Copyright: (C) Richard A. Stauch - 1994 V1.00


Just a reminder:

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Video Library Main Help.
Information

Video Library is an open application written in Visual Basic 3.0 (Professional Edition). My intention is to distribute this software freely. Anyone who wishes may use it, or even make modifications to it. If you like, you may forward notes to me about changes you've made. The idea is to have fun, and to share our skills. My hope is that we may all broaden our scope of experience, and enjoy ourselves in the meantime. If you do send me notes about changes, make sure you include the source as ASCII text. This will allow support for future versions of Visual Basic. You can reach me through America Online as RStauch, or by mail:

Richard Stauch
c/o SHL Systemhouse
12750 Center Court Drive
Suite 700
Cerritos, Ca. 90701-4566

Disclaimer

Of course, there is no warranty (express or implied) on this software. State regulations notwithstanding, I do not guarantee that this program will work under any circumstances. I hope it will, but I can't know that. Besides, you get what you pay for, and this software is free!

Reminder

Use the Search button to find specific help topics in this file. You can use the Browse buttons to scroll through the help topics in the current group.


Application Description

I intend Video Library to be a simple application. For that reason I've left out several features that most people would agree are indispensable to a database management system.

One would be a record selection feature. This would allow one to sort records on criteria other than the Title of the video. Then one could select only records with certain data, or data within a certain range. Such a feature would complicate an application, and that's contrary to my intentions.

Another feature I left out is to allow one to edit data within the grid control of the search form. This would be a powerful feature, but would also make the application programming complex!

The purpose of this application is to allow others an opportunity to make or suggest modifications. We would build the application together! I think this is a new idea, and I like it. Let me know what you think.


Edit Tables

There are three tables defined in theVideo Library database. The tables are linked through code fields.

The main Video table has the Title, ISBN Code and the other fields usually associated with a video tape. The Maintenance command button in the initial window opens a form to modify records in this table.

The Genre table has the texts of the various story categories that you can associate with a video tape. Select Genre from the Edit menu to modify records in this table.

The Rating table keeps the texts of the movie ratings for your movie titles. You can maintain standard movie rating codes, or invent your own.

You cannot delete Genre or Rating records if they are in use. Review the Video records to determine which records have the code you want to delete.


Application Author
Richard Stauch

PROFILE

Richard Stauch has experience in facilities management, software and hardware maintenance, and the project life-cycle. He has experience with a variety of computer languages in several of the most popular environments. He has a broad experience designing screen displays, reports, data files and programs. He has a wide knowlege of AS/400 architecture and system resources. Also, being a hobbyist he continues to work with computers even off-duty.

EXPERIENCE

1993  Present:	Associate Systems Engineer SHL Systemhouse (Formerly with ABS)
1990  1992:	Computer Systems Supervisor United Warehouse & Distribution Corp.
1988  1990:	Assistant Dispatcher Weber Distribution / Weber Truck & Warehouse
EDUCATION

1991  1992:	Certificate Program / Computer Technician NRI School - McGraw/Hill
REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

With ABS and SHL Systemhouse, Richard Stauch has worked at several facilities, providing facilities and project management services. He has tuned systems for performance, installed resource usage reporting, security management and batch automation. The companies where he has been assigned encompass a variety of industries.

While employed by United Warehouse, Richard Stauch ran a one-man shop, managing the entire facility's computer systems. This involved many large and small projects of hardware and software upgrade and maintenance in several platforms. He had sole responsibility to debug and modify warehouse, EDI and reporting software.

At Weber, Richard Stauch programmed office PC's to automate time reporting processes that had formerly been done by hand. This saved the company up to $10,000 per year in supervisor time. Additionally, he created an application to automate manifest generation for trucking operations.


