Docuthek Document Imaging System

Copyright  1995-1997 Informatik Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Infothek is a trademark of Informatik Inc.

info@informatik.com


T U T O R I A L


THIS IS A FAIRLY COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM WITH MANY FEATURES AND CONTROLS.  PLEASE FEEL 
FREE TO CALL INFORMATIK INC FOR HELP, EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT YET REGISTERED.  
YOU CAN ONLY EVALUATE THE SYSTEM IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT.

THE DATABASES CAN BE CREATED EASILY AND QUICKLY.  INFORMATIK INC. IS WILLING TO 
SET UP THE FIRST DATABASE FOR A NOMINAL CHARGE.


CREATE  DATABASE

If you have the Microsoft Access v2.0 software installed on your computer, you can create 
the database with Access and you can ignore this section.  The database must be of
version 2.0.

Or, download a ready-made database (with a few made-up field names) from
www.informatik.com/playdb.zip.


1.   Start Docuthek by clicking on the 'camera' icon in the Program Manager.  From the 
blank Docuthek screen (no windows open) choose Database Selection from the File menu.
The Database Selection window is displayed.  From the Design menu, choose Database Design.   

(Alternatively, start up the Database Administration program (DATABASE.EXE) directly from the 
Program Manager or Explorer (Hammer icon).

The Database Administration is a separate program, linked to Docuthek.  If, for security reasons,
you want to make the Database Administration inaccessible to Docuthek users, move the
Database.exe and Database.hlp files to another directory.

2.   We will now create a brand new database.  Therefore, we shall NOT select an existing
database from any listed databases .  Instead please select Create New Database from the Options
menu.

3.   In the prompt box, type the full path and name of the new database, e.g. C:\MYDIR\MYDB
and choose OK.  A second prompt for the table name appears.

4.   In the prompt box, type the name of the table.  If at all possible, you should avoid spaces in
the table name.  Choose OK.  The Database Design window is now displayed.

5.   Now you must specify all the fields for the table.  The field specification consists of a field
name, a data type (such as number, text, date, etc.) and if the field is an text type, then the size of
the field.

Click the first cell in the grid box (Field, first column, first blank row).   In the box with the
blinking insertion point, type the name of the first field.  The field name should not have spaces, if
possible.

Click the second cell in the same row (Type).  A list of data types is displayed.  Select the 'Text'
item, assuming you want the field to be alpha-numeric.

Since this is a 'text' data type. we must specify the length of the field.  Click the third column of
the same row (Size) and in the input box type 20 (assuming we want the field to accommodate up
to 20 characters.).  Numeric fields do not need a field size.

Repeat the above steps for all the fields in the table.  For the Docuthek imaging system, you must
have a field named IMAGEFILE.  This field will hold the image's file name.  Normally, the
Imagefile field will be the last field.  The file size of the Imagefile field should not be less than 20
to accommodate the path and extension name of the image file. 

6.  Review the entries.  If everything is correct, press the Create button.  Please be aware that
fields cannot be removed from a table once the table is created.  To remove a field, you will need
to delete the table and rebuild it.

7.   The next prompt is for our international users.  The database needs to know what language to
use when sorting the data.  If your language is English, French, German, Italian, choose OK.  If
you want to specify another language, press Cancel and select the language from a list of available
languages. 

8.   The database is now being build.

9.   It is advisable to create indexes for the table.  Indexes can improve the performance of the
database significantly.  To create an index, select Create Index from the Options menu.

In the Index Name field, type the name of the index (any name up to 8 characters, no spaces). 
From the Field List select the first index field and specify the sorting mode by pressing the
Ascending or Descending button.  Select other fields that are part of the index (optional).  Specify
'Primary' and 'Unique' if appropriate.   Review the index data displayed in the Index Definition
box, and if correct, press the Create button.  If you have several indexes for the table, repeat this
process, giving each index a different name.

You need to understand the meaning of the 'primary' and 'unique' flags.  Each table can have one
primary key; this is the main sorting key.  If you specify an index to be unique, the system will
ensure that duplicate values cannot be posted.  Primary indexes are 'unique' by definition. 

11.   You should now review the newly created database.  From the Options menu, choose View
Database Structure.  The detail of the database is displayed.  To print the information, press the
Print button. 

10.   Additional tables and fields can be added to existing databases.  To do so, you must first
select the database (and table, if it exists) from the lists on he Database Selection screen.  Then,
from the Options menu, select Add New Table or Add Fields.

