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GIM03.DOC
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1994-12-26
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CHAPTER 3 THE FOLDER AREA
Operations on a Closed Folder
Opening a Folder
INTRODUCING THE FOLDER AREA...
The first screen you see when GIM starts up is a thing called
the "folder screen", or more often, the "Folder Area".
(Well, okay, strictly speaking, the VERY first screen you see
is a title screen which includes a copyright notice, the date
that your copy of GIM was compiled, and a lot of startup
notices and a note about EMS memory usage. That's not the
Folder Area; it's just some introductory stuff that doesn't
apply to this chapter. Ignore it for now.)
The folder screen consists of:
- a menu bar across the top,
- a list of drives that are valid on your machine in a
box on the upper left; the currently selected drive has
an arrow next to it,
- a report of the total size of the current drive, and
the space available, in a box on the lower left,
- a partial list of directories on the current drive in a
box in the center; the current directory has an arrow
next to it, and
- a list of GIM folders in the current directory in a box
on the right; if you're new to GIM, there won't be any
GIM folders listed in this box (except for the Lincoln
folders if you are in the directory where they reside).
Get a good look at this screen. Throughout the rest of the
chapter, we'll be referring to it as the "Folder Area". In
fact, we'll be referring to the "Folder Area" throughout the
entire GIM documentation, because everything you do in GIM
starts in the Folder Area.
First, let's briefly discuss "areas" in GIM, so you know what
we mean by the "Folder Area", and how it differs from the
other "areas" that GIM has to offer.
Then, we'll discuss the parts of the Folder Area in more
detail, including the functions that are available from the
menu bar, and including the meanings for the different boxes.
Finally, we'll take you step-by-step through the process of
opening an existing folder, which will lead you into the next
chapter, which discusses the "Multi Area".
INTRODUCING OTHER GIM AREAS...
Each of GIM's functions takes place in its own particular
"area".
So for example:
- adding a new person to your family tree, or making
changes to an existing person, is done in the "Person
Area"; for details, see chapter 7.
- adding or changing a family is done from the "Family
Area"; see chapter 8.
- setting preferences, choosing a printer, enabling or
disabling mouse support, and other configuration tasks
are done from the "Setup Area"; see chapter 6.
- printing pedigree charts and family group records is
done from the "Forms Area"; see chapter 10.
In other words, when this documentation speaks of "areas",
it's referring to visual environments that are set up to
perform a particular function or set of functions.
Each of the different areas is entered by pressing some
function key from an area above it. For example, to get to
the Forms Area, you first run GIM, where you start in the
Folder Area; next, you enter a folder (more on this in a
moment); and lastly, you press F3 to enter the Forms Area.
Most areas reside beneath the Multi Area, and these will be
listed in the next chapter; several others reside beneath the
Folder Area, and will be discussed below. All of the major
areas have their own mini-areas beneath them; for example, the
Forms Area has a Styles area, a Typesetting area, a Pedigree
Chart area and two Family Group Record areas beneath it.
(These are discussed in detail in chapter 10.)
INTRODUCING FOLDERS: JUST WHAT IS A FOLDER, ANYWAY?...
If you're like me, you have a lot of genealogical records and
other papers stored in hanging file folders, with each folder
representing a different ancestral line, or family name, or
geographical area.
In the same way, a GIM folder is a collection of persons,
families, and notes, gathered and linked together into one
family tree, and kept in a single place.
When you get to the end of this chapter, you'll open a folder,
and see what one looks like on the inside, and lot of things
will make more sense. Until then, just trust us; a folder is
a collection of related persons, families, and notes.
As we go through this documentation, you'll see that this
folder approach is simple, yet elegant -- and not just a
little innovative. We are unaware of any other software
product which handles collections of genealogical data in
such an organized fashion.
The folder approach offers a great deal of orderliness, and
yet is flexible enough to accommodate any genealogical task.
Folders can hold over 2,000,000,000 persons, and over
2,000,000,000 families, and there can be as many folders as
your disk drives can hold.
Folders can be split apart (see pruning in chapter 12), joined
together (see grafting in chapter 13), and shared between PAF,
FamilySearch, Brother's Keeper, and many other software
packages (see information about GEDCOM in chapter 14).
For DOS experts, a folder is a group of five DOS files, kept
in a single DOS directory. For example, a file called SMITH
consists of the following files: SMITH.GD, SMITH.GI,
SMITH.GF, SMITH.GN, and SMITH.GP.
