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 Biblioscape FAQs
Questions
Miscellaneous
Trial and Licensing
BiblioWeb
Database
Error Messages
Library Module
References Module
Format Manuscript
What is Biblioscape?
- Biblioscape is the most user-friendly bibliographic tool for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP available. Biblioscape helps the user organize reference collections, generate citations and
bibliographies according to journal specifications and import reference search results from different sources. Biblioscape can be used in a multi-user network environment. It is the only bibliographic
software that supports client/server technology.
- Biblioscape works seamlessly with MS Word and WordPerfect. An integrated web browser lets the user
capture web search results directly into a bibliographic database. The professional edition enables you
to post your bibliographic database on the Web in order to communicate with colleagues all over the
world. The Biblioscape Librarian edition includes all basic modules for a library automation software and
is the ideal solution for a research library to handle both bibliographic data and library data.
Why do I need Biblioscape?
- Biblioscape has a Windows Explorer-like interface to organize references into folders.
- Biblioscape includes powerful search features (including full text indexed search) that can find what you want in seconds, even in a 50,000-record database.
- Biblioscape features full integration with MS Word and WordPerfect, with Drag-to-Cite and Cite-While-You-Write.
- Biblioscape has a built-in style editor and an import filter editor allowing you to create new output styles and import filters when needed.
- Biblioscape lets you post your bibliographic database on the web without programming and share your reference collections with colleagues.
- Includes an integrated web browser for capturing web search results directly into your bibliographic database.
What makes Biblioscape special?
Web Integration
- An integrated web browser for searching references on the web and capturing them directly into a bibliographic database (Screenshot).
- A web server for posting bibliographic database live on the web (Screenshot).
- Generating formatted papers in RTF or HTML format.
Interface
- Biblioscape uses the familiar Explorer-like interface. Records are organized into folders (Screenshot).
- Indexed search finds records fast. Each word in the database is indexed and search keywords AND, OR, NOT, LIKE, NEAR can be used together with wildcards (Screenshot).
- A built-in spell checker (Screenshot).
- A built-in database report writer to generate reports in any format (Screenshot).
Database
- The Biblioscape database engine supports a multi-user environment with no extra setup. Several users can read and write to the same database at the same time. The database engine applies locking at
record level.
- Biblioscape is client/server ready. You can setup the database server BiblioRemote (which is installed with Biblioscape) with minimum effort and use Biblioscape to open a remote database published by
BiblioRemote.
What is "full text live indexing" and "lookup table live indexing" on the Options window? Does this indexing affect performance?
- When "full text live indexing" is turned on, Biblioscape automatically indexes every word you enter into
the database. This lets you perform super-fast indexed searches with AND, NOT, OR, LIKE, NEAR, *, ?,
etc. When "lookup table live indexing" is turned on, Biblioscape puts the author name, keyword, and
journal name into separate tables so you can perform fast lookups. These two operations do affect
performance. When entering a record manually, you won't notice the difference. However, when importing
large numbers of records (for example 1,000), if these two live indexings are turned off, the importing
speed will be 5-10 times faster. After importing you can go to "File | Database | Update Lookup Index" and "File | Database | Update Search Index" to regenerate them.
Can I search more than one Biblioscape database at once?
- The answer is no. A Biblioscape desktop database can store up to 200 million records. There is no need
to keep multiple databases. The folder organizing feature in Biblioscape allows you to organize records
based on any criteria. Biblioscape helps you eliminate the drawbacks of keeping multiple databases,
which include duplicate IDs, extra opens, close operations, extra steps in global find and replace, etc.
How can I backup Biblioscape databases to floppy disks?
- Because Biblioscape database tables have fixed length records, the database files are very large. But if
you compress the files, a 10 MB database can easily fit onto a single floppy disk. For this you need zip software; we recommend using WinZip (www.winzip.com). Run WinZip, click on the "New" button.
Select the floppy drive and give a zip file name. Click on the "Add" button and go to the directory where
your Biblioscape database files are located. Select all files and click the "Add" button or click on the
"Add with wildcards" button. If the compressed file does not fit onto a single floppy disk, you will be prompted to add another disk.
