VideoStore 2.00 ========================= by John Lullie ©1991-1992 VideoStore is ShareWare. Only the Un-Registered version is freely distributable provided all documentation and authors notices are left intact. The Registered version however, is NOT freely distributable or subject to sale by anyone other than the author. Doing so is considered a breach of the authors copyright. If you wish to obtain the Registered version of VideoStore, please send $20 to: John Lullie 10701 SW 10th Court Davie, FL 33324 In return, you will receive the a prefessionally labeled Disk containing the Fully-Functional version of VideoStore and a Laser Printed Manual (w/graphics). Installing VideoStore on your HD: ================================ VideoStore will run from anywhere so you can copy it to any directory on any drive. This may be done by either dragging VideoStore's drawer icon onto your hard drive using the mouse or by using any disk utility program. Getting Started: =============== When you are ready to start, double-click the VideoStore icon to start the program. You are presented with the main VideoStore screen. This screen has all the tools needed to add, edit, trash, print, count and search the Video entries in your library. Loading VideoStore: ================== After loading VideoStore, you will see a small credit window appear in the center of the screen. Click anywhere in this small window to make it go away. This credit window is the same window that appears when you select the About... menu option. The Category List Box: ===================== On the left half of the screen you'll see two List box's. The first box,Categories displays the type of Video's to be displayed. It is more or less the same as sections in a real Library or Book store. Categories are User-Defined and you can add as many as you wish so the only limit is disk space and the memory in your system. Some default categories have already been defined. For now, you can use these as an example and trash them later to create your own. Clicking once on a category will load and display all entries that are in that selected category. These Video entries are displayed in the lower List box. If you've just started VideoStore for the first time, the lower Titles List box (under the Titles and TapeID's buttons) will be empty. The Titles List Box and Mode Buttons: ==================================== The bottom left List box displays all the Video's entered in the selected category. The very first time you use VideoStore, this List box may be empty or it may contain a sample entry. In any event, Clicking on a different category (in the Category box) will in turn load and display your Video titles in this Title List box for that category.The two Mode buttons (above the List Box: Titles & TapeIDs) tell VideoStore to display the Titles or TapeIDs of the stored Video's. Titles for instance might be "Star Trek IV" and the TapeID might be "Tape 01" or "Video 01" or whatever. (When assigning Tape ID's try to be consistent in the way you ID your tapes. This way, when sorting or searching later you won't have any trouble locating what you want.). Click on the TapeIDs button to see the TapeIDs listed in the box ("Tape 01" in this case). Click the Titles button to bring the title's back to the List Box. That's pretty much how the two viewing modes work.Clicking once on the Title "Star Trek V" in the List box would show both the Title and TapeID in the two fields to the right of the List box.(You may have noticed that clicking on an existing entry not only displays the Title and TapeID but also puts VideoStore in Edit-Mode). Adding a new Video: ================== Quick Note about Record Filing:The entries you type in are written directly to disk AFTER pressing return in the third field called Counter or Comment field (if the comment button is on). Therefore, there is no menu option or button for saving the records you've entered, saving is done automatically.To add a new Video, click once on the Add button located at the top center of the screen. The Status Box will display "Add a New Video...", all the fields will be cleared and the cursor will be placed into the Movie/Video field ready for your input. (Clicking once in the field Movie/Video will also place the cursor there for you.) Enter a new title for your Video and press return (for now, entering any text will do). The cursor will be placed into the TapeID field ready again for your input. Type in an ID for this movie entry or if you wish, you may leave the TapeID field empty. An ID might simply be the name or number of the Video Cassette that the movie is stored on. If it IS left empty, the text "No-ID" will be entered for you after you press return. The reason for the "No- ID" default is for legibility after printing records indifferent formats. At this point, if the Comment button is off, you're entry has been saved to disk. If however, the Comment button is on, the cursor will be placed in the Comment field. Enter a comment for this entry and press return to save the entry. Your new entry should now be displayed in the List Box. NOTE: When Adding or Editing records you must press [RETURN] in the Counter or Comment field for the new or edited records to be accepted and saved. Editing a Record Entry: ====================== Edit Mode is toggled on in one of two ways; clicking on the Edit button or clicking on an existing entry in the Titles List box. Either way,the title, tape ID, counter and comment for the selected entry will be displayed in the appropriate fields. To edit part of an entry, click once in the field you wish to edit, make your change and press [Return] in the Counter or Comment field. As noted earlier, pressing [Return] in the last active field (Counter or Comment) will save your changes to disk and update the Titles List box. Searching for and Entry: ======================= Clicking on the Search button will put the cursor into the Title field and await your input. Type in either the title name or TapeID that you want to find and press return. The search will begin and stop at the first instance that matches what you've entered. If the text you entered was found - you'll be prompted by a requester to continue the search for the next match or cancel the search all together.You don't have to enter the entire name for the search to be effective,nor is it case-sensitive. For example, If we were looking for "Star Wars",we could simply type "star" (without the quotes of course) and VideoStore would stop at every record that contained the letters "star".