11.  The Database Administration allows you to restructure the database, to repair and compact
fragmentated databases.  Use Database Administration also to import ASCII files,  to make global
adjustments, to delete tables and indexes.  As indicated above, individual fields cannot be deleted
from tables.  If a field is redundant, you should create a new table and transfer the date from the
old table to the new table with the Restructuring function.  Databases can be deleted only with the
File Manager.

12.   The Database is now created, and we can start to post our entries.


INDEXING IMAGES


1.    Close the Database Administration system and start up the Infothek 
Docuthek program.

2.    If you use the system for the first time, you must select the database.  
Click the Database Selection button on the toolbar (filing cabinet), or choose 
Database Selection from the File menu.  The Database Selection window is displayed.  
Select the drive, directory, database and table.  Choose OK.  

The following assumes that you already have scanned in a few documents.  Documents can be
scanned with a scanner or with a fax machine.  It does not matter what file name you gave 
to the images, in what directory they are placed, or in what graphics format they are 
saved (most popular formats are supported).  

3.    From the toolbar, choose the Imaging button (camera).  Docuthek displays the
Open File dialog box.  Specify the image file that you want to open (for indexing) and
press on OK.  The Imaging window is displayed.

4.    From the toolbar, choose the Data Edit and Indexing button (pencil).  The Data Edit and
Indexing window is displayed.

*******************************************************************************************
Paragraphs 5 and 6 below may be ignored if the image does not need to be reformatted or  
relocated to another directory.
*******************************************************************************************

5.   Normally, we want to copy the image to a permanent file, such as an optical disk.  
Click the directory field (at the top of the Data Edit and Indexing screen) or the Browse 
button next to it.  In the Document Directory dialog box,  select the directory of the 
permanent file.  Also select the Graphics Format for the new file, normally TIF.  Then, 
press on OK.  In the File Name field of the Data Edit and Indexing window, type the new 
file name.  The file name should (but need not) consist of trailing numerals, so that the 
file naming can be automated for a batch of documents (for example IMG0001).  Do not
type an extension name (unless set up differently, the system uses the graphics format as an 
extension name.  Please contact Informatik for more information).

6.    Choose Commit New or Commit Append.  Commit New creates a new file, whereas Commit
Append appends the image as a new page to an existing file.  Only TIFF and DCX formats allow
multiple pages.

7.    Complete all the fields for the index.  You can move to the next field by pressing Enter, 
the down-arrow key or tab.  To move back, press the up-arrow key or Shift-Tab.  

Press the Confirm button (checkmark).

Docuthek features several input efficiency tools, such as record templates, automatic repeat 
entries, autotext with abbreviation codes, automatic filing of image, automatic display of next 
image, etc.  For detail please read the online help.

8.    Click on the document image that you just indexed.  This important step is required to
reactivate the imaging window.  From the File menu, select the next document that needs to be
indexed.  Power users please note that you can quickly retrieve the next image by pressing F5 if
the image name has trailing numerals.  The next document image is displayed. 

9.    Click the Data Edit and Indexing window to activate it.  

If you need to reformat or relocate the image file, complete the fields in the Image File
frame at the top of the Data Edit and Indexing window. Please note that the directory
information is retained from the previous entry.  If the new file name has trailing numerals
(recommended), simply press the Increment button to set the next sequential file number. 
Complete all fields and press the Commit New or Commit Append button.

10.   Enter the index information and click on the Confirm button.

11.   Post several other image files so that we can run a meaningful query.

12.    When all documents are indexed and copied to the permanent files, you may wish to delete
the temporary image files.

13.    To edit existing records, locate the record with the search function in the Data Edit and
Indexing window.  Activate the field that you want to search, then, choose the Search menu.  In
the prompt, type the search characters and press the Search button.  All matching records are
lined up and you can view them one at the time with the left and right arrow buttons, or use the
appropriate function in the File menu.  Make the necessary changes and press the Confirm button. 
To restore the data of a record, choose Restore Record from the File menu.  To delete a record,
choose Delete Record from the File menu.
  

QUERIES

Docuthek has two types of query screens: a 'lite search' for quick and simple queries; and a 
comprehensive SQL-interfaced query screen.


