BaccTracker 2.0

Program name

BaccTracker 2.0 beta 6

Development of version 1.5 is now terminated. In never made it to a non-beta version, but who cares. The same applies for ICQ and no one seem to bother about that. ;-)

Release date December, 5th, 2000
Author Pontus "Bacchus" Berg (Bacchus@fairlight.to)
Program purpose

Enables you to make a database of your C64 collection. It currently handles c64 programs in D64 and Lynx format. The idea is loosely based of the foundation the native C64 program EasyCatalog, where you build up a database of your disks by picking the contents of directories and from selecting and deselecting the entries.

It can be used on the CD:s you have with lame text files as the only references of contents, as well as all the stuff you've ported yourself.

Hopefully you'll find that this program takes the concept light-years ahead from Easy Catalog, but that's for you to decide...

How it looks For a neat picture of V2.0, press this link!
Project status

The program is in beta state, which means I have tried my best to make a program fully working. I never release anything to a wider audience without ensuring there are no known unlisted bugs.

The functionality is by no means frozen, and I hence both fix bugs and add features. This means that several things are yet not set in stone; the data format is such a matter, and if that changes, you can probably not use an old database with a newer edition of the program. What is highly possible is that you might want to add or delete certain fields of a post, and with good reasoning I might listen to your requests.

As a result, I strongly suggest that you try the new version, but wait a version or two before you work your way through the 10.000 D64 images of yours ;-)

Installation

Now features a full installer.

NB: if you use an old ZIP version (i.e. PK Zip 2.04) which can't handle long filenames, then rename my pack to something short!

Revisions Here follows a description of what's been done in the respective Beta:
Beta 1
  • Initial release
Beta 2
  • Added: The registry handling to save the positions of the windows. You can rearrange the columns of the list, but it not yet stored and will likely to be a rather low priority as it's a BIG mess to do!
Beta 3
  • Looked at the source again - hopefully nothing was lost during my hard disk crash. I think it's all there!
  • Added: A few support messages where there is no functionality behind a function.
  • Added: a status bar where the current file is shown. There will also be an indicator if the data in memory has changed since the last save as well as a counter giving you the status on the number of posts you currently have in the Data Base.
  • Added: The option new is implemented
  • Fixed: If you select "Open" without giving a filename (i.e. pressing "cancel"), you'll get a warning.
Beta 4
  • Added the "Merge" feature - FINALLY ;-)
Beta 5
  • Added: Implemented a DIR validator for D64 images so every D64 directory entry is also scanned by the links of that file.
  • Added: Setup options for the DIR validation.
  • Added: The status row shows the number of database entries
  • Added: The BLOCKS FREE message for D64 file did show a dummy value until this release. Now it's the real value
  • Fixed: Improved the handling when selecting stuff from the directory. Mind that the feature of selecting entries by click-hold and move over is something I've coded so it's bound to be a bit odd from time to time ;-)
  • Question: Beta 2 is said to have storage in the registry - this is not valid for this release. I must have lost the Beta 2 update after all. "Saving options" is hence added to the TO DO list again.
Beta 6
  • Added: Expanded the directory view, as I now have implemented proper view of locked files and splat files. I needed an extra char in the view for the locked files indicator.
  • Fixed: This meant a new interface between the arc paring module and the presenter. It seems like a fair assumption that I need to make that interface more robust in the near future, if I want to make it less painful to implement something else and also as I intend to release the parsing module into the public domain.
  • Fixed: a problem where the moving in the directory with the keys or mouse set the entries passed. Ops ;-)
  • Fixed: Another of them "can select a locked entry" bugs removed. Let's hope they are gone now, shall we? ;-)
  • Added: An option to in the pop-up menu to reread the directory, and if the this option also pops a requester to indicates if the arc is a D64, then you are to select if you want the blocks to be the cosmetic or the link traced ones. This overrides the automation you can set in the menu. The fastest way to reread a disk using the setting in the menus is still just to click on the archives filename again.
Known bugs and limitations
  • There has been reports of problems creating the data file. In the particular case, the installation was not made in the default directory. I'm looking into this!
To do

