Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

You might not need any fields other than the 15 built-in fields that you get for “free” when you start out to define a new collection. But there may be a variety of other kinds of information that you want to keep track of, and user-defined fields are the best way to do this. Here is a list of some attributes of the maps in your collection that you might want to keep track of using user-defined fields:

· Place of publication

· Publisher [as opposed to “Map-Maker”, the built-in field, which you might use for the map’s designer]

· Engraver

· Medium [e.g. woodcut vs. copperplate vs. lithograph]

· State/variant

· Edition date [as opposed to the “Date” built-in field, which you might use for the initial date of the plate/map]

· Sheet size [as opposed to printed area size, which might be what the built-in height & width fields are used for]

· Color

· Verso [description of what’s on the back of the map]

· Watermark

· Where stored [so you can find the actual map when you want to look at it!]

· Status [for example: “in collection”, “on wish list”, “sold”]

· Restoration done [description of any work you had done to repair, restore or stabilize the map]

· Restoration costs

· Framing information [how done, who by, how much it cost, etc.]

· Provenance

· Sold to [for maps that you sold but still want to track; who (and when and for what price) you sold it]

· Assessed value [for insurance valuation]

This list could go on and on. You probably don’t want to use all of these possible user-defined fields, and you may not want to use any of them. But this list should give you an idea of how you might think about the categories (the “fields”) that you want to use to describe the maps in your collection. The built-in fields provide you with a starting place; use the user-defined fields to extend the set of attributes so that it matches your notion of what a catalog of your map collection should contain.

Can I change the order of fields in either the Item Details display or in the List display?

Yes, you can change the field order in both places. To change the field order in the Item Details display, pick Detail Field Order from the View menu on the collection window. Use the dialog box that comes up to select and move fields to new positions. The choices you make here will affect not only the field order displayed in the Item Details window, but also the field order displayed when printing single records, and the field order shown in the data-entry/editing window.

The order of fields in the List view of the collection window is completely separate. It is controlled by the dialog that you access by choosing Field Selection from the View menu. You can also change the order of fields in the List view by clicking and dragging on the column headers in the List display: Click a column header and then, still holding the mouse button down, drag to the right or left until you get to the place to which you want the column moved.

Both kinds of field order (Item Details and List) are saved as part of the collection, so these choices will be remembered from one session to the next.

Can I get text to be displayed in italics in the Item Details view?

In the data-editing window, in a multi-line text field, select the text you want to have italicized, then right-click and choose Italic from the options menu.

For short text or one-line text fields, place the text between a pair of caret characters (^). For example, if a one-line text field contains:

The map appeared in a book titled ^Voyage autour du Monde^, published in 1734.

this will appear in the Item Details display (or when printed) as:

The map appeared in a book titled Voyage autour du Monde, published in 1734.

Can I get text to be underlined in the Item Details view?

In the data-editing window, in a multi-line text field, select the text you want to have underlined, then right-click and choose Underlined from the options menu.

For short text or one-line text fields, place the text between a pair of back-quote characters (`). For example, if a one-line text field contains:

The map appeared in a book titled `Voyage autour du Monde`, published in 1734.

this will appear in the Item Details display (or when printed) as:

The map appeared in a book titled Voyage autour du Monde, published in 1734.

Can I get a large amount text in a field to be broken into separate paragraphs for display in the Item Details view?

To get text in a field to be formatted as multiple paragraphs, include an extra blank line between sections of text that you want to be separate paragraphs. Separate paragraphs will be formatted in the Item Details display (or when printed) as hanging paragraphs (with a hanging indent).

How do I create a link for text in the Item Details view that will jump from one collection record to another one when I click on it?

In the data-editing window, in a multi-line text field, select the text that contains the ID # value of the record you want to create a jump to, then right-click and choose Jump-to Link from the options menu.

