Apple®, the Apple logo, Appletalk®, ImageWriter®, LaserWriter® and Macintosh® are registered trademarks, and MultiFinder™ is a trademark, of Apple Computer, Inc.
Microsoft® and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
StuffIt™ is a trademark of Raymond Lau and Aladdin Systems, Inc.
Epsilon Systems,
66 Pellan way,
Kanata, Ont.
Canada K2K 1J8
(613) 591 0917
American Online: Behrouz
CompuServe: 70274,3171
Enclosed is MacLibrarian 1.5. It has had limited testing and a few minor bugs still exist. Why am I then releasing it?. Here's why:
— the program has many new features that alone make the release worthwhile
— I found no major bugs during my own testing
— my beta testers have found no major bugs
— it has been tested on an SE, II, and Quadra 700. It has also been tested on System 6.05 and 7.0.
I could have held on to it until I was 100% sure that all bugs had been caught but that would take a couple more months. The many new features included are a direct result of your input. Their inclusion forced me to completely rewrite the program. The program is now over 100K lines of code and if you have done any programing I am sure you can appreciate the complexity. Rather than keep you waiting a couple of months I have decided to release this version.
You will receive an upgrade automatically. The upgrade will include an updated version of the 1.0 manual and bug fixes. If you find any bugs, please send me a bug report so that I may fix it before the next release. Your comments and suggestions are also welcome.
Before you get started
Please read the following notes before you start using the new version.
Copy the contents of the disk supplied into a folder on your hard disk before you start.
Converting your libraries
Your old libraries are no longer compatible with the new Library format. A new format was required because MacLibrarian is now memory-based rather than disk-based. This means that among other things it searches and sorts much faster. To use your old library you need to convert it using the Converter 1.0->1.5 application.
To convert your library to the new format:
1. Double-click the Converter application.
A file dialog box is displayed.
2. Double-click on your version 1.0 library.
The Converter reads you old library into memory and displays a new dialog box.
3. Enter a new library name (do not use the version 1.0 name) and click the Save button.
Converter saves your library in the new library format.
Setting memory requirements
MacLibrarian memory requirements are set at 700K. This should be sufficient for loading a single library. If you need to open many libraries at the same time, increase the memory requirement to 1000K by first selecting the MacLibrarian application and selecting the Get Info menu item from the File menu in the Finder.
Starting MacLibrarian
You can now also start MacLibrarian by double-clicking a new Library document.
Note: MacLibrarian now displays only one window—the Disk window—when you start the application. To display the File window, select the Files menu item from the Window menu.
Opening and managing multiple libraries
MacLibrarian now allows you to have more than one library open at a time. Note that preference settings are library based; that is, they belong to a particular library. If you want the same preference settings for all your libraries you have to set them for each library.
When you save a file it remembers your preference settings, the open windows and selected items.
If you close a Disk window for a particular library, then all other windows associated with that library are also closed. The only time you are asked for confirmation to save a library is when you scan a new disk or delete a disk. Changing preference settings does not modify the file, therefore you will not get the confirmation to "save changes?"
New archives supported
You can now expand the contents of StuffIt, StuffIt Classic, StuffIt Deluxe and Compactor files by setting the preference Expand Archives.
Printing
Setting Margins
You can now set margins by using the Page Setup menu item from the File menu.
Printing selected items
You can now print either the selected items in a window or you can print all the items in the window. Select the records you want to print, select the Print menu item from the File menu and then select the Print Hilites Only check box. You can only print items in visible columns.
Managing columns
Adjusting column widths
To adjust the width of a column: select the column divider line in the view area and move it to the desired position. Your cursor changes to a vertical bar with horizontal arrows indicating that you can change the column widths.
Hiding columns
You can also hide columns that you are not interested in by dragging the right column divider line and placing it over the left column divider line of the column you wish to hide. A hidden column is indicated by a thick divider line in the view title area. (This feature is similar to the one in Excel).
Changing the title of a column
To change the column title, double-click in the column title area. You will be presented with a dialog box that lets you change the title and hide the column if desired.
Making hidden columns visible
To make a hidden column visible: Select the thick divider line in the view title area and drag it to the right. This will expand all columns that are hidden at that position.
Rearranging columns
No change from version 1.0
Managing the tree window
Opening a tree window
To open a tree window, double-click on a disk record or file record. If you double-click on a file record, the tree is expanded to show the hierarchy containing the file record you double-clicked.
