User`s guide

the (Menu) Eile Merge command
and try to bring the broken file into
the
new one. This simple technique
may not work every time, but it's a
good thing to try.
Sort and Copy
The "Record Not Found" message
usually
means that there's a glitch
in the index of the database.
Sometimes you can cure this by
using the (Menu) View Sort com-
mand that's available in every
database application except the
Appointment Book. If the database
file contains subsets, activate each
subset and perform the (Menu)
View Sort command. When you've
finished sorting all the subsets, use
the (Menu) Eile .copy ... command
to save the file under a new name.
Quit and restart the application,
and try re-Ioading the new data-
base file. If you can load it without
any error messages, you've lucked
out!
If your Appointment Book file
is corrupt,
you won't be able to use
the "sort-and-save" remedy, since
the Appointment Book doesn't
have a sort operation. Instead,
here's a remedy suggested by: Bill
Ferreira (CompuServe:
76520,3702).
Bill writes: "Create a new
Appointment Book (say XX.ADB)
and merge your bad Appointment
Book file into the empty one. Find
long repeating entries and delete
them one at a time, saving and
reopening the new XX version of
your appointment book."
Hopefully this suggestion
wi,ll
put the Appointment Book file
back in working order. If it does
not, and your Appointment Book
file is less than 30K bytes, you
might be able to use the ABD-
DUMP . utility program. ABD-
DUMP will take your broken file
and attempt to create a humanly
readable text file. If it can do this,
then the companion program ABD-
LOAD . will let you rebuild your
Appointment Book file. Both ABD-
DUMP and ABDLOAD can be
found in the archive file called
ABDIO either in the HPHAND
forum on CompuServe, or on The
HP Palmtop Paper's 97 CD InfoBase.
Cannot Open File
The "Cannot Open File" error mes-
sage will
appear if you've inadver-
tently
moved your database file to
another drive or directory or
swapped one PC card for another
one. In this case the message means
that the program Cannot Find the
File. Use the Eile Open command
to get to the dialog box and use the
drive and directory pick-lists to
locate and open the file. However,
if you still get the error message
"Cannot Open File" then you've
encountered a worst case scenario.
Your file is so corrupted that the
database application doesn't recog-
nize it. Again:
don't panic. There
are still a
couple of remedies that
will let you recover some or all of
the information
in your file.
A touch of garlic
GARLIC . is a utility program that
tries to reconstruct any damaged
database file on the palmtop. It
works by scanning a corrupt data-
base for
anything it can recognize
as a
valid record. It then outputs
this, along with reconstructed
tables and links, to a new file for
you to examine and edit. GARLIC
is one of the last things
you should
tryon a broken database file. If it
works, consider yourself fortunate.
The instructions that come with
GARLIC give several options you
can try with this utility program.
GARLIC.ZIP is available in the
HPHAND forum of CompuServe
and The HP Palmtop Paper's 97 CD
InfoBase.
If all else fails ... call on a PAL
If all the above fails, there's one last
technique to try. Get a copy of
PalEdit • , a fine text editor for the
HP palmtop. PalEd it will let you
ELECTRIC COMPANY
Specialty Products Division
HP Distributor for 20 Years
Fli:n- HEWLETT
a:~ PACKARD
HP PALMTOPS
AND
OTHER HP PRODUCTS
& ACCESSORIES •••
• Competitive Pricing
•
Excellent Service
• Reasonable Shipping, No Handling Charges
CALL · 1-800-558-6970
• Ask for Specialty Products Division·
TAYLOR ELECTRIC COMPANY
1000 W Donges Bay Rd., Mequon, WI 53092 ·414-241-4321 • Fax [phone]
THE HP PALMTOP PAPER SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 1997 13