The structure is under perpetual change. A few new fields are
added or changed now and then.

Structure for database: E:\DBASE\ALL\ALL1.DBF
Number of data records:    10000 (growing)
Date of latest update : xx/xx/yy

Field  Field Name  Type       Width    Dec    Index
    1  NAME        Character     36               N
Sometimes the name begins the software company making the program,
like MS WINDOWS, MS EXCEL etc. for MICROSOFT-products.

Search on products in the database are made on the fields
NAME and FUNCTION. Searching can also be made on parts of
the name and parts of the function like "CEL" in "MS EXCEL"
or "modem" in the function-field

    2  LANGVER     Character      3               N
Country of origin, USA, MAL for Malaysia, SWE for Sweden etc.

    3  VERSION     Character      5               N
Latest known version (for the author).

    4  FNAME       Character     12               N
Filename 8 characters + 3 extension. ??? denotes version number.
Star (*) denotes number of letter in a serial of files

    5  EXPECTED    Character      5               N
Sometimes the product is not out in the market yet but it is announced.

    6  MYVERSION   Character      5               N
Authors own notation. Blank in the distributed edition.

    7  PRODUCT     Character      5               N
SOFTW, HARDW or CDROM: Software, hardware or CDROM.
Sometimes a product is a combination, however only one sort is
entered. 

    8  FUNCTION    Character     70               N
Short description of the product.
You can search on parts of the FUNCTION contents or parts of
the NAME of the products. If you search with an empty string
the first product in the group is shown.

    9  MANUFACT    Character     24               N
Manufacturer of the product. Sometimes a product or a company
is bought  by another company or the manufacturer has changed
its name.


Logical variables for the database:

   10  BIT32       Logical        1               N
32 bit applications

   11  WORD        Logical        1               N
Word processor or powerful editor.

   12  SPREADSH    Logical        1               N
Spreadsheet

   13  DATABASE    Logical        1               N
   14  HYPERTEXT   Logical        1               N
   15  LANGUAGE    Logical        1               N
Computer language like BASIC, COBOL, PASCAL etc.

   16  CASE        Logical        1               N
Computer aided programming

   17  OS          Logical        1               N
Operative System like UNIX, MS-DOS etc.

   18  OS2         Logical        1               N
OS/2

   19  INTERWEB    Logical        1               N
Internet. The name of the field is chosen because the name
INTERNET is already occupied with info about file site.

   20  MACINTOSH   Logical        1               N
No this is not a MACINTOSH database, but a few products are
entered, mainly products important for communication PC-MAC

   21  ECONOMY     Logical        1               N
Financial programs

   22  TSR         Logical        1               N
Terminate stay resident programs. Important if running
DOS. Less important if running Windows etc.

   23  INTEGRATED  Logical        1               N
Spreadsheet, word processor and database and sometimes communications
etc.

   24  UTILITY     Logical        1               N
Probably the largest group in SoftBase

   25  SPECIAL     Logical        1               N
Any software that it is hard to put in an other group,
like genealogy, astronomy etc.

   26  NETWORK     Logical        1               N
Sometimes just indicating that the product has a special
version for Network and sometimes that it is for use
only in networks.

   27  MAIL        Logical        1               N
E-mail mostly but also address-software.

   28  COMMUNIC    Logical        1               N
Communication.

   29  STATISTIC   Logical        1               N

   30  MATHEMAT    Logical        1               N
   31  ELECTRONIC  Logical        1               N
   32  TECHNICAL   Logical        1               N
   33  SCHOOL      Logical        1               N
   34  DTP         Logical        1               N
   35  SELFSTUDY   Logical        1               N
   36  GAME        Logical        1               N
Not very many games.

   37  TAXES       Logical        1               N
   38  SELLING     Logical        1               N
Sales Tool

   39  ADMINISTR   Logical        1               N
Administrative software like sales ledger, accounting etc.
and sometimes also administration of network software etc.

   40  CHART       Logical        1               N
There is another field "GRAPHICS" but Graphics is
used also for all Windows software. Other fields
for graphical applications are PRESENT, IMAGE and DRAWING

   41  CAD         Logical        1               N
   42  PROJECT     Logical        1               N
   43  PIM         Logical        1               N
Personal information manager, small address-database, calendar etc.

