I'm a student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. A Macintosh convert for years, I buy a lot of magazines and therefore, have a lot of CD's. When I wanted to find the latest version of a file or program, I had to scan a large amount of data. That's what inspired me to write this program.
If you have questions, bugs or suggested improvements, you can contact me at the following addresses:
By mail:
Bersier Jacques, Av. GÄnÄral Guisan 36, 1700 Fribourg, Suisse
By e-mail:
Jacques.Bersier@span.ch
Please excuse me for any spelling, syntax or grammatical errors, but English is not my mother language (thanks to Bart Romanowicz and Steve Smith for their help).
What is it ?
Catalogue is a program that allows you to track all the removable media that can be mounted on the Mac. There are many other similar programs, but none are easy to use, which is why I wrote this program.
This program can freely be distributed using every supports such as BBS, CDs, etc if the ReadMe file and the Registering form are included. I will also be very pleased if you can send me an e-mail to inform me when Catalogue is distributed at jacques.bersier@span.ch.
Catalogue also exist in French, Japanese and Italian. You can find them easily on the info-mac server at ftp://sumex.stanford.edu/info-mac/disk.
CATALOGUE IS SHAREWARE
Catalogue is shareware. This means that if you appreciate this program and use it, it will be nice to send me the registration fees. For complete informations, please open the registering form.
What's new ?
Here are the most significative new features that have been added to Catalogue 2.1:
Ñ Support of Drag&Drop for folders and volumes. If you drag a volume, it is saved in the default database and
Catalogue quit when it is over. If you drag a folder, it is opened in place of the default one.
Attention: if an older version of Catalogue has already been installed on your hard drive, you will probably have
to rebuild your desktop (Command-Option at startup).
Ñ Catalogue is now able to scan into StuffIt and Compact Pro archives. You can disable this feature in the
preferences.
Ñ A preferences function let you disable saving invisible and no name files. No name files are generally used to
create large icons on CD's.
Ñ You can now save up to 4000 volumes in the same database (previously 650).
Ñ The search function is now able to display up to 4000 matching items (previously 800).
Ñ The items size can be displayed in the lists.
Ñ In the info part of the volume, the volume save date is now displayed.
Ñ An export function let you use the Catalogue database with other programs.
Ñ Catalogue doesn't need anymore the Scripting Finder extension to open applications or documents.
Ñ The size and position of the window is saved in the preferences.
Ñ A toolbar contains buttons for the most used functions.
Ñ If you try to launch an application on a unmounted volume, the program waits until the volume is introduced
in the drive. There's not only an alert that return to the application.
Ñ In the info part of the main window, the date format has been changed. The month is now displayed using 3
characters.
Ñ Two modifiers have changed. To make multiple selections, you have to use Cmd instead of Ctrl. I have
changed this to follow the Mac standard. And thus, to launch an application, you have to use the Ctrl key.
Ñ The search result is not more displayed in a different window. The matching items now appears in the column
list (this is the same as the old Visualize in the volumes window command).
Ñ It is possible to sort the search result.
Ñ When you drag a volume on the Catalogue icon, it is saved in the default folder. If you want to save it in
another location, just maintain the Cmd key down during the operation. This let you choose a new folder before
saving it.
Ñ Fixed some minor bug when displaying the middle column.
Ñ Some dialog have been resized to fit little screen (i.e. with Mac Classic).
The 2.1.1 version just fixes a bug that cause an error while displaying the informations on some elements. The free space of the drives wasn't displayed, nor the creator and type of a file.
The 2.1.2 version fixes the following bugs: when you try to launch an application using the right column, the alert is now correctly displayed if the volume isn't mounted, if you add a volume to the base and the volume sort option is on Inversed order, the new volume is now correctly placed in the list, when returning to the volume list after a search, the volume sort menu is now reactivated.
Thank you very much to every users that send me suggestions for this version. If the one that you ask for is not implemented in this version, be sure that I will do everything possible to add it in the next one.
Thanks to Lavocat Daniel for his help on improving Catalogue.
