to these cases. MCBase still won't be able to
                    run without a proper FILES=xx setting, mind you: this
                    routine merely takes care of a  more graceful shut
                    down.

                    Also, this initialisation check on the FILES=xx set
                    ting in your CONFIG.SYS file could cause problems on
                    systems using MS-DOS's multi config option: only the
                    first appearance of FILES=xx would be read by MCBase's
                    routine. Since adding the errorhandler made this check
                    obsolete anyway, the check has been removed from the
                    MCBase executable. (It is still being used in the
                    installation utility, however).

               - 4) Minor changes to the utilities GenMCB and MCBCnvrt,
                    mostly related to the above.

               - 5) Last modification to be mentioned, is the change of
                    the ascii text file extensions. Up until now, all
                    files related to MCBase documentation have had an
                    extension of ".MCB" in order to express that relation
                    to the user. Since this can disturb the process of
                    opening these files with utilities like Windows'
                    Notepad and such, all ascii text files now have the
                    extension ".TXT" instead.

                    Please note that the WordPerfect versions of these
                    files now carry the ".DOC" extension.

               Apart from the above modifications, a new order taking
               service has been added, who's also capable of accepting
               ONLINE orders through their (!secure!) Internet website
               pages. You can find all the relevant information in the file
               ORDER.TXT. In case you would like to go to their page now,
               here's the URL:

                    http://www.shareit.com/programs/100256.htm

               
Dec. 20th, '96 Updated version 2.3d to 2.3e: a maintenance release.

               Minor change: a dialog box has been added, to draw the users
               attention to the ORDER.MCB file, where the pricing and order
               info can be found. Also, some minor modifications were made
               on the documentation and support files.

Sep. 14th, '96 Updated version 2.3c to 2.3d: a maintenance release.

               Major changes to the ordering information: a new (lower)
               registration price (US$30) and a new distributor for the
               United States (who is able to deliver from stock) have been
               added: Pik A Program Inc. in New York, NY. As a result of
               this, the registration and order information has now been
               removed from the manual file and has been relocated to the
               file ORDER.MCB (a copy of this file, in WordPerfect version
               5 format, has been added to the MCB_WP5.LZH archive (see
               below) for your convenience). Also a small modification to
               the disclaimer and a minor program modification have been
               made. 

May 7th, '96   Updated version 2.3b to 2.3c: a maintenance release.

               Minor modifications to the license agreement.

Mar. 23rd, '96 Updated version 2.3a to 2.3b: a maintenance release.

               Improved picklist functionality: under (very) rare
               circumstances, it could occur that a picklist opened without
               showing it's data.

               Also added a new registration agent: Kelly Data GmbH in
               Germany. (See our orderform for full details).

Mar. 5th, '96  Updated version 2.3 to 2.3a: a maintenance release.

               MCBase's manual and revision document, which has always been
               included as a disk file, are now available in two file
               formats: in plain ASCII text format and in WordPerfect
               version 5 format. As always, the ASCII version is installed
               in the MCBase directory, while the WP version of these files
               are stored on the MCBase Master Disk, in the archive file
               MCB_WP5.LZH. (You may use included LHA archiver utility to
               extract the documents from the archive).

               Also made some minor extensions to the registration key
               system.

Feb. 14th, '96 Updated version 2.2 to 2.3: a new release.

               Improved the background functionality with which the memo
               editor dialog is closed: under circumstances, it could occur
               that not all record selection commands were re-instated when
               closing the memo-editor in an unexpected manner.

               Improved browse dialog functionality: when editing records,
               picked from the browse dialog, it might occur that the user
               deletes an entry. Since the browse dialog resides on the
               desktop during these edit functions, it will still contain
               that record (therefor: still available for selection). If
               this record is re-selected, you will now be given a message
               concerning the records "deleted"-status.

               When (re-)invoking a browse dialog it will contain the valid
               records only. (Undeleting a record is, of course, *always*
               possible with the main edit dialogs (until the record is
               physically removed by the "pack"-function)

               In the protected mode version, memory usage for one of the
               browse dialogs has been modified: now the picklist dialog
               for "browse for songs by title" also uses virtual memory,
               like all "edit & add..." picklist dialogs. (The other browse
               dialogs still use ram memory only, since it is faster).
               Motivation was, that (while browsing a large database set)
               one could run out of memory on systems with only 2Mb EMS/XMS
               memory.

