dataent

NAME

dataent - interactively enter data into an rdbtable.

SYNTAX

dataent [options] rdbtable

or:

dataent [options] -init template

OPTIONS

Options may be abbreviated.

-help
Print this help info.

-init
Initiate a new rdbtable.

-nbr
Do NOT remove leading and trailing blank space from data values.

-prev
Use data values from previous row as defaults for current row.

.

DESCRIPTION

This utility provides an interactive capability for entering data into an rdbtable. The user is prompted by column name for data values. In the first case of usage above, new rows of data are added at the end of an existing rdbtable. In the second case, a template file is used to generate a new rdbtable and add rows of data to it. At each column name prompt the user may enter data followed by a -nbr option. In order to replace an existing data value with a null value enter a backslash (\) and a <RET>.

At any column name prompt, if a single space character is entered, followed by a <RET>, control is transferred to the end of row action prompt. This is useful if not all data values need to be entered on all rows. If two space characters followed by a <RET> is entered control is transferred to the previous column name prompt. This is useful if an error was made entering data; it can be corrected immediately.

After all the column name prompts for a row have been responded to, the user is asked for the next action. The default is to save the current row of data to the rdbtable and go on to enter data for the next row. Other options available are to go back and check each value of the current row; to quit, saving or not saving the current row; to list the data values for the entire row; to delete the current row and start a new one; to jump back to a specified column name prompt for the current row and continue from there; or to produce a help listing. Also the setting of the -nbr and -prev options may be toggled on or off.

At any time an INTERRUPT signal (^C or DEL) may be entered to abort the program. In this case all rows of data except the current one will be saved.