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 |
|
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
- Select a c64 archive from the main window, in the section "Select
PC file".
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Keep adding data until you are done with the disk.
- When you're done with the disk, select a new one, following these
five steps again
- Save your work every now and then! :-)
List and modify data
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- In the "ListData" and "PostView" view, you can
press the Delete button
Good luck with it!
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Also |
*** This is a release from FairLight tools! ***
Please visit the FairLight tools home
page
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