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Aladdin Library Manager































(c)1992 All Rights Reserved Version 1.01

Overview

ALM was designed to manage your Aladdin file databases easily and
efficiently. One of Aladdins biggest shortcomings is not having
the ability to manage file databases. A lot of times you have file
listings that you know you'll never want. Or, there could be files
that have been deleted from GEnie maybe because of a more recent
upgrade. Basically, there is no reason why you should not be able
to remove those unwanted file names from your database. At least
now, with the help of ALM, you will be able to do just that.

A lot of time has been put into ALM to make it as user friendly as
possible, yet remain very powerful. Here is a list of its features.

- Deletion of any record(s).
Deletions can be made either individually, by date range, or
by library number.

- Editing any field in any record.

- Resorts and Rebuilds Aladdins index (.IDX) file.
Helpful when the index file becomes damaged.

- View the browse file (.BRO).
ALM allows you to flip between the database and the browse
file. Very helpful when you need to look at both.

- Mark records for downloading or browsing.
ALM knows how to tell Aladdin which files you want to download
or browse. ALM will also remember which files you marked, even
if you flip between the database and the browse file.

- View the new files list. (option "D" - Download all new files)
When ALM sees that Aladdins option "D" has been performed, ALM
puts you in "view" mode. In other words, ALM only lets you see
the files added to the database. However, you can flip between
normal view mode, for the complete database, and the new files
view mode.

- Searching for a file in the database.
The search feature allows you to find each file matching the
search criteria, and allows you to search forwards and backwards.

- Viewing only records matching a search criteria.
The same technique for the view new file list option is also
used here, except you, the user, can specify the criteria
determining which records will be viewed. And as with the view
new files list, you can flip between view mode and normal mode.

- Mouse aware!!!
ALM is very user friendly even without mouse support, but with
the help of the mouse you can do most anything in ALM without
ever touching the keyboard. In fact, the only time you will
need to touch the keyboard is to specify search criteria(s),
or when editing a record.

Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER: This program was written by a third party programmer
and is NOT affiliated with the official GEnie PC Aladdin Team.
This software has been fully tested before distribution. However,
in no event, shall any liability fall upon the developers of this
software for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or
similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if
the developers have been advised of the possibility of such
damages. The person using the software bears all risk as to the
quality and performance of the software.


System Requirements

Basically, if Aladdin will run fine on your system, you should have
no problems with ALM. ALM does not use near the amount of memory
that Aladdin uses, nor will ALM have more files open at one time
than Aladdin. However, ALM has been tested (with no problems)
with as little as 256K of memory, which is below the requirement
to run Aladdin.

Registration

You are allowed to try ALM before you buy the registration.
If you decide that you like ALM after using it for 30 days, you
are strongly encouraged to register your copy of ALM. The
registration fee is a nominal one-time fee of $15.00. Registered
users get the following benefits:

- Unlimited number of upgrades.

- Unlimited amount of help and support via GEmail (or my
phone number can be obtained upon request).

- Automatic notification of bug fixes or major releases.

To register your copy of ALM, please print and fill out ORDER.FRM,
which contains all information needed to process the registration.

Comments, suggestions, or constructive criticisms are strongly
encouraged! Please send me a GEmail message letting me know what
you like and don't like. I love to get them, and I ALWAYS reply.
If you do send a message to me, it may be a while before I reply.
This is because GEnie is a long distance phone call for me, and I
can only call once every other week. So please be patient...
My GEmail address is F.MORGAN. Again, any comments are welcomed!

Quick Start

To start ALM, simply run ALM from within your Aladdin directory.
After pressing return on the introduction screen, ALM will display
the list of Round Tables that have file databases. Selecting a
Round Table will bring up the file database. Across the top of
the screen you will see the options for the pull down menu system.
This system can be activated by pressing F10, or clicking the mouse
on any option. Several options are given within this menu system.
The key equivalent of each option is displayed to the right of each
option. This will allow quicker access to each option. (See below
for a description of each option) Across the bottom is the information
line. On the far left of that line, you will see two numbers (ie.
"1/400"). The first number is the currently highlighted record number,
and the second number is the total number of records for this database.
In the middle of the information line is the Round Table name of the
database. And on the far right of the information line is the current
status of ALM. This will show you which "mode" ALM is currently in.

Mouse Routines

If you have a mouse attached to your computer, you can use all of
ALM's functions for the mouse. Areas where the mouse can be used
include: List of RTs, Scroll bars, Pull Down Menu System, and the
Record screen.

