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:

  1. Specify a proxy, which enables Internet access.
  2. Define a repository, which tells the SCL where and how to access your stored files
  3. Create a catalog, which is what the SCL uses to track the contents of your repository
  4. Define a source. Sources for your CD drive and the IBM Publib web site are defined automatically
  5. Open the source window to see what shelves are available
  6. Update the source window's Status column to identify new, updated, and installed shelves
  7. 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: 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: 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.