Richard Stauch

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

ABS / SHL Systemhouse	Associate Systems Engineer 1993 to Present Richard Stauch installed and set up Software/2000 on the AS/400 for the accounting department of Aero California, a comercial airline based in La Paz, Mexico. He set up and automated a resource-reporting program. He seperated remote controllers into their own subsystems to prevent system down-time from becomming a system-wide problem. He tuned the system memory pools for optimal performance. While assigned at Delta Technical Coatings in Whittier, Richard Stauch tuned the AS/400 for perfomance. He installed Rumba/400 on several office PC's with PC Support/400 communication routers. He performed analysis and programming services maintaining Software PM programs. He designed and installed backup automation using save-files. He seperated batch processing for department users into subsystems. Richard Stauch performed analysis and programming services at United Warehouse on several occasions for EDI processing, stock rotation and trucking master-bill generation.
United Warehouse	Computer Systems Supervisor 1990 to 1992 United Warehouse hired Richard Stauch to assist their vendor with software maintenance for their Warehouse Management System. During his employment he tuned the system for optimum performance, set up system security and upgraded the AS/400 hardware. He enhanced the EDI implementation written in CL and RPG/400. He then installed a network connection to IBM InfoNet, and automated the EDI process using data queues. He installed a connection to a remote workstation controller in Columbus, Ohio and trained the users there in use of the WMS system. He designed and programmed the truck master-billing process. Also, he designed and programmed the UPS vs RPS carrier-assignment process.
Weber Distribution	Assistant Dispatcher 1988 to 1990 Richard Stauch performed all the duties of a night-shift dispatcher, including carrier-claims management. He also used DBase III+ to automate the generation of driver manifests. He simplified the warehouse work-time reporting process using DBase and Lotus, replacing a manual procedure.


Richard Stauch

TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE

Application Experience	Warehousing Distribution Manufacturing Financial Aircraft Maintenance
Hardware Experience	Computer IBM PC/AT 286 / 386 / 486 AS/400	Systems Software DOS (through 6.0) Novell Netware v3.11 SCO Xenix OS/400 (through 2.3.0)
Software Experience	Languages Visual Basic 3.0 Pro. Quick C / Windows Turbo C / DOS Quick Pascal / DOS Quick Basic / DOS CL/400 RPG/400 PC Support/400 Rumba/400	Applications Lotus 2 & 3.1+ Excel 4.0 WordPerfect 5.1 Word / Windows 2.0 DBase III+ Software PM Software/2000 GenTran/400
Technical Courses	Structured Systems Design Structured Development Electronic Data Interchange Programming GenTran/400 Mapping Microcomputer & Microprocessor Technician


Menu: File
File Menu Commands

The File menu groups commands that operate on the database files. You can Select a file to edit, Copy one file to another, Print data from the current file or Repair a file. When you're through using this application, select the Exit option.

Select

Copy

Repair

Print

Exit


Select File Command

The Select File command uses the common dialog box in Open File mode to choose a file. Select the drive and directory you want to use, then select the file name you want from those listed, or type a file name to create. You must use the extension MDB, because we use the Access 1.1 database format.

You can keep several files in different directories or with different names. This way, you can organize your Videos in any way you choose. Later, you can use the Copy file command from the File menu to append data into other files.


Copy File Command

Use the Copy File command to create new files based on the current file or any other existing database file. An Options button on the form allows you to select various criteria for copying.

You can keep data separated in different files, based on any criteria you choose. At any time, you can combine separate files by appending several smaller files together.


Repair File Command

Whenever you feel access to the Video database is too slow, it may be that the index has become very complex. Also, you may believe the database has become corrupted. In either case, use the Repair command to reorganize and reset the database. The function will save a backup copy of the original database with the extension BK.

A dialog is displayed to ask if you want to repair the currently selected database file. Click on OK to continue the operation, or Cancel to abort it.


Print File Command

There are two report forms available. The Short report shows Video titles, ISBN codes and certain other data. The Long report shows everything, including the Synopsis. This can be a very long report. The Print command uses the currently selected report form. To change this, use the Preferences command on the Options menu, or click on the Preferences command button.