How can I transfer a database from one computer to another?
- To transfer a Biblioscape database from one PC to another, copy the directory where the database files reside to the other PC. If the content does not fit into a single floppy, you can use WinZip (www.winzip.com) to compress files onto multiple floppy disks. Once the files have been transferred, open the *.bsp file on the other computer.
Does Biblioscape have an indexing feature that allows the user to automatically compile an index for printing?
- Biblioscape is very strong in this area. SQL commands can be used to generate tables based on the
unique value of any field. For fields like "Authors" and "Keywords," each author name and keyword is
also indexed. With the built-in report writer, you can compile reports based on the index of any field.
- The Pro edition comes with several pre-built reports based on the indexes of author, keyword, year, journal, etc.
How can I add an annotation field and have it printed along with the corresponding record?
- There are two fields that can be used for annotation: the "notes" and "abstract" fields. The notes field
may be a better candidate since some records may already have data in the abstract field.
- There are also two ways to print out a bibliography list together with annotations. First, you can modify
an existing Style to add the "Notes" field in the bibliography section. Second, if you have the Pro edition, you can add the "Notes" field to a report.
How can I allow people to search my bibliographic database using a web browser?
- To allow people to access your bibliographic database using a web browser:
1.. Your computer must be on a network, and
2. you must have the Biblioscape Professional edition or the evaluation edition.
- If you have these, start the Biblioscape web server found in the "BiblioWeb" directory by double-clicking
"BiblioWeb.exe." If your computer does not have any other web servers running, BiblioWeb will use the
default port 80. Otherwise, you must specify another port number for the server to listen for http requests
, and then click the "APPLY" button to start the server. To access the web server from another PC, enter
the IP address of your computer in a web browser, for example: http://124.234.5.12 If you use a port
other than 80, you must also specify the port number in the URL, for example: http://124.234.5.12:8001 If you are trying to test the server on the same machine, use 127.0.0.1 as your IP address.
Why does my Biblioscape database take up so much disk space?
- A Biblioscape database takes as much as 10 times more disk space compared to an EndNote database. This is because in Biblioscape, data field lengths are pre-defined. For example, the data field
length for "Publisher" is 150. Even if your journal article record does not have any publisher data, it still uses the space of 150 letters.
- An EndNote database is small and fast. But the limitations are: (1) it cannot be edited by more than one
user at the same time so it does not fit into a multi-user environment; and (2) it cannot be too large (<32
MB or <32,000 records), etc. A Biblioscape database takes a lot of disk space, but hard drives are very
inexpensive now and most users have larger than 1,000 MB hard drives. The pluses of this are: (1) it can
be edited by many users at the same time (with record level locking); (2) it is client/server ready; (3) its data can be easily accessed by other programs through ODBC. For example, you can use MS
FrontPage to post your database on the web easily through ODBC.
How about Z39.50?
- Z39.50 is a communication protocol proposed by ANSI for the easy transfer of bibliographic information
between libraries. It was finalized before the era of the Web. There is software that serves as a Z39.50
client for users to access Z39.50 servers, the most popular one being BookWhere. The main advantage of Z39.50 software is that one query can be used to search multiple sources. For example, you can
search for books about "civil war history in Georgia" against the Library of Congress and several
university libraries at the same time. The main problem with Z39.50 is its limited adoption and the fact that the content is mainly library books and not journal articles.
- Biblioscape is not Z39.50 client software. Instead, Biblioscape supports the searching of remote data sources via the Web. Biblioscape comes with an integrated web browser (which requires Internet
Explorer). The user can capture bibliographic records directly from web pages into Biblioscape databases. By using the web browser, Biblioscape lets the user take full advantage of the searching
power of information providers on the web. In addition, almost all Z39.50 data sources have a corresponding web interface.
How many records can a Biblioscape database hold?
