Foot of Second Street, East Rockaway,NY CHAVER.1 Fax Queries

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1 a product of Circuits & Systems, Inc. Foot of Second Street, East Rockaway,NY CHAVER.1 Fax Queries The dictionary definition of the word query is as follows; Query : 1. <database> A user s (or agent s) request for information, generally as a formal request to a database or search engine. Queries are one of the most powerful aspects of Chaver-ware. With queries you can search for specific records from your database, then send them to a Quick Report for printing, to your word processor for a Mail Merge, or you may Export the data for use in other programs that accept standard ASCII format files. If the records you requested are members you can assign them all to a category. Furthermore, once a query has been created, it is automatically saved, and may be used again. There are only two steps involved in using queries. The first is designing the query. This is where we tell Chaver-ware what records we are looking for (Such as everyone with a birthday in December). When this is done Chaver-ware will create a table containing all the matching records. The Second step is to display the information we wish to see from these matches (Such as their telephone numbers). This step is only necessary when you wish to see a report or you wish to export this data to another program. In all other cases the second step can be skipped. In order to write successful queries, it is important to make a distinction between these two steps. A valuable guide to use, when working with queries, is a list of the available fields in Chaver-ware. This can be found in the online Help. To print it, go to the help menu in Chaver-ware. Click on Search For Help On When you see the help topics screen, type in Query:Fields (without the quotation marks), then hit Display. To print it, click on the Print button. Once you have this we can begin creating a new query. Step1: Designing the query By default Chaver-ware will display New Query. You can type over this and give it any name you like. The next time you wish to use this query, click on the magnifying glass. There you will see a list of all the available queries, including the one you just created. Click on the menu item Reports and select Queries Then click on the button Add Definition. This will bring up the following screen:

2 Each query line begins with a Clear button. If you make a mistake on any of the lines, you can use this button to clear it. There is also a Clear Query button. Pressing this will clear out all of the query fields. At the bottom of the screen are two lines. They are inside a box labeled Sort. These are used by Chaver-ware to determine how the resulting matches will be sorted (such as alphabetical order by last name). To try out a query just click on the tab labeled View Query Results. To see the query fields in action, let s take a look at some basic query examples. The simplest queries you can design with Chaver-ware will only take up one line. An example of such a query is the following: This query will pick up a list of records whose LastName is Smith. The first box is left intentionally blank. It is used, as we shall see further on, to combine more than one line of query data. The second box contains the field we are testing. If you have any trouble locating an item in the second box, you may find it easier to type the first letter of the item you are looking for. Keep doing this until the item appears in the box. There are many fields stored in Chaver-ware s database. For a complete listing of what is available, please refer to the Query Fields printout. The third box tells Chaver-ware what type of comparison we are doing, while the fourth box contains the data we would like to compare. If you click on the down arrow button on the third list box you will see a list of all the comparisons you can do. Here is a brief explanation of them: 2

3 = The standard equal sign. Used when you want to find something specific. < > This means greater than and less than. In other words not equal to. < Less than. Use this when looking for items less than a certain value. <= Less than or equal to. Same as above only includes items equal to the value that was typed in. > Greater than. Use this when looking for items greater than a certain value. >= Greater than or equal to. Same as above only includes items equal to the value that was typed in. Like This is used for a special comparison, called pattern matching. Its usage is explained in more detail below. The first six comparison symbols can be used with a variety of data. The last symbol is used to take advantage of a special ability of Chaver-ware called pattern matching. Pattern matching is useful when you are looking for data that matches a certain pattern. Here is an example of pattern matching: The preceding example finds all the records whose LastName begins with the letter A. The asterisk is called a wildcard and can be used in place of anything we are uncertain of. Pattern matching can be used like this: This results in a list of records whose Birthdate is in December of 1998, regardless of the day. So far most of our examples have consisted of only one line. Chaver-ware is capable of doing much more complex queries by combining more than one line. This is where the first box would come in. This box contains options to connect two lines together. The most important of these being AND, and OR. Here is our previous example modified to pick up yahrzeits between November 98 AND December 99: 3

4 You can combine seemingly separate queries into one query by using parentheses. Take a look at the following example: The items in parenthesis are evaluated first finding everyone who is in zip code or zip code We use or because there is no one in zip code and Chaver-ware then narrows down the results to the adults who are in the Torah Readers category. The final step in designing a query involves telling the computer what order you would like the results sorted in. You have two options ASC (Ascending order, such as A to Z) or DESC (Descending order, such as Z to A). To sort by LastName alphabetically you would choose the following: The second sort line allows you to specify a secondary sort order. The following example will sort first by zip code, then alphabetically by last name: To have Chaver-ware start the query, click on the tab labeled View Query Results. Chaver-ware will find a list of records that match, and build a table with the results. Common Errors As you experiment with queries, occasionally you may run into an error message, or even some unexpected results. Here are some common error messages, and some suggestions on correcting them: 4

5 This means the query could not find any records matching what you were looking for. Computers can be very literal, so if you receive this message, check for typos in your query. If you are using dates, take out any unnecessary zeroes. For instance January First 1998 should be written 1/1/98 not 01/01/98. If the query involves categories or names, make sure the spelling is precisely what was entered into the system, including case, punctuation, and spacing. For instance a category named Membership Dues is completely different from membership dues. Of course, sometimes, the message simply means there are no matching records. If you get the Illegal Query message, it means Chaver-ware does not understand the query you entered. You may get this if you attempt to mix unrelated items from the database. The following is an example of mismatched fields: The query is looking for members whose first name is John. However, it is attempting to sort them in alphabetical order by deceased s last name. Yahrzeit and member information are two different sets of data. There are occasions when you can mix data in a meaningful way. The printout contains a list of all the available databases in Chaver-ware. It also shows you a list of all the available fields. There is a logical connection between each of the databases. Here are some general rules to follow: If you are looking for member data (such as members observing yahrzeit, or members that belong to a certain category), you need to reference the 5

