tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83019531132141822682024-03-21T17:35:58.872-05:00Visionary TechHome to additional tech guides and info for all things Visionary software related. From the Support department.chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-17825531034572625752015-01-12T11:00:00.000-06:002015-01-12T11:00:01.929-06:00Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Three–An Example<p><br></p><h3>How to introduce the cast of characters</h3><p><br></p><p>So we just learned how to display an image with the IB item Title being included.</p><p>Let’s use that to introduce the people involved in the case.</p><ol><li>Open your IB and add in the three video still captures of Sam Smith, Jim White and Sally Nealey.</li><li>Edit the item’s Titles in the IB to reflect what we want displayed.</li></ol><p>Your IB should look something like this:</p><p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-N_7H4hoBU8Q/VLA4boi6J1I/AAAAAAAAAIU/jginggQyakU/s1600-h/Part3_AnExample2.png"><img width="244" height="199" title="Part3_AnExample" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="Part3_AnExample" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Xo3Q5tSDZ5w/VLA4cRS52NI/AAAAAAAAAIY/U9JYKyDdfS0/Part3_AnExample_thumb.png?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></p><p>Now let’s set the individual item properties. (They will be the same for each.)</p><ul><li>Change the size in the display representation area. Centered in the upper two-thirds.</li><li>Check the box for Show item title.</li><li>Center the item title box in the lower one-third.</li><li>Change the Item title font properties, similar to our earlier Headings properties.</li></ul><p>(I created a template to keep them looking the same.)</p><p>Your Item Properties should look something like this:</p><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-MqbMht-Axtw/VLA4cighpYI/AAAAAAAAAIg/izWdYdy71OA/s1600-h/Part3_AnExample_Properties3.png"><img width="397" height="685" title="Part3_AnExample_Properties" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="Part3_AnExample_Properties" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-VwOgmQGhmoc/VLA4c0ThkQI/AAAAAAAAAIo/7lOCnOVGAy0/Part3_AnExample_Properties_thumb1.png?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>I have exported the IB as it exists at this point in the process. It is available as <a title="Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Three - An Example" href="https://www.visionarylegal.com/Downloads/DemonstrationIssueBuilderPresentation/DemoIBPart3_AnExample.VIB" target="_blank">Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Three - An Example</a>. This can be downloaded and imported into your case and will not overwrite your existing IB.</p><p>Please post any questions here as comments; remember, if you have a question so does someone else. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.</p><p>chuck</p><p><img class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zjwX-BOK-4o/VELPukjfOsI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cpGrYy-3Nuc/wlEmoticon-smile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800"> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/crbeckman"><img width="120" height="33" alt="View chuck beckman's profile on LinkedIn" src="https://static.licdn.com/scds/common/u/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_120x33.png" border="0"> </a></p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-67956681887307779012015-01-09T11:00:00.000-06:002015-01-09T11:00:01.160-06:00Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Four: Side-by-Side Document Pages<h3><br></h3><h3>How to display two pages in a side-by-side view</h3><p>This set will require several changes to the default layout properties.</p><p>First, let’s get the images added to our IB. </p><p>(I am using page three of the DocID:1 (Employee Handbook) and page one of the DocID:21 (Employment Agreement). I also annotated both pages by drawing a yellow rectangle around the “Medical Benefits” paragraphs. (I used the Image/Image view to see both images at the same time, but that is not necessary.) See bottom of this write-up for my screen.)</p><ol><li>Display DocID:1, page three and use the drag-drop icon to add it to the IB.</li><li>Then display DocID:21, page one and use the drag-drop icon to add that to the IB.</li></ol><p>Your IB should look something like this:</p><p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-zVofDvtJAdI/VK7gh11L6EI/AAAAAAAAAHs/ODwYgWwhhEk/s1600-h/Part4Side-by-sideIB6.png"><img width="354" height="98" title="Part4Side-by-sideIB" style="display: inline; background-image: none;" alt="Part4Side-by-sideIB" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-KH6_4724qxc/VK7giX0mTgI/AAAAAAAAAHw/KXxZwyTtOjI/Part4Side-by-sideIB_thumb2.png?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></p><p>Second, we need to set the IB item Properties for these two items.</p><ol><li>Open the properties for the first image and make these changes:</li><ol><li>Right-click in the display area and choose “Left 1/2”.</li><li>In the Run Next Item area; choose the “Immediately run next item” option.</li></ol><li>Open the properties for the second image and make these changes:</li><ol><li>In the Previous Item Clear area; choose “Clear none”.</li><li>Right-click in the display area and choose “Right 1/2”.</li><li>In the Run Next Item area; choose the “Do not run next item” option.</li></ol></ol><p><br></p><h3>Test this portion of your IssueBuilder</h3><h3></h3><p>Enable CourtViewer mode. </p><p>Select the first image, then right-click and choose “Run”.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>I have exported the IB as it exists at this point in the process. It is available as <a title="Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Four - Side-by-Side Document Pages" href="DemoIB,Part4Side-by-SideDocumentPages" target="_blank">Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Four - Side-by-Side Document Pages</a>. This can be downloaded and imported into your case and will not overwrite your existing IB.</p><p>Please post any questions here as comments; remember, if you have a question so does someone else. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.</p><p>chuck</p><p><img class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zjwX-BOK-4o/VELPukjfOsI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cpGrYy-3Nuc/wlEmoticon-smile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800"> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/crbeckman"><img width="120" height="33" alt="View chuck beckman's profile on LinkedIn" src="https://static.licdn.com/scds/common/u/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_120x33.png" border="0"> </a></p><p><br></p><h3><br></h3><h3>Additional Information</h3><p>Full screen view of my Visionary.</p><p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-JBJvPuC2UKY/VK7gi2T4vbI/AAAAAAAAAH8/75_sMZgwVss/s1600-h/Part4FullScreen5.png"><img width="504" height="284" title="Part4FullScreen" style="display: inline; background-image: none;" alt="Part4FullScreen" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GyXaVaEnr8Y/VK7gjVcoxPI/AAAAAAAAAIA/jaiXwQyNZKU/Part4FullScreen_thumb3.png?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-74032166709534243842015-01-08T11:00:00.000-06:002015-01-08T11:00:01.372-06:00Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Three–Single Document Page<h3>How to display a single page of a document</h3><p>For this item we will use page one of the Employee Handbook, DocID 1.</p><ol><li>Display page one of the Employee Handbook in the Image view.</li><li>Use the drag-and-drop icon to drag this image to the IssueBuilder.</li><ol><li>Optionally, create a Heading to make it easier to find specific portions in your IB.</li><li>The Drag-and-Drop icon looks like this:<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-_TYHeGQIGdI/VKw1GQ8WHxI/AAAAAAAAAHU/h6P2WuKMpMY/s1600-h/Drag-And-DropIcon2.png"><img width="234" height="60" title="Drag-And-DropIcon" style="display: inline; background-image: none;" alt="Drag-And-DropIcon" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4WGEIwwyrx0/VKw1GsBuNUI/AAAAAAAAAHY/-TXCDNKZU3U/Drag-And-DropIcon_thumb.png?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></li></ol><li>Edit this Item’s Title to indicate it is Page One of the Employee Handbook.</li><ol><li>Right-click on the item and choose Edit.</li><li>Change the heading description to reflect this is page one, ala “Employee Handbook, Page One”.</li><li>Click Ok.</li></ol><li>Optionally, in the Item’s Properties page, make the following changes:</li><ol><li>In the White area representing the screen layout, drag the right-side handler square 1/3 of the way to the left. This will leave some space on the right side of the screen.