Strategies for using PHONE as a database

Tom Anderson of HP, the provider of the Cubs example, makes a number of suggestions on how to use the HP 95LX to store information.

Tom's basic strategy is to come up with unique and consistent ways of representing data so that he can use the ONLY (F5) command to search for subsets of that data. For example, when entering phone numbers into PHONE, Tom always surrounds the area code with parentheses and uses a dash to separate the prefix with the final four digits: (444) 555-6666. That way if he knows someone is in the (444) area code but can't remember the name, he can perform an ONLY search on (444), and not get the names of people who's Zip code or street address have 444 in it. Similarly, Tom can find a name at HP corporate offices by searching for 857-, the phone number prefix.

For company affiliations, to help guarantee uniqueness, Tom makes sure there is always a space in front of the Company name. That way he could search for NU (Northwestern University), by doing an ONLY search on <space> NU <space>. Because of the leading and ending spaces, Tom will not turn up any Sanunu's or Nusbaum's in the search.

Tom tries to put all numbers he calls in his PHONE book. That way if he ever forgets a name or a number he can usually find the right person by doing ONLY searches.

In the Cubs example all dates have a foreslash between the month and day (06/25). All H's or A's indicating Home and Away games are followed by a space. To find June games an ONLY search on 6/ does the trick. Or you could ONLY search on 6/2 to find all games between 6/20 and 6/29. (Tom listed June 2 as 6/02, not as 6/2, to maintain consistency.) To search for all H home games, an ONLY search H <space> brings up the correct games.

The FIND (F7) command can be used within the entries found from the ONLY search. For example, after all the H games have been listed, you can do a FIND search on GI to find Giants home games. To clear an ONLY screen and go back to all entries, press <F6> <Enter>.

If Tom has seats for a game, He includes "Sec" followed by section number in the address section of an entry. To find all games he has tickets for he can do an ONLY search on "sec".

Finally, Tom also uses MEMO and its FIND command to organize information. For example, when he travels he uses a MEMO file containing frequent flier information, flight and rent-a-car data and even his American Express Traveler's checks numbers.

When he uses a Traveler's check he deletes that check number.