- The maximum number of records that can be added to a table is 200 million under Windows 95/98/ME and 1 billion under Windows NT/2000/XP. The maximum size of a table (.DAT), index file (.IDX), or BLOB
file (.BLB) is 4,000,000,000 (4 gigabytes) under Windows 95/98/ME and 128,000,000,000 (128 gigabytes) under Windows NT/2000/XP.
How should I set up Biblioscape for multi-user environment?
- You have two options: file server or client/server. With the file server option, you can install one copy on
the file server. Each user can run it directly from the file server. Although you only need one installation,
each client machine running the application needs to be licensed in order for Biblioscape to work. Once
your database becomes large, the file server option will become slow and generate heavy traffic on your network. You should then move to client/server option. Biblioscape comes with a database server
program called BiblioRemote. Each client machine will connect to BiblioRemote server and only BiblioRemote writes to the database. Most of the query processing will be done on the server too so it
won't slow down your network.
Which word processors are supported for Biblioscape integration?
- Biblioscape currently supports integration with Word and WordPerfect. The integration is achieved through DDE. However, it is possible for Biblioscape to support other word processors through DDE as
well. Click here to view Word scripts for Biblioscape integration. Click here to view WordPerfect scripts
for Biblioscape integration. If you are interested in writing scripts for other word processor to integration with Biblioscape, please contact us.
How do I access files like PDF documents through BiblioWeb?
- In order to prevent hackers from accessing your files, BiblioWeb server will not allow the access of any
file above the BiblioWeb folder. If you want to access your files like PDF documents through BiblioWeb,
you have to create a folder under the BiblioWeb folder. Then put all the attachment files under that folder
and specify the full path in the attachment field of a reference. You can then click on the attachment hyperlink in your browser and open the attachment file while using BiblioWeb.
How do I make a Biblioscape database available on a "read" basis via the Web?
- There are two ways to achieve the goal. First, you can make BiblioWeb to automatically create a "read"
account for each user via a Web browser. Each user can have his or her own marked list. You can also
create a "read" account and let all others login using the same account. Anonymous users will be able
to search and browse your database. You can add a hyperlink on your Web site and add the login name
and password into the URL. For example: search database. This way, they don't have to login each time they want to search the database. With the second approach, you have to license BiblioWeb by the
number of "hits" or concurrent users.
How do I make BiblioWeb automatically add users with 'read' or 'write' privilege?
- For new users of BiblioWeb without an account, BiblioWeb will display a registration form which lets the
user choose a login name and password. Once submitted, a new account will be automatically created.
To enable this feature, please run "...\BiblioWeb\BiblioWeb.exe." Click on the "User Admin" button.
Check the box "Create new account automatically upon request by user on the Web." Go to the "Auto
create account with previlige" section. Choose to auto-create a "read" or "write" account.
Is it is possible to run BiblioWeb without requiring a login to access the data?
- Yes, it is possible to let Web users click on a hyperlink to access your database. The hyperlink will
have the user name and password included in the URL and the user will be logged in automatically. For
example, you can create a "guest" account and assign a "Read" privilege to it. Then add the following
line in your html file: <a href="http://216.205.78.164:8001/bw_login2srch?edit_loginname=guest&edit_password=guest">Click here to search</a>
How do I access my Biblioscape database from home?
- There are two ways for you to access a Biblioscape database remotely from home. First, you can open a remote database through the BiblioRemote server within Biblioscape. Secondly, you can access a
remote database through a Web browser. Both options require you have a PC at work with a static IP address and the ports you use are not blocked by a firewall. BiblioRemote use ports 12005 and 12006
by default. BiblioWeb uses port 80 by default. The ports used by both BiblioRemote and BiblioWeb can be changed.
How do I change the field length in a table?
- The Biblioscape database has fixed length fields for most of the text fields. These fields will use a certain
amount of disk space no matter how much data is in those fields. In certain cases, you may want to increase the length of a field to accommodate additional data. For example, you may find the field
"Label" in the reference table "bib" is not long enough for your purpose. You can increase the field length
in a table by downloading a utility at http://www.biblioexpress.com/dbsys.zip. Unzip it to an empty folder
and run "DBSYS.exe." Go to menu command "Utilities | Restructure...". Select a local database and
open the table "bib." Go to the "Label" field and increase the field length to a number less than 250. A
String field can not have more than 250 characters. A Memo field can accommodate 255 MB of data and
it is not a fixed length. You should not change a field type. If disk space is a problem for you, you can
decrease the size of the Biblioscape database by changing the field length of the unused fields. Also, hard drives are inexpensive. This procedure is not recommended.
