1.2  Viewing the example catalogs

Catalyzer comes with a number of built-in example catalogs. The following steps show how to view them and find your way around the software.

A number of example catalogs are available from the Help menu

Start by loading an example catalog. For example, select Help>Example Catalogs... and then select the general folder and mountains.axz. You can explore the catalog using the tree on the left. More information about records and editing options are available from the context-sensitive menu. The menu can be raised by right-clicking on a folder (Window/Linux) or CTRL-clicking (Mac OS). A catalog can be thought of as a collection of tables of different sorts. Here, the rows in a table are termed "records", and the column headings that specify what each value in a row is are termed "classes". There are two main ways to view and edit records: as a table with many records on one page, one record per row; or as a a form with labels on the left and values on the right. If you select the "Photos" folder from the mountains catalog, you can use the little box icons at the bottom right to change the view. Double-click on a single photo record to see it in the form view. A single element of a class is termed a "field". It has a name (the label at the top of a column in a table view) and it specifies what type of data the record should contain for that item. In the form view there is one field per row. The name is on the left and the values for the active record are on the right. These can be edited in different ways according to the type of field. New records can be added to the catalog with the Add Using Class menu option or the Add, , toolbar button. The Delete option and button, , removes the selected record. You can also edit the classes in the catalog. Any changes you make apply to all records of that class. First press the Class Window, , button (or select View > Class from the main menu) to switch Catalyzer into class editing mode. You get a new panel on the right showing the properties of the selected field. You can add new fields with the Add Field icon. After adding a field, you can change its type with the controls on the right. To return to data entry mode use the Catalog, , toolbar button (or View>Catalog from the main menu). You can search and browse with the Edit>Search and Edit>Browse menu options.

Many features in Catalyzer use a context sensitive menu which is raised by right-clicking (ctrl-click on Mac). For example, to import data from the file system, right-click on a folder in the catalog tree and select: Import>Folder.... When you first start using Catalyzer, there will be a root folder called untitled with a folder icon, , beside it in the Catalog panel on the left of the main window.

Mac OS X users : to raise the context sensitive menu use CTRL-click.