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Q. What is the Decorative Painter Data Base? It’s a colorful, easy to read and use (no manual) program that allows you to keep track of books, magazines, Packets, Sales, Consignments, and much, much, more. To date, 15 modules hqave been developed. The nice thing about it is that you only have to buy the modules that you need. For example, if you have reached the point where you would like to sell your finished product on consignment, you purchase the consignment module which will help you keep track of the shops you work with, how much they charge you, as well as what your asking price is and what you sold it for. Q. I have never downloaded software before and I'm not sure what to do. In fact, I'm really nervous about trying it. Is it complicated? No, it's very easy. We pride ourselves in easy to follow step-by-step instructions. Judge for yourself. To review the instructions, Click Here Q. I have a lot of books and magazines. Each of them has several projects. Do I have to keep entering the same information over and over again, such as Title, Author, etc? No. To enter projects from the same book or magazine you should click on the Duplicate Button. When you do that, it will create a new data entry form keeping the information that is constant while erasing the other data preparing the form for your next project entry. Q. Is there an easy way for me to tell how many books I have on the data base? Yes. Located in the upper right corner you will see the total amount of records you have entered. The display also shows you at which record you're at, such as record 24 of 103 records. Q. How is the data entry form set up? The data entry form shows you all the fields that require information. Many of the fields have Value Lists (drop-down) that can be edited, so you can enter your own description. The program features a Quit button that allows you to end the program so you don’t have to return to the Main Screen. The Help (?) button offers suggestions on what to enter in the fields and what to consider before starting your data entry. Q. Sometimes I make mistakes when entering data. Is it easy to correct? Because you see the complete data entry form, all you have to do is go back to that field and make your correction. Q. How much does it cost? The program and a module sell for $20.00 US Funds. Additional modules are $5.00 each. In all cases, you will be able to try the module you are interested in before you buy it, FREE. Q. What happens if I’m having problems or just have a question about the program? We are here to help you and we do it with a smile. We offer unlimited email support. You will get a response within 24 - 48 hours. We also offer phone support for 10 days after you purchase your program. Q. I really don’t know much about computers. Is your program easy to install? You should have no problem. Just click on the Install icon and follow the instructions. It only takes a few minutes to install. However, if for some reason you do run into a problem, just contact us and we’ll help you until the program is up and running. Q. Is the Decorative Painter Data Base for MAC or PC computers? We offer both formats. They both can be downloaded from this web site. Q. During certain parts of the year we have a lot of short electric power outages. Will I lose my data? No. The program saves your data on a continuous basis. No saving required. However, you may lose the last entry depending when you lost power after you made the entry. Q1 - How do I back-up the information I have entered in my Book Module? A - The easiest way to back-up your data is to copy the Book Module onto a floppy disk (or other media) by using the Drag-N-Drop method. There is no need to back-up the DPDB program, since you should have it on disks. The instructions below apply to backing up any of the DPDB Modules. In the beginning you will be able to place several Modules on 1 disk. However, as you add data, that number will decrease. To keep all your Modules on 1 disk, you may want to consider placing them on something like a Zip Disk or Jump Drive. You can identify the Module files easily. They are labeled using the 1st 4 letters of that Module. Example: Book = Book, Magazine = Maga, paint = Pain, etc. This is what you have to do......
