Training Course Details




 INFO Level I Introductory (2 days)

Pre-course knowledge required:

    No previous knowledge of INFO is required. However, experience has shown that students get more out of the course if they have at least seen some INFO commands beforehand.

Suitable for:

    End users who will make frequent use of INFO in their everyday work but who would not be required to carry out programming. Individuals who would become involved in INFO programming but who require an effective introduction before subsequently attending a LEVEL II Programming Course.

Course Goals:

    At the end of the course, participants will be able to set up INFO files, enter and update data, including formatting screen for data entry, display selected file contents on the screen or printer, carry out basic calculations under INFO, generate printed reports of their own design, and understand INFO sufficiently to refer to available manuals for further learning.

Course Content:

  • Brief introduction to the terminal if necessary
  • Getting into and out of INFO
  • Creating INFO files (DEFINE, REDEFINE, ALTER and MODIFY commands)
  • Data entry (ADD, INPUT FORM commands)
  • Data retrieval (LIST, DISPLAY, PRINT, TAKE commands)
  • Query facilities to select subsets of a file (RESELECT, ASELECT, NSELECT commands)
  • Data manipulation to modify existing records in a file (MOVE, CALCULATE, SORT, PURGE, ERASE, UPDATE commands)
  • Relating files setting up file relationships (RELATE command)
  • Generate reports according to user's design (REPORT command)


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 INFO Level II Programming (2 days)

Pre-course knowledge required:

    It is essential that all participants on this course be familiar with the basic interactive INFO commands as covered in the LEVEL I course as this course continues on from it.

Suitable for:

    Individuals who are to become involved in programming in INFO but who already have the necessary introductory knowledge as described above.

Course Goals:

    At the end of the course, participants will be familiar with the majority of INFO commands and have an in-depth knowledge of methods of report generation and the setting up of file relationships. A working knowledge of INFO programming will be obtained including the capacity to set up and run menu-driven systems.

Course Content:

Detailed coverage of the following:
  • array processing (INDEX and OCCURS in ITEM layout)
  • setting up file relationships (RELATE command and the additional parameters of INIT, APPEND, ORDERED, FILL, TABLE, SUMMARY, LINK)
  • report generation (REPORT command full facilities and SPECIAL FORM command)
  • Programming
  • PROGRAM, COMPILE, RUN
  • odd and even section differences
  • NEXT, PROFILE, WRAPUP
  • IF-ELSE-ENDIF
  • DO WHILE, DO END
  • GOTO, LABEL
  • DONE
  • Internal Variables CHR, NUM and DAT
  • Date processing and DFMT command
  • Program maintenance and INFO program development (COMO, CO commands)
  • SPOOL, OUTPUT, LOG commands
  • Menu processing


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 INFO Level III Advanced (3 days)


Pre-course knowledge required:

    It is essential that all participants on this course be familiar with all the standard INFO commands as covered in the LEVEL I & II courses. It is also preferable that participants have had at least 3 months experience of using and writing programs in INFO.

Suitable for:

    IT Professionals requiring a deeper understanding of the 'mechanics' underlying INFO. Most of this course is also suitable for PC INFO.

Course Goals:

    To improve programming technique in INFO and to provide an understanding of the range of INFO facilities and its underlying structure. At the end of the course, participants will be able to set up multi-user systems in INFO, access indexed sequential data and customise their version of INFO if necessary.

Course Content:

  • Structure of INFO's 4 system files
  • SYSTEM-ITEMS, CONTROL, COMMANDS, MESSAGES
  • User files
  • INFO work area
  • INFO environment
  • Control of TERMINAL, DATE FORMAT, CONTROL CHARACTERS, DELIMITER
  • Installing INFO
  • DBUSR (Pre-requisite is some knowledge of FORTRAN)
  • This facility enables users to generate their own INFO commands
  • Use of COMMAND files
  • inside INFO
  • outside INFO
  • program maintenance
  • Menu driven systems
  • Multi-user systems
  • Security
  • ISAM files
  • Program efficiency


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 INFO Full INFO Course (5 days)

Pre-course knowledge required:

    Participants should have had a number of years of computer programming experience. It would help considerably if participants were to familiarise themselves with the basic INFO commands, (please contact us for more details), before attending the course.

Suitable for:

    Individuals with the experience mentioned above who want to acquire quickly the necessary skill in INFO to start on a major project.

Course Goals:

    At the end of the course, participants will be able to design and set up a database system in INFO together with the requisite programs, forms and reports. The INFO system will be menu-driven and user-friendly. In addition, the approaches necessary to achieve a multi-user system will be covered.

Course Content:

    This course consists of accelerated LEVEL I & LEVEL II courses and embodies most of the LEVEL III course.

Note: During the course there will be a number of practical sessions where participants will be able to:

  • set up files and interrogate them
  • set up and apply input forms
  • set up and apply reports


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 INFO Level III Short Advanced (1 day)

Pre-course knowledge required :

    It is essential that all participants on this course be familiar with all the standard INFO commands as covered in the LEVEL I & II courses. It is also preferable that participants have had at least 3 months experience of using and writing programs in INFO.

Suitable for:

    IT Professionals requiring a deeper understanding of the 'mechanics' underlying INFO.

Course Goals:

    To improve programming technique in INFO and to provide an understanding of the range of INFO facilities and its underlying structure. When followed by the 9.6 conversion course, participants will be able to set up multi-user systems in INFO, access indexed sequential data and customize their version of INFO if necessary.

