Fountain Pen Database Available for Download

[mmb993]

I imported my collection from an Excel spreadsheet last March. I was doing OK with Excel, but Jonro's program is so much better! One of my favorite features is the ability to manage photos of the pens. Two questions:

 

1- Once you import photos, do you import them into the file itself or do you just point to a file in the drive? In other words if you erase the file from your computer do you still see it in the database.

 

2- The number of pens in inventory at the bottom left corner says 88 pens, however I have well over 200. Where does the 88 come from? How can I correct the number of pens?

 

Great job!

 

Thanks,

 

-Mario

Mario,

 

The default is that photos are imported into the database. When you select a photo, there is a checkbox that allows you to import a reference. I recommend staying with the default, but the choice is yours. The number of pens is the number of pens that haven't been sold. If you have had 200 pens, but 100 of them have a date in the Date Sold field, it will display "100 pens in inventory."

 

Keep enjoying the database!

 

Jon

 

Jon:

 

I have erased all the dates in the "Date Sold" field. But the number of pens did not change. I have sorted and unsorted but still nothing. What do I need to do?

 

Thanks,

 

Mario

 

[jonro]

Sven,

 

I just added that feature to the version I'm running here and it's pretty cool. There's a menu item to show/hide prices. It will be in the next version I roll out, hopefully sometime soon.

 

Regards,

 

Jon

 

Hi jonro,

 

thank you for this great piece of software! I am working my pens in and I am loving it!

Just one request: Could you make an option to not show prices?

If you show someone something in the database, you don't necessarily want them to see what you paid...

 

Thank you for this software!

Sven

 

[icardoth]

Absolutely awesome development, Jon! I'm pretty new to fountain pen collection and I was planning to develop my own database. I was thinking in Access, MySQL or something like that, but your project is the best. Great job!

[wtisaac]

Sweet! I've been using an online database - blist (www.blist.com); It's pretty neat, but this is better.

 

Thanks!

Will Isaac

[aymr]

LOVING IT!

 

Just had a thought - if it's not too hard to implement. I would think that a few (2-5?) user-specified checkboxes (and/or perhaps open fields?) would be helpful, like "uninked", or "WTB" or "have box" or something like that. It could handle things that would be too esoteric to put in for everyone.

 

I was thinking that it would work like how you asked for the user name it would be a preference what those fields were named, and then the user could decide what they needed to track.

 

Just a thought!

 

Thanks SOOO much - with as fast as I've been buying pens lately this was desperately needed by me.

 

Aym

[jonro]

LOVING IT!

 

Just had a thought - if it's not too hard to implement. I would think that a few (2-5?) user-specified checkboxes (and/or perhaps open fields?) would be helpful, like "uninked", or "WTB" or "have box" or something like that. It could handle things that would be too esoteric to put in for everyone.

 

I was thinking that it would work like how you asked for the user name it would be a preference what those fields were named, and then the user could decide what they needed to track.

 

Just a thought!

 

Thanks SOOO much - with as fast as I've been buying pens lately this was desperately needed by me.

 

Aym

This feature will be in the next version.

 

Thanks,

 

Jon

[Robe]

Thanks Jon,

 

you have done a great program , this is what I was looking for.

 

Thanks and ciao,

 

Roberto

[pen2paper]

hi..1st thank you for sharing this with us:):)

i did the download to my desktop..unzipped the file..but not sure how to access it as a whole..it's shown in its

parts... how do i make it leap together???

[diazemmanuel]

Downloaded the database app. Thanks. It will surely be very helpful in keeping track of my beloved pens.

 

Emmanuel

 

[Diamondback]

Jon,

 

I have been using your database for some time now and find it a great tool for cataloging my pens. I do have a couple of questions regarding the print function in the database.

 

Is there any way I can get the print function to give me the complete record of a particular pen. I find that the printed page is truncated on the right hand side, cutting off the photos and fields on the right side of the screen. I have tried modifying the printer formatting options, including landscape mode, but nothing seems to correct this problem.

