Docuthek Document Imaging System Copyright © 1995-1997 Informatik Inc. All Rights Reserved. Infothek is a trademark of Informatik Inc. info@informatik.com T U T O R I A L THIS IS A FAIRLY COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM WITH MANY FEATURES AND CONTROLS. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL INFORMATIK INC FOR HELP, EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT YET REGISTERED. YOU CAN ONLY EVALUATE THE SYSTEM IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT. THE DATABASES CAN BE CREATED EASILY AND QUICKLY. INFORMATIK INC. IS WILLING TO SET UP THE FIRST DATABASE FOR A NOMINAL CHARGE. CREATE DATABASE If you have the Microsoft Access v2.0 software installed on your computer, you can create the database with Access and you can ignore this section. The database must be of version 2.0. Or, download a ready-made database (with a few made-up field names) from www.informatik.com/playdb.zip. 1. Start Docuthek by clicking on the 'camera' icon in the Program Manager. From the blank Docuthek screen (no windows open) choose Database Selection from the File menu. The Database Selection window is displayed. From the Design menu, choose Database Design. (Alternatively, start up the Database Administration program (DATABASE.EXE) directly from the Program Manager or Explorer (Hammer icon). The Database Administration is a separate program, linked to Docuthek. If, for security reasons, you want to make the Database Administration inaccessible to Docuthek users, move the Database.exe and Database.hlp files to another directory. 2. We will now create a brand new database. Therefore, we shall NOT select an existing database from any listed databases . Instead please select Create New Database from the Options menu. 3. In the prompt box, type the full path and name of the new database, e.g. C:\MYDIR\MYDB and choose OK. A second prompt for the table name appears. 4. In the prompt box, type the name of the table. If at all possible, you should avoid spaces in the table name. Choose OK. The Database Design window is now displayed. 5. Now you must specify all the fields for the table. The field specification consists of a field name, a data type (such as number, text, date, etc.) and if the field is an text type, then the size of the field. Click the first cell in the grid box (Field, first column, first blank row). In the box with the blinking insertion point, type the name of the first field. The field name should not have spaces, if possible. Click the second cell in the same row (Type). A list of data types is displayed. Select the 'Text' item, assuming you want the field to be alpha-numeric. Since this is a 'text' data type. we must specify the length of the field. Click the third column of the same row (Size) and in the input box type 20 (assuming we want the field to accommodate up to 20 characters.). Numeric fields do not need a field size. Repeat the above steps for all the fields in the table. For the Docuthek imaging system, you must have a field named IMAGEFILE. This field will hold the image's file name. Normally, the Imagefile field will be the last field. The file size of the Imagefile field should not be less than 20 to accommodate the path and extension name of the image file. 6. Review the entries. If everything is correct, press the Create button. Please be aware that fields cannot be removed from a table once the table is created. To remove a field, you will need to delete the table and rebuild it. 7. The next prompt is for our international users. The database needs to know what language to use when sorting the data. If your language is English, French, German, Italian, choose OK. If you want to specify another language, press Cancel and select the language from a list of available languages. 8. The database is now being build. 9. It is advisable to create indexes for the table. Indexes can improve the performance of the database significantly. To create an index, select Create Index from the Options menu. In the Index Name field, type the name of the index (any name up to 8 characters, no spaces). From the Field List select the first index field and specify the sorting mode by pressing the Ascending or Descending button. Select other fields that are part of the index (optional). Specify 'Primary' and 'Unique' if appropriate. Review the index data displayed in the Index Definition box, and if correct, press the Create button. If you have several indexes for the table, repeat this process, giving each index a different name. You need to understand the meaning of the 'primary' and 'unique' flags. Each table can have one primary key; this is the main sorting key. If you specify an index to be unique, the system will ensure that duplicate values cannot be posted. Primary indexes are 'unique' by definition. 11. You should now review the newly created database. From the Options menu, choose View Database Structure. The detail of the database is displayed. To print the information, press the Print button. 10. Additional tables and fields can be added to existing databases. To do so, you must first select the database (and table, if it exists) from the lists on he Database Selection screen. Then, from the Options menu, select Add New Table or Add Fields. 