Re: How many records do I have?

["Enrique Lynch" <lynch@nospam.trivium.gh.ub.es>]

Thanks for the advice, Mervyn. Incidentally, I've reproduced my 
library database on the desktop computer and executed both compacting 
processes (datafiles and index files) using my backups. Apparently, 
no entries were lost this time. Problem lies somewhere on the Toshiba 
laptop installation which, by the way, is 5.5.3 (not 5.5.3c as in the 
desktop).

Have a very nice holiday and my best wishes for 2002.

Enrique



El 19 Dec 2001 a las 22:05, Mervyn E. Bennun escribió:

> Enrique,
> 
> I repeat the suggestion that I gave to Marjorie the other
> day.
> 
> If you have backed up the data file(s), I would cut my
> losses, delete the whole database, and then recreate the
> database with the same name in the same subdirectory. Then I
> would copy the good datafiles into it.
> 
> My experience has been that trying to repair things is not
> always successful but is always tricky. The backup copy of
> datafiles is for precisely the sort of situation in which
> you find yourself.
> 
> The way you use a commuter disk, incidentally, is the way I
> do it too. I like to think of the commuter disk as bearing
> the master copy.
> 
> And I discard it every few months. I think that a floppy
> used in this way gets one heck of a thrashing, and I'd hate
> for it quite simply to wear out.....
> 
> I'm off now to the bush in Botswana (Okavango)..... 'bye,
> everyone -  warmest good wishes for the festive season; 2002
> looks as though it's making an inauspicious start, but may
> peace win through: at least let us have tranquillity in our
> hearts and hope for the future.
> 
> Affectionately,
> 
> Mervyn
> ________________
> Mervyn E. Bennun,
> 29 Marmion Road,
> Oranjezicht,
> Cape Town 8001,
> SOUTH AFRICA.
> mebennun@nospam.icon.co.za
> Tel/Fax: +27 (0)21 461 5535
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Enrique Lynch" <lynch@nospam.trivium.gh.ub.es>
> To: "Multiple recipients of list NOTABENE"
> <notabene@nospam.piper.hamline.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, 19 December, 2001 14:40
> Subject: How many records do I have?
> 
> 
> Dear NB's,
> 
> I recently updated my laptop Ibidem datafiles following a
> procedure
> that, until now, never caused problems. It consists in
> copying the
> *.#O# files from the database folder on the desktop machine
> to the
> its corresponding mirror on the laptop by way of a commuter
> disk.
> Once done, I used to re-index the Ibidem database to avoid
> getting
> the usual error messages ("Illegal record number" usw.).
> This time I
> was unable to re-index. Ibidem reported something like
> "Cannot create
> index file". When called to screen, however, Ibidem would
> let me
> scroll up & down the database but all records newly added
> where
> simply omitted from the table view. I tried to re-index two
> or more
> times and noticed that:
> 
> a) Program created on the database (laptop) folder a new
> folder with
> the name of my database. A number of auxiliary files which I
> had
> never seen before showed on this folder.
> 
> b) Indexing affected ONLY the first three datafiles. The
> fourth,
> containing recent additions, was skipped.
> 
> Obvious to say that everything runs OK on the desktop
> machine. So I
> decided to simply copy & paste all the Ibidem files,
> datafiles and
> program files, from one computer to the other.  This worked
> as a
> partial solution. Now I have sort of clone database on my
> laptop and
> all my records are accesible but I still find puzzling
> Ibidem would
> not re-index an appended datafile on the laptop.
> 
> Now, the only difference between this datafiles and the
> previous ones
> is the size. I have the following datafiles:
> 
> LIBROS    #00      999147 Kb
> LIBROS    #01      231805 Kb
> LIBROS    #02      261882 Kb
> LIBROS    #03      262133 Kb
> LIBROS    #04      814710 Kb
> 
> I don't know why  #00 is so big compared to #01, #02 and #03
> but I
> think that this was the effect of Maintain executed in
> NBDos. Libros
> is my personal library database, which I started in the Dos
> days and
> eventually imported into NBWIN. The size of  #04, which
> again is
> disproportionate to the other datafiles can only be the
> result of my
> periodic adding of short titles to the records, a step I had
> omitted
> previously and I now regularly perform in order to take
> advantage of
> the short title citations in Ibidem. Every now and then I
> fiddle into
> my records and add the short titles to the old entries.
> 
> I don't consider myself as a filthy kind of person, but I
> don't like
> electronic cleaning-ups, specially when databases are
> concerned. It
> might be mere superstition but anyway... However, I decided
> to take
> my chance on the laptop, having the desktop basis as a
> reference. So
> I went Maintain, and first compacted the datafiles, then I
> compacted
> the index files (I had never used these features before in
> NBWIN)
> and, in the end, I re-indexed everything.
> 
> The database was accesible as before BUT:
> 
> a) I had no longer 3682 entries but 2847 although I am
> absolutely
> sure that I HAVE NOT ERASED 840 records from my library
> database!!
> Furthermore, I am absolutely sure that there are NO blank
> records on
> my database.
> 
> b) The sorting routine does not work properly. If I click on
> "Author"
> to sort alphabetically  the record inmmediately before the
> last entry
> is placed at the bottom of the sorted table view, overriding
> the
> alphabetical order.
> 
> Where are my 840 missing records?
> Does sorting by author work OK on other people's databases?
> Why does Ibidem index a 800000-900000 kb datafile on one
> computer on
> one computer and refuses
> to do so on another?
> 
> Any comment will be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Enrique
> 
> 
> Dr. Enrique Lynch
> Departamento de Historia de la Filosofía, Estética y
> Filosofía de la
> Cultura
> Universidad de Barcelona
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


Dr. Enrique Lynch
Departamento de Historia de la Filosofía, Estética y Filosofía de la 
Cultura
Universidad de Barcelona