Displaying folders in the tree hierarchy
The plus (+) icon that appears on the folders in the tree is used to indicate a folder that can be expanded. The minus (-) icon is used to indicate a folder that has been expanded and can now be collapsed.
Double-clicking on a folder with a plus icon expands the folder; that is, it displays the next level in the tree hierarchy. If you want to expand the entire folder and any folder within (that is, the entire tree hierarchy of the folder) then hold down the Command key and double-click the folder.
To collapse a folder with a minus icon, double-click the minus folder and hold down the Command key. To hide the contents of the folder double-click on it. Collapsing a folder removes the contents of the folder from the tree hierarchy. If you double-click on a collapsed folder you get only next level in the tree hierarchy. If you double-click on a folder in which you hid the contents, the entire hierarchy that was previously displayed is made visible.
Displaying archive files in the tree window
Archives files are treated like folders with one exception: if the Expand Archive preference is enabled then the archive file is shown expanded to the first level. All folders within the archive are treated as normal folders. To get the archive to behave like a normal folder, disable the Expand Archive preference.
Displaying file information in the tree window
Clicking on a folder or file displays information about that file on the left side of the tree window. If the information about the file or folder is not fully visible, you can expand the information display area by moving the pointer to the right edge of the tool area and then clicking and dragging the edge. At the moment there are two tools displayed in the tool area an arrow and a selection area tool. The selection area tools does nothing at the moment ( it will later ).
Scrolling in the tree window
Scroll in the tree window is now much faster and very much improved for large disks.
Preference override
You can override the file preference settings when loading the library by holding down the option key while the library is being loaded.
Identifying prestamped Files.
You can identify disks that have been electronically stamped as per version 1.0. The only difference is that the Library name of the file is now also displayed. There is no need to restamp all your disks since this feature is only used to identify the disk. However, new scans or updates will include the Library name of the stamped file.
Labelling your disks
Before you can print a label you need to select the disk records of the disks you want to label from the disk window. The Labels menu item in the File menu of the disk window allows you to create label templates, save the templates, load predefined templates and print labels. Some predefined label templates are included and it is probably easier to modify these than start from scratch. Select the Labels menu items to display the following dialog.
This dialog has two views. The first, shown above, lets you define the label width and height, the vertical and horizontal spacing between labels, the number of labels across and down a page, and the page margins. You can use the editable text fields or the graphical representation of the label page to define these values. Selecting any solid line other than the border lets you graphically change any of the label page formats (the exception is the the number of labels across).
The second view (shown below) lets you define the graphics you want included in the label. You can toggle between the two views of the dialog by clicking on the icon at the top of the tool area. The OK button will also take you to second screen but once in the second screen will not bring you back to the first screen. Instead it will assume that you are done and will return you to the calling Disk window.
Putting disk information on your disk label
You can include disk information from your library on your label by selecting the desired item from the table at the top of the second view (for example, Num, Stamped) and dragging it anywhere on the label. When you print the label the value of the view item is substituted.
Once you have dragged a view item to the label, you don't have to delete it and drag another item if you want to change it. You can double-click and select another view item from the pop-up menu associated with the view item.
Creating objects on your disk label
You create objects using the tool palette, MacDraw style. The tools in the tool palette are similar to those available with other drawing packages with the following exceptions: the pict tool and the file tool.
The pict tool lets you define an area on the label to paste a picture from another application. It will rescale the vertical and horizontal size of the picture to fit in the enclosed rectangle.
The file tool lets you define an area on the label in which to print a column of the names of the contents of your disk. Note only the top-level names of the contents are printed. If your names spill over the columns, you can define a second area (or as many that will fit) beside the first. You can define more than one file object on the label. MacLibrarian keep tracks of the filenames already printed and continues from where it left off on the first column. This is useful if you want to print two or more columns of filenames on your label.
Adding attributes to an object
To change the attributes to an object.
1. Double-click the object.
You will be presented with a dialog.
2. Use the dialog to change the attributes of the object.
You can change the following attributes: the background pattern of the object, the position of the object, the font, the font size and style (if applicable), and the pen size for the border of the object (if applicable)
Note:When the pen size is set to zero, no border is drawn around the object. The borders surrounding text is for display purposes only and is not printed.
Deleting Objects
To delete an object select it and press the delete key on your keyboard.
Moving Objects to the background and foreground
Select the object and use your Up and Down arrows on your keyboard to move the object to the foreground and background respectively
Known label bug
The Arc tool does not work as intended so avoid using it.
