The different view options
You can choose between several different view options and styles in Bookpedia. A button for each is found on the toolbar (default configuration) or use the commands under the View menu.
List view
The list view displays your entries in a column format, much like iTunes. To choose list view, use the 'List' command from the View menu (keyboard shortcut: Command-1) or click on the left-hand button of the view button in the toolbar.
To choose which columns are displayed in the list view of the Library or a collection:
- Select a collection on the left side of the main window.
- Go into the View menu and choose 'View Options'.
- Check the box next to all the fields you'd like displayed in your list view.
- A faster way to select what columns are displayed is to right-click (control-click) a column header and choose from the pop-up menu which columns you'd like.
If you want to keep that particular set of columns and make it the default set for all future collections you create, choose 'Set as Default Columns' from the View menu. To apply the default set to another collection, choose 'Apply Default Columns' from the View menu.
To move a column, click on a column header and drag it left or right to its new position.
To resize a column, point to the vertical line between columns. When the pointer changes, drag the column to its new size.
Double-clicking the divider between columns (where the cursor changes) will open the column to its ideal width, i.e. where all the information is visible.
The status column, usually located at the very left side of the table view, displays the status icons for an entry. What the different icons in the status column mean:
The red silhouette (or picture of a person, if you use that feature of your Address Book) indicates that an entry has been borrowed.
The yellow star means the entry is part of your wish list.
The paperclip indicates that the entry has a link attached to it, which could be any type of file such as an image or URL. You'll find more information about links and how to create them here.
The QuickTime logo means the entry has a QuickTime movie linked to it.
Grid view
The grid view displays just the cover images of your movies. To choose it, use the 'Grid' command from the View menu (keyboard shortcut: Command-2) or click on the middle of the View button in the toolbar.
Once you have selected grid view, a little slider will appear at the bottom of the main window to let you choose the size of the cover images.
In the Preferences > Style, you can choose the background color for the grid view and whether you would like a border around the covers or not.
In grid view you can also see which entries are in your borrowed collection (marked with a green bar and the days left until the entry should be returned or if they are overdue with a red bar and the number of days the entry is overdue). Entries that haven't been published yet are marked with a blue bar and the days until the release.
Cover Flow
To choose Cover Flow, use the 'Cover Flow' command from the View menu (keyboard shortcut: Command-3) or click on the Cover Flow view button in the toolbar.
Once you have selected Cover Flow, you can move through it either by clicking on entries to the right and left, using the arrow keys or by using your mouse's scroll wheel.
Change the size of the cover images in Cover Flow by dragging the bottom divider up and down.
Double-click a cover image to open the edit window for the entry.
Details view
To choose the details view, use the 'Details' command from the View menu (keyboard shortcut: Command-I) or click on the 'i' button in the toolbar. This view has several functions. It displays:
The details view is essentially a web browser, built on HTML templates. The program comes with a variety of different templates from which to choose either via the View menu > Details Style or in the Preferences > Style. Alternatively ctrl-click (right-click) anywhere inside the details view and choose 'Style' from the contextual menu to see a full list of the templates. If you'd like to write your own template or modify one of the existing ones, take a look at the section about
customizing Details templates for more information.
You can choose which fields to show in the details view in the Preferences > Fields tab. Choose 'Details' from the drop down menu and check the relevant boxes in the table. You can also change the order of the fields by dragging the titles up and down.
Information that appears in
italics or sometimes just in a different color, depending on the template, is clickable and will filter the current collection by that value. To see the whole collection again, click on the 'Display All' link at the bottom of the details view.
If you are in a collection that is not your Library but would like to filter your Library collection by a particular value, hold down the Option key and then click on the value in the details view.
If you'd like to turn the filter option in the details view off, add the following meta comment to your details view template:
<meta name="filterLinks" content="no" / >
If you'd like to turn the feature off for only one or two fields, add "Raw" to the end of the tag. For example, to make the Genre field a non-filtered field, change the key for it from this: [key:genre] to this [key:genreRaw].
For more information on how to customize details view templates, check out
this section.
- Ctrl-click (right-click) anywhere inside the details view and choose 'Go to site' from the contextual menu.
- A browser pane with a URL address field and back/forward buttons will appear. Type in the URL you are looking for and hit Enter.
- The website will appear straight inside the details view.
- To exit the browser, click the 'Done' button at the top of the details view.
The advantage of using the details view over a regular browser is that in the details view you can use the program's contextual menu (via ctrl-click or right-click) which allows you to easily add entries to the database or change summaries, images and links to the selected entry.
The statistics feature lists some fun and insightful stats about your database, such as which genre you have the most or the least entries of, which entry is the most popular to be borrowed or how many 5 star entries you have.
You can access the statistics by clicking on the 'Statistics' button in the toolbar or choosing 'Statistics' from the View menu. To include a link to the statistics in an HTML export template, include the link <a href="statistics.html">Statistics</a> in the template.
To exit statistics, click the 'OK' button in the upper right-hand corner of the info view or press the Statistics button in the toolbar once more.
If you have a file (movie, image, text file, etc.) linked to an entry, you can choose to view those either directly in Bookpedia's Details view or with a program of your choice. Go into the Preferences > General and check the option "Open links in external browser" accordingly.
