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Introduction
This document describes a procedure we use to transfer a set of books (or other items) in the
Homebase 2 (Homebase) inventory program to the BookTrakker inventory program as an addition
to the inventory. It assumes that the reader is somewhat familiar with both programs.
Backups are highly recommended, but not necessary if you like to "play with fire" and
possibly lose your complete inventory listings. These instructions have worked for us
and are provided here with no guarantees. This method can be used in addition to or
instead of running the BookTrakker Network version.
Original Entry (Homebase) Computer
If you belong to ABE and want to use the ISBN lookup feature, your Homebase computer can actually be the same as your BookTrakker computer. For the sake of discussion, I will assume they are different.
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Enter books as usual in Homebase, using the ISBN lookup feature of Homebase or not as appropriate. Note that you must be a member of ABE to use this feature. You normally will NOT want to send updates to ABE via Homebase, so if you use the ISBN lookup feature make sure you do not send updates to ABE. This is especially easy to overlook when you close Homebase and the choices come up to quit, update, and backup.
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Two fields we use which are not in Homebase are Printing and Number of Pages. These can be put in the Notes or another field in Homebase for later input to the BookTrakker fields.
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When a "sufficient number of books" have been entered backup Homebase for
transfer. That is create the normal HByyyyooddhhmmss.bkp where yyyy is the
year, oo is the month, dd is the day, hh is the hour, mm is the minute,
and ss is the second [the naming convention is automatic with Homebase,
so you won't have to do the actual naming of the file]. We create two
copies of this backup file, one on a flopply disk for transfer to the
BookTrakker machine and one on the hard disk of the Homebase computer
"just in case". Note that all floppies are not always readable on the
machines which have not written the floppy. This occurs often enough
for us that the additional backup copy on the hard disk has saved us from
having to have the books input again "several" times. The file could
also be e-mailed or transferred on other media.
BookTrakker Computer
Before continuing, I feel I must emphasize again that backups will one day save you from having to re-enter a number, possibly a very large number, of your inventory again. I personally feel it is good to be paranoid about the subject. Thus my procedures for backups may seem redundant to you. You can certainly skip any of the "additional" backup steps if you care to BUT I recommend that you do them the first couple of times just in case my instructions are not clear enough or you make a mistake and destroy your original database and something happens to the first backup.
You will also need a copy of Homebase on your BookTrakker computer. It should be the same version used on the Homebase computer.
Backups
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Use the backup icon (usually on the desktop). to backup Booktrakker to the hard drive. Note that I tend to only keep about a weeks worth of backups on my hard disk.
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Copy lastest entry set from floppy A: or save the e-mailed file or … to the Homebase backup directory
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Copy the BookTrakker backup and Homebase backup from your hard drive C: to a CD/DVD or some other device separate from the BookTrakker computer.
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Remove Floppy and CD and put away.
Restore Homebase
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Open Homebase and do a restore. You can use the copy on your hard disk in the Homebase backup directory.
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Note the book numbers and number of books.
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Close Homebase.
Import to Booktrakker
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Open Booktrakker, note you last record number.
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Go to Import (on BookTrakker 3.1, it is Import > Standard )\
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Change drop down arrow from Interloc (Direct) to Home Base 2
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The File Name: should initially change to C:\HomeBase\hbdata.hbd. If this is not where your Homebase data is stored, navigate to the directory where the Homebase data is stored so that the correct directory is displayed. BookTrakker should remember this directory the next time you use it.
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Check that "Last Name, First Name MI" and "Title Case" are chosen as wanted.
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Click "Home Base 2 Setup", check that "Import All Records" and "Reassign Record #s" are checked
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Click on Recalculate. The first number (Book ID 1) should be the first number of the Homebase record and the second should be the last Homebase record. Close "Home Base 2 Import Setup" window.
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Initially you will need to set up the mapping from Homebase to BookTrakker. Most of this should already be correct, but there might be an exception, so check. Click "Map Import Fields"
Initial Mapping:
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Scroll down the list of Homebase fields, find Publisher Year. Across from that you may see Date. Click in this field, a dropdown button (v) will appear, select DateAlpha from the list. You must do this mapping change if you want your Date to appear in BookTrakker. If DateAlpha is already present, do not change to Date.
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Look for "Notes" in the list on the left, notice that it maps into "Notes" on the right. BookTrakker has three equal size fields for descriptive information, Defects, Features and Notes. Defects and Features have reusable Phrase Lists, you might want to import Homebase Description/Comments (Notes) into one of these two fields. Click into the right side for the Dropdown list of BookTrakker fields; select Defects or Features from the list.
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Make any other necessary changes to the Import Mapping. If you have Private Comments then this should be mapped into one of the User fields.
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Save the mapping with an appropriate name. Make the name one you will remember for later reuse.