 

Also, is there a way to print off the full text in the database fields? I note that even though the fields can contain more information that what is displayed on the screen, the printed page only shows what is display on the screen and not the full field contents.

 

It seems as though the print option is a screen dump that is only formatted to fit a 8 x 11 inch page. Is this correct? Thanks.

 

Mark

[jdclarkson]

HELP! I'm having a problem and hope Jon, or any of you, can help. Here's the issue:

 

I have two databases with pictures. The first database was for my own pens, made on the PC version of FPN. The second database is for pens of a friend who has left me her pen collection. It was made on a Mac and also has picture for almost every pen. Now, I was able to open the Mac-version in FileMaker Pro, save it as a fp7 file, and then import it into an empty FPN template on my PC using the PC version of Fountain Pen Inventory. So now, I have two PC-compatible databases, each with photos. The number of records for database 1 is 98; the number of records for database 2 is 164.

 

Here's the issue:

 

Each database opens fine and everything is copacetic. The pictures are fine.

HOWEVER, when I import one database into the other, the pictures get goofed up. By "goofed up", I mean that many of the pictures so not correspond to the pen described in the record. Sometimes, when I put in a new photo for one pen, it appears in the record of a completely unrelated pen.

 

The records combine fine; it's just an issue with the pictures. Here is what I have tried: (1) importing database 1 into database 2; (2) importing database 2 into database 1; (3) importing both databases into an empty template; (4) insuring that "Store only as reference to file is UNCHECKED when I place a picture; (5) deleting the records that seem troublesome (the pictures just seem to shift to another, wrong record; (6) deleting and re-inserting the pictures from the entire database. To import, I have used both "Import Records/File" from the File menu and "Import Data from Previous Version" from the Fountain Pens menu.

 

I suspect the problem is operator error, but it may be a bug. If it is operator error, could someone please suggest what I may be doing wrong (or specify with details how to import properly). If it is a bug, it would be a relief to know... I will quit beating my head against this wall.

 

In spite of this difficulty, I love the program, use it (now have a combined database from which I have removed all photos, since they often did not correspond to the proper pen). I'd be thrilled if I could get the pictures to "align".

 

Thanks.

Edited January 17, 2009 by jdclarkson

[jimbro2k]

Another thank you for your generous gift to the community.

If you are gathering statistics, I am using the Mac version and it is trouble-free for me.

[mikey]

WOW, I'm impressed...someone NOT using Access.

 

Go FMP (and Apple).

 

Thanks,

Mike

[karrun]

Please help me recover my database!

I love this database, and spent at least 20 hours putting in pens and pictures. But yesterday, when working in it, my computer froze and I had to reboot. When I went to launch the program again, I got an error saying that the primary file "FPI clone is either not part of the application, is damaged, or is already open". When I search for the fountainpenclone.fpn file and point to it, I get the message that the file is damaged and cannot be opened. Use the recover command to recover the file. How do I do this? Help! I of course don't have a backup (sigh). Can I at least recover the pictures? I have at least 400 of them.

[Steve CS]

Thanks Jon

 

It's a fantastic DB. For those using - like me - Linux systems, you can use it with Wine. It works pretty.

 

Stefano

Vicenza, Italy

[jonro]

Thanks Jon

 

It's a fantastic DB. For those using - like me - Linux systems, you can use it with Wine. It works pretty.

 

Stefano

Vicenza, Italy

That's good to know. Thanks for sharing that information.

 

Jon

[Steve CS]

Thanks Jon

 

It's a fantastic DB. For those using - like me - Linux systems, you can use it with Wine. It works pretty.

 

Stefano

Vicenza, Italy

That's good to know. Thanks for sharing that information.

 

Jon

 

 

I'm not a programmer, but I think it will be not that difficult to recompile the source (you used Visual C, right?) in a Linux executable. Which Db was used as platform?

 

Stefano

Vicenza, Italy

[dunazee]

Thanks, Jon, this is Quite Handy!

[deauville]

just what I was looking for.

 

many thanks.

[nofa]

Thank You, Jon