Welcome to Video Catalog. This program will allow you to keep track of all those video tapes you have lying around. As Video Catalog is shareware, I would appreciate your registering this program should you decide to use it on a regular basis. All the necessary information for this is included on the opening screen of the program. Installing Video Catalog ------------------------ First, This program does require either a hard drive or a floppy disk of larger than 360K capacity. I really recommend the hard drive as it helps the program run much faster. Create a subdirectory on your hard drive using whatever name you wish. Then copy all the files on this disk to the subdirectory on your harddisk. Put the original disk in a safe place. Move to the subdirectory you copied the Video Catalog files into and enter the following command: PKUNZIP VID-CAT.ZIP then press enter. The files will be decompressed. You may then start the Video Catalog by entering "VID-CAT" at the system prompt. Setup of Video Catalog ---------------------- It is usually not necessary to do any setup work in order to run Video Catalog. There is one potential problem that might cause you to do some setup however. If, when you run Video Catalog, the screen goes blank and the computer will not do anything, this is a sure sign that Video Catalog could not figure out what kind of display you are using. If this happens, you will need to tell Video Catalog the type of display. This is done by copying one of the included screen drivers to a file with the name MATRIX.COM. Video Catalog treats this as a special driver file and will not try to determine the display type on it's own. One word of warning, this version of Video Catalog will not correctly support the CGA standard. The screens needed for the information on each tape are just too big to fit onto a CGA screen. This is to be corrected in the next version. Video Catalog will also work with any pointer device (mouse, trackball, digitizer, etc.) that is Microsoft Mouse compatible. You will need to make sure that the Microsoft compatible driver for your particular pointer is installed before starting Video Catalog if you wish to use the pointer device. Using Video Catalog ------------------- The following information is the actual help file available inside Video Catalog. This help information is available by pressing the key. If you are on a menu item at the time, the help screen for that option will be displayed. If you are elsewhere in the program, you will be presented with a table of contents to select the item you wish help with. I. Moving Around II. Videos Add a Video Tape Change a Video Tape Remove a Video Tape III. Finding Videos Find a Video Find a List of Videos Print Master Listing IV. Labels Printing a Test Label Printing Labels V. Options Choosing Colors Choosing Files IV. Quit No - Remain Here Yes - Leave Video Catalog Version 1.01 I. Moving Around in Video Catalog Using the Keyboard - You may move around in the menus using the Arrow keys. The ENTER key will select the highlighted menu option. Inside the various screens, both the TAB key and arrow keys can be used for moving around. However, to exit a scrolling region, as in the Add a Video Window, use must use the TAB key. Using a Mouse - Place the mouse pointer on the menu option you want and click on it. II. Videos Menu Option This menu option allows you access to the main functions needed to create and maintain the Video Catalog. Simply use the arrow keys or mouse pointer to highlight this option. The choices of action will then be displayed. Add a Video This menu option allows you to add a Video Tape to the Catalog. When inside the Add a Video Window, you may fill out any field(s) you wish, there are no required fields. All the editing keys on the keyboard (Insert, Delete, etc.) can be used inside a field. When you are finished, highlight the Continue button and press ENTER. If you do not wish to add the tape, highlight the Cancel button and press ENTER. If you select the Cancel button, you will be givin a chance to Add the Video anyway. Change a Video This option will present you with a blank video tape screen to fill out. Fill in as much information as you wish, even partial fields can be used. When the Continue button is selected, Video Catalog will search for any tapes matching the information you supplied. A list of the matching tapes will be displayed. There can be up to 200 of these tapes so you may have to scroll down with the arrow keys to find the one you are looking for. Highlight the tape you wish to change. Press TAB to move to the Continue button. Video Catalog will then display the selected tape ready for your changes. When finished making your changes, select the Continue button. If you decide not to keep your changes, select the Cancel button instead. Remove a Video Selecting this option will display a list of all Video Tapes. Highlight the tape you wish to remove. Then select the Continue button. You will be given a chance to abort this removal operation. NOTE: If you do remove a Video Tape, it is GONE! The only way for it to reappear in the catalog is for you to add it back in. III. Finding Videos The choices under this menu option will allow you to find a single video, a list of videos, the empiest video tape in the catalog or to print a master listing of all the tapes in the catalog. Find a Video This option will allow you to find the first video matching the information you enter into the screen. You do not have to fill out all the fields. You also do not have to completely fill out any one field. Just fill out what you know about the tape. When you are ready, select the Continue button and press ENTER. Find a List of Videos This option will let you find a list of videos matching information you enter into the screen. In this case a listing of the matching videos will be displayed. Print Master Listing Selecting this option will cause all a listing of all the Videos in the catalog to be output to the printer. IV. Labels This option lets you print a variety of test labels and tape labels for your videos. Printing a Test Label This option allows to you print a test label to aid in alignment of your printer. You will be given the choice of printing a large or small label. Printing a Label This option lets you choose the size and type of label you want to print. You will be asked for the tape number as well as the size of label and the information you wish to have on the label. V. Options This menu option will allow you to change the colors used by Video Catalog as well as the File used for the Video Catalog itself. Choose Colors Check off the color you wish the program to use. Then select the Continue button and press ENTER. Choose Filename Enter the name of the file you wish to use as your Video Catalog file. When satisfied, use the TAB key to move to the menu at the bottom of the box. From this menu you may change the directory (folder) that the file is in. When finished, select the Continue button and press ENTER. VI. Quit As you might imagine, this menu option allows you to exit the Video Catalog. No - Remain Here If you should decide not to leave the Video Catalog after selecting Quit, you may select this option to remain in the program. Yes - Leave Video Catalog Sorry to see you leave. However, if you must, selecting this option will allow you to exit the program. You will however, have one more chance not to leave. Thanks for choosing Video Catalog. I hope you will find it usefull and enjoyable to use. James Du Vall Microsoft Mouse is a trademark of Microsoft Inc.