Basic functionality

In the PostView

  • The buttons Clear, Search and Filter aren't enabled

In the ListView

  • The buttons Complex Filter and Use Filer aren't enabled

Features still - possibly - to come (random order)

  • Better name parsing (f.ex. picking the group name from the filename, so that f.ex. a program names "whatever/flt" will get the "group" field auto-filled with FairLight
  • Search engine, which works on other fields than the name
  • More formats (f.ex. T64)
  • Option to open a write protected files, which shall disable the functions that changes the database opened
  • Listview settings definable; make a screen where you can hide columns from the listview.
  • Printing
  • Exporting to other format (f.ex. tab or comma separated ASCII files)
  • Adding of more data per post (A few additional fields were requested and will be implemented - it's up to every user to fill them in)
  • Program checksum - every program will be checksumed so that similar entries on different disks can be checked against each other to ensure that duplicates are detected
  • Disk verify - I'll do more work on this side when all the basic functions are in place. It means that I'll scan D64 files for possible errors in the directory, cross-linking, and sectors allocated but not parts of files.
  • Options storage - Currently all options are lost while exiting the program; windows position, parsing settings and column settings in the ListView. The shall be stored...

Suggestions under consideration

  • A user has asked for the option of having the actual DIR contents on-line as well. For now, it's not likely I'll do it, as this is a direction of the program I don't see any use for myself...

.. and LOTS more! Please feel free to suggest something yourself!

How it works

What you see

The program has three windows;

  • A main one - which must always be open, or you'll close the application. This is where you see which file in the PC you work with and to the right also the contents of it.
  • A "Post View" which shows the current post in the database
  • A "List View", which shows the database. Double-clicking here, toggles the postview where you have a detailed view of the current post in the database post. Just clicking on the listview with the postview open, changes the contents of the postview.

Preserving the data

The data is entered into a data base in the memory (a TClientDataSet :-).

The commands under the menu "File" manage this database, and it's relation to files on the disk:

New - Empties the data in memory
Open - Overwrites the data in memory with that of a file
Save - Saves the current data in memory to a file, using the filename selected by a previous "open" or "save as" operation
Save as - Saves the current data under a file name to be entered in a requester
Merge - Joins the contents of the memory with that of a file. When you save this file, the file to be written is that of the original file and not the merged one!

Enter new data

  1. Select a c64 archive from the main window, in the section "Select PC file".
  2. In the "C64 arc contents" you select the files in a program, with the main file first (f.ex. first click on "Wrestlemania/FLT" followed by "1.file", "2.file" and so on till all are selected.
  3. Now either right-click the mouse and select "Add" from the pop-up menu or simply press Ctrl+a. What you had checked doing this, will now for a post in the database.
  4. The files you selected are now also ghosted, so you won't select them again by mistake. You can re-enable then via the pop-up menu (access it via the right mouse button), or by re-selecting the disk image. Mind also that also file of zero length are added into the number of files count in the post.
  5. Keep adding data until you are done with the disk.
  6. When you're done with the disk, select a new one, following these five steps again
  7. Save your work every now and then! :-)

List and modify data

  1. In the menu bar, select the option "Window" and ensure "ListData" is selected/checked. If it is, you should have an additional window on your screen.
  2. From this view, locate the data post you wish to modify. Mind that you can sort the view by pressing the column headers. Pressing the un-sort button, makes all sorting go away (which actually is the same as pressing the column "edit time"). There are a lot of columns and the more you fill in, the better database and sorting options you get.
  3. You can now either enter the data directly in the matrix, or double-click on any entry. This opens the PostView where you also can modify the current post. The calculated fields are not meant to be manually changed.

Delete data

  1. In the "ListData" and "PostView" view, you can press the Delete button

Good luck with it!

Also

*** This is a release from FairLight tools! ***
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