Q&A;: An Easy, Efficient Program
Q&A; could stand for Quick and Accessible, which are two reasons why I long have been a fan of this integrated word processing and database program.
But actually the folks at Symantec, the publishers of Q&A;, wanted the name to stand for “question and answer” because of the way you can type a query into the database with a sentence and have it display the answer.
The newest version, Q&A; 3.0, which retails for $349 and runs on IBM and compatible personal computers, introduces important enhancements.
Q&A; seems best for general office tasks--handling business correspondence and reports, doing individualized letters merged with mailing lists, and creating and using database lists.
There are word processing programs or database programs more powerful than Q&A; but they also often are more complicated to use. And no other integrated program combines the two functions as smoothly.
Writing on Q&A; is straightforward. With Q&A;, the computer screen displays text with the same margins and page breaks it will have on the printed page (provided the text is single-spaced).
Spreadsheet tables and graphs from the Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony programs are inserted easily into Q&A.; You also can run both programs from the Q&A; menu.
In fact, you can select your choice of up to six programs from the Q&A; menu. The previous version allowed only one external program to be selected from the Q&A; menu.
Printing has been enhanced in version 3.0, especially for laser printers. The program works with about 100 printers, including most of the popular laser printers. Q&A; allows up to five printers to be installed and all can be assigned to the same printer port, which is good for users who like to switch printers. For instance, you can choose among laser printers, fast dot-matrix printers, slower letter-quality printers and expensive-to-use color printers. You also can choose among nine different printer fonts (type styles).
Better Spelling Checker
Q&A; definitely is not meant for desktop publishing, however. All type fonts look the same on your screen. They are simply marked with highlighting or color, and a message at the bottom of the screen indicates if it is font 1, font 2 or whatever. Also, Q&A; does not provide for proportional type fonts, where the letter “i” gets less space than the letter “w,” for instance.
The mail merge routine in Q&A; has been simplified. Before, you had to remember the names of the fields of the database--for example, “name,” “street” or “city”--to be merged with a letter. Now, Q&A; displays the field names for you so that you can easily select the ones you want. It is also easier to print mailing labels.
The text search and replace routine has been made more comprehensive, a better spelling checker has been added and there is a strikeout option to let you print text marked for deletion.
None of these enhancements has added complexity to using the program. If you don’t need the database portion, you can buy the writing program alone, known as Q&A; Write, for a retail price of $199.
The filing part of the program always has been easy to use. Designing a new data entry form is as easy as typing the names of your data fields on your computer screen. A single form can be up to 10 screens long and any single field can take up an entire screen, giving you plenty of room to be as wordy as you want. When you want to retrieve a form or group of forms, you simply call a blank form to your screen and type the contents you want to find.
Or, you can use Q&A;’s unique Intelligent Assistant and type in a query such as “Show me all the sales people in the Southwest region who exceeded their spring quota.” (It takes a fair amount of fiddling with the Intelligent Assistant to prepare it to give you the answers you want, but once mastered, it is a delight to use.)
Major enhancements to Q&A;’s database include special features for computer networks. These include optional use of passwords, file access control and a feature called record locking that lets several users work simultaneously on the same file, but not simultaneously change the same form within that file.
A special software addition, Network Pack, $299, allows you to have three more people use Q&A; simultaneously on a computer network. You can add as many packs as you need.
Although Q&A; is not as powerful as database programs like dBASE III Plus, R:BASE or Paradox, it now allows data from one data file to be used in another file. For instance, you could create a database for this year’s sales quotas by having the program look up last year’s quotas in another database and add 10% to each.
A number of new programming functions have been added to aid in designing sophisticated database applications. It now can calculate compound growth rates, future values and loan payment schedules. New mathematical and statistical functions are square root, rounding, averaging, finding minimum and maximum and determining standard deviation and variance.
Searching for data has been made easier. The software lets you limit searches with the words “or” and “not.” For instance, you could ask to see names of everyone who lives in Los Angeles “or” New York. Or you could ask for everyone who lives in California, but “not” in San Jose.
Report and form printing has been improved with the ability to merge business logos or other graphics with data. To do so, the graphics must be in a special form called a “Postscript” file that can be printed on some kinds of laser printers.
The Intelligent Assistant is the most novel feature of Q&A;, but also a feature that some users may choose to bypass.
If you do use it, you have to go through a process known as “teaching” the Intelligent Assistant about each database you work with. The assistant is a clever program that accepts your instructions in English sentences and phrases and then creates on-screen or printed reports of your data. You even can use it to change individual entries in the database.
Teaching the assistant has been improved in the new version, but it still takes some thought and experimentation to get it right. Basically, it is a process of assigning words to various elements of your database, such as clients and staff and colleagues and workers , to describe the subjects of a data list. Then you assign units of measure (miles, inches, dollars, for example), adjectives and verbs to complete the process.
If you’ve done it right, you’ll be able to type something like “Display names, salaries with totals, and bonuses with totals sorted by department” and see a report that does just that, and does it with much less effort than if you had designed that report yourself.
If you make use of the Intelligent Assistant, you may well grow so fond of it that you’ll want to make use of Q&A;’s ability to rename it on your menu to something more friendly, like Jeeves.
Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the author cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Richard O’Reilly, Computer File, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.
Q&A;: THE SPECS
Features
Q&A; version 3.0 is an integrated word processing and database management program with English-language query ability. Suggested retail price, $349.
Q&A; Network Pack allows three more people, in addition to the initial Q&A; software user, to work with Q&A; simultaneously on a computer network. $299.
Q&A; Write provides the word processing functions of Q&A;, version 3.0, but not its database. $199.
Requirements
IBM or compatible personal computer with at least 512 kilobytes of random access memory and two floppy drives, although operation is much enhanced with a hard drive. Color and graphics are not required, but the program makes good use of a color monitor if you have it.
Publisher
Symantec, 10201 Torre Ave., Cupertino, Calif. 95014. Phone: 408-253-9600.
Los Angeles Times
