The contents of these files were output by the 'A4DOC' application included with the Alpha 4 software package. The SPANDIAL and VERIFY applications provided read and write access to the various databases through a series of forms and macros. Macro definitions included in the documentation refer to keystrokes corresponding to Alpha 4 menu items and system commands.

By way of example, below is the "Enter Master data" macro as defined in the SPANDIAL_APP.TXT file:

Menu action : Macro
Macro keys : comaster{ENTER}ipbe

The "Macro keys" line can be interpreted as follows. Menu options are in quotes when given as they appear within the Alpha 4 interface:

c - "Choose database/set"
o - "Open a database"
master - Identifies "master" as the name of the database to be opened.
{enter} - Carriage return opens the database.
i - "Indexes/ranges"
p - "Primary index selection"
b - "Master by Int_no (unique Interview No.)"
e - "Enter records"