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Miscellaneous

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Does not work in Netscape 6+.

Look And Feel (LAF)  Go to top of Page

The appearance of Your MusicDB is highly configurable.   The Look And Feel (LAF) menu has items for changing the appearance to match your operating system (Windows, Mac, Motif), as well as several specialized skins.  If one of the LAF options is not available on your system due to copyright protection, it will be not be accessible.

If the Default LAF is selected, additional color schemes are available in the Themes menu.  The images in this documentation were created using the Default LAF and the Sandstone theme.  Experiment with the different combinations to locate the appearance you prefer

Visually Impaired LAF  Go to top of Page

For the visually impaired, their is a theme available that uses a much larger font.  It is available only when the Default LAF is selected. In this mode, the amount of display area is reduced, but it is still very usable

Vision impaired theme

Figure 1 -- Vision impaired theme

Preferences  Go to top of Page

NOTE: Date Format

The Date Format affects all dates except for the Rel. Date on the Album Info tab of the Album Maintenance window.  That specific date is always the year only and must be entered as a 4-digit year.

When entering dates in any text field, the entry has to match the format selected (i.e. Format: MM-dd-yyyy must be entered as 1-15-1999 or 11-23-1998). Entering dates in another format will result in an error message being displayed.

The are few preferences that can be set that affect the operation of Your MusicDB.  Setting the Start-up Database to your preferred database will select that database when you open a database from a fresh start of the program. The toolbar can be relocated to the right or left of the screen as well as being set invisible. The format of dates is determined by the selection made in the Date Format drop-down box.

The last thing to consider is the default font to be used on printed reports.  The default font is a Java specific font and will function on all operating systems.  You may want to set the default to your preferred system font.  The Font Name drop-down box will display all available fonts installed on your PC.  The font for each item can be modified in the Report Designer, but you will find it more convenient to make this preference change.

Preferences window

Figure 2 -- Preferences window

Table Maintenance Window  Go to top of Page

The Table Maintenance window is available for entering or modifying items in the supporting tables in the database.  Although it will be seldom used, it does come in handy for correcting mis-spelled song names, album titles, etc.  This window contains the only tables in Your MusicDB where you can type directly into the table columns.  You can of course add new entries by clicking the Add row button or delete rows by clicking the Delete row button in the table navigator.

Table Maintenance window

Figure 3 -- Table Maintenance window

Merging Databases  Go to top of Page

Temporarily Disabled

Extracting A Single Artist Database  Go to top of Page

The Extract Database window provides the ability to create an individual artist database from a multiple artist database.  This operation is only available after the multiple artist database has been opened.  Select the desired Artist and click the Start button to begin the operation.  This operation may take a few minutes, especially if the source database is very large

Extract Database window

Figure 6 -- Extract Database window

After the extraction has been completed, the text area at the bottom of the screen will display the results of the operation.  The Print and Save buttons are made active so the results can be sent to the printer or saved in a text file for historical purposes.

Extract Database results

Figure 7 -- Extract Database results

Purging A Database  Go to top of Page

As updates are made to a database, it is quite likely that many records will be added that are not used. This needlessly increases the size of the database and could eventually start to degrade the program performance. The Purge Database window provides an automated method for locating these records and removing them.  Like the Merge and Extract, this operation is available only after a database has been opened.  The biggest difference is that the database updates are not made permanent until after you review the results.  Click the Preview button to begin.

Purge Database window

Figure 8 -- Purge Database window

The results of the preview is displayed in the text area at the bottom of the window. After reviewing the results, clicking the Remove will make the changes permanent.  Click the Cancel to prevent the changes from being made. The Print and Save buttons are made active so the results can be sent to the printer or saved in a text file for historical purposes.

Purge Database results

Figure 9 -- Purge Database results

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