This will be displayed in the Item Details display as a link (underlined and colored blue), and, when clicked on, will switch the Item Details display to the corresponding record. Do not include any text other than the actual ID # value between the tilde characters.

For short text or one-line text fields, place the text between a pair of tilde characters (~). For example, if a one-line text field contains:

This map is a later state of map #~123~ in the collection.

This will be shown in the Item Details display as:

This map is a later state of map #123 in the collection.

The link (123), when clicked on, will cause the Item Details display to jump to map #123.

Can I get a larger text-entry window in the data-entry/editing dialog, for entering large amounts of text into a field?

Yes. Right-click on the multi-line text-entry field and choose Edit field in larger popup window from the options menu. The secondary window that comes up can be made as large as you want, to provide as much space as you need for editing the longer text.

I made some errors editing or adding data. How can I undo my changes?

The MCM does not have an “Undo” menu choice. However you can use Revert, on the File menu, to undo all the changes you made since the last time in the session that your collection was saved to disk. (If your collection has not yet been saved to disk in the current session, Revert will restore the collection to the state it was in when you began the current AMPR session.)

If you have saved your collection to disk in the current session, Revert will give you the choice of throwing away the changes made since the last save or all the changes in the current AMPR session.

In general, it is a good idea to do fairly frequent saves (Save, on the File menu) when you are making lots of changes to your collection (editing or adding new records). That way, if you realize that you just made a mistake, doing a Revert will only throw away the changes made since the last save, and you will probably only have to re-do a small amount of work, if any.

If things get a bit more desperate, and you realize that you have made a number of mistakes, and saved the collection to disk with those mistakes present, you can always choose to Revert to the state of the collection as of the beginning of the session. You will have to re-do this session’s work, but at least you will have your collection in a state that excludes all the mistakes of the current session.

Can I have more than one collection database?

Yes, you can have as many different collections as you want. The MCM keeps track of each new collection that you create. Though you can only have one collection open at a time, you can use the Switch to a Different Collection choice on the Collection menu to select which collection you want to mark as the currently selected one.

Each collection is completely independent of the others, so you can set up each collection with whatever choices are appropriate (fields to use, currency and dimension units choice, user-defined fields, sorting order, etc.).

Can I use the MCM for prints, books, or some other kind of collection than a map collection?

I don’t see why not. The only thing that is obviously map-specific about the MCM is the names of the built-in fields, where things like “Map-Maker” and “Region” seem pretty specific to maps. But these field names are changeable and non-needed fields can be hidden. So, turn “Map-Maker” into “Artist”, and hide “Region” and you are on your way to configuring the MCM for managing an art collection. Since you can also add any other fields that you want (“Medium”, “Provenance”, “Insurance valuation”, etc., etc.), you can easily turn the MCM into a collection manager for pretty much any kind of collectible.

There are two capabilities in the MCM that relate to the integration between the MCM and the AMPR historical database. These two capabilities won’t be relevant for non-cartographic collections: (1) The ability to search for AMPR records that match a record in your collection. (2) The ability to create a “template” for a new collection record from a record in the AMPR database.

Can I make changes to my collection outside of the MCM, by editing the collection file in a text editor?

No and yes. (Read on.)

No, in the sense that if you edit the collection file outside of the MCM environment, you risk corrupting the file in such a way that you may not be able to open the file the next time you try to do so with the MCM.

Yes, in the sense that the collection file is a text file, in XML format, which can be opened and modified by any text editor. In other words, there is nothing, physically, that prevents you from opening the collection file with, for example, Notepad, and making changes.

It is recommended that you do not modify the collection file outside of the MCM program. However, if you decide to ignore this recommendation, please:

1. Make a backup copy of the collection file before you start your editing, so that should you inadvertantly corrupt the file (which you will know you have done when the MCM reports that it can’t open the collection file), you will at least be able to copy back the saved copy of the file, so that you can get back to where things were before you attempted your editing.

2. Make your edits very carefully. Pay close attention to the instructions for editing the file, and make only the changes indicated in the instructions.