Customizing details templates
The details view is based on HTML templates which means you can write your own templates or customize any of the existing ones.
The details view templates are part of the application so to customize one, ctrl-click (right-click) the Bookpedia icon and navigate to 'Show package contents/Contents/Resources/InfoTemplates/en' to find the file.
NOTE: Because the details view templates folder is located inside Bookpedia.app, the folder gets overwritten with every update. To make sure your customized template doesn't get overwritten you need to save it in the Bookpedia data folder. To do this, create a new folder titled 'InfoTemplates' in your Bookpedia folder (by default located in your Home folder under ~/Library/Application Support/Bookpedia) and place the template in there. For any images the template uses, create a folder inside 'InfoTemplates' named 'Images'. If you're customizing one of the existing templates that uses javascript, make sure you copy the "includes" folder into InfoTemplates as well.
Name the template something other than its original name since the program otherwise won't recognize that there is a new template but will keep using the original one from inside the application.
For more information about tags used in our templates take a look at the
customizing templates section.
When creating templates for the details view, remember that although similar to the HTML export templates there are a few differences, mainly the [global:previousPageURL] and [global:nextPageURL] tags are no longer hrefs. They are complete <a> tag links that get localized by the program, which means you can no longer embed them in buttons as they are text links. You can however add CSS to them to change the look, even give them a graphic background.
If you still want to add them to a button, the hardcode href link is:
pedia://bruji.com/nextEntry
pedia://bruji.com/previousEntry
There are several other hrefs possible inside the info view, for example:
- pedia://bruji.com/editEntry
- pedia://bruji.com/setTabView=0 - brings up the list view on top (leaving the details view at the bottom)
- pedia://bruji.com/setTabView=1 - brings up the grid view on top (leaving the details view at the bottom)
- pedia://bruji.com/findEntry=[key:author] - starts a search for items with the same author as the selection (obviously, other keys could work as well such as Publisher or Release)
- pedia://bruji.com/exitFullScreen - the Done button, i.e. closes the view
- pedia://bruji.com/perform=returnedClicked: - marks an entry as returned and takes it off the borrowed list
- pedia://bruji.com/perform=showLinks: - shows the links attached
- pedia://bruji.com/perform=editEntry - brings up the Edit window
- pedia://bruji.com/perform=exportToIpod: - exports the collection that the current selection is in to the iPod
- pedia://bruji.com/perform=exportCollection: - exports the collection that the current selection is in
- pedia://bruji.com/perform=removeCoverImage: - removes the cover image for the selection
- pedia://bruji.com/perform=loadLink=[link:url] - opens the links
- pedia://bruji.com/perform=goToPage= - opens the appointed URL with the details view toolbar at the top for easy navigation (back and forward arrows/done button)
Creating Installation files
You can attach installation files to your templates so they will install themselves automatically in the correct program.
There are four types of installation file extensions. The first one is .pediaextras and will run on any of the pedias. This is useful for images or very generic templates. The other extensions are specific to each program and are as follows: .pediaextras_d for DVDpedia, .pediaextras_b for Bookpedia, .pediaextras_c for CDpedia and .pediaextras_g for Gamepedia. If you are creating an installer for just one of the Pedias, it is best to use the specific ending. This allows the user to simply double-click the file instead of having to drop it on the program or use the open command. It also provides an extra layer of protection since it will only be installed in the intended program.
The installed components depend on what is inside the Package Contents, the same folder the messages folder is located in. The easiest way to create an installer is to take an existing installer for the type of installation you want and modify its contents.
Full screen mode
The full screen mode lets you cycle through your entries by cover, either by using the arrow keys on your keyboard, the Apple remote or your mouse clicking left and right on the screen to cycle through the cover images. Access it by choosing 'Full Screen Mode' from the View menu or the button in the toolbar.
The search field in the upper left-hand corner of the screen lets you search for specific entries or narrow down the selection. You can enter the search field with the keyboard shortcut Option-S or by clicking on it.
If you are using your Apple remote, hold 'Menu' to turn full screen mode on and off when Bookpedia is the active application. (Click on menu will still launch Frontrow.) The 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons will go back and forward one entry while the 'Plus' and 'Minus' buttons will move 4 covers forward or back for faster browsing.
To exit full screen mode, either use the Esc key (escape), Command-. or simply press q.
To access the menu at the bottom of full screen mode, press 'Return' or move your mouse over it. The menu options are the following:
- the horizontal lines will bring up a details window for the selected entry. (You can choose which fields to include by going into the Preferences/Fields and checking those fields you want to see. You can also arrange the fields in the order you'd like them in that same Preferences/Fields tab.)
- the triangle will start the movie if there is one attached to the entry. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Option-P to play the movie or click on the little triangle in the bottom right corner that pops up automatically when it detects a movie link. (For more information on how to link a movie to an entry, take a look at the Links page.)
- the magnifying glass will bring up a window to narrow the search for similar entries
- the vertical lines will bring up your collections
- and the arrows will close full screen mode and bring you back to the main Bookpedia window.
With Remote Buddy you have to map 'Play' to 'Enter' and the left and right options to the arrows on the remote. Then you can access the menu via Enter and move through the different options with the left and right keys.