THE PARTS OF THE FOLDER AREA: THE MENU BAR...
A multilayered menu of things to do is presented at the top of
the screen in a two line format. Specifically, the menu bar
for the Folder Area looks a little like this:
F1 OPEN F3 F5 GEDCOM F7 SETUP F9 HELP
F2 RENAME F4 BACKUP F6 F8 (Ctl-F8 COLORS) 10 EXIT GIM
Actually, it looks a little better than this, because it's in
color, and it's spread out a little more. We scrunched it up
here so that it would fit within the margins!
What it means is that by pressing each of the function keys,
you can activate a different function. Specifically:
F1 opens an existing folder, or creates a new one
F2 renames an existing folder
F3 doesn't do anything
F4 does a consistency check and a backup of your folder
(see the discussion of folder backups below)
F5 enters the GEDCOM Area (see chapter 14)
F6 doesn't do anything
F7 enters the Setup Area (see chapter 6)
F8 doesn't do anything, but this menu item reminds you
that control-F8 edits colors for this area
F9 brings up context-sensitive help (see chapter 5)
F10 exits GIM; the escape key does this also
This type of menu is available in almost all areas of the
program. Access to additional menus choices are displayed by
pressing and holding either the <SHIFT>, <CTRL>, or <ALT>
keys. These keys in combination with a function key will
activate the corresponding sublayered menu item. In other
words, when you hold down the <SHIFT> key, the menu bar
changes to look like this:
F1 F3 DOS SHELL F5 F7 GIM SETUP F9 NEW USERS
F2 F4 F6 F8 10
Again, we've scrunched this up a little to get it to fit into
the margins. The point is, this menu bar reminds you of what
the shifted function keys do. Specifically:
shift-F3 invokes a DOS shell
shift-F7 lets you pick first-time global color settings
shift-F9 is some introductory help for new users
Holding down the <CTRL> key shows other functions:
control-F2 deletes the current folder -- be careful!!
control-F4 restores a folder from a backup
control-F8 changes colors, as discussed later on
control-F9 brings up the "Full Menu", a verbose list of
the commands associated with each function key;
the Full Menu is available for any GIM Area
control-F10 selects novice/expert mode; see chapter 17,
"Advanced Techniques", for details.
What you'll notice is that the more common functions are
assigned to the unshifted function keys, while the less common
are assigned to the shifted, control, and alternate function
keys. We've tried to maintain that approach in all areas of
GIM.
Play with this a little, not just here but in all GIM areas,
and you'll see what we mean. Hold down the shift, control,
and alt keys and notice what it does to the menu bar. Note
that in most, if not all areas, the following keys have an
almost universal function:
<F8> Repaint/redraw the current display.
<CTRL>+<F8> Change the color palette for the current
area.
<F9> Help!
<F10> Exit (and save changes) from the current
area to the previous area. Usually, but
not always, the escape key does this too.
BOXES IN THE FOLDER AREA...
The folder area is divided into four windows.
Two windows on the left show the available disk drives, and
the space available on the current drive.
The center window displays some or all of the directories of
the currently selected disk drive.
The right window lists the GIM folders within the selected
directory.
To switch between these windows, use the right and left arrow
keys, or the mouse if you have one. Note that the current
window is highlighted with a double box.
When a window is highlighted, use the up and down arrow keys
or the mouse to select items in that window.
For example, to change the selected drive from C: to D:, use
the left arrow key to move to the leftmost window. Assuming
that the arrow in that box is pointing to the C: drive, use
the down arrow to select D: drive. Try it, and you'll see
what we mean. This sort of thing works for all the windows in
the Folder Area.
When you first start up GIM, all of the directories are not
displayed. Only the last directory used from the previous
session of GIM is displayed. This will speed the selection of
a folder and entrance into the Multi Area. Any vertical
movement within the directory window will initiate a search
for all directories on the selected disk drive and then will
display all of the directories/subdirectories on that disk
drive.
When you select a floppy diskette drive, be sure there is a
diskette in the drive. In the event that GIM doesn't find a
diskette there, you will be asked for verification.
In the folder box, there will be zero or more folders listed.
If you're new to GIM, there won't be any, unless you have put
the LINCOLN sample folders in the current directory.