Course Content:

  • Structure of INFO's main system files
  • SYSTEM-ITEMS, CONTROL, COMMANDS, MESSAGES
  • User files
  • INFO work area
  • INFO environment
  • Control of TERMINAL, DATE FORMAT, CONTROL CHARACTERS, DELIMITER
  • Installing INFO brief
  • Use of COMMAND files
  • inside INFO
  • outside INFO
  • Menu driven systems
  • Security
  • ISAM files
  • Program efficiency brief

This is a short course to give a brief flavour of what is available
There are no Course Problems.

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 INFO 9.6 Conversion Course (1 to 3 Days)

Pre-Course Knowledge Required:

    It is essential that all participants on this course be familiar with all the standard INFO commands covered in the LEVEL I & II courses and at least the knowledge of the short LEVEL III course. It is also preferable that participants have had at least 3 months experience of using and writing programs in INFO.

Suitable For:

    Anyone developing INFO applications. Not at present relevant to PC INFO.

Course Goals:

    To update INFO programming technique by full use all the new features of INFO 9.6. and to understand its underlying structure.
    The course techniques and procedures necessary to produce an efficient Multi-User system using the new application mode. Particular emphasis is placed on how to enhance current systems and practical examples and as time allows, customer problems.

Course Content:

  • Basic Structure
  • Global variables
  • Edit Change
  • System items
  • New commands & changes to existing commands
  • Screen Control
  • Isam File handling
  • Input Forms
  • Application Mode
  • Typical Multi-User Transactions and prototyping
  • Updating multiple files without contention


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 INFO-Text I (Text Processing Package) (1 day)

Pre-course knowledge required:

    Participants should be familiar with INFO to the level of basic commands as covered in the LEVEL II course and preferably with some experience of INFO programming.

Suitable for:

    Individuals who have the knowledge as stated above and who wish to learn this text processing package.

Course Goals:

    To enable the user to set up a text database, to access required text records and to format text output. A proportion of the course will be spent on using the word-processing facility that is an integral part of the INFO-Text package. At the end of the course users should be confident to create a programmed text creation and retrieval system that would be transparent to other users.

Course Content:

  • Overview of INFO-Text facilities
  • Defining datafile templates referring to text files
  • Entry and update of fixed length and variable length (text) data
  • Use of the full-screen text editor
  • Access of text information using word-expositions and synonyms
  • Formatting text output for the screen or printer
  • Programming in INFO-Text


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 INFO-Text II (Advanced Text Processing) (1 day)

Pre-course knowledge required:

    Participants should either have been on the INFO-Text I Course or have used INFO-Text for a number of weeks and be familiar with the basic INFO-Text facilities:
  • DEFINE for Text files
  • Use of full screen text editor
  • Text file access using RESELECT
  • Formatting Text output
  • Programming with INFO-Text

Course Goals:

    To enable the user to build INFO-Text based systems, and in particular to appreciate the underlying way that INFO-Text works. This will enable more efficient systems to be built.

Course Content

  • File designs of internal files, DAT, NLR, NCO, NDC
  • The internal operation of INFO-Text
  • Design of INFO-Text systems, including multi-user aspects
  • Security and recovery
  • Examples of INFO-Text Systems.


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 INFO-QR Introductory Course (2 days)



Pre-course knowledge required:

    No previous knowledge of INFO is required.

Suitable for:

    Companies who use systems with INFO-QR built-in so as to be able to interrogate files and write adhoc reports.
    Individuals who would become involved in INFO programming but who require an effective introduction before subsequently attending a LEVEL II Programming course.

Course Goals:

    At the end of the course, participants will be able to set up INFO files, enter and update data, display selected file contents on the screen or printer, carry out basic calculations under INFO, generate printed reports of their own design, and understand INFO sufficiently to refer to available manuals for further learning.

Course Content:

  • Brief introduction to the operating system (UNIX/VMS/PRIMOS) and 'editor' if necessary
  • Getting into and out of INFO
  • Creating INFO files (DEFINE, REDEFINE, ALTER and MODIFY commands)
  • Data entry (ADD, INPUT FORM commands)
  • Data retrieval (LIST, DISPLAY, PRINT, TAKE commands)
  • Query facilities to select subsets of a file (RESELECT, ASELECT, NSELECT commands)
  • Data manipulation to modify existing records in a file (MOVE, CALCULATE, SORT, PURGE, ERASE, UPDATE commands)
  • Relating files setting up file relationships (RELATE command)
  • Generate reports according to user's design (REPORT command)


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 Structure/4 CWIC Programming Language (3 days)

Pre-course knowledge required:

    Participants should be experienced programmers. A working knowledge of INFO, C, FORTRAN, or COBOL would be useful but is not essential.

Suitable for:

    Individuals with the above knowledge wishing to develop fast, flexible systems or to improve parts of existing systems.

Course Goals:

    To provide a knowledge of most CWIC commands and enable users to construct programs in combination with screen and report forms.

Course Content:

  • Overview of Structure/4 and CWIC relationships to other languages
  • Defining the file structures of a database including access to those defined in INFO
  • Programming in CWIC covering most CWIC commands in detail
  • File and record handling and use of buffers
  • Screen forms and associated programming
  • Report forms and associated programming

This course is available on request

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