</li><li>Check the box to Show item title.</li><li>Drag that box to empty area in the upper right portion of the layout window.</li></ol></ol><p><br></p><p>I have exported the IB as it exists at this point in the process. It is available as <a title="Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Three - Single Document Page.VIB" href="https://www.visionarylegal.com/Downloads/DemonstrationIssueBuilderPresentation/DemonstrationIssueBuilder,PartThree-SingleDocumentPage.VIB" target="_blank">Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Three - Single Document Page</a>. This can be downloaded and imported into your case and will not overwrite your existing IB.</p><p>Please post any questions here as comments; remember, if you have a question so does someone else. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.</p><p>chuck</p><p><img class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zjwX-BOK-4o/VELPukjfOsI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cpGrYy-3Nuc/wlEmoticon-smile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800"> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/crbeckman"><img width="120" height="33" alt="View chuck beckman's profile on LinkedIn" src="https://static.licdn.com/scds/common/u/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_120x33.png" border="0"> </a></p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-79516618765061899182015-01-07T11:00:00.000-06:002015-01-07T11:00:02.909-06:00Demonstration IssueBuilder, A Digression into Templates<p>We just changed the properties for our two Headings – and made them the same. Isn’t there an easier way to do this?</p><p><br></p><h3>How to Create an IssueBuilder Template</h3><p>After getting the settings correct in our IssueBuilder (Item) Properties screen for one of the Headings, we can save these to populate the various settings to ease the simplify and standardize the settings when we create additional IB items.</p><p>Click the Save as new template button and give it a descriptive name. Such as “DemoIB - Headings”. Click the OK button.</p><p><br></p><h3>How to use the saved Templates</h3><p>Remember the Templates simply load your preferences into the IB Properties screen. </p><p>THE TEMPLATES DO NOT “FOLLOW’ THE ISSUEBUILDER ITEM.</p><p>They simply change the default item options to match your request.</p><p>In our IB, click on the second Heading and open it’s properties. Click on the down arrow in the Apply template field and choose your new Template. Now the properties for both headings match.</p><p><br></p><h3>How to change an existing Template</h3><p>Now you’ve decided that you want the Font Size to be 48 in your Headings instead of the 36 that I chose.</p><p>You don’t want to add a new Template “DemoIB – Headings – 48 Font Instead of 36”.</p><p>Open the item that used that Template. Choose the specific Template from the drop down list. (Ensure you have chosen the correct Template and that the values in the Properties window are correct.) Make your changes to the Item Properties. </p><p>Click the “Save as new template” button and type in exactly what is currently displayed in the Apply Template drop down field.</p><p>You will receive a warning about the existing template and do you want to replace it. Chose appropriately.</p><p>REMEMBER, TEMPLATES DO NOT “FOLLOW” ISSUEBUILDER ITEMS.</p><p>You will need to apply this updated Template to any Items in your IB that you wish to modify.</p><p><br></p><h3>Additional Information</h3><p>I want to delete one (or in my case, twelve). So where are these template files saved? </p><p>To do this, you will need to use the File System (Windows Explorer, My Computer or other method).</p><p>First, close your case.</p><p>Second, browse to <DriveLetter>:\v_data\CaseID\ISSUE\IBTemplates. Delete any that you no longer wish to be in the drop down list.</p><p>Since these are located in the CaseID directory, this obviously means two things.</p><ol><li>Templates do not extend across Visionary cases.</li><li>You can copy-and-paste them from one case to another.</li></ol><p><br></p><p>As always, </p><p>Please post any questions here as comments; remember, if you have a question so does someone else. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.</p><p>chuck</p><p><img class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zjwX-BOK-4o/VELPukjfOsI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cpGrYy-3Nuc/wlEmoticon-smile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800"> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/crbeckman"><img width="120" height="33" alt="View chuck beckman's profile on LinkedIn" src="https://static.licdn.com/scds/common/u/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_120x33.png" border="0"> </a></p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-2351747705900506902015-01-06T11:00:00.000-06:002015-01-06T11:00:04.043-06:00Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Two–Headings<p>In Part One, we created our IB and added two Headings without explaining what Headings were and how we were using them in this situation.</p><h3>What are Headings?</h3><p>They are entries in an IB that provide additional information to the viewer of the IB.</p><p>They can be displayable or not, depending on the item settings.</p><p>They can be used to separate parts of your IB.</p><ul><li>Before the Surgery, During the Surgery and After the Surgery</li><li>What happened in 1990, 1991, 1992, etc..</li><li>Steve’s view of the Event, Mary's view of the Event, etc.</li></ul><p>Or, as in our IB, a way to provide the audience with references.</p><p><br></p><h3>Set the Headings Properties</h3><p>Since we want these two Headings to be displayed, we need to edit the default properties.</p><p>Select the first Heading (Sally Nealey Presentation in my IB) and open it’s properties.</p><ul><li>Select it and right click, choose Properties</li><li>Or</li><li>Select it and press F4</li></ul><p>There are a few things we need to change to make this appear as I wish.</p><ol><ol><!--StartFragment--><br /></ol><li>To the left of the big white area is a check box item “Show item <br />title”.</li><ol><br /><ol><br /></ol><li>Check that box.</li><ol><br /></ol><li>This causes whatever is the Item title (in my case “Sally Nealey <br />Presentation” to be displayed on the court <br />screen.</li><!--EndFragment--></ol><li>In the big white area, I want the Heading text to appear about 1/3 down the screen.</li><ol><li>Click in the white area and little handler squares will be displayed on the corners and the middle of the top, bottom and both sides.</li><li>Put the cursor on the top, middle handler square and it will be displayed as an up/down two headed arrow.</li><li>Click on the handler, hold and drag the two headed arrow down about 1/3 of the way. Release the cursor.</li><li>Now the Heading text will appear on the far left, about 1/3 down the screen.</li></ol><li>Now we need to change the text properties to make it visible and centered.</li><ol><li>Click the Item Title Font button.</li><ol><li>In the Font size: drop down list, change this to 36.</li><li>In the Alignment: drop down list, change this to Center.</li><li>Click the Ok button.</li></ol></ol></ol><h3>Here are what my properties look like</h3><p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-q_7VD-GsVE8/VKmTB1z9LmI/AAAAAAAAAG8/E2m25FrJljY/s1600-h/PartOneHeadingsProperties3.jpg"><img width="396" height="690" title="PartOneHeadingsProperties" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="PartOneHeadingsProperties" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JioptqC5F1k/VKmTCw5zFYI/AAAAAAAAAHE/kUZNPNWigBE/PartOneHeadingsProperties_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></p><p><br></p><p>(At this point, feel free to play with your settings to find something that looks good to you.<sup>1</sup>)</p><p>Make the same changes to the second Heading in our IB.</p><p>Close your IssueBuilder.</p><p><br></p><h3>Additional Information</h3><p><sup>1</sup> Why did we choose these specific Font Properties?</p><ul><li>Font size 36 is large enough to be visible on the screen.</li><li>The best all around font color is the default yellow. Many DLP projectors do not render various other colors as they appear on monitors. This yellow is the most stable.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>I have exported this IB as it exists at this point in the process. It is available as <a title="Demonstration IssueBuilder, PartTwo - Headings.VIB" href="https://www.VisionaryLegal.com/Downloads/DemonstrationIssueBuilderPresentation/DemonstrationIssueBuilder,PartTwo-Headings.VIB" target="_blank">Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part Two – Headings</a>. This can be downloaded and imported into your case and will not overwrite your existing IB.