Copyright: Content Copyright © 1999-2002 Synapsa Productions
Citation: VisiTrax © 1999-2002 Synapsa Productions


Introduction

Welcome to VisiTrax!

Note:	To completely view this and other Help topics, you may need to scroll down by moving the vertical scroll bar on the right margin, or by pressing scroll keys such as down-arrow and up-arrow.

Piles and piles of CDs..records...tapes.  Including titles like "Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits..." by nobody in particular.

"Hey, where was that one we had by Status Quo?  I know we had it on one of these CDs around here somewhere..."

Objective:	Spend less time looking for music and more time enjoying it.

Solution:	VisiTrax™

Whether you make a living as a DJ or just want the fastest possible way to find music, VisiTrax is designed for you.

VisiTrax has the following key features:

•	Simple browsing and data entry – including automatic CD title lookups via CDDB.

•	Fast, convenient track-oriented data lookup.  You'll see all your tracks, sorted the way you want, right from the start!

•	Virtually instantaneous filtering by track characteristics (artist, title, category, time, year, media format, etc.).

•	Intuitive volume-oriented data entry, with track-specific artists, years, and categories.

•	No preset lists of categories or media formats – use any names you want.

•	Efficient relational database engine built in, with fully automatic list management.

•	Flexible, professional-appearing data printouts, with print preview.

•	Printable playlists can be extracted from your library quickly and easily, complete with elapsed time information.

•	Supports use of SureThing CD Labeler for printing CD labels and jewel case inserts.

•	Supports quick data export to DJIntelligence.com and WeDJ.com on-line services.

•	Multi-level undelete.  Easily recover accidentally deleted track or volume records.

•	Convenient on-line Help.  If you need specific help on any VisiTrax feature, just press the F1 key.

If you're just getting started with VisiTrax, please see Library Concepts and Overview.

See also:	Compatibility

VisiTrax Registration

Installed Files

End-User License Agreement

Uninstalling VisiTrax

VisiTrax™ and this documentation are Copyright © 1999-2002 Synapsa Productions.  All rights reserved.

VisiTrax™ and Synapsa™ are trademarks of Synapsa Productions.


Compatibility

VisiTrax provides the key capabilities found in its DOS-based predecessor, Playlist 4.03, including support for existing Playlist library database files.

To facilitate exchanging data with other recording library database applications, VisiTrax can exchange data with common spreadsheet applications via copy and paste, and also can import/export data as text files.

If you require assistance migrating your existing music library data to VisiTrax, please contact us via e-mail at support@synapsa.com.

See also:	Supported File Formats


Installation and Configuration

Installed Files

The following files are placed in your VisiTrax directory during installation:

VISITRAX.EXE	The VisiTrax program itself

VISITRAX.HLP	This on-line Help file

VISITRAX.CNT	Contents for on-line Help

VISITRAX.XML	Portable Application Description (PAD) file

EXAMPLE.TRX	An example music library

CDLABELS.STD	A sample design file for printed CD labels

README.TXT	Text file containing general product description

User Preference Settings

Most day-to-day VisiTrax user settings, such as sizing, font, and color preferences, are automatically maintained in each user's desktop profile.

Internet and Proxy Settings

Selecting Internet Settings... from the View menu will present the following dialog:

In the Proxy Settings section, you can select one of the following:

Automatic Configuration	This option is recommended for most situations.  VisiTrax will try to use the same HTTP proxy settings as your browser.

Use Specified Proxy Server	If your browser uses a proxy configuration script, or if VisiTrax is otherwise unable to determine your browser's settings automatically, you can use this option to specify the proxy address and port.

No Proxy	If you don't want VisiTrax to use a proxy server, regardless of your browser's proxy settings, select this option.  If you use a cable modem or DSL and your ISP recommends using their (optional) proxy server for your browser, selecting No Proxy here may provide better results – as CDDB could mistakenly interpret a large number of users sharing a single proxy server as a single, very busy individual, and limit daily accesses accordingly.

The Use HTTP 1.1 protocol checkbox specifies whether to use the HTTP 1.1 protocol when accessing CDDB sites.  Because HTTP 1.1 is intrinsically more reliable than the older HTTP 1.0 protocol, you should always try to use HTTP 1.1 if possible, by leaving this checkbox checked.

However, while CDDB's own servers support HTTP 1.1 quite nicely, you may need to clear this checkbox (for HTTP 1.0) if your network connection to CDDB passes through an intermediate proxy server that still uses HTTP 1.0 – this can sometimes be the case notwithstanding your own proxy settings.

Dial-Up Networking

Caution: Never attempt to make direct changes to the Windows Registry unless you're certain you know what you're doing!

VisiTrax uses the following common registry settings to determine whether your system uses dial-up networking (and whether an active dial-up session exists):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\EnableAutodial

Internet Explorer uses this 32-bit binary value to determine whether you use a modem to access the Internet.  The value is 1 if a dial-up connection is used, otherwise 0.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\RemoteAccess\Remote Connection

Windows 95/98 DUN sets this 32-bit flag to indicate whether an active dial-up connection exists.  This flag is not created or used under Windows NT.


VisiTrax Registration

VisiTrax is available in two versions, both of which operate with the same, easy-to-use look and feel:

•	VisiTrax Lite, our freeware version, is ideal for anyone with a fairly modest media library.  If your library eventually grows beyond 100 volumes or 1000 tracks, you'll start seeing reminders to upgrade to the Standard Edition, but the library itself can continue to grow as needed – so you can realistically evaluate how well our commercial version will work for you by using VisiTrax Lite.

•	VisiTrax Standard Edition, the registered version of VisiTrax, is designed to support large media libraries (1000's of CDs for example).

Benefits of Registration (Upgrading to VisiTrax Standard Edition)

•	Large library support - And no upgrade reminders (duh).

•	Printout "branding" removed - The VisiTrax Lite legend is removed from printouts.

•	Free updates - As we post version updates on our web page from time to time, your activation key will continue to apply.

•	Our gratitude - Your registration fee will help us continue to add new features and other improvements to VisiTrax.

Telephone and On-Line Registrations

To register VisiTrax by telephone or on line, visit our web site at www.synapsa.com for a direct link to a trusted third-party registration service.  Major credit cards are accepted, and a secure server is used for your protection.

For fastest results, your activation key can be sent to you at the e-mail address you provide, as soon as your order is processed.  We will keep your e-mail address in confidence.

Registrations by Mail

To register by mail, be sure to include:

•	a check or money order for $20.00 US, payable to "Synapsa Productions"

•	your name to be used for registration

•	your e-mail address or a small self-addressed, stamped envelope

Send the above items to

Synapsa Productions / VT

217 Victory Lane

St. Charles, MO  63303-8432

USA

Upon receipt of payment we will send your activation key to you.  For fastest results, this will be sent to your e-mail address if you provide one.  We will keep your e-mail address in confidence.

Registered Playlist Users

Your existing Playlist 4.03 activation key also works with VisiTrax, as will your existing Playlist library database files.


Entering Your Registration Data

Upon registration with Synapsa Productions or its designated representative, you will be assigned a registered name and activation key, which you can use to upgrade from VisiTrax Lite to VisiTrax Standard Edition.

To Upgrade to VisiTrax Standard Edition:

•	Start up VisiTrax.

•	Select Register Now! from the Help menu.

•	Enter the required information.

•	Click Upgrade.

To remove an existing registration (activation) key:

•	Start up VisiTrax.

•	Select Remove Registration Key from the Help menu.


Backup and Migration

Backing Up Your Data

Just as it's a good idea to frequently save your work while working in VisiTrax, you'll want to be sure all your long-term work is not lost if you have an equipment failure or other disaster.  At a minimum, here is the VisiTrax data you'll want to keep backed up and saved in a safe location:

•	Our web site address (www.synapsa.com) – this is your VisiTrax program backup!

•	Your registration information (registered name, activation key) for re-installing VisiTrax.

•	Your VisiTrax library data and any playlists (*.trx, *.vxp, and possibly *.txt).

Migrating VisiTrax to a New Computer

Migrating VisiTrax to a new computer is much like migrating other software.  Here's the recommended procedure:

1)	Download the latest version of VisiTrax from our web site (www.synapsa.com) and install it on the new computer.

2)	Transfer your VisiTrax library files and any playlists (*.trx, *.vxp, and possibly *.txt) to the new computer.

2)	Register the program.  If you will be running VisiTrax on two or more computers at the same time, you need to purchase a license and registration key for each such computer.  If you will simply be switching from one computer to another, a single license and registration key will suffice.

4)	Open your transferred library file (.trx).

Note:	If you are using a CD-ROM to transfer your backed up data, remember that anything you copy from a CD-ROM will be read-only by default.  Be sure change the properties of your transferred data files so they are not "read only", or VisiTrax will not be able to update them.

See also:	Supported File Formats

Saving Your Changes


Uninstalling VisiTrax

To remove VisiTrax from your computer, run Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs, then select VisiTrax from the list and click the OK button.

VisiTrax will attempt to use your original configuration settings if you subsequently install the program again.

Note 1:	Before installing an updated version of VisiTrax, you may wish to remove (uninstall) the older version first; however, this is not usually required.

Note 2:	Before permanently removing VisiTrax from a computer, first be sure to remove your registered activation key.


Product Support

For the latest information about VisiTrax, please visit our web site at www.synapsa.com.

Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcomed, and can be sent via e-mail to support@synapsa.com.  A comment form also is available on our web site's feedback page.


Library Concepts and Overview

Basic Library Model

VisiTrax supports a consistent and straightforward library model, in which any recording library is treated as a set of identifiable volumes, each containing one or more individual tracks.  Both volumes and tracks can be assigned numbers for quick reference.

Volume Numbering (Locator Indexing)

The volume numbering method used by VisiTrax is simple, yet very effective for keeping a growing library physically organized.  Each volume can be assigned a unique locator index, displayed primarily in the form AANNNN, where AA denotes a pair of letters you assign for each media format, and NNNN denotes four digits, as in "CD0234".

To support multi-volume sets, such as a CD jewel case containing a set of 3 CDs, you can use the extended form AANNNN.D, where D is a single digit from 1 to 9.  By using this numbering method, you can assign numbers such as CD0230.1, CD0230.2, and CD0230.3 to the individual discs, labeling the case containing them as CD0230.

The easiest way to use volume numbers is simply to assign them in sequence (regardless of title or artist), keep things physically arranged by assigned volume number, and let VisiTrax take care of alphabetization.  To look things up alphabetically without your computer, just keep an alphabetized VisiTrax printout handy.

