Recollector User’s Guide

Using the Collection

Once you have created a collection, the collection viewer window will be displayed as soon as Recollector is started. (If you have created multiple collections, the program will display whichever collection was last being viewed. To switch to a different collection, select Recollector Control Window from the Windows menu, and click the Manage Collections / Select Current Collection button in the window that comes up. This will let you switch to a different collection.)

Collections are displayed in the “collection viewer” window, an example of which is shown here:

This is the “List” view of your collection. Each row in the list corresponds to a record in your collection. One row is always shown as the currently selected row. Use your mouse to click any row to make it the selected row. (Or use the Up and Down arrow buttons on your keyboard, or the “Previous” and “Next” buttons shown at the upper right part of the window.) The camera icon (), shown in the second column of the list, indicates that the corresponding record contains at least one image. If you click on the camera icon, the image for that record will be displayed in a newly opened window. (If the record contains multiple images, only the first image will be shown. Switch to the Item Details view – see the next paragraph – where you can access all of the record’s images.)

To look at the full details for the currently selected record, switch to the Item Details view. You can do this by clicking on the “Item Details” tab or by double-clicking on the row in the list.

The example shown here is the normal mode of displaying Item Details, with each field shown on its own line (or lines). There is also a compressed mode, in which multiple fields will be shown on a single line, if they fit. This is controlled by a preference on the Item Details tab of the Preferences Dialog.

Following is a description of the various functions that can be performed from the collection viewer window, all of which are available from the menus. (In some cases, operations are invoked from options menus, brought up by a right-button click on the window. These options are described below.) Some functions are only available with the List view, some only with the Item Details view, and others are available in both views.

File menu

Print – [shortcut: <CTRL>-P] From the Item Details view, the single entry is printed. The order of the fields is identical to the on-screen order. This order can be changed via the Item Details: Field Order choice of the Options menu. If the Item Details contains one or more thumbnail images, these will also be printed as images. See the Images tab of the Preferences dialog (accessible via the Preferences choice on the Options menu), for a choice regarding the method used to produce printed thumbnail images; this is described more fully in the description of the Preferences Dialog.

From the List view the entire list is printed in tabular format. (If the List does not include all of your collection’s fields, only the fields selected for display will be printed. Adjust the set of fields displayed in the List by the List: Field Selection choice of the Options menu, or by using a Field Profile.) As on the screen, parts of longer texts will often not be visible in the tabular view. If you want to print out your entire collection, consider using the next menu choice (Print Details for All Entries).

Print Details for All Entries – This choice will produce an Item Details printout for each row in the list, one page per item. Normally this will include all the records in your collection, but if you have been looking at only a portion of your maps (Subsetting in effect – see the Subset menu choices, below), only the records included in the current Subset will be printed. The order of the printed records will match the current sort order. See the description of the Item Details tab in the Preferences Dialog for a description of how to control whether or not each record is printed starting on a new page.

Generate Printed Report (with wizard) – Use this choice to produce a customized printed report for your entire collection (or for a subset). A “wizard” will step you through the choices you need to tailor the report to your needs. This is described fully in the help for Generating Printed Reports.

Generate Web Site (with wizard) – Use this choice to generate a set of web pages that comprise a collection web site for your entire collection (or for a subset). A “wizard” will step you through the choices you need to tailor the web site to your needs. This is described fully in the help for Generating a Collection Web Site.

Summary – This choice will bring up a window showing you a brief summary of your collection. The summary gives the name and filename of the collection, the date and time that the collection was last modified, and totals for any currency fields. If a subset is in effect (see Subsetting the Collection), then the subset name will be shown and the record count and currency-field totals will be based only on the records in the subset.