DBISAM Engine Error #8961 Header information corrupt in the table 'web_log'
- Problem: You may get this error message when BiblioWeb is running as a Windows service or as a regular application.
- Solution: Quit BiblioWeb if you are running it as a regular application. Stop the BiblioWeb service if you
are running it as Windows service by using the Windows service manager. Quit Biblioscape as well if it
is running. Run "...\Biblioscape X\Tools\Rebuild.exe" and click on the "Rebuild Global" button. Restart
BiblioWeb once the rebuilding process is finished. You can turn off the "Keep Log" option by checking the "Keep Log" box near the satus bar of the BiblioWeb window.
EXCEPTION: DBISAM Engine Error # 8962 Data record buffers corrupt in the table 'web_forum'
- Problem: You may get this error message when searching or browsing the forum messages in BiblioWeb using a web browser.
- Solution: If you are running BiblioWeb as a Windows service, turn off the service using the Windows
service manager by "Start | Settings | Control Panel | Adminstrative Tools | Services," and restarting the
service. If you are running BiblioWeb as a Windows application, quit BiblioWeb and restart. If this
doesn't fix the problem, quit BiblioWeb again. Then run "...\Biblioscape 5\Tools\Rebuild.exe" and click
on the "Rebuild Global" butoon. Once the rebuilding process is finished, restart BiblioWeb.
How do I print out spines and labels using the Biblioscape Librarian edition?
- First, you need to create or customize a report. The Biblioscape report writer comes with the
Professional and Librarian edition. It can be used to print out reports in any format you want. Each report
is designed to fit your needs. In the Biblioscape Library module, go to "File | Report." To print out a label
or spine, you can add the "Call Number" field to the report. Once you are satisfied with the report design,
save it. In the Biblioscape Library module, go to the "Catalog" window, select the records you want to
include and go to "File | Report | Print Report." Make sure the desired report is selected as the active one.
How do I move Biblioscape settings from one computer to another?
- The following instruction is for moving customizations between two installations of the same major
version. If you have several installations of Biblioscape on different computers, you may want to move
settings from one PC to another. Most of the options are stored in the ini table (ini.*) under the "Global"
sub-folder. The registration key is also stored there. After moving the ini.* files, you need to redo the registration. The toolbar and menu system settings are stored in Windows registry under
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Software | CG Information | Biblioscape X | ...". You can export or import
Window registry by going to "Registry | Import Registry File..." or "Registry | Export Registry File..." in
the Registry Editor. To start the Registry Editor, go to the Window status bar "Start | Run...". Type
"regedit" and click OK. Biblioscape output styles are stored in tables "format.*" and "journal.*" under the
"Global" sub-folder. You can move the whole table or you can export and import individual styles.
Biblioscape import filters are stored in tables "imp_filter.*" and "imp_type.*" under the "Global" sub-folder
. You can move the whole table or you can export and import individual import filters.
Does Biblioscape work with Microsoft Office alternatives?
- Biblioscape offers tight integration with MS Word and Corel WordPerfect. It also works with other word processors that support Rich Text Format (RTF). On Windows and Linux, almost all word processors
support RTF. They include: StarOffice, OpenOffice, EasyOffice, Lotus WordPro, 602Text, ThinkFree Office, gobeProductive, etc. When using MS Office alternatives, insert temporary citations to your
document. Once finished writing, save the document as an RTF file. In Biblioscape, go to "Tools |
Format Manuscript." Select the RTF file you just saved and pick an output style you want to use. Click
the "Start" button to let Biblioscape do the formatting. In addition to RTF, Biblioscape can also format document in HTML which is also supported by all word processors.
