AVCataloger Newsletter

March 2005

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Welcome to our March 2005 newsletter for AVCataloger - the premier cataloger for Music, Video, Book, and Software collections including our exclusive Loan Log and Wish List bonus areas.  We received great feedback on your last newsletter as it was very informative.  With computer programs becoming so complex these days it's hard to really grasp what's available before you.  AVCataloger is designed to be extremely simple to use for the novice computer user, yet packed with powerful features for those that wish to take AVCataloger to its full potential.

This month we'll continue our series in helping you get the most of of AVCataloger with more discussion on customization.  Last month we discussed how to sort and group your data, creating custom user-defined columns, and how to manage data with the Data Manager.  We'll remain focused in the options available by clicking "View...Current View...Customize Current" View within AVCataloger as this dialog packs extreme flexibility available for your personal preferences and customizations.  Fire up AVCataloger and let's get going...
 

AVCataloger models its customization system after the proven Microsoft Outlook interface.  With the customization power built in, you can actually rearrange AVCataloger to your very liking, with tremendous ease.  We'll take a look at the "Format Columns" dialog again just like last month where we discussed creating new fields.  Access the Format Columns dialog in one of several ways:  1) Click Tools...Format Columns, 2) View...Current View...Format Columns, or 3) click the "Advanced Column Formatting" icon on the toolbar (approximately two icons to the right of the red X).  Upon following one of these methods, you'll see the dialog as appears below which we'll go over in depth.

Let's focus first on the far left column "Available Fields" within this dialog.  Columns, also known as "Fields" are listed in the exact order they are displayed in your data entry area, in this case this is the music area.  Columns that display an icon on the far left side, which have no caption (column heading) are identified as "icon" fields.  To re-order columns for your personal preference, select the column you'd like to move so it is highlighted as with "Musician" above, then click the "Move Up" or "Move Down" buttons.  You'll see the list on the left reflect the new order, but also notice in the background you'll see the columns (if they are in view) actually move.  Now if you click the Cancel button, the settings will all be discarded and the layout will reset itself.  If that's all you wanted to do was re-order columns, click OK and the column order will be presented exactly as desired.  When closing AVCataloger, the layout preferences are saved to your data file and will be restored on next use.

The right-center portion of the dialog provides tools for great flexibility which we'll discuss starting from the top and moving to the bottom of the dialog.  The top entry box allows you to rename the column to any "caption" you'd like the column header to display.  This is a great way also to set foreign language preferences as the US English caption can be replaced with the appropriate caption for your language.  One word of caution, just because you change the title of the column does not mean the data can be different then the column was configured.  For example, if the "Date" column caption is changed to "Name" the column will still expect to hold "Date" values and be formatted appropriately.

Columns can be hidden in AVCataloger if the checkbox "Display this Column" is not grayed out.  The "Width" column uses the unit of measure within AVCataloger.  1440 units equate to one inch, but simply press the + button to increase, or the - button to decrease the column width.  The Headers area is for customization of the column header, again in this case specific to the "Musician" header.  You can option to display a picture (icon) in the column header by choosing from the available icons clicking the + or - buttons, or click the New button to the right of the Picture identifier and select your own icon.  The recommended size for header icons is 16 x 16 pixels.  The column header (caption) can be left, center, or right aligned, using the settings as shown above.

The data area is almost identical to that of the header area with the exception of two additional settings.  "Allow word wrapping" will allow text within a cell to wrap to a new line, or by pressing enter when making a data entry will force text to wrap vice saving the data.  The other option specifies the sort method to apply to this column.  For example, this columns sorts by characters since it is a Text based sort.  If your column, such as a numeric column, or the Index, you may find sorts with a Text algorithm not sorting as desired.  Change the column containing all numeric data to a Numeric sort and you'll find the sort more to what you expected. 

As you can see, the customization potential in this dialog alone is tremendous.  We really have given you the keys to turn AVCataloger into the most powerful flexible cataloging solution available!  If for whatever reason you got carried away and need to start over, click the Reset button and the factory defaults will get things back to where you started.  Enjoy!
 

