The Readerware Newsletter

Readerware 2.0 Beta Now Available

What is a beta release? It is sadly a very misused term these days. Here is what I mean by a beta: A product that is functionally complete, has been through in-house testing and is now available for some final real world testing prior to the full release.

Should you install the Readerware 2.0 Beta 1? Anyone can install it, there are no licensing requirements. This beta will expire January 31st. There will either be another beta drop before then or the final release will be available. If you are an experienced computer user who can't wait to checkout the new features available in Readerware 2.0, go for it! If you are new to computers, I would recommend that you wait for the final release.

Please report any problems with the beta as soon as possible to support@readerware.com. I have also opened a new topic on the Readerware message forums

So what is in Readerware 2.0? Read on or download now

Readerware 2.0

Readerware 2.0 is a major upgrade and includes new and enhanced functionality. The user interface, the database, reports, auto-catalog, import/export, preferences, have all been enhanced. Searching your database is now even easier, there is a new database statistics display and a brand new client/server edition for multiple user support.

UI Enhancements - Views

Probably the first thing you will notice are the new views. Gone are the old canned ISBN by author, Detail by title etc. You will now see just three basic view types but you can create as many views as you want and fully customize each one.

Table View - This is the standard Readerware view you have come to know and love. With Readerware 2.0 you can drag the columns around and arrange them in any order. Right click on the column header to show or hide columns, Click on the column header to sort the rows. Click again to toggle the sort sequence.

To create a new table view just click on the save as icon next to the combo box, enter a new name and click OK. You now have a copy of the view to customize exactly the way you want. Create as many views as you need.

The columns themselves contain the standard Readerware links that you can click on to refine your searches and easily get to the data you want. The green arrow icon to the left of each row brings up the detail view as normal. The red thumb tack is gone, so I never have to explain what it does again. In its place is the blue book edit icon. Click on it and the row is in edit mode, update any of the columns right in the table. Click on the edit icon again to save your changes in the database.

Table view, moving columns
Table view, editing data in the table
Table view, show, hide columns

Tree View - This is a new view type in Readerware 2.0. It has a familiar explorer like interface. There is an author, title tree in the left pane. When you click on an author node in the tree, the right pane displays a table listing all books for that author. Again the table is fully customizable and the data is editable. Click on a title node in the tree and the detail panel is displayed with the image. Use the back and forward buttons to browse your collection. Note the redesign of the detail panel. The buttons are now fixed in place to reduce scrolling on systems with lower screen resolution.

Tree view, author node selected
Tree view, title node selected

Fish Eye View - The final view type is the fish eye view, another carry over from Readerware 1.x. Reaction to this has ranged from what the hell is it? to way cool! It is a great way to navigate large collections, bringing the area you are interested in easily into focus. It looks kind of silly when you have only a few books in your database, but check back when you have a few thousand, you may appreciate the fish eye more.

Fish Eye view

UI Enhancements - Wizards

I was surprised by the number of novice computer users interested in Readerware. 2.0 introduces several new wizards to try and make some of the more complicated procedures easier to use.

For example the new auto-catalog wizard guides you step by step through the process of entering your books, with or without a barcode reader, selecting web sites to scan and determining the results. They are a simple, effective way to get to know the power of Readerware.

There are also wizards for Readerware import/export, again these will step you through format and data selection etc.

By default the wizards are on, if you prefer the old approach, simply go to preferences, the new tabbed pane preferences, click on the UI tab and turn them off.

UI Enhancements - Miscellaneous

I have also attempted to reduce some of the clutter in the UI. There are now fewer menus and tool bar items. As mentioned there is a new preferences tabbed pane, now you can easily change all your preferences without bringing up different dialogs.

Database Enhancements

There are now more standard fields in the database. Readerware 2.0 adds:

• LCCN
• Dewey Number
• User defined number
• Copyright date
• Valuation date
• Location, i.e. where are the books stored
• Series
• Page count
• Book dimensions
• Keywords

The database now also supports multiple authors. Again auto-catalog will bring in all authors. Some sites identify translators, editors etc. when they do, Readerware includes that information in the author field. Book format is now a maintainable combo box, you get to define the formats just like you do with categories. Incidentally the new location and series fields are also maintainable combo boxes.

If that isn't enough for you, you can now add your own fields to the database. Just go to preferences and click on the user columns tab to add your own columns to the database for whatever you need.

There is also a new database statistics panel. Many people have asked for an easy way to get the total value of their collection. Just select the statistics item from the view menu. Readerware will summarize the current search results displaying the total value, number of first editions etc. By summarizing just the current search results you can easily break down your statistics by category, format etc. Or display all books for a total valuation.

Search Enhancements

Most of the new fields including the user defined columns are searchable. An author search will search all authors.

As part of the database upgrade the engine itself was upgraded and this means, drum roll please, the searches are no longer case sensitive!! Plus Readerware searches now automatically search for the text anywhere in the column. You no longer have to use wild cards, by default the text you enter will be matched anywhere in the column, whatever the case. Wildcards are still in there if you want greater control of your search.

