Copyright: Visual Help Copyright® 1993 Firas Bushnaq


Main
Windows Tape Management System 6.2.2

WTMS is a complete Video Tape Management System used to keep track of video tapes.

System Requirements

New for this version

Introduction

Installation

Getting Started

Upgrade

Registration


System Requirements

WTMS will run on a 80386 PC with 4 megabytes of RAM.  However, the processing speed of both WTMS and Windows might be very slow.

The suggested system is a 486/DX-33 with 8 megabytes of RAM.


New for this version
New for version 6.2.2

1 	The SETUP  menu (under the FILE main menu) allows eaiser selection of other movie data bases.

2 	In the PRINT menu there is a special Detailed reporting option that will allow graphical printing of a cassette.  It will print all six possible movies for a cassette in the form of the ADD menu.  This means that the output will look very nice and not like the normal reporting.  This however takes a lot of graphic computing power.  So to print your entire collection will take a while even on a 80486/33 PC (the PC that this program was written on took about 2.5 minutes).

3 	There is a new option under the FILE menu called LABEL.  This will print both the spine and front lables for a cassette.  You have the option for print the movie titles on the front lable or just the WTMS cassette number.  However to afix the labels on the cassette, you have to cut them both out and glue them to the cassette.  In this version we do not use a adhesive label.

Files that Accompany this Version

For WTMS to run correctly you must have the following files:
               WTMS.EXE        -- The WTMS main program
 SETUP.EXE       -- The installation/setup program for WTMS
 VBRUN300.DLL  -- WTMS Dynamic Link Library
 SETUPKIT.DLL   -- SETUP Dynamic Link Library
 METER100.VBX -- Program Controls
 THREED.VBX    -- Program Controls
 README.TMP   -- Program text file.
DO NOT rename this file.  It's needed in
its present form during installation.
When WTMS is installed it is renamed to
 README.TXT
 UPGRADE.TXT   -- How to upgrade to this version
 UPGRADE.EXE  -- The upgrade program
 READ.ME          -- This file
However, before running the STETUP EXE program, many of the above files will have different extensions (other VBX extention files might also be included that are not seen above).


Introduction

What  is WTMS

WTMS is a Video Tape cataloging system for your home.  It will help you organize your video tapes for quick access.  This system allows upto 6 movies to be held on one video tape.

The History of WTMS

WTMS was originally written on an Atari 800 computer in interpreted
BASIC with one 180K 5.25 floppy drive and 16K RAM in the Summer of 1980. At that time there were no programs for the Atari to keep track of video cassettes, so one was created. However it was very slow processing records. TMS went through many revisions to improve speed (including switching from sequential processing to  keyed indexed processing).  In 1984, TMS was adapted to join the PC revolution with version 3.0 under a PCXT Clone with a 20 megabyte drive, 512K RAM and a monochrome monitor.  By 1988, under DOS 3.3, TMS 4.0 was created using Turbo Pascal.

In 1990, it was rewritten to utilize new technologies, which merited a whole version upgrade to 5.0.  During that time many little upgrades prompted
the version numbers to reach 5.8 were, that was the last DOS version.  Version 6.0 was the first Windows based program which added many new features that were lacking in the DOS version of 5.8 which included: Description fields, Type fileds and Rating fields to name just a few.


Installation

There are two ways you may have received WTMS:

As a Compressed File Downloaded from a BBS

•	First, create a temporary directory on your computer's hard drive (ie use filemanager to Create A directory and call it WTMSTEMP or something).

•	Copy the compressed file (WTMSZIP.EXE or WTMS.ZIP) to the directory you have just created.

•	Now you can decompress the file by just running WTMSZIP.EXE which will automatically decompress the file of if it has a Zip extension (WTMS.ZIP) then you must decompress it by using PKUNZIP 2.04.

•	Once the files are decompressed, see Running SETUP

As distributed on the Original Diskette

•	See Running SETUP

Running the SETUP program

Performing an Upgrade


Default


Upgrade

To upgrade from a previous version of WTMS, just run the SETUP.EXE program that comes with the new version.

What does Upgrading Do?

It creates a new WTMS.INI file using some of your existing data and adds new data to the INI file and copies the new WTMS.exe (along with any other files needed for the new version).  Make sure when you upgrade, your destination is pointing to the existing WTMS directory.

It wil NOT delete or overwrite you data files, so don't be afraid.  If you are still unsure you may want to  make a backup copy of your original WTMS directory.


