ReaderwareVW Export Wizard

ReaderwareVW export allows you to export the data in your ReaderwareVW database to a number of different formats:

CSV, (Comma Separated Value) - This is a standard data interchange format, use it to transfer data to other programs and databases.
TAB Delimited - Another standard data interchange format. You can open a TAB delimited in file in a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel. A TAB delimited file provides an easy way to transfer your Readerware database to an Excel spreadsheet.
HTML - The universal language of the web, you can export your ReaderwareVW database to HTML to create web pages. ReaderwareVW will build an HTML table displaying all the selected rows and columns. When ReaderwareVW creates the HTML table it uses a style sheet, rware.css, which is distributed with the product. The style sheet controls various formatting options such as the colors, font styles etc. To display correctly you must copy the rware.css file to the same location as the exported HTML file. You can customize the style sheet, change the font or color of the HTML title, the background colors used in the table etc. You can also create more advanced HTML pages using the ReaderwareVW Report Writer.
Palm - You can transfer your database to your Palm device for use with ReaderwareVW Palm Edition a lightweight edition of ReaderwareVW that runs on Palm OS devices. ReaderwareVW will create a file called readerwarevw.pdb. Here is a tip, select your Palm HotSync Add On directory to create the database in. This will make it easier to actually transfer the file to your Palm. Start your Palm Desktop, click on the Install button. Click on Add and select readerwarevw.pdb using the file selection dialog. Then click Done. Start the HotSync from your Palm as normal. Now when you start ReaderwareVW on your Palm, your new database is loaded automatically.
iPod Notes - You can transfer your ReaderwareVW database to your iPod and have it with you when you shop. ReaderwareVW can export your data right to your iPod, just connect it and then select your iPod on the File Selection page of the wizard. To access your database on your iPod, select the Notes function and then ReaderwareVW.
Images - Create image files from your Readerware database. You can choose the image, the image format and how the image files are named.

There are a number of reasons for using ReaderwareVW export:

Transfer you database to ReaderwareVW for the Palm or your iPod, take your database with you on your next trip to your favorite video stores.
Create your own web pages to publish your collection online.
Transfer data to online sellers and auction sites.
Transfer data to other programs or databases

Exporting

These are the basic steps:

Pick the format you want to export to
Select the file you want to export to
Select the videos you want to export
Select the database columns you want to export
Run ReaderwareVW export
Check the results

Format Selection

This is the first page of the ReaderwareVW export wizard. The first step is to select which format you want to create the file in. Your choices are:

CSV, (Comma Separated Value)
TAB delimited.
HTML
Palm
iPod
Images

CSV/TAB Delimited Options

When you select the CSV or TAB delimited formats the following options are available:

Output header line - Include the column header line used to identify the columns contained in the file.
Enclose fields in double quotes - Readerware will enclose fields in double quotes when necessary. Use this option when you always need the fields enclosed in double quotes.
Escape new lines - Some other programs cannot import fields containing new lines. Choose this option and Readerware will replace new lines with '\n'.

File/Folder Selection

You need to tell Readerware the destination for the exported data.

Click on the Browse button and select the file or folder from the standard selection dialog.

If you check the Always replace existing file check box ReaderwareVW will automatically overwrite this file if it exists. This is useful if you are doing regular export runs to the same file. If this is not checked, ReaderwareVW will display a confirmation dialog before overwriting an existing file.

For TAB delimited and CSV files you can also select the file encoding. This is important if your database contains data in multiple languages. You are exporting data from Readerware and importing into another program. It is important that you select the encoding that the other program is expecting. If there is a mismatch then data may not transfer correctly.

ANSI - This is your system encoding and is the default. It will work for databases that contain the system language.
Unicode (little endian) - Unicode is a double byte character set and can handle virtually any language and any combination of languages. Little endian is used on Intel systems.
Unicode (big endian) - Unicode is a double byte character set and can handle virtually any language and any combination of languages. Big endian is used on other systems like PPC.
UTF-8 - UTF-8 is a variable width encoding and can handle all characters in the Unicode character set. It has become popular as you don't need to worry about endianness.

In general you should choose either ANSI or UTF-8. If you are exporting your database to another program on the same system ANSI should work fine. If your database contains multiple languages or you are transferring the file to another computer, use UTF-8. But remember the other program must be able to handle the encoding you select, so check their documentation.

Video Selection Page

There are two or three choices when selecting which videos to export. The number of choices depends on the format selected. The choices are:

All videos in the database - This will export all videos in the database, the complete database.
Current Search Results - The videos returned by the last search are exported. You need to search for the videos before starting the Readerware export wizard. You can control exactly which videos are exported, for example you can search by category, then date entered etc.
Currently selected search results - This will export all selected videos. You can search for videos and then select the videos you want to export.

Column Selection Page

Some formats determine the columns that are exported, for example the Palm format defines which columns need to be included in the exported file. In this case the column selection page is not displayed.

There are two ways to select the database columns you want to export

Current View Columns - The columns currently displayed in the search results table will be exported. ReaderwareVW views are extremely flexible. You can define any number of views and control which columns are included in each view and the order. If you have a regular export you want to run, create a view for the export containing exactly the data you want. Then just select the view before starting the ReaderwareVW export wizard.
Selected Database Columns - If you select this option the list of database columns is enabled. You select exactly which columns you want to export and the order. Columns listed with a green check mark are exported, those listed with a red cross are not. Double click on any entry to toggle its state. To change the order of the columns, select an entry in the list and use the up and down arrows to change its location in the list.

Verification Page

Next up is the verification page. This is your last chance to change your settings prior to running ReaderwareVW export. A quick summary of your choices is listed. Click on Next if you are ready to go. Click on Back if you want to change your choices.

Export Running Page

When you reach this page, ReaderwareVW export is running. You will see a progress bar that will update as ReaderwareVW exports the data to the file. Immediately below the progress bar is a Cancel button which you can use to interrupt the export.

When the export completes, click on the Next button to proceed to the final page of this wizard.

Export Complete Page

This page displays the overall export statistics:

Videos Processed - The number of items written to the export file

Errors - The number of items that could not be written.

Normally this is all the information you need to ensure your data was exported correctly. If user logging is enabled, ReaderwareVW also creates a log file called vwuser.log. This file lists each item and any error messages. You can view this log file in any text editor.

When you are done, click the Finish button to exit the export wizard.

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