|2-Video Manager 2 |1-V1.2: The Docs file INTRODUCTION Video Manager 2 is a database program specifically designed to store, the details of programmes recorded on video tapes. Once you have entered the details of your tapes into the database you can find programmes quickly and easily as well as perform a whole host of useful functions. VM2 was designed to be easy to use with quick access when you just need to find a programme you want watch, or decide the best place to record a new one, but there are also in depth functions which I hope the most avid of video collectors will find useful to help keep track of their collections. I had several users of my original VMS program (Amiga Comp. Sep.1992) evaluate VM2 during its late development stages. They seemed to find it very comprehensive and useful, and I hope you will too. Good Luck! Kevin Reynolds Programmer NOTE: Video Manager System users, please refer to section 10 for instructions about importing your data into VM2 format. |1-CONTENTS INSTALLATION ............................................. VM2 SCREEN LAYOUT ........................................ 1 HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR DATABASE ........................... 2 STARTING A NEW DATABASE .................................. 3 ADDING A VIDEO TAPE'S DETAILS ............................ 4 ADDING A PROGRAMME ....................................... 5 VIEWING VIDEO DETAILS .................................... 6 DELETING DATA ............................................ 7 Deleting a Video Deleting a Programme Clearing a Programme SAVING YOUR VIDEOS ....................................... 8 Normal save Encrypted save LOADING A VIDEO DATABASE ................................. 9 IMPORTING VIDEO MANAGER SYSTEM FILES ..................... 10 FIND FUNCTIONS ........................................... 11 Finding a programme title Finding a reference Finding information Finding space VIDEODEX ................................................. 12 CUT, COPY & PASTE ........................................ 13 PRINTOUTS ................................................ 14 PREFERENCES .............................................. 15 A FEW IMPORTANT NOTES .................................... 16 Shareware version Registered version Bugs Author's address |1-INSTALLATION VM2 uses the REQTOOLS.LIBRARY. Whether booting from FLOPPY or HARD disk, the file reqtools.library should be in your LIBS directory. FLOPPY USERS: i Create a bootable disk. ii Copy REQTOOLS.LIBRARY to the disk's LIBS directory. iii Copy the VM2 program file to the disk. iv Call VM2 in the startup sequence of your disk. v A1200+ users; you should remember to put the setpatch command in your startup-sequence, otherwise VM2 will function slowly. HARDRIVE USERS: i If you do not have REQTOOLS.LIBRARY in your LIBS: directory then you should copy it. If you already have REQTOOLS.LIBRARY then you may still wish to copy it, but I recommend that you use the C:VERSION command to check if the version on my disk is more recent than your current one. ii Make a new drawer for VM2 iii Drag the VM2 icon into your draw ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Recognition must go to Nico François for providing the excellent ReqTools.library which has made production of this program far easier than it would have been. ReqTools is Copyright (c) Nico François. Special thanks go to: Dave West ................ WB2.0+ information Freak (NFA) .............. Advice & prompting me to use Reqtools Mark Jaques .............. Artistic input Chris Knott .............. Independant tester and evaluator Paul Barnard ............. General advice & help |1-1 VM2 SCREEN LAYOUT The VM2 screen is split into three panels. i. The top panel shows the details of the programmes on each tape. ii. The centre panel shows the map of the programmes on the tape as well as the tape number, length and title (if any). iii. The bottom panel has a numeric pad of buttons for selecting a video number to view, and a larger pad of control buttons which perform general VM2 functions. These buttons will be referenced throughout this document as [BUTTON NAME]. If in doubt about which button to use, refer to the table below: [ PLAY ] [ PREVIOUS ] [ NEXT ] [ ADD ] [ RECORD ] [ FIRST ] [ LAST ] [ DELETE ] [ PRINT ] [FIND TITLE] [FIND REF. ] [ INSERT ] [ QUIT ] [FIND INFO.] [FIND SPACE] [ INDEX ] |1-2 HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR DATABASE O.K., you've got a bunch of tapes with programmes on, and you want to put the details into VM2. As VM2 numbers each new tape that you enter, (i.e. the first tape you enter is tape 1, second is tape 2 etc.) then the best thing to do is to number your tapes correspondingly. This way you can relate the video details shown in VM2 to the videos in your collection. VM2 also allows you to enter a name for each tape, so you could relate to your tapes by name. I recommend numbering because its simpler. |1-3 STARTING A NEW DATABASE Just load up VM2, and you are ready to start. You can also select 'New' from the 'Project' menu if you have already have another database loaded in. There are two stages to entering a video tapes details: (1) Entering the tape details (name and length). (2) Enter the details of programmes on the tape. These are described in the following 2 sections. note: |1-4 ADDING A VIDEO TAPE'S DETAILS For each video you can provide two items; the tape length, and a reference for the tape. The length is important as VM2 uses it to display the video map and work out the free space left on each tape. The