CyberKennel User Manual R. Brown, 4/00

Welcome to CyberKennel! This user manual explains how to use the CyberKennel software. We assume that you already have CyberKennel installed on your computer.

Please note: The following special fonts (typefaces) will be used throughout this manual.

This font indicates something displayed by the computer.
This font indicates something entered by you, the user.
Whole sections printed in this slanted font describe features that are planned for a future version of CyberKennel.

Getting started

To start the CyberKennel software, enter the program name ck at the UNIX prompt. The program will respond by printing a welcome message followed by the main menu, as shown below.

computername % ck
Welcome to CyberKennel!
Main menu.  Please select one of the following choices:

   1.  Add a dog
   2.  Display a dog
   3.  Display all dogs
   4.  Find dogs
   5.  Remove a dog
   6.  Quit

Your choice (1 - 6):

The main menu is the starting point for all CyberKennel operations. The next section describes each option presented by the main menu.

Main menu options

Add a dog

Choose this main menu option if you want to add information for a dog to CyberKennel.

For example, suppose you want to add a dog named Fido to CyberKennel. After selecting the Add a dog option in the main menu, you will be prompted for that dog's information, as follows.

Please enter the following information about the dog you are adding.
Name of dog (default ""):  Fido
Age of dog (default 0):  4
New dog's information:  name=Fido, age=4.  Is this correct?

   1.  Yes, the information is correct
   2.  No, the information must be changed

Your choice (1 - 2):

The final portion of the output is called a confirmation menu; it gives you a chance to check the information you have entered and make changes if necessary. If you select No from the confirmation menu, you will have a chance to re-enter the new dog's information.

During re-entry, the values you previously entered become the new ``default'' values, which means you can press the ``Enter'' key alone on an input line to accept a value you had previously entered. For instance, suppose that Fido is actually five years old, not four years old. Then selecting the option No in the confirmation menu leads to the following interaction.

Name of dog (default "Fido"):  
Age of dog (default 4):  5
New dog's information:  name=Fido, age=5.  
Is this information correct?

   1.  Yes, the information is correct
   2.  No, the information must be changed

Your choice (1 - 2):

Here, we used the ``default'' feature for the name of the dog by pressing the ``Enter'' key alone on that line, but we entered a new age value on the following line.

Once you are satisfied with the information you have entered about a new dog, select Yes in the confirmation menu. CyberKennel will remember the information about that new dog until you quit the program. Before returning to the main menu, CyberKennel will display the index for the new dog.

The new dog's index is 3.

An index is a number used by CyberKennel to identify dogs uniquely. Even if two dogs have the same name and age, CyberKennel will keep their records separate because they have different index values.

Display a dog

Choose this main menu option to display information about a particular dog whose index you know. (Index values are explained in the description of the Add a dog option.) Note: If you don't know a dog's index, use the Display all dogs option or the Find a dog option instead of this option.

Example output from the Display a dog option:

Enter the index of a dog:  3
   index=3, name=Fido, age=5

Press ENTER key to return to main menu:

Display all dogs

Choose this main menu option if you want to display information for all dogs. Example output:

There are 3 dogs in this CyberKennel
index name (age)
  1   Ruff (7)
  2   Lassie (10)
  3   Fido (5)

Press ENTER key to return to main menu:

Find dogs

Choose this main menu option if you want to display complete information about all dogs that have a particular name or age, or a dog with a known index. (See also the options Display a dog and Display all dogs.)

For example, suppose you want CyberKennel to display information for all dogs named Spot. First, select the Find a dog option in the main menu. CyberKennel will proceed to display the search menu.

Select the type of search to be performed:

   1.  By name (find all dogs with a particular name)
   2.  By age (find all dogs with a particular age)
   3.  By index (find a dog with a particular index)
   4.  Return to main menu

Your choice (1 - 4):

Now, for our example, select the By name option in the search menu. CyberKennel will prompt you for a name you want to find, then will display a list of all dogs with that name, as follows.

Enter a dog's name:  Spot
index name (age)
  4   Spot (3)
  7   Spot (8)
  13   Spot (4)

Press ENTER key to return to search menu:

Choose this main menu option if you want to display information for all dogs. Example output:

There are 3 dogs in this CyberKennel
index name (age)
  1   Ruff (7)
  2   Lassie (10)
  3   Fido (5)

Press ENTER key to return to main menu:

Remove a dog

Choose this main menu option if you want to remove the information for a particular dog stored in CyberKennel. Whenever you use this option, you must first select the dog to be removed. CyberKennel will display the search menu (as described in the Find a dog option); the results of this search will be shown in a menu of dogs, from which you can select the desired dog.

For example, suppose we want to remove a dog named ``Spot,'' age 8, from CyberKennel. After choosing the Remove a dog option in the main menu, the search menu will appear.
Select the type of search to be performed: 1. By name (find all dogs with a particular name) 2. By age (find all dogs with a particular age) 3. By index (find the dog with a particular index) 4. Return to main menu Your choice (1 - 4): 2 Enter a dog's age: 8
Instead of searching by age (8), we could have searched by name (Spot) or index (if we knew the index for a dog to be removed). Next, the following menu appears
Select a dog to be removed. 1. index=6, name=Lady, age=8 2. index=7, name=Spot, age=8 3. index=11, name=Rover, age=8 Your choice (1 - 3): 2
We want to remove the dog named Spot (age 8, index 7) in this example, so we entered the menu selection 2.

Finally, CyberKennel displays a confirmation menu before actually discarding the selected dog's information.
Dog to be deleted: index=7, name=Spot, age=8 Are you sure you want to remove this dog? 1. Yes, remove this dog 2. No, do not remove this dog Your choice (1 - 2): 1 CyberKennel information for Spot removed.

Quit

Choose this main menu option to exit from the CyberKennel software.