AppleWorks 4 experience: general

[swpeters@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Scott Peterson)]

I received AppleWorks 4.0 on November 4, and so far I have many positive
things to say.  Given that in this newsgroup there hasn't been much
discussion but a lot of speculation, maybe I was on of the few to receive
it before Quality Computers halted shipping to correct problems. 

I have posted three threads: general points, TimeOut compatibility, and Macros.
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Good points:

AW4 is full of new features, even for users like me who had many previous
add-on products (TotalControl, UltraMacros, many TimeOut products, etc.). 
It runs just like AW always has, except now there are more ways than ever
for users to use shortcuts, manipulate data (find, move, merge, import,
etc.), or just make your life easier, such as with automatic backups. 

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Simple improvements I like:

The clipboard can be appended.

Multiple desktops & clipboards.

Arrange options at a file list. 

File & disk activities.

Spreadsheet find & replace -- very powerful! 

When ESCaping from a data base find in multiple record layout, you remain
on your current record.  Previously, the program in effect issued an
open-apple-1 to always start you at the beginning. 

A data base find option that allows you to "jump to" the first match in a
find [oa-f; oa-(a or i)].

The data base allows you to insert or delete categories without a loss of
layout & report formats. 

Data base glossary (a pop-up list) will focus on your nearest match in
case of duplicate keys (when using a sorted glossary list).  This is much
better than what TotalControl did (always started at the top of the list.)

Macro-friendly design:  Many changes have been made to simplify macro
programming.  For example, previously, record selection in the data base
was difficult to incorporate into a macro because pressing open-apple-r
responded differently depending on if there were or weren't rules already
selected (a NO/YES question with rules, direct access to selection rules
otherwise). Now, a macro which affects DB selection rules can easily be
created, since the following menu is always displayed with an
open-apple-r, thus eliminating the need for separate keystroke patterns: 
     1.  Select all records
     2.  Define record selection rules
     3.  Get rules from a report
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A few things I miss:

Some of the TimeOut applications which are on the "uncertain" list for
updating, (see separate TimeOut thread). 

The "From disk" capability of CelLink to import from other spreadsheets.
(The new 3D spreadsheet formula only works with spreadsheets on the
desktop.)

The patch that allowed me to choose numbered menu items without pressing
the return key. 

Outliner, which will be updated soon, given that AW4 has already
accommodated it.  In the WP, pressing open-apple-+ yields: "The outliner
is not installed".  Also of interest is that any "Set Marker" commands
that use the Outliner range (192 to 255) say " Outliner" in addition to
the standard "---Set a Marker: ###" notation.  Also added to marker
identification is "Data Base" (150) and "Table of Contents" (151-157). 

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Problems I had:

Hopefully, since I have the "buggy" release, these problems are among
those which will be fixed. 

It crashed when starting up and attempting to load more than 30 TimeOut
modules.  Temporary solution: reduced directory to less than 30 modules,
used Utilities to add more applications from a different directory. 

Data base export: Worked fine for a simple data base, but got confused
when adding records -- came up with a "not found" error, even though that
record which was referenced in the error was unchanged. 

==============
Scott Peterson
swpeters@nox.cs.du.edu