Export to Excel (List view only) – This choice will invoke Excel, create a new spreadsheet, and copy the data from the collection viewer into the spreadsheet. (If you have eliminated some of the fields from the List display, only the fields selected for display will be copied. Adjust the set of fields displayed in the List by the List: Field Selection choice of the Options menu, or by using a Field Profile.) This choice will only function correctly if Microsoft Excel® is installed on your computer. Before the export is performed, the program will ask whether you want formatting codes (e.g. for italic text, or for specifying a hyperlink) to be stripped out of text fields. By default, the formatting codes are stripped out. However, if you anticipate importing the data back into Recollector at some later time, you may want to retain the formatting codes, in which case you should indicate this when prompted.

Export to File (List view only) – This choice will write out a tab-delimited ASCII file from the List, with the field names in the first row. You will be prompted for the name and location of the destination file. (If you have eliminated some of the fields from the List display, only the fields selected for display will be exported. Adjust the set of fields displayed in the List by the List: Field Selection choice of the Options menu, or by using a Field Profile.) Before the export is performed, the program will ask whether you want formatting codes (e.g. for italic text, or for specifying a hyperlink) to be stripped out of text fields. By default, the formatting codes are stripped out. However, if you anticipate importing the data back into Recollector at some later time, you may want to retain the formatting codes, in which case you should indicate this when prompted.

Export for download to the Recollector App – This choice will prepare a download file for sending a copy of your collection to a smartphone or tablet device, where it can be viewed using the Recollector App, the companion app of the PC version of Recollector. Versions of the Recollector App are available for Android phones and tables and for Apple’s iPhone or iPod touch. See the descriptions of Viewing your collection on an Android device or Viewing your collection in an iPhone or iPod touch.

Import Records from Excel (List view only) – See the description of Importing Data into the Collection.

Import Records from File (List view only) – See the description of Importing Data into the Collection.

Save – [shortcut: >CTRL>-S] Use this choice to save the current state of the collection to disk. If you are doing a large amount of data entry or editing, it is a good idea to periodically save your changes so that you will not lose your work in the event of a power failure or any other kind of unexpected interruption. You can also turn on auto-save, which will cause your collection to automatically be saved back to disk on a regular interval. This is described more fully in the description of auto-save, in the Preferences Dialog. Note: The Save menu choice will be disabled if the collection has not been changed since the last save. You can also tell whether or not the collection has been changed by the collection window’s title bar: An asterisk will be displayed at the end of the title if the collection has been changed since the last save.

Revert – This choice undoes any as-yet unsaved changes. Depending upon when in the session you request to revert, the program may prompt you as to whether you want to revert to the most recently saved version of your collection, or to the earlier version of your collection as it was just before you began the current AMPR session.

Backup – This choice allows you to back up the currently open collection. See the description of CM_backup.html.

Export Collection Template – Use this choice to create a new (XML format) collection file, but one that has no data records in it. The file created by this menu choice will have all of the information about the structure of your collection (field definitions, collection name, subset and profile definitions, etc.), but none of the data. This newly created collection file can be use for:

· Creating a new collection whose structure is, at the outset, identical to that of the current collection. If you want to create a new collection similar to an existing one, then it is easier to start out with the structure of the existing one than to create a new one from scratch. (To create a new collection using the template file as the base, open the Recollector Control Window – see the Windows menu, below – and then choose Manage Collections / Select Current Collection. From the next window, select Browse to Add and then navigate to and select the XML file that you created using Export Collection Template.)

· Sending a database “schema” for your collection to somebody else who also owns a copy of Recollector. This lets you share your database setup with others, without having to also share the actual contents of your collection.

Note: The one piece of information about your collection’s structure that Export Collection Template does not export is the definition of the Image Directory. If you (or somebody to whom you have sent your template) wants to have an image directory for a collection made from the template, the image directory will have to be redefined in the new collection (see below, Modify Fields or Image Directory, on the Edit menu, for how to do this).

Close – [shortcut: <CTRL>-X] Use this choice to close the collection viewer window. The same operation can be performed by clicking on the ‘X’ close box at the upper-right corner of the window. Note: If you have made changes to the collection since the last time the collection was saved, the program will prompt you as to whether to save your changes before closing. If auto-save is enabled (see auto-save) the program will automatically save your changes without any prompt. If the Recollector Control Window was never opened during this session, then Close will terminate the program, and is the same as Exit.

