Digital Workshop

Dear all,

I have an idea of building the stand-alone application, E-Book Organizer and tried many ways to create it.
I believe, Opus Pro is the best authoring software for this purpose.
However, I'm very new to this and need your help.
All the data will be stored in Microsoft Access database and the Book covers in Images folder.
This will allow to easily build an import / export module in case the program is reinstalled.
The first page of this application shows the book cover, title and author.
The List page (first page) also should have a search field to allow user find the e-book within a database and add new record button.
When the user clicks on the book cover (or title), he is redirected to detailed page which is showing full e-book info,
like release date, cover, title, author, notes, etc.
Also, the same page has the option to edit the current record.
Before, the only chance for me to do all the mentioned above was to use ASP.NET technology and include the web server.
I'd like to do the same without involving web-server technology and I hope it's possible to do this with Opus Pro.
I hope this project would be interesting for many users, so anyone could build any type of organizer / address book, etc.
with the desired interface and other options and run it under Windows XP / Vista 32 and 64 bit.
If somebody is interested, please let me know.
Any comments / replies are appreciated.
It would be great to have a look at the draft publication file if someone can help...
_________________________________________________________
Intel PIV EM64HT 3.0 GHz, nVidia GeForce 6600GT 256MB, 4GB RAM,
Windows Vista Ultimate x64, Opus Pro 6

This is a very innovative way to use Opus indeed.
Congrats are in order!

Thanks for your reply!
Any ideas so far?

I suggest to all enthusiasts to join this topic so we'll be able to develop
a small platform to create any type of organizers with fully customizable interface.
_________________________________________________________
Intel PIV EM64HT 3.0 GHz, nVidia GeForce 6600GT 256MB, 4GB RAM,
Windows Vista Ultimate x64, Opus Pro 6

Elrad,

Have you viewed/download the tutorial from this site? I think it explains the procedure. It was written by German Silva.

http://graphicsinaction.com/forum.htm

Have a look and see if this will help access the MS Access database.

If you are implying End-users will be able to customize interface... I doubt that's practical project for OpusPro. Will some effort, you could do skins but fully user-configurable would be a challenge.


Do a Search here on forum for posts in last 6 months on such things as: listbox with tickbox or checkbox. And listbox plus DB or database. Will give you some ideas too.


Windows Media Player does some very nice things for managing and displaying Playlists for CD downloads.... The 'nice thing' is that Album Jacket image and track list is all automatically loaded and presented. For eBook data however, where is the similar possibility to automate Cover Image, title, author etc... at the point of download (rather than user typing and copy/paste)?

Are you planning on giving-away or selling this 'application'?

Thank you for the link, Leo!
Now, I would say 50% is done.

Establish connection with database: OK
Add record: OK
View record: OK
Edit record: OK
Delete record: OK

Unfortunately, I still have problem with:
Displaying multiple records on a page (like master / detail): ??? Arrays ???
Search within a database and displaying the results page ??? Opus Scripts & Arrays ???
Browse Image option to add to the database ??? any ideas ???
If there are 200 records total, then there should be several list pages ??? how ???

I know this is too much...
Any ideas???

[/quote] Windows Media Player does some very nice things for managing and displaying Playlists for CD downloads.... The 'nice thing' is that Album Jacket image and track list is all automatically loaded and presented. For eBook data however, where is the similar possibility to automate Cover Image, title, author etc... at the point of download (rather than user typing and copy/paste)?

Are you planning on giving-away or selling this 'application'? [/quote]

1) I like the built-in Library of WM Player, however, I was not planning
to automatically search for book cover. There should be a separate filed and 'Browse' button when the user is adding the new record (or editing).
However, I don't know how to do it at the moment.

2) No, I don't plan to sell this application.
I have big collection of E-Books, Music, etc. and I want to build the Organizer for this so I could search, add, view, etc. the records.
And this should be stand-alone application.
_____________________________________________________________
Intel PIV EM64HT 3.0 GHz, nVidia GeForce 6600GT 256MB, 4GB RAM,
Windows Vista Ultimate x64, Opus Pro 6

Hi Leo, I totally forgot about this tutorial I created a few years ago. It has certainly brought some memories!
Cheers mate!

One of stronger solutions is to use OpusScript... and specifically run through a 'For LOOP' to pick-up all of the records that are returned from your DB query.
...continuing: the specific 'trick' for displaying these is to use a "\n" at the beginning of the 2nd and subsequent records.
see post: viewtopic.php?t=2855&highlight=database
(there are many threads on this/similar approaches)

Regarding "Arrays". 'yes', that is another viable alternative. But IMHO I think more geared to the 'manipulation' of the datasets and pointing to one record --- while still using basic Textbox objects or Listbox objects to display mulitple rows.

viewtopic.php?t=307&highlight=records+line
viewtopic.php?t=88&highlight=records+line

- - - - - -
regarding: 'Browse images' to add
Do a Search in forum for: user own image (or similar keyword)

regarding: 200 records / several list pages
I'd simply implement textbox scrolling to see long lists.
I'd use different Opus Pages to give me different views or different capabilities.





Since you have Vista OS, why not simply use Windows Explorer. You can customize quite well with 'Tags' and also add additional 'display columns' for Author, Publisher, etc. (Right click near current col headings)
Once you select a File, its Thumbnail and attributes fields are displayed in the lower area of the window, resizable. Search and Sort are already in-place.
http://www.vista4beginners.com/Windows- ... ips-Tricks
http://itsvista.com/2007/01/itsvista-ti ... columns/2/

That said, it's always interesting to see what can be built with OpusPro. Who knows... maybe a new wheel?

Its the appliance of science and a PDA for me. An organizer book wouldnt work for me, because it cant beep to remind me to check it. Id also end up with half-a-dozen of them in different locations and be frustrated that I couldnt just sync them to one canonical book periodically.

I currently use Desktop author and its limited.
I was thinking of a pub where the basics stayed the same and the content changed via database inputs/changing files from one month to another.

I am still thinking though!!

I use an ebook for a monthly update feature to the whole of my company.
My idea is to have the ebook as a standard, and changing the files in a central directory, allowing the content to change!

just something I came across
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/calibre-eb ... -multi-os/


I do not have any experience with it. Just an FYI.

While I think OpusPro could handle quite a number of the aspects of maintaining lists and showing some preview images, etc. --- it would be a sizable development project especially if solely used for oneself. Good learning challenge though no doubt.