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If you plan to use Book/DJ matching then you will need to check them. This setup and the setup for Book Condition control what Book/DJ conditions get imported into BookTrakker, through translation of the Homebase equivalent. First make sure that Condition Checking is on. For example, for DJ Condition:
Click on the DJ Condition button. Check near the bottom to make sure Condition Checking is on.
When there is no DJ, the focus would be on the top row, on the word "NONE" in the Condition column. Click across to the Keyword column, to the right of "|none"
Type "|No Jacket" Make sure you include the pipe symbol, located above the \ on your keyboard.
Make any other additions deemed necessary to import DJ condition correctly, making sure the "|" symbol is added each time, before addition of keywords. Close the DJ Condition window by clicking on the X in the upper right corner.
Make sure Condition Checking is on for Book Condition. If you need to add keywords to Book Condition, do the same for that.
Otherwise, close the Book Condition setup by clicking the X in the upper right corner.
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If you do not plan to use Book/DJ matching then turn off the Condition Checking by clicking on the 0 OFF button (click DJ Condition and make sure Condition Checking if off - same for Book Condition). This will turn of translation for both Book and DJ. Book and DJ should then be mapped into Defects, or if not even present in the database then no mapping is necessary.
Normal Mapping:
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After the initial setup you just need to load your settings. Actually, if no one has changed them you don't even need to do that, they will remain the same. However, I generally prefer to do the Load settings with the name I saved just in case. Since I actually left the other fields (DJ Condition, etc.) the same, I don't check them. If you did change them initially, it wouldn't hurt to check (paranoia time again?).
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Click on Start. Check that correct numbers are coming up in Book ID record (it should be the number after the last book number you have in BookTrakker). If not, cancel. If o.k. click Finish. You will get a window ("Remapped Book Ids" ) which shows Homebase record numbers and what they went to in BookTrakker. Note the BookTrakker beginning and end number. If the book numbers were not correct, then something is wrong and you will need to restore you BookTrakker inventory (you did make a backup, didn't you?). If you are sure you followed these instructions, see (6) for example, then these instructions won't work for you.
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Close "Remapped Book Ids" window. Close the "Import" window. You will get a "You must close BookTrakker …." window pop up. Click OK and close BookTrakker. The books have been transferred.
Hit Lists in Booktrakker
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Open Booktrakker, go to Hit Lists, click New and OK
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In the "Range Type" (under "Set Field Criteria" tab) choose Numeric. The "Field:" should change to Book ID (if not, just change it). In the "From:" field put in the first Book ID number of the set which you got in Import to BookTrakker (9) (beginning number). The end number should be the same as you noted in that step also.
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Click on the Action tab. Click on "List Online". This will put a check mark next to it. Click Execute. You will get a pop up window that says "Are you sure … It will change xxx Records" The xxx should be the number of records you imported. If it is, click Yes. If not, something is wrong. Check your numbers again in the "Set Field Criteria" tab.
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If you use the Dealer price for certain services, you will need to change the
prices (it is assummed that your "normal" price is Retail in your setup for
transfer). Click Hit Lists, Check under the "Set Field Criteria" tab that
the number didn't change. Click Action tab and then Multiply (a check mark
should show up). Under the Multiply field choose Retail (drop down arrow).
Under the Put Result In field put Dealer. In the Multiply By field put your
make up/down factor. For example a markup of 10% would be a markup factor of
1.10. Click Execute. You will get a pop up window that says "Are you sure …
It will change xxx Records" The xxx should be the number of records you
imported. If it is, click Yes. If not, something is wrong. Check your
numbers again in the "Set Field Criteria" tab.
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If you use Store for other services, you will need to change it also. Click Hit
Lists, Check under the "Set Field Criteria" tab that the number didn't change.
Click Action tab and then Multiply (a check mark should show up). Under the
Multiply field choose Retail (drop down arrow). Under the Put Result In field
put Store. In the Multiply By field put in you mark up/down factor. Click
Execute. You will get a pop up window that says "Are you sure ? It will change
xxx Records" The xxx should be the number of records you imported. If it is,
click Yes. If not, something is wrong. Check your numbers again in the "Set
Field Criteria" tab.
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If you list on Amazon, you will need to mark those appropriate check boxes.
Click Hit Lists, Check under the "Set Field Criteria" tab that the number
didn't change. Click Action tab and then Amazon (a check mark should show up).
Under the Amazon section on the right, the drop down arrow has three choices.
Choose Marketplace, check the Yes box. Click
Execute. You will get a pop up window that says "Are you sure ? It will change
xxx Records" The xxx should be the number of records you imported. If it is,
click Yes. If not, something is wrong. Check your numbers again in the "Set
Field Criteria" tab.
You need to do this particular hit list action set for each of the
Marketplace, Expedite, and/or International you want checked. So repeat as
necessary.
Finish Up
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Edit the books as you usually do. If used, remember to fill in the Printing and
Number of Pages fields from the Notes section or whatever it mapped to. One
click upload.
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