Catalogue Tables and Archive Project Files

CATBASE Version: 3.3
ZEBLIB Version: 1.6

Catalogues are built, displayed and edited in the LEA applications Florence and Zebedee

Catalogue Grid Editor
Catalogue Find & Replace
Archive Project Files and the Project Manager
Error Messages

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Catalogue Grid Editor

Each catalogue is stored either as a table in an Oracle database, or as a dBASE table in a file with extension DBF. Catalogues are loaded into a grid for display and editing in the applications Florence and Zebedee. dBASE tables are loaded into an internal temporary Firebird database, and saved back to disk as a new DBF file when changes are explicitly committed. This means that DBF tables are not suitable for use in a multi-user environment, as the commit operation will overwrite the entire disk file with your current record set, thus losing concurrent changes made by another user. See Using Databases in LEA Applications - Firebird Embedded Database for more information.

Catalogue data grid - displaying and editing the catalogue

Florence and Zebedee display each catalogue in a separate window as a scrollable grid
Sort on any column in the catalogue by clicking its title bar.
For Oracle catalogues, you can order on a column in ascending or descending order by clicking the column header. To order by more than one column, hold down SHIFT while clicking the column header.
You can also filter the displayed records using the filter bar, to display only records which match some criteria you specify. Click the top-left corner of the grid to display a popup menu, and click Filter bar. Enter your filter conditions, and then right-click the top-left corner of the grid to apply your filter.
The catalogue grid also allows interactive searching for a specific record (applicable for both Oracle and dBASE catalogues). Click the top-left corner of the grid to display a popup menu, and click Search bar. This will display the search bar at the top of the grid. Then select the column and start typing the leading characters of the record you want to locate in the grid. The current record pointer will be moved to the nearest match found in the table.

Individual cells can be edited by clicking within them when the catalogue is in Edit mode (see Catalogue - Edit Table Mode menu option below).
In View mode, you can select multiple records for bulk editing operations. Multiple records (rows) can be selected by holding the <CTRL> key while clicking each row with the mouse, or selecting the first and last records in a range and then clicking the Catalogue - Select Range menu option.
Columns can be resized by dragging the column title. The column widths for the catalogue will be saved in the project file.

Note: Zebedee will display Attribute and Location catalogues as read-only, with a grey background to the grid. Editing options are not available on read-only catalogues.

Catalogues have the following menu options on the main menu of Florence and Zebedee:

Catalogue
- Edit Table Mode
  Switch the catalogue table between View and Edit modes.
  Edit mode enables the editing of individual fields by clicking in the field with the mouse.
  View mode (default) allows you to add/replace records using the Go-Run menu option, and select multiple records (by holding the <CTRL> key while clicking the field with the mouse, or by using the Select Range menu option) for editing using the Find & Replace and Global Replace menu options or deletion of all selected records (Delete Selected Records menu option).
- First Record
  Jump to the first record in the catalogue table
- Last Record
  Jump to the last record in the catalogue table
- Post Changes
  When the catalogue is in Edit mode (see Edit Table Mode menu option), save the changes to the current record.
- Revert Record
  Undo all changes to the current record since the catalogue was last saved/committed.
- Refresh Catalogue
  Update the current view of the catalogue by re-fetching the table records from the database (Oracle), or re-loading the table from the DBF file.
- Validate Records
  Check that the values of all fields for all records match the validity constraints defined in the catalogue's CDF (see Dougal - Editing a Field Definition). This may take some time. The Enforce Validity Checks option determines whether the validity checks are enforced during a directory search for files to add to the catalogue.
- Find
  Search the catalogue for a specified value. See LEA Catalogue Tables and Archive Project Files - Catalogue Find & Replace.
- Find Again
  Find the next matching value. See LEA Catalogue Tables and Archive Project Files - Catalogue Find & Replace
- Find & Replace
  Search for matching values and change them to the value specified. See LEA Catalogue Tables and Archive Project Files - Catalogue Find & Replace
- Global Replace (Bulk Edit)
  Change the value of the specified field for all records or all selected records. See LEA Catalogue Tables and Archive Project Files - Catalogue Find & Replace
- Delete Selected Record(s)
  Deletes all highlighted records from the catalogue table.
  In View mode, multiple records can be highlighted. In Edit mode, only one record can be highlighted at a time. See Edit Table Mode menu option.
- Empty Table
  Delete all records from the catalogue table.
- Undo Changes
  Discard all changes to the catalogue since it was last saved/committed.
- Select Range
  When in View mode, select a range of records between the two records which are currently highlighted. This command can be used in conjunction with the File-Print and Global Replace menu options.
- Select All
  When in View mode, select all records in the catalogue table. This command is useful in conjunction with the Global Replace menu command, and with the Invert Selection menu command for selecting a large number of fields.
  This option is only available when the catalogue table is in View mode. In Edit mode, multiple rows in the catalogue cannot be selected.
- Invert Selection
  When in View mode, deselect all selected records, select all non-selected records. This is also useful in conjunction with the Global Replace menu command, or in conjunction with the Select All menu command for selecting a large number of fields
Object
- View
  Launch the LEA Object Viewer for the selected record in the catalogue to view the file described by that record. Double-clicking on the record in the catalogue has the same effect as selecting this menu option.
  You will not be able to view the LEA Object if the catalogue does not contain the file-name. If the catalogue contains relative file paths (see Search Options) then you may need to set the root folder to the folder containing the relative path name (see Project Manager window below). See also The Catalogue Primary Index below.
- Attributes
  A dialogue box will display all the LEA Object attributes for the current record. The same restrictions apply as for the Object-View menu option.

