Guides – Selecting Databases in Justis 5

Justis 5 allows you to select multiple databases and search them simultaneously. The databases can be on CD-ROM or on hard disks (having been copied from CD-ROM). You can select any number of databases, provided that they are all available simultaneously on your computer system.

Available and selected databases

In Justis 5, you select the databases that you want to search with the aid of the Select Database(s) dialog box. To open the box, click the Databases button on the toolbar; if the toolbar is not visible, click Databases on the View menu.

The left-hand pane shows an expandable list of all of the products and databases that are currently available from Justis Publishing on CD-ROM. Please do not select databases that are not available on your computer or network.

The right-hand pane shows an expandable list of the ones you have selected.

Right-click a database to see details of the version and its location on your computer system.

If the "Load selected database(s) at startup" box is not checked, then the Select Database(s) dialog box will always be displayed when you start Justis 5.

Icons

	A plus icon indicates that more detail is available; click the plus icon to reveal further products and/or databases.
	A minus icon indicates that no more detail is available; click the minus icon to show less detail.
	A closed folder icon indicates that more detail is available; double-click the closed folder to reveal further products and/or databases.
	An open folder icon indicates that no more detail is available; double-click the open folder to show less detail.
	A book icon indicates a CD-ROM database.
	Ticks are not present by default; they are added when the list of available databases has been customised. After customisation, a tick indicates that you subscribe to database and that it can be selected. However, you may need to load the CD-ROM before you can use the database.

How to select an available database

The CD-ROM tab shows you the complete range of databases that Justis Publishing can supply on CD-ROM. You can select one or more databases, provided that they are available on your computer or network.

To select a database:

• double-click the book icon
• or click the book icon and then click the Select button
• or hold down the left mouse button and drag the book icon to the right-hand pane.

How to remove a selected database

To remove a selected database:

• double-click the book icon
• click the book icon and then click the Remove button
• or hold down the left mouse button and drag the book icon to the left-hand pane.

How to see an on-screen User Guide

Each product or database has a User Guide, part of the Justis 5 on-screen Help system. The User Guides describe the databases and the fields that they contain, and provide tips on how to carry out several types of search. To see a User Guide, click once on the name of a product or a database and then click the Help button below the list of databases (or press the F1 key on your keyboard). In the dialog box that appears, click the Product button.

Scanning for a new database

The first time that you use a database, Justis 5 needs to know where to find it. The quickest way to do this is to select the new database, click the Scan button, type in the location (e.g. D:) and click OK. If you are not sure of the location, scan without typing a location and Justis 5 will search your computer and any mapped network drives that it can find.

Scanning for a re-located database

If you try to use a database in a different location from the one that Justis 5 has recorded, for example if you have purchased a network license and moved your CD-ROM disc to a networked CD-ROM drive, Justis 5 will need to scan for it again. You can speed up this process by clicking the Scan button and typing in the new location.

If Justis 5 cannot find a database where it used to be located, it will ask you where it should scan. This can happen if you have forgotten to put the CD-ROM disc in the drive, or if your connection to a networked database has failed.

Hints and Tips

Don't select databases that are not available

Justis 5 makes sure that it can see all of the selected databases before it lets you enter a query. If it cannot find them all, it tells you which one(s) are missing, so that you can either Cancel and un-select them or tell Justis 5 where to find the necessary CD-ROMs.

Please make sure that you have not selected any databases that are not available on your computer or on your network. If there any plus signs in the list, click them so that you can see every item.

Automatically load a database

If you normally use the same database(s), you can select the "Load selected database(s) at startup" check box by clicking the box or adjacent text.

Customising the database menu

If you wish to, you can customise the list of available databases by indicating the products that you subscribe to on the list of databases in Database Preferences (available on the Tools menu). Once this has been done, ticks appear on the list of available databases. A black tick indicates that a product or group is available on your system. A grey tick indicates that some parts of a product or group are available. Products that are not shown as available cannot be selected.

Telling workstations on a network where to find databases

The network administrator can predefine the locations of databases on the network (on CD-ROM or transferred to hard disk) so that workstation users do not need to scan for them. This is done using the Network Options utility (noptions.exe); consult its on-screen Help file for details.