</p><p><br></p><p>As always, </p><p>Please post any questions here as comments; remember, if you have a question so does someone else. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.</p><p>chuck</p><p><img class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zjwX-BOK-4o/VELPukjfOsI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cpGrYy-3Nuc/wlEmoticon-smile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800"> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/crbeckman"><img width="120" height="33" alt="View chuck beckman's profile on LinkedIn" src="https://static.licdn.com/scds/common/u/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_120x33.png" border="0"> </a></p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-83432474424791125822015-01-05T11:00:00.000-06:002015-01-05T11:00:00.630-06:00Demonstration IssueBuilder, Part One–The Wrapper<h3>Create and Name the IssueBuilder</h3><ol><li>In the IssueBuilders area; choose “Create new IssueBuilder”.</li><li>Give it a useful name.</li><ol><li>I’m naming this one “Demonstration IssueBuilder”</li></ol><li>Click the Ok button to create this IssueBuilder and open it for editing.</li></ol><p><br></p><h3>Add the “wrapper” entries</h3><p>(Our best practices are to start and end each IB with some “heading” items to provide context and additional information about the actual IssueBuilder. We will add others as we need them.)</p><ol><li>Click the Add Heading entry.</li><li>Add text that would be displayed before the IB is played.</li><ol><li>I am adding “Sally Nealey Presentation”</li></ol><li>Add text that would be displayed to indicate the IB has finished playing.</li><ol><li>I am adding “End of Presentation”.</li></ol></ol><p><br></p><p>Please post any questions here as comments; remember, if you have a question so does someone else. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.</p><p>chuck</p><p><img class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zjwX-BOK-4o/VELPukjfOsI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cpGrYy-3Nuc/wlEmoticon-smile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800"> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/crbeckman"><img width="120" height="33" alt="View chuck beckman's profile on LinkedIn" src="https://static.licdn.com/scds/common/u/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_120x33.png" border="0"> </a></p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-14779024420457025862014-12-30T11:00:00.000-06:002014-12-30T11:00:06.046-06:00Demonstration IssueBuilder, The Part Before Part One<h3><br></h3><h3>The IssueBuilder (Item) Properties Window Explained</h3>Since we will be referring to the IB Item Properties window, here it is and an explanation:<br><br><div class="separator" style="text-align: center; clear: both;"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-6TJihEjrxiI/VJtISgiI5lI/AAAAAAAAAGk/18_ZhpyANtY/s1600-h/IssueBuilderItemPropertiesWindowAnno%25255B2%25255D.png"><img width="349" height="561" title="IssueBuilderItemPropertiesWindowAnnotated" style="display: inline; background-image: none;" alt="IssueBuilderItemPropertiesWindowAnnotated" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-7yi-zU7zGvs/VJtITGPjTQI/AAAAAAAAAGs/AMjKiyUIgq8/IssueBuilderItemPropertiesWindowAnno.png?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></div><br>Starting from the upper left.<br><br>The red rectangle indicates the Previous Item Clear options.<br><ul><li>What should occur to whatever is currently on the screen when this Item is processed.</li></ul><br>The purplish rectangle indicates the Template options.<br><ul><li>Saving and applying templates to an Item</li><li>Applying a template does NOTHING more than set the properties on this window.</li></ul><br>The darker blue rectangle represents the presentation screen.<br><ul><li>How this Item will appear on the screen when displayed.</li></ul><br>The items displayed in the light blue rectangle will change depending on specific item.<ul><li>If and how text will be displayed.</li><li>Whether or not the Item Title will be displayed on the screen.</li></ul><br>The green rectangle indicates the Video linking options.<br><ul><li>Used to link this Item to a specific point in a video playback.</li></ul><br>And finally the yellow rectangle indicates the Run Next Item options.<br><ul><li>When this Item is processed, when should the next Item in the IB be processed.</li></ul><p><br>The two buttons in the lower left will step forwards and backwards through the items in your IssueBuilder.</p><p><br></p><p>Please post any questions here as comments; remember, if you have a question so does someone else. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.</p><p><br></p><p>Thanks, and let’s get started.</p><p>chuck</p><p><img class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zjwX-BOK-4o/VELPukjfOsI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cpGrYy-3Nuc/wlEmoticon-smile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800"> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/crbeckman"><img width="120" height="33" alt="View chuck beckman's profile on LinkedIn" src="https://static.licdn.com/scds/common/u/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_120x33.png" border="0"> </a></p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-89573063549767822432014-12-29T10:00:00.000-06:002014-12-29T10:00:02.977-06:00Demonstration IssueBuilder<h2>I’ve always wanted to create a better IssueBuilder (IB) than the one that I create and teach in nearly all but my shortest Visionary 8 training sessions.</h2> <p>That IB starts with a very simple item and gradually increases in complexity to the end. With a nice linear flow, it is about a half dozen steps. We aren’t going in a nice linear flow because we are going to be poking around in lots of nooks and crannies.</p> <p>The problem has always been that I was doing it on-the-fly, probably in front of a room of students of varying Visionary 8 familiarity and basic computer skills. So while it presented a great teaching process, I am not sure how much learning was done.</p> <p>So I started creating that IB from scratch and documenting my process.</p> <p>I quickly realized that was going to create the internet’s worst blog post. (Not really; that honor goes to Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Greenbridge Essex, England.<sup>1</sup>)</p> <p>So I decided to create this epic IssueBuilder as a series of posts.</p> <h2>So here is my plan:</h2> <ol> <li>This post to introduce the idea and how to get the data needed to follow along. See the end for how to get the data.</li> <li>Next will be an explanation of the IssueBuilder Item Properties window and it’s numerous options. We will create the skeleton of the IB so we have something to work with. Maybe a side post on templates.</li> <li>Then we get into the items in our IB. There will be about twenty all together and should provide examples of everything I have seen over the more than a decade that I have been doing this.</li> <li>The first items will display single items; headshot, image view of a transcript, a document, non-synced video and finally, a talking head.</li> <li>The second set will be two things at once. Headshot and transcript, transcript and document, two documents, a document and tear-out, non-synced video and image, talking head and document and finally, a talking head and scrolling text.</li> <li>The third set is a quick run through of the default talking head, scrolling text and designation. We will also create a non-standard version and use the Modify all CourtViewer Layout options for rapid IB item set-up.</li> <li>The fourth set will introduce the Run Next Item options. We will create a cascading affect of multiple pages of a document as well as simple tear-out replacement.</li> <li>The fifth set will combine the various processes from earlier to create a fairly complex scripted audio/video item with scrolling text, document, and tear-outs with replacements.</li> <li>The sixth set will address some more esoteric ideas; moves, global item additions, link to video frame and clip editing.</li> <li>The seventh set will continue with additional IssueBuilder processes; the various printing options, importing and exporting, run time, and confirming items.</li></ol> <p><strike>I will try to post one item per day to keep this moving along.</strike></p> <p>I will also try to post videos as we go along; and obviously when we are done, I will post the complete playback.</p> <p>The complete IssueBuilder, as exported from the sample case will be available as soon as I reach that point.</p> <p>Please post any questions here as comments; remember, if you have a question so does someone else. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Thanks and let’s get started.