Catalogue Find & Replace

The Find/Replace dialogue can be used to edit data in catalogue table grids. The dialogue is displayed when any of the menu options Catalogue-Find, Catalogue-Find & Replace or Catalogue-Global Replace are selected.

In Find mode, the first record where the selected field matches the specified value is displayed. The search starts either from the first record in the table or from the current record. Find Again will display the next matching record.
In Find & Replace mode, will search for all matching values and change them, starting either from the first record in the table, or from the current record.
In Global Replace mode, the value of the selected field for all records will be changed.

The dialogue displays the following parameters. Not all parameters are applicable to all three modes - those not applicable are disabled.

Field

Select the field from the current table from the drop-down list.

Find Value

In Find and Find & Replace modes, specify the value to search for in the field specified above.
In Global Replace mode this parameter is disabled.
When searching a DATE/TIME field specify the date/time value using the regional settings for your PC

Replace with

In Find mode this parameter is disabled.
In Find & Replace and Global Replace modes, specify the value to post for all matching records.
See note above for specifying a date/time value.

Case Sensitive - YES/NO

In Find and Find & Replace modes, this determines whether the search is case-sensitive or not. This option only applies to string-type fields.
In Global Replace mode this parameter is disabled.

Partial match - YES/NO

In Find and Find & Replace modes, this determines whether to accept values which contain only part of the key field value - for example 'HAM' would match both 'HAMM' and 'HAMMER'. This option only applies to string-type fields.
In Global Replace mode this parameter is disabled.

Start at

In Find and Find & Replace modes, select whether to search from the first record in the table, or the current record in the table.
In Global Replace mode this parameter is disabled.

Apply to

In Global Replace mode, select whether to change of value of the specified field for all records of the table or the selected records.
This parameter is disabled in Find and Find & Replace modes.

Catalogue Data Export

The data files listed in the currently focused catalogue can be exported to disk using the File-Export Data Files menu option in Florence and Zebedee. This will display a PRMEDIT dialogue with the following parameters:

Export - select from:

All Records - export all records from the current catalogue

Selected Records - export highlighted records from the current catalogue.

Destination Folder - specify the folder to which to copy the data files

Recreate Source Folder Tree - select from:

YES - subdirectories specified in filepaths will be recreated if not present in the destination folder

NO - all exported files will be output to the destination folder directly. This may result in name clashes if files listed in the catalogue have the same name within different subdirectories. These name clashes will be dealt with in the same way as Windows Explorer, creating files with names such as file.txt, Copy of file.txt, Copy (2) of file.txt etc.

You may be prompted to reset the project root directory to its original path if this has been modified since the files were added to the catalogue.
A progress window will display the current status of the export, and a report will be generated listing the files exported, and the destination file names.

Archive Project Files and the Project Manager

Archive Project files have a ZEB extension and are used by Florence and Zebedee to group related catalogues. The project file contains a list of all the CDFs and database tables used, plus parameters used for searching and reconciling which can be set in Florence and Zebedee respectively.

Project Manager Window

The Project Manager Window is a docking window that can be placed anywhere on the screen or docked into the main window of Florence and Zebedee. Its position will be saved in the project file.
The Project Manager displays the CDFs and catalogues in a hierarchical view. Catalogues are divided into three categories:

Attribute Catalogues - these are standard catalogues built and maintained by Florence and Dylan which contain LEA Object attribute and custom fields.
Location Catalogues - these are catalogues based on CDFs which use the LEA Location Object. Add and build a location catalogue with Florence if you want to use Zebedee to reconcile and load the data in your Attribute Catalogues to a GIS.
Reconciliation Catalogue - this is the catalogue built and maintained by Zebedee which is used to cross-reference the objects in the Attribute Catalogues with the location information in the Location Catalogues

Note that Florence and Zebedee both use the same project file, but use different parts of it:

Reconciliation Catalogues should only be manipulated in Zebedee - do not attempt to add a reconciliation catalogue in Florence.
Zebedee will not allow you to add or remove CDFs or catalogues to the Attribute or Location sections - you must use Florence to do this.