Intersting Features
Ñ When you introduce a volume in a drive, you can decide what the program does:
- If the Ctrl key is pressed, you can rename the volume before saving (very useful with pre-formatted volumes).
- If the Option key is pressed, the volume is ejected after saving.
- If the Command key is pressed, Catalogue does nothing.
Ñ If a volume is already mounted when the program starts, you don't have to go to the Finder to eject it. You can
do that from the program.
Ñ The 'Open a catalog' command allows you to select a directory. The program then looks in the directory and
displays the recognized files. This allows you to have different directories for different types of media, and to
open them easily. For example, you could have separate directories for CD's, Floppies and Zip disks.
Ñ The search command has a lot of criteria allowing you to easily locate a file.
Ñ There is a print command that allows you to print all or part of the list of saved volumes and the result of a
search.
Ñ You can launch an application or open a document directly from Catalogue. For that, just double-click on the
element with the Ctrl key down.
Ñ Catalogue creates very compact volume files.
I have tried to keep the interface simple, allowing to see where you are very quickly. For more information, look at the Help in the Apple menu.
How to create a new base ?
First, you select the command 'New catalog' in the file menu, that creates a new directory on the hard drive. When you add a new volume, it will be saved in this directory. You then have two possibilities to add a volume in the database. Either you introduce one in a drive (by keeping the Ctrl key pressed, you can rename it), or, if it is already mounted, by selecting the command 'Add a volume'.
History
Version 1.0 : Ñ First release.
Version 1.1 : Ñ Modification of the print command, that produced a blank page on some printers.
Ñ Correction of the menu containing the volume name. If the name contained some specific characters
used by the Mac to format the menu, the name was wrong.
Version 2.0 : Ñ Possibility to make multiple selections in lists, to be able to print, delete or search only in the
selected cells.
Ñ The program now recognizes the control strip modules and displays a special icon. For existing
volumes, you have to update them.
Ñ You can delete some elements from a saved volume. This allow you to only keep the interesting
elements
Ñ I have improved the help command.
Ñ The search is now made in the same order as the volumes are sorted.
Ñ The column width can be modified and is saved in the preferences file.
Ñ Modification of the preference file.
Ñ Correction of a bug in the search dialog. An error appeared even if the given date was correct.
Version 2.0.1 : Ñ When you introduce a volume in a driver, you can choose what the program does. If the Ctrl key
is pressed, you can rename the volume before saving. If the Option key is pressed, the program
ejects the volume after it has been saved. If the command key is pressed, the program does
nothing.
Ñ The about box has been modified so that it is correct with all system fonts.
Ñ A Stop button have been added to the search progress dialog.
Ñ A new function added for displaying the search report. It allows you to see the report in the same
window as the one that displays the saved volumes. Therefore, the content of a directory matching
the criteria can easily be displayed.
Ñ You can now launch an application or open a document directly from Catalogue.
Ñ Correction of a bug in the date format.
Version 2.0.2 : Ñ Fix a bug that cause a type 4 error when cataloging some shared volumes.
Version 3.0
The version 3.0 is under development and will be a major update that will include the following novelties:
Ñ An import function will be added.
Ñ An Init will allow you to save new volumes directly from the Finder, without launching the program.
Ñ It will be possible to attach a categorie to a volume and and make searchs only in the desired category.
Ñ The search criteria number will be increased.
Ñ It will be possible to attach personnal comments to each volume.
Ñ It will be possible to rename volumes in the database. Actually, you can only change his real name, as if you
modify it in the Finder.
Ñ A FAT binary version will be implemented to improve the speed of Catalogue, particulary in the search process.
Thanks to everyone who sent me suggestions. If a feature has not been implemented is this version, please excuse me. It will probably be in the next one.
Support the shareware
This program can be distributed freely. If you use it, please send 10 Swiss Francs (ú5-UK or 10$US) to the indicated address. Please return with your fees the registering form. It is very important for me.
Catalogue is distributed as is. The programmer is not responsible for crashes or lost data. I have made several tests on the following Macs: Performa 630, Quadra 650, PowerMacintosh 9500 et PowerMacintosh 8500. I found no problems.
