
		MusicDB - The Music Database



    Introduction

MusicDB is a fairly simple music collection cataloguing system written
originally for my own use and made available to the world as Freeware.
I wanted something quick to write and straightforward to use and hence
it has few bells and almost no whistles. But it will allow you to keep
a track of all your LPs, CDs or whatever, with a minimum of fuss. It has
a friendly interface and is reasonably configurable. If you like it, use
it; if not, write a better one and let me use that!

The latest version is always available at :

	http://www.snkewin.demon.co.uk/ultimathule/index.html

The author can be showered with thanks and money via :

	musicdb@snkewin.demon.co.uk



    Usage

MusicDB should be fairly self-explanatory. The drop-down list at the top
right of the screen determines what data is viewed in the main display
area. Note that some of the items in this list contain question marks.
These mean that MusicDB will stop and ask for some input when that option
is selected. Eg. if you select "All Recordings By ?", MusicDB will ask
you for a value to replace the question mark. If you enter "ba*" you
will thus get a list of all your Bauhaus and Bach (etc.) recordings.

The content of the drop-down list is not fixed - in fact it is fully
configurable (if you know how to write a simple SQL "WHERE" clause).
The list is set up from MusicDB's INI file (quaint I know - I never got
round to converting it to use the Registry). To tailor the list, change
the values in the [SQL] section of the MusicDB.INI file, which is in the
same directory as MusicDB.exe itself. A typical line is as follows :

4=All Recordings By ?,[Artist] Like '??'

ie. :

n=(name),(where clause)

where "n" is just a number - use "1" for the first entry, "2" for the next and
so on; "(name)" is what appears in the drop-down list and (where clause) is a 
fragment of SQL containing just the WHERE clause conditions. So if you wanted
an entry to display all your Haydn CDs, you'd enter something like :

10=Haydn CDs,Artist = 'Haydn'

Easy really. If you want MusicDB to stop and ask for input, you just put two
question marks in the WHERE clause. MusicDB will replace these in the actual
SQL passed to its database with whatever you enter when you select the entry.
Don't forget to use "LIKE" if you want wildcards to work (and if you don't know
what that means, I'd suggest a quick glance at an SQL book!) How do you know
the field names used in the database? They are these :

	Artist                          (String)
	Title                           (String)
	Format                          (String)
	Year                            (Integer)
	Label                           (String)
	Catalogue_No                    (String)
	International_Catalogue_No      (String)
	Notes                           (String)


In fact, if you have Access 97 you can open the database and look. It is
completely unprotected. It is also, I know, not particularly normalised. Almost
a flat-file database in fact. Not the way I'd design it now, but there you go.

The "Default" entry in [SQL], by the way, tells MusicDB which item to run
automatically on start-up - change it as you like.

The MusicDB buttons, meanwhile, allow you to quit, create a new record,
amend a record, delete a record, search for something in the current display,
refresh the display or set your settings. But then the tool-tips (and highly
intuitive button pictures) would have told you that.

You can create a new record at any time, but amend and delete are, pretty
obviously, only available when there are records shown in the main display.
You can also double-click on a record to jump straight into amending it.

The Settings are straightforward. There is an option to automatically refresh
the main display after a New, Amend or Delete operation, which is best left
switched on unless you are entering a lot of data at one go. This is stored
in the INI file as "Auto-Refresh".

Then there are the Hot Keys - up to five pieces of template text which can
be set up to save retyping the same thing over and over when adding or
amending a record. If you find yourself typing the same string a lot, enter
it into one of the boxes in the Hot Keys section and then you'll only need
press the indicated function key to generate the string.

Onto the New Recording/Amend Recording screen. Apart from the buttons to
insert the Hot Key text, the only other buttons are OK and Cancel - which
should be fairly obvious in function - and Previous Record and Next Record.
These latter are used to move through the list of recordings in the main
display without having to leave the New Recording/Amend Recording screen.
Try it, you'll see what I mean.



    History

2.3.2 - First released version

2.3.3 - Added "Copy Grid To Clipboard" option so that the database or a
        subset of it can be pastd into another application, eg. for printing
        out



    The Legal Bit

MusicDB is Freeware. No guarantees are extended or implied. This program
is used at entirely your own risk. The author is not responsible for any
damage MusicDB causes. It's not my fault. I wasn't even there.

The MusicDB archive may be freely distributed so long as no files are
altered in any way, and all files in the archive are distributed 
together. The MusicDB code remains the property of the author.



Copyright Simon Kewin, 1995-1998 for Ultima Thule Ltd.

