RESOURCE CENTRE MANUAL
HEALTHLINK WORLDWIDE
Data entry assistance Idealist provides all the data entry assistance functions
described in Section 6.8.5 (see table at end of this section). However, it is limited
to a single glossary for substitutions. The validation/value list function (which is
called the vocabulary list) is useful for pasting in terms and controlling
vocabulary used in fields, but only accepts or rejects individual words rather than
phrases, and therefore cannot provide full control for fields such as keywords.
Indexes (inverted files) Idealist can only index by word, and has one index for all
fields of the database. However, it can highlight terms appearing in a specified
field.
Searching Idealist offers all the standard search functions, although only the basic
Boolean searching is straightforward: combining searches with AND is called
narrowing the searching, and using OR is called widening the search. It has a
synonym search function, which is useful for retrieving synonyms of the search
term, particularly in fields such as title or abstracts. It also has a cross-reference
searching function that retrieves all records that contain any selected word or the
current record.
Sorting Idealist is not limited in the number of sort levels, and has a number of
complex options, but cannot sort on an alternative field if the specified field is
empty – for example, sorting by title if there is no author.
Display, print and download formats Idealist uses the same on-screen layout for
data entry and viewing records. Layouts can be re-designed, but this is time-
consuming and not necessary. Idealist uses box placing for print formats only.
Text can be added, but as field and text boxes in the print formats are of fixed
length, true bibliographic formats cannot be produced. To download records
using Idealist, simple export formats are used. These cater for variable length
fields, and text and punctuation can be added. However, it is not possible to add
formatting such as rich text format (RTF), and added text will appear for each
record even if the field is empty. It is possible to include hypertext mark-up
language (HTML) codes into the export format, for placing records as text on a
website. Both label printing and mail merge functions are available. Idealist can
link to and display graphics files and link to and open document files and
websites.
User interface Idealist has a user-friendly interface with on-line help.
Languages Idealist is only available in English.
Importing and exporting to other programs Idealist can import and export data
in all the popular formats (see table at end of this section).
Hardware requirements Idealist does not require a high specification to work at
a satisfactory pace. However, it is important to note that as with all databases,
the size of fields, and the number of fields indexed will have as much effect on
the speed of the program as the number of records in the database.
SECTION 6: COMPUTERS, ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND DATABASES
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