Maintaining Database List Columns

To edit a list like Author, Category, Format etc., right click in the field and select Edit from the popup menu. Mac users should Control-Click in the field.

You can also display the List Editor by selecting from the Edit->Database Lists menu item.

Use this dialog to easily maintain the database list columns.

You can add, update, and delete entries. You can also clean up unused entries, combine entries and print the list etc.

The dialog contains a list of all entries. Each entry is displayed with a use counter so you know how many database records are using each list entry

Once you have made all your changes click on the OK button to update the database. Click on Cancel to discard your changes.

Adding New Entries

To add a new entry type in the new value and click on the Add button. The new entry will be added to the list.

You will get an error if an entry with that name already exists. List entries are case insensitive, so Paperback and paperback are considered duplicates.

Updating Existing Entries

To update an existing entry first select the entry you want to update. The current contents will be displayed in the entry field. Make your changes and click on the Update button. The selected list entry will be replaced.

You will get an error if an entry with that name already exists. List entries are case insensitive, so Paperback and paperback are considered duplicates.

Deleting Entries

To delete entries from the list select the entries you want to delete and then click on the Delete button. The selected entries will be removed from the list.

To select multiple entries use the standard list selection keys for your operating system. For example on Windows hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click on the next entry. On Mac OS X hold down the Command key and click on the next entry. To select a range of entries, hold down the Shift key and click on an entry, all entries between the new and previous selections are now selected.

Removing Unused Entries

Each item displayed in the list is followed by it's use count in parentheses. This is the number of records in the database that use this list entry.

If an item, is unused, the use count will be zero.

To remove all unused entries click on the Clean Up button. All list entries with a use count of zero will be removed. A count of the removed items will be displayed.

Merging Entries

You can combine multiple entries into one entry using the merge function.

Start by selecting the main entry, the entry you want to merge the others into.

Now select the entries you want to merge into the main entry. To add these entries use the standard list selection keys for your operating system. For example on Windows hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click on the next entry. On Mac OS X hold down the Command key and click on the next entry.

You should now have the main entry displayed in the field to the right of the list and all affected entries selected in the list. For example suppose you had three location values, Box 1, Box 2 and Box 3. You moved all the items into a bigger box and want to update the database so that all items are now shown as being in Box 1. You start by selecting Box 1. Now you add Box 2 and Box 3 to the selection. Box 1 is displayed in the entry field to the right of the list and all three entries are selected in the list. Click on the Merge button.

A confirmation dialog will be displayed. Note that the changes will be applied to the database immediately. Readerware will then change the location selection on all affected records so that all records that were in Box 2 or Box 3 are now in Box 1. The Box 2 and Box 3 list entries will still be there, but they will have a use count of 0. Use the Clean Up function if you want to remove these entries completely.

Printing the List Entries

To print the list just click on the Print button. All the list entries will be printed.

Contributor Lists

To edit a contributor list like Author, Artist or Actor etc., right click in the contributor field and select Edit from the popup menu. Mac users should Control-Click in the field.

The process is basically the same as for normal lists but the List Editor Dialog has some additional fields.

The contributors are displayed in a list sorted in your preferred sequence. You can change the sort in preferences, select the Preferences menu item, then Contributors.

When you select a contributor from the list, Readerware displays both the display and sort names and you can edit both. All the functions mentioned above are available when editing contributors. You can add, update and delete contributors, you can clean up unused contributors and you can merge contributors. Sometimes different sites will display author or artist names differently and you can end up with multiple variations of the same name. For example when looking through my music library I found albums by:

Gladys Knight & Pips
Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight And The Pips
Gladys Knight/Pips

Using the merge feature you can select the entry you want to standardize on, then select the entries you want to merge. Click on the Merge button and Readerware will go through your entire database and update each affected album to use the correct entry. The old entries are still in the list but these are now unused, you can click on the Clean Up button to remove them.

The Contributor List Column Editor makes it easy to clean up some of inevitable extraction errors and lets you standardize author, artist, actor names just the way you want them.

As the Contributor List Column Editor does update your entire database, we do recommend that you create a backup of your database before starting any major cleanup.

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