This book is a tutorial and user's guide for PC-File Version 5.01. (This was the latest version of PC-File at the time this book was written.) PC-File is a flat file database manager with limited relational database capabilities. It maintains and saves data in the popular dBase III format. It is relatively simple to setup and use, making it ideal for managing lists, such as, mailing lists, inventory lists, and membership lists.

The minimum system requirements for running PC-File 5.01 are an IBM PC, XT, or AT compatible with 512K RAM, 1MB of floppy or hard disk storage, running DOS 3.1 or higher.

This manual differs in perspective from the manual that comes with PC-File. The ButtonWare manual is written from the programmer's point of view. The Young and Levine manual is written from the user's point of view.

There is a second important difference between this manual and the manual that comes with the program. PC-File can do some relational database functions, but the ButtonWare manual does not discuss them in any detail. The fourth and final section of the Young and Levine manual explores the relational capabilities of PC-File in depth. The authors explain how to display and print data from related database files both on data entry screens and in reports.

This book takes a hands-on approach by providing tutorials for every facet of the PC-File program starting with database design, proceeding to entering and maintaining data, and finishing with producing reports.

Jim Knopf (aka Jim Button) sold ButtonWare in 1992 and retired. Nevertheless, as of October 2008, ButtonWare's PC-File 5.01 is still in daily use at my institution. In fact, I am still using an earlier version, PC-File+ 3.0 for DOS, with my SuperSort and QuickBASIC programs. Each of these versions of PC-File is both fast and stable in DOS emulation windows on modern PC compatibles running Windows XP.

Caveat: Date fields in PC-File 5.01 only work with dates in the 20th Century, 1901-1999. Young and Levine provide users with a novel workaround for 21st Century dates. They tell their readers to use a character field instead of a date field. Then enter the date in a YYYYMMDD format. PC-File can convert dates from this format into dates as people normally write them. ( )