Since VisiTrax automatically keeps track of all unused index numbers, it's also easy to assign distinct index numbers even when they're not strictly in sequence.  For example, if you wish to divide your index numbers into special groupings (e.g. CD0001-CD1999, CD2000-CD4999, etc.), you'll be able to select the next available index in each such range, without having to type it in.  This is explained in our topic on adding a new volume.

Note that VisiTrax has a handy feature that lets you resequence a range of volume index numbers.  This also can be used to automatically assign index numbers to a group of non-numbered volumes.  (See Volumes View.)

Although assigning locator indexes is optional,  we strongly recommend that you do assign them, because they are used in many of the listings produced by VisiTrax, and they are essential for using the playlist feature.

Track Indexing

Within each volume, each track can be assigned a track number.  This of course is quite natural for media such as CDs and album sides, for which sequential track numbering is standard.

By combining track indexing with volume locator indexing, you have a very concise and consistent way to represent any track in your library.  For example, "CD0532-2" would indicate track 2 on the volume identified as CD0532.  In a box of singles or a set of videos, you might want the index number to refer to an individual single or video, so that, for example, "SG0032-46" would be the single in box 32, slot 46.  (Alternatively, for videos, you might wish to assign a volume number to each one, and use tracks to contain detailed information such as producer, director, cast members, and so on.)

For two-sided media, such as phonograph records, you can use the letter A or B before or after the index number to denote side A or B.  For example, you might have an LP album with tracks indexed as A1-A8 and B1-B12, or a box of single 45 RPM records indexed as 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, and so on.  For a multi-disc album, a given track might then be fully identified, for example, as "LP0123.1-A2" – meaning disc 1, side A, second track, of the album identifed as "LP0123".

VisiTrax allows two or more track entries to share the same index number.  This might be useful, for example, if you have a track commonly attributed to two or more different "artist" names:  just make two entries for the same track, each with its own artist name.  [Index number "0", by the way, means "no assigned index" (same as blank).]

Track index numbers can be up to 3 characters long: 1-999, A1-A99, B1-B99, or 1A-99B.

Viewing Your Library

VisiTrax provides three distinct types of views into your library:

•	The Tracks View lists every track contained in the library, in a single listing that can be sorted by any set of columns, or filtered to quickly locate tracks of interest.

•	The Volumes View lists every volume contained in the library (or as filtered via the Tracks view), sortable by any set of columns.

•	The Volume Contents View lists the tracks belonging to a particular volume, sorted primarily by index number.

These views are easily accessible via multi-sheet tabs, as shown below.  To access any of these views, simply click on its tab (or use the corresponding View menu option, Ctrl-Tab, or left/right-arrow keys).

Playlists

When you're building a playlist, an additional tab is available, as shown below, for accessing a Playlist View, which lists the contents of your playlist, sorted by playing sequence.

An Example Library

To help you get started, we've included an example library database containing several dozen volumes (and several hundred tracks).  When you install VisiTrax for the first time, this example library is opened for you automatically.  To access it later on, simply open it and you'll be greeted with a view listing its contents.

NOTE

Be sure to save your own library data to its own file, not to the example library file!

Entering and Changing Library Data

To enter new data into your library, you start with an existing library file, or you can start a new library file from scratch, then create a new volume entry for each CD, album, etc.  As each new volume entry is created, you can populate it with one or more new track entries.  If you have a CD-ROM drive and an Internet connection, you can quickly add CDs to your library database using the CD Player View.

In addition, you can update an existing volume or update an existing track at any time, undelete volumes or tracks you've just deleted by accident, and maintain playlists.


Tracks View

The Tracks View lists all of the tracks contained in the library, as shown below.  This is likely to be the view you will use most often, as it's the one you use to locate one or more tracks of interest.

Tracks normally are sorted by artist, then title.  To select alternative sorting, click on the corresponding column header, or make a selection via the Sorting menu.  Sorting is based on the most recent set of columns selected for sorting, with precedence given to the most recently selected columns.

To quickly reset sorting precedence based on column ordering, click the [image] button (sort across).

By default, all tracks in the library are listed.  However, through the use of filter controls (described below), you can limit the listing to a desired subset, as depicted in the example view above.  (Filtering is discussed at length further down in this topic.)

Navigating the List

You can scroll through the list of tracks as you would with any standard Windows listbox.  If you click on a particular track (or use the up- or down-arrow keys to do the same thing), it becomes highlighted, as shown above, and additional information for that track is displayed on the status bar at the bottom left.  As you can see in the example, this reveals the complete location index of the track, its category, and tempo in beats per minute (bpm).

The right-hand section of the status bar indicates the number of tracks in the list, followed by the total number of tracks in the library, as shown in the example.

If you double-click on a selected track, or press the space bar, VisiTrax will switch to the corresponding Volume Contents View for the volume in which the selected track resides.

A checkmark symbol denotes a track that has been entered into a playlist, in the current session.  Since there is an active playlist, the Playlist view tab is shown, and the middle status bar section indicates the total playlist time.

Additional Data Columns

The Tracks view includes many additional data columns that you don't normally see – including all of the columns available in the Volumes view.  To access these additional columns, simply scroll to the right using the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the listing.  These additional columns are always available, and you are free to move any columns in or out of the main set.  For more information on how to do this, see Changing Which Columns You See.

Note that some columns contain data for which there are no manual data entry fields, either because the data is automatically computed (e.g. Disc ID and Vol Time), or because it's simply an alternate data representation (e.g. Location).

Shortcuts:

•	While in the listing, typing the first part of the track's artist name or title will scroll the list to the first matching entry (depending on current column sort precedence).  A one-second pause in typing starts a new sequence.

•	Function key F2 returns focus to the list in the current view.

•	Function key F3 will clear all filters.

•	Function key F4 will activate a filter field's menu (as applicable).

•	Function keys F5 - F11 (some with shift) provide shortcuts to each of the primary filter fields.

Track Filtering (and Locating Tracks)

The Tracks view provides an assortment of filtering controls for constraining the list of tracks to just the ones you are interested in viewing.  This is a powerful mechanism for quickly locating material.

The filtering controls described below can be hidden or restored via the [image] toolbar button (or by selecting Filters from the View menu).  The available controls are described as follows:

General	(1) Note that both the Tracks view and Volumes view contain their own subset of filtering controls.  The combined filters from both views are applied in concert, and thus filters set in the Volumes view can affect the contents of the Tracks view listing, just as filters set in the Tracks view can affect the contents of the Volumes view listing.

(2) As shown in the example above, -any- is simply a placeholder hint indicating that no filter is specified.  Any time you clear any of these controls, this placeholder is substituted.  When you enter the control, the -any- will disappear so you can make your entry.

(3) A down-pointing arrow button on the right side of a filter field indicates a drop-down list, from which you can select as an alternative to typing something in.

(4) You can remove any individual filter by double-clicking on it.

(5) You can remove all filters by clicking the [image] toolbar button.

(6) If you are working with a playlist, you can click the [image] toolbar button to set (or clear) a filter for viewing only those items contained in the current playlist.

(7) You can use one or more wildcards in a filter, using either an equal sign ("=") or a pair of dots ("..").  Here are some examples:

B..	or	B=	Anything beginning with a "B"

..D	or	=D	Anything ending with a "D"

B..D	or	B=D	Anything beginning with "B" and ending with "D"

..day..	or	=day=	Anything containing "day" in it somewhere

..	or	=	Anything (same as no filter at all)

(8) You can specify a combination of two or more logical OR filter alternatives using a pair of vertical bars ("||"), as in these examples:

Folk || Celtic	Select both "Folk" and "Celtic" categories

Yardbirds || Clapton=	Select both "Yardbirds" and anything beginning with "Clapton"

red =||= red =||= red	Select only those items containing the whole word "red"

(9) Similarly, you can specify a required combination (logical AND) using a pair of ampersands ("&&"); for example:

=blue= && =sky=	Select all items containing both "blue" and "sky"

(10) A logical NOT operator ("^") also is available.  For example:

=green=&&^=grass=	Select all items containing "green" but not "grass"

(11) All filters are case-insensitive.

(12) The listing updates automatically as you make any filtering changes.

Media Format	Use this to view only those tracks residing on volumes of a particular media format.  (Note: This is functionally identical to the Media Format filter in the Volumes view.  We include it in the Tracks view for convenience, even though media format is actually a volume attribute.)

Category	Use this to view a particular subset of categories (music types etc.).  If you have, say, several flavors of "Rock" categories, note that you can select all of them by using wildcards (e.g. "..rock.." or "=rock=").

Artist	Use this to view a particular track artist or subset of artist names.

Composer	Use this to view tracks by a particular composer or subset of composer names.

Title	Use this to view a particular track title or subset of titles.  The wildcard feature is particularly useful here if you're not certain of a title, or if you want some theme (e.g. "..sun.." or "=sun=").

Notes	Use this to view tracks based on the content of their notes.

Year	If you're looking for tracks from a specific year, just type it in here.  If you want to view anything in a specific range of years, use the form "1960-1967" – also equivalent here are "1960-67" and "1960-7".  If you want to view anything at or after a given year, use the form "1990-".  If you want anything at or before a given year, use the form "-1990".

If you want to view just the non-dated tracks, enter "0".  [Since dates aren't always readily available, you might want to add tracks from time to time without the year, returning later when you have more time to dig up the information.  This particular filter entry could come in handy at such times.]

Conversely, if you want to view all the dated tracks, you can enter "1-" or just "-".

For convenience, a drop-down list of decades (starting with 1900-1910) also is provided.

BPM	Use this to view only those tracks at a particular beat rate, or range of rates, in beats per minute (bpm).  Desired BPM can be entered in one of two ways:

•	To specify a particular BPM rate, or a range of rates, type it in the same way as for Year, above.

•	To specify a nominal BPM plus or minus some tolerance value, e.g. 110 ± 5, click the [image] button.  This will activate an additional tolerance value field.

Max Time	The most common use for this filter is in a situation where you have a limited amount of playing time to deal with, such as the remaining time in a program, on a tape side, or on a recordable CD.  Thus, the maximum available time is of primary interest.

Playing time selection is handled as two fields.  Enter the maximum time of interest in the Max Time field.  The Max - Min field specifies how much slack is acceptable; the default entry here is 15 seconds.  So, for example, if the first field contained 4:00 and the second field contained :15, the range of times viewed would be 3:45 to 4:00.

Show All	To show all available tracks, click on this button.  This will clear all of the filters at once.

Several additional filters are available in the Volumes view.  These additional filters also affect the Tracks view listing content.

