MCBase software:
General links:
MCBase - how to use it
*the* Music Collection dataBase system
Maintaining music collections since 1993.
*the* Music Collection dataBase system
Maintaining music collections since 1993.
Website contents: copyright © 1993-2000, Harry Doldersum.
See "Site revisions summary" for the latest changes to this site.
(In this brief explanation, we focus on the Windows release. The functions and procedures described are - basically - identical for the DOS/Win3 version).
Page index & supporting links:- How are relations used within MCBase.
- Example: Adding a new album to MCBase.
- MCBase for Windows - Product information
- MCBase for Windows - Product feature summary
- MCBase for Windows - Using the MCBase User Report Designer
- MCBase for DOS/Win3 - Product information
- MCBase for DOS/Win3 - Product feature summary
How are relations used within MCBase.
MCBase is a "relational" database system. What does that mean to you as a user?Well, instead of entering an certain artistname (or whatever other relation you may need) for a number of times (once for each song, as you would have to do in a "flat-file" database system), you will now need to enter such an artistname ONLY ONCE! After you have entered it ONCE, all you have to do, to relate a songrecord to this artist (or album, author, producer, category), is following: select the relation you need, by using a Picklist dialog, so that it is inserted (by the system) into the song's database record.
Each time that a song's database record is retrieved, all related information (as artist, album, author(s), producer and category) is retrieved at the same time, giving you full access to all required information at once.
- For a graphical representation of the MCBase database setup, please find here the graphics for MCBase for Windows and MCBase for DOS/Win3.
- For an MCBase product feature summary, please find here the summaries for MCBase for Windows and MCBase for DOS/Win3.
Example: Adding a new album to MCBase.
IMPORTANT - Please note: ALL (UNIQUE) names & albumtitles need to be entered to their respective databases ONLY ONCE and are from then on SELECTABLE ITEMS for use with the higher database(s).Note 1: - For your information only: when adding an artist, a unique ID-code is generated for this artist, which will be used to identify the artist by in the other database-files. (This happens unseen, behind the scenes: the system will not bother you with this, unless you choose to access them).
Note 2: - The SONG ARTIST is the artist that is performing the song: let's say it's a name like "John Doe". The ALBUM ARTIST is the artist who's name is on the cover, which could be something like "Micheal Smith and friends", where John Doe is one of these friends...
Note 3: - The actions below are outlined step-by-step, for clarity's sake. Please be aware that you can do all of these steps simultaniously or "on the fly" also: MCBase allows you to have multiple data editing and viewing windows open and in use at the same time. If you add a new songtitle and discover during data entry that this song's composer isn't listed, you can simply open the appropriate data editing dialog to add this new author. It will be available for selection into your new song entry immediately after clicking the author dialog's "save / post" command button.
Note 4: - For instructions on how to use the various MCBase dialog's, please refer to the online helpfile provided with MCBase (click on the questionmark icon on MCBase's toolbar). If you find yourself having trouble to understand how MCBase works, please contact us for assistance.
The steps to add the new album:
Suppose you just bought an album of an artist which is totally NEW to your music collection, then you would do the following to add the album (and it's songs)to the MCBase database system:
- Check if the album artist (i.e. the artist who's name is on the albumcover) is already in your artist database. (You may want to use the View - album - by artist menu option, to invoke a convenient picklist for this task). If the required artistname isn't in the database, then add this name. Do the same for the song artist(s) (see below), in case these are not the same.
- Check for the presence of the album's producer in the producers database. If not listed, then add his or her name.
- Add the albumtitle to the album database. While doing this, you will have to select the album artist from a picklist generated from the artist database. (Press the "select artist"-button (combobox) in the album dialog to invoke this picklist). This action will copy the selected artists ID-code into the current albumrecord. MCBase will use this ID-code to retrieve the correct artist information from the artist database when needed. The albumrecord will also receive it's unique ID-code, by which the system can identify it.
Repeat the above for the album's producer.
- Check for the presence of the various authors in the authors database. Add those who are not already listed.
- When different from the album producer, check for the presence of the various song producer(s) in the producers database. Also add anyone who is not already listed.
- Check for the presence of the album's song categories in the category database. add any category that is not listed.
- Finally, add the songrecords to the song database. While doing this, you will have to select the actual song artist which is performing the current song (multiple song artist can appear on one album), the related albumtitle, the related composer, the related writer (both from the authors database), the related producer, the related category and the related media. Behind the scenes, these actions will copy all the correct ID-codes into the various fields, which MCBase then will use to retrieve the correct artist, album, composer, writer, producer, category and media information from their respective databases when needed.
Note a: - Not mentioned in the above, is the fact that - if you wish - you can also add data for the "time", "release" and "position" fields.
Note b: - And for those who prefer to access their collection by using the concept of "Media identifiers", support for "Media type" and "unique Media identification" is fully intergrated into MCBase.
Note c: - The exact use of each of the MCBase dialogs and functions will be discussed in the program's documentation. If you feel, you are missing information or would like to see more topics explained, please contact us.
Now that you have entered all the basic data, you can go on and add text, graphics and multimedia clip memo's (graphics and multimedia clips are enabled in the Windows version only).