File Repair and Management with Dr. HLS
If something happens to your data base and we need to repair your data, perhaps a powerfailure has ocurred in your building at a particularly unfortunate time, we will have several tools here to get you back on track. We really recommend that you contact us at 360-483-4885 before using any of these routines.
You can access theses features by clicking the
button on the Utilities Window
Here is a overview of the routines you can reach from the Dr. HLS frame on the Utilities Window.
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As students come and go throughout your school year you will probably find that you occationally must delete a student record. When you do this, the program does not actually remove the record and shorted the data file. Instead, it renames the student: zzz zzz creating an additonal "end of file marker" and moves the record to the end of the list in alphabetical order.
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When you add a student, HLS reuses a zzz zzz file and makes a new "end of file marker" if needed.
- If over the course of the school year you find that you have removed a lot of student records, you can shorten your data base and the length of time it takes the program to launch by clicking this button. The data disiplayed at the top of this frame will show you how many blank names (extra end of file markers) that you have.
- Each student record contains room for a limited number of discipline entries. When a student's record fills up, more room is obtained by using a second file that contains only extensions of records that need them. The main record contains an entry that points to an extension.
- If you feel that older entries in a student's record seem to be missing, it may be that the pointer to one of these extensions as been dropped. Clicking this button will cause the software to check all the extensions and re-link them if needed. The entries will then appear again in the student's record.
- This is an older routine that still remains in the program. It is not likely that anyone will ever need to use it. This routine compares your current data base with an earlier back up of your data on a floppy disk. If any records have been lost of deleted, it takes them off the floppy and puts them back in with your current data. If a student's name has been changed or you have intentionally removed records, this routine blindly adds these records again.
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If you think a record is missing, we recommend that you use the
button found on the Roll Back Data window instead of this routine here.
- If you have a large number of students that have been marked as withdrawn you can use this routine to quickly delete their records. You will be asked to enter your verification code before the records will be deleted.
- DDRS stands for "distributed data recovery system." It is only used by schools who have upgraded to full networking. This system maintains the integrity of your data by comparing copies of the data base on different users' computers. If any computer thinks that something is wrong with the publisher's copy of a student record, it posts an uncorrupted version of the record for all others to use. The publisher's software replaces its bad record with the good one.
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We have found in the unusual situation where an HLS computer that has not launched the software for the first time until well into the school year might irroneously attempt to post dozens of records, usually of students from the previous school year who are no longer enrolled, into the data base.
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The DDRS system is so diligent in maintaining your data that we may need to shut it off long enough to roll your data back to its correct state and get this errant computer synchronized with the rest of the school.
- If DDRS is turned off, it will only remain off for the remainder of that calendar day. The first time a publisher launches the program on a new date, DDRS turns itself back on.
- This button provides you with access to the Roll Back Data window where you will find easy access to back up copies of your data. If used carefully, you should be able to comfortably use this utilities without assistance. You can easily undo a roll back of the data if necessary.
- Each day that you launch the program for the first time, HLS makes a back up of all your data files. You should be able to find a back up for each day of the week. Your new back ups overwrite the back up it made on the same day of the previous week.
- Click here to find out how to use this tool.
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HLS uses a special record to indicate the end of your data. This is a record that contains the student name zzz zzz which will always appear last in alphabetical order and normally does not appear in any of your lists. If this marker is dropped for any reason, you may notice that it takes an unusually long time for your program to launch and that your data base appears to have thousands of students. We use this button to correct this problem and reset the marker after the last student in your data base.