[OBP]

JT, well I will have to write you some VBA to translate your input into the necessary query (if I can).

[slurpee55]

The keyboard/printer connection seems like a good reason for your problem - the printer may need to be reconfigured.
Access, well, yes, it has limits for mortals like me, but if it can be done, OBP is the one to tell you and help - I'm not bad, but he is scary good....

[JThomas4255]

Thanks to both. Sorry, haven't met the term VBA. Will expand tomorrow on PC-File sorts but forgot to say they are mainly on one (subject code) field which for each entry (vocab item) may have multiple codes end-to-end, so most of my PCF sort queries are the 'scan-across' type.
Even better if I could fix it via the printer software.

[slurpee55]

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for coding (for running macros and other scripts) in all the Microsoft Office products. One-to-many connections are easy in Access, but OBP not only has forgotten Access stuff I will never know, he is a great coder, specializing in Access VBA, and can certainly help you if you want.

[JThomas4255]

Thanks for the reply. Below is a bit more info, just in case.
It would be useful to know to what extent Access can manage the kind of sort (search or report) query I use with PC-File, on which I based the structure of my now large database.
A typical French-to-English sort might be as follows. French field NOT empty AND Context (subject) field must in any position contain M0 (M=medical, 0 after any code means basic core vocab) i.e. general medical vocab, AND for this conference, medical testing vocab (M1) to include all basic test vocab (M10) and tissue testing and imaging (M14 and M12) but NOT animal testing (M15). But I do want M10 entries even if they also contain M15.
This I can write in seconds : fr!=" "&(c=~M0~|c=~M10~|(c=~M1~&c!=~M15~))
(I should explain that M1 so far only has those 3 subsets, so inclusion of M14 and M12 is implicit).
On another aspect,the recognition plot thickens. I tried using PCF on my old XP laptop, on which I had uninstalled the HP printer. It did not perform like a US keyboard and I could enter letter characters OK, but it gave wierd ASCII hieroglyphics when I wanted numbers (top row upper case), and I could not find numbers anywhere (so I could also not use ASCII number codes for them). The keyboard worked fine inother applications (Word etc).
Possible explanations might be that HP altered something when previously installed, or that some XP updates (which get onto my portable whenever I use it) have changed something. I thought about a possible PCF built-in time limit, but it still works fine on my ancient Win98 machine. OR of course a virus. I run Avast! Free and Spybot on the 2 XP machines. If so, it only seems to affect this program.
Best regards, JT

[OBP]

Your example is fairly straightforward apart from the fact that you don't want M15 unless it is in a record with M10.
How many subsets do you have in total

[JThomas4255]

I have about 300 context codes, I think. I will try to attach my list.
Each can have up to 10 subsets, each of which can have 10, etc. The longest (specialized technical lists) go to the letter plus 4 numbers (e.g.O1225), but so far there are few so long - if pushed I just create a new semantic group code.
If there are many subsets, I have to choose to list either the inclusions or the exclusions. The query example I gave was of average length - they can get a lot longer.
Mercifully, this has come up as I neared retirement. I only do occasional work, so the list is about final.

[OBP]

That would definitely take VBA created SQL to recreate your simple input routine. If you can't get your original program working properly send me some example data and queries and I will see if I can reproduce it at all, it sounds like a real challenge.

[slurpee55]

Originally Posted by OBP

...it sounds like a real challenge.

Just what you need!

[JThomas4255]

Sorry, life is hectic just now. My router died yesterday –took me all day to get it replaced and to install it.
This may be relevant :
In the PC-File file set there is one called SETUP.COM. If I open this on my laptop I get a page with the following. The first line is in French, the rest in English. When I do the same on my desktop (both XP) I do not get the first line.

One or more CON code pages not valid for this keyboard code
SETU – Set UNIQUE number in a PC-File 5.0 database
(C) 1989-1990 ButtonWare, Inc.

Enter database name:
(and when I do so)
Enter unique number :

I have no idea what to enter, I have never numbered my databases (I seldom create any apart from the big one). I just entered '1' but it didn't change anything.
Thanks again for any ideas.

[OBP]

Have you tried copying the whole PC-File from the laptop on to one of the other computers, in a different folder to the normal one to see how it runs?

[JThomas4255]

The problem seems to be solved, fingers crossed.
I am both delighted, of course, and ashamed to have wasted your precious time.

What happened, I think, is that for some reason the usual indexes (French and English) were not appearing when I opened PC-File. But the program requires at least one, and what was appearing was Spanish, which I seldom use and usually delete afterwards.
Since the keyboard problem arose I have mainly tested using a search, which does not require me to display an index. Today I tried a report, which does, and found I had to re-create the French index. And suddenly it was working OK.
I am not at all sure of this explanation because I remember entering a report query since I started this thread. Anyway, if I have an index problem, the worst that can happen is that I have to remake the relevant index before entering a query.

I will hang on until tomorrow and then call it solved. I have to go out now. I wanted to write this ASAP. I have learnt a lot with you and the previous threads (that printer problem), and I will probably rely on Access for post-retirement, when I will use the DB for occasional reference and not for complicated report generation.

What can I say ? Thanks again for your support and info - this is a tremendous asset for IT ignoramuses who still have to use these contraptions.

[slurpee55]

I got lost some time ago, but glad you were able to get it working!