</p> <p>chuck</p> <p><img class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zjwX-BOK-4o/VELPukjfOsI/AAAAAAAAAF8/cpGrYy-3Nuc/wlEmoticon-smile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800"> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/crbeckman"> <br /> <img width="120" height="33" alt="View chuck beckman's profile on LinkedIn" src="https://static.licdn.com/scds/common/u/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_120x33.png" border="0"><br /> <br /> </a></p> <hr> <h2>How to get the data – or what do I need to follow along?</h2> <p>You will need a registered copy of Visionary 8. There is a free version available on our web site, <a title="Visionary Legal Technologies" href="https://www.visionarylegal.com">www.visionarylegal.com</a>. You must create an account (with a valid email address) to get the download link and registration code. You will also want the video that we will be using. That can be downloaded from this link: <a title="VLT Demo Video Files" href="https://www.visionarylegal.com/Downloads/DemoVideo\DemoVideoInstallLocal.exe" target="_blank">VLT sample case video files</a>. (This executable file is nearly 500MB in size, so a high speed connection will help.) All the other data in the VLT sample case is included in the basic installation.</p> <p><br></p> <p>1 From my copy of Douglas Adams’ <em>The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide</em>.</p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-83256419562856963862014-12-08T13:53:00.001-06:002014-12-08T13:53:23.811-06:00Populate the Visionary Case Selection Screen from a File System Backup<p>So you’ve been a responsible, computer literate person and have been making file system backups of your computers and your computer with Visionary 8 installed has become inoperable.</p><p>What do you do to get all your Visionary cases back onto your new computer?</p><p>You know that using a Case Backup file (.vbk) is the best means of restoring a case to a new location, but you have File System backups instead.</p><p><br></p><h2>What to do?</h2><h3>Step one</h3><h4></h4><p>It’s actually quite easy to get your old cases onto your new computer. Follow these steps and you will be operational.</p><p>Launch Visionary 8 on your new computer.</p><p>Set your data drive to your new chosen drive (most likely c:\).</p><p>Let Visionary 8 prep the drive (creates a “vs_data” directory and adds the necessary databases.)</p><p>Now copy over all the CaseID directories to the newly created vs_data directory on your new drive.</p><p>It should look like this (your cases will obviously be different):</p><p><br></p><p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-TOk5pb-1IGk/VIYBsI8n_wI/AAAAAAAAAGM/ThOdnYUug9w/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png"><img width="230" height="134" title="image" style="margin: 0px; display: inline; background-image: none;" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4H_84P4L5TE/VIYBsovMSeI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/j7useiSFLzU/image_thumb.png?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></p><p><br></p><h3>Step two</h3><p>From the Visionary 8 Case Selection screen, choose Create.</p><p>Fill in the Case Title field.</p><p>Enter the existing (from your vs_data directory) CaseID (in my example that would be “Wild1”).</p><p>Then click Next.</p><p>Visionary 8 will indicate that it found a directory for your CaseID and will use any pre-existing databases.</p><p>Click OK.</p><p>Click Next to the default import locations screen, image database and Case configuration screens.</p><p>Your case will open in the same condition it was when the File System backup process was completed.</p><p><br></p><p>As always, if there are any questions, please contact me at <a href="mailto:Support@VisionaryLegal.com">Support@VisionaryLegal.com</a></p><p><br></p><p>chuck</p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-23151514777117655142014-11-21T14:05:00.001-06:002014-11-21T14:05:45.410-06:00How to Use a Spreadsheet for Juror Questionnaires<p>This is a follow on to my post on <a title="Old geeks Rule Blog" href="http://oldgeeksrule.blogspot.com/">Old Geeks Rule</a> regarding setting up a <a href="http://oldgeeksrule.blogspot.com/2014/11/using-spreadsheet-for-document.html">spreadsheet to hyperlink to existing pdf files</a>.</p><p>This will be more about setting up a spreadsheet to allow easy data entry and finding patterns in the jury pool.</p><p>First we need a spreadsheet. I happen to have both Excel 2010 and 2013. I will use 2010 to keep things more widespread.</p><p><br></p><h3>First an overview</h3><p>Why should I use a spreadsheet to track my juror questionnaires?</p><p>Good question. This approach is obviously only useful if you actually have time to analyze their responses. If you get the responses, go to lunch and start voir dire right after lunch; the time spent entering data is not time well spent.</p><p>Likewise, if you have twenty potential jurors, again your time is probably better spent elsewhere.</p><p>However, if you end up with 150 potential jurors, several assistants, multiple attorneys and an evening (or longer) time frame available to analyze the responses; it makes sense to set up a process to wisely use your voir dire time.</p><p>And that is where a spreadsheet to track the juror responses is useful.</p><p><br></p><h3></h3><h3>The setup</h3><p>Since the juror questionnaires are known before they are returned by the jurors (obviously), much of the spreadsheet can be setup beforehand.</p><p>Let’s get started.</p><p>Create a new spreadsheet called Juror Questionnaires.</p><p>Use the following column headings; </p><ul><li>cell A1 = Juror Sequence Number</li><ul><li>A unique number by jury pool, typically on the individual jury duty card.</li><ul><li>There may be duplicates if there are multiple pools called.</li></ul><li>It will match to the juror’s personal information as known to the court.</li></ul><li>cell B2 = Juror Number</li><ul><li>With luck, all the Juror Sequence Numbers will be one-to-one with this number </li></ul><li>cell C2 = First Name, MI</li><li>cell D2 = Last Name</li><li>cell E2 = Address, Street</li><li>cell F2 = Address, City</li><li>cell G2 = Address, State Code</li><li>cell H2 = Address, Zip</li><li>cell I2 = Date of Birth</li><li>cell J2 = Age</li><li>cell L2 = Map Location</li></ul><p>Put questionnaire specific items in the subsequent columns as appropriate.</p><p>Here are some examples of yes/no type questions:</p><ul><li>Married</li><li>Military Service</li><li>Member of Specific Club</li></ul><p>Examples of either/or questions:</p><ul><li>Gender</li><li>Own or Rent Housing</li><li>Retired or Employed</li></ul><p>Some examples of multiple choice questions:</p><ul><li>Type of Employment</li><li>Education Level</li></ul><p>And range of feelings:</p><ul><li>Are there too many lawsuits?</li><li>Are monetary awards too high?</li></ul><p><br></p><p>I’ll add some of these to my example spreadsheet to show some code to make data entry easier and less prone to errors; as well as show how to use some built-in data mining.</p><p>(Ugh, the worst part is generating the fake data. Fortunately, there are internet sites that will generate at least some of this fake data – my thanks to FakeNameGenerator.com.)</p><p><br></p><h3>Excel as Data Management</h3><p>Ok, so now we have our spreadsheet loaded with all sorts of nice data. How do we use Excel for data management?</p><p>From within your spreadsheet, choose the Data menu item, then Filter. You should now have little down facing arrows on each column header.</p><p><br></p><h3>Examples</h3><p>Find the Males over 50.</p><blockquote><p>In the Gender column, click the arrow and only select Males.</p><p>In the Age column, click the arrow, Numbers Filters, Greater Than… and set the Age “is greater than” value to 50 and click the Ok button.</p><p>Here are the potential jurors that meet these criteria.</p></blockquote><p>(To clear any filters, click the arrow for that column and choose the Clear Filter From option.)</p><p>Find home owners that think awards are too high.</p><blockquote><p>In the Housing column, choose Own and Awards Too High column choose Strongly Agree.</p><p><br></p></blockquote><h3>For Extra Credit</h3><p><strong>What’s with cell L2?</strong></p><p>Enter this formula in that cell “=HYPERLINK(CONCATENATE("https:\\maps.Google.com\maps?q=",E2,"+",F2,"+",G2,"+",H2,"&z=12"),"Location")”. This formula is all one line, it breaks due to page width.</p><p>This will create a clickable link that will display the address in Google Maps. This is handy to match juror’s abodes to nearby events.</p><p><br></p><p>Cool formula to calculate Age from Date of Birth: “=DATEDIF(I2,NOW(),”y”)</p><blockquote><p>Uses the DateDif formula to find the difference between I2 and RIGHT NOW, and returns years.