File Index and Maintenance

Index

To achieve speed in finding specific information, the program uses special "index" files.  These are created from the main data files, and are preserved in special files with a .CDX extension.

Indexing is important when records seem to have disappeared.  Most of the time, it is just a "blown index" and using this utility will create new pointers, and the missing information will be "found".

It is not necessary to index regularly.  It is common to reindex only when information seems to be missing.

Other users should not be in the program when reindexing.  Only one machine should be in the program, and that is the one actually running the operation.

To index files, click on each box next to the area you wish to rebuild the file, and then press OK to proceed.

Indexing files does not affect the actual data that is contained in the  data files ( .DBF ).

Maintenance

In The Auto Shop Writer, when a record is "deleted", it is marked with a special flag, but not deleted.  The Maintenance utility is used to permanently remove all marked records from the data file.  This utility should be run with all other computers out of the program when in a network situation.

The procedure should be run monthly to optimize performance.  However, be sure to make a backup of the system before performing this operation.