Answer My Searches

When saving an Excel file as DBF 4, I was finding that the values in one column were getting truncated.

Well it turns out that you have to change the width of your columns to avoid this behavior. So make sure every column width is wide enough to show the full text from that column before saving as DBF. (Even make it wider than auto width to be safe.)

Do note that when saving in DBF 4 format from excel, it will still insist on cutting off your header (first row) values at 10 characters.

I made three new custom search engines to help readers research key issues mentioned on this site. Basically each one is limited to search only within the top 3-10 forums, blogs, and support pages for the topic.

These will save a lot of time since you can now do just one search, instead of having to search every forum every time you have a question.

Here they are. Let me know how they work. I’m also adding them to the Helpful Resources sidebar so you’ll always have an easy link to them.

1. Ubuntu Search (Searching *.ubuntuforums.org, *.ubuntu.com/ )
2. GoldMine Search (Searching *.frontrange.com, *.contactreview.net, *.castellcomputers.com, *.thegmblog.com)
3. QuickBooks Search (Searching *.quickbooksgroups.com, *.intuit.com )

Let me know if you have more resources, or blogs I can add to any of these search engines.

Ever wondered what the * means in *.txt? Well see below. I finally bothered to look it up so that I could find all *GM*.dll files on my computer and delete them!

Asterisk (*)
Use the asterisk as a substitute for zero or more characters. If you are looking for a file that you know starts with “gloss” but you cannot remember the rest of the file name, type the following:
gloss*
This locates all files of any file type that begin with “gloss” including Glossary.txt, Glossary.doc, and Glossy.doc. To narrow the search to a specific type of file, type:
gloss*.doc
This locates all files that begin with “gloss” but have the file name extension .doc, such as Glossary.doc and Glossy.doc.

Question mark (?)
Use the question mark as a substitute for a single character in a name. For example, if you type gloss?.doc, you will locate the file Glossy.doc or Gloss1.doc but not Glossary.doc.

Courtesy of this MSDN page.

My Search Queries

1. windows search syntax
2. windows + “search companion” + syntax
3. windows explorer search syntax

GoldMine macros let you automate the more tedious sequences of key strokes and clicks you do within GoldMine.
Here’s an easy to follow, pictorial tutorial on how to make one of these fellows.
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Yes, it turns out you can give the GoldMine executable (gmw7.exe for me) some parameters when you launch it. Some of them are even useful! Who knew?

Doug Castell says in this forum post:

Here are the ones I know off the top of my head:
/u: pass the username
/p: pass the password
/b: pass a folder in which remote installation files reside. Legacy
feature, no longer applicable(?)
/c: pass a folder in which contact files reside: example:
/c:c:\apps\goldmine\common\
/t: ‘thin client mode’. removes a number of bandwidth-heavy operations.
most appropriate for thin client users (thin bandwidth network/vpn, graphon,
term server)
/m: pass a recorded goldmine macro number to run
/s: run in silent server mode. options include /s:DDE and /s:GOLDSYNC

Please comment if you can think of any others. Of course it’s never been documented before!

As an example here’s how I get GoldMine to run a macro (even works if GoldMine is already running.)
J:\gmw7.exe /m:803

803 is the number at the end of the macro file in the J:\macros directory (with J:\ being GoldMines system directory for me.) The full name of that file is gpinero.803.

This GoldMine support page also lists a few more switches for you.

[tags]GoldMine, Macro, GoldMine Macros, GoldMine Help[/tags]