Saving and retrieving label templates.
Once you have defined your template you can save it to use again at a later date.
To save a template
1. Click the Save Tmplt button in the Label dialog.
You will be presented with a file dialog.
2 Enter a filename for the template you wish to save.
To load a template
1. Click on the Load Tmplt button in the Label dialog.
You will be presented with a file dialog.
2. Select the desired template.
Exporting your data
You can export your data to file. This is the preferred method for transferring large amounts of data (as opposed to using the clipboard). You can Export either all the data associated with a window or just parts of it. When you select the menu item Export in the File menu a dialog is displayed showing you the options. Selecting the "Export hilited items only" check box will export only the selected items and selecting "Export visible items only" will export only the visible items. If neither is selecting then the entire contents of the window is exported. All data is exported as tab-delimited text.
Setting preferences
Your preference menu is now Library-specific and any new window that is created has the same preference settings. The only exception to this is the Auto Sort Menu which is window-specific and Cmd-Period Enabled which is session-specific. Some preferences are not be available in some windows since they increased the complexity of the application with no added value.
The following are the new preferences in this version:
Expand Archives—now expands StuffIt, StuffIt Classic, StuffIt Deluxe and Compactor archives when scanning disks. In addition if Expand Archives is enabled when opening a Tree window or expanding a folder in the tree window the archive is automatically expanded to show the first level of the archive. If you double-click on the archive it will not collapse or hide the contents of the archive. If you want to hide the contents of the archive then disable the Expand Archives preference in the tree window. Don't forget to enable it before doing further scans.
Cmd Period Enabled—enabling this option lets you cancel during scan or update operations. This is useful if you are scanning large disks or CDs. However, if you are updating very large hard disks then you might want to disable this option since it will keep a copy of the previous scan in memory and will only release the memory when the scan is completed. This means that the applications memory requirements increase.
Display Grid—this preference if enabled will draw grid lines in the Disk and file windows. If you are running on a Mac+ and find the display to be slow then disable this preference will speed things up a little.
Filters
MacLibrarian now supports filters. Filters are used to exclude certain files from being displayed or printed. A typical file you might want to filter is the desktop file. Its Creator is 'ERIK' and its file Type is 'FNDR'. You can look up the Creator and file Type of the file you want filter in the File window.
To add a filter:
1. Select the Filter menu item form the Preference menu.
A dialog box is displayed showing a list of filters( initially empty).
2. Enter the Creator signature and File Type and click the add button.
The filter is now part of the filter list.
3 Enable the Enable filter check box and click on the OK button.
MacLibrarian 1.5 Release Notice Page
According to Apple the ImageWriter Parks the paper with the top edge at the pinch-rollers. This makes it easy for you to rip off the printed pages. When you start a print job it rolls the paper backwards half an inch of the total inch. You will notice the IMWR templates for continues labels have the top margin set at 0.25 inch. In my tests I found that a form feed to the next page would occur if you select the first print position. This is not a BUG but a limitation of the printer and the type of labels being used( This cost me 3 weeks of test time! ). The testing was done with an Epson printer with a Grappler Adapter. You may not see the same problem as I did. If you do then to minimize wasted labels select the second print position and you will not see this problem.
Templates Additions
If you feel that other users can benefit from the templates you develop. Then please send me a copy and I will include it in the next release (if suitable). In addition you need to provide the following information:
1) manufacturer of the labels
2) address of the manufacturer
3) product number of the labels.
4) Your name and address.
5) A couple of sheets of the label(for testing).
to MacLibrarian 1.1.2 Registration Form:
Mail To: Epsilon Systems,
66 Pellan Way,
Kanata, K2K 1J8,
Canada.
(please print clearly or type.)
Name:
Company:
Address:
City: State:
Zip: Country:
Phone: (____) _____ - _______
Electronic Address:
Product QTY Price Amount
MacLibrarian 1.1.2 Registration Fee US$30
The Things I most disliked about MacLibrarian are:
The things I most liked are:
I think you should add the following features:
MacLibrarian has been Used on:
MAC__________ and Sys_____________
Your support for shareware is greatly appreciated.
MacLibrarian 1.1.2 Bug Report:
Mail To: Epsilon Systems, or send Electronic mail to:
66 Pellan Way, American Online: Behrouz.
Kanata, K2K 1J8, Compuserve: 70274,3171
Canada.
Electronic Mail Address:
American Online User:_________________ Compuserve User ____________________