reference is not required but can be handy for making useful notes. To add these details do the following. i. ADD A TAPE. When you initally run VM2, a blank set of tape and programme details are ready for you to fill in. To add any sub-sequent tapes click on [ADD]. When you do this a new video will be added to the end of your list and a blank set of details are displayed for you to fill in. The digital number in the bottom panel will show the number of the 'added' video. ii. ENTER TAPE DETAILS by clicking on either of the two boxes above the video map (centre screen). The tape details requester will appear so you can enter the length and tape reference. Enter the length of the tape in minutes (ie. 180 = 3 hours) then enter the tape name. As mentioned before, tape name is optional. iii. ACCEPT THESE DETAILS by pressing ENTER in the tape name box or clicking on [O.K.]. The details you have entered will now be shown in the centre panel of the screen. |1-5 ADDING A PROGRAMME On every video you have programmes (I bet you knew that already!). VM2 has up to 10 slots for programmes on each tape. The first 5 slots are displayed at the top of the screen. Clicking on the UP/DOWN buttons to the left of the slots will scroll the other 5 slots into or out of view. The digital number next to the slots shows the slot number of the top slot, ie. when the number is 6, slots 6,7,8,9 and 10 are in view. To add a programme: note: if you want to insert a programme (ie. push a set of details inbetween others) click on the position you want to insert at, and then choose 'Insert' from the 'Programme' menu. i. Double click on the slot you want to enter details into. The program details requester is shown. ii Enter the title, length, channel, then two lines of information for the programme you are adding. Pressing ENTER on each prompt takes you to the next, until you press enter on the last which ACCEPTS the details. Enter data for each prompt as below: title - Programme title length of up to 35 characters of text ie. A Nightmare On Elm Street length - Length of programme format H:MM or H:MM.SS (Hours, Minutes, Seconds) ie. 1:30 or 1:30.20 channel - Channel 4 characters describing channel ie. CH4 info - information about programme. This could be the cast, director, or other notes. 2 lines of up to 75 characters each. ie. Heather Langekamp, Robert Englund. First in the series of 'Elm Street Films'. iii Before clicking on [O.K.] to accept your details, click on the SP gadget and SPEAKER gadget to toggle the short play/long play or stereo/mono settings for the program. note: if you want to cancel the details you are entering, click on the eject button (far right hand side, next to [O.K.]. As you add programmes, the map (centre panel) of time used on the tape is built up. It is important to have entered a length for your tape for the map to be accurate (or work at all!). Also remember to set whether your programmes are in SHORT PLAY or LONG PLAY in the programme details. The [CUT], [COPY] and [PASTE] buttons in the programme details requester are explained in section 13. |1-6 VIEWING VIDEO DETAILS To view details of different videos you can do the following: Use [NEXT] to view the next video in the list. Use [PREVIOUS] to view the previous video in the list. Use [FIRST] or [LAST] to view the first or last video. Type a number of a video you would like to view and pressing enter (either using Amiga's number keys, numeric key pad, or key pad displayed in bottom panel. As you type each number it will appear in the digital display (bottom panel) shifting the other numbers left. This means to view video 1 you would have to type; 0 0 1 ENTER, and to view video 30; 0 3 0 ENTER and video 116; 1 1 6 ENTER. |1-7 DELETING DATA Deleting a Video: View the video you wish to delete and click on [DELETE]. Deleting a Programme: Highlight the programme you wish to delete (by clicking on it, a raised box will appear around the title) and then choose 'Delete' from the programme menu. Clearing a Programme: Do the above, but choose 'Clear' from the 'Programme' menu. This will leave the space which the programme occupies, but the details will be cleared. |1-8 SAVING YOUR VIDEOS NORMAL SAVE Simple: Pick 'Save As' -- 'Normal' from the 'Project' menu and save under any name you think is appropriate. Thereafter just select 'Save' from the 'Project Menu' or [SAVE] to store as that file. The default directory for saves is the directory which contains the VM2 program. ENCRYPTED SAVE Protect your Database from prying eyes by using Encrypted Save. This process will encrypt your data with a password. When you come to load the file, you will be prompted for the password, and only the correct password will load the file. As VM2 encrypts the data this means that it is safe from viewing in AmigaDos (ie. with the type command) and also with diskeditors and other such programs. As with any protection method, the programmer cannot guarantee total security. Select 'Save As' -- 'Encrypted' from the 'Project Menu'. You will be prompted to give a password which must be at least seven characters long. The password can contain any characters including spaces and punctuation. After giving the password, the usual file requester will appear allowing you choose the name and directory where you want to save your data. note: using 'Save' or [SAVE] will not store your file as encrypted data. You must select 'Save As' -- 'Encrypted' to do this again. |1-9 LOADING A VIDEO DATABASE Choose 'Load' fom the 'Project Menu' and then select the file you wish to load from the file