               Modified the behavior of the "Device access error": it is no
               longer a fatal error. 

Nov. 23rd, '95 Updated version 2.1 to 2.2: a new release.

               The "Browse for ..." picklists in the Protected Mode version
               (MCB_X86P.EXE on your MCBase Master Disk) are now controlled
               and loaded by index, instead of filtering the entire data
               base set for the matching data. On larger databases, this
               results in a tremendous improvement on data access time.
               Due to memory shortage, this approach cannot be implemented
               in the MCB_XT and MCB_AT executables.
               
               Note:     MCB_XT is a version for (fast) XT-systems, MCB_AT is a
                         version for AT-systems with less than 2Mb RAM memory
                         on board).

               Also solved a problem with the picklists eventhandler, that
               appeared to be unable to handle some special keys while
               focusing on the picklist contents.

Nov. 6t, '95   Updated version 2.0a to 2.1: a new release.

               Due to modifications in the default behavior of the dBase
               access routine library (HALCYON, by Griffin Solutions), the
               FIND dialog would no longer position itself at the nearest
               match, when an exact match could not be found, but
               positioned itself at the end of file instead.
               The FIND dialog is now restored to it's documented behavior:
               to position itself at the NEAREST MATCH, when an exact match
               is not found.

               Apart from the above, the default file search mask for the
               editor object has been changed from "*.*" to "*.TXT".

               Also an additional button has been added to the Browse
               dialog, called "Song edit mode", that enables a direct
               connection between the "Browse a song" dialog and the
               "Edit/add a song" dialog. This allows you to switch freely
               between browse and editing functions on song record level,
               while carrying the currently browsed song with you to it's
               edit dialog. This is very helpful, while editing songs that
               are related to each other in some way: once they are
               collected in a browse option's picklist, editing is just a
               mouseclick away.

               Unfortunately, the layout of the configuration file
               MCBASE.CFG needed to be changed, in order to further
               accomodate the ability to store desktop objects in the
               configuration file. The user will therefor need to create a
               new configuration file.

               Then there also were some minor modifications.


Oct. 10th, '95 Updated version 2.0 to 2.0a: a maintenance release.

               Minor modifications to the PACK routines, the picklist
               dialogs and the documentation.

               Added hotkeys to the memo selection dialogs, used by the
               various "Browse..." options.

               Added a routine to check (the first appearance of an) 
               "FILES=xx" setting in CONFIG.SYS. If the setting is found to
               be to low, you will be notified about this, after which
               MCBase terminates operation. (If MCBase is UNABLE to locate
               your CONFIG.SYS file, you will receive a warning message
               about this, after which MCBase will continue operation).


Aug. 17th, '95 MAJOR NEW RELEASE.

               Release of the new MCBase V2.0: a fully event driven, mouse
               controlled, object oriented, dBaseIII+ compatible,
               relational-to-the-max, windowing database management system,
               with handy dialogs, to set your personal configuration
               preferences. The only REAL database system for the music
                              collector.July 10th, '95 Updated version 1.1f to 1.1g: a maintenance release.

               Modifications to registration key recognition routine.
               Registration was recognized, but the databases evaluation
               limits weren't correctly unlocked.


Mar. 22nd, '95 Updated version 1.1e to 1.1f: a maintenance release.

               Documentation updates (and program changes, see below). 

               Added a new VendInfo record, according to the latest
               standard, in order to comply with the new set-up for the ASP
               CD-rom distribution.

               Added a (file based) registration key system to MCBase. This
               will enable a registered user, with a valid registration
               key, to turn any V1.x shareware copy into a personally
               registered version: MBase will look for the excistence of
               the registration key file and will present itself as a
               registered version *if* the registration key is found to be
               valid. (If not, it will continue to behave as a shareware
               copy).

               Also added a small (set of) sample database(s), so that the
               user will be able to "play around" with the system, without
               having to enter data first.


May 25th, '94  Updated version 1.1d to 1.1e: a maintenance release.

               Documentation updates (and program changes, see below). 

               Added a VendInfo record to the documentation and modified
               the distribution-policy to be more "friendly".

               Also added a possibility to accept credit card orders, using
               PsL's order processing services. 

               Finally, I removed the encryption on MCBase's executable
               code. As it seems, some computers COULD have had trouble
               running MCBase because of this encryption.