However, one thing you will always see in that box is an entry
called "«new file»". If you want to create a folder from
scratch, select this entry. Doing so will create a brand new,
empty folder, and will place you inside it. For now, however,
if you're new to GIM, start by experimenting with the sample
LINCOLN folders, and come back to the "«new file»" entry when
you're ready to use GIM for real.
MORE ABOUT MENU BAR FUNCTIONS...
Most of the functions that are available from the Folder Area
are either pretty self-explanatory (rename, delete, exit), or
they are discussed in later chapters of this documentation
(GEDCOM, Setup, Help).
Three exceptions to this statement are:
- folder backups
- setting and changing colors
- opening a folder
Each of these will be discussed below in turn.
FOLDER BACKUPS...
A folder backup is duplicate copy of folder data that is made
so that, in the event of the destruction of the original data,
a restoration from the duplicated data is available. Of
course, no one plans on losing data, but it happens, and the
folder backup provides a security blanket just in case.
Before performing the backup, GIM does a very thorough
consistency check on your data. If the folder check shows
that the folder is not clean, the backup copy is not created.
This assures that the backup copy is always sound, so that if
for some reason your folder becomes corrupted, and if you
should need to restore your folder from a backup, you know
you'll get back to a clean set of data.
If the consistency check reveals that your folder has become
corrupted, there are three things you can do. The first is to
restore a previous backup and re-enter any changes you've made
since then. The second is to use the "Fix Folder" function
that is described in chapter 16. The third, if neither of
these other approaches works, is to send your folder to us and
let us fix it and send it back.
How often should you do a backup? GIM will begin to nag you
after you've made a number of changes to your folder, and you
can change that threshold from the Setup Area; see chapter 6.
As a rule of thumb, we recommend that you back up your folder
after you've entered the equivalent of a family or two worth
of new information. This is discussed in more detail in
chapter 6.
To initiate the backup process:
- start from the Folder Area
- select the folder you wish to back up; be sure that it
is highlighted
- press the <F4> key
- if your folder is large, be patient....
SETTING AND CHANGING COLORS...
Like all of the other GIM areas, the colors in the Folder Area
can be changed to suit your personality.
First of all, if you haven't done so already, pick some global
colors by pressing shift-F7 from the Folder Area. That will
take you to the global color selection area. Currently, there
are five choices there. You'll want to experiment with each of
them until you find one that's acceptable. Don't worry; you
don't have to like any of them, because you will be able to
change any or all of them any time you like.
At any time, in any GIM area, you can press control-F8 to
change the colors that are in use for that area. Please note
that any changes you make to colors in (say) the Forms Area
will ONLY apply to the Forms Area, and will have no effect on
any other area.
For each area, there are ten color sets to choose from. They
are called: Normal, Bold, Reverse, Select, Prompt, Response,
MenuFKey, MenuName, Footnote, and Mouse. Broadly speaking,
they are used for the following purposes:
Normal -- for ordinary text
Bold -- for important text
Reverse -- for very important text
Select -- for highlighted items
Prompt -- for asking questions
Response -- for answering questions
MenuFKey -- for the function key numbers in the menu bar
MenuName -- for the function key names in the menu bar
Footnote -- for footnotes
Mouse -- for the mouse character
Use up and down arrows to select a color to change; then use
the F1 through F4 keys to change the fore- and background for
that color. Do this as much as you like, and when you press
F10 to exit the color edit menu, your color selections will be
applied to the area you're in. These color changes will remain
in effect forever, or until you change them again, whichever
comes first.
OPENING A FOLDER...
For the purposes of this discussion, you'll need a folder to
open. You should have received two sample folders, called
LINCOLN1 and LINCOLN2, with this documentation. Put them
somewhere, and we'll use them to practice opening a folder.
Use the arrow keys or the mouse to move to the drive window on
the folder screen. Select the drive where the LINCOLN folders
are found.
Then move to the center window, and use the arrow keys or the
mouse to move to the directory where the LINCOLN folders are
found.
Now move to the folder window on the right hand side.
LINCOLN1 and LINCOLN2 should be displayed in that window.
Pick one -- either one -- using the up and down arrow keys or
the mouse until the one you want is highlighted.
Now, press the F1 key, or simply press the enter key.
The area you are looking at now is called the "Multi Area".
You are now ready to move on to chapter 4.