requester. If you choose to load an encrypted Videos file, then you will have to give the correct password. |1-10 IMPORTING VIDEO MANAGER SYSTEM FILES Good new for VMS users is that you don't need to input all your data again. Select 'Import' fom the 'Project' menu to import you data. A file requester will appear allowing you to choose you VMS file. Once picked, VM2 will import and re-format your old data. |1-11 FIND FUNCTIONS VM2 provides 4 search functions which are explained in this section. Searches help you find data more easily. Every Find requester has a set of search buttons which do the following: << Find previous >> Find next |<< Position at start of list >>| Position at end of list Select the search you require either from the 'Find' menu or from the function pad. FINDING A PROGRAMME TITLE Choose to Find Title and then enter the title of part of a title that you wish to find. Now use the search buttons to start searching (ie. use >> to search forwards). FINDING A REFERENCE This functions seaches the video tapes references. Choose Find Ref. and then enter the reference or part of a reference that you want to find. FIND INFORMATION This function searches the 'up to' 150 characters information that you can specify for each programme on a video. As with the other functions simply enter the characters that you want to find and then use the search buttons to search. When a program is found that contains the characters you are searching for, the program is highlighted as with the other search functions, BUT the information is not displayed. FIND SPACE This function finds specified amounts of free space remaining on your videos. When you have a programme to record it will find the best video to fit that programme on (ie. the one that wastes the least space). In additon to this, you need not specify an exact time, but can set a range to search for ie. greater than (>)1:30 and less than (<) 2:00. Also, FIND SPACE will search for a space in Long Play or Short Play. i Select to Find Space and the find space requester will appear. ii Enter the greater than (>) time to find. If you wish to search a range then enter the less than (<) time as well. Now use the search buttons to contine with the search. To find the best tape for the SPACE you have specified, use the find best button ( |<..?..>|). This will scan all vidoes and then return to show the video which matches the range you specified with the least amount of space left Videodex view. In the bottom left of the find title and find info requesters there is a videodex button. Pressing this will force a complete find on your database, and then display the videodex showing all the found programmes. Puzzled? ... read the next secion to find out what the Videodex is. |1-12 VIDEODEX Videodex, the fancy word for an index of the programmes on your videos. Select [INDEX] and a requester will appear showing all the programmes on your tapes in alphabetical order. Use _ double click or [>|<] to goto a programme in your list, or use [(_)] to view a programme's details. |1-13 CUT, COPY & PASTE In both the TAPE DETAILS and PROGRAMME DETAILS requesters there are 3 square buttons allowing you to cut/copy or paste data. Simply click on these buttons to perform the required functions. |1-14 PRINTOUTS To print your videos, click on [PRINT], and the print requester will be displayed. From here: i Select Videos if you want to produce a printout by video tape, listing the programmes on each tape or.. select Programmes if you want to produce a printout of your programmes in alphabetical order. ii Select File to print your data to an ASCII file (lines terminated with LINE FEEDS) or.. select Printer to print to a printer (lines terminated with LINE FEED then carriage return). iii Set the page height and indent as required. The defaults should be adequate, but these settings allow for some flexibility. iv Set a title as requred. v Enter a file or device to print to. The default is PRT: (your printer), but you can change this to a file name which once created can be loaded into a text editor, or transferred to another machine for printout. NOTE: If you set a file name, but still choose set Printer (see ii), This will generate a file ready to send to printer on another machine. This format is also compatible with IBM ascii files. vi Finally set 'Print info field' if you want to print your data with the 150 chars of info for each programme. |1-15 PREFERENCES MENU Save Prefs: Choosing save prefs will write a preferences file into your VM2 directory storing the name of the current video file and the colour set chosen. When you next use the program, the last videos file will be loaded automatically, and the colour set changed to the chosen one. |1-16 A FEW IMPORTANT NOTES Video Manager 2 is shareware. As the title screen says, there is no set or enforced fee for using this program. Appropriate contributions towards development (and future developments) would be appreciated, which can be sent to the address below. The amount is up to you. You can also write to me concerning any bugs or problems which you may encounter. If possible I shall update the program and send a new version where necessary. Fans of the American actress Phoebe (Lace/Gremlins) Cates can also write to me, especially if you have pictures/videos/information. I currently have 2 slideshows in the making (using original AGA pics) and will be glad to send them to you if S.A.E. provided. Author's address - (no phone calls please) Kevin Reynolds 72 Clyfton Crescent Immingham South Humberside DN40 2BT ENGLAND