See also:	View Options and Customization

Copying to the Clipboard

Printing and Print Preview

Volumes View

Exporting Data


Volumes View

The Volumes View lists the volumes contained in the library (subject to any viewing filters you might have set), as shown below.  This is the view you would use for adding, deleting, or updating volume entries.

Volumes in this view normally are sorted by artist and title.  To select alternative sorting, click on the corresponding column header, or make a selection via the Sorting menu.  As with the Tracks View, sorting is based on the most recent set of columns selected for sorting, with precedence given to the most recently selected columns.

Volume Filtering (and Locating Volumes)

The set of volumes listed here depends in part on the filtering controls you have set in the Tracks View.  Volume filtering logic is based on a combination of volume attributes and track attributes:

•	Volume attributes apply to the volume as a whole: media format, volume artist and title, notes, etc. – in other words, things you can enter via the Add New Volume dialog.

•	Track attributes apply to individual tracks, not the volume as a whole.  However, it's often useful to list only those volumes containing tracks with some particular set of attributes; for example, volumes containing anything by Jethro Tull (even if just one song).

Filters in the Volumes view generally behave and can be used just like the filters in the Tracks view.  The available volume-specific filtering controls are summarized as follows:

Media Format	Use this to view only those volumes of a particular media format.

Index	Use this to view only those volumes with a specific index number, or range of index numbers.

Category	Use this to view a particular volume category or subset of categories.

Artist	Use this to view a particular volume artist or subset of artist names.

Title	Use this to view a particular volume title or subset of titles.

Notes	Use this to view volumes based on the content of their notes.

Year	Use this to view a particular volume year or range of years.

The [image] toolbar button, if enabled, indicates that the listed set of volumes is being constrained by one or more track-specific filtering attributes.  Clicking this button will remove all track-specific filtering in one step, without having to switch views.  (The button is not enabled unless one or more volumes is being filtered out solely due to track filtering.)

Note:	In addition to the filter controls described above, you can use column sorting to quickly identify volumes based on other volume attributes, such as Vol Time.

Navigating the List

You can scroll through the list of volumes as you would with any standard Windows listbox.  If you click on a particular volume (or use the up- or down-arrow keys to do the same thing), it becomes highlighted, as shown above, and the media format for that volume is displayed on the status bar at the bottom left.

The right-hand section of the status bar indicates the number of volumes in the list, and the total number of volumes in the library.  In the example shown, no filters have been applied, so the list contains all 512 of the library's volumes.

If you double-click on a selected volume, VisiTrax will switch to the corresponding Volume Contents View so you can view its tracks.

Also in the example, note that the highlighted volume happens to contain a checkmark, indicating that one or more tracks have been entered into a playlist, in the current session.  Since there is an active playlist, the Playlist view tab is shown, and the middle status bar section indicates the total playlist time.

To access details for a selected volume (i.e. the volume as a whole, not its tracks), press the space bar, or choose Update Details from the Edit or right-click menu.

Additional Data Columns

The Volumes view includes many additional data columns that you don't normally see.  To access these additional columns, simply scroll to the right using the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the listing.  These additional columns are always available, and you are free to move any columns in or out of the main set.  For more information on how to do this, see Changing Which Columns You See.

Note that some columns contain data for which there are no manual data entry fields, either because the data is automatically computed (e.g. Disc ID and Vol Time), or because it's simply an alternate representation (e.g. Location).

Shortcuts:

•	While in the listing, typing the first part of the volume's artist name or title will scroll the list to the first matching entry (depending on current column sort precedence).  A one-second pause in typing starts a new sequence.

•	Function key F2 returns focus to the list.

•	Function key F3 will clear all filters.

•	Function key F4 will activate a filter field's menu (as applicable).

•	Function keys F5 - F11 provide shortcuts to each of the filter fields.

Volume Index Resequencing

On occasion you may wish to resequence some of your volume index numbers.  To do this, apply appropriate filters to list only those volumes whose index numbers you wish to resequence, apply the desired sort order, then select Re-index Volumes from the Edit menu.

Example:  To resequence Compact Discs in the range CD8000-8999, select Compact Disc (or equivalent) in the Media Format filter field, and enter 8000-999 in the Index filter field.  Next, ensure the volumes are listed in the order you want, then select Edit > Re-index Volumes.

See also:	View Options and Customization

Copying to the Clipboard

Adding a New Volume

Updating a Volume

Delete and Undelete

Cross-References

Printing and Print Preview

Tracks View


Volume Contents View

The Volume Contents View lists tall of the tracks contained in a selected volume, as shown below.  This is the view you would use for adding, deleting, or updating track entries.  Tracks in this view are sorted primarily by index number.

Navigating the List

You can scroll through the list of tracks as you would with any standard Windows listbox.  If you click on a particular track (or use the up- or down-arrow keys to do the same thing), it becomes highlighted, as shown above, and the category for that track is displayed on the status bar at the bottom left.

The right-hand section of the status bar indicates the current volume's location index, as well as its media format.

If you double-click on a selected volume, VisiTrax will switch to the Tracks View, automatically scolling as necessary to the selected track.

A checkmark symbol denotes a track that has been selected into the current playlist.  Since there is an active playlist, the Playlist view tab is shown, and the middle status bar section indicates the total playlist time.

To access details for a selected track, press the space bar, or choose Update Details from the Edit or right-click menu.  (Note that this function is not available for any tracks selected into the current playlist.)

Additional Data Columns

The Volume Contents view includes many additional data columns that you don't normally see.  To access these additional columns, simply scroll to the right using the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the listing.  These additional columns are always available, and you are free to move any columns in or out of the main set.  For more information on how to do this, see Changing Which Columns You See.

Renumbering Tracks

To automatically number or renumber all the tracks sequentially, select Renumber Tracks from the Edit menu.

Volume-to-Volume Browsing

To browse from one volume's contents to those of the previous or next volume, click the [image] or [image] toolbar button.  Volume sequencing will automatically wrap around from the last volume back to the first, and vice versa, sounding an "OK" tone when a limit wrap occurs.

See also:	View Options and Customization

Copying to the Clipboard

Adding New Tracks

Updating a Track

Delete and Undelete

Printing and Print Preview

Printing CD Labels

Volumes View


Playlists

To create a playlist, just tag the tracks you want from either the Tracks View or Volume Contents View. You can tag (or add) any currently-highlighted track by doing any of the following...

•	Press the "+" (plus) key.

•	Right-click and select Add to Playlist from the pop-up menu.

•	Easiest yet, swipe to the right on the currently-highlighted track line.

Each time you add a track to the playlist, a checkmark will be added on that line (up to a maximum of 3 checkmarks are shown per track), and a checkmark is also placed on the corresponding volume's line (so you know that one or more of its tracks are in the playlist).

Any time at least one track is tagged as above, a Playlist View tab will be visible, and the status bar will display the total playlist time.  (To keep the Playlist tab visible at all times, uncheck Hide Playlist when Empty in the View > Options menu.)

You also can add an entire volume's tracks to the playlist, in a single operation, when in the Volumes view.  Simply highlight the volume you want, then select Add to Playlist from the right-click menu.

To remove a track from the playlist, do any of the following...

•	Press the "-" (minus) key.

•	Right-click and select Remove from Playlist from the pop-up menu.

•	Swipe to the left on the currently-highlighted track line.

Checkmarks are removed accordingly.

Note that a track or volume cannot be deleted from the library if it's currently included in the playlist.  This limitation also applies to track modifications.


Playlist View

The Playlist view lists the contents of the current playlist, ordered by relative start time, as in this example:

Note:	If the View > Options menu's Hide Playlist when Empty option is checked, the Playlist tab will appear only if one or more tracks have been tagged for playlist inclusion.

Each track's location index is listed as shown for quick manual access, along with its relative start time.  The first entry always has a start time of ":00".

You can add (i.e. duplicate) or remove tracks in this view the same way you can elsewhere (see Playlists).  The Remove button also will remove the currently highlighted track, and the Clear List button will clear the entire playlist.

Any duplicate track will be annotated with one or more "replay" arrows to the left of the time, with the status bar showing the scheduled time interval since the previous play of that track, as shown here:

You can rearrange tracks in your playlist by:

•	dragging rows up or down by their leftmost "button" cells,

•	clicking on the Move arrows, or

•	holding down the Alt key and pressing the up-arrow or down-arrow key.

You can use the Gap time field to set the estimated nominal gap time in seconds between playlist tracks, so that (for example) the total time scheduled can include a two-second gap between tracks.

Shortcut:  Pressing a digit key will change the gap time accordingly, from anywhere in this view except in the heading area.

The Nominal duration field is useful when scheduling a program of a specific duration.  If you enter the nominal program duration into this field, the status bar will display Playlist remaining time instead of Playlist total time.  For example, enter "2:00" for a two-hour program (you could also enter "120" minutes, which would be converted automatically to "2:00").  If the total playlist time exceeds the nominal duration, the status bar will display the excess time as Playlist OVERTIME.

Lastly, you can directly edit the playlist title (shown above as "Playlist Contents") to customize the title that appears on the printed playlist.

Additional Data Columns

The Playlist view includes many additional data columns that you don't normally see.  To access these additional columns, simply scroll to the right using the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the listing.  These additional columns are always available, and you are free to move any columns in or out of the main set.  For more information on how to do this, see Changing Which Columns You See.

Saving and Recalling Playlists

To save a playlist for later use, select Save Playlist... from the File menu.

To recall a previously-saved playlist, select Recall Playlist... from the File menu.

Converting a Playlist into a New Volume

One use for playlists is for to facilitate recording custom tapes or CDs, which themselves may need to be entered into your library as new volumes.  To quickly convert a playlist into a volume, ensure that the listed tracks are ordered the way they were recorded, then select Convert Playlist to Volume... from either the Edit menu or the right-click pop-up menu.  At this point you will be presented with a Convert Playlist to New Volume dialog, which is used just like Adding a New Volume, except that the current playlist's tracks will be included automatically, numbered in sequence.

See also:	View Options and Customization

Copying to the Clipboard

Printing and Print Preview

Printing CD Labels


CD Player View

With the CD Player view, you can audition Compact Discs (CDs), conveniently acquire a CD's name and track titles via an Internet-based CDDB server, and quickly import this information into your VisiTrax library by clicking the Add button.  (Track times are read directly from the CD.)

The CD Player view provides two slightly different views for CD track information, depending on whether the CD is by a single artist or group (first example below), or by various artists (second example), as set by the List Artists checkbox control:

Example Single Artist CD View

Example Various Artists CD View

If you have more than one CD-ROM drive, a drive selection drop-down list control (not shown above) will appear to the left of the player buttons.  VisiTrax will remember the drive you select between sessions.