Exit – Use this choice to terminate the program. Note: If you have made changes to the collection since the last time the collection was saved, the program will prompt you as to whether to save your changes before closing. If auto-save is enabled (see auto-save) the program will automatically save your changes without any prompt.

Edit menu

Select All (Item Details view only) – Selects the entire text of the window (typically in preparation for doing a Copy operation).

Copy (Item Details view only) – [shortcut: <CTRL>-C] Copies the selected text to the clipboard (typically for subsequent pasting into some other application).

Edit Record – [shortcut: <CTRL>-E] This choice lets you edit the currently selected record. See the description of Editing Data.

Add New Record(s) – [shortcut: <CTRL>-N] See the description of Adding Data.

Enable Multi-Record Delete (List view only) – This is a toggle, which, when turned on, allows you to select more than one row. This allows you to delete multiple rows at one command, rather than having to delete records one at a time. When multi-record delete is enabled, the following actions can be used to select rows:

· Click: Selects the clicked-on row and deselects all other rows. (This has the same effect as clicking on a row when not in multi-record delete mode.) The clicked-on row also becomes the “anchor” row for subsequent <Shift>-click or <Shift+Ctrl>-click operations.

· <Ctrl>-click: Toggles the clicked-on row. If the row was previously unselected, it now becomes selected (in addition to whatever other rows were previously selected), and it also becomes the anchor row. If the row was previous selected, it becomes unselected, unless it was the only selected row, since the program requires that at least one row be selected at all times.

· <Shift>-click: Selects the block of rows between the clicked-on row and the anchor row.

· <Shift+Ctrl>-click: Toggles all of the rows in the block between the clicked-on row and the anchor row. If this would cause the de-selection of all rows, the anchor row is left selected, since the program requires that at least one row be selected at all times.

Multi-record delete mode does not stay in effect after most other operations. Other operations, such as switching to Item Details view or adding or editing data records, will turn off multi-record delete mode if it is on. Therefore, you should only turn this mode on immediately prior to selecting rows and then choosing Delete Record(s) from the Edit menu. If you turn multi-record delete mode off after having selected multiple rows, but without performing a delete, the list will revert to having just a single row selected.

Delete Record(s) – [shortcut: <CTRL>-W] This choice will delete the currently selected record(s) from your collection database. You will be prompted to confirm that you really want to delete the selected records. There is no undo capability (other than revert, which undoes all changes made since the last save), so if you mistakenly delete a record, you may have to enter it again. If multi-record delete mode has been enabled (see prior menu item), and multiple records in the list have been selected, all the selected records will be deleted. Multi-record delete mode will be turned off automatically when the deletion operation is completed.

Modify Fields or Image Directory – This choice lets you make changes to the set of fields that are defined for the collection. You can create additional fields, or modify (rename or change the data type) or delete existing fields. You can also specify or change the Image Directory to be used for the collection. The dialog used to modify fields and the image directory is described more fully in Modifying a Collection’s Fields & Specifying the Image Directory. Because changes to the definitions of a collection’s fields can alter the collection’s basic configuration, the collection window must first be closed. When you pick this menu choice, a prompt will ask you to confirm that the collection window should be closed.

Search menu

Find – [shortcut: <CTRL>-F] In List mode, you will be prompted for a text string and a field to search in, with options to search in all fields, or in all fields displayed in the List. (If the field you choose to search in is one that has a pick-list associated with it, the text entry box will also include a drop-down list, so that you can select one of the pick-list item values without having to type it.) In Item Details mode you will just be prompted for a text string. You can also specify a case-independent or case-dependent search. In List mode, starting from the record after the currently selected record, the program will search for the specified string. The search will wrap back to the top if the last row is reached. You will be told if no match is found. In Item Details mode, the program will search for the next instance of the string in the current record. The search will wrap back to the beginning of the record when the last instance of the search string has been found. If you have searched for a string in List mode, and you then immediately switch to Item Details mode, the first instance of the found string in the record will be highlighted.

