Wings900 - DiecastAdmin Help

System requirements: Windows XP with SP2, 1.67 GHz, 256MB+ RAM. Minimum prefered screen resolution: 800x600; 1024 x 768 is better.
These are my home system specifications, so the program might also work on slower systems. The amount of models in your version of DiecastAdmin can have affects on the transaction times of the program. At this time I can't predict when the program starts acting too slow to work with.

Content of this file

Introduction

DiecastAdmin is a free management tool for your modelairplane collection. It supports multiple collections of any scale. The easy treeview makes it possible to sort your collection in five different ways. You can add pictures so you can see your models without taking them out of the boxes! There is a statistics-screen which allows you to see you collection grow over months and years. There is a wishlist and an orderlist to track your ordered and wanted models. The Export-function can create .dca-files for backing-up your collection after reïnstalling DiecastAdmin or for exchanging modelinfo with other users. Read more about the dca-files below ("Exporting" and "Importing").
If you have an internet-connection, DiecastAdmin can make a direct connection to the huge Wings900-database for easy import of modeldata. An other automated process is the adding of pictures to you collection. All you have to do is name the pictures after the production number or the registration of the model, and you can import them by pushing one button.

Please read this Help-file before asking me.

The Main Screen

Overview

When you start DiecastAdmin for the first time, this screen looks very empty. Above, you can see what it can look like when you created a collection and added some models. On the upper left side of the screen you can select the collection you want to view (if you have multiple collections). In the treeview you can select a model, which data then will appear on the right side of the screen. The pictures of the model and the real aircraft are clickable, so you can see the picture in actual size. The numbers below the treeview are clickable and represent the five different sortingmodes for the tree. You can have your prefered tree selected automatically at startup by setting that tree in the Settings-screen.

Menu and Toolbar

Most of the menu-functions have been assigned a toolbar-button. So, first I will explain the toolbar-buttons.

- Create a new collection. Before you can add models you first have to create a collection.
- Add models to an existing collection. Opens the Add-screen.
- Connect to Wings900 to add models. See under Adding models.
- Edit models from an existing collection. Opens the Edit-screen.
- Manage you collections. Allows you to copy, delete and rename a collection. (Carefull with copying: big collection = long transaction time!)
- See how many models you have, what you spent on the collection, see which is the most valuable model from you collection, the average price of your models and much more in the Statistics-screen. Charts are only available when you collection is at least over a month old.
- Search function. If you can't find a model in the tree, or you want to search on data that is not in one of the five treeviews, you can use the search function. Also usefull if you want to search in more than one collection.
- Export to dca-files. See Exporting for more information.
- Import from dca-files with the DCAImport-program (also a stand-alone application, in the Windows Start menu). See Importing for more information.
- Import a list of images from a folder. See under Importing for more information.
- Here you can view which models you have in order and which models you have put on your wishlist.
- This window will give you a list of additions and deletions in the collection.
- In the Change-log you can retrieve (automatically or manually started) actions performed by DiecastAdmin.
- Access to the Settings-screen. If you use the toolbar you'll get the Settings-screen from the collection you have currenly opened in the Main screen. If no collection has been opened in the Main screen, you will see the settings of "standard".
- If you have searched for models and you have selected a found model, it's background turns yellow. This button clears the treeview of searches you have conducted and makes the background white again.
- Access to this Help-file.

Menubar

In the menubar you will find the following extra options.
- While the Settingsbutton on the toolbar will direct you to the settings of the currently opened collection, the Settings-menu allows you to choose a collection you want to edit the settings from.
- In the Resources-menu you can access internetpages where you can find information for your collection. Some resources have been set during the installation. In the Settings-screen you can add and remove internetaddresses.

Create a collection

The first thing you need to do, is create a collection. Note that a collectionname can not contain the following characters: "?", ":", "*", "/", "\", "<", ">" or "|". In general avoid using any non-alphanumeric characters (others than A-Z and 0-9) and you will be fine.
You can choose to use settings from older collections existing in the program. If you add your first collection, you can use the "standard"-settings. Leave the checkbox checked if you want to start adding models after the collection is created.

Note: If you have chosen not to add models right after the creation of the collection, you can add models by clicking on "Add models" in the toolbar or in the filemenu. Existing collections are only shown in the treeview if they contain models.

