IBM SoftCopy Librarian V4.0 Beta - Getting Started

Table of Contents

What is the SoftCopy Librarian (SCL)?
Pre-requisites
Installation
Starting the SCL
Using the SCL
   Overview
   Defining a Proxy Server
   Creating a Repository
   Creating a Catalog
   Creating a Source
   Opening a Source
   Updating the Status field
   Transferring Files
Advanced Topics
   Using a Repository as a Source
   Synchronizing Repositories
   Cloning a Repository
   Updating Bookshelves to Correctly Point to Books
   Erasing the Cache
   Details Windows
   Editing Shelf Titles
   Windowing Functions
Contacting IBM

What is the IBM SoftCopy Librarian (SCL)?

IBM provides documentation for many products on CDROM, and now Internet delivery is also available. Many customers copy the softcopy files to a central site so that all users can access the documentation. The SCL provides an intelligent transfer program with additional libary management capabilities.

Pre-requisites

The SoftCopy Librarian V4 is written in Java and requires the installation of a Java 1.3 runtime environment, available from either Sun or IBM. (For IBM, follow the path for the IBM Developer Kit for Windows Release 1.3, then look for the Runtime Environment.)

The SCL can store softcopy files locally on any drive accessed via a drive letter, or store files remotely via FTP. If using FTP, the destination host must be inside your firewall; no proxy support is used for this transfer.

Installation

The SCL beta is distributed as ebrsclwj.zip. Create a new directory or folder and unzip this file into it.

Starting the SCL

EBRSCLWJ.BAT will start the SCL.

Using the SCL

Overview

In general, you want to use the SCL to copy or transfer softcopy files, for example BookManager books, into a repository. The basic steps to accomplish this are:

Specify a proxy, which enables Internet access.
Define a repository, which tells the SCL where and how to access your stored files
Create a catalog, which is what the SCL uses to track the contents of your repository
Define a source. Sources for your CD drive and the IBM Publib web site are defined automatically
Open the source window to see what shelves are available
Update the source window's Status column to identify new, updated, and installed shelves
Transfer files to move the shelves from the source to the repository

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Defining a Proxy Server

The SCL supports the use of SOCKS V4 and HTTP proxies to pass through firewalls. It is assumed that any mainframes in your company will be inside the firewall and not need a proxy, but you will probably need to specify a proxy if you want to:

Download files from IBM's Publib Internet site
Check for and download updated versions on the SCL

From the SoftCopy Librarian window, click on Settings->Proxy.

Defining a Repository

The first step in working with a repository is to define it. From the Sources and Repositories window, click on File->New->Repository.

Creating a Catalog

To ensure that the SCL is in sync with the contents of your repository, create the catalog via: From the Sources and Repositories window, select the desired repository and then click on File->Create Catalog. (Note: many functions, such as Create Catalog, are available both on the menubar and on popup menus.)

Defining a Source

You can define various source locations from which to transfer files. An Internet source and a CD-ROM source are automatically created for you the first time you use the SCL. To define a source, from the Sources and Repositories window, click on File->New->Source.

Opening a Source

From the Sources and Repositories window, double-clicking on a source will display a list of bookshelves currently available at that source.

Updating the Status field

The Status column in a source window identifies whether a shelf on the source is New, Updated, DownLevel, or Installed compared to any shelves already in a repository. Because you can have multiple repositories defined, it can be tricky for the SCL to automatically identify which repository to use when making the comparison. In general, when you open a source window, the SCL will attempt to update the Status column against the last repository for which the status was shown. To update the Status column manually, in the source window, click on File->Update Status: Compared To->repository-name

Transferring Files

You can transfer shelves from either a source or from a repository to a source. In either a source or repository window, select the shelves to transfer, then you have the choice of:

Drag-n-drop onto the table in the target repository's window. Because of a Java restriction, you must drop onto a visible row in the table.
In the source or source-repository's window, click on File->Send To->target-repository-name
Shift+right-click (another Java restriction) on any of the selected shelves, then click on Send To->target-repository-name

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Advanced Topics

Using a Repository as a Source

As described above, you can use any repository as a source in order to do repository-to-repository transfers.

Synchronizing Repositories

The SCL has the ability to perform a logical "union" of repositories, meaning that if a file is in any repository, it will be added to all the other selected repositories. To synchronize repositories, in the Sources and Repositories window, click on File->Synchronize, then select the repositories to synchronize.

Cloning a Repository

The SCL has the ability to make one repository into a copy of another. All files in the source repository that are not in the target will be transferred to the target. All files in the target that are not in the source will be deleted from the target. To synchronize two repositories, in the Sources and Repositories window, select the repository which will be the source. Then click on File->Clone. In the prompt window, select the target repository.

Updating Bookshelves to Correctly Point to Books

For books stored in OS/390 datasets, their shelves must contain the datasetnames of the books. If datasets are renamed, or if you install books from another source (eg tape) without updating the datasetnames, then it is necessary to use the Update Bookshelves function to reset all pointers to the correct datasetnames. From the repository window, click on File->Update Bookshelves, and then on either All or Selected. Longtime users of softcopy may recognize that this is one of the functions of the old BKSADD EXEC.

Erasing the Cache

The SCL keeps a copy of each of your installed shelves in its cache. When you make any manual changes to a shelf, ie any changes outside of the SCL, the version of the shelf in cache is now obsolete. To keep the shelves in sync, in the Sources and Repositories window, select the desired repository, then click on File->Erase Cache. When prompted whether to also re-create the catalog, in general you want to say Yes because this will retrieve all shelves back into the cache.

Details Windows

Select a shelf, click on File->Details. Description to be added later.

Editing shelf titles

You can edit or change a bookshelf title in either a source or a repository window. Select the shelf to edit, then click on File->Edit Title
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Windowing Functions

From the SoftCopy Librarian window, click on Window. Description to be added later.

Contacting IBM

For this beta program, please contact the developer

Jere Barto
jlbarto@us.ibm.com
303-924-0195

with any problems, questions, or comments.