4   What does Tonto2 look like?

Tonto2 looks like a spreadsheet but isn't. It's a kind of database manager, but it has rows and columns like a spreadsheet. As a typical spreadsheet would do, it organizes its data into tables (tabs). It displays one tab at a time. Each row is a record (rec). Above the first row is a list of tags, which I may accidentally refer to as column headings or field (fld) names. Every rec is a (possibly unique) tuple of the same items arranged in columns called flds. A fld has a name and occurs in the same ordinal position in every rec but may contain different values in different recs. Whew!

Each rec describes a thing in terms of its fld values. A calendar rec has flds like who, where, what, and when, for instance. An address rec has flds like first name, last name, street, city, state, zip, and phone number. In the sense that a rec represents one thing and not another, we can say that its flds are related. Further, we can say that all the recs on a tab represent things of the same kind because they have the same flds. We can say that the flds on a tab express a relation (rel), and each rec on a tab is an instance of that rel.

But we have to be careful. Tonto2 is not a relational database manager. (This is a mathematical term.) The flds may be related, and there may be some algorithms applied at the rec level that regulate their values, but there are no formulas to calculate the value of one fld from another as there are in a spreadsheet. There are no summary totals of all the recs taken together. Further, there is no way to combine tabs as there would be in a relational database, for example by joining them on common key fld values. This is not what Tonto2 is about. It doesn't do hierarchical data.

SUMMARY: A rec is a real thing that is written in a file. A tab has a visible manifestation in the Tonto2 display and thus may be said to be based in reality, but a rel has no such tangible or visual representation unless you consider the Tonto2 script itself. A rel is conceptual. It is the structure of data, not the data. I still find it easy to talk about rels as though they were real, though.

4.1   So what will I see when I start Tonto2?

Fig. A — Initial Startup

Not much. You'll see a menu bar.

4.2   How do I open a new tab?

Fig. B — File New

The first thing you'll want to do is open a new tab.

Click File. Then click New.

4.3   What is "User Defined?"

Fig. C — Default Type

What you see is the dialog box that sets up the new tab. It has a place for a name and a type. The "User Defined" type is prefilled.

You don't want that!

4.4   What is "3x5Cards?"

Fig. D — Select 3x5Cards

Click the down arrow and select 3x5Cards. That will be a simple — yet interesting — kind of pre-defined rel. I use this kind of rel to hold my favorite browser bookmarks.

4.5   What name should I give the new tab?

Fig. E — The New Tab Name

Give your new tab a name. It can be anything. May I suggest you call it "Bookmarks?" Click OK.

4.6   What name should I give the new files?

Fig. F — The New File Name

You've named the tab. Now you need to name the files that go with it. I would choose the same name. Note which folder you're putting the files in. Click Open.

NOTE: You cannot use Tonto2 to create new files under the same names as existing files.

This creates two files:

• Bookmarks.dd
• Bookmarks.csv

4.7   Why don't I see anything?

Fig. G — The New Tab

... but you do see something. You see the new name of the new tab: Bookmarks. Also, you see three tags: Category, _UpdateDate, and Title.

4.8   But how do I add a new rec?

Fig. H — Adding a new Rec

Now you can go about adding recs to this tab.

Click Edit. Then click Insert at Bottom.

4.9   I still don't see anything!

Fig. I — Blank rec

Look closer. There is a blank rec on the tab.

NOTE: #N/A is a "nothing" value that Tonto2 uses to indicate that a fld has no particular content ... yet.

You can edit the blank rec.

4.10   How do I "edit" the rec?

Fig. J — Field Entry

Click Edit. Then click Field Entry.

4.11   What is "Category?"

Fig. K — Edit Dialog

What you see is the Field Entry Dialog box.

It shows the flds of the blank rec. You can change the content of some of them but not all of them.

Category is one of the flds. It's value can be anything. What it is for is to break down the (potentially long) bookmark list. Each succeeding rec will go into one category or another.

... so what we are going to do now is to add a bunch of recs for different things. These things are all going to be the same kind of thing, though. Let's make a list of Websites we visit once in a blue moon. These sites are important to us. Their Web addresses (URIs) are not difficult to type, but, because we use them infrequently, they are difficult to remember exactly. I'll start.