Getting Started

Once you have installed WTMS correctly, launch it and you will notice the following menu options:

File

Edit


File
File Menu

The file menu has the following options:

Print

Print Setup

Lables

Setup

Exit


Print Menu
Printing Options

Selecting Print from the main menu will bring up the Print Menu screen.  The Basic Printing supports the following:

Basic Printing

All-by-Index

This option will print all your video tapes with the data pertaining to each movie on that tape.

All-by-Name

This option will print all your tapes by movie name order with some of the data for each movie.  One line (couier 8 point ) represents a single movie.

Basic printing will print the data in standard text format.

Printer / View

This option will create a report with the information you have selected and bring up the Windows Write program.  You can choose Convert or No  Convert.  Once Write is launched you can view or print the results.

Print to File

This will prompt you to enter a file name to store the report.  The report will be in standard PC ASCII format.

Graphic Printing

This option will print a graphical vs the ASCII report of your video by movie index number (in a bitmap format).  If you check the SPECIFIC box, a report for only that movie index will be printed.  Each cassette will generate an entry in your print queue.

Graphic printing can take a while to print all your cassettes.  On a 486/33 with 8 megs of RAM, it took about 3.5 minutes to print 60 cassettes to a DeskJet printer.  The only difference between Graphic Printing and Basic is the visual format.


Print Setup
Printer Setup will run the Windows Printer queue program so you can change your printer selection.


Labels
Label Printing

This menu will print labels for each cassette.

Print a Specific Cassette

This option will allow you to print a label for one specific cassette.  Which will include the Spine and Face labels (on set per page).

Print All Cassettes

This option will print the Spine and Face lables for all your cassettes.

Omit Movie Titles

This check option, is left unchecked,  will print the movie titles on the Face label.  So if you have 6 entries for that cassette, all 6 titles will be printed.


Setup Option

The setup option can be accessed from the File menu. This will allow you to select different cassette data bases, startup size of WTMS and security (allow only persons with the correct password to add or modify any cassette data). Once you select this option, you will be prompted for the password.The default password the comes with WTMS is the word PASSWORD, which you can change once the setup menu is displayed.

Reset Password Session

If this option is check then when you exit out of the configuration setup menu, in order to re-enter setup again you must re-type the password again.

Allow cassette Modification

If left uncheck then no one can modify or add any cassettes data, they can only view it. On the Main menu under the EDIT options, both Add and Edit will be grayed out.

Startup Windows Size

Upon start up you can specify the state of WTMS, Normall, Minimize or Maximized

New DB button

WTMS comes with a blank default data base called WTMS.DAT.  However you can create others to your specific needs by pressing this button and typing in the new name.

Once you are done:

If you made any changes on this screen (check boxes, password, startup window, DB), press OK to save these changes.

Note: If you enter the this configuration setup menu and press the SAVE button, you must re-select you cassette database again.  This is to ensure that you still want to use the database you were currently pointing to.


Exit
This option will close all WTMS files and Exit the program.


Edit Menu

The edit menu option has the following options:

Add

Edit

NOTE:If the Add and Edit options are grayed out then go into File,Setup and check the Allow Cassette Modification option.

Find

Scan


Add Screen

Add allows you to add a cassette to the data base.  Remember, you are adding a whole cassette (like the physical black cassette tape).  Once you add a cassette you can not delete it.  Remember that a Cassette can hold up to six entries. So after you add a cassette you can add upto six titles on to it.  The next time you want to add another title to an existing tape.  Select EDIT from the main menu and enter in the cassette number.  Use the entry scroll bar in the upper right hand corner of the add screen to select the next entry on that cassette.

Color

If the movie is in color then check this box

Location

Location refers to the tape counter on your VCR.  Its used to find the next movie on a cassette.  So after the movie is recorded you should put the index location in so you can find the next blank space on that tape

Title

This refers to the movie name / title.  The alpha letter cases will be converted to upper case upon saving.

Made

Made is used for the year in which the movie was made.

Length

The length of the movie in hours (or fractions there of)

Rec Date

Refers to the date you are recording the movie.  The default is the system date.

Type

The are a number of pre-defined movie catagories ranging from Adventure to Western.

KeyWord

Key word refers to a word (or phrase) you can assign the movie for later searches.

Rating

Rating is the standard movie rating system.

User Scale

You can assign a personal movie rating from zero to nine.

Recording Mode

Refers to the type of tape and recording mode. For each type of video tape there are 3 types of recording modes: SP-Standard Play, E-Enhanced Play and EP-Extra Long Play.  Depending on the tape, EP can range from 6 to 8 hours or recording time.

