Personal Serial Database

If you are a user of a previous version, DO NOT DELETE YOUR OLD VERSION WITHOUT EXPORTING YOUR DATABASE. Instructions are below. If you delete your old app without exporting the database, you will be deleting your data.

Documentation

Release Notes
Interface
Upgrading your old database
Version History
Copyright


Release Notes

Personal Serial Database (PSD) is an application which I developed out of necessity for myself. I have always been looking for a good way to store all of the little text snippets which accumulate on my desktop from day to day. I went to versiontracker.com and found several tools for just this purpose. The ones that were free weren't so great, and the ones that were great weren't so free. This made me consider creating my own. I broke out my old copy of Filemaker Pro and created this in an afternoon over some soda pop and Doritos.

I am a designer. I have a freelance design business called Dorsey Graphics which develops all kinds of digital media and design. As a designer, I tried to make PSD as intuitive as possible; catering to the user's needs and expectations. I hope you like it.

To all of those people who think that Filemaker apps are "not real apps" I have one message: nobody cares. I am not a programmer. I don't claim to be a programmer, and I don't want to be a programmer. I didn't develop PSD so that I could tell people that I am a programmer, I developed it to save serial numbers and passwords. Since it does just that, I consider it a success.

If you have any ideas as to how I may be able to improve PSD, please do not hesitate to let me know. My current contact information may be found at http://www.dorseygraphics.com.


Interface

The Record View

The List View

Great effort has been taken to make your browsing easier. All interface elements have been designed to be easily recognizable and big enough to click. Fields are wide enough for lots of text, and all fields can be copied from and pasted into.

PSD has two views which you will become familiar with. The list view and the record view. The list view contains all of the records which you are currently browsing, and the record view contains detailed information on a specific record.

Click on a picture to the right to open a larger view. Mouse over elements to learn about them.


Upgrading Your Old Database
If you are upgrading from a previous version of PSD, then you will need to import your records from your old database. This is done in two steps.

  1. Exporting from the previous version
You will need to open your old version of PSD and select "Export Records..." from the file menu. From there, select "Tab-Separated Text" from the pulldown menu. When the "Specify Field Order" dialog opens, click the "move all" button and then the "Export" button. I always save it to the desktop so that I can easily find it again and so that I can easily throw away the data file when I'm done.

  2. Importing the data into the new version of PSD
Open your new version of PSD and select "Import Records..." from the File menu. You will be presented with an open dialog box. Select the text file you just exported and click the "Open" button.

Next, you are presented with the "Import Field Mapping" dialog. This is a lot easier to use than it looks.

Your field names appear in the right hand column. The data that you are importing into them appears on the left. The arrows represent what data gets imported into what field.

You may click and drag items on the right vertically to correspond with the items on the left. It helps to work from the top item and go down.

If there are blank items which you cannot line up, then use the double-arrow buttons (in the red circle) to move back and forth through the data in your records and line them up.

Using the "View By" menu will rearrange the items on the right according to varying criteria. Using this menu cannot be undone, so be careful! You may end up having to start all over again if the resulting order is not favorable.

Mouse over the image on the right to see how the items are supposed to line up.

You may further modify your import by selecting items from the Import Action area of the window (in the lower left). From here, you may add the records to your existing set, replace them, or update records with new information.

Once you are done, click on the "Import" button. Your data is now imported!


Version History

1.0
02-09-2002

- Developed app
- Created Interface
- Added functionality
- Created initial runtime app

1.1
02-11-2002

- Added spell checker
- Increased the number of columns in List View by clicking on the "PSD" wordmark
- Added help section

1.2
02-12-2002

- Removed password dialog which appeared on launch
- Added custom icons

1.3
03-16-2002

- Added Macintosh OSX version

1.4
04-06-2002
- Added "AfterEffects Expression" to the "Type" pulldown selection
- Added HTML documentation (You're reading it!)

1.5
04-07-2002
- Added "Registered" checkbox for each record
- Fixed installation issues
- Re-released separate OS9 and OSX versions - integrating them was premature

1.6
12 -16-2002
- Added support for multiple serials and authorization codes per record

1.6.1
09-20-03
- Created a new disk image installer
- Added EULA

2.0
07-22-11
- Created a new disk image installer
- Updated the app to work in Mac OS 10.7 Lion
- Improved the installer


Copyright

Copyright 2002
Dorsey Graphics

The contents (including arrangement and assembly) of the Personal Serial Database including, but not limited to, text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips and software, are copyrighted materials owned by Dorsey Graphics or used with the express permission of the copyright, trademark name or service mark owner. As such, the contents are protected by US and international copyright laws.

Dorsey Graphics hereby authorizes you to copy materials published by Dorsey Graphics on this product solely for noncommercial use within your organization in support of Dorsey Graphics. You may print a single copy of materials contained within this product for your personal use in learning about, evaluation or acquiring Dorsey Graphics services or products.
No other permission is granted to you to print, copy, post, reproduce, republish, distribute, transmit, upload, download, store, display in public, alter or modify the materials by any means, including but not limited to: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without Dorsey Graphics' permission, "mirror" any material contained here or in any other Dorsey Graphics product. Further, no permission is granted to you to use the Dorsey Graphics name, trademarks, trade names or patented designs for any reason.

Any permission granted terminates automatically if you breach any of these terms or conditions. Upon such
terminations, you must immediately destroy any downloaded and/or printed materials. Any unauthorized use of any material contained on this product may violate copyright laws, trademark laws, the laws of privacy and publicity and communications regulations and statutes.

Except as expressly provided above, nothing contained herein shall be construed as conferring on the user, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, any license or right under any patent, trademark, copyright, or other proprietary or industrial right, of Dorsey Graphics, its affiliates or any third party.