In the previous article we discussed the Format Columns dialog.  But did you know you can perform a lot of that customization with the click of your mouse?  That's right, we have so many tricks up our sleeves to make you smile, sit back and read on to learn how to customize AVCataloger with ease.

The first customization is sorting.  Click any column header and you can instantly sort by that column.  Click again and sort opposite.  You'll notice a small triangle sort indicator appear which identifies which column is being sorted and in which direction; ascending or descending.  With this method of sorting, however, you can only designate one column to sort.  AVCataloger can actually sort up to four columns simultaneously by using the advanced sort dialog as discussed in the February newsletter. 

The next feature is column resizing with your mouse.  Place your mouse pointer directly to the right of the column header of the column you wish to resize.  You'll see the mouse pointer change to a vertical line with an arrow to either side.  Once you see this, click and drag left or drag right.  You'll see the column resize.

You can re-order columns with your mouse by clicking a column header and keeping the left mouse button down (do not click or you will cause a sort to occur).  While the left mouse button remains pressed, drag the column you wish to move either left or right.  You'll see an indicator appear (red arrows) showing you where the column will be placed if you release your mouse button.

The last feature we'll discuss is the ability to group your data by the click of your mouse.  If you don't show the group by bar across the top of your data entry area, click the View...Group by Bar menu option so it appears.  As you can see in the message in the background of this group bar, click any column such as Genre and keep the left mouse button pressed while dragging the column header up to this group bar, then release.  You'll see your data now get grouped by this column, in this case grouped by Genre.  You can sort at the group level by clicking the column header just as you did before and the sort will occur, but on the groups, not the data.  Click again to sort opposite.  Want to sort next on the Sub-Genre?  Click and drag the Sub-Genre column so it joins the Genre column header in the group bar, then release.  You can add four total columns for grouping with this easy procedure.  Refer to the February newsletter for advanced grouping with the Group dialog.  You can hide the Group by Bar by clicking the menu option again (or the Group by Bar icon on the toolbar) yet the grouping will remain. 

As discussed above, you can see there are so many neat ways of customizing your layout in AVCataloger and arranging your data exactly as desired.  AVCataloger adopts many of the same features as other applications for customization keeping your experience as easy as possible without having to learn new things.
 

If the record navigator is not something that interests you it can actually be removed (hidden).  To hide the record navigator, click View...Current View...Customize Current View and then click the "Other Settings" button on the View Summary dialog.  Clear the checkbox near the bottom that reads "Show Record Navigator" and you'll see the record navigator disappear.
 

We appreciate all of the great referrals to AVCataloger and we want to make sure we are compensating you for your efforts.  At the top right of AVCataloger is a menu item "Refer-a-Friend" which allows you to register for a referral "promotional" code (if AVCataloger is registered).  Click this button and provide a few details (US customers only) and refer your friends, co-workers, etc. to AVCataloger.  Write down your referral code and when they order, have them enter the referral code on the last screen of the order process where the credit card numbers are entered.  They will see a "Promotion Code" box where they enter YOUR referral code and you will be paid $10 for each and every purchase, paid out monthly.  It's that easy, just spread the word and in just a few referrals your software is paid off! Keep referring and pocket a few extra dollars to spend as you wish.

*Referrals are not retroactive and can only be paid out when the referral code is used when placing an order.
 

Are you still surfing the net with your dial-up modem connection?  Broadband is certainly taking off rapidly and with speeds now up to 4-8 Mbit/sec which is outstanding.  However, we know not everyone is fortunate to have high-speed Internet connectivity, therefore we continue to offer our software on CD-ROM for only $9.95.  The software on our Software CD-ROM is identical to that which is available for free download.  The CD-ROM is perfect for those that want to preserve the current version or cannot download the 15-20 meg installation file.  We also offer a "web installation" system where installations can resume at any time and only required files are downloaded; the preferred download option for dial-up users.  Ordering a CD-ROM is easy, click here and place your order and we'll ship your CD-ROM within 24 hours.