</p></blockquote><p><br></p><p>This is a <a title="Juror Questionnaire Excel Spreasheet, zipped" href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76020828/JurorQuestionnaire.zip">link to the zipped spreadsheet in my Visionary Legal Dropbox account</a>. If that is no longer available or is non-accessible, please email <a href="mailto:Support@VisionaryLegal.com">Support@VisionaryLegal.com</a> and we will try to get you a copy. At the time the file was uploaded it was free of any known security issues. As with all files from the internet, assume there is a problem and be proactive is your security.</p><p><br></p><p>Thanks for reading as this is much longer than my typical posts.</p><p><br></p><p>Please feel free to contact me for any issues.</p><p><br></p><p>chuck</p> chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-49463596846760634002014-10-18T16:58:00.001-05:002014-10-18T16:58:36.238-05:00More RegEx Recipes for Text ProcessingYesterday I <a href="http://visionary-tech.blogspot.com/2014/10/atypical-ascii-line-breaks.html" target="_blank">wrote a piece on using some elementary Find-and-Replace</a> stuff using Notepad++ for handling an issue that occasionally arises in transcript handling.<br><br>On this post I thought I'd add some real RegEx recipes for more advanced text handling.<br><br>(I will be using two programs, the first is the previously mentioned <a href="http://notepad-plus-plus.org/">Notepad++</a>. It is a free, as in beer, software that I use extensively. The other is <a href="http://www.textpad.com/">TextPad</a> by Helios Software Solutions. It is only about $30 for a license, but if you need the advanced features, it is WELL worth the price. I will indicate which recipes must use TextPad, otherwise the default is using Notepad++.)<br><br>(I will refer to these RegEx processes as recipes, meaning there is a Find portion and a Replace portion. I will use quotes to make reading easier, but the start and end quotes are not meant to be used in the actual recipe. I will indicate a space as <space>, since those tend to be difficult to read on line. For example; Find: "\r\n<space>\r\n". Also I will use "F:" and "R:" instead of using all the extra letters of "Find:" and "Replace:" And obviously, unless noted, the quotes are NOT part of the recipes and are included solely to make it easier to read.)<br><br>Alright, first an explanation of the recipe for replacing the erroneous EOL characters from the <a href="http://visionary-tech.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">other blog</a>.<br><br>That recipe was F: "\r\r\n" R: "\r\n\r\n".<br> Explanation: Find the lonely Carriage Return followed by the correct EOL sequence (\r\r\n) and replace it with the correct EOL sequence - twice (\r\n\r\n).<br> Summary: Clean up files with this odd combination of EOLs.<br><br>Another version of this issue is a file that ONLY has Line Feed characters at the end of EVERY line.<br>This recipe would be F: "\n" R: "\r\n"<br>(This explanation and summary is left as an exercise for the reader.)<br><br>The recipe to remove double-spacing is F: "\r\n\r\n" R: "\r\n".<br> Explanation: Find two ASCII EOL markers in a sequence (\r\n\r\n) and replace with a single EOL (\r\n).<br> Summary: Remove all empty lines, such as found in a double-spaced file.<br><br>Trim trailing whitespace F: "[<space>\t]+$" R: ""<br> Explanation: Find and select any and all "+" spaces "<space>" or tabs "\t" that occur just before the end of the line "$" and replace them all "[]" with nothing.<br> Summary: Trim the end of a line of extraneous whitespace.<br><br>Now the follow on to trim leading whitespace F: "^[<space>\t]+" R: ""<br> Explanation, same as above, except "^" means the start of a line.<br><br>To find most problem non-ANSI characters use F: "[^\xd,\xa,\x20-\x7a]"<br> ANSI characters are the printing characters and lower non-printing ones. The "\x20-\x7a" catches the upper problem characters.<br><br><br>Thanks and have a great day.<br><br>chuck chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-23370697125017115862014-10-06T16:55:00.001-05:002014-10-10T13:10:21.972-05:00Atypical ASCII Line BreaksWOW! Bet I got your attention with that title!<br />
<br />
This is a geekish post with real-world application to those importing transcripts into Visionary software.<br />
<br />
I just received a support request that included this piece of information "<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">This transcript does not use typical line break ASCII
characters.</span>
"<br />
<br />
I've seen enough of these to know that the issue is caused by the End Of Line (EOL) character(s).<br />
<br />
In the PC (Windows) world, all text files are supposed to use two (non-printing) characters to signal the end of a line. Those two characters reflect the old type-writer days (those of you too young to remember type-writers can skip past this explanation). When the end of a line was reached on a type-writer, you returned the carriage to the first column and rolled the platen up one (or more) lines. This passed into the personal computer world as "Carriage Return" and "Line Feed" or CR/LF to indicate the end of a line.<br />
<br />
However, there are some groups that do not use this standard. They follow the old unix way (shout out to my old Unix SysAdmin buddies). These groups only use one character; the Carriage Return, to indicate the EOL.<br />
<br />
This is what that looks like:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZFF_l_7pegiMzdOfJxuPBLhueDYGsnnQNAo_KTx0Vo09-mS8A-3iK_qlRJk5RcAoiX5XiHM0ORv4Jx-K6M7vug9q8KzitZ5CibsfZyWweUW202rvZtp_zwISfMqmeL-r_3aTjkFUikAB/s1600/Non-Standard_EOL.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZFF_l_7pegiMzdOfJxuPBLhueDYGsnnQNAo_KTx0Vo09-mS8A-3iK_qlRJk5RcAoiX5XiHM0ORv4Jx-K6M7vug9q8KzitZ5CibsfZyWweUW202rvZtp_zwISfMqmeL-r_3aTjkFUikAB/s1600/Non-Standard_EOL.PNG" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
(I happen to use a program called Notepad++ that I have set to display all characters; that is why I can see the EOL's (and little dots for all the spaces). Here is a link to the home page of this free - as in beer - software: <a href="http://www.notepad-plus-plus.org/">http://www.Notepad-plus-plus.org</a>.)<br />
<br />
And there you have the problem.<br />
<br />
Have a great day out there.<br />
<br />
Questions? Answers - Support@VisionaryLegal.com<br />
<br />
chuck<br />
<br />
<br />
What? Are you still reading?<br />
<br />
OK, you know who you are and you want a solution.<br />
<br />
Well, using Notepad++, choose Search, Replace.<br />
<br />
In the Replace tab enter (without the quotes) "\r\r\n" in the Find What field and "\r\n\r\n" in the Replace With field. Click the radio button for Extended (\n...) and click the Replace All button.<br />
<br />
When it finishes, all the single CR's will have been replaced by the more appropriate CRLF combination.<br />
<br />
Of course at this point you are staring at a transcript that is double-spaced, so you can clear that with one more Search and Replace operation using "\r\n\r\n" and "\r\n". Click the Replace All button a couple times until there are no more replacements.<br />
<br />
Just like voting; save early and save often.<br />
<br />
crb<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-30044302069293222662014-09-22T09:00:00.000-05:002014-10-03T16:35:15.404-05:00Hey, I can't see my Register (or Release) button!I know I left it here somewhere.<br />
<br />
This happens mostly when you are trying to transfer your software from one computer to another.<br />
<br />
You step through the process, launching the software and going to Help, Register - but you don't see the Unregister or Release Registration Code button.<br />
<br />
What has occurred is the text in the window is too large to allow the buttons to be displayed.<br />
<br />
For the time being, we are going to shrink the text to make the buttons visible.<br />
<br />
We need to open the Display options from the Control Panel. <br />
<br />
Here is one method.<br />
<div>
</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Click the Start button and choose Control Panel.</li>
<li>Then double-click the Display option.</li>
</ol>
<br />
You should see two (or more) radio buttons that allow the changing of the text size. We want the Default - 100% option.<br />
<br />
(See screenshot below.)<br />
<br />
Then click the Apply button.<br />
<br />
Now when you step through Visionary's Help, Register process you will be able to see the buttons.<br />
<br />
(Obviously, when you are done, you can reset the text size back if needed.)<br />
<br />
Questions? Answers - Support@VisionaryLegal.com<br />
<br />
thanks,<br />