To have VisiTrax automatically detect CDs and activate the CD Player view whenever you insert a CD, select Autodetect CDs from the View > Options menu.  Autodetection will commence the first time you enter the CD Player view in a given session.

VisiTrax will use the following search order to locate information about the currently-inserted CD:

•	If the CD is already listed in your local VisiTrax database, this information will be used, and the Titles box will contain <Local entry>.

•	Otherwise, if the CD is already listed in your PC's CDPLAYER.INI file (a data file commonly used by various CD player programs), information will be retrieved from this file, and the Titles box will contain <cdplayer.ini>.

•	Otherwise, the CDDB feature described below can be used to look up the CD information automatically.

To view information from an alternate source, make a selection from the Titles box drop-down list.

Note:  Some "Media Player" or "CD Player" programs might use a CD-ROM drive in an exclusive, non-shared mode.  If one of these is running in this mode, no other CD player program will be able to access the drive.  If the offending program has a configuration setting option for using the CD-ROM drive in shared mode, try that setting.  Otherwise, you will need to stop the other player, before the VisiTrax CD player can start up or begin to detect CDs.

Playing CD Tracks

To begin playing a CD track, do any of the following:

•	Click on the [image] button.

•	Click on one of the track number cells in the [image] column.

•	Select a track title and press Enter.

•	Select Play from the CD menu.

Editing CD Information

To edit CD information, click or tab into each field and edit as necessary.  You can edit information for any track, regardless of the track being played (if any).  Changes can be saved in any of the following ways:

•	To save changes to your computer's shared CDPLAYER.INI file, select Write to CDPLAYER.INI from the CD menu.

•	To save changes to your VisiTrax library database, click on the Add / Update button (this also updates CDPLAYER.INI).

•	To save changes to the Internet-based CDDB service, click on the Submit to CDDB button (also see CDDB Submittals, below).

Using the CDDB Feature

To begin using CDDB, be sure you have an established Internet connection, then click on the Enable CDDB checkbox.  (If you have an always-on Internet connection, you may wish to select Enable CDDB Automatically from the View > Options menu.)

Note:	VisiTrax uses your web browser's settings to determine whether you use dial-up networking and/or a proxy server.  If you use dial-up networking, you'll need to establish a dial-up connection before performing this operation.

As long the Enable CDDB checkbox is activated, CDDB lookups are initiated automatically, for each CD inserted.  In some cases, VisiTrax might inform you that CDDB has multiple matches (exact or inexact) for the current CD's disc identifier.  In other cases, CDDB might return what it thinks is an exact match, but the title shown is not the one for your CD.  If this occurs, select the appropriate option from the Titles drop-down list.  If a given CD is already in your local database, the local information will be selected by default.

The CDDB server receives submittals from thousands of users all over the world, so you can expect to find errors on occasion.  Once a CD's information has been acquired from CDDB, look over the information for typographical errors or other inconsistencies.  VisiTrax gives you a few distinct stages at which you can correct or modify this information:

•	The first stage is in the CD Player view itself.  This is most useful when you see errors in CDDB's data:  simply correct the data in this view, submit the corrections to CDDB for posterity, then click on the Add button to import the data into your VisiTrax library.

•	The second stage is in the Add New CD dialog that appears after clicking on Add in the CD Player view.  While the CDDB community tends to list artists using the form "John Smith", or "The Beach Boys", you might prefer the catalog index format, such as "Smith, John" or "Beatles, The" (or just "Beatles").  You could do this in the CD Player dialog, of course, but you wouldn't necessarily submit such changes back to CDDB.  Using the Add New CD dialog for this purpose also lets you take advantage of its "smart data entry" features.  (Don't forget to assign a CD index here while you're at it.)

•	Once you click the Add button in the Add New CD dialog, the CD's individual track records will be inserted, all at once.  Editing these individual track entries would comprise the third, track-level stage.  One of the things you might want to do here is adjust the Category for each track, and perhaps enter additional information, such as the release year, not typically available via CDDB.

Even if you choose to do a fair amount of "tweaking" with the data CDDB gives you, using CDDB will save you a lot of data entry time.

Note:  Once a CD has been added to your library, the Add button will be replaced with an Update button.

Hint:	To quickly shift names around in an artist field, or shift words around in a title field, simply double click on that field.  For example, this could be used to change "John Smith" to "Smith, John", or vice versa.

Track Artists and CDDB

The CDDB service never specified a standard method for entering track artists, and many CDDB player programs don't even provide a "track artist" field.  As a result, the CDDB library is rather inconsistent with respect to track artist information.  Here are some commonly-seen variations:

•	Artist is entered in the "extra track information" field.

•	Track titles have the form "artist / title" or "artist - title".

•	Track titles have the form "title / artist" or "title - artist".

•	Track titles have the form "title (artist)" or "artist (title)".

•	No track artists specified at all.

VisiTrax uses the following "best guess" method for extracting track artists, in the order of precedence shown:

1. All track titles contain a "/" splitter [best guess: artist / title]

2. All tracks contain a single line of Extra data [best guess: these are track artists]

3. All track titles contain a "-" splitter [best guess: title - artist]

4. All track titles contain parentheses [best guess: title (artist)]

VisiTrax will initially set the List Artists checkbox based on the foregoing best-guess logic.

In the case of 1, 3, and 4 above, since the artist and title could be transposed, VisiTrax will display a warning message and provide a Swap Artists & Titles checkbox for easily fixing this if necessary.  This checkbox will normally be grayed out unless a possible transposition is detected.

What if my CD isn't listed at CDDB?

If you have a recently-released CD that you believe should have been listed on CDDB, but is not there, it might be that the CDDB service has not yet updated their library.  If this becomes a significant problem, you might obtain better results at another service, such as freedb.org (simply type freedb.org into the CDDB Servers box and press Enter).  Note, however, that while alternative free services such as this might be updated more frequently, they are not sanctioned or supported in any way by CDDB, Inc.

If you're working with a custom CD of your own or a published CD that just doesn't happen to be listed at CDDB, initiate a CDDB query as described above (CD is inserted and Enable CDDB is checked).  Once the query has completed, ensure <Local entry> is selected from the Titles drop-down list.

If the currently-inserted CD is found to exist already in your VisiTrax database, the title and artist information you previously saved for this CD will be displayed automatically.  Otherwise, most of the CD data entry fields will be empty.  At this point you can fill in the data for this CD as needed.  Once all of the essential information has been filled in ("Notes" fields can be left empty if desired), click the Add button to add the CD to your VisiTrax database, as described above.

For custom CDs, a preferred approach is to simply add them via the Add New Volume dialog.  Normally, VisiTrax will take you here automatically for any unrecognized CD.

Updating an Existing CD Volume Entry

Once a CD has been added to your library, the Add button will be replaced with an Update button.  Clicking Update will update the existing CD volume entry, and its corresponding track entries, using the data that appears in the CD Player view.  This can be handy, for example, if you happen to catch a spelling error in one of the titles while in this view.  (Note that Update will not disturb existing  information not ordinarily seen in this view, such as volume locator index, or track category, year, lead-in time, etc.)

What if I already entered my CD as a "New Volume"?

Each compact disc has a (relatively) unique media identifier code and CDDB-style disc identifier code.  VisiTrax uses these numeric codes to associate a physical compact disc with its corresponding volume database record.  Normally, this association takes place automatically when you click on the Add button from the CD Player view.  However, the Add New Volume and Volume Details dialogs also let you perfom (or change) this association.

CDDB Submittals

The CDDB service is likely to find entries for most of your CDs.  If your CD is not found (and it's a published CD, not some custom job) you can enter its data and submit it to the CDDB server via the Submit to CDDB button.  You can also submit corrections to existing entries.  Before you begin making submittals, though, look at a reasonable number of examples of existing CD entries, so you can become somewhat familiar with common practice (or at least preferred practice):

•	Titles, artist names, etc., should use standard capitalization rules for mixed-case titles.

•	If the CD contains tracks from various artists, the CD's Artist field should be "Various Artists", or something equivalent.  For best results, be sure to use the key word "Various", at least.

•	Titles and artist names should be of reasonable length.

•	Careful spelling and punctuation is generally appreciated.

•	"Special" characters beyond those used for ordinary narrative text, should be avoided.

•	Avoid using the slash character ("/") in the CD's title and artist fields.

CDDB submittals require an e-mail reply address, so that you can be notified if there's a problem.  Enter your e-mail reply address in the E-Mail field.

The Submit to CDDB button won't be enabled unless a certain set of minimal conditions have been met.  This reduces the likelihood of accidentally sending an incomplete or useless submittal.  Conditions include an e-mail address, no empty fields that shouln't be empty, and (in the case of changes) something changed from the existing entry.  (If, for example, you change one word, enabling the button, then change it back to the original version, the button will become disabled again.)

Naturally, it makes no sense to submit a new CD without first confirming that it is, in fact, a new CD as far as CDDB is concerned.  To ensure that this is the case, VisiTrax will disable all of the editing fields until a CDDB query has been made for a given CD, confirming that it isn't already in the server's database.

Resolving CD Player or CDDB Performance Issues

VisiTrax accesses CDDB's servers just like a web browser.  Occasionally, you might encounter an error message or other performance problem while accessing a CDDB server.  Unless the error message indicates something specific in this regard, usually the best course of action is to try the access at least one or two more times before concluding that there's a problem of any significance.

If errors tend to occur frequently, or if CDDB accesses appear to be too slow, try selecting a different site via the CDDB Servers drop-down list.  (Sometimes the fastest-responding server is not the geographically closest one.)

To re-acquire the list of CDDB server sites, click inside the CDDB Servers editing box and press the Enter key.  The list of servers will be (re-)acquired from the site shown.  To specify a different "CDDB home" site, first select it from the drop-down list, or type in the URL (if this field is blank, the original standard address will be restored).

To re-establish communications with a specific CDDB server, reselect it from the CDDB Servers drop-down list.  This also forces a fresh CD title query if you have a CD inserted.

To repeat a CD title query from the current server, either reselect the server from the CDDB Servers drop-down list, or eject and then reload the CD.

To re-read a specific CD's track information for a given CD title, reselect the CD title from the Titles drop-down list.

To force a re-read of data from the CD, select Refresh (read CD again) from the CD menu, or press Ctrl-F5.

If you continue to encounter problems with CDDB using VisiTrax, please send us an e-mail message with as much relevant detail as possible.

See also:	Installation and Configuration

View Options and Customization


What is CDDB?

The term "CDDB" (CD database) is commonly used in three distinct senses: as a proper company name, as a type of CD database archive, and as a protocol for accessing such an archive on line.