Adding models

1. Adding models manually

Adding a model

Above the thin black line you can choose the collection you want to add the model to. To the right of the collection name you find the number of models already in the collection and its value (based on the Wings900-value).
In the Scale, Airline, Aircraft, Country and Manufacturer fields you can select from the list or you can type something else if you can't find what you were looking for. Most of the fields on the left side have to be entered (except the remark-fields). If you don't know some of the data it is best to put "NA" in the field. The program will warn if critical fields are left blank.
Although most fields are self-explanatory, there are some important things to know about some of them. "Manufacturer" in this program means the manufacturer of the model, not the manufacturer of the aircraft itself. The "Released" and "Discontinued" fields are supposed to contain four digit years. And, last but certainly not least, please pay special attention to: the aircraft field.

DiecastAdmin works best (ie. the treeview works best) if you stick with the following guidelines for the aircraft field:
- "Airbus[space]320" OR "Airbus[space]320-112"
- "Boeing[space]737" OR "Boeing[space]737-412ER"
- "BAE[space]Avro[space]RJ-100" OR "BAE[space]RJ-100"
- "McDonnellDouglas[space]11" OR "McDonnellDouglas[space]90-30" - etc.

As you might have noticed, seperating the aircraft company name from the type number with a [space] is the most important thing. If the treeview is sorted in mode 3, the program will search for the first empty space to find the company name. Then, if possible, it will search for the typenumber until "-" or the end of the text. In this way it is possible to make a tree with a first level of companies, a second level with "general type" and a third level with the models themselves. Using the add-on list of aircraft will prevent this problem, as will using the automated importing from Wings900.

TIP: When your collection is not very large or you are just starting to add models to the database, it is recommended that you use the add-on lists of countries, airplanes and airlines. These lists contain all countries in the world, most aircraft types and quite a few airlines. It saves you a lot of typing. Use the Settings-screen to enable the lists.

Adding picture-files

On the right side of the screen you can add pictures to your model. The airlinelogos and the countryflags are available in the folder that is opened after clicking "Browse". All countryflags and a lot of airlinelogos are included in the DiecastAdmin program.
When adding you own picture-files to your collection, please make sure your pictures match the requirements below. Pictures smaller than the sizes mentioned, will possibly look bad.

Supported fileformats: jpg, jpeg, gif and bmp
Picture sizes:
- Airlinelogo: prefered minimum 150 x 50 pixels (other sizes in a similar proportion)
- Flag: prefered minimum of 57 x 33 pixels
- Model and Real pictures: prefered minimum of 217 x 145 pixels

Please note: Pictures in the prefered size and larger can possibly look strange or not very nice. This has to do with things like pixelcount and colourdepth and so on. DiecastAdmin is not a powerfull graphics tool. Remember that you can click on the pictures to see them in real size.

Please respect any copyright on the pictures you might want to use. I am not encouraging you in any way to use copyrighted pictures!

Model status

When you add a model, it has a status. "collection item" is the normal status of a model in your collection. You will only see the models with status "collection item" and "in order" in your collection-treeview. A seperate wish- and orderlist can be accessed through the View-menu. You can change the status of a model in the Edit-screen. Available statuses in the Edit-screen are: "collection item", "to be sold", "sold", "destroyed/lost", "in order" and "on wishlist". In the Add-screen only "collection item", "to be sold", "in order" and "on wishlist" are available

2. Adding models automatically

DiecastAdmin can connect directly to the Wings900-database, the largest resource of modeldata in the world. You can search on Production number and Wings900-ID. In future versions of DiecastAdmin it might be possible to search on Airline too (some development issues there). If you search on Production number, the database can return multiple models, if you search on Wings900-ID only one model is returned. It is not possible to search on part of the Production number.
After pressing the "Get data"-button, the query-result is returned to the list in the middle of the page. You can search multiple times and add multiple models to the list. When you are done importing, you have to select the models you want to import in the database.
Next you go to the bottom part of the page ("Selection data"), were you can add extra information. The text you type, the status you select and the price you give, will be added to each model that is imported.

Editing and Deleting models

This screen is a reduced and editable version of the Main-screen. The layout is more or less the same, but now you can change the modeldata on the right side. Note that you can't Delete or Save anything before you have selected a model from the list on the left.

Please note: If you delete a model in this screen, you can retrieve it through the Change-log file (see View options). Also, modeldata the program automatically removes (for example if you have set the auto-delete of models marked "sold" or "destroyed/lost") can be retrieved in the Change-log. Restoring this data goes by hand. Sorry.

Managing collections

This is a very small tool which can copy, delete or rename collections. Note that specially the copy tool can by quite time-consuming if you are copying a large collection. There are no logs kept from copying, renames or deletions, so if you delete an entire collection, you can't retrieve the lost information!