(i.e. "Star Trek", "Star Wars", "Starbuck", "Shining Star" and so forth). The more characters you type in - the narrower the search. The search applies to either field and does not matter which field you type in your search text. Searching applies to TapeIDs as well as Titles. Trashing a Video: ================ To Trash (or delete) a Video from the record, you need to select a Video in the List box, then click on the Trash button. A requester will pop up and give you a chance to change your mind. UnDo a Trashed Entry: ==================== The UnDo Trash menu option is for re-calling trashed entries.If you happen to delete an entry by accident - select UnDo Trash from the Edit menu. This option will only recall the last deleted entry. Detail Manager: ============== Clicking on the Details button opens the Detail Manager dialog box for entering more information about a selected Video. You can also open the Detail Manager by double-clicking an entry in the Titles List box. The dialog box will display the Title, TapeID, Counter number and Category for the currently selected entry. You may add additional information such as the date the video or movie was Recorded, Run Time, tape Format, Synopsis and Rating. This info can be attached and stored for any Video entries in your library. To add information, simply click once in any of the fields, type in the info and press [Return]. When you've completed the details, click on the Save button. Detail Window Specifics: ----------------------- Recorded: The date the recording was made. (i.e. 11/05/92) Run Time: The length of the recording. (i.e. 01:30) which would be 1 hour and 30 minutes. Format: The type of tape cartridge. (i.e. VHS, 8MM or Other) For Other, click the Other button and enter the format in the field provided. Synopsis: A brief description of the Video/Movie. (i.e. "Ron's Birthday" or "Third sequel to the original ALIEN movie" etc..) NOTE: The Synopsis and Comment are separate entities. Therefor, you can have a comment AND a synopsis attached to the same entry. Rating: How you rate the movie or video. Good, Fair, Poor or leave the buttons OFF if you don't wish to rate it at all. Clear: Clears all the fields and buttons.Cancel: Ignores any additions or changes made and closes the Detail Manager. Save: Saves all the information to disk and closes the Detail Manager. Viewing Details of an Entry: --------------------------- To view details about a Video or Movie that has already been entered into the Detail Manager, select the entry in the Titles List box and click the Details button. Or, double-click the entry in the Titles List box. NOTE: If you happen to edit or change the title of an entry that contains details, you will have to add new details to that entry. This is ONLY necessary if you change the title name of an existing entry that had details to begin with. (i.e. changing "Star Trek" to "Star Trek IV"). Menus: ===== PROJECT MENU: ------------ About VideoStore: ---------------- Opens a small window which displays the program version number and credits. Click anywhere in this window to make it go away. Preferences: ----------- Opens the Preferences Dialog box. Some features of VideoStore are User-Definable and easy to configure by using Preferences. The settings in this dialog box are written to a prefs file on disk and will stay until you change them again. The settings are as follows: Always Start With: The Category that VideoStore will select and load upon start-up. Always Sort By: After an entry has been made and added to the List box, a sort is performed. The type of sort is determined by this option. Comment Field: If this button is ON, the Comment field in VideoStore's main window will always be activated. This means that whenever you press return in the Counter field, the cursor will be placed in the Comment field ready for input. The reason for the Comment button in the main window is for turning ON or OFF the field. You may not want to add a comment for every entry. By switching the button to its OFF state, the Comment field is by-passed and your entry is saved after pressing [Return] in the Counter field. Verify Quit: If ON, a requester will pop up and confirm your request to exit VideoStore. If OFF, the requester will not appear and VideoStore will exit quietly. Warning Beep: In some instances, VideoStore will sound a beep when it needs your attention. Save Backup: ----------- Saves a back-up copy of your Library to disk. It would be a good idea to select this menu option once in while just to be safe. It will create a directory called "CATS.BAK" with all of your data inside. As of this writing, the DETAILS directory is not backed up, nor is there is a provision for an optional save path so you should copy both directories to a floppy disk from time to time. However, if you back up your hard drive once in a while, you won't need to use this feature. Load Backup: ----------- Overwrites the current library with the backup library. Be careful with this option, it will delete your current library and replace it with the back-up version. (Caution: There is NO UnDo for this option!) Quit: ---- Exits the program.Edit Menu:UnDo Trash:If you delete an entry, you can recover it by selecting this menu option. This menu item will only be selectable after something has been trashed. EDIT MENU: ========= UnDo Trash: ---------- Undeletes the last trashed Video entry. Add Category: ------------ Opens a small dialog box with a field for entering the category name you wish