Can I rename an existing collection?

The name of a collection (along with the choice of currency and of measurement units) is one of the few choices that you must make right at the beginning of the process of creating a new collection, and the MCM does not provide any way to make a change to that choice later on.

If you absolutely must change a collection’s name, you will have to do so by editing both the collection file (with a text editor outside of the MCM environment) and the AMPR preferences file. (Please read the warnings about changing the collection file outside of the MCM in one of the other FAQ sections.) Here are the steps to take:

1. Make sure the AMPR is not running. Exit from the program if necessary.

2. Navigate to the directory where your collection file is stored. (If you forgot where this is, look ahead to step #5 in these instructions. Then take a look in the AMPR preferences file, named prefs.cgl. As described in step #5, this file contains a line defining each collection that you have defined, and that line contains the full pathname of the collection file.)

3. Make a backup copy of the collection file. (For example, use the Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder where the collection file is stored, select the collection file by clicking once on it, then do a Copy (<CTRL>-C) followed by a Paste (<CTRL>-V). This will create a backup copy of the collection file with a name like: Copy of MyCollection.xml.

5. Navigate to the “Home” sub-directory of the directory where the AMPR program is installed. Normally this will be C:\Program Files\AMPR\Home. In that directory is a file named prefs.cgl. Open this file with a simple text editor, such as Notepad or Wordpad. In this file you will find one line that begins with “AMPR_COLLECTION” and one or more lines that begin with “AMPR_COLLECTION_n” (where “n” is a number). One of these latter lines (AMPR_COLLECTION_n) will correspond to the collection you are renaming. You can recognize it because the quoted part of the line (after the colon) will contain the old name for the collection, followed by a veritcal bar character (|), followed by the full pathname of the collection file that you edited in the previous step. Carefully edit this line to make the name of the collection (between the opening double-quote and the vertical bar) be exactly the same as what you changed the name to, in the collection file, in the previous step. Then look at the line that begins just with “AMPR_COLLECTION”. If this line also refers to the collection that you are renaming, make the same edit here as you did to the “AMPR_COLLECTION_n” line. If this line refers to a different collection, leave it unchanged. Save your changes and exit the editor.

You are now done with the renaming. The next time you run the MCM you should see your collection referred to by the new name. If the MCM produces an error trying to open your collection, then you probably mangled the collection file in step #4. In this case, it is time to exit from the AMPR, and then restore the collection file from the copy you made in step #3. At this point you can decide whether to make another stab at it. If so, try again, following these instructions very carefully as you go along.

Can I change the currency or dimension units that I initially specified for my collection?

The choice of currency and measurement units (along with the choice of a name for the collection) are among the few choices that you must make right at the beginning of the process of creating a new collection, and the MCM does not provide any way to make a change to these choices later on.

If you absolutely must change a collection’s currency and/or measurement units, you will have to do so by editing the collection file (with a text editor outside of the MCM environment). (Please read the warnings about changing the collection file outside of the MCM in one of the other FAQ sections.) Here are the steps to take:

1. Make sure the AMPR is not running. Exit from the program if necessary.

2. Navigate to the directory where your collection file is stored. (If you forgot where this is, look at the AMPR preferences file in a simple text editor such as Notepad. The preferences file is named prefs.cgl and is located in the Home sub-directory of wherever the AMPR program was installed; usually this will be C:\Program Files\AMPR\Home. Look for a line in this file that begins AMPR_COLLECTION_n, where “n” is a number, and where the name of the collection that you want to modify is shown between the opening double-quote character and a vertical-bar character. After the vertical-bar character is the full pathname of the collection file.)

