Cardbox Talk

Cardbox looks like an elegant system, and is what I want to use to get my wife extracted from an Excell
nightmare (that I have to do more with each month than I care to). It's under 1,000 records,
pretty simple but needs some logic.

I was hoping to find a smaple I can downlaod, but Cardbox samples I have seen do not fit this use case.

thanks.

rjeffries@gmail.com
@ronkjeffries

p.s. I am a little worried by how few comments there are here. Not a great sign. ;)

Hi, I am sending you a copy of the database I use for keeping chess players records for Norfolk by email.
It may help you or may not!!!

Being a longtime Cardbox user, I think it's a good sign that there's little to talk about. Cardbox just works.
But as to your question: you did not mention what kind of data your database is supposed to hold. A "club database" is a rather undefined term. However, I think you will be able to start from scratch.
Start Cardbox and tell it to create a new database (File > New Database). Give it a name.

Read what it says on the screen and do what it says.

Think of a field (item) you would would like to store in your database. Let's assume one of the things you need to store is people's names.

Use Insert > Field (you're in the Edit Format mode now) to tell Cardbox you would like to have a new field in your database.
Use your mouse to draw a box on the screen. Give it any size you like.
A window will pop up in which you can type a name for the field, e.g. NAME.
Another window will pop up showing the Field Properties. You can see several options under Index. Choose Index > All.
Click OK and use File > Save.

You now have a database, in under ten seconds, in which you can store names.

Never mind that it is of little use at this stage. The principle of adding more fields, like ADDRESS or whatever, is simply repeating what you've just done.
Never mind about the way the screen looks. You can change the size, position, colours and typefaces of a field at any stage.
Play around for a day or two. That means: add some data, browse through the menus, and first and foremost:

READ THE MANUAL, either the book or the helpfile.

It is very well written in plain English.

You can do some amazing things with Cardbox once you get acquainted with the more advanced functions, or when you start programming, but there's no real need to. Reading about things that Cardbox can do however, may give you some ideas to improve your database. Whatever you do, you can start as I've described above and you can always add and modify ANYTHING without any trouble at all. Remember that even the most sophisticated Cardbox databases have started with a single field.

Like Charles says, do not be fooled. I have been using Cardbox for about thirty years. It just works. The Forum is also a good place for any issues and there are always here people, like Charles, who know a lot more than I do and give their time freely.
My advice is use it. If my experience is anything to go by, you will not regret it.

Charles has given you good advice. No doubt you will be pleased to know that you should be able to import your Excel records into Cardbox. Check out CSV in the help file.