How do I transfer my Windows data into Leverage?

Two ways:

• Export the data to tab or comma separated text and send it to Leverage with a communications program such as Windows Terminal or HyperTerminal.
• Use LevLink for Windows.  LevLink can read most Windows databases such as Access, FoxPro, and Paradox and can send the information to Leverage in the format it expects.  LevLink can also capture exported data from Leverage and write it to Windows databases.  The most recent version was uploaded on March 16.  This version requires Windows 95 or Windows NT.

How do I set up HyperTerminal correctly?

Under the File menu choose Properties
    the Connect To tab
      choose the correct com port of course
      click the Configure button and set it to 9600, 8, none, 1, xon/xoff and click OK
    the Settings tab
      click on the ASCII Setup button
        in the ASCII Sending area
          check "Send line ends with line feeds"
        in the ASCII Receiving area
          check "Append line feeds to incoming line ends"
          uncheck "Force incoming data to 7-bit ASCII"
          uncheck "Wrap lines that exceed terminal width"
      click on OK to dismiss the ASCII Setup dialog
click on OK again to dismiss the Properties dialog

How do I move data to Leverage using HyperTerminal?

Here are some step by step directions geared towards moving data from FileMaker for Windows to Leverage.  Most of the description applies to any database or spreadsheet.

More step by step directions for moving data from FileMaker (or most any Windows database or spreadsheet) to Leverage.

1. You export your database to text.
   
   The text file you're trying to upload must have the field names on the first line, followed by the data, one record per line, like this:
   
   name->address->city
   john->13102 Briar Hollow Dr->Austin
   bill->1600 Pennsylvania Ave->Washington DC etc.
   
   where -> is intended to represent a tab.
   
   Since FileMaker won't include the field names, you may want to use what it refers to as Merge format, which is a modified version of comma separated text (modified in that it definitely includes the field names on the first line):
   
   "name","address","city"
   "john","13102 Briar Hollow Dr","Austin"
   "bill","1600 Pennsylvania Ave","Washington DC" etc.
    
2. Fire up HyperTerminal. If you actually start the program rather than opening a HT document, it will ask for a connection description. I usually choose Leverage and choose the phone and lightbulb icon.
    
3. It asks "Connect to". I leave the phone number blank and choose the appropriate comm port.
    
4. It then wants comm properties: bits per second: 9600, data bits: 8, parity: none, stop bits: 1, flow control: xon/xoff.
    
5. Choose File/Properties, click on the Settings tab, click on the ASCII setup button.
    
6. Check the first item in each section (Send line ends with line feeds in the ASCII Sending section and Append line feeds to incoming line ends in the ASCII Receiving section) and leave the rest unchecked or uncheck them. In paricular, be sure Wrap lines that exceed terminal width in the ASCII Receiving section is unchecked.
    
7. Click on the OK button for ASCII Setup and again for Properties and the settings are correct.
    
8. Assuming the machines are connected, choose Import database from Leverage's Action button. Select a connection type of Serial, baud rate of 9600, field separator of Tab.
   
   Of course, if you used Merge format when you exported from FileMaker, you should choose a field  separator of Comma.
   
   Encoding would be Leverage 2.0 if the file you are sending is one originally exported from Leverage using that encoding (e.g., one of the sample databases), FileMaker Pro if it was exported from FileMaker (or from Leverage using FileMaker encoding), otherwise none.
    
9. Tap Connect on Leverage and it will say "waiting for DB name". There isn't one in the incoming data, so it's going to have to get that from you -- in a moment.
    
10. Choose "Send text file" from HyperTerminal's Transfer menu. Locate and select the tab separated text file you want to send and click on the Open button.
     
11. Leverage will see that the database name isn't on the first line and will open a small pane where it previously said "waiting for DB name" asking you for a target database. Unless you have previously created a Leverage database with perfectly matching field names (usually a bad idea) enter a new database name.
     
12. Assuming you gave Leverage a new database name in step 11, Leverage will then open the database create/modify dialog to give you a chance to change the field types and to skip fields you don't want to import. Since you can changed the database later, you can leave it as is and just tap the Done button, but if you want to make changes now rather than later you may do so.
     
13. Leverage will add the field definitions to those it already has and then add records to the newly created database (or to an existing database if you chose an existing one in step 11).
     
14. The only way to tell it's done is when the count of entries added in Leverage stops increasing (or reaches the number of records you already knew was in the file). When this happens, tap the close box in the Import Database slip. Leverage doesn't automatically take you to the new database but it should appear in the database list in the upper left of the Leverage screen.

How do I set up my Access table to track modification dates and times?

Add a field called _modDate to your table.  Its type should be Date/Time.  It might be useful to give it a default value of Now() so that records created in Access's table view will be marked as new (and so will be sent to Leverage when the table is synchronized), however this is inadequate for changed records

For changed records to be tracked (i.e., for the _modDate field to be set properly when a record is changed), it is necessary to make changes in a form.  Changes made directly to the table will not update the _modDate field so the changes will not propagate to Leverage on synchronization.

To set up the form and macro:

1. Create an appropriate form for updating the table.  You can use Access's form wizard to make this easier. The important thing is to include those fields you'll be updating.  The _modDate field does not need to be included.  (For specificity in these instructions we'll call our table ``people" and the form ``peopleForm".)
    
2. Create a macro to update the _modDate field when the form is used to update a record.  We call our macro Set_modDate, but you will need a separate macro for each form/table, so you might want to name yours something more specific.
    
3. In the Action column of the first row of the macro choose the action SetValue.  An Item and an Expression field will open below the Action column.
    
4. Click in the Item field and then on the ``..." button to build the expression that describes the item we want to set.  In the Expression Builder window open the list of forms to get to the form you just defined (peopleForm in our example -- double click on Forms and then on All Forms, and then single click on peopleForm).  Click on the <Field List> in column two of the Expression Builder window, then click on _modDate in column three.  Click on the Paste button and then the OK button.  The resulting Item in our example is [Forms]![peopleForm]![_modDate].
    
5. Click in the Expression field and then on the ``..." button to build the expression we want to put into the _modDate field when records are updated.  Double click on Funtions in colum one of the Expression Builder window, then single click on Built-In Functions.  Click on Date/Time (functions) in column two, then single click on Now in column three.  Click on the Paste button and then the OK button.  The resulting Expression will be Now().
    
6. Close the macro definition, saving it under a reasonable name.  In this example we might name it peopleFormModDate.
    
7. Go back to your form (peopleForm in this example), click on the Design button, and choose Properties under the View menu.  (Be sure none of the form is selected before bringing up the properties, so you'll be looking at the properties of the whole form.  The title of the properties window should be ``Form".)
    
8. Click on the Event tab in the Form properties window and click in the Before Update field (After Update should work just as well).  The pop-up list in the field should include your newly defined macro.  Choose it.  Close the properties window and close the form, saving changes.

Now when you update records in your table using the form, the _modDate field will automatically be updated so LevLink will know to move the records to Leverage when synchronizing.