OVERVIEW -------- ROMCAT provides a keyword oriented search of CDR/CMX clipart on your CorelDRAW CD's. Thumbnails can be displayed. Import requests can be directed to CorelDRAW. To get users "up and running" as quickly as possible, a prebuilt catalog of keywords for a recent release of DRAW is provided. Users can also rebuild the catalog using their own CD's. ROMCAT displays thumbnails by directly reading the source drawing file, provided the needed disk is accessible via a drive letter. Users with multiple CD-ROM (or network) drives can configure a list of the drive(s) to be searched for thumbnail lookups. IF YOU'RE UPGRADING FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION OF ROMCAT ----------------------------------------------------- 1. This version of ROMCAT can read catalogs built by any previous release. If you wish to continue using catalogs for previous releases, you can make multiple ROMCAT icons in the program manager and pass the catalog name as a command line parameter. 2. Some keywords in DRAW5/6 are quite long. It is recommended that you switch the screen layout to the "horizontal" view. Use the "Configure" menu, "Screen Layout" to do this. For new users of ROMCAT, the horizontal layout is now the default. INSTALLATION ------------ 1. Place the three files (ROMCAT.EXE, ROMCAT.HLP, and CLIPART.ROM) in a directory of your choice, for example C:\CLPCAT. 2. In the Windows program manager (or desktop manager you are using), add a program item to a group of your choice. Specify: Description: Clipart File Finder Command line: C:\CLPCAT\ROMCAT.EXE Working directory: C:\CLPCAT Substitute the actual drive + directory where you put the files in step 1. Press OK. 3. Launch the program. 4. If your system has MORE THAN ONE remote drive (CD-ROM's and network drives count as remotes) you may be prompted with a "Drive Search List" screen. Edit the list of drives to match the letter(s) of the drives where clipart disks will be mounted. 5. The title bar should indicate the version and build of DRAW covered by the prebuilt catalog. Historically the clipart has changed with each CD build. If you're using a version (or build) of Draw other than that of the prebuilt catalog, you will achieve best results if you rebuild the catalog using your own CD's. See the section "Rebuilding the Catalog" for instructions. HOW TO SEARCH THE CATALOG ------------------------- 1. To search for a keyword, first make sure the "Keyword" button is turned on in the "Search By..." box. Then start typing in the input field. As you type, the words in the box immediately below will scroll. When you see the word you want, click on the word with the mouse (or hit the tab key and move through the list with the arrow keys). As soon as a keyword is selected, a list of the related files appears in the other list box. Each file shows the DOS file name, the volid of the disk (which conveys Disk #1 or Disk #2 for DRAW4/5), and the directory path name where the file can be found. IF YOU CANNOT SEE THE ENTIRE PATH NAME: single-click on any file and the path name will be displayed in the message bar at the bottom of the screen. 2. To locate personalities and portraits, start by typing the person's FIRST name. Most (or all) the people clipart files have their keyword references in first + last name order. 3. To locate a file using the thumbnails in the clipart book, first click on the "File Name" button in the "Search By..." box. Then type the name printed below the thumbnail. Note that in the book the lower case L's and 1's look the same. Once the thumbnail is entered, the matching file names will show in the filename listbox. Since this is a generalized file finder, files with extensions other than CDR (and CMX in DRAW5/6) may show, so pick the file with the correct extension. 4. If you still haven't found what your looking for, there is a facility to do a global search for a series of characters occurring anywhere within a keyword or file name. Example: Suppose you're looking for a portrait of Bono, but there is no keyword that starts with "Bono". Pull down the "Options" menu and select Global Search, type Bono, and press enter. Both the keyword and file name indices will be searched and all occurrences of Bono will be shown. ONCE YOU'VE FOUND YOUR CLIPART AND WANT TO IMPORT IT ---------------------------------------------------- This procedure applies to importing files with an extensions of CDR and CMX: 1. With a list of files showing in the list box, single click on the item you wish to import. 2. Pull down the "Options" menu and click on "Import Selected Drawing". 3. If ROMCAT asks you to provide the drive letter where the corresponding disk is mounted, mount this disk and if necessary change the drive letter, then press "Continue Launch". 4. The clipart file will be imported into the current drawing. (If CorelDRAW is not already running, it will be started). Shortcut: For a CMX file, you can double-click on the file to import. For a CDR file, set the double-click action using the "Configure" menu (you only need to configure this once), then double-click the CDR file to open or import. REBUILDING THE CATALOG ---------------------- 1. Pull down the "File" menu and select "Build New Catalog." 2. ROMCAT will present a "Select Source Drive" screen. a. Enter the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive. b. X-mark the keyword collection options you desire. c. Mount a CD in the drive, wait for the drive to come ready. d. Click on either "Scan All Directories" or "Scan Selected Directories" depending on how much data you wish to catalog. 3. When scanning completes, a statistics box will be displayed. At this point you have the option to "Read Another Disk" or indicate you are "Finished Reading Disks". The process repeats at step 2 if you elect to read another disk. 4. You will be prompted to enter a title. You may wish to include the version of DRAW! (e.g. Draw 5.00.F1) in the title to distinguish your catalogs. The title can also be left blank. 5. ROMCAT will prompt for a DOS file name for the new catalog to be built. Enter a name of your choice. Make sure the drive letter is pointed at a writable drive, such as the hard disk (not the CD-ROM). 6. The catalog data will be compressed and saved to disk. When the process completes, the new catalog will be opened you may begin your search requests. ROMCAT will remember the "last opened catalog file," so you will come back to your new catalog the next time you launch the program. NOTES ----- 1. Lack of CD-ROM buffers can adversely affect performance during catalog builds and also during lookup of thumbnails from CD-ROM. If running DOS with Windows 3.1/3.11, it is strongly recommended that SMARTDRV from DOS 6 (or equivalent) be used to cache the CD-ROM. If SMARTDRV is not an option, have at least 12 buffers on the MSCDEX load. If running Windows 95, the default configuration will probably provide adequate caching. 2. If you make changes to your system that cause the drive letter associated with the CD-ROM to change, access the "Configure" menu, select "Drive Search List", and update the drive list with the new drive letter(s). 3. If you experience persistent problems opening or importing clipart, this quite often an indication that the OLE registration entries for CorelDRAW have gotten corrupted or deleted. To correct this, locate the file CORELDRW.REG (typically in the CONFIG subdirectory of Corel) and double click this file in the Windows File Manager. This should correct the problem. 4. Three state map files, MIMAP (Michigan), MNMAP (Minnesota), and MSMAP (Mississippi) have their keywords transposed. When doing searches, these files will not list under the expected states. This applies to the CDR versions of the files in DRAW3 and DRAW4 as well as the CMX equivalents in DRAW5 and DRAW6. This is an error in Corel's clipart, not a bug in ROMCAT. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --------------- Corel is a registered trademark of Corel Corporation. CorelDRAW is a trademark of Corel Corporation. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. TrueType is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER ------------------------ ROMCAT.EXE and ROMCAT.HLP are written and copyright 1993-1995 by Paul P Schaefer (CIS 76334,177). All rights reserved. ROMCAT is free software. It may be freely distributed so long as it is neither modified nor sold. ROMCAT is made available on an 'as is' basis. The author makes no warranties, expressed or implied. In no way shall the author be liable for any damages resulting from the use of this software.