Historically, CDDB began in 1993 as an informal endeavor by Ti Kan, Graham Toal, and Steve Scherf.  By 1996, it had evolved into a company with an established web site and its own proprietary Disc Recognition Service (DRS), supporting fast CD lookups via the Internet.  In 1998, CDDB, Inc. was acquired by Indiana-based Escient, Inc.

The "CDDB" information database contains artist, disc title, track titles, and other information for digital audio compact discs.  Over time, this archive has grown to contain a substantial collection of CD information (over 300,000 album titles) and continues to grow at a rapid rate.  Traditionally, individual end users have been permitted to access the public CDDB servers for free.

At least three distinct CDDB access protocols are in use today.  The first two of these, CDDBP and CDDB via HTTP, are openly-published protocols that have become a de facto standard for Internet access of compact disc information, not only on CDDB's own servers (cddb.com), but also on alternative services such as freedb.org.  The third CDDB access protocol, CDDB2, is proprietary in nature and not an open protocol, in the sense that it can only be used to access genuine CDDB servers.

The protocol used by the VisiTrax CD Player is CDDB via HTTP, which is the most universally compatible CDDB protocol – first, because HTTP is the same protocol used by web browsers, and second, because the protocol is not bound to just one CD information database service.

Music CD-related data provided via cddb.com is from the Escient® CDDB™ Music CD Database, Copyright © 1998 Escient LLC.  All rights reserved.

Escient is a registered trademark of Escient LLC.  CDDB™ and the Escient CDDB logo are trademarks of Escient LLC.


Creating a New Library

To create a new library database file from scratch, select New Library from the File menu (or click on the [image] toolbar button).

If another library file was already open and you made any changes, you'll be asked if you wish to save it, and then that file will be closed.

A newly-created library database contains no predefined media format types or track categories, since it contains no volumes or tracks.  To add new volumes and their tracks to your library:

•	You can add pre-recorded CDs via the Add button on the CD Player view.

•	You can manually type in each new volume and its tracks via the Add New Volume dialog.

•	You can convert a playlist you've created from one or more existing volumes, to a new volume.  This can be handy when you're creating a new custom CD or tape.

See also:	Opening an Existing Library


Opening an Existing Library

To open an existing library database file, select Open... from the File menu (or click on the [image] toolbar button).

If another library file was already open and you made any changes, you'll be asked if you wish to save it, and then that file will be closed.

To help you get familiarized with VisiTrax, we've provided an example library you can experiment with.  Just open Example.trx, which you should find in your VisiTrax installation directory.

See also:	Creating a New Library


Adding a New Volume

To add a new volume to your library database, select New Volume from the Edit menu, or press Ctrl-N.  (In the Volumes view, you can press Insert to do the same thing.)  This will present a dialog box similar to the one here:

Similar dialogs also appear...

•	after you select Convert Playlist to Volume from the Edit menu or right-click pop-up menu from the Playlist view (title bar will read Convert Playlist to New Volume).

•	after you click the Add button in the CD Player view, except in that case the dialog looks like this:

At a minimum, the Title, Artist, and Media Format fields (also Category field in the Add New CD dialog) need to be completed to create a valid volume record.  You can enter anything you wish for these fields.  Each of these fields also contains a drop-down list of entries you've made before.

Hint:	To quickly shift names around in the Artist field, simply double click on that field.  For example, this could be used to change "John Smith" to "Smith, John", or vice versa.  This feature also works in the Title field.

In the Add New CD dialog, the contents of the Category and Year fields will be assigned to each of the CD's track records.  If the tracks have various categories or years, just enter the predominant category and year here, then revise individual track records later on as necessary.

Just to the right of the Media Format field is a [image] button, which can be used to associate this volume with the currently-loaded CD, or to change or remove a CD association.  Clicking on this button will present a short menu of available options.  Naturally, a given physical CD should be associated with no more than one volume in your database.  Unless you are entering custom CDs, you probably have no need to use this button.

The two optional Notes fields support text of arbitrary length.  Both fields show the same information, but merely in different formats.  The single-line Notes field lets you select from a drop-down list of all existing volume notes entries, and also can also be useful for entering very brief notes.  Typically, these fields are used for miscellaneous information about the volume itself, including physical location or lending information, condition, value, etc.  For CDs, these fields map to the CD's Notes field in the CD Player view.

The Location Index field is optional, but strongly encouraged, especially if you use playlists.  This provides a concise way to quickly identify each volume.  If you've just entered a new media format, assign a two-letter prefix for this field.  The prefix you assign here will be applied to all volumes of that same media format.  The only limitation is that the prefix can't the same as one used by another media format.

As for the rest of the location code, you can use any number from 1 (or "0001") to 9999, as long as it hasn't already been used for this particular media format.  You might want to assign different ranges of numbers to different genres or other discriminators; for example, you might number your CDs as follows:

CD0001 - 0999	Classical music CDs

CD1000 - 1999	Folk music

CD2000 - 2999	Rock music

CD3000 - 3999	Country/western music

CD4000 - 4499	Pan Flute music

CD4500 - 4999	Fred's stuff

...and so on.  (Note that this is only an example – you can use number ranges any way you want, or not at all.)

If the media format is one you've already been using, VisiTrax will fill in the location index field for you with the first available index number.  If want to assign a different index number, just change it.

If you click on the arrow on the right of this field, a drop-down list of available ranges will appear.  For example, let's say you've already entered five CD volumes under each of the above example ranges; i.e. 1-5, 1000-1004, 2000-2004, 3000-3004, 4000-4004, and 4500-4504.  In that case, the following available ranges would be listed (in this example we're using only whole-numbered locator index values in our library):

CD0006 - 0999

CD1005 - 1999

CD2005 - 2999

CD3005 - 3999

CD4005 - 4499

CD4505 - 4999

CD5000 - 9999

Initially, the data field in this example would contain CD0006.  Let's say you just bought another Zamfir and His Pan Flute CD, so to select the next available Pan Flute music index, you could pick the fifth entry from the list (CD4005 - 4499).  The first index in this range, CD4005, would be transferred to the data field for you.

If the Add New CD dialog's Auto-Eject box is checked, the CD will be ejected upon addition of the new CD entry into the library.  When this is used together with the Auto-Detect CDs option (set via the View > Options menu), you can avoid having to manually switch back to the CD Player view for each CD to be added.

Once the needed fields have been filled in, click the Add button to add this new volume entry to the database and begin adding tracks.  (If this was an Add New CD dialog, all of the tracks will be added for you at this point.)

Note 1:	If the Add button's caption is colored dark red, it means at least one data field is incomplete or contains invalid information.   Yellow data entry fields mean the same thing.  More specific information will be displayed if you click Add in this situation.

Note 2:	Don't forget to save your changes periodically.

See also:	Updating a Volume

Delete and Undelete

Cross-References

Creating a New Library


Adding New Tracks

To begin adding new tracks to your library database, do either of the following:

•	From the Volumes View, double-click on an existing volume entry to enter the corresponding Volume Contents View for that volume, then press the Insert key (or select New Track from either the Edit menu or the right-click menu).

•	From any of the list views, add a new volume by selecting New Volume from either the Edit menu or the right-click menu.  Adding a new volume entry automatically leads into adding its track entries.

You will be presented with a dialog box similar to this:

At a minimum, you'll need to fill in the Title, Artist, and Category fields to create a valid track record.  You can enter anything you wish for these fields.  Each of these fields also contains a drop-down list of entries you've made before (useful primarily for category and artist).

The optional Subtitle and Composer fields can be especially useful for classical music or similarly organized material.  For example, use the Subtitle field where you have a group of tracks comprising a single symphony (title), with each track containing a movement (subtitle).  [Hint: When printing classical music listings, you may prefer listing the Track Title field without the Subtitle field, and the Grp Time field rather than the Time field.  Grp Time is an automatically calculated total of times for all tracks having both subtitles and identical titles; for tracks with no subtitles, it is the same as Time.]

Hint:	To quickly shift names around in the Artist or Composer field, simply double click on that field.  For example, this could be used to change "John Smith" to "Smith, John", or vice versa.  This feature also works in the Title field.

The two optional Notes fields support text of arbitrary length.  Both fields show the same information, but merely in different formats.  The single-line Notes field lets you select from a drop-down list of all existing volume notes entries, and also can also be useful for entering very brief notes.  Typically, these fields are used for miscellaneous information about the track.  For CDs, these fields map to the Track Notes field in the CD Player view.

The File Name field is used for computer-based tracks (MP3 files, for example).  Click on the Browse button to locate the folder and file for the track of interest.

The Index (if not left blank) can be any value from 1 to 999, A1 to A99, B1 to B99, or 1A-99B.  More than one track can use the same index, if necessary.  A and B are useful for two-sided media such as phonograph records or DVDs.  The "A1" form is for media containing multiple tracks on a side; the "1A" form is for boxes or trays of singles (e.g. 45 RPM records).

The Year field can be any valid non-zero year, or you can leave it blank.  Entering "0" is equivalent to blank, or "no year defined".

The Time field is used for the track's elapsed playing time.  Any value under 10 hours (10:00:00) can be used.  As an alternative to a colon, you also can key in times using a semicolon, comma, or period (full stop).

The Intro field is used primarily by DJs to indicate how much talk-over time is available (in seconds) at the beginning of the track.  (This is sometimes known as lead-in time.)

The BPM (beats per minute) field is used primarily by DJs to optimize continuity from track to track.  To accurately determine a track's tempo, you can tap the "clock" button at the right of this field in time with the beat of the track as you listen to it.  Continue tapping the button until the value shown settles to (or close to) a stable value, typically 8-12 taps.

Once the needed fields have been filled in, click the Add button to add this new track entry to the current volume and begin adding the next one.  Once you have no more new tracks to add, click the Cancel button.

A couple of shortcuts:

•	The "+" and "-" keys can be used to increment or decrement numeric fields.

•	Typing "T" in the Year field will enter the current year ("This year").

Note 1:	If the Add button's caption is colored dark red, it means at least one data field is incomplete or contains invalid information.   Yellow data entry fields mean the same thing.  More specific information will be displayed if you click Add in this situation.

Note 2:	Don't forget to save your changes periodically.

See also:	Updating a Track

Adding a New Volume

Delete and Undelete


Updating a Volume

To update (or just examine) the details for an existing volume record, first select the volume of interest in the Volumes View, then do any one of the following:

•	press the Space bar, or

•	select Update Details from the Edit menu, or

•	select Update Details from the right-click menu.

VisiTrax will display a Volume Details dialog similar to the dialog used for adding a new volume.