Collection Statistics

This screen gives you an oversight of your collection. Last addition means: the last model you added as a collection item. This includes models from which you have changed the status from "in order" or "on wishlist" to "collection item". The values (modelcount, average cost, etc.) are all calculated using only the models which are collection items!

Charts

The charts are only viewable if your collection is over one month old. The data in the charts is historical, which in this case means that only data in the database is used to make the charts. So, if you have a model which you added a month ago and you delete it today, the chart will count one model less in the month you added it, and not only in the month you deleted it. This has to do with the basic design of the software and it is very complex to resolve. I am currently not planning to fix this, but somewhere in the future who knows...

Searching

There are three search screens. You can search on production number, registration or "other". It is not possible to search all fields of you collection. Remember that the treeview makes it possible to sort your collection in five different ways, so you can find a lot of information just by selecting the suitable tree.

Searches on the first two tabs can be executed with partial numbers or registrations. No need for the use of wildcard-characters, DiecastAdmin will find it if it's there.
On the third tab you can search on release and discontinue dates, units produced and in the remarks fields. Only in one collection for each search. The numbers behind the searchfields will give you the amount of models which meet your search-criteria. Found items will be shown after pressing the "Search" button. If you click on a found item, it is marked in the collection tree, so you can find it more easily after you closed the search screen.
On tab one and two you can also choose to search in all collections instead of just the currently opened one. Note that these found items will not be marked in the collection tree, because the tree can only show one collection at the time.

Exporting

The Export-screen lists all models in the database, sorted by collection. You can select multiple items form the databaselist (left) and move them to the exportlist (right) by clicking on "Select". The default destination of the to be created file is the Export-folder of DiecastAdmin. To the right, two options are available: open folder of the file after creation and include collection settings. Click "Export" to proceed.

Note on dca-files

A dca-file is an exportformat which allows two or more DiecastAdmin programs to exchange information. Also, you can use this format for backup-purposes. This format saves all fields, except the picture-locations. Use the Import-application to import dca-files in your version of DiecastAdmin.

Importing

1. Importing models

The DCAImport-application is a seperate program, available from the Windows Startmenu and from within DiecastAdmin. Just select a dca-file and choose an import-option. You can add the content of the dca-file as a new collection, add it to an existing collection or replace an existing collection.

Add as new

This adds the content as a new collection. If the dca-file contained multiple collections, seperate collections are created, each with a settingsrecord and a log-file. If no settings are found, the standard settings are applied.

Add to existing

This adds the content to an existing collection. You can choose to skip smilar database entries. Similar entries are found by comparing the date of addtion (among other comparisons). This should be pretty aqurate. You can also import the settings (if any) from the dca-file. This is only possible if the dca-file contains only one collection.

Replace

This replaces the selected collection. If the dca-file contains multiple collections, all the models are merged into one collection.

2. Importing pictures

If you named pictures of your models (or pictures of the real airplane) after the production number or the registration of your model, you can let DiecastAdmin import them in one sweep. Place all pictures in one folder and select the "Import pictures"-toolbarbutton. In the screen displayed, navigate to the folder with the pictures and let the program check if there are matches found in your collection. If there are matches found, make sure the right collection and the right folder is selected and press the "Import"-button. The pictures will now be moved in the program folder and are added to your collection.
Note that if models carry the same registration/production number as the imported picture, that the picture will be added to all models with that registration/production number.

View options

Order- and wishlist
You can access this screen of your collection through the "View"-menu - "View order- and wishlists". In this screen you will find the models you have added to the database, as wishlistitems or as items in order. Models on your orderlist are clickable, because they are in your collection tree. When you click a model, it is marked with yellow. You can click as many models as you want. After you close this screen you can easily find the models in the tree. Clear the tree with the Clear tree-button in the toolbar (rightmost button). Wishlist-items are not clickable.

Additions-screen
You can access this screen of your collection through the "View"-menu - "View additions by date". In this screen you will find the models you have added to the database with a date. In this screen the status of the model is not important, models are sorted on their first appearance in the database. Deletions have a "±".

Change-log
You can access the logfile of your collection through the "View"-menu - "View Change-log". Not all data is backuped. You can find the following data, in this exact order: name of the airline, the aircraft type, the scale, the manufacturer of the model, the country the airline is from, the production number of the model, the registration of the aircraft, the amount of units produced, your personal remarks, the status of the model, the value of the model, what you paid for the model, the release date, the discontinued date, the website of the airline and the date of adding the model to your collection.