chuck<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZI9mh9wLXt3i9i3A2V6hctY-Dlwq1frbB1cIGC04AXhzWDjbvFuGjE0oFQCfGErV9xw4X-4lz5i9q5YZd5W0HCDcwHZ4gsgT-lCPgYpM7wcHIcgmzyRkkwPMO9JIyEsuOj6U7n7O3rqy/s1600/DisplayProperties_TextScaling.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZI9mh9wLXt3i9i3A2V6hctY-Dlwq1frbB1cIGC04AXhzWDjbvFuGjE0oFQCfGErV9xw4X-4lz5i9q5YZd5W0HCDcwHZ4gsgT-lCPgYpM7wcHIcgmzyRkkwPMO9JIyEsuOj6U7n7O3rqy/s1600/DisplayProperties_TextScaling.PNG" height="188" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-66935350603489108282014-09-19T13:30:00.002-05:002014-09-19T13:30:16.886-05:00How to transfer a case, long versionOk, I don't have a small case, no video, etc.<br />
<br />
How do <em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">I</span></strong></em> transfer my case?<br />
<br />
Ok, there are several options that can make your case transfer process easier.<br />
<br />
Your process will be a take-off on the basic process, except we will peel out some portions. (And handle your video files in a best practices manner.)<br />
<br />
So, on the Backup Data window, uncheck the Image files and OCR files checkboxes before clicking the Backup button.<br />
<br />
This will create a much smaller backup file (and finish much faster).<br />
<br />
Once this finishes, we need to use Windows copy-and-paste process to grab the remaining files.<br />
<br />
We want to copy the following directories from within our original CaseID directory:<br />
<ul>
<li> IMAGE (everything in here), you can zip this directory if that helps.</li>
<li>OCR (again, everything in here), you can also zip this directory if that helps.</li>
<li>VIDEO (again, everything in here), there is NO reason to zip this directory, it won't help.</li>
</ul>
These directories should be copied to your external drive.<br />
<br />
Now on your laptop with the external drive connected, restore the case - same as before.<br />
<br />
You will also need to copy the remaining files.<br />
<br />
Since the case has been restored onto the laptop, you will have all the necessary directories laid out for you.<br />
<br />
Copy (or unzip) the various files into their corresponding locations.<br />
<br />
A tip is to keep the external drive with you, so that you do NOT need to copy the video files to another laptop in case of failure.<br />
<br />
<br />
If there are any questions, drop us a line at Supprot@VisionaryLegal.com<br />
<br />
thanks,<br />
chuck<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-1396407556293818302014-09-19T13:11:00.000-05:002014-09-19T13:32:40.615-05:00How to transfer a Visionary case to your trial laptopUh-oh! We're going to trial.....<br />
<br />
Now how do I get my case from the office to the court?<br />
<br />
I am going to make the assumption (I know, I know) that your case currently resides on your network and you want to take it to court on your laptop.<br />
<br />
I am also going to assume that you have been following our best practices for file locations, etc.<br />
<br />
And one more assumption, you are going to use an external drive for the transfer process.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
The basic process is to create a Case Backup file and restore that on the laptop. Then copy over any other necessary data.<br />
<br />
For a small case with no video:<br />
<ol>
<li>On your desktop computer connected to the Visionary location on your network.</li>
<li>From the Case Selection screen, single click the specific case.</li>
<li>Either right-click and choose Backup or click the Backup button on the menu bar.</li>
<li>In the Save Case Backup File As window, choose your external drive.</li>
<ol>
<li>Leave the filename to the CaseID.vbk default.</li>
<li>Click the Save button.</li>
</ol>
<li>In the Backup data window; leave everything checked, do not add a password and click the Backup button.</li>
</ol>
You now have a complete case backup file on your external drive.<br />
<br />
Connect that external drive to your laptop.<br />
<div>
</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>On your laptop with the external drive connected.</li>
<li>From the Case Selection screen, click the Restore button on the menu bar.</li>
<li>In the Open window, browse to, and select, the case back up file that you just created on your external drive.</li>
<ol>
<li>Click the Open button.</li>
</ol>
<li>The Restore data window will be displayed with information about the case.</li>
<li>Click the Restore button.</li>
</ol>
<br />
You are ready to go to trail.<br />
<br />
At this point all Visionary case related changes need to be done on the laptop.<br />
<br />
Two tips:<br />
<div>
</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>The case backup process will fail if there are people in the case during the process.</li>
<li>Do not try to save the Case Backup file to a thumb drive. If not using an external drive; save the Case Backup file to your local computer and, when the process completes, then copy it to your thumb drive.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<br />
As always, if there are any questions, do not hesitate to send an email to Support@VisionaryLegal.com<br />
<br />
Thanks,<br />
chuck<br />
<br /></div>
<ol>
</ol>
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<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-74592847487918908122014-09-08T16:23:00.000-05:002014-09-08T16:23:12.897-05:00How to create video clips from NON-SYNCED VIDEOOOOOOOO!In keeping with the (ghostly) spirit of the season, here's a real treat.<br />
<br />
Recently I was asked about playing clips in trial of a non-synced video file.<br />
<br />
Well, Visionary 8 can do that.<br />
<br />
Here's a quick write-up with the process.<br /><br />First, use Windows Explorer to copy the video file in question to the <driveLetter>:\vs_data\CaseID\Video directory. <br /><br /> Then in your Visionary 8 case, use the File, Import, Video/MultiMedia File. Browse to and select this video file. Give it a nice Description.<br /><br />In the list of Other Multi-Media Files, double-click this video file to start it playing in the video window. Stop the video playback. (This step sets the active video file for non-synced video files.) <br /><br /> Next create an IssueBuilder. <br /><br /> Click on the Add Transcript Video Clip icon to bring up the Video Clip Editor window (it's the one that looks like a sheet of paper with a video camera on it).<br />
<br />
There are several methods to set your start and stop points with the Editor.<br />
<ol>
<li>As your video is playing, click the Mark In at the start and the Mark Out at the end.</li>
<li>Drag the scroll bar to the appropriate location and use the Mark In and Out buttons.</li>
<li>Type in a value for thse two points.</li>
<li>Use the (real) little up and down arrows to move the Mark In and Out points.</li>
</ol>
You can also use this to edit the start and stop points of the video clip. The Play Start and Play End buttons play about five seconds of either the start or stop points.<br />
<br />
(This is the same video editor that is used to trim regular (synced video) clips.)<br />
<br />
Click the Save As New button. <br />
<br /> Repeat as appropriate.<br />
<br />
<br />
As always, drop me an email at Support@VisionaryLegal.com if there are any questions or comments.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
chuck<br />
<br /><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-47335067202001560322014-09-06T11:41:00.000-05:002014-09-06T11:41:16.692-05:00How to convert a Word .doc file to a nice text file"We received a Word.doc file from the transcriptionist, how can we use that in our legal software?" Or worse "We go to trial on Monday and only have a Word .doc file, sync this!"<br />
<br />
Have you ever run into this before?<br />
<br />
We all know that exporting a Word .doc file does not always get us what we want for use in our legal software.<br />
<br />
Recently a friend came to me with the questions above and asked what I could do.<br />
<br />
The following write-up provides two possible solutions.<br />
<br />
Use Words Save As process to save the files as “Plain Text (*.txt)”. During the process choose to “Insert line breaks”, I left the other options to default.<br />
<br />
QC this text file real good, ensure the line numbering is correct; always 1-25, no line number duplication, no missing line numbers, etc. It is MOST important for any automated process that the data going in is consistent. GI-GO applies.<br />
<br />
So now you have a nice text file, every line with a consistent line number but no page numbers.<br />
<br />
Here you have two options.<br />
<br />
