Shrink Record

   When an intake form is scraped for data, or for various other reasons, you may end up with variables in your Instant Database record that are just not relevant to this client, and will never be relevant. When there are just a few 'blank' values and everything fits on one or two pages, the overkill isn't troublesome. But when the record spans several pages, and locating the variable you want to complete becomes more challenging, and many of the variables don't have and likely won't have values assigned to them, it's time to shrink the record.

   To 'Shrink', simply check the box next to the Save button in the Existing Records section of the screen. Then press the 'Save' button in the upper right. Pathagoras will confirm your choice and then reduce the record to contain only lines where values have been provided. (If you want to preserve a line that has no value currently, simple insert a period. That period holds the space, but Pathagoras will not replace the parallel variable when you activate the Replace ('Next') routine.

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   Don't worry that when shrinking the record, the variable cannot be restored if the client's circumstances change. The variable can be easily added back.And don't forget that when Pathagoras 'sees' a variable that is not in the current record, it automatically adds it to the list.