   44  GRAPHICS    Logical        1               N
All MS WINDOWS software are considered "graphics",
Other fields for graphical applications are PRESENT, IMAGE,
DRAWING and CHART

   45  WINDOWS     Logical        1               N
   46  MENUPROG    Logical        1               N
   47  ANIMATION   Logical        1               N
   48  ANTIVIRUS   Logical        1               N
   49  ACCOUNT     Logical        1               N
Accounting

   50  CHILDREN    Logical        1               N
   51  DRAWING     Logical        1               N
   52  EDUCATE     Logical        1               N
   53  FAX         Logical        1               N
   54  FREEWARE    Logical        1               N
   55  FORMS       Logical        1               N
   56  FONTS       Logical        1               N
   57  HYPERMED    Logical        1               N
Hypermedia. Not updated since few products are announced
as hypermedia. See also hypertext.

   58  IMAGE       Logical        1               N
   59  MEDICINE    Logical        1               N
   60  MULTIMED    Logical        1               N
Multimedia

   61  MAPS        Logical        1               N
   62  OCR         Logical        1               N
   63  ORGCHART    Logical        1               N
Organizational charts

   64  PRINTER     Logical        1               N
Printer utilities etc. There is a special field for
fonts.

   65  PRESENT     Logical        1               N
Presentation software.

   66  SECURITY    Logical        1               N
   67  SOUND       Logical        1               N
Voice or voice recognition or music.

   68  SHAREWARE   Logical        1               N
Available on most local BBS:s

   69  TRANSLATE   Logical        1               N
Human language. Dictionaries, translation etc.

   70  VIDEO       Logical        1               N
   71  HOME        Logical        1               N
   72  BARCODES    Logical        1               N
   73  ARCHITECT   Logical        1               N
   74  INFO        Logical        1               N
   75  DECISION    Logical        1               N


End of logical variables.

   76  LOCAL       Character     10               N
Code for the local supplier if any.
Especially hard to get any information about local suppliers
in Malaysia. However more and more newspapers have
computer information lately

   77  LOCAL_SIN   Character     10               N
   78  LOCAL_US    Character     10               N
   79  LOCAL_SWE   Character     10               N
   80  LOCAL_MAL   Character     10               N
   81  CURRENCY    Character      3               N
   82  CURR_SIN    Character      3               N
   83  CURR_US     Character      3               N
   84  CURR_SWE    Character      3               N
Most often SEK, which means Swedish Kronor

   85  CURR_MAL    Character      3               N
Most often MYR, which is the same as Ringgits or RM Ringgit Malaysia

   86  CURRENCY2   Character      3               N
Listprice currency, most often USD.

   87  CURRENCY3   Character      3               N
Update price currency, most often USD. Sometimes these
prices are special offers for a limited time

   88  CUR3_SIN    Character      3
   89  CUR3_US     Character      3
   90  CUR3_SWE    Character      3
   91  CUR3_MAL    Character      3

   92  RATING      Character     12               N
Mostly PC Magazine's rating if more than one number
Average between 1.7 and 2.9 is normal, painted blue on the screen.
Excellent product: rating is painted green. Highest average is 4.
Less good product: rating is painted red. Lowest average is 0.
Anything below 1.7 in average is painted red. However one should
read the test-results in the magazines before condemning a
product. The product could have been tested for another
purpose than what the product is originally made for.


   93  PRICE       Numeric        7               N
Cheapest or cheap or local price.

   94  PRICE_SIN   Numeric        7               N
   95  PRICE_US    Numeric        7               N
   96  PRICE_SWE   Numeric        7               N
   97  PRICE_MAL   Numeric        7               N
   98  PRICEUSD    Numeric        7               N
Normally official list price in USD

   99  PRICEUPD    Numeric        7               N
Normally price for upgrade in USD

   100 PRICUP_SIN  Numeric        7               N
   101 PRICUP_US   Numeric        7               N
   102 PRICUP_SWE  Numeric        7               N
   103 PRICUP_MAL  Numeric        7               N

   104 WANTS       Logical        1               N
Private information, blanked

   105  HAS         Logical        1               N
Private information, blanked

   106  REF1        Character     15               N
   107  REF2        Character     15               N
   108  REF3        Character     15               N
   109  REF4        Character     15               N
   110  REF5        Character     15               N
   111  REF6        Character     15               N
   112  REF7        Character     15               N
   113  REF8        Character     15               N
   114  REF9        Character     15               N

The references will probably be less Swedish, more Malaysian and American.

