Frequently Asked Questions

This one gets its own page.

I'm importing data into Leverage (sending tab or comma separated text using a communications program such as LevLink or Windows Terminal) and it stops after N records.

Two likely causes:

• You are using a serial connection but have neglected to set handshaking to XON/XOFF.
  
  In LevLink on a Mac you do this by choosing Configure Connection from the Session menu. If you are using the serial tool, handshaking options, including XON/XOFF, are located in the bottom left of the dialog.  If you're not using the serial tool, this isn't the problem.
  
  In HyperTerminal (which comes with Windows 95 and Windows NT) you turn on XON/XOFF handshaking by choosing Properties from the File menu, choosing the ``Connect To" tab and clicking on the ``Configure..." button, and setting ``Flow control" to ``Xon/Xoff".  There is a HyperTerminal settings file on our ftp site that gets most of the settings correct (not all can be saved in a settings file).
  
  In Windows Terminal and HyperTerminal you turn on XON/XOFF handshaking some other way.
   
• Leverage is waiting for you to specify a database name. If you only send data (field names on the first line on incoming text and records on the subsequent lines), Leverage is missing the extra information that tells it, among other things, where to put the incoming records.  When Leverage sees that the database name is not part of the incoming information, it opens a small, discreet (perhaps too discreet) pane in the import slip asking for a target database. Choose an existing database (only if the fields match!) or write in the name of a new database for Leverage to create.

How do I get a field value to automatically increment when I add a new record to a database (i.e., how do I create a serial number field)?

There are at least three possible approaches. Note that two of these (three, actually, but one is obsolete) are illustrated in the sample databases that come with Leverage (in the "serial" folder under the "samples" folder). The one that isn't illustrated in the samples is the one that depends on a feature of an unreleased version of Leverage (number 3 below -- naturally, this is the easiest way).

1. The easiest supported method depends on your being on the previous "last" record when you add the new one. If you have an index on  the serial number field this is easy (remember that going "up" from the first record takes you to the last record). If you're adding several records in sequence you're automatically on the previous last record when you add a new one. Either way, if you can depend on being on the previous last record, you add NewScript code to the database (q.v.) to set the value of the field in the new frame that is being created to one more than the value in the current entry. If the field is called "serial", the code would be:
    

       nf.serial := ce.serial + 1
 

2. If you can't depend on being on the previous last record when creating the new one the answer is more involved and I'm going to refer you to the sample database.
    
3. The easy but unsupported way makes use of a new feature in Leverage 3.01a12 and later versions.  If you prefix a field's default value with "++" Leverage will automatically increment the value as new records are created. Thus, if you wanted new serial numbers to start at 1000 and go up from there, you would define the default value to be "++1000". Leverage actually stores the current value of the serial number in the default value, so if you add some records and go into Modify database you'll see that the default has changed (but the "++" is still there).

Why does Leverage tell me my internal field definitions are corrupted?  Is this serious?  How do I fix it?

This message is almost invariably harmless.  It usually indicates there are two copies of the field definitions Leverage uses for its own internal databases (_fields, _tables, etc.) -- one in the Newton's internal memory and one on a memory card.  Aside from the message, the only visible sign of the condition is that the pop-up list of field types in Leverage's create/modify database slip is doubled (i.e., each field type appears twice).

A change was made to the way Leverage checks the internal definitions in version 3.01a31 that should eliminate the duplication and the error message.

When I export from Leverage any data that contains umlautes or other characters with diacritical marks (e.g., München, Montréal, façade, or naïveté), it shows up with some weird unicode character strings (e.g., \U00e4\u).  How do I correct this?

Versions of Leverage prior to 3.01a10 did not properly translate between the two-byte Unicode characters used on the Newton and the Mac or PC encoding used on desktop machines.  With 3.01a10 a translation pop-up list was added to Leverage's import, export, and synchronize slips.  So download the latest version of Leverage and choose Mac translation if you are sending data to or receiving data from a MacOS computer.  Choose PC translation if the desktop machine is Windows based.

Note that for proper character translation with a Windows computer you must also install UniPCMapper.pkg.  This only works for version 2.1 of the Newton OS or later (i.e., the MessagePad 2000, eMate 300  or later).  Anyone who needs character translation for earlier models (e.g., the MP130) should contact us.

Note also that the version of Leverage available for download is an expiring demo, so once you've confirmed that it transfers your data correctly, contact us to obtain a non-expiring copy.

How do I load the sample databases?

They're just text files organized in a way that Leverage understands, including database names and field definitions as well as data.  Send them to Leverage using a communications program such as LevLink or HyperTerminal.  Be sure to set the encoding pop-up in the Leverage Import Database slip to ``Leverage 2.0" since that was the encoding used when the files were created by exporting from Leverage.  Note that if you are using HyperTerminal to send the file, you should choose ``Send Text File..." from HyperTerminal's Transfer menu, not ``Send File..."

I've set up a field as a ``Current Values" list and the values appear multiple times.  Why?

The field needs to be indexed.  You can add an index to a field just by sorting on it.

I'm transferring a FileMaker Pro database to Leverage (using LevConnect or the scripts) and now I'm getting an error message: 48034.

When LevConnect or the scripts create a Leverage database to match an existing FileMaker Pro database, they give the Leverage database the same name as the FileMaker file.  You'll get this error if the FileMaker file has a name longer than about 21 characters.  The workaround is to rename the FileMaker file.