Find Again – [shortcut: <CTRL>-A] Repeats the previous search, continuing on from the next record (in List mode) or from the last match within the record (in Item Details mode). If the end of the list is reached, the search will wrap around automatically, and continue searching from the first record (in List mode) or the beginning of the current record (in Item Details mode).

Go to ID # – [shortcut: <CTRL>-G] Use this choice to jump directly to the record with a particular ID # value. (If you have renamed the ID # field, the changed field name will appear in the menu item.)

Back to Previous Record (Item Details view only) – [shortcut: <CTRL>-B] Use this choice to go back to the previous record, after you have jumped to a new record by clicking on an “ID #” link. This operates similarly to the “Back” button in a Web browser, returning you to the previous page after you have clicked on a link to jump to a new page.

Subset menu

Select a Subset – Use this menu choice to limit the collection list to just the subset of records that meet a specified condition. For a full description, see Subsetting the Collection.

Show Full Collection (no subsetting) – Use this menu choice to return the collection list to the full set of records in the collection database. This choice turns off any subsetting that had been in effect. For a full description, see Subsetting the Collection.

Manage Subsets – Use this choice to create new subset definitions, or to modify or delete existing subset definitions. For a full description, see Subsetting the Collection.

Display Subset Definition – This choice will bring up a window in which the record-selection criteria for the current subset definition are displayed.

Options menu

Sort Order (List view only) – Use this menu choice to modify the sorting order of records in the List. See the description of Sorting the collection.

List: Field Selection (List view only) – Use this menu choice to modify the set of fields that are displayed in the List view, as well as to modify the order in which the fields are displayed. See the description of Selecting Fields for the List View.

Set Field Selection from Profile (List view only) – Use this menu choice to set the fields displayed in the List view from a “field profile”. Choose this menu and a sub-menu will be displayed listing the available profiles. If no field profiles are defined, this menu choice will be disabled. You create new field profiles using the Manage Field Profiles dialog (also accessed from the Options menu). See the full description of field profiles in Creating and using Field Profiles.

Item Details: Field Order – Use this choice to change the order in which fields are displayed in the Item Details window, as well as in the data-entry window. A dialog box will be shown with a list of all the fields, in their current order. Select field names in the list and use the buttons at the right to move the selected fields up or down in the list.

View Collection List / View Item Details – These choices are the equivalent of clicking on the “List” and “Item Details” tabs, respectively. They also provide shortcuts (<CTRL>-L and <CTRL>-D, respectively) for switching between the two views using the keyboard.

Limit Item Details to Only Fields Shown in List – This choice is a toggle. Normally this toggle is not selected (no check mark shown next to it on the menu), in which case the Item Details display shows all fields that contain any data. If there are certain fields that you wish to hide, even in Item Details mode, you can do this by first switching the List view to include only those fields that you also wish to display in the Item Details view (using the dialog invoked by the Options menu List: Field Selection item, discussed above), and then turn this toggle on. Note that the order of the fields shown in the Item Details display will also be the same as that shown in the List view if you select this option. This allows you to create a completely custom Item Details display (choice of items and their order) by creating a field profile (see Creating and using Field Profiles for details on how to do this) that has just the fields you want to see, in the order you want to see them. Then switch the List view to use this profile (using Set Field Selection from Profile, described above) and turn the Limit Item Details to Only Fields Shown in List toggle on. Now, when you switch to the Item Details display, you will see the custom field selection/order that you desire.

Start Slide Show (Item Details view only) – Selecting this menu choice causes the Item Details view to advance from one record to the next, automatically, after a specified interval. The interval is specified on the Item Details tab of the Preferences Dialog. The term “slide show” is used loosely, since what is being shown are not slides or pictures, but rather the data as shown in the Item Details view. But the auto-advancing effect is similar to an automated slide show. Once started, the slide show will stop when you switch to List view, ask to edit or add records, or when you invoke many of the choices available on the menus (particularly those choices that bring up dialogs). To re-start the slide show, just re-select this menu item.

