Every item in the index has five fixed descriptors, i.e. they determine which item or article is the object of the data on the screen or the page:
Item No. - outside user control, an 11-digit random number allocated by the program.
Title - the descriptive text normally printed at the top of an article, or if absent, descriptive text that distinguishes this item from others in the issue.
Vol No. (Volume Number) - provided by the publisher and printed on the cover of the Journal in which the item was published.
Whole No. or Issue No. - provided by the publisher and printed on the cover of the Journal in which the item was published.
Page No. - provided by the publisher and printed on the page of the Journal in which the item was published, and where the item started.
Fig.1 - This is the main screen of the program as it appears when you first open the program, after you used the Record Buttons at the foot of the screen to look for an item. Each item is presented in alphabetical order of the Title.
Besides these fixed descriptors there can be one or more additional pieces of information that could assist a user of the index to find items of a specific nature. These are:
Type of Item - a list of a number of alternative descriptors for an item, such as "article" or "advertisement". Items of type "Article" are specially processed, see no.2 above.
Précis - a short description provided for some of the more important items in the publication, to help users decide the usefulness of the item.
Pic[tures]? - ticked if the item has illustrations.
Col[our]? - ticked if at least some of the illustrations are in colour.
Four Lists of categories - one each for Authors, Topics, Classes and Areas. Each of these lists may have zero or more names or words in the category, and that are associated with the item:
Authors - names of the people responsible for the item, or people who are referred to in the item;
Topics - words of (philatelic) topics described by or referred to in the item;
Classes - the names of the exhibiting class whose rules and regulations are applicable to or discussed in the item;
Areas - the geographical area referred to, applicable to, or described by the item.
The category lists are used to add or subtract words to an item in the index as a cross-index to the category, i.e. if an article refers to the Postal History of Aden, you would find "Aden" in the Areas Category and "Postal History" in the Class Category. If the article further discusses the stamps of India, you would also find "India" in the Area Category.
The remainder of the screen shows a number of silver-grey command buttons, arranged in groups.
The contents of the screen in general cannot be changed when you first enter the program - it is meant for searching for items in the Index.
Finding Relevant Items
The four category Lists in the main area are purely passive while finding relevant items, they report what categories were listed for the item by the person who added the item to the index. They have no active function when finding items of a particular type. Ditto for the numbers at the top of the screen.
A number of ways are available to find items of particular interest.
In the first instance you can use the Record buttons at the foot of the screen. The items are initially in alphabetical order of the Title. You can overtype the Record Number at the foot of the screen, and the appropriate record will be displayed. The Record Number itself is quite arbitrary and purely represents the sequence of the record in the current list, with the total number shown behind it, like "1413 of 2731" means the 1431st record in a list of 2731 records.
You can change the order in which items are displayed by using any of the small sort buttons marked AZ". This will change the sequence to the one you selected, i.e. the sort button behind the "Type of Item" field changes the display so the items are in Type sequence. The sort buttons on Authors, Topics, Classes and Areas sort the items to the corresponding sequence, disregarding the items that do not have any value for the Authors, Topics, Classes or Areas respectively.
If the Issue and Page Numbers are known, you can type them into the two corresponding boxes at the bottom of the screen and then click the "Find an Issue …." command button. The item nearest to the issue and page numbers supplied will then be shown on the screen.
The final way is the most powerful: type any word, for instance "Letter" (without the quote marks) in the box marked "find text in Title or Précis". Then click the command button "View Entries …." One or more pages will be shown on the screen showing all items which have the word given somewhere in the Title or the Précis. The list will be in alphabetical order of the Titles. The search will ignore any capitalisation, and will find any parts of words, e.g. the word "ship", will also find any words that include those letters, e.g. "membership".
There are also four buttons at right, called View Area Index, etc. Each of those will produce a set of pages on the computer screen of an index as it would appear on printed pages, based on the particular view selected. There are four Print buttons as well, but remember that the prints produced are quite large (50 or more pages); do not start a Print unless you have first done a View to determine the number of pages that will be in the print.
These are in fact the Indexes referred to at the top of this page.
The Areas Index is a list of all items with any entry in the Areas category. If an item has more than one Area in the category, the Item will occur under each of the Area Indices. Areas are in Alphabetical order; if there are no entries in the Areas category, the Item will not occur in the list. Within each Area Heading the Items will be listed in alphabetical order of Authors, then Type.
The Authors Index is a list of all items with any entry in the Authors category. If an item has more than one Author in the category, the Item will occur under each of the Author Headings. Authors are in Alphabetical order; if there are no entries in the Authors category, the Item will not occur in the list. Within each Authors Heading the Items will be listed in alphabetical order of Type.
The Classes Index is a list of all items with any entry in the Classes category. If an item has more than one Class in the category, the Item will occur under each of the Class Headings. Classes are in Alphabetical order; if there are no entries in the Classes category, the Item will not occur in the list. Within each Class Heading the Items will be listed in alphabetical order of Authors, and Type.
The Topics Index is a list of all items with any entry in the Topics category. If an item has more than one Topic in the category, the Item will occur under each of the Topic Headings. Topics are in Alphabetical order; if there are no entries in the Topics category, the Item will not occur in the list. Within each Topic Heading the Items will be listed in alphabetical order of Authors, and Type.
The "View Article Index" in the upper part of the screen will produce the fifth index, an index in alphabetical order of the Title of the Items, grouped by the Types of Item.
