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Printing Title Strips

Requirements
Printing title strips requires that you either have an AirPrint capable printer or have an email configured on your device. This application genrates title strips as a PDF file. If you have an AirPrint capable printer you can print the title strips directly from the device. If you do not have an AirPrint capable printer, you need to have your device configured for at least one email account in order for you to be able to attach the PDF file to an email that you can send to an email account where you can open the email on a computer that can use to print the PDF file.

Selecting Records for Printing Title Strips
To add a record to the list of records for printing title strips, go to the record details page for that record and tap either the + or - buttons to add to or subtract from the number of title strips you want to print for that record. Alternatively, you can tap in the field to the right of "Title Strip Quantity." When the keyboard appears, type the number of title strips you want to print for that record.

Previewing, Printing, and Emailing Title Strips
After selecting records for printing, tap the Title Strips at the bottom. This will bring up the list of records that have been selected for printing title strips. Tap the Create PDF button at the top right to create the PDF file that can be used for printing or sending in an email. Tapping the Create PDF button will create the PDF file and bring up a preview of the PDF file. From the Preview you can tap the button at the top right and that will bring up the option to print or email the title strips.

Title Strip Fonts
While this app provides a number of font choices, a few of the fonts have additional weights and typefaces available that allow for improved title strip layout. Recommended fonts are Helvetica, American Typewriter, and Avenir Next. Avenir Next is available with iOS 6 and later.

Title Strip Page Layout
There are a number of choices for different page layouts for title strip creation. There are different options based upon paper size and layout of the perforations on preperforated title strip sheets. If you find you are using a type of preperforated paper stock that is not supported by this app, use the contact information below to send me the information about the type of paper stock you are usng and I will add support for it.

Printer Adjustment
The printer adjustments allow you to modify the position of the title strips on the PDF. There can be some variation with how the output of the printer is aligned with preprinted and perforated title strip sheets. Use these adjustment to increase or decrease the top and left margins.

Note: When using title strip sheets from A1 Jukebox or Always Jukin', it matters how you feed the paper into the printer. The margins on the sides are not equal. Orient the paper so that the side with the smaller side margin (13/16") will be the left side of the paper. This is easier when using the preprinted strips. Orient the preprinted strips so that the black dot will be the top of the page.

Preprinted and Perforated Title Strip Sheets
You can find both preprinted and blank perforated title strip sheets from these vendors:

Problems with Printing

Titles Strips are too small
The most common problem with printing is printer scaling. The title strips sheets are full page meaning that they are meant to be printed borderless to allow for exact positioning on the page. This is required for using preprinted and perforated title strip sheets. Many printer drivers treat the entire page area as printable and scale the document down to fit inside of page plus some margin for borders. Technically this is an incorrect implementation since a PDF can specify what is the printable and is not in the printable area of the document. To fix this you need to check the printing options to make sure that it is set to print at 100% scale. Make sure that any fit to page setting is off. Below is an image showing the printer scaling setting on a Mac for a Canon printer. This setting may appear different based upon your operating system and printer.

Printer Scale Setting

Importing Data

Importing from low Profile JukeBox 5
JukeBox stores record information in two files, one named rec45.dbf for 45rpm records and the other is named rec78.dbf for 78rpm records. One of the easiest ways to find these files is to use the file search function on Windows and let Windows find the files for you. Search for either rec45 or rec78 to find the file that contains the record data. By default Windows will hide file extensions for file extensions that it knows. If Windows just happens to know the extension .dbf, the extension will not show and the file will be named rec45 or rec78 depending on which record format whose data you want to import into My Vinyl.

To quickly find the data files for Jukebox 5 you can use the following instructions: Hit the Windows + R key combination to bring up the "Run" option. On Windows XP type: "%userprofile%\My Documents\lowprofilesoftware\jb5\data" including the quotes or on Windows Vista or Windows 7 Type: %userprofile%\documents\lowprofilesoftware\jb5\data at the Run option. Also, you can download and run this find record data batch file which should bring up an "Explorer" window showing the location of the rec45.dbf file. This assumes that Jukebox 5 is installed in the default location.

Note: Data import has been tested against the data from JukeBox 5. Data from earlier versions of JukeBox may not be compatible with My Vinyl.

Importing data from a CSV file.
Importing data from a CSV file requires that the first line of the CSV file to be an appropriate header for describing each of the fields. For an example of the required header, export a CSV file from My Vinyl and open that CSV file to examine the header. You may omit any field that you do not wish to use with the exception of the "rectype" field which must be present for the data to be imported properly. There are some fields that you do not want to omit since they contain essential information about a record, such as the artist and song titles.

Sample CSV file


Adding Records by Searching Catalog Numbers

By Using the catalog number search feature, you can have most of the information filled in when adding a new record. When you search for a catalog number you will be presented with a list of possible matches. If you find an item in the list that matches your record select it and you will be presented with new record entry with most of the information you want already included in the new entry. Just add the missing information such as recored condition or anything else and tap the save button to add the new record.

Record Grading Schemes

This app allows you to use two predifined record grading schemes. You can choose from the grading scheme used by Nauck's Vintage Records or the record grading scheme used by Goldmine Magazine. Details on these record grading schemes can be found at their respective web sites.

Nauck's Vintage Records www.78rpm.com

Goldmine Magazine www.goldminemag.com



Feedback and suggestions can be sent to myvinyl@carlhaines.com