Description

Allow you to give a brief description of up to 128 characters of text.

Other Options

When in the Find or Scan mode the following items will appear:

Previous < and Next > Buttons

Under the Entry number will appear two buttons: < and > so you can move quickly to the the next/last cassette.

Numeric Buttons

Where the ACCEPT button usually resides will be a miniture calculator buttons with a clear and go button.  This allows you to quickly jump to another cassette without going to the Edit mode or using the < and > buttons.


Edit option

This option brings up a calculator type entry box.  Just click on the numbers to edit the cassette you want and press OK.

Once you entered a valid cassette ID the Edit screen will appear (identical to the Add screen but you will not be able to change any data).

You will be able to scroll through the movies on the cassette by using the ENTRY vertical scroll bar.

PRINT THIS:
A new button will appear so you can print what you see on the screen to the printer.

NOTE: If you make ANY change, you must press ACCEPT for it to take effect.  If you scroll to the next entry on the cassette without pressing ACCEPT, your change will be lost!


Finding Movies
Searching for Movies

Clicking on FIND from the Edit menu will bring up the following:

By Description

Searches all the movies and compares your search phrase against the description field in the Add/Edit screen, if you check this box.

By Keyword

Searches all the movies and compairs your search phrase against the Keyword field as in the Add/Edit screen, if you check this box.

By Title

Searches all the movies and compares your search phrase against the Title field as found in the Add/Edit screen if checked.

Match Whole Word

If checked, it will use your phrase/word as a whole word.  If you don't check this box it will search all text (depending on what options you checked off above) that contains what you typed in.  Ie, if you type the word AT and leave this option unchecked, it will find the all words the have AT contained in it (ie. complicATed).


Scanning
Scanning Through Cassettes

When you select SCAN from the Edit menu, the Add/Edit screen will appear with some added buttons.

You will notice unter the ENTRY number two buttons: < and >.    The < button will move to the previous cassette number while the > button goes to the next.


Registration

A registered user entitles you to:

     - Add unlimited cassettes to the data base
     - No more prompting to register when starting WTMS
     - The yellow note will vanish from the main startup screen

To become a registred user, print out the registration form from WTMS along with just $24.95 (U.S. check or money order made payable to J. Vitulli.  If you live in NYS, please add the correct sales tax for your area) and send it to:

Information Development Technologies
PO Box 401
Yorktown Hts., NY 10598-0401
U.S.A.

Thanks for supporting the Shareware concept.


Title


Author
Note from the Author

We welcome comments and suggestions of all our products.  This includes both the documentation (help file) and the program itself.  As well as suggestions for other programs that might be useful to you.  Drop us a line any time.

Information Development Technologies
PO BOX 401
Yorktown Hts., NY 10598-0401

or if you have access to CompuServe, our account number is: 75270,1210

Remember, this product is shareware.  We are trying  our best to make this a user friendly, professional product.  So please let us know what we can do to improve it.


Entry

When you are on the Add/Edit or Scan screen you will notice in the upper right hand corner of the screen a small scroll bar.  When you scroll it a number to the left will change.  Its range is from 1 to 6.  Each cassette can have upto  6 movie titles on it. Use this scroll bar to enter the next movie title for that cassette.


Help


Setup Program
Running The Setup Program

The setup program can run from File manager or from the FILE, RUN off the Windows Program manager.  Once you run the program you will be asked for the Source and Destination.

In the Destination filed, you can leave the default (C:\WTMS) or you can type in where you want WTMS to be located (if you are upgrading then choose the existing WTMS directory).

In the Source file and drive boxes, select where you have the uncompressed files or where you have the original installation diskette located.

Then press Install.  Setup will copy all the necessary files to the drive and directory you specified in the Destination field.  It will also create a Windows group (Information Development Technologies) where it will place the WTMS icon.

When setup is complete it will exit the setup program.  Now you are rady to double click on the WTMS icon in the IDT group to start the program.


Vendors

If you are a vendor or distributor and wish to bundle this software, IDT will be pleased to work with you.  We offer this program at a greatly reduced rate. Licensing and slight modifications can be made for bulk purchasers. Please feel free to contact us.

Reaching I.D.T.


Destination

Destination means where you want to put the files once you have properly installed WTMS.


SETUP

The setup program supplied with WTMS to properly install the program.


Source

Source means where are the original files located.


ZIP

A compressed file (WTMS.EXE or WTMS.ZIP) where all the necessary files for the program are compressed.  You must decompress the files before running the WTMS  Setup program