1.  From the File menu, open Query.  The Lite Search window is 
displayed.

2.  In the Search Field, select one the fields that you want to search.

3   In the Search Operator, specify the type of filter that you want to apply.  For this tutorial, 
select 'STARTING WITH' 

4.   In the Search Filter, you can type the first few characters of a record of the selected field. 
For this tutorial, please type an asterisks (*), meaning all entries.

5.  Optionally, you can enter additional criteria in the fields of the second column.

6.  In the List box, select the fields that you want listed.  Simply drag the mouse over the fields 
or click on the field names while holding down the CTRL key.

7.  Click on the Query button (green spot).  The query is executed and the matched fields are 
listed below.

(To save the selections as defaults, choose Save Settings from the Setup menu.)  



Read the following section only if you want to run a comprehensive search,
otherwise go directly to the View Document Image section below 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
Docuthek has a powerful (SQL-based) query engine.  This tutorial will introduce you to the basic
query technique.  The query engine is very powerful and extensive.  This tutorial will show you
just the 'tip of the iceberg'.

1.  From the File menu choose Query (Advanced).   (If you want to query another
database, choose the Database Selection button first.)  The Query window is displayed.

2.   The first column of the Query builder list all available fields of the table.  All fields are marked
with a blue checkmark.  Each marked field will be displayed as a separate column in the report. 
You can remove a checkmark, by  clicking the appropriate Select cell  or by pressing the delete
button while in the Select cell.  To add a checkmark, simply click the cell.

3.   Most searches are done by filtering out selected data.  Click the field name that you want to
filter.  In the yellow input box (with the blinking insertion point), enter the filter
criteria.  For example, if you want to search for NY in the State field, type NY.  You can add
filters to several fields.

4.    Press the Query button (green spot).  The report shows all records that have 'NY' in the State
field.

5.    Press the Clear button (cross-out) to clear the screen and try another query.  

You have noticed that the system automatically defaults the Filter Operator.  If the data type of
the field is 'text', the default Filter Operator is LIKE  and the system looks for a pattern.  If the
data type of the field is 'numeric', the default Filter Operator is '=' and the system looks for an
exact match.  For LIKE operators, the system always appends the '*' wildcard character. 
Therefore, if you search for JOHN the system will retrieve all names starting with JOHN,
including JOHN, JOHNSON, etc.  To remove the wildcard character, simply specify 'JOHN'.  

As you have seen, the system features a large number of operators, such as >=, BETWEEN, IN,
etc.  Furthermore, there are functions for aggregates, such as count, maximum, average, etc. 
Finally, you can sort the display, reformat the values, and show totals at the bottom of the report. 

Sometimes, the reported data cannot all be shown on the screen.  Horizontal and vertical scroll
bars allow you to view the hidden part of the report.  Also, if you click the right mouse button,
the system displays a summary of the record.

The report can be printed, exported or copied to the Windows Clipboard.  There are two methods
of printing:  horizontal and vertical presentation.  If you tag certain records with the checkmark,
only the tagged items will be printed or exported.  To tag a record, simply double click on it.   To
remove the tag, double-click it again, or press the Delete button.  Only the highlighted area is
copied to the clipboard.

The system has many features that are beyond the scope of this tutorial.  Please read the help
topics on the Refine function,  re-sequencing the columns, re-sizing the column width, adding
calculated columns, editing the SQL statement, purge, etc.

The SQL query supports most of the common functions.


VIEW A DOCUMENT IMAGE

If you want to integrate the query with the imaging system, one of the fields in the database 
table must be called IMAGEFILE.

1.   To view the image, double-click on the record on the report listing on the lower part 
of the screen.  You can click on any cell on the row; the text of the cell will become the 
heading (title) of the displayed image.  Or, press on the Imaging button(camera) or 
Function Key 12.  The image is displayed.

2.   To change the attributes of the image (size, rotation, etc), choose the View menu. 

3.    Please read the online help on how to zoom in, copy, and print.

4.   To close the image, double-click on the control in the upper-left corner of the image
window, click on the Close button in the upper right corner, or choose Close from the File 
menu.

You can also view images without running a query.  From the File menu, choose Open Image File
and specify the directory and image file name.  The new image will be displayed in the current 
window, replacing the earlier image. 

If you want to display several images, choose Open New Image from the File menu.

If  you lost an image, it is probably hiding behind the active screen.  Simply choose the Windows
menu and click the image file that you want to bring to the foreground.