How do I add author names, keywords, etc. to Word or the Biblioscape spell checker?
- One of the problems faced by researchers in writing manuscript is the large number of "mis-spelled"
words found by the spell-checker. These words are mostly author names (especially foreign names) and scientific terminology. To solve this problem, Biblioscape allows the user to export author names,
keywords, etc. as a word list. You can then add the list to the Microsoft Word dictionary and the spell checker that comes with Biblioscape.
How do I change the font properties such as size when printing out a bibliography?
- Biblioscape's "File | Print" command will print out selected records according to the selected Style.
Although the format of each is controlled by the Style, the font name used, indentation, etc. can be
customized. The file to customize is at "c:\program files\biblioscape x\gobal\preview_rtf_header.txt." This
file also controls the text appearance in the "Formatted Preview" box. The following is the content of this file.
{\rtf1\ansi\deff0\deftab720{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil MS Sans Serif;}{\f1\fnil\fcharset2 Symbol;}{\f2\fswiss\fprq2
System;}{\f3\fnil Times New Roman;}} {\colortbl\red0\green0\blue0;} \deflang1033\pard\plain\f3\fs20
- You can edit this file with a text editor such as NotePad. For example, you can make the text appear in
"MS Sans Serif" font by changing f3 to f0. You can double the text size by changing fs20 to fs40. The changed last line will look like this:
\deflang1033\pard\plain\f0\fs40
How do I find all the references that do not belong to any folder?
- In Biblioscape, references are organized into folders. However, a reference does not have to be in any
folder. If you prefer, you can work in the "References | Retrieve All" view and forget about folders. So it is
possible that, some records are in folders while others are not in any folder. To find all the records that
do not belong to any folder, please go to the menu command "References | Search | Quick Search." In the Quick Search panel, go to "Miscellaneous | Not in Any Folder."
How do I import or export references in BibTeX format?
- Biblioscape allows the user to import and export records in BibTex format. To import a BibTex file, go to
the menu command "File | Import." Select the "Tagged" tab and make sure the import filter "BibTeX" is
selected. To export references in BibTex format, go to the menu command "File | Export." Select the
"RTF" tab and make sure the style "BibTeX" is selected. If you have special characters in your reference
data, make sure you have added the RTF escape character "\" before the special symbol. Otherwise,
those special character will cause problems. For example, if the Title field contains "\textit{name}," you should change it to "\\textit\{name\}."
Is Biblioscape available on CD?
- Biblioscape is delivered by download. If you have no internet access, we can ship you the download file
on a CD by mail. If you have slow internet access, we recommend you download Biblioscape as multiple
small zip files that can fit on a floppy disk. Then unzip it to an empty folder using WinZip. Or you can
use utilities like GetRight to download one big file. You can evaluate the fully functional trial copy free for
30 days or 30 uses. Once you purchased Biblioscape, there is no need to reinstall. You will receive a registration key to turn the trial copy into a registered one.
Why do I get "... not match" error when registering Biblioscape?
- The Biblioscape registration key is machine dependent. The registration key generated for one machine
won't work on another PC. When you go to "Help | Register Biblioscape" using the key sent to you by
CG Information, make sure it is the same PC you got the "Machine ID" from. If you still receive the error
"Your User Name and Serial Number do not match, please try again," redo the registration by using
Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) to enter the user name and serial number. The key is case sensitive. If
it still doesn't work, go to the "Help | About" window in Biblioscape and double check the "Machine ID."
Make sure it is the same number you sent to CG Information earlier. If there is a "-" sign before the
number, include it as part of the "Machine ID." Also check the version number of your installation which is listed on the "Help | About" window.
Why does another program get installed when I try to install Biblioscape or BiblioExpress?
- Biblioscape and BiblioExpress installation files are self-executable zip files. When you double click on
them, the files are first unzipped and the setup.exe files are executed. If you put the Biblioscape or
BiblioExpress installation file in a folder where other setup.exe already exist, the other program's setup
.exe will be executed first. To solve the problem, download the Bibilioscape or BiblioExpress installation file to an empty folder before running it.
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