6 member database in your query. This can be done by including the line LastName Like * in your query. Accounting information is tied to the family, not to any individual member. To view the family it is attached to, add the line Family_FamilyID Like * to the query. Step2: Displaying information When the query has finished building a table, you will see a list of records with fields that match the search criteria. The information displayed is only a list of matching records. If you wish to see additional information for each record, such as telephone numbers for a Quick Report, or mailing labels for an export, continue with this step. If this is for a mail merge, or for assigning a group of people to a category, this step can be skipped. If on the other hand you would like to print a report using these records, or you would like to export data to another program, then you need to select the information you wish to see. To do this you use the panel on the right hand side: To display a field, click on the box to the left of it. This will put a checkmark in it, and display that column. To hide a field, click on the checkmark to the left of it. This will hide the column. Don t worry too much about the order you display the columns in, these can be rearranged easily. The fields available here are the same as the query design screen. Depending on the types of records you are viewing, some fields will not be available (such as telephone numbers for deceased people). You may use the printout as a guide. To rearrange the columns, simply click on the title of the column you wish to move, and drag it to the place you would like to put it. When you release the mouse button the column will appear in its new location. 6

7 Once your report is laid out to your satisfaction, you may wish to print it. Click on the Quick Report button. A preview of the report will appear on the screen. If you do not have any further changes to make, click on the print button. To export the data to another program, click on the Export button. Give the destination file a name, select the options your program requires, and click Export. You can now import the resulting file into another program that accepts standard ASCII format files. Assigning the Results of a Query to a Category It may be desirable to assign the results of a query to a category. For instance you may wish to assign the members of one or more categories to a new category. First you must set up a query to find everyone in the original category: This will find every member belonging to the category named Original Category. We use the line Member_FamilyID Like * because we are looking for individuals belonging to the category Original Category, not categories named Original Category. Click on the View Query Results tab. This will give you a list of individuals in the Original Category. Next click on the Assign to Category button. Click on the new category, and press the Select button. You will be presented with a screen asking if you wish to use the default billing information that was set up when the category was created, or you may choose to adjust the amounts for each individual you are assigning. If this is not a billable category, leave it set to Default, and click on Proceed. Mail Merge Mail Merge is one of the most powerful things you can do with any database, and Chaver-ware has made that process even more powerful and easy to use. Mail merges can be performed with one of the three more popular word processors, Microsoft Word for Windows, Word Perfect for Windows, and Ami Pro for Windows. Chaver-ware was designed to link directly to versions of Word for Windows up to 95, and Wordperfect up to version 7. If you have a later version of these Word processors you may still perform a mail merge, but you must follow the procedure for doing an export instead. Use the export from Chaver-ware as your data source, and follow your word processor s instructions for performing a standard mail merge. Before doing any mail merges you must first tell Chaver-ware which word processor you are going to use, and where its files are located. To do this, click on File, and Setup. Then click on the Word Processor tab. Once this is complete 7

8 you are ready to begin. Some of the common uses for mail merge are producing yahrzeit notification letters, committee meeting notices, and any other letter that might merge data from different records into a form letter. Start by setting up a query that will find the information you wish to include in your mail merge. Here is an example of a query that finds individuals who are observing yahrzeits in December of 99: Click on the View Query Results tab to get a listing of observers. Click on the Mail Merge button. You will be presented with the following screen: The document that contains the form letter, with the mail merge codes is called the Form Document. It s used as the blue print for the mail merge. If this document already exists click on browse and select it. If this is a new mail merge, you must first create the form document with all of the merge codes and text that you wish inserted in the document. To do this first click on the Browse button next to Form Document. Enter a file name for the form document, and then click ok. Click on Edit Document. Chaver-ware will start your word processor in mail merge edit mode, with a blank document. Start typing your letter. Putting in the merge fields depends on the word processor you are using. In Microsoft Word you can get a list of fields by either clicking the Insert Field button or pressing Alt-Shift-F. Due to a defect in Word, you must use the Alt- Shift-F option. In Word Perfect click on the Insert Merge Field button to get a list of fields. Once your document is completed, save it and close it. Then click on the Return to Chaver-ware button in the top left of the screen. When you are done, save your form document, and click on the button at the top of the screen labeled Return to Chaver-ware. This will bring you back to the mail merge screen. When you have specified a form document, you need to choose where you wish to send your mail merge. To send it to the printer, go to the area 8

9 marked Output To and select the Printer option. Click on the Merge button to begin printing. You may also choose to output to a different document before you print. From the area marked Output To select the Document option. Click on the Browse button, and fill in a name for the output document. This is the name of the document that your word processor will merge to. It will take the data of the merge codes you have input into the form document along with all of the text you have typed in, and create one document for each record found by the query. This document will be overwritten each time you perform a merge so be careful to not use a document you wish to keep. Chaver-ware suggests using one document for all of your output needs regardless of the merge being performed. (i.e. merge.doc). If the document does not exist Chaver-ware will create it. If you wish to save this document for reprinting at another time, then choose an appropriate name you will remember. The Output Document file must be a different file than the Form Document! To perform the mail merge, click on the Merge button. Your word processor will now start, and will create the mail merge document. When it is done, you may save the mail merge document as you would any other document, or you may print it using your word processor s print feature. 9