A similar dialog likewise appears if you click the CD Player view's Update button.

See also:	Updating a Track

Delete and Undelete


Updating a Track

To update (or just examine) an existing track, first select the track of interest in the Volume Contents View, then do any one of the following:

•	press the Space bar, or

•	select Update Details from the Edit menu, or

•	select Update Details from the right-click menu.

You will be presented with a dialog box similar to the one here:

Usage of this dialog is identical to that used for adding a new track, with one additional feature: several of the data fields can be duplicated to all other tracks in the current volume, if the corresponding "paper doll" checkboxes are checked.  If the Artist, Category, or Year is duplicated in this fashion, the corresponding information in the volume record also is updated.

See also:	Updating a Volume

Delete and Undelete


Delete and Undelete

When you're in the Volume Contents View, you can delete the currently selected track by doing any of the following:

Select Delete from the Edit menu.

Select Delete from the right-click menu.

Press the Delete key.

When you're in the Volumes View, you can delete an entire volume in the same way.

You can restore a track or volume that you just deleted by doing any of the following:

Select Undelete from the Edit menu.

Select Undelete from the right-click menu.

Press Ctrl-Z.

While there's no fixed limit on the number of successive undelete operations that can be done, once the current library file has been closed, all deletions become permanent.

If you are concerned about accidental deletions, notwithstanding the undelete feature, a Confirm on Delete configuration option is available.


Saving Your Changes

VisiTrax does not make any permanent updates to your library file until you explicitly tell it to save the changes you've made, by doing any of the following:

•	Click on the [image] toolbar button.  If this button is grayed out, your file is up to date (no changes are pending).

•	Select Save from the File menu.  If this menu option is grayed out, no changes are pending.

•	If you attempt to close the current file, and the file is not up to date because you have changes pending, VisiTrax will ask if you wish to save your changes.  This occurs if you select New, Open, or Close; or if you exit the program.

If you've just created a new library file and haven't named it yet, VisiTrax will query you for the filename when you do any of the above actions.

To explicitly save the current library with a new filename, select Save As... from the File menu.  This can be useful for deriving a new library file from an existing one.

To reduce the risk of losing your work due to a system problem (e.g. sudden power failure), be sure to save your changes periodically, especially after making significant additions.  (And of course it should go without saying that it's prudent to make system backups regularly.)

Each time your library file is saved, a backup of the preceding version will be saved in the same directory.  The filename will be the same, except that the first character in the file extension will be a tilde ("~").

See also:	Supported File Formats


Merging Library Files

You can merge two or more VisiTrax library files into a single library file, using either of the procedures described below.  Any number of VisiTrax library files can be merged together simply by repeating the process.

In either of these procedures, we will assume two library files name A.TRX and B.TRX (for fastest results, use the smaller file for B.TRX).

Merging with Copy / Paste

This easy procedure relies on the fact that the Tracks view contains every data field in the library (the other views only contain subsets of some sort).

1)	Start VisiTrax and open B.TRX.

2)	While in the Tracks view, copy the displayed tracks to the Windows clipboard by pressing Ctrl-C.

3)	Now open file A.TRX.

4)	Next, while in the Tracks view, paste the clipboard data by pressing Ctrl-V.

5)	After the data merge completes, check the results, then save.

Pressing Ctrl-C is equivalent to selecting Copy Every Column to Clipboard > Normal Text Format from either the Edit menu or the right-click menu.

Pressing Ctrl-V is equivalent to selecting Paste from Clipboard from either the Edit menu or the right-click menu.

Merging with a Text File

This procedure is not quite as convenient as the copy/paste method, but it does work just as well.

1)	Start VisiTrax and open B.TRX.

2)	Select Save As... from the File menu and save as a text file (B.TXT).

3)	Now open file A.TRX.

4)	Next, open file B.TXT. You'll be asked if you want to merge the data; choose Yes.

5)	After the data merge completes, check the results, then save as a .TRX file.

See also:	Supported File Formats

Saving Your Changes

Copy and Paste


Supported File Formats

VisiTrax supports the following file formats:

Standard VisiTrax Library Files (.trx)

This is the recommended format for normal, everyday use.  It was designed to contain all of the information supported by the VisiTrax user interface, plus a number of additional types of information envisioned for support in future versions of VisiTrax.  It also was designed to be saved and loaded very quickly.

CAUTION:  This is a special binary format – do not try to edit one of these files with other software!

VisiTrax Text File Interchange (VTFI) Text Files (.txt)

This file format, described in more detail on our web site (www.synapsa.com/vtfispec.htm), facilitates exporting and importing data to or from other applications.  You can create and edit files of this format with an ordinary text editor.  (Note that if you have a spreadsheet program, copy and paste might be a simpler alternative to generating an importable text file.)

Text files generally take significantly more time to read than the .trx format; however, VisiTrax can merge formatted text files into an existing library.  If you open a text file to be read in, and existing library data is already loaded, you will be asked if the text file data should be merged with the existing data.  If you respond "Yes", the data will be merged; otherwise, any currently open library will first be closed.  Note that the merged data is not saved to a file until you tell VisiTrax to do so.

Saving your data as a text file takes about the same amount of time as saving any other format – which is to say, almost no time at all.

Legacy Library Files (.ldb)

This format is essentially a very limited subset of the .trx format.  It is provided primarily for back-compatibility with Playlist 4.0x, a DOS-based precursor to VisiTrax that has been in use since 1993.  If you have an existing .ldb file created by Playlist 4.0x, you can import it into VisiTrax with no loss of data.

If you wish to export an existing VisiTrax library to the .ldb file format, only the subset of information supported by the .ldb format and Playlist 4.0x will be exported.  Things to look out for in this regard include:

•	Extended volume locators such as "CD0123.1" will be exported without the decimalized digits (e.g. "CD0123").

•	Track numbers will be limited to 1-99 only.  Side A/B information will not be included.

•	Invisible CD disc identifiers used to associate CDs with their volumes will not be included.

•	BPM, intro times, track filenames, and volume pathnames will not be included.

•	Playlist-compatible .ldb files require generic ASCII (7-bit) text sorting.  VisiTrax automatically ensures that .ldb file data is sorted this way whenever an existing .ldb file is opened.  [Other file types are opened using a multinational form of ANSI (8-bit) sorting that depends on locale.]

Playlist Files (.vxp)

VisiTrax playlists are saved as ordinary text files, but using a ".vxp" filename extension.  A playlist file contains the playlist's descriptive title on the first line, followed by a simple list of volume/track index identifiers (e.g. CD0123.1-4), one identifier per line.

External File Formats

VisiTrax also supports exporting data to some externally-defined file formats.  For more information, see Exporting Data.


Copy and Paste

With VisiTrax, it's very easy to copy complete listings to and from the Windows clipboard, using a common tabular form supported by Microsoft Excel and many other programs.  While exporting data from VisiTrax to the clipboard is more or less foolproof, you should be aware that successfully importing data created by other applications, from the clipboard, requires that the data follows certain formatting conventions, as described herein.

Copying Data to the Clipboard

To copy (export) the listed items in any of the listing views (Tracks, Volumes, Volume Contents, or Playlist) to the Windows clipboard, select one of the following from either the Edit menu or the right-click pop-up menu:

•	Copy Main Columns to Clipboard

•	Copy Every Column to Clipboard

Each of these has a submenu:

•	Select Normal Text Format if you will be pasting into anything other than a spreadsheet (or into a spreadsheet whose cells have first been preformatted to Text).

•	Select Spreadsheet Compatible if you will be pasting into a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel  This will ensure that times (e.g. "25:32") and hexadecimal values will appear correctly within the spreadsheet.

A complete export of the database can be obtained by copying every column to the clipboard from the Tracks view.

Shortcut: 	Pressing Ctrl-C is equivalent to selecting Copy Every Column to Clipboard > Normal Text Format.

Pressing Ctrl-X is equivalent to selecting Copy Every Column to Clipboard > Spreadsheet Compatible.

Pasting Data from the Clipboard

Data copied to the Windows clipboard (as described above, or equivalent) can be pasted (imported) into the Tracks, Volumes, or Volume Contents view.  Each such view requires a different core set of named columns; any non-relevant columns will be ignored.

Following is a set of rules that should be observed for successfully importing data into VisiTrax via paste:

1)	The order in which columns appear is not important, just the column names.  To obtain an example of the format needed for pasting into a given VisiTrax view, simply press Ctrl-C to copy the data from that view to the clipboard, then examine it by pasting it into a spreadsheet program or text editor.  You only need to see a few rows of data for this purpose, so you might first want to apply some filtering to obtain just a small sample.

2)	When pasting into the Volumes view, each row must contain, at a minimum, data for VOLUME_ARTIST, VOLUME_TITLE, and MEDIA_FORMAT, plus a distinct (and valid) INDEX.  Any track-specific information will be ignored.

3)	When pasting into the Tracks view, each row must contain, at a minimum, data for ARTIST, TRACK_TITLE, and CATEGORY, plus sufficient information to identify the containing volume.  This latter can be either the volume's INDEX, if a separate volume table was first pasted into the Volumes view, or otherwise the VOLUME_ARTIST, VOLUME_TITLE, and MEDIA_FORMAT.

4)	When pasting a single, composite table into the Tracks view (i.e. no separate Volumes table), and a volume INDEX is provided, there is no need to repeat the remaining volume information after the first row for a given volume.  If no INDEX is used, the other required volume fields must exactly match from track row to track row, for a given volume.

5)	When pasting into the Volume Contents view, all pasted tracks will be assigned to the currently displayed volume.  Any volume-specific information will be ignored

6)	The GRP_TIME and VOL_TIME columns are ignored, as their data is automatically derived from track times.

7)	A single LOCATION column can be used in lieu of the INDEX and NO. columns.

8)	All other columns not specifically mentioned above are optional.

Shortcut:	Pressing Ctrl-V is equivalent to selecting Paste from Clipboard.

See also:	Merging Library Files

Printing CD Labels

Exporting Data for Upload


Exporting and Importing Data

VisiTrax provides two distinct methods for porting data to or from other applications.  Each method has its distinct advantages.

In most situations, the method of choice will be copying and pasting data, using the Windows clipboard as an intermediate holding buffer.  Some advantages of this method are as follows:

•	The data is represented as a simple table, compatible with Microsoft Excel and similar spreadsheet programs.

•	Use of the clipboard is much simpler and more foolproof than saving to a file or reading from a file.

