IBM SoftCopy Librarian V4 - Getting Started
Table of Contents
Transferring Softcopy
Files into Your Repository
Overview
Defining a Proxy Server
Defining a Repository
Creating a Catalog
Defining a Source
Opening a Source
Updating the Status
field
Transferring Files
Maintaining a Repository
Deleting Files
Orphan Books
Missing Books
Advanced Topics
Synchronizing Repositories
Cloning a Repository
Updating Bookshelves to Correctly Point to Books
Erasing the Cache
Transferring
Softcopy Files into Your Repository
Overview
IBM provides documentation in BookManager format 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.
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.
The basic steps for transferring files 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.
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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.
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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.)
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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.
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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.
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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. 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, but you may be asked to pick a
repository. To update the Status column manually, or to change repositories,
in the source window, click on File->Update Status: Compared
To->repository-name
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Transferring Files
You can transfer shelves from either a source or from a repository to a
repository. 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
The SCL will only transfer files which are not already in the repository.
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Maintaining a Repository
Deleting Files
Deleting an object can simply be done by selecting the object and then clicking
on File->Delete. If there is a filename in the "Replaced By" column,
then the SCL has guessed, based on filename, that the "replaced by" object is an
update to the current object, and so the current object is a candidate for
deletion.
It is best to always delete entire shelves in order to avoid creating orphans
or missing books. The SCL will not delete books which are contained in other
shelves.  However, from the Files view you can "force" delete a book, which
will delete a book and mark the book as missing.
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Orphan Books
Orphan books are ones which are not contained in any shelf. They can be
identified in the Files view by looking for a reference count of 0, meaning
that the book is contained in zero shelves. Orphan books and indexes are
candidates for deletion because it's possible that no users can access the files.
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Missing Books
Missing books are ones which are contained in a shelf, but the book is not
physically present in the repository. A shelf which has missing books is in
red in the Shelves view, and missing books are in red in the Files view (plus
missing books have a negative reference count telling you how many shelves
they are missing from).
A missing book condition can be fixed in two ways: 1) If you don't want the
book, use the Exclude function so that the shelf will be updated to ignore the
book, or 2) Use Download from Internet to retrieve an IBM book from the
Internet.
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Advanced Topics
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Checking for Updates
The SCL is updated periodically. You can check for, retrieve, and install
updates via Help->Check for Updates.