4.         Open the collection file in a simple text editor, such as Notepad or Wordpad. (Avoid fancy wordprocessors like Microsoft Word, which are much more likely to corrupt the file by inserting various formatting codes into the file.) Near the top of the file, probably on the seventh and eighth lines, you will see the currency choice for the collection, preceded by <CURRENCY> and followed by </CURRENCY>, and you will see the measurement units choice, preceded by <UNITS> and followed by </UNITS>. To change either of these, edit just the text between the matching pair of tags. The allowable choices for CURRENCY are:

    DOLLARS
    EUROS
    POUNDS

The allowable choices for UNITS are:

    CENTIMETERS
    INCHES

Make sure that your edited values exactly match choices as shown here, including using all upper-case letters. When you are done, make sure that the bracketing tags (<CURRENCY></CURRENCY> and <UNITS></UNITS>) are still there, snugly around the word they bracket. Save your changes and exit from the text editor.

You are now done with changing the currency and/or measurement units choice. The next time you run the MCM you should see your collection displayed using the newly selected currency and/or measurement units. If the MCM produces an error trying to open your collection, then you probably mangled the collection file in step #4. In this case, it is time to exit from the AMPR, and then restore the collection file from the copy you made in step #3. At this point you can decide whether to make another stab at it. If so, try again, following these instructions very carefully as you go along.

How can I move my collection to a different location (or different computer)?

Your collection is stored as a single file. This file can be moved to anywhere on your computer that you want to move it to. However, after moving, the MCM will not find the file when it next tries to open the collection. Therefore the program will ask you whether you want to browse to find the moved collection file. Once you have browsed and located the file in its new location, the MCM will remember this new location.

If you want to move your collection to a different computer (for example, you are upgrading to a new computer, and you want to move the AMPR, along with your map collection information), just copy the collection file to the other computer, make sure you have the AMPR program installed there, and then just follow the steps described in this FAQ on the other computer.

How can I delete a collection? (I was just testing out the MCM and made a “pretend” collection, but now it shows up in the list of my collections, but I just want it to go away.)

Choose Manage Collections / Select Current Collection from the Collection menu of the main AMPR window. Select the collection you want to delete and then click Remove from List. Doing this makes the program “forget” about the collection; it does not actually delete the underlying collection file. If you wish to completely remove the collection from your computer, delete the underlying collection file (after having removed it from the MCM collection list, as just described).

How can I get the MCM to recognize a collection that I deleted but have now restored from a backup?

Choose Manage Collections / Select Current Collection from the Collection menu of the main AMPR window. Then click the Browse to Add button. Navigate to and select the collection file that you restored from backup. This will add the collection of the MCM’s list of know collections. Exit from the Manage Collections dialog and click the “Show Collection” button to verify that your restored collection is accessible and functioning.

Will my collection be lost when I upgrade to the next edition of the AMPR?

No. When you move to the next edition of the AMPR CD-ROM, nothing is changed with regard to your collection files or to the pointers to these files in the AMPR’s system files. So the new edition of the AMPR and MCM should have no trouble working with your existing collections.

I really messed up doing data-entry and just exited the AMPR. Can I undo the mess I made?

You may be in luck. In each AMPR session, the first time that the MCM saves your collection back to the disk it makes a backup copy of the collection file as it was before the session began. This file is located in the same directory as the collection file and it has the same name as the collection file, except with “.bak” appended (e.g. MyCollection.xml.bak). Before re-starting the AMPR, do the following:

1. Navigate (using Windows Explorer) to the directory where your collection file is stored.

2. Make a backup copy of the collection file; for example, copy MyCollection.xml to MyCollection.saved. This backup copy is just in case you really mess up and clobber the xml.bak file as well. At least you should still be able to get back to the way things were before you started this exercise.

3. Delete the collection file (e.g. MyCollection.xml).

4. Copy the xml.bak file, giving the new copy the name of the normal collection file. (E.g., copy MyCollection.xml.bak to MyCollection.xml.)

You should now be able to start the AMPR and, when you look at your collection, it should be exactly as it was the last time you invoked the AMPR, before you made the (messed-up) changes to your collection.