The second available method is saving and reading the library data as a text file.  This method may be more advantageous in the following situations:

•	Consolidating or renaming artists, media formats, categories, and the like

This entails saving your VisiTrax library as a text file, editing the file with a text editor, then reading the edited file back into VisiTrax.  It's particularly efficient because text files saved from VisiTrax list distinct names of artists, et al, in sorted order.  (Note that reading text files is much slower than reading .trx files, so you'll normally want to save your data in the standard .trx file form.)

•	Developing special data conversion utilities

Sometimes the only practical way to port data from another application is by writing a special data conversion utility.  In such cases, the data is often organized as two linked tables, one for albums (volumes) and one for songs (tracks), making generation of a VisiTrax-readable text file a very straightforward operation.

While the text file format provides a much more efficient data representation compared to the tabular form used by copy and paste, it's generally a more complex layout.

See also:	Merging Library Files

Printing CD Labels

Exporting Data for Upload


Exporting Data for Upload

VisiTrax supports exporting lists of tracks to ready-to-upload files for the following on-line services:

•	DJ Intelligence (www.DJIntelligence.com)

•	WeDJ (www.WeDJ.com)

Track listings can be exported from the Tracks view, Volume Contents view, or Playlist view.  To export a tracks listing, do the following:

1)	Establish the list of tracks to be exported by selecting the desired view and any applicable filters.

2)	From the File menu, choose Export Track List.

3)	From the submenu that appears, choose the type of export file desired.

4)	From the Export list to file dialog, select the desired folder and file name.

5)	Follow the on-line service's documented procedure for uploading the file.

DJ Intelligence files (default name DJI.csv) will contain data from the following columns:

•	Artist

•	Track Title

•	Category

•	Year (as 5-year ranges)

•	Location

WeDJ files (default name WeDJ.txt) will contain data from the following columns:

•	Artist

•	Track Title

•	Volume Title

•	No. (track number)

•	Year

•	Time

•	BPM

•	Index

•	Category

•	Media Format

•	Composer (or Track Notes if no composer)

See also:	Exporting and Importing Data

Merging Library Files

Printing CD Labels


Creating Cross-References

Sometimes you might want to establish a cross-reference between an individual artist and other artists or groups, so that you can more readily locate everything you have related to that artist.  Here's how you can do this:

1.	For each individual artist needing a cross-reference, create a cross-reference volume record, entitled (Related Groups).  For the media format, use Cross Reference (suggested location index prefix:  XR).

2.	Create one track entry in this volume for the individual artist, entitled * See also... – the Category field can be anything.

3.	Create one track entry in this volume for each related group, entitled * See also <artist name> –  for example, if the artist name is John Lennon, use * See also Lennon, John for the track title for each related group.

The use of cross-reference entries as outlined above will result in a Tracks view similar to this:

Note how the use of asterisks keeps all of the Beatles cross-reference entries grouped together at the beginning.

If you double-click on the * See also Lennon, John entry, you'll see a Volume Contents view similar to this:

If you then double-click on the second track entry above, you'll be taken to a Tracks view similar to this:

One final note here:  Cross Reference, (Related Groups), and * See also... are merely suggested naming conventions.  They have no special meaning to VisiTrax.  The punctuation we've suggested makes it evident that these are cross-reference entries, as opposed to real volume entries.


Checking for Updates

From time to time, new improved versions of VisiTrax will be made available to all registered users for free, for download from our web site.  VisiTrax automatically checks for a new version update in the background, whenever you first access the CDDB service on a given day with the CD Reader dialog.  If a new update is found, VisiTrax will notify you the next time you exit the program.

You can also verify whether you have the latest version at any time by selecting Check for Updates... from the VisiTrax Help menu.

Note:	Check for Updates... may require connecting to our server via the Internet, to obtain timely (same-day) information.  If you use dial-up networking, you'll need to establish a dial-up connection before performing this operation.  VisiTrax uses your web browser's settings to determine whether you use dial-up networking.


Exiting from VisiTrax

If you have library file changes pending when you exit VisiTrax, you will be asked if you want the changes saved, and given three options:

•	Yes – Update the file and then quit.

•	No – Quit without updating the file (discards any changes you made).

•	Cancel – Don't quit (cancel your exit request).

See also:	Saving Your Changes


View Options and Customization

To customize the appearance and general user interface features of VisiTrax:

•	You can resize the main VisiTrax window and certain controls.

•	You can select and reorder which data columns you normally see.

•	From the right-click pop-up menu, you can configure fonts, colors, and grid lines in the listing views.

•	From the View > Starting View menu, you can select your preferred starting view.

•	Lastly, from the View > Options menu, you can select various general preferences, including automatic CD recognition, pop-up hints, confirmation before deleting volumes or tracks.


Resizing

General Resizing Features

The entire VisiTrax window can be resized, using any of the standard Windows resizing methods.

Listing View Resizing Features

In any of the list grids, any columns containing non-formatted data, such as the Artist or Title columns, can be resized by by dragging their divider on the heading bar.  Double-clicking this divider automatically sets the column's width based on the widest data it contains.  To reset the column proportions back to their initial defaults, choose Reset Column Widths from the View menu.

Above the list grid in the Tracks and Volumes views, you can drag the vertical divider to adjust relative widths of the left and right sets of filter fields (handy if you have some unusually long category descriptions, for example).

CD Player View Resizing Features

On occasion, you might want to adjust the relative sizing of sections within the CD Player view.  To temporarily adjust relative widths, you can "grab" any of the three vertical resizing bars (shown above) with your mouse and move them left or right as desired.

You also can "grab" the top edge of the lower panel containing the track-specific information, and move it up or down to temporarily adjust relative heights.

See also:	Fonts, Colors, and Grid Lines


Changing Which Columns You See

The columns in each library listing view are divided into two sets:

•	The main columns are automatically kept sized as a group to match the listing window's width, by scaling variable-width columns proportionally as needed.

•	Any columns you can access by scrolling to the right are extra columns.  Extra columns have a grayed-out appearance along with dark blue heading text, so they can be distinguished readily from the main columns.

To change the relative position of any column, simply drag it by its header to the left or right.  To "hide" one of the main columns, drag it to the right into the set of extra columns.  To "show" one of the extra columns, drag it to the left into the set of main columns.

Column positions and relative proportions are retained when you exit VisiTrax.  Each time VisiTrax starts up, the initial sorting order for both the Tracks and Volumes views is set in descending column precedence from left to right.

See also:	Resizing


Fonts, Colors, and Grid Lines

The following portions of the VisiTrax display can be tailored for fonts, background color, and grid lines:

•	The Tracks View listbox

•	The Volumes View listbox

•	The Volume Contents View listbox, as well as its heading bar above the listbox

•	The Playlist View listbox, as well as its heading bar above the listbox

To change the display characteristics for any of the above, place the mouse cursor over the area of interest and click the right-hand button for a "right-click" list of options.  (For listbox characteristics, this menu can also be accessed via Alt-P).

The view selection tab fonts can be changed by selecting Tabs Font from the main listing area's right-click menu.

In addition, the View > Options menu contains a Light Dialog Fonts option, which switches between a lighter or heavier default font style for VisiTrax dialogs.  This affects, for example, the font style used for the status bar, filter controls in the Tracks and Volumes views, and the volume and track editing dialogs.

See also:	Printing Options


Starting View

Normally, VisiTrax starts up in the Tracks view.  However, you can change this by selecting one of the following options in the View > Starting View menu:

•	Tracks	The Tracks view is selected by default

•	Volumes	The Volumes view is selected by default

•	CD Player	The CD Player view is selected by default

•	Most Recent	One of the above, based on the view you were in when you previously used VisiTrax.


General Preferences

The View > Options menu offers the following preference settings:

Data Entry Box Colors	This contains a short submenu (Custom vs. Standard).  Selecting Custom permits you to select a single custom background color for most data entry boxes.  Selecting Standard will apply the default Window background color (as defined in your general Windows display settings).

Hint Popups	When checked (default), enables the display of pop-up hints.  These can come in handy when you're first starting out, but some experienced users may prefer to disable them.

Light Dialog Fonts	Determines the font style used within most VisiTrax dialogs.  (The CD Player dialog always uses a light, or non-bold, dialog font, because it presents so much information.)

Confirm on Delete	When checked, causes a confirmation dialog to appear prior to deleting a track or volume.  Since VisiTrax also has an Undelete feature, you may find it more productive to work without delete confirmation.

Hide Playlist when Empty	When checked, the Playlist tab is hidden unless you have one or more tracks selected into a playlist.  If you frequently use and save playlists, you probably want this unchecked.

Enable Print Preview	Enables or disables display of the Print Preview dialog prior to printing.  If disabled, a simple pop-up dialog will be displayed instead.

Autodetect CDs	When checked, will cause VisiTrax to switch to the CD Player view automatically when an audio CD is inserted.

Enable CDDB Automatically	When checked, will cause VisiTrax to automatically enable access to CDDB whenever the CD Player view is used.  This is most useful if you have a continuous Internet connection.


Printing and Print Preview

VisiTrax can print lists of tracks, lists of volumes, tracks in a selected volume, and playlists.  You can initiate printing in any of the following ways:

•	Click on the [image] toolbar button

•	Select Print Listing... from the File menu

•	Type Ctrl-P

Print Preview and Page Selection

Whenever you initiate printing using one of the above methods, a Print Preview dialog will appear (unless you have disabled this feature; see the Note, below).  From this dialog, you can preview on the screen how each printed page will appear, and select page layout, orientation, and the range of pages to print.

The Print Preview dialog provides a scrollable page preview panel, plus the following controls:

Page layout	There are two primary layout modes.  In Automatic mode, a fixed set of commonly-used data fields will be printed using an efficient presentation style.  The set of fields chosen and their layout are tailored for each type of view.

The Columns as shown mode (the default) is more flexible.  In this mode, the printout will correspond to the main set of columns you have selected for the current view, as well as their ordering and relative width proportions.  For still more flexibility, the Duplicate suppression and Indented subheadings controls are also available in this mode.

Orientation	This provides convenient switching between Portrait and Landscape page orientation.

Page range	This lets you select the page or range of pages to be printed.

Duplicate suppression	This control is only available for the Columns as shown page layout, which normally will suppress any row that duplicates data in the all columns of the preceding row.  Use this control to reduce the number of leftmost columns compared to the preceding row.  For example, if the printout contains 5 columns and this control is set to 4, any row in which columns 1 through 4 are the same as in the preceding row will be suppressed, even if column 5 contains different data.

Indented subheadings	This set of controls is only available for the Columns as shown page layout, in which, by default, all data is printed in tabular columns, with headings that name each column.