to create. To enter a category name, type it into the field and press [Return]. Delete Category: --------------- Permanently removes a category and it's contents from the Categories List box. A requester will be displayed to confirm your request to delete the selected category. Total ALL Entries: ----------------- Puts the total of all Video entries in all categories in the Status box. Clear Fields: ------------ Clears all the fields in the main window: (Nothing is deleted, just removed from the fields.) Display All: ----------- When you select this menu item, a window will appear that displays all Video's in your library and from every category. Only the Titles and TapeIDs are displayed. Shown at the bottom of this window is the total number of entries. When you want to know how many Video's you've entered, this is one place to look. You can also print this information by clicking on the Print button (Please make sure your printer is on before clicking Print). Open Queue Window: ----------------- The Queue window is used for queuing individual entries. These entries may then be sent to your printer or exported (as text) to a file. To open the Queue window, select Open Queue Window from the Edit menu. When this window is displayed, clicking on an entry in the Titles List box (Main screen) will add that entry to the Queue. If the Include Details button in the Queue window is ON, the Details for that entry will be added also. The Trashcan will remove the selected line in the Queue. For example, to remove the line "Return of the Jedi" from the Queue, select it and click the Trashcan. Only one line at a time may be removed from the Queue. The CLR button will clear everything in the Queue. The Arrow/Disk button allows you to export the contents of the Queue to an ASCII (text) file. The Printer button sends the contents of the Queue to your printer. And the View icon will display the Queue contents in a large window that may be scrolled horizontally and vertically. To close the Queue window, click on the windows Close gadget. Some notes about the Queue window: ================================= As of version 2.0, the Queue window is a one way trip. You can export but not import. This may change and if it does, you'll find info on it in the "Read.Me" file supplied with CDStore. Also, unlike requester windows, the Main screen is still active and functional when the Queue window is open. I would advise however, that you close the Queue window when you no longer need to use it. PRINTING RECORDS: ================ Clicking on the Print button in VideoStore's Main window will open the Print/Page-Setup window. You will see two Format Icons, a Line Space toggle button, Header and Date options. You will also see a Preview window below that displays your current records in the format selected. To the left and right (upper half) of the screen are two more buttons - Print and Exit. Each of these functions are explained below: Format Icons: ------------ These icons control the print format of your records. * The first icon will print each record on a single line. * The second icon will print each record on two lines. Simply click once on one of the icons and the Preview window will display the change accordingly. Line Spacing (On/Off): --------------------- ON - will insert a blank line between each record for a more legible printout. OFF - will remove blank lines if they are there and the printout will have NO blank lines between records. Header Specs: ------------ This option allows you to add a title and/or date to the printed page. This header will appear at the very top of the page. When the Header button is clicked, a requester will open with a few options from which you can choose for your header. The options are as follows: Include Date: This is toggle button that allows you to turn the Date option ON or OFF. If it's ON, the date will be placed a few spaces after the Header on the same line. If the Header is not ON, only the date will be printed as the header. Include Title: If this toggle button is selected, the field below is activated so you can type in a header title. The button to the left of this field [X] simply clears the field for you and places the cursor in position ready for input. Once you've set up the header specs, click the Ok button. If you change your mind and don't want to use a header, click the Cancel button. Fill Character: The Video's displayed in the preview window are listed as Video title and author. The author lists are tabbed to the right of each Video. The Fill Character is the character used between the tab (Also known as "Leader Dots"). The standard fill character is dots like those used in an index of some Manuals. You can use just about any fill character you wish; hyphens, under scores etc.. However, you are limited to one character. If you wish to have nothing but spaces between the tabs, delete the "." in the field. To change a fill character, click into the field, delete what is there, type a character and press [Return]. The changes you make will be reflected in the preview window. Tab Setting: The slider bar in the Tab Setting will adjust the space between the Video titles and the author names. Some Video titles can be very long so this option was added to move the author names left or right until you are satisfied that all the title names appear in full. The slider bar moves the author names one space at a time either left or right. You can click and drag the bar or click the gray area before or after the slider bar to move it. Print Button (In the Page-Setup window): This button will open a requester to verify that your printer is on and ready. If you click Yes your records will be sent to your printer using all the format options you've selected. Exit Button: This button will exit the Print/Page-Setup and return you to VideoStore's main window. Other Objects in VideoStore: =========================== Total Video's in Category Box: ----------------------------- Shows total number of entries in the selected category.