The Print command directs output to the current default output. There are three output directions you can send reports to. The Window output direction will display output in a window. From this window you can send the report to a printer. Or, you can direct output directly to the printer, or to a file. As above, use the Preferences command to change this default.


Exit File Command

When you're finished editing your data, select the Exit option from the File menu to quit. This ends the program and closes all of the forms. The Exit button uses this menu command by default.


Menu: Edit
Edit Menu Commands

Edit menu commands open forms for adding, deleting or modifying data in the Genre, Rating or Video tables. These tables are located in the currently selected database file.

Genre

Rating

Video


Edit Genre Command

You can keep a list of plot types (Action, Biography, Musical, etc.) in the Genre table. The Code field must be unique, and cannot be blank.

This command brings up a generic form which is also used by the Rating command. Since the tables are identical in structure, we change the controls on the form to bind to the correct fields.


Edit Rating Command

You can maintain a list of movie ratings ([R] Restricted, [G] General Audiences, etc.) in the Rating table. The Code field must be unique, and cannot be blank.

This command brings up a generic form which is also used by the Genre command. Since the tables are identical in structure, we change the controls on the form to bind to the correct fields.


Edit Video Command

The Video command on the Edit menu displays the Maintenance window. Here you can edit the data in the main Video table, and search through the data.

The Maintain button on the initial form uses this command by default.


Menu: Options
Options Menu Commands

The Options menu has one selection; Preferences.

The Preferences command of the Options menu allows you to select the default file name and path, as well as the report form and output location.


Menu: Help
Help Menu Commands

Start the Windows Help engine in various ways with the options in the Help menu. Also, you can display the About dialog box. Once in the Help system, you can browse back and forth through the informational groups with the browse buttons. Use the Search feature to look up topics by keyword.

Contents

Main

Using Help

Author

About


Help Contents Command

Start the Windows Help engine by clicking on the Contents option of the Help menu. This displays the first help context in the help file. The Help command button on the initial form uses this command by default.


Help Main Command

Read about this application by clicking on the Main option of the Help menu. This displays the history and intent of this program.


Using Help Command

Get Help on the subject of using Help by clicking on this command. This shows the Windows Help topic "Using Help".


Help Author Command

Click on the Author option of the Help menu to display information about the author of this application; me. There are three topics in sequence, created from my resume. Use the browse buttons to scroll through them.


Help About Command

Display the About dialog box by clicking on the About option from the Help menu. The dialog displays the version of this application, and information about the current Windows session.


Form: Copy

The Copy form allows you to copy data from one file to another. You control which table(s) to copy, and if you will Append data to the existing file, or Replace it.

Select the file to copy from by clicking on the From command button. By default, the current file is selected to copy from.

Click the To command button to select the file you want to copy to. This also defaults to the currently selected file.

Choose copy options by clicking on the Options command button. This command displays a dialog box where you select the tables to copy, and if you want to Append or Replace data in the To file.

When you're ready, click on the Copy command button to perform the function. If the From and To files are the same, you'll get a warning. If the To file doesn't exist, this function will ask if you want to create it. Click on OK to create a new file, or Cancel to stop the copy operation.

When you're finished, click on the Done command button.


Form: Copy Options

Set the options for copying in this form. You can select to copy one or all of the tables with the check boxes labeled Genre, Rating and Video. If you want to replace the data in the destination table(s), click on the Replace radio button. Otherwise, select the Append option.

You can copy the tables individually. That way, you can append one table and replace another.


Form: Maintenance

Edit the Video table using this form. Most of the data can be changed directly on this form. Edit the Synopsis of the Video by clicking on the Synopsis command button.

You can review the file in a grid form by clicking on the Search command button. If you change the current record on the grid, that will be the record on this form when you return.

There are several input boxes, and a collection of command buttons on this form. See help on these subjects for details.