PC MAGAZINE USA    = PCMAG
PC WORLD Malaysia  = PCWMAL
PC WORLD England   = PCWUK    (On rare occasions)
PC WORLD USA       = PCWUS   
PC COMPUTING USA   = PCCOMP
Windows User USA   = WINUS    (When available in Malaysia)

Getting a library of the above magazines means that you can
make full use of SoftBase.

and some Swedish magazines before 1992:
Tidningen BIT      = BIT
IndustriData       = INDDAT
PCWorld Sweden     = PCWSW
Mikrodatorn        = MIKROD


  115  EDCHOICE    Character     15               N
Editors choice. If not, think twice before you buy.

  116  CHEAPEST    Character     10               N
The prices in Malaysia are often negotiable.
Very hard to know where it is the cheapest. Cannot trust list-prices.
Most cheap is probably to buy from USA by mail-order,
but then there will be problems with local support outside USA.

  117  CHEAP_MAL   Character     10               N
  118  CHEAP_SIN   Character     10               N
  119  CHEAP_US    Character     10               N
  120  CHEAP_SWE   Character     10               N
  121  GENAGENT    Character     10               N
Normally the manufacturer, but sometimes the local distributor.


  122  SALES       Character      8               N
This shows weekly top-sales in USA. An L after the yymmdd-number
means Learning. U = Utility, B = Business and P = personal software.

  123  INTERNET    Character     30               N
More and more Internet file sites

  124  COMPUSERVE  Character     30               N
If a special address for the specific product. There is also
one field in the ALLEV database with the same name.
Many products have their own address in Compuserve.

  125  UPDATE      Date           8               N
Latest check or change of the record. The information
is always changing and sometimes the information is not
correct, so please be patient with errors in the information.
The author would be very happy for information about errors.

  126  TOREG       Logical        1               N
The authors private notation

  127  REG         Logical        1               N
The authors private notation


** Total **                     724 per record


The database ALLEV.DBF for suppliers is self-explanatory and contains
information about name, address, phone and fax, "last update", BBS,
and 800-numbers, Internet (rare), Compuserve etc.


Structure for database: E:\DBASE\ALL\ALLEV.DBF
Number of data records:    6000 (growing)
Date of last update   : xx/xx/yy
Field  Field Name  Type       Width    Dec    Index
    1  REF         Character     10               N
Internal code. Usually the 5 first letters from the
Company's name and then 3 letters from the second name
and 2 from the last.

    2  FIRMA       Character     35               N
Firma means company in Swedish.

    3  ADRESS      Character     40               N
Address spelled in Swedish way.

    4  PADRESS     Character     40               N
Another Swedish abreviation.

    5  PADRESS2    Character     25               N
    6  COUNTRY     Character     20               N
    7  TEL         Character     25               N
    8  N800        Character     25               N
    9  FAXNO       Character     25               N
   10  TECHSUPP    Character     25               N
   11  BBS         Character     25               N
   12  FAXBACK     Character     25               N
   13  CSERVE      Character     25               N
   14  INTERN      Character     30               N
The Run-time version of CA-RET does not allow the same
name in two different databases. Internet address
for the author.

   15  AMERICAONL  Character     25               N
   16  MAILORDER   Logical        1               N
Mail order.

   17  EDICHOICE   Character     12               N
Sometimes even suppliers get editors choice. Not only
products.

   18  SRATING     Character      8               N
Rating of suppliers

   19  UPD         Character      6               N
Latest update of the record or part(s) of the record.

   20  TEXT        Character     68               N
The text field is so far very seldom used. Could be
used for ASP authors and OS/2 suppliers

** Total **                     506



I can not give any guarantee about the correctness of the
information. It changes rapidly, limited time for double checking,
and some errors are also done in my sources of information, the
computer magazines and other sources. Most of the errors depend
on lack of information in the magazines or catalogues like suppliers,
version numbers, etc. I can also not give any guarantee about the 
function of SoftBase in combination with numerous different machine
and software combinations. It is tested only on the authors machines.
Like some shareware-authors say: "I don't promise more than that
it can fill up your hard disk."

Anyway I hope it can come to use to both professionals and amateurs.

Call voice or fax: (60) - 3 - 411-5547
Internet:  adam@testad.pc.my

Adam Testad
No 17 Lorong 2B/27C
Section 5 Wangsa Maju
53300 KUALA LUMPUR
MALAYSIA