The Project Manger Window displays the components of the currently open project. The vertical toolbar and the main window's Project main menu item offer the following options:

View Project Manager
Show/hide the Project Manager window.
New CDF
Launches Dougal - The LEA Data Catalogue Designer. You can either create a new catalogue description, or select an existing catalogue description file (CDF) or template. When you close Dougal the specified CDF will be added to the current project.
Alternatively, you can drag a CDF from an Explorer window onto the CDF list to add it to the project.
Add CDF
- Add CDF Template
  Select from a list of CDF templates to add to the current project. See CDF Templates. The CDF Template ID will be referenced in the project, rather than the filename of the CDF.
- Add CDF File
  Select an existing CDF from the file selection dialogue.
Remove CDF
Remove the currently highlighted CDF and all its associated catalogues from the project. You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to remove the CDF and its catalogues.
Note that this option does not delete the files themselves, but just removes references to them from the current project.
Edit Parameters
Edit application-dependent parameters.
In Florence, this will display the Search Options for the current project.
In Zebedee, this will display the Reconciliation Options for the current project.
The parameters are saved in the project file.
Set Root Folder
Set the project's root folder. Select the folder to use from a folder selection dialogue. This is saved in the project file.
The root folder is used to resolve any relative path names in catalogues within the project. If the root folder is not set explicitly before a directory search is performed, then the Search Folder itself will be set as the Root Folder. The path of the root folder is displayed at the bottom of the project manager window. Ideally, all catalogues in a project should use the same root folder, so that relative paths for files within different catalogues can all be resolved correctly.
New Catalogue
Create a new empty catalogue table in the temporary Firebird database (see Using Databases in LEA Applications - Firebird embedded database) for the currently highlighted CDF.
Open Catalogue
Open a window displaying the current catalogue in a table grid (see above). If the catalogue is already open the window displaying the catalogue will be brought to the front of the stack of catalogue windows displayed by Florence. If the catalogue is a dBASE table it will be loaded into the temporary Firebird database (see Using Databases in LEA Applications - Firebird embedded database).
Save Catalogue
Save the changes to the current catalogue. If the catalogue has not yet been saved, you will be prompted with a save table dialogue. If the catalogue has already been saved, then Florence will commit the changes made to the database (Oracle) or rewrite the disk file (dBASE - see Using Databases in LEA Applications - Firebird embedded database).
If any errors occur while attempting to save the table back to the database (for example if a record modified in Florence has also been modified by another user of the Oracle database), then the save is aborted, and the error is reported. If the error fails to resolve itself, then the best course of action is to export the catalogue (using File - Export) to another database format (for example a dBASE table) and re-import the data later (using File - Import).
Add Catalogue
Add an existing catalogue table to the project. Select a database table from the table selection dialogue. The field definitions of the selected table must match the current CDF.
Additionally, for dBASE files, you can drag a file from an Explorer window onto the catalogue list to add it to the project.
Remove Catalogue
Remove the current catalogue from the project.
Note that this option does not delete the catalogue table, just removes references to it from the current project.

Error Messages

Listed below are the error messages that may be generated by applications that use this unit

Error creating table

This error may occur because of an inconsistent field/index structure. Also, check that the database is not locked by another user. For SQL databases, check that the current database user has permission to create or overwrite tables. For desktop databases, check that the destination file/folder is writeable.

Error opening table

Check that the table exists, and the current user has permission to open it. This error may also occur when attempting to open a comma-delimited ASCII file as a table, in which case the data within the file does not match the expected table structure.

Error saving table

An error occured while attempting to save the cached updates of a table. This operation uses transactions to ensure that all data is saved, or none of it is. This may occur if records have been locked by another user. If the error persists, the best course of action is to save your work to a temporary local database table (as Paradox or dBASE format), then re-import this table into the main database table at a later time.

Error adding field to table

This error occurs when adding a field definition to a table, before creating the table. The field definition does not make sense. This error may occur when reading a Catalogue Description File, and probably means that the CDF is corrupted.

File name unknown

This error is produced by the Object-View and Object-Attributes menu options.
The catalogue contains no entry for the file name of the LEA Object, or the catalogue contains no filename field, and either the catalogue has no primary index defined, or the catalogue was built in a previous session of the application and then re-opened. This means that the name of the file cannot be found in the temporary index table that is maintained for this purpose.

The relative path does not exist under the root folder

This error is produced by the Object-View and Object-Attributes menu options.
The catalogue contains only relative path names, and the file specified by the catalogue cannot be found under the current root folder. This error may occur if a project is re-opened when data referred to in catalogues has been moved from its original location, or a project has been opened on a different network client with different drive mappngs. If you can reset the project root folder to the folder which contains the specified files, then you can reselect the menu option which caused this error, and the problem should be resolved.

Duplicate CDF not allowed

Each CDF in a project must be unique. This error will occur if you attempt to add a CDF to a project which already contains a CDF with the same file name.