List of RTs:
The list of RTs is the second thing you see after running
ALM. It is the list of RTs that have file databases in the
current directory. The mouse can be used to open any RT by
simply double-clicking the mouse on the RT you wish to view.

Scroll Bars:
There are several places that utilize this feature (The RT
list, the Record screen, and the Browse file screen).
Moving the mouse onto the scroll bar and clicking the mouse
brings the highlight to the appropriate record, depending
on where you clicked on the bar. For example, lets say that
you have a database with 100 records. When you first load
the database the scroll bar pointer will be at the top. If
you were to click the mouse at exactly the half way point
from top to bottom of the scroll bar, ALM would bring the
highlight down to around the 50th record. Likewise, if you
clicked the mouse at the very bottom, ALM would highlight the
last record in the database.

Also, when the arrows pointing up and down are clicked, it
will bring the highlight up or down one record.

Pull Down Menu System:
This system is displayed across the top line of the record
screen. Clicking the mouse anywhere on that line will
activate the system and will "pull down" the menu. Then
any option on that menu can be clicked to activate that option.

Record Screen:
Here the hi-light can be moved to another record on the screen
by placing the mouse cursor on the record desired and pressing
the left button.

Do's and Don'ts

ALM currently does not handle file searches that Aladdin has
performed using option S (earch for files). The next release
of ALM will allow you to manipulate these searches, but until then,
you will need to work with those in Aladdin.

It is not advised to shell (Alt-F10) out of Aladdin to run ALM. ALM
may use files that are still open because of Aladdin, which will lead
to bad and awful things. It will be tempting to do this, since
ALM allows you to do so much more, but this could be fatal for
some of your files.

Credits

Many, MANY thanks to some very special people who have done a
wonderful job of making sure I was doing my job. They are John
Fulmer, Randy Harmelink, John McGing, and Nathan Williams.
Without them, this program would not be near as good as it is
now! Thanks a bunch guys!!

Key Sequences

This section of the documentation is in the following
format:

Option Name: Name of the option.
Heading1: Will be the option as accessed by the menu system.
Heading2: Will be single key stroke needed for this option.
Description: Detailed description of the option.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Delete Record
[Alt-D]/[Alt-D]
[-],[Del]

This option allows you to individually delete a record.
The currently highlighted record will be marked for deletion
and shows "Deleted" to the right of the record.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Undelete Record
[Alt-D]/[Alt-U]
[+],[Ins]

This option allows you to individually undelete a record.
If the currently highlighted record is marked for deletion,
this option removes that status.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Undelete All Records
[Alt-D]/[Alt-A]
[U]

This option allows you to undelete all records that have
been marked for deletion. ALM automatically finds all
records marked for deletion and removes the deleted status.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Delete by Date Range
[Alt-D]/[Alt-R]
[R]
This option will allow you to delete all records that were
uploaded within a date range given by you.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Delete by Library
[Alt-D]/[Alt-L]
[L]

This option will allow you to delete all records that are in
the library given by you.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter Search Keyword
[Alt-S]/[Alt-S]
[S]

This option will allow you to find the next record matching
the keyword you enter. It looks in the File number, File
name, Uploader, and Description fields of each record
searching for the keyword given.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Find Next Occurrence
[Alt-S]/[Alt-N]
[F3]

This option finds the next record containing the search
keyword given in the above option. If no search keyword
has been given, ALM prompts you for the keyword.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Find Previous Occurrence
[Alt-S]/[Alt-P]
[F4]

This option finds the previous record containing the
search keyword given in the Enter Search Keyword option. If
no search keyword has been given, ALM prompts you for the
keyword.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter View Criteria
[Alt-S]/[Alt-V]
[V]

This option allows you to view only the records that
match the criteria you give. Upon selecting this option, a
list of fields is shown on the screen. Each field can
have a different keyword. All records that contain the
keywords given will be viewed at one time. View mode is the
same thing as viewing all records, except the records that do
not contain the criteria will not be viewed. On the
information line to the far right, you will notice that view
is now on.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Turn View On
[Alt-S]/[Alt-O]
[F7]

View mode can be turned on and off. This option allows
you to turn it on, or if you have turned it off, back on.
If, however, the view criteria has not been given, you will
be asked for the criteria.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Turn View Off
[Alt-S]/[Alt-T]
[F8]

This option allows you to turn view mode off.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Edit a Record
[Alt-A]/[Alt-E]
[E]

Any field in any record can be edited. This option allows you
to do just that. When you select this option, all fields of
the currently highlighted record will be displayed on the
screen. In the window, you will also see three "control
boxes". Ctrl-N Next, Ctrl-P Prev, and Ctrl-Q Quit. Ctrl-N
and Ctrl-P will allow you to jump between records forwards
and backwards. Also the current record number is given in
the lower left hand corner of the window. Press Ctrl-Q when
you are finished editing the record(s).

