@2 Review of 'Flexer - The Flexible Database' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @3 Reviewed by Andrew Smith ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @4 What is a database exactly? Well, it's like a computerised version of a filing cabinet. It allows you to store anything you like and searching for a particular name for example is a lot quicker and simpler than searching through a big rusty filing-cabinet. Can a database benefit me? It depends what you do. If you run a PD library then you will definitely benefit. You could store your entire catalogue of disks, each one with their unique code. When a customer phones up requesting a specific disk you can simply enter the search criteria onto the database, and give him the information he wants to know, quickly. It gives the customer the impression that your PD library is professional. Just imagine manually searching through a paper-based catalogue of disks while the customer is waiting on the other end of the phone. The chances are is that he will get very fed up of waiting for what he wants to know, and will hang up. This won't convey professionalism to your customers. @4 What we have here then AMOS fans is a database. Shock! Horror! A swift double-click on the program's icon loads the program. Wow! It runs under Workbench. Click on the title bar and drag, amazing, there's the Workbench screen. This program really does run under Workbench, quite an amazing feat considering that AMOS doesn't offer Workbench support. Unfortunately though, the requesters are completely non-standard but who cares? I do, and I'm sure other people will do as well. We all know the Amiga has the best operating system around. The reason I say this is because the pull-down menus don't offer keyboard shortcuts, unlike Workbench which does. Some of you might think I'm being picky, but using the mouse to select menu items does get tiresome after so many menu selections. Keyboard shortcuts increase speed and therefore productivity. Enough said. The editing facilities are pretty good. There's the standard Cut, Copy and Paste facilities (which don't have keyboard shortcuts either). To highlight a section of text, just click and drag then it is a simple matter to do what you want with it. When you have typed some data into a field, pressing the TAB key takes you onto the next field. Although this seems a little unusual at first, you will soon get used to it. If you press RETURN, then you are taken onto the next record. While you are editing your data, you can view the records as a list, or as a @4 card index and you can edit in these different formats too, although the list option gets a little slow when there are a lot of records. No fault of the programmer I hasten to add, but of Commodore for not building fast enough machines. The search facility is very good, allowing to build up quite complex search criteria, and it is extremely fast. There is also the ability to sort your data, more on that later though. It is obvious from the first time that you use this program, that it is meant to be easy to use, and it is; but with the simplicity of the program, power is sacrificed. To begin with you can only work on one file. Powerful databases that allow the user to link several files are called 'Relational Databases' and this program doesn't offer this feature. This sort of database is known as a 'flat-file' database. This is not really a disadvantage though, as not many users would require this power. Most users only require a quick database that can search and sort their information, and Flexer is well up to the job. There must be a downside to this program right? Well, not really a downside, but really a strange way of working. To sort a field, you should firstly go into list mode. You do this by selecting 'Show As List' from the Records menu. Then you click @4 and drag the field you are interested in to the far left of the screen. The other fields are then moved across to make space for the field you just moved. Next you choose 'Sort In Order' from the Records menu. Then the records are sorted, using the Quicksort algorithm which is very fast. Wouldn't it have been easier if a dialogue box appeared with two gadgets reading 'Forward' and 'Reverse' requesting you to pick a field to be sorted by? At present sorting forwards and in reverse are two completely different processes. Very strange. Summing up, Flexer is a useful program to have, it's fast, user-friendly and simple, but lacking for power-users. Also, some of its functions feature a very strange way of working, and there are no keyboard shortcuts. Anyway, if you need to store large amounts of data, search for any record and sort by any field then Flexer is definitely recommended. @2 FLEXER - IN SUMMARY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @3 DOCUMENTATION : 7/10 @4 AmigaGuide documentation is included but the file kept crashing my version of AmigaGuide for some reason. A text file is included and includes a simple tutorial. @3 USER INTERFACE : 9/10 @4 Works under Workbench! Most of the requesters are easy to use. @3 EASE OF USE : 8/10 @4 What could be simpler! @3 SPEED : 9/10 @4 Faster than a speeding bullet. @3 RELIABILITY : 10/10 @4 Superb! Flexer never crashed and was found to be very reliable. @3 FLEXIBILITY : 6/10 @4 Not many functions for the power user and only one file can be worked on at a time but then this program is meant to be simple. @3 VALUE FOR MONEY : 10/10 @4 It's freeware! @3 OVERALL : 8/10 @5 If in need of a database, you know where to look.