11. The Database Administration allows you to restructure the database, to repair and compact fragmentated databases. Use Database Administration also to import ASCII files, to make global adjustments, to delete tables and indexes. As indicated above, individual fields cannot be deleted from tables. If a field is redundant, you should create a new table and transfer the date from the old table to the new table with the Restructuring function. Databases can be deleted only with the File Manager. 12. The Database is now created, and we can start to post our entries. INDEXING IMAGES 1. Close the Database Administration system and start up the Infothek Docuthek program. 2. If you use the system for the first time, you must select the database. Click the Database Selection button on the toolbar (filing cabinet), or choose Database Selection from the File menu. The Database Selection window is displayed. Select the drive, directory, database and table. Choose OK. The following assumes that you already have scanned in a few documents. Documents can be scanned with a scanner or with a fax machine. It does not matter what file name you gave to the images, in what directory they are placed, or in what graphics format they are saved (most popular formats are supported). 3. From the toolbar, choose the Imaging button (camera). Docuthek displays the Open File dialog box. Specify the image file that you want to open (for indexing) and press on OK. The Imaging window is displayed. 4. From the toolbar, choose the Data Edit and Indexing button (pencil). The Data Edit and Indexing window is displayed. ******************************************************************************************* Paragraphs 5 and 6 below may be ignored if the image does not need to be reformatted or relocated to another directory. ******************************************************************************************* 5. Normally, we want to copy the image to a permanent file, such as an optical disk. Click the directory field (at the top of the Data Edit and Indexing screen) or the Browse button next to it. In the Document Directory dialog box, select the directory of the permanent file. Also select the Graphics Format for the new file, normally TIF. Then, press on OK. In the File Name field of the Data Edit and Indexing window, type the new file name. The file name should (but need not) consist of trailing numerals, so that the file naming can be automated for a batch of documents (for example IMG0001). Do not type an extension name (unless set up differently, the system uses the graphics format as an extension name. Please contact Informatik for more information). 6. Choose Commit New or Commit Append. Commit New creates a new file, whereas Commit Append appends the image as a new page to an existing file. Only TIFF and DCX formats allow multiple pages. 7. Complete all the fields for the index. You can move to the next field by pressing Enter, the down-arrow key or tab. To move back, press the up-arrow key or Shift-Tab. Press the Confirm button (checkmark). Docuthek features several input efficiency tools, such as record templates, automatic repeat entries, autotext with abbreviation codes, automatic filing of image, automatic display of next image, etc. For detail please read the online help. 8. Click on the document image that you just indexed. This important step is required to reactivate the imaging window. From the File menu, select the next document that needs to be indexed. Power users please note that you can quickly retrieve the next image by pressing F5 if the image name has trailing numerals. The next document image is displayed. 9. Click the Data Edit and Indexing window to activate it. If you need to reformat or relocate the image file, complete the fields in the Image File frame at the top of the Data Edit and Indexing window. Please note that the directory information is retained from the previous entry. If the new file name has trailing numerals (recommended), simply press the Increment button to set the next sequential file number. Complete all fields and press the Commit New or Commit Append button. 10. Enter the index information and click on the Confirm button. 11. Post several other image files so that we can run a meaningful query. 12. When all documents are indexed and copied to the permanent files, you may wish to delete the temporary image files. 13. To edit existing records, locate the record with the search function in the Data Edit and Indexing window. Activate the field that you want to search, then, choose the Search menu. In the prompt, type the search characters and press the Search button. All matching records are lined up and you can view them one at the time with the left and right arrow buttons, or use the appropriate function in the File menu. Make the necessary changes and press the Confirm button. To restore the data of a record, choose Restore Record from the File menu. To delete a record, choose Delete Record from the File menu. QUERIES Docuthek has two types of query screens: a 'lite search' for quick and simple queries; and a comprehensive SQL-interfaced query screen. 1. From the File menu, open Query. The Lite Search window is displayed. 