Note: The File Number field is what GEnie uses, and
therefore should NEVER be changed. The reason this
field can be edited is so that you may remove trash
that may have come across the line. Which would have
messed everything up...

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Pack the Database
[Alt-A]/[Alt-P]
[P]

Once you delete a record, it is not actually deleted. When
you delete a record and "Deleted" shows to the right of the
record, the record will remain in the database until you
perform this option, Pack database. This option will remove
those records that have been marked for deletion and will
also rebuild the index (.IDX) file.

Also, if your index file gets trashed somehow, select this
option to correct the problem. A noticable problem could be
having the same record shown on the screen several times when
in fact there is only one record in the database.

Note: This process (depending on the number of records)
can take a good bit of time, so be prepared to take
a break while ALM works.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Merge another database to the current database
[Alt-A]/[Alt-M]
[M]

This option was added for those that download IBM RTs
LIBNEW.CDF file and the LIBFILE.DBF. This option will
automatically merge the files, check for duplicates, and
rebuild the index (.IDX) file for the current database.

Note: If you are going to be using the big LIBFILE.DBF
file, it would be faster to erase your IBM database
file and rename the LIBFILE.DBF to be your new IBM
file and then perform the pack procedure.

Also, this process (depending on the number of records)
can take a good bit of time, so be prepared to take
a break while ALM works.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Keep this Record
[Alt-A]/[Alt-K]
[K]

If you have selected the currently highlighted record to be
browsed or downloaded and you decide that you do not wish
Aladdin to perform this action, you can select this option to
remove the browse or download status.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Keep All Records
[Alt-A]/[Alt-A]
[A]

This option removes the browse or download status from all
files in the current database.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Browse this Record
[Alt-A]/[Alt-B]
[B]

This option is the same as the browse option in Aladdin.
Selecting this tells Aladdin to browse this file.
"Browse" will be displayed to the right of the record.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Download this Record
[Alt-A]/[Alt-D]
[D]

This option is the same as the download option in Aladdin.
Selecting this tells Aladdin to download this file.
"Download" will be displayed to the right of the record.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Goto Browse file mode
[Alt-A]/[Alt-G]
[F5]

To view the browse file, select this option. One draw back
of Aladdin is no ability to view this file when YOU want too.
Not so in ALM...

Also, if ALM detects that Aladdin has browsed a file(s), ALM
automatically puts you into Browse file mode. But again,
you can go from record screen to browse screen
and back, any time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Goto Record screen
[Alt-A]/[Alt-R]
[F6]

When you are in Browse file mode, selecting this option
puts you back in view record screen mode.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Other keys of interest that do not have a menu equivalent are:

[PgUp] and [PgDn]: These move the file up or down one
screen.

[Home] and [End] : These bring the file to the beginning or
to the end of the file.

Aladdin Library Manager 1.01
Quick Key Reference

Function Menu Command Key Command
-------- ------------ -----------
Delete Record [Alt-D]/[Alt-D] [-],[Del]
Undelete Record [Alt-D]/[Alt-U] [+],[Ins]
Undelete All Records [Alt-D]/[Alt-A] [U]
Delete by Date Range [Alt-D]/[Alt-R] [R]
Delete by Library [Alt-D]/[Alt-L] [L]
Enter Search Keyword [Alt-S]/[Alt-S] [S]
Find Next Occurrence [Alt-S]/[Alt-N] [F3]
Find Previous Occurrence [Alt-S]/[Alt-P] [F4]
Enter View Criteria [Alt-S]/[Alt-V] [V]
Turn View On [Alt-S]/[Alt-O] [F7]
Turn View Off [Alt-S]/[Alt-T] [F8]
Edit a Record [Alt-A]/[Alt-E] [E]
Pack the Database [Alt-A]/[Alt-P] [P]
Merge another database [Alt-A]/[Alt-M] [M]
Keep this Record [Alt-A]/[Alt-K] [K]
Keep all Records [Alt-A]/[Alt-A] [A]
Browse this Record [Alt-A]/[Alt-B] [B]
Download this Record [Alt-A]/[Alt-D] [D]
Goto Browse file [Alt-A]/[Alt-G] [F5]
Goto Record screen [Alt-A]/[Alt-R] [F6]

[PgUp] and [PgDn]: These move the file up or down one
screen.

[Home] and [End] : These bring the file to the beginning or
to the end of the file.