Copyright: © 2000-2003 by H+H Software GmbH
Citation: © 2000-2003 by H+H Software GmbH


Overview
 – Overview

With the Virtual CD Editor, you can create customized virtual CDs containing your choice of files and/or audio tracks. This is done by simply storing the desired tracks in a single "definition file", which is then used to create the virtual CD.

With music CDs, the Editor can be useful for putting together a virtual CD with all of your favorite songs. For data CDs, the Editor offers the advantage that you can choose to leave out source CD data that you don't need, such as demo files.

You can also use the Editor to modify existing virtual CDs, although at present this is possible only with data CDs that contain an ISO track. (Other types of CD, such as audio CD, CD-Extra, etc., cannot be modified.) Each time you make a change, a new session is added to the virtual CD, containing the modified data.

The main program window is divided into two parts. The upper half shows an Explorer View with the content of the existing CD. To add files or tracks from this CD to a new virtual CD, shown in the lower half of the window, simply drag-and-drop the desired files or tracks.

The lower half of this window is divided into two panes:

•	Track View: Shows the tracks that can be added to the virtual CD container.

•	Contents View: Shows the contents of a selected track.

You can activate commands in the Virtual CD  Editor through the toolbar or through the menus.

The Status bar shows how much of the pre-set CD space has been used up.


Explorer View
 – Explorer View

The Explorer View is a window pane in the Virtual CD Editor that shows CDs as they are displayed in the Windows Explorer. You can select data (folders or files) here with the mouse and then use drag-and-drop to copy them to the Contents View, below the Explorer View, to add the selected data to a virtual CD.

Alternatively, you can use the Copy and Paste commands in the menu or the Toolbar.

Right-click in this window pane for a shortcut menu containing the following items:

Properties	Opens the system dialog showing the properties of the selected file.
Copy	Copies the selected element to the Clipboard.


Track View
 –  Track View

The Track View shows all audio and data tracks that will be added to a virtual CD. When you select a data track, the Contents View shows the files and directories on that track. No additional information is shown for audio tracks, as these do not contain files or directories.

Right-click in this window pane for a shortcut menu containing the following items:

Cut	Remove the selected entry and paste it in the clipboard
Copy	Copy the selected entry and paste it in the clipboard
Paste	Insert the contents of the clipboard in the current position
Reset	Delete the selected entry
Rename	Rename the selected entry
New directory	Creates a new directory in the selected data track
Rename the CD...	Lets you change the title of a CD with one or more audio tracks you wish to include on the virtual CD


Contents View
 – Contents View

The Contents View shows the data contained in the entry that is selected in the Track View.

Right-click in this window pane for a shortcut menu containing the following items:

Cut	Remove the selected entry and paste it in the clipboard
Copy	Copy the selected entry and paste it in the clipboard
Paste	Insert the contents of the clipboard in the current position
Reset	Delete the selected entry
Rename	Rename the selected entry
New directory	Creates a new directory in the selected data track
Rename the CD...	Lets you change the title of a CD with one or more audio tracks you wish to include on the virtual CD


Menus
 – Menus

All commands in the Virtual CD Editor can be activated through the menus.

File Menu

New	Create a new definition file
Open	Open an existing definition file or container file
Save	Save the current data in an image file
Save as...	Save the current data in a definition file under a different name
Exit	Close the Virtual CD Editor

Edit Menu

Cut	Remove the selected entry and paste it in the clipboard
Copy	Copy the selected entry and paste it in the clipboard
Paste	Insert the contents of the clipboard in the current position
Reset	Delete the selected entry
Rename	Rename the selected entry
New directory	Creates a new directory in the selected data track
Rename the CD...	Lets you change the title of a CD with one or more audio tracks you wish to include on the virtual CD
Create virtual CD	Run the Image Writer to create a virtual CD

Add Submenu

Audio tracks...	Opens a dialog for adding audio tracks to a virtual audio CD
Directory	Opens the standard Windows dialog box for adding a directory
File Level	Opens the standard Windows dialog box for adding files

View Menu

Status bar	Shows or hides the status bar.
Large symbols	Show large symbols in the Contents View
Small symbols	Show small symbols in the Contents View
List	Show the Contents View as a list
Details	Show the Contents View as a list with detailed information
Editor settings	Opens the Editor page of the Settings program.
Refresh	Updates the display in the Contents View

Toolbar Submenu

Toolbar	Shows or hides the toolbar.
Add text to buttons	Show or hide the explanatory texts under the toolbar buttons

Help Menu

Help	Opens the Help program
About...	View information about the program


Toolbar
 – Toolbar

The main commands for the Virtual CD Editor are available in the toolbar. When the mouse cursor is over one of the buttons, the corresponding command is highlighted.

New	Create a new definition file
Open	Open a menu containing the following items: Audio tracks...: Opens a dialog for adding audio tracks to a virtual audio CD Directory: Opens the standard Windows dialog box for adding a directory to the active definition file Files: Opens the standard Windows dialog box for adding files to the active definition file
Save	Save the current data in an image file
Add...	Lets you add virtual CDs
Reset	Delete the selected entry
Create virtual CD	Run the Image Writer to create a container file (virtual CD)
View	Open a menu containing the following items: Large symbols: Shows large symbols  Small symbols: Shows small symbols List: Shows the contents as a list Details: Shows the contents as a list with detailed information
CD size	Opens a dialog where you can define the size (data volume) of the finished virtual CD.
Help	Starts the Virtual CD Help program


Name for CD
 – Name for CD

If the information on a given audio CD is not downloaded from the CDDB server, then you need to enter a unique title for the audio CD in question. This is especially important when you create a custom audio CD containing tracks from different source CDs. Once you have finished composing the CD (by creating a definition file) and begin creating the virtual CD, you are prompted to insert each source CD in turn, depending on the order of the songs in your definition file. The insert prompts indicate the source CDs by title, which is why each CD must have a unique name.


Editing Track Titles
 – Editing Track Titles

You can edit the title of an audio track in this dialog.


Adding Audio Tracks
 – Adding Audio Tracks

The Source select list in this dialog contains a list of all currently available music CDs from which you can add tracks to your definition file. If the desired CD is not shown in this list, insert it in a CD-ROM drive and click on Refresh.

Once you have selected the CD, you can select the desired tracks to add to your virtual CD. Click on Edit to change the track title.

When you click on OK, the selected titles are added to the definition file. If the Store audio tracks on the hard disk temporarily option is selected, the Image Writer starts and stores the selected titles on your hard disk. When you are ready to create the virtual CD, you do not need to insert your physical CDs again.


Defining CD Size
 – Defining CD Size

Click on the CD Size button in the Toolbar to open a dialog where you can define the maximum size (data volume) of the virtual CD to be created. As you add data to the definition file for your virtual CD, the status bar shows how much of the pre-set volume is taken up.

	If you plan to use the virtual CD as the source for writing a physical CD, make sure you set a size that does not exceed the capacity of your blank CDs.


Selecting a Session
 – Selecting a Session

Every time you modify an existing virtual CD, the Virtual CD Editor stores the changes in a separate session. When you open a virtual CD for editing that already has a multi-session format, you need to select the session that you wish to edit.

	The last session in the list is always the most recent session stored and thus contains the most recent changes.