2. In the Search Field, select one the fields that you want to search. 3 In the Search Operator, specify the type of filter that you want to apply. For this tutorial, select 'STARTING WITH' 4. In the Search Filter, you can type the first few characters of a record of the selected field. For this tutorial, please type an asterisks (*), meaning all entries. 5. Optionally, you can enter additional criteria in the fields of the second column. 6. In the List box, select the fields that you want listed. Simply drag the mouse over the fields or click on the field names while holding down the CTRL key. 7. Click on the Query button (green spot). The query is executed and the matched fields are listed below. (To save the selections as defaults, choose Save Settings from the Setup menu.) Read the following section only if you want to run a comprehensive search, otherwise go directly to the View Document Image section below ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Docuthek has a powerful (SQL-based) query engine. This tutorial will introduce you to the basic query technique. The query engine is very powerful and extensive. This tutorial will show you just the 'tip of the iceberg'. 1. From the File menu choose Query (Advanced). (If you want to query another database, choose the Database Selection button first.) The Query window is displayed. 2. The first column of the Query builder list all available fields of the table. All fields are marked with a blue checkmark. Each marked field will be displayed as a separate column in the report. You can remove a checkmark, by clicking the appropriate Select cell or by pressing the delete button while in the Select cell. To add a checkmark, simply click the cell. 3. Most searches are done by filtering out selected data. Click the field name that you want to filter. In the yellow input box (with the blinking insertion point), enter the filter criteria. For example, if you want to search for NY in the State field, type NY. You can add filters to several fields. 4. Press the Query button (green spot). The report shows all records that have 'NY' in the State field. 5. Press the Clear button (cross-out) to clear the screen and try another query. You have noticed that the system automatically defaults the Filter Operator. If the data type of the field is 'text', the default Filter Operator is LIKE and the system looks for a pattern. If the data type of the field is 'numeric', the default Filter Operator is '=' and the system looks for an exact match. For LIKE operators, the system always appends the '*' wildcard character. Therefore, if you search for JOHN the system will retrieve all names starting with JOHN, including JOHN, JOHNSON, etc. To remove the wildcard character, simply specify 'JOHN'. As you have seen, the system features a large number of operators, such as >=, BETWEEN, IN, etc. Furthermore, there are functions for aggregates, such as count, maximum, average, etc. Finally, you can sort the display, reformat the values, and show totals at the bottom of the report. Sometimes, the reported data cannot all be shown on the screen. Horizontal and vertical scroll bars allow you to view the hidden part of the report. Also, if you click the right mouse button, the system displays a summary of the record. The report can be printed, exported or copied to the Windows Clipboard. There are two methods of printing: horizontal and vertical presentation. If you tag certain records with the checkmark, only the tagged items will be printed or exported. To tag a record, simply double click on it. To remove the tag, double-click it again, or press the Delete button. Only the highlighted area is copied to the clipboard. The system has many features that are beyond the scope of this tutorial. Please read the help topics on the Refine function, re-sequencing the columns, re-sizing the column width, adding calculated columns, editing the SQL statement, purge, etc. The SQL query supports most of the common functions. VIEW A DOCUMENT IMAGE If you want to integrate the query with the imaging system, one of the fields in the database table must be called IMAGEFILE. 1. To view the image, double-click on the record on the report listing on the lower part of the screen. You can click on any cell on the row; the text of the cell will become the heading (title) of the displayed image. Or, press on the Imaging button(camera) or Function Key 12. The image is displayed. 2. To change the attributes of the image (size, rotation, etc), choose the View menu. 3. Please read the online help on how to zoom in, copy, and print. 4. To close the image, double-click on the control in the upper-left corner of the image window, click on the Close button in the upper right corner, or choose Close from the File menu. You can also view images without running a query. From the File menu, choose Open Image File and specify the directory and image file name. The new image will be displayed in the current window, replacing the earlier image. If you want to display several images, choose Open New Image from the File menu. If you lost an image, it is probably hiding behind the active screen. Simply choose the Windows menu and click the image file that you want to bring to the foreground.