Auto-Catalog

Readerware auto-catalog is probably what attracted you to Readerware in the first place. The biggest complaint was having to open the log to find out which books were found and which weren't. No more. The auto-catalog feature has been improved in a number of ways.

Readerware now plays an audio que as you scan bar codes or enter ISBNs into the auto-catalog window. You will know instantly if you had a problem without having to look at the computer screen. The screen itself has been simplified, the load button allows you to load a file of ISBNs or bar code scans.

Readerware now displays an icon next to each ISBN you enter, initially it is a question mark. As the auto-catalog process begins the icon changes as each ISBN is processed. You will know instantly whether the ISBN has been found, if an image was captured etc. Full statistics are displayed when the run completes. For fans of the Readerware auto-catalog log, it's still there but chances are you'll never need it.

Help

A brand new help engine means that Readerware help is now fully searchable. there is an index, table of contents as well as the full text search. Help can also be printed, with page formatting like portrait and landscape modes etc.

Unfortunately for this first beta, the help itself has not been updated, it is still the 1.x help. But the help will be fully updated in time for the official release.

Reports

A lot of you asked for more control over reports and now you have it. The reporting enhancements actually go right along with the view enhancements discussed earlier. When you click on the print button, you are printing the current view, the rows and columns currently displayed. So to define reports, you simply define additional views as described above. Define a summary view with a few columns or an inventory report with valuation columns etc. You define which columns are included, the order they appear, the amount of space given to each column and the sequence of the data.

To produce a report, select the appropriate view and click on the print button. You can then select formatting options such as the font, title location, grid orientation etc. You can even flow any report across the page. Play around, you will find a lot more flexibility in the new Readerware reports.

Installation

Readerware now uses InstallAnywhere from Zero G Software, Inc. The Windows package now uses InstallAnywhere. The Linux version still uses the old packaging but I hope to have that converted over soon. Plus going forward InstallAnywhere will also handle the Macintosh version, yes it is under development.

InstallAnywhere should provide a more robust installation environment for quick and easy installations and removal, not that anybody ever uses that of course.

Readerware Client/Server Edition

One last new feature to talk about and this is something a lot of you have been waiting for. The new Readerware client/server edition supports multiple users. Many of you have home networks with multiple machines and you want to be able to catalog all your books in a single database. Now you can. Many companies are also looking to use Readerware to help them maintain their libraries. Readerware client/server edition enables you to do all this.

Firstly, this is a separate product. if you don't need this functionality, yon can forget about it. The base Readerware product has not become more complicated to use and setup, stand alone users can continue to use the same product as before.

Here is how you setup it up. The Readerware installation adds a new item to your start menu for the Readerware server. Start the server, configure it by selecting the database you want to share. That's it for the server, it runs quietly in the background.

Now all you need to do is to connect the clients to your server. Start the normal client on any machine, you can also run the client on the same machine as the server. Select preferences, click on the database tab and check the remote database radio button. Close the preferences dialog. Select the open database menu item. Enter the name of the server and the database location, click OK. Readerware now connects to the server and displays the database as normal. Just configure all your clients this way and you can all share your data, update the database etc.

Readerware remembers the configuration and will automatically connect to the server when it is restarted. You can also switch between local and remote databases if you need. Once you are connected to the remote database, Readerware runs just as normal.

Simple to setup and extremely powerful. The Readerware client/server edition comes in two configurations, one designed for home users and one for corporate use. Each license is for a single server with multiple clients.

Pricing

There is obviously no charge for the beta version, but the beta version will expire. There is a fee to upgrade to Readerware 2.0. Readerware charges for major upgrades only, all upgrades to 2.0 will be free, just as upgrades to 1.0 were. There will be a fee for Readerware 3.0 and so on. Just so there are no surprises here is the upgrade pricing, these are not yet posted on the web but they will be available for ordering as the release becomes officially available.

	Description	Price
Upgrade to Readerware 2.0 purchased on or after 12/1/2000	Free
Upgrade to Readerware 2.0 purchased before 12/1/2000	$25.00
Upgrade to Readerware 2.0 Client/Server Home Edition	$50.00

The upgrade is for the edition you currently have, i.e. if you have Palm Pilot support, the upgrade includes Palm Pilot support. All upgrade prices are for electronic downloads only The Readerware CD contains all versions of Readerware and costs $12.00.

Again all prices are for electronic downloads only. Order the CD separately.

Support Readerware

You can support Readerware and ensure that the new features keep on coming. Use Readerware when making your online purchases. If you order using the Readerware browser or shopping cart, Readerware normally receives a commission from the vendor. The Readerware browser uses the same encryption technology as the major browsers so you can order online, safely and securely using Readerware. Plus it ensures continued development of Readerware.

Thank you.

Your Feedback

Your feedback is always welcome. Please send us your feedback. E-Mail feedback@readerware.com.

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