4.12   How did you do that?

Fig. L — Edit Dialog Filled

Here is an example of a bookmark rec for the Flags of the World Website.

Place the mouse cursor where you want to type and fill in the blanks.

The downside of this approach is that you have to move your hand from the mouse to the keyboard to the mouse and back again. You could use the <TAB> key until you come to the Remarks fld. Because Remarks is not a one-line blank, it swallows the <TAB> key for its own fell purposes. Thus, the Field Entry Dialog box can in some cases be a bit slow and frustrating to use.

Also, you could certainly select the URI content from the browser's search bar, copy it to the clipboard with <ctrl-C>, select the _URI fld content in the Tonto2 Field Entry Dialog box, and paste the URI content over it with <ctrl-V> just as you would in every word processor since Apple Lisa (1983).

The idea is that you're not going to be doing a lot of data entry with Tonto2. (Any comparison of Tonto2 with spreadsheet software is, of course, odious.)

Click OK.

4.13   Oh! Shiny!

Fig. M — First rec

Suddenly there is one rec on the tab.

The _UpdateDate fld has been (Wait for it!) updated.

Let's do some more while we're on a roll.

4.14   How else can I enter a _URI?

Fig. N — Drag and Drop

First, visit the Old Farmer's Almanac Website.

Then in Tonto2, as before, click Edit. Then click Insert at Bottom. Click Edit. Then click Field Entry.

You can drag and drop the padlock from the browser's search bar to the _URI fld's bombsight.

Fig. O — Drag and Drop Results

This proposes two things: (1) a value for _URI and (2) a value for Title. The value for Title comes from the title of the Web page. It doesn't always work that way, and I apologize for what can go wrong in the Appendix.

Click OK.

Fig. P — Drag and Drop Hotlink

Once more, click Edit. Then click Insert at Bottom. Click Edit. Then click Field Entry.

You can also drag and drop a hotlink. In this case the Title comes from the linked text. Here's an example of saving a bookmark link to the ever-popular Viking Answer Lady.

Fig. Q — Yet Another Field Entry Dialog

I've filled in some Keywords that don't occur in other flds. I may not remember anything else about this bookmark but still be able to find it by searching on general terms about it.

Click OK.

4.15   That's nice. What next?

Fig. R — Three recs

... so now we have three recs on the tab. Note that I've changed the title of the Old Farmer's Almanac so I can show you something nifty.

Fig. S — Three recs Sorted

You can sort the recs simply by clicking on the Title tag. You can sort them in reverse order by clicking on the tag again. You can sort them on other displayed tags.

You could, if there were other Categories of bookmarks, sort them by Category

Today, I have over 800 recs in my Bookmark rel from Apr 2006 to Jul 2023. This is because I can't find the time to purge those I'll never need again and those that point to defunct Websites. They are categorized variously as car parts, cartography, diversion, docs, general reference, government, history, motorcycle parts, motorcycling, news, PC parts, recipes, surveillance, travel, TV, and weather.

4.16   No, really, what's the point?

Fig. T — View as Text

Well, at this point, you can look at a rec as a blob of text. Using the mouse, right click on the rec you want to look at. Click on View as Text.

Now you can click on the URI, which should take you to your browser. (If that doesn't happen, check out the "Browser" section in the Appendix.)

The point is that your Bookmarks tab acts just like your browser's favorite bookmark list. It is a list of useful Website addresses that you can open up when you need them. Also, it holds other information that may make the links easier to locate long after you've forgotten what you called them.

4.17   So ... now, I'm an expert!

Oh, yes, you are....

This concludes our exploratory look at Tonto2. I hope I won't need to include many more figures because I'm running out of letters. This does not exhaust Tonto2's capabilities, but it does show what Tonto2 interaction looks like. You've seen how to create tabs and add recs. You've seen how to edit recs, sort them, select them, and then view them as text. You've seen how to traverse a link to an Internet resource. From here on, I'll be more likely to tell you what to do in terms like, "Click here," and describe what the results should be instead of showing how to do what needs to be done and illustrating what the results should look like.