Form: Maintenance: Data

There are several data elements on this form. The text boxes are not case-sensitive.

The ISBN code is a key field. Blank is not a valid entry, and it must be unique. The field is not case-sensitive, so "ABC", "Abc" and "abc" are equivalent.

Title is the primary key field, so it also cannot be blank, and it must be unique.

The Genre and Rating drop-down list boxes represent the texts of the codes in the Video record. As a new record is read from the Video table, the codes are searched in the Genre and Rating tables, and the corresponding text is highlighted in the list boxes.

The Running Time is in minutes, and the Release Year is a four-digit year the video was released, or originally aired. The spin buttons next to each text box increment or decrement the values in them.

The one-character fields Chromaticity and Recording are manipulated through radio buttons in frames. Selecting one of the buttons within the frames changes the code in the corresponding field.

To edit the Synopsis, click on the Synopsis button.


Form: Maintenance: Controls

The various controls on the Maintenance form allow editing the Video table. You can also scroll through the file.

The Add button creates a new blank record in the Video table. After entering the Video data you want, click the Update button. To abort the Add function, click on the Done button.

After editing the current record, click on the Update button. Also, if you scroll to another record in the table, this will automatically update the record.

Delete a record by clicking on the Delete button. The record will be completely gone, including the synopsis, so be careful!

Scroll through the table with the data control. The outside buttons take you to the first or last record in the table.


Form: Grid

Search through the Video table with this form. Double click on any row to make that record current. The records aren't editable in this form. Make a record current, then click on Done to return to the Maintenance form.

Click on the buttons marked "<" and ">" to page back and forth through the Video table. These controls aren't a normal part of the data control. You'll find these buttons positioned to either side of the data control.


Form: Synopsis

Edit the synopsis of the Video record in this form. The Synopsis is a memo field, so it can hold an enormous amount of data. You can enter any kind of information in any format you choose. Just remember that it will all print on the Long report form!

Enter any text you like in the large text box. You can use the editing keys to move around in the box, and to select text for editing. When you're done, click on the Done command button. To cancel your changes, click on Cancel.


Form: Generic
Forms: Genre and Rating

Whether you select Genre or Rating from the Edit menu the program opens the same form. The menu option sets a global variable. The form uses this variable to modify labels, and the data control binding.

Enter a unique 1-character value for the code field. The text value can be up to fifty characters. The data control lets you scroll through the table. To add a new record, click on Add, enter your data, then click on Update. To remove a record, click on Delete. The program will verify the code is not in use. If so, the record will not be removed.


Form: Preferences
Form: Default Preferences

Use this form to select the path and file you want to open by default each time you run this program. Click on any of the labels in the path and file areas, or on the command button next to them with the elipse ("..."). This will show an "Open File" common dialog box for you to use. Also, you can select the report form and output direction you want to be the default with this form. Just click on any of the labels, or on the command buttons next to them with the caption "<". These will cycle through all the valid choices for you.

The options you select here are recorded in the information file (VidLib.INI). If you wish, you can use any text editor (such as Notepad) to modify this file externally to this application. If you do, use a file name with the extension .MDB, and be careful not to use a path name that doesn't exist. We use the Access database engine which requires this extension, and the system will not automatically create a new path. Neither will it create the file as it does when you use the Select command on the File menu. Also, be certain not to indicate reports that don't exist, or invalid output directions. The Print command won't know how to handle that.


Form: About
Form About Dialog

The About dialog box displays the title of this application and the version. It also diaplays some information about the current Windows session. This includes the version of Windows, the running mode, the amount of free memory in Kilo-bytes and the amount of free system resources as a percentage.

There are no input-capable controls on this form. Only the OK command button, which allows you to return to the main Video Library form. Also, the Video Library Icon picture-box will bring up the Contents topic of this Help file when you double-click it.


Search Help

This is the Search help topic. Click on the Search button to restore the dialog box, or select an item below.

Contents

Main

Author