One, redo the entire line numbering and insert both line numbers and page numbers appropriately.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For this option, we first need to remove all the existing line numbers and blank spaces before the text.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>(Most text editors (NotePad++, TextPad, etc.) allow you to select a column of text using the Alt key and highlight process. (I just tested it on an email and in Word; and holding the Alt key while selecting vertical text – selected a column of text.))<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>(You could also use a search and replace process to do this.)<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Once you have all the line numbers and leading spaces removed, use the Page and Line utility that we include with the Auto-Syncer installation. In the c:\Program Files (x86)\Visionary\Utilities directory is a program called – oddly enough - PageLineUtil.exe.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Launch that program; set the Source File, Destination File and the Page information and click the Build New File button.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Voila! You have a nicely formatted text file with line and page numbers.<br />
<br />
Two, use a text editor that supports Regular Expressions. (I use TextPad, as it supports the “\i” increment parameter.)<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Open the text file and use Search/Replace.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Search for (without the quotes) “(\r\n1 )”<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The opening and closing parens create a group; the “\r” and “\n” look for the carriage return and line feed characters; the “1 ” (the digit one with a trailing space) matches line number one only (not 10, 11, etc.).<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Replace with (without the quotes) “\r\n.\r\nPAGE \i\r\n.\1”<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The “\r\n” create new lines; the “.” and “PAGE “ adds that text as applicable; the “\i” adds an incrementing number; the trailing "\1" adds back in the group from the Search - the stuff within the parens.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>YOU MUST USE THE REPLACE ALL FOR THE “\i” INCREMENTING TO WORK. IF YOU CHOOSE REPLACE, THE INCREMENTING PARAMETER NEVER GETS PAST ONE.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Personally, I would use the search and replace process because I think RegEx are gnarly.<br />
<br />
Whichever method you choose, the most important thing in the entire process is that the text files is correctly formatted.<br />
<br />
So there you have it, two methods to easily use transcriptionist-type files.<br />
<br />
As a service to non-Visionary software users, I am including a link to the Page and Line Utility program mentioned above.<br />
<br />
All rights reserved, use at your own risk, blah, blah, blah....<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.visionarylegal.com/downloads/Other/PageLineUtil.exe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Visionary Page and Line Utility</a>.<br />
<br />
Drop me a line at Support@VisionaryLegal.com if you have questions.<br />
<br />
chuck<br />
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-56742215750428207862014-08-13T15:39:00.000-05:002014-08-13T15:39:38.913-05:00Video File Issues and Visionary 8"Arggghhh, (insert pirate joke) I get an error message that Visionary 8 cannot find the Video File for my depo. I know its correct!"<br />
<br />
This happens.<br />
<br />
Here is some guidance on trouble-shooting this issue and getting resolution.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Visionary 8 will automatically find the necessary video files if they are located in one of three places.</li>
<ul>
<li>In the root of any mapped drive. So, c:\JJones01.mpg or e:\JonesJ01.mpg will both work fine, even if the Visionary case drive is q:\. (Obviously, q:\JonesJ01.mpg will also work.) And also, the depos need to reference the correct file name.</li>
<li>In a directory named "video" at the root of any mapped drive. Similar to above, this would be c:\video\JJones01.mpg; etc.</li>
<ul>
<li>Once caveat that took me quite awhile to solve, video is spelled "video". One support client had mis-spelled it to "vidoe" and kept telling me they were following my instructions exactly.</li>
</ul>
<li>In a directory named "video" within the CaseID directory. Again, this is similar to the above except there are two more directories in the path. C:\vs_data\CaseID\video\JonesJ01.mpg would work, etc. (Replace CaseID with the appropriate entry.)</li>
<ul>
<li>This third option allows you to easily store all the video files for multiple cases on an external (or network shared) drive and keep everything separated. </li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
Visionary 8 automatically searches all mapped drives for the existence of a directory called "vs_data" at the root of the drive. If it finds this, it then looks for a directory that matches the specific CaseID. If that is found, Visionary 8 will include this location whenever it is looking for EITHER video files (\video directory) or image files (\image directory).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This process allows you to store these files on one or two external drives for backup when going to trial. With the case installed on two laptops, this would allow you to keep going even if one laptop crashes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Two more issues that can generate this error.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The client not copying the video from the cd/dvd and removing the disk when trying to view the depo.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And finally, the video files being renamed, either by the client; or after the syncing was done, by the production shop.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Occasionally the end user's tech people will choose to rename files to a standard that they choose, thus breaking the synced depo process.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And very occasionally, the production shop will choose to rework the video files for some (probably good) reason. Maybe they needed to re-render the files or even re-encode them and in the process changed the file names. Without resetting the file associations, the error can occur.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Any questions? Let me know at Support@VisionaryLegal.com .</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thanks,</div>
<div>
chuck</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Kudos to Carlos for getting me to write this up.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-22496178701072611172014-08-13T12:02:00.000-05:002014-08-13T15:44:05.484-05:00Video File NamingSorry, can't think of a snappy opening line for this post, so we'll get right into it.<br />
<br />
First, file names, paths and maximum lengths.<br />
If you look around on the internet for more than one or two responses, you will find that everyone seems to have their own ideas as to file name and path lengths.<br />
So to start with, use your common sense. Both file names and paths should be succinct and relevant.<br />
Unfortunately, the above advice will not always provide error free naming conventions.<br />
<br />
Unless you are in a case involving George Foreman and family (six people all named "George Foreman"), you can probably get by with a nice naming convention of FirstInitialLastNameFileNumber or LastNameFirstInitalFileNumber. Such as JJones01 or JonesJ01. You can add the date in there if it makes sense. Or not, since all the video files are for a single person, there is no reason to not just keep incrementing the FileNumber portion for subsequent depos.<br />
<br />
Having done this for more than a decade, I have found that in some strange combination of circumstances, there is a lower limit on unique file names. By that I mean that file names must be unique within "x" characters. File names such as "JimJonesDepoDated14Aug2013TapeNumber1FileA.mpg" and "JimJonesDepoDated14Aug2013TapeNumber1FileB.mpg" will sometimes confuse the Operating System. The result is that video playback will appear to reference the wrong file. Besides, that file name looks bad.<br />
<br />
Some off-the-cuff figuring seems to indicate the upper limit to maintain uniqueness is about 14 characters. Since this situation has only occurred on computers owned by someone else (and they only contacted me for support), I have never been able to get an exact count.<br />
<br />
Just another example of the things that we need to keep an eye on.<br />
<br />
Have a great day.<br />
<br />
chuck<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-68847248471485143982014-04-21T16:26:00.000-05:002014-04-21T16:26:40.171-05:00How to implement the latest version of the Visionary Viewer 8There you are, busily creating content for your clients with the Auto-Syncer and V-Print CR; but you are still sending out the old version of the Visionary Viewer 8.<br />