Mar. 22nd, '94 Updated version 1.1c to 1.1d: a maintenance release.

               Documentation updates (and small program changes) in order
               to comply with ASP requirements.


Mar. 14th, '94 Updated version 1.1b to 1.1c: a maintenance release.

               Corrected a SERIOUS error in the documentation, discribing
               the locationcode. 

               For tapes, the first 5 (!) digits of the (12 digit)
               locationcode are reserved for the actual tape number,
               instead of the discribed 2 digits. (The screen report for
               tapes is scanning for the first 5 digits, to find the first
               and last entry belonging to a certain tape). See the updated
               section 8 in the documentation for further information.

               Also elimitated a possible GP-error in the protected mode
               version.


Mar. 5th, '94  Updated version 1.1a to 1.1b: a maintenance release.

               Modified all "Add" functions, to stay active until the user
               decides that he/she is done. (Artist and Album "Add"
               fuctions were left after adding 1 entry. This was based on
               the idea that one would process the data one album at a
               time). 

               Eliminated the possible occurance of an "error 100: Record
               out of range" while printing the reports. (It could occur
               under certain circumstances).

               Eliminated a possible counting error in the "Artist
               overview"-report. 

               Also made some minor modifications.


Jan. 7th, '94  Updated version 1.1 to 1.1a: a maintenance release.

               As mentioned in the documentation of the previous versions
               (in section "Future plans"), the processing speed of printer
               option "Songs by artist" needed to be increased.
               In this update, this processing speed has been successfully
               increased to a normal level.

               I've also included a function to cancel any running printjob
               by pressing the ESCape-key.


Nov. 24th '93  Updated version 1.0c to 1.1, a major new release.

               Eliminated the need for a pre-selection on databases with
               more than 1000 entry's. (Credit for this goes to Griffin
               Solutions, who managed to realize virtual memory usage in
               their GS_dBase routine library: Thanks, Richard!).

               The "Allfield Editor" is added to the application as a
               standard item and also added is an separate "Append" option,
               so a user does not need to go through the "Edit"-selection
               list if he or she simply wants to "Append".

               The menu structure has been a bit modified to accomodate the
               above mentioned additions.

               Also, the bank adress has been altered to the adress of the
               Rabobank's headoffice in Utrecht.

               Last, but not least, a new pricing schedule is introduced,
               to enable a low-budget registration on the project. This is
               done by the introduction of two diffent types of users: a
               BASIC and a DEDICATED user, of wich the latter has a very
               interesting discount on future updates. See the ORDER.MCB
               document for further information on registration options and
               prices.


Oct. 5th, '93  Updated version 1.0b to 1.0c, a maintenance release.

               Eliminated two errors that occured in the album selection
               list for option #7, "View albums by artists". 

               1) When returning from the reportscreen after viewing an
               album (WITH the additional artistname display activated),
               the program would generate a NEW album selection list for
               the artistname that appeared on the bottom of the report
               screen, instead of using the original artistname that was
               selected by the user.

               2) While walking through the albums of the different
               artists, a heap error (#203) could occur. The memory of the
               album selection list wasn't properly released.

               Also eliminated an error in option #4, "Query on artist".
               A messagebox, to allow albumtitle display with each song
               title, sometimes appeared without a valid reason.

               Last, but not least, I added the following text to the
               ORDER.ME document, in order to prevent further questions on
               the subject:

               REGISTRED MCBASE USERS can receive MAINTENANCE UPDATES for
               shipping costs only. (NOTE: CompuServe users can receive
               their maintenance update through CompuServe mail, minimizing
               the need for shipping costs, thus FOR FREE!).
               (Same goes for users who can download it from my private
               host system, wich is standby on request).


Aug. 19th, '93 Updated version 1.0a to 1.0b, a maintenance release.

               Eliminated an error that could cause the system to be caught
               in an endless loop, if the last record in a database file
               was a "deleted" record.
               Also improved some text in a messagebox, displayed while the
               function "deleted" was processing the album database.


June 22nd, '93 Updated version 1.0 to 1.0a, a maintenance release.

               Some reportscreens had a bit of trouble with uncleared
               screens. The data from the previous information on the
               screen was sometimes not fully erased, which garbled the new
               information.


June 19th, '93 First release, version 1.0, of the MCBase database system.