To print the first one or more columns of data as indented subheading levels, set Subhead levels to the number of subheading levels you want.  Headings will appear only above any remaining columns.

Ordinarily, each subheading level will use the data from each of the first columns, in left-to-right order.  However, if the first n data columns are fixed-width fields (e.g. track number, index, year), you can combine up to the first n+1 data columns into the first subheading level, via the Join columns... control.

Despite consuming a bit more paper, subheadings are invaluable for reducing or eliminating data truncation, and the resulting printouts tend to be more aesthetically appealing.

Additional lines	This control is only available for the Columns as shown page layout, in which, by default, all data is printed in tabular columns, with headings that name each column.  However, some columns may be empty much of the time, or they may contain notes or other lengthy material.  To print such data as one or more additional lines of text, first arrange the corresponding columns so they appear last, then set the Notes columns control to the number of columns you want printed as additional lines.

For example, to print Track Notes as additional lines, arrange your main columns so that Track Notes appears last, then set Notes columns to 1.

Print	This button prints the page or range of pages indicated in the Page range control.

Setup	This button is used to access a menu of font setting and printer setup options.

Done	Click this button when you are done with the Print Preview dialog.

Note: To enable or disable Print Preview, select Options > Enable Print Preview from the View menu.  When Print Preview is disabled, a simple pop-up dialog will appear instead.  (However, note that some advanced features, such as indented subheadings, are available only via the Print Preview dialog.)

Printer Selection and Page Orientation

Before printing, you can change printer settings or page orientation by selecting Printer Setup... from the File menu, or by selecting Setup > Printer Setup from the Print Preview dialog.  This brings up a standard printer setup dialog for your particular model of printer.  The settings you make here will apply to all printouts.  (Page orientation can also be changed via the Print Preview dialog's Orientation control.)

Print Font Selection

To change the fonts used by VisiTrax to print your listings, select Printer Fonts from the File menu, or select Setup from the Print Preview dialog.  From the submenu, you can select any of the following:

•	Page Title Font

•	Column Heading Font

•	Subheading 1 Font (first-level subheadings)

•	Subheading 2 Font (second-level subheadings)

•	Subheading 3 Font (third-level subheadings and any beyond that)

•	List Items Font

•	Notes Font (additional lines of text)

If you use a color printer, you may wish to assign colors to some of these fonts.

Reminder:	When printing from the Playlist View, the page title is taken from that view's playlist title, which can be directly edited.


Printing CD Labels

VisiTrax supports use of SureThing CD Labeler (version 3 or later), a design and printing tool for CD labels, jewel case inserts, and related matter.  Two alternative methods are available:

•	Print to CD Labeler – This option, selected from the File menu, activates the CD Labeler program and opens a new design window, with an active playlist containing a track listing selected from VisiTrax.

•	Copy as CD Labeler Playlist – This option, selected from either the Edit menu or the right-click menu, copies a selected VisiTrax track listing to the Windows clipboard as an Audio CD playlist, then activates CD Labeler without creating a new design window.  If you are using SureThing CD Labeler Deluxe, which supports playlist copy and paste, you can then paste the track listing into the current design's active playlist.

Note 1:	These two menu options are available only if CD Labeler is installed on your computer.

Note 2:	CD Labeler uses the term "playlist" to denote a list of titles, artists, etc. for a single CD.  This should not be confused with "playlist" as generally used within VisiTrax.

Selecting a Track Listing Source from VisiTrax

For either transfer method described herein, you first need to select the track listing source:

•	From the Volumes view: tracks will be taken from the selected volume.

•	From the Tracks view: tracks will be taken from the selected track's volume.

•	From the Volume Contents view: all listed tracks will be taken.

•	From the Playlist view: all listed tracks will be taken (the CD title will be taken from the first listed track's volume).

Using "Print to CD Labeler"

To use this option, perform the following steps:

(1)	Select the track listing source from VisiTrax, as described above.

(2)	Select Print to CD Labeler from the File menu.  If you are in the Tracks or Volumes view, VisiTrax automatically switches to the Volume Contents view.

(3)	A file selection dialog will appear.  Select the label design set file to be used, then click Open.

(4)	CD Labeler automatically activates, opening a new design window using the selected label design set and track listing.

(5)	Refer to CD Labeler's documentation for help on making any necessary layout adjustments and printing.

(6)	You can switch back and forth between VisiTrax and CD Labeler as often as you like; there is no need to close either program until you are all done with it.

Using "Copy as CD Labeler Playlist"

This option takes advantage of the "playlist paste" feature available in SureThing CD Labeler Deluxe.  It is not intended for use with more limited versions of CD Labeler that don't have this feature.  The main advantage of this option is that it avoids opening a separate design window for each track playlist imported from VisiTrax, since it's basically a copy/paste operation.

To use this option, perform the following steps:

(1) Select the track listing source from VisiTrax, as described above.

(2) Select Copy as CD Labeler Playlist from either the Edit menu or the right-click pop-up menu (or press Ctrl-L).  This does the following things:

•	If in the Tracks or Volumes view, VisiTrax automatically switches to the Volume Contents view.

•	Data is copied to the clipboard as a CD Labeler Audio CD playlist.

•	The CD Labeler program is activated automatically.

•	If a label design form is open, the Edit Active Playlist dialog is activated (from CD Labeler's Playlists menu).

(3) Click the [image] button at the bottom of the Edit Active Playlist dialog, to paste the clipboard data into CD Labeler's currently active playlist.

(4) Within CD Labeler, select the label format, style, and playlist fields you wish to use.  (To include playlist fields on a label, select Insert Playlist Fields from the Playlists menu.)  You can do this either before or after steps (1) and (2).

(5)	You can switch back and forth between VisiTrax and CD Labeler as often as you like; there is no need to close either program until you are all done with it.

Refer to CD Labeler's documentation for additional help.

Tip:	With SureThing CD Labeler Deluxe, you can quickly create a ready-to-use "starter" set of CD labels, complete with playlist fields, using the New CD Wizard.  Select the "Audio CD" SmartDesigns option.

For additional information on using playlists within CD Labeler Deluxe, please refer to their tutorial entitled "Working with Playlists", and in particular their tutorial subtopic entitled "Adding Playlist Fields to an Existing Design".


Definitions

The terms appearing below have special meaning when used in conjunction with VisiTrax:

Playlist	A playlist is a playing schedule for selected tracks residing in any arbitrary set of volumes in the library.

Typical uses for a playlist might include scheduling of a program for use by a DJ, or defining material to be transcribed onto a tape or CD.

Swiping	This is a lot like drag and drop, except you don't have to move the mouse pointer very far at all.

To perform a swipe action, move the mouse cursor to the right or left a short distance while holding down the left mouse button, then release the button, all while remaining within the currently-highlighted line.

Track	A track is any discrete selection, song, tune, cut, video, etc.  VisiTrax is designed to instantly locate individual tracks in your music library, regardless of their associated media.

At a minimum, each track has a defined artist name, title, and category (e.g. Classical, Folk Music, Rock, or any other description you might wish to use).  Optionally, a track can have an index number, playing time, year, etc.  File names can be specified for computer-based tracks (e.g. MIDI or WAV files).

Volume	A volume is any logical grouping of tracks sharing a common container, such as an album, tape, compact disc, box or tray, etc.

At a minimum, each volume has attributes of artist, title, and media format (e.g. 33 RPM Album, Compact Disc, DVD, or any other description you might wish to use).  For computer-based tracks, such as MIDI and WAV files, a single directory pathname can be specified for a given volume.


End-User License Agreement

END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

This is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and us (Synapsa Productions and/or the author) for the Software Product called "VisiTrax", including all associated executable and data files provided therewith. You may install and use this Software Product if and only if you concur with the terms of this Agreement.

Copyright

All rights, title, and copyrights in and to this Software Product, and any copies thereof, are owned by the author(s) of this software.  This Software Product is protected by copyright laws and international treaty provisions. Therefore, you must treat it like any other copyrighted material, except as specified otherwise herein.

You may not reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or modify any copy of this Software Product, nor otherwise attempt to circumvent any protective mechanism thereof, including but not limited to attempted use of any unauthorized software key; except and only to the extent that such activity is expressly permitted by applicable law notwithstanding this limitation.

You are permitted to give copies of this Software Product to others, in any reasonable distribution format (e.g. diskette, CD-ROM, e-mail, FTP), as long as the original package remains unmodified. Embedding the original package within a single compression/archive format (e.g. zip, arj, tar) is permitted, as long as the original package can be extracted intact.  "Original package", as used herein, means the single, executable program file we distribute that is used to extract and install a usable copy of the Software Product on a computer.

No restriction is made concerning fees for copying, transmission, or storage.

Licensed Software

VisiTrax is licensed.  It is not, and shall not be, sold, rented, or leased.  If you are a vendor, you may not represent this Software Product to others in any manner inconsistent with this License Agreement.

VisiTrax Lite Product License

VisiTrax Lite is the "freeware" version of VisiTrax.  You are granted the limited, non-exclusive right to install and use any number of copies of VisiTrax Lite, with no expiration date, provided that you remain in compliance with all terms and conditions of this License Agreement.

VisiTrax Standard Edition Product License

VisiTrax Standard Edition is the commercial version of VisiTrax.  For each assigned and authorized software key, you are granted the limited, non-exclusive right to install and use VisiTrax Standard Edition (and any future revision thereof) on a single computer for as long as said key remains valid.  You may permit any number of individuals to use VisiTrax Standard Edition on said single computer; however, you agree to treat each assigned key as confidential and protect it from disclosure to others.

Your assigned software key(s) shall be considered invalid immediately upon termination of this Agreement as set forth herein.

Termination

This Agreement shall immediately and automatically terminate without notice if you fail to comply with any term or condition of this Agreement.  You agree upon termination to promptly cease use of the Software Product and to destroy all copies thereof.

Export Restrictions

You agree that neither you nor your customers intend to or will, directly or indirectly, export or transmit any portion of this Software Product to any country to which such export or transmission is restricted by any applicable U.S. regulation or statute, without the prior written consent, if required, of the Bureau of Export Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, or such other governmental entity as may have jurisdiction over such export or transmission.

United States Government Restricted Rights

VisiTrax and its documentation are provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS.  Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227- 7013 or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights at 48 CFR 52.227-19, as applicable. Manufacturer is Synapsa Productions, 217 Victory Lane, Harvester, Missouri, 63303-8432.

No Warranty

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we expressly disclaim any warranty for this Software Product.  This Software Product is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.  The entire risk arising out of use or performance of this Software Product remains with you.

General

Should any part of this Agreement be declared void or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, such declaration shall have no effect on the remaining parts hereof.