Keyword	Explanation
[message]	Displays a message, containing information about what happened in the collection.
[add]	A line of data after adding, syntax: ({value},{value1}, enz)
[beforeupdate]	A line of data before editing, syntax: (data in record {databasenumber}, {value}, enz)
[update]	A line of data after editing, syntax: (changes in record {databasenumber}, {value}, enz)
[delete]	A line of data from a manually deleted model, syntax: ({value},{value1}, enz)
[auto-remove]	Notice of an auto-removal, syntax: reason ({value},{value1}, enz)
[renumbering]	Notification of renumbering, syntax: reason

Settings

Add-on files

Using the add-on lists saves you time typing when you add models to you collection, specially when your collection is still small. These lists appear in the listboxes on the Add-screen and contain all countries, a lot of airlines and most of the aircraft-types. You can easily add missing items in the Add-screen. DiecastAdmin will automatically combine items from the database with the add-on lists. Check the boxes when you want to use them.

It is possible to edit the lists suplied with DiecastAdmin. You can find the lists after a typical install in the folder: "C:/ProgramFiles/DiecastAdmin/addon". The list are textfiles, please seperate entries with [enter]. Note that for example "KLM" and "KLM " will be understood as two different airlines. So make sure you avoid an extra [space] after (or before) an entry.

Auto-removals

If you check the boxes "sold" and/or "destroyed/lost", DiecastAdmin checks your collection on start up for models with this status. If the program finds any, they will be deleted. The only way to retrieve the model is by hand, through the Change-log (View-menu). Most of the time it is ok to leave models with these statuses in the database, but if the database gets full performance may suffer. In the future I might implement a viewable list of "sold" and "destroyed/lost" models.

Startup treestyle

Here you can set the treestyle you want to use on startup. The style consists of five combinations of three levels (a style is for example: Airline (level 1) - Aircraft (level 2) - Registration (level 3)). If you want the tree to be fully expanded on startup, check the box below the example. I personally think that when your collection is larger than ± 30 models, it is nicer to not expand the tree on startup. But that's just my opinion, of course.

Currencies

There are no plans to implement other currencies at this time, but you can choose between Dollar or Euro to be used as standard currency. During the adding or editing of models you can change the currency for each model by hand.

Exchange rates

Here you can set the exchange rates. The program uses this rate to calculate the total value/paid in several screens. This total is displayed in the currency you have set under "Currencies". Under "Select exchange rate to use" you can choose which rate you want to use. This was originally designed for more rates then just the Euro and Dollar, so for now it has no functionality. The button "Edit rate" does have a real function: it unlocks the "Add/change rate". If a rate already exists, it will be overwritten.

HTML-resources

The resources have a name and a HTML-source. The name is what appears in the Resourcesmenu, the source is the internetlink to that page. Below there is a list with resources which already exist. You can select items in this list and delete them by pressing the "Delete source" button. It is not necessary to click the "Apply changes"-button to confirm any changes you make in this list, but a restart is requiered to see the changes in the Resourcesmenu in your menubar.

Importing images

Two options for the import of images (model and real aircraft pictures). When you add pictures to your models, you can do so by collecting pictures in the correct program folders of DiecastAdmin. However, it is easier to keep an oversight when you save your pictures in a serparate folder and add them from there to you models. Navigate to that folder and when saving the model DiecastAdmin automatically moves the file to the correct program folder (as long as it doesn't exist already). In this section of the settings you can choose to copy the imagefiles to the programfolder or to move them. If you copy, the image-file still exists in the original folder; if you move, it is removed from the original folder.

Scales

Here you can set the scale you want to be pre-selected in the Add-screen. Also, you can add and remove scales.

Adding or removing scales is done by clicking the "Add" or "Remove"-buttons. It is not necessary to click the "Apply changes"-button to confirm.
To add a scale, click to dropdown-list (it turns blue) and type the desired scale. Click "Add" to confirm.
To remove a scale, select a scale in de dropdowm-list and click "Remove". In the pop-up screen click "OK". Click "Cancel" to abort the removal.

Other settings

Two last settings you can find bottom right of the Settings-screen. By checking the first checkbox DiecastAdmin searches for unused picturefiles in the program folders, each time the program starts. If it finds any, you have the possibility to delete those files.
Checking the second checkbox makes DiecastAdmin startup maximized. Surely a beautyfull sight!

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