Depending on how detailed you care to get with organizing and maintaining your data, you may never need to use any of the functions found in this module. However, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with them in case you ever need to do mass changes or in case you ever want tighter control over your data.

PLEASE NOTE: All “database” files referenced below are, in reality, .xls documents that can be found in your base AMV Tracker directory, in case you ever want to move them to a different folder or need to view them in a spreadsheet program directly. If you do the latter, please note that any changes you make to the data in the spreadsheet can have an adverse affect on AMV Tracker’s functioning. It is recommended that if you want to do any data manipulation to the spreadsheet directly, you do so to a copy of your database so you don’t inadvertently mess things up. AMV Tracker itself should have all the functions you need to access and manipulate any of this data, however.

(1) Change working database: When you start up AMV Tracker, you will be asked to select a database to use. AMV Tracker comes with a pre-populated database of over 2,300 videos, as well as a blank database that you can start building from scratch. If at any point in using AMV Tracker, you want to switch between the current database you’re working in and a different one, use this function to do so.

(2) Create a new database: If you ever want to create a new database from scratch, use this to create and name that database. It will be placed in your base AMV Tracker directory.

Copy database: (Since I took the above screenshot, I added this function as well.) Copy the entire database and give it a different name. The new file will be placed in the same directory as the file being copied.

(3) Rename database: Use this function to rename the current working database.

(4) Create new sub-database: Sub-databases are databases that exist alongside your main database, but are separate from them (to my Excel-using friends, a sub-database is just another sheet in the main .xls workbook). These can be used to input videos that you might not want to put in your main database for any reason; for example, to keep track of your own AMVs, or to keep a list of videos that you have yet to watch. This function allows you to create and name a new sub-DB.

(5) Delete sub-databases: This function will allow you select one or more sub-DBs from a list, and delete them. All videos contained within the selected sub-DBs will be deleted from those sub-DBs.

(6) Merge databases: If you have more than one database, or if, for example, you have a database from someone else, that you’d like to add to the current working database, you can use this function to do so. If, in the database you are adding, there are duplicate videos (defined as having the exact same editor username/video title), the entry in the database you are adding from will overwrite the entry in the current working database.

(7) Clear My Ratings: This will allow you to choose one or more sub-DBs (including the main database), and set all My Rating scores in those sub-DBs to 0. Use with caution, as this cannot be reversed.

(8) Clear sub databases: This will allow you to choose one or more sub-DBs (including the main database), and will delete all information from those sub-DBs (but will preserve the sub-DB itself). Use with caution, as this cannot be reversed.

(9) Make spreadsheet compatible: If you happen to have been using an older version of AMV Tracker, this function will update your current working spreadsheet to be compatible with the current version of AMV Tracker. This should be done automatically when you select the database to work with, but just in case I overlooked something somewhere in the code, this function exists too.

(10) Create backup of database: This will make a copy of your existing database file and will append “_BACKUP” to the end of the filename. It will be placed in the same folder as your current working database exists.

(11) Restore backup database: If you have created a backup, this function will rename the backup to the name of the current working database. In effect, this will overwrite your current working database with the backup. USE WITH CAUTION.