Manage Field Profiles – Use this choice to create, modify or delete field profiles. See Creating and using Field Profiles for a full description.

Manaage Picklists – Use this choice to create, modify, delete, or assign picklists to fields. When a picklist is assigned to a short text field, the data entry/editing screen will display a drop-down list (a “picklist”) to allow a field’s value to be entered by simply selecting a value from the list. See the full description of Using Picklists.

Preferences – Use this choice to set various preferences. See the full description of Setting User Preferences.

Small Font / Medium Font / Large Font – These choices let you change the size of text used. Select whichever size you find most comfortable for viewing data in the collection viewer window.

Windows menu

Recollector Control Window – Use this menu choice to bring up the Recollector Control Window. In normal use of the program, when a collection is immediately displayed after start-up, the Recollector Control Window is initially iconified. You can restore this window to the screen through this menu choice.

Data Adding/Editing Window – This menu choice is only enabled if the data-entry window is open (either on-screen or iconified). Choosing this menu item will raise the data-entry window above all other windows. This can be useful if the window has gotten underneath the collection viewer window or other windows on your screen. If the data-entry window is not currently open, this menu choice will be disabled.

Image Windows – This sub-menu gives you access to a sub-menu listing all of the open image viewer windows. If there are multiple such windows open, they can become obscured by one another or by the collection viewer window or other windows on your screen. This menu gives you an easy way to bring any particular image viewer window to the top. If no image viewer windows are currently open, this menu choice is disabled.

Close All Image Windows – Use this menu choice to immediately close all image viewer windows. If many image viewer windows are open, this is an easier way to clean them up than going to each window separately to close it. This menu choice will be disabled if no image viewer windows are open.

Help menu

Recollector User’s Guide – This menu choice opens up the on-line User’s Guide (part of which you are currently reading).

About Recollector / Product Registration – Use this menu choice to display a dialog containing information about the version of Recollector that you are currently running, as well as contact information for customer support. If you are running the evaluation version (Demo Mode) of the product, a button on this dialog will let you enter a registration key, to convert the product to a fully licensed, unrestricted version.

Interaction with the Collection Viewer window in List mode

In addition to the menu choices, you can use the mouse and keyboard to interact with the collection viewer window in List mode.

• Clicking anywhere on a row will cause the row to become selected (highlighted). Double-clicking on a row will both select the row and switch the display to Item Details mode for the selected record.
• If a record in the List view shows a camera icon () in the second column, clicking on this icon will select the row and will also cause the image associated with this record to be displayed in a new image viewer window. (If the record contains multiple images, only the first image will be shown. Switch to the Item Details view to access all of the record’s images.)
• You can re-order the columns in the List view by clicking-and-dragging on the column header (the row at the top of the list, where the field names are displayed). Drag to the right or left to move a column to a new position. (You can also re-order the columns using the Field Selection dialog, chosen from the List: Field Selection choice of the Options menu.)
• You can change the width of a column in the List view by clicking and dragging, in the column-header row, on the separator line at the right-hand edge of a column. Drag to the left to make the column narrower; drag to the right to make it wider. You can also change the row height by clicking and dragging on the separator line between rows in the leftmost column of the list (the column that displays the row numbers). The change in row height is applied to all rows, not just the row on which you performed the operation. If you make rows tall enough to show two lines of text, the program will wrap the displayed text so that you can read more than just one line’s worth of information.
• Use the Show [Hide] Pix button to turn the thumbnail banner display on or off. The thumbnail banner displays thumbnails of the currently selected record.
• Use the Edit button to edit the currently selected record.
• Use the Previous or Next button to move to the selection to the previous or next record.
• You can use the arrow keys to move the selection to a different record in the list. In addition to using the up or down arrow key to move a single row at a time, holding down the Shift key while clicking the up or down arrow key will move the selection to the first or last record in the list. The Page Up and Page Down keys will shift the selection approximately one page-full up or down.
• Click on the Item Details tab to switch to the Item Details view on the currently selected record.
• Pressing the <Enter> key will switch to the Item Details view on the currently selected record.
• Right-button clicking on the List will both select the clicked-on record and display an options menu:

This menu provides choices letting you edit the selected record (equivalent to choosing Edit Record from the Edit menu or clicking the Edit button), or letting you switch to the Item Details view for the selected record.

