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SIMDBM  -   January 1978.
========================
Author: Kalle M#kil#, National Bureau of Statistics,
                      S-104 50 STOCKHOLM, Sweden.

This  is  a short description of the version of SIMDBM delivered with
version 4 of the DECsystem-10/20 SIMULA system.   It  just  specifies
what  files  there  are,  and in what context they are needed. SIMDBM
contains the following SIMULA source code modules:

SIMDBM (prefix: SAFEIO)
DBMSET    (prefix: SIMDBM)
DBSORT    (prefix: DBMSET)
DBMMIN    (No prefix: a slightly reduced version of SIMDBM)

Either SIMDBM can be used alone as prefix to a user program or,  when
set handling is required, DBMSET can be used. DBMMIN is a pure subset
of SIMDBM, and can be used as prefix  (instead  of  SIMDBM)  in  many
applications.  Only  a  few  rather  advanced facilities are missing.
DBSORT contains a few procedures to handle sorted arrays of records.


The following utility programs are available: (the  prefix  chain  is
given  within  parentheses).  They  are  main  programs  that  can be
compiled and executed provided that all the modules in  their  prefix
chains have been compiled first.


SPEC    (safeio, simdbm)
DBDUMP  (dbmmin)
DBLOAD  (dbmmin)
LOAD    (dbmmin)
PREP    (  "      )
PREP2   (  "      )
FETCH   (safeio, simdbm, dbmset, fetch1, fetch2)


SPECIF and MULTI are no utility programs, but  just  sample  programs
to demonstrate how record specifications are created dynamically, and
how several data bases can be handled in parallel.


The  following are general utility programs without direct connection
with SIMDBM:

DIRED    (to edit SIMULA direct files)
TRANSF   (to  edit  a  source  program  containing specifications for
          reduced versions of itself)


Documentation:
=============

There are three files with extension RNO. From them  printable  files
can be created by using RUNOFF.


SIMDBM    New edition of a previous report about the basic system.
NEWDBM    Further information on the basic system and also on all the
          utility programs mentioned above.
FETCH     Mainly a description of the  program  FETCH  (in  swedish).
          Almost a subset of NEWDBM.RNO.

Help information.
================
DIRED.HLP (in swedish)
LOAD.HLP  (in english)
SIMDBM.HLP(similar to this file, but in swedish)

For  DIRED and SPEC, fairly detailed help information can be obtained
by running the programs and replying with ? to all questions.

Help information for the program FETCH.
--------------------------------------

When  this  program is used and help information is required, it must
first be loaded into the data base from the file HMESS.DMP. That file
contains the help messages in a form suitable for loading via DBLOAD.
How this is done is described in  the  report  NEWDBM.RNO.  The  file
HMESS.MIC can be used to do that: just type
	DO HMESS ownbas
where ownbas is the name of your data base.

MACRO-10 files.
===============
Two small procedures ARRLGD and ARRTXT are used internally in SIMDBM.
They are contained in the files ARRLGD.MAC and ARRTXT.MAC, which also
can be compiled by the SIMULA compiler to generate the  corresponding
ATR files. Usually these procedureas are part of LIBSIM.

Summary - files delivered with SIMULA version 4 in january 1978.
===============================================================

Source code:
-----------
SIMDBM.SIM    TRANSF.SIM    ARRLGD.MAC
DBMMIN.SIM    DIRED.SIM     ARRTXT.MAC
DBMSET.SIM    SPECIF.SIM
SPEC.SIM      MULTI.SIM
DBDUMP.SIM    PREP.SIM
DBLOAD.SIM    PREP2.SIM
FETCH1.SIM    DBSORT.SIM
FETCH2.SIM    LOAD.SIM
FETCH.SIM

Documentation:
-------------
SIMDBM.RNO    SIMDBM.HLP    HMESS.DMP
NEWDBM.RNO    LOAD.HLP      HMESS.MIC
FETCH.RNO     DIRED.HLP
SIMDBM.DOC


Executable files:
----------------
SPEC.EXE
FETCH.EXE     (these are the most frequently used utilities)

How to get started with SIMDBM.
==============================

a.  Read this document carefully.

b.  Have a look at the report in SIMDBM.RNO.

c.  Read the first chapters of the report in NEWDBM.RNO, particularly
    on  the  programs  SPEC  and  FETCH,  which  comprise  a complete
    non-programmers interface to SIMDBM data bases.

d.  Try running SPEC and FETCH on a small example.     Before running
    FETCH, load its help information  into  your  base  as  described
    above. Then use ? to request help when running it.

e.  If you are prepared to write your own application programs, study
    the coded examples in SIMDBM.RNO (appendices) and then code  your
    program  using the data manipulation procedures described in that
    report.

f.  If you are uncertain as to  what  these  procedures  do,  do  not
    hesitate  to look at the source code of SIMDBM. To an experienced
    SIMULA programmer that might be the best documentation.