Q2 - OK....so how do I get my data back after I install a new program? A - Just reverse the process mentioned in Q1 above. This time you want to "Copy" the Modules from the back-up disk and place them into the Decorative Painter DB folder. Remember....."Copy" not "Move" Q3 - I really need to upgrade my Modules. The problem is I don't think I can do it. I'm afraid I'm going to mess up big time. How hard is it to download from the web? A - Downloading is pretty easy. We have developed an easy to follow Step-by-Step instructions. The important part is that you take the time to read the instructions carefully and follow all the steps. And if "push come to shove", just email us or give us a call and we'll be more than happy to work with you. Remember one thing...we were all at the point you are now with respect to computer knowledge at one time. The only way you learn is by trying. So don't sit there thinking about it......DO IT! If you need more encouragement, read some of the Testimonials that we have received. And when you succeed, tell us. Q4 - I have books that require several projects to be entered. In fact, I have a lot of books and I just can't see myself entering the same information on the same book over and over again. Is there an easy way of doing this? A - Funny you should ask. The Book Modules has 2 buttons at the top of the data entry screen. One is named "New Record" and the other is labeled "Duplicate Record". After you have entered all your data and now you want to enter another project from the same book, click on the "Duplicate Record" button. This will clear all the fields (data entry boxes) that has to do with the project and leave all the info about the book. This also includes the note section for the book vs the project note section. Now, when you have completed entering all the projects for that book and you're ready to start on a new book, click on the "New Record" button. When you do this, all the fields will be empty ready for you to enter the info required. Q5 - I'm having a problem with printing all my magazines. Every time I go to print, all I get is one magazine listed. What am I doing wrong? Help! A - When you select print, you will get a dialog box. At the top you will probably see "Print: Current record". Click on the down arrow and select "Records being browsed". Click OK. That should solve your problem. Q6 - This is probably a dumb question, but I'm confused. The Paint Module has 3 places for me to enter my paints. Am I suppose to enter one paint in each record? A - First let me say......there is no such thing as a dumb question. Please, don't ever decide not to write because you feel the question is too simple. Now to your question....... If you have 1 or 10 bottles of the SAME paint, you only enter it once, using the 1st data entry place. Don't forget to enter the letter "S" in the ratio field. This identifies the paint as a Single color vs a Blended color. To enter the # of paints you have, enter that # in the "Amt in Stock" field located in the lower right part of the form. If you should buy more or if you use up a bottle, change the "Amt in Stock" # by that amount. Now for the other 2 remaining places (data entry fields). They are used for your Blend colors. If you made your own color using 2 different paints, you would enter the info of each paint using 2 places. You would also enter the ratio amount in the Ratio field. Example: 5 parts of red and 1 part of black. In the Ratio box you would enter 5 for the red paint and 1 for the black paint. And since you made your own Blend, in the "Brand" field you can enter your name since you created the new color. Why would you do this? If you ever need to find that color again, all you would have to do is go to Find Record, enter your name in the "Brand" field, and click on "Perform Find". Poof......within seconds, you see a list of all the Blended colors you have created. One last thing....since you're keeping track of a blended color, do not enter any # in the Amt in Stock". This field is only used for Single colors. Q7 - Help! I've got a printing problem. When I printed to get a list of all my books, I land up with the same book being printed several times. It looks like it printed out for each project entry I made. Is there a way I can get it to print out the book only once? A - There sure is. Open the Book (same applies for magazine) module. Look for a field named "1st Book Entry". The 1st time you enter this book into your data base, select "Yes". If you make more entries from the same book, select "No". To see a list of all your books, click on the "Find Record" button. Select "Yes" in the "1st Book Entry" field. Click on the "Perform Find" button. Select the Tower of choice from the View-Report page. Now you will see all your books listed once. Here's an extra. Let's say you want to find all the books you have by a particular author. In addition to selecting "Yes" above, enter the author's name. This will now give you a list of all the books by that author. Q8 - I have over 300 books. Is there a maximum number of books that I can enter? A - You can enter as many books you have, including the projects they contain. In other words, let's assume that each of your books have 10 projects you need to enter. That would be a total of 3000 records (300 x 10). So what I'm saying is that you really have unlimited record entry. However (yep...there's always a catch VBG), you are limited by the size of your hard drive. To check out the amount of room you have on your hard drive, 2X click on My Computer. Locate the C-Drive. Right click on the C-Drive. Select Properties.That's it! You can also use this method to check how big a file is, such as your Book Module. |