Downloads

TrackMyTrains.com allows you to create custom tailored extract files from your collection and download them to your computer as tab delimited text files. You can then load these files to your PDA, import them to word processing, spreadsheet or other local application, or email them to other parties. Like the reporting function, you can specify which records to include, the sort sequence desired, and the data fields to be contained in your extract files.

There are two types of download specifications - Predefined and Custom.

• Predefined Download specifications come with your subscription to TrackMyTrains.com. These are general downloads specifications that have been pre-programmed to request data extracts that collectors might want to download to another computer application or PDA and as examples for creating download specifications of your own.

          The predefined downloads include:
                    Locomotive Roster File by Railroad
                    Shopping List
                    Owned Rolling Stock Roster File by Railroad
                    Full Database Download

• Custom Download specifications are those download specifications that you have created and saved. You can create your own custom download specifications by cloning predefined download specifications and modifying them to your own preference. You can also create a custom download specification from scratch or by cloning other custom download specifications. These specifications can be used to generate a download file one time or saved on your database for future use. This process is completely analogous to the Report generation and specification process, only more simple.

Generating Download Extract Files

To generate a download extract file, click on either Predefined Download or Custom Download, depending on where the specification for the extract file you want to create and download is stored.

Choose the download that you want to generate as the "currently selected" download record by clicking on the row selection arrow of the Download Display Table. If you don't find the one you want, you can create a new specification as explained a little later in this section.

Then click on , which is found on the top right side of this page. A window will pop up asking you to wait while your download request is processed. After your request is processed, another window will open up with the downloaded information. The information may not appear to be aligned in this window because the web page that pops up is not meant to be the final presentation of the extracted data.

In order to prepare this information for your PDA or other application, you will need to do the following:

1. Click on View in your browser's menu bar.
2. Then click on Source. This will open up a text document with the downloaded information formatted with each field separated by a tab.
3. Save this text document on your computer. Click on "File" in the text editor application (e.g. Notepad) containing the downloaded extract and then select "Save As". In the "Save In" box, choose a folder in which save the file. In the "File Name" box, type in a name for the file. In the
   "Save as type" box, select "Text Documents." Be sure to remember where you save the file and what you name it for later reference.

To download the information into your PDA, you will need to get a database application for your device. One we like is MobileDBLite, which you can download for free at www.handmark.com, but many others can also be used.

Once you choose a database application for your PDA, follow the application's instructions for importing tab-delimited text data into a database. You will probably need to import the text file that you saved earlier into your Palm OS database program and set up the file to be transferred to your PDA the next time you synchronize devices.

To import a downloaded file into MS Excel, open up the Excel application. Click on "File" and then on "Open". A dialog box will pop up. In the "Files of type" box, select "Text Files". Look for the name of your downloaded file in the folder where you saved it. Select it and click "Open", and follow the instructions for the text file import wizard. In the first step of the text import wizard, be sure to select "Delimited" as the original data type. In step 2, choose "tab" as the delimiter, and then follow the rest of the instructions to load the spreadsheet the way you want it.

Defining Your Own Custom Download Extract Files

Defining a Download Specification is just like defining a report specification, except there is less to specify. First decide whether you want to start from scratch or clone an existing download specification.
To clone a predefined download, choose predefined download from the left menu bar, highlight the download you want to select, and click:

To start from scratch or to clone an existing custom download, choose Custom Download from the left menu bar. Next, if you are cloning and existing download, make it the currently selected download using the arrow to the left of the row in the display table. You will see these five buttons on the right side of the screen.

Record Selection Fields:
Exactly like the Record Selection Fields section in Reports, this is where to specify the selection criteria for the records you want included on your download. Leaving this section blank causes all records to be included in your download. The more selection specifications you provide, the less record will be included in your download extract file.

Sort Fields:
If you want to specify the fields by which your downloaded file should be sorted, you can choose to sort by any field in an ascending or descending alphabetical order. For multiple levels of sort, specify the primary sort field first, and then the secondary and so on, just as with the reports.

Fields to be Downloaded:
Specify the fields you want included in the records of your download. They will occur in the records in the same sequence as you specify them.

On the right side of the latter two areas are the same four buttons found on the Edit Reports screen to aid in the manipulation of this data.