Interaction with the Collection Viewer window in Item Details mode

You may see links – identified by blue, underlined text – in the Item Details window display. These are of two different types:

• Images – Image fields contain links (which may be displayed as either thumbnail images or as text) to digital images. (Image fields can also contain links to audio or video clips.) Image files on your local computer that are stored in any of the standard image file formats (JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, WMF, PNG, etc.), will be displayed as thumbnail image links. (If you prefer to not view image links as thumbnails, but prefer to see textual filenames, you can specify this on the “Image thumbnails” tab of the Preferences dialog – accessible via the Preferences menu choice on the Options menu. In the same location you can also specify the size of thumbnail images, which default to 150 pixels on their longer edge.) Click on an image link and the program will open a window and display the image file in it. For local image files the program will open a special image-viewer window. This window has a button that allows you to switch between a scaled view of the image (scaled to fit in the window), or a full size image (with scroll bars to move around an image which is too large to fit). There is also a button that will print the image (scaled to fit on a printer page). For remote files (or for local html pages), the program will open a web browser window and display the page/image there.
• Hyperlinks – Links in fields other than image fields can be clicked on to provide additional information or capabilities. Some of these links are to other records (ID # links), in which case clicking on the link will change the Item Details display to the indicated record. (See the example in the image, above, of the Item Details window: There is a blue-underlined link to the record with an ID # of 109.) If you click on an ID # link, the program will search for a record whose ID # matches the one shown in the link, and, if found, will jump to that record in the Item Details window. (See Notes on Special Formatting Capabilities for information on how to enter an ID #, in the data-editing window, so that it will be shown as a link in the Item Details display.) Other kinds of hyperlinks may do one of the following:
1. Display additional information, footnote-style, in a small window at the bottom of the collection window.
2. Play an audio or video clip (using Windows Media Player).
3. Open up a web browser and display a web page.
• Popup menu – Right-clicking on the Item Details window brings up a popup options menu:

This menu gives you access to the same functions that are accessed via the buttons at the upper right corner of the window as well as to some of the functions that can be accessed from the main menu. The “Copy full record to clipboard” choice is equivalent to choosing “Select All” followed by “Copy” from the Edit menu.

If you right-click on either an image link or a hyperlink, the popup menu will have some additional items. If you right-click on an image link (either a thumbnail image or a textual image link), the popup menu will be either:

or

The popup menu shown on the left will be displayed when you right-click on an image that is stored as an image file on your computer. The “Display image in new window” choice is equivalent to simply clicking on the image link (with the left-button of the mouse), as described in the first note in this section. The “Display image in web browser” choice will open a web browser window and display the image there. The “Print Image” choice will send the image to your printer.

The popup menu shown on the right will be displayed when you right-click on an image that is a web address (http://…) or a link to a local file that is of type .htm or .html.

If you right-click on an audio/video link, which will be displayed as a hyperlink in an image/audio/video field as Play media (audio) or Play media (video), the popup menu will look like this:

If you right-click on an “ID #” link, the popup menu will look like this:

The first choice on the popup menu will perform the same action as simply clicking, with the left-mouse button, on the “ID #” link: The Item Details display will jump to the indicated record.

Other kinds of hyperlinks (additional-information links, web page links) will display popup menus with appropriate choices.

• Use the Edit button to edit the current record.
• Use the Previous or Next button to move to the Item Details for the previous or next record.
• Click on the List tab to switch to the List view.
• Pressing the <Enter> key will move to the previous or next record (depending upon whether the most recent move was to the previous or next record; the program tries to keep going in the same direction).

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