Using the User Guide for iData Pro
Welcome to iData Pro, the flexible, multi-use data
management program! iData
lets you collect and manage all kinds of written information.
In addition, the main User Guide page contains an index to all of the articles in the Guide. We suggest that you scan through that page one time to get an idea of how it is organized. The basic logic of the organization is explained below.
Help Topics
Help
topics are divided into three sections, each further divided into
chapters.
Section 1
- Introductory Help Topics
includes links to three Help pages, in addition to this one:
Tutorial
(Getting Started With iData Pro) presents basic information
about
how iData Pro works. iData Pro is a powerful program. As such, it is a
fairly complex program. The Tutorial is designed to make it
(relatively) easy to learn iData Pro's most basic features. This is
done,
in part, by placing detailed explanations on separate pages, so that
they can be ignored until they are actually needed.
License
Agreement and Warranty contains the standard legalese.
It exists mainly to remind all the honest folks that there are two
people who've put a lot of time into creating and improving iData Pro,
and we'd like to earn something from the effort. With a single product
in a relatively small market, every sale counts, and the return has to
justify the effort required to continue to improve the product (and to
keep it working with new versions of the Mac OS). Please don't help
others take it without paying for it.
New
Features in iData Pro is designed for those who have been using
earlier versions of the product. It summarizes the main changes between
version 2.1 and version 3.0. Those features that are complex enough to
require more detailed descriptions are included in the other Help
topics described below.
iData
Pro
Version Change History shows the changes and bug fixes for each
version of iData Pro, with the latest at the top and the earliest
(3.0.1)
at the bottom.
Section 2 - General Help Topics covers basic information on how iData works and how to set it up. It is designed to make it easy for you to get the most out of iData, and to get it set up to match your personal working style. We strongly recommend that you read this section before you begin using iData Pro. Even if you are an experienced user, you may find a little new, useful information there.
Section 2 covers the following
topics:
Files and File
Locations -- Where your iData files are
located, and why
Entering
iData Pro Serial Numbers -- What to do when iData asks for your
serial
number
The
Datafile Window -- The basic elements of the datafile window
Toolbar
Navigation Buttons -- What the toolbar
buttons do, and how to customize the toolbar
Modifier Keys for
Toolbar Buttons -- How to change
what toolbar buttons do by holding down various keys
Changing
Commands Keys -- How to use System Preferences to change key
commands
in iData
iData Pro Services -- Setting up iData Pro to Work With the Services Menu
Section 3 - Functional Help Topics is designed as a reference. It is made up of chapters that are organized around iData's menu structure, making it easy to learn how a particular menu command works. Because this section is designed as a reference, it may repeat some information that is contained in Section 1.
Chapter titles in this section include
the
main menu name, followed by a sub-menu name, if appropriate. While you
should
at least look over the chapter titles, you can put off a detailed
reading
of topics this section until you need to find information on a
particular
operation. Within iData, in many dialogs or windows, there will be a 
button
that you can click to take you to the appropriate Help page for that
function.
Chapters in this section are arranged in
approximately the same order as the menus themselves. Menu items that
are common to most Macintosh applications, such as Cut, Copy, and
Paste, are not included.