The EiM_index application has the aim to be one more tool to read index files for the EiM magazine.

Installation: You only need to put all the files in a directory (or folder) for its own, with a name that better suits You.

The application is organized by a menu with the following options:

File

Exit - Finishes the application

Import from an Excel file (1) - Allows the user to import data from the Excel file to add to existing information in his database

Chose font for the application (2) - Lets the user chose the font for the application

Query the EiM index (3) - Lets the user query the database using simple or complex criteria

Maintain the EiM index (4) - Lets the user manually maintain the articles

Maintain Authors (5) - Lets the user maintain the authors information

Maintain Subjects (6) - Lets the user maintain the subjects information

Help - Displays this information in Your default browser

About - It's all in the name...

Notes:

(1) – The purpose of this option is to let the user manage the information and load the information from each new issue by himself.

This process permits the user to keep information he may have previously added to the data for Articles, Authors or Subjects.

Be informed the basic file from Mr. Colin Usher has information You may want altered or added, mainly with Your own notes, to the article, OR to the Author OR to the Subject.

For the time being, for each new issue, I'll make the new version of the database available. But, please, be careful. This way, the modifications made by the user will be lost so care must be taken on this choice.

Importing: 1 – After downloading the Excel format file from the Colin Usher's site: http://www.colinusher.info/Model%20Engineering%20Indexes/eimxls.zip

and unzipping it to the Excel format (XLS) format, start the importing procedure and in the newly opened window chose the file to be used in the import. A new window will be opened and the data in the Excel file presented in a grid. Navigating to the bottom of the data file You’ll find two lines You must delete before starting the import procedure. Those lines look more or less like the following:

6121|33|9|March |2012||Copyright Colin Usher 2012|||

|End|Issued|20-03-2012|||||Chicago Latrobe|

Though being informative they are not index information and, since they may vary, the program has no way to recognize them to delete them automatically.

In the upper left of the screen there's a field where You can see the number of the last issue already registered in the database. In the middle upper of the screen there's a field showing the number of lines in the Excel file. You only need to proceed with the import if the last volume and issue in the Excel file are higher than the numbers in the “Last registered issue” and “Volume” fields.

In the lower of the screen there's a navigation bar.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The first four buttons have the purpose to let the user navigate to access a particular record. After clicking on any grid cell, the combination of keys Ctrl + Home, Ctrl + Up, Ctrl + Down and Ctrl + End have the same function as 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The other buttons have the following actions associated:

5 – add a record; 6 – delete a record; 7 – edit a record;

8 – post the modifications made; 9 – cancel the modifications made; 10 – re-execute the last query

Finally, the Start Import button does what is expected - import each line in the Excel file, non-existing in the database – into the database in the following order:

1 – If the Author doesn't exist in the database it will be inserted

2 – If the subject doesn't exist in the database it will be inserted

3 – All of the new articles are inserted and linked by code to its Author and its Subject

Important: Some records in the Excel file have mainly in the article title field special characters or strings which appear not to be relevant. The ones I found and removed or replaced are: ¬ « `S' (acute sign instead of single quote) .

If those characters or strings appear in the information for the new records, the application is prepared to take care of them. If You find other special characters that must be removed please let me know.

(2) – Chose font for the application always You to chose the font of your preference as well as its size. All formularies are affected by this choice.

The menu always keep the same font.

(3) – Query the EiM index option allows the user to query the database of articles by clicking on the button EntQry, then writing in the field where You want to search some value followed by clicking on ExecQry button.

The definition of the search criterion is not case sensitive.

In the following example I want to show You various aspects related with the querying the EiM index database.

Suppose You want to find an article whose Author field contains the character string “Bowditch” in the Author name .

You'll find 13 Articles.

If instead You had written “Bowditch Ashton” in the criteria You could only find two articles.

I’m not sure if Mr. Bowditch an Mr. Bowditch Ashton are the same person.

The above illustrates why You must be careful in writing the criterion.

Now suppose You want to correct the name of the Author so in future queries You don't need to remember of this particular problem with data.

All You have to do is to chose Maintain Authors in the menu and after finding the Author You want, correct the name and save (“post”) the modifications.

If You correct both occurrences of one Author to the same content, now You have another problem which is the duplication of information. This can be corrected by linking all occurrences of all Author’s articles to only one of the Author's occurrence and deleting the one resting which has no articles associated.

If You need to modify some data in the Subjects, all You have to do is to follow the procedure as in the Authors.

You can also modify data in the database, either by adding Your comments to the Articles, to the Authors or to the Subjects.

If You use only the EiM index application to manage the data in the database You can be sure all the modifications You'll do to the data will be kept securely.

Important: By default the query is made using an operator AND which forces all the criterion is connected by an AND operator. So if the user writes “HALL” in the Author filed and “Milling” in the article field all the retrieved data has the “HALL” string in the Author filed AND the “Milling” string in the Article field.

If the user wants to see all Articles where the Author contains the string “HALL” OR the Article title contains the string “Milling” the query result will be all the articles of Mr. HALL whether or not they have “Milling” in the Article, PLUS all articles containing the string “Milling” even if the Author is not Mr. HALL.

To toggle between both operators (AND / OR), the user must right-click on the query form except when the mouse pointer is over the data fields.

By default the result of a query is presented in a record at a time fashion. When a right-click is made on the form there's one more option that allows the data to be viewed in a grid instead of an article at a time. This duplicates the function of the button “Browse results”. Then, another button “to Form” - or the right-click - allows You to return to the a record at a time display.

(4) – Maintain the MEW index (Articles)

The main aim of this option is allowing the user to modify data in an Article at a time. After finding the desired article, the user can modify its data and then save it (“post” button in the navigator bar).

(5) – Maintain the Authors

The main aim of this option is allowing the user to modify data in an Author at a time. After finding the desired Author, the user can modify its data and then save it (“post” button in the navigator bar).

(6) – Maintain the Subjects

The main aim of this option is allowing the user to modify data in an Subject at a time. After finding the desired Subject, the user can modify its data and then save it (“post” button in the navigator bar).


General notes:
1 - The fields coloured light yellow in the querying form are benefited by an index so the queries having some criteria in these fields are quicker.
2 – In some moments or periods the ME issues were not published (I count 9 not published issues). To know more about it You can search in the option Maintain cross issue/date and enter ‘’ (two apostrophes) as criterion, in the issue filed, and then execute the query.
This is so because the convenience to keep the organization of data made by the original creators of the data files.