<br />
How can you incorporate the latest version of the Viewer 8 for the best use by your clients?<br />
<br />
It's simple, really.<br />
<br />
Depending on which version of which of the production tools software you use; there will be one or two files to replace.<br />
<br />
First, download the latest version of the <a href="http://www.visionarylegal.com/Downloads/ViewerSetup.exe" target="_blank">Visionary Viewer 8</a> from this link.<br />
<br />
Once the file has downloaded you may need to clear any odd permissions attached to it by your computer. Right click on the file and choose Properties. Some times there will be an Unblock option in the Attributes area of the General tab. Windows sometimes applies this "Block" to files that are downloaded from the internet.<br />
<br />
Since the file that you just downloaded is named correctly we only have to copy it to the correct location, over-writing the existing file.<br />
<br />
So, right click on this newly downloaded file and choose Copy.<br />
<br />
Using your favorite directory explorer program; such as Windows Explorer or My Computer, choose your c:\ drive.<br />
<br />
Once at your c:\ drive you will need to get into the "Program Files (x86)" directory. If you do NOT see either a "Program Files (x86)" or a "Program Files" directory in your c:\ drive; you will need to work with your tech people to make it visible.<br />
<br />
Once you are in this directory, open the Visionary directory.<br />
<br />
There will be one or two directories that we are interested in:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Viewer CD Template</li>
<li>Visionary Viewer CD Template</li>
</ul>
<div>
Within each of these directories will be a directory called "Visionary Viewer". We want to Paste the downloaded file into this directory. You should get a warning about an existing file. We want to over-write the existing file with this new one.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Once that has been completed, close your directory explorer and launch your Visionary software.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now using the Layout CD/DVD from within the Auto-Syncer or using the Delivery tab from within V-Print CR; you will be delivering the latest version of the Visionary Viewer 8 to your clients.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Of course you can use the file that you downloaded to update your own version of the Visionary Viewer 8.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Following the above steps will not affect any previous work completed, any on-going jobs or any future projects. </div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-29625532869225173042013-05-13T17:35:00.002-05:002013-05-13T17:35:43.391-05:00How to display hidden file typesOften times when you use Windows Explorer to look for files, you will not see the extensions.<br />
<br />
There is a setting in Windows called "Hide extensions for known file types". When this is enabled, instead of seeing "MyDocument.pdf", you see the icon of your pdf program and "MyDocument".<br />
<br />
Where this causes issues is when Support asks you to send them the ".vdf" file. If you have the setting "Hide extensions for known file types" enabled, then you are not going to see the .vdf extension and you are going to send the .vdfk (because it looks close) and that is not going to help resolve your issue.<br />
<br />
This setting is accessed in the same manner for Windows XP, 7, 8 (and for you geeks) server 2012. (Of course, if you're a geek you should already know this.)<br />
<br />
Launch the Control Panel. Start, Control Panel works, as does the Windows key and "control".<br />
<br />
Within the Control Panel is an icon or entry for Folder Options, click on that one to launch it.<br />
<br />
This window will contain two or more tabs, choose the one labeled "View".<br />
<br />
Towards the middle of the list of check boxed items, will be one called "Hide extensions for known file types". If this checkbox is checked, then the extensions are hidden. Uncheck this box and click the OK button to close the Folder Options window.<br />
<br />
Now when you use Windows Explorer to look for files on your computer, you will see all the extensions.<br />
<br />
As always, if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.<br />
<br />
thanks,<br />
chuck<br />
<br />
<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-83829716010231014332013-05-10T10:56:00.002-05:002013-05-10T15:30:44.477-05:00PDF conversion gives "Out of contiguous memory" errorYou may receive a message about contiguous memory when you are using the Visionary 8 Professional; File, Import, Image/Document Files (Advanced) option to add pdf files to your case.<br />
<br />
The error message indicates that during the pdf conversion portion of the import process, Visionary 8 Professional asked the Operating System (O/S) for a specific amount of memory and the O/S failed to provide it.<br />
<br />
Knowing that, the (possible) solution is clear, free up (contiguous) memory.<br />
<br />
While there are several possible solutions, the simplest is to reboot the computer. Once the computer has finished booting up, launching the various startup processes and has settled down; launch Visionary 8 Professional and start the import process.<br />
<br />
Do not launch other programs. Especially things like internet browsers (I'm looking at you Chrome - which is currently using nearly .6 GB), email programs (such as Outlook).<br />
<br />
You can even go into the system tray and close down syncing/backup processes like DropBox, Cubbies, etc.<br />
<br />
The more things that are NOT running before launching Visionary 8 Professional, the less chance you will have problems importing your files.<br />
<br />
However, there may be situations that you simply cannot use the Visionary 8 Professional pdf import process without receiving the error message. In that situation, you may have to resort to using a program like Adobe's Acrobat.<br />
<br />
Another option is to send the the data to our Production department and have them handle the export. Using that method will allow you to focus on other, more important issues, knowing that you will receive a high quality data product.<br />
<br />
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us via Live Chat, email (Support@ or Sales@), telephone or even snail mail.<br />
<br />
thanks,<br />
chuck<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-72907555899186665182013-05-01T11:46:00.002-05:002013-05-01T11:46:59.022-05:00How to Transfer a Depo with a Presentation to Another Computer, Part TwoNow that you have exported your most awesome Viewer presentation for use on another computer; what is the best method for delivering the entire project to the end-user?<br />
<br />
In the previous write-up, we saw how easy it was to export the deposition with the two clip lists. Now we want to create a single deliverable for our end-user.<br />
<br />
If you have the Auto-Syncer, you are in luck. <br />
<br />
Ensure the .vig file (if there is one) and the exported .vdf file are in the same directory. Then in the Auto-Syncer, set that directory as the Case Folder and open that depo. Chose the Layout cd/dvd option, let it run to completion, burn to disk and you are all done.<br />
<br />
If you only have the Viewer disk for this deposition, it is only slightly more complicated. <br />
<br />
First, copy everything off the disk to a directory on your computer. Then replace the .vdf file in the \Data directory with the earlier exported .vdf file. Now burn to disk and you are all done.<br />
<br />
There you have it; two short and simple methods to get a depo with clips to the end user.<br />
<br />
If there are any questions, please feel free to contact us.<br />
<br />
thanks,<br />
chuck<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-83968712657124415202013-05-01T10:49:00.001-05:002013-05-01T10:49:24.098-05:00How to Transfer a Depo with a Presentation to Another Computer, Part OneSo you are working on a deposition in the Visionary Viewer and you have created a clip list that plays back the important parts. Maybe you even have an exhibit or two being displayed. Now you want to take this "project" and use it on another computer. You know that the clip list is kept locally on the computer that was used to create the presentation.<br />
<br />
(Obviously clip list items have to be saved locally on the computer that created them, as it is quite likely the deposition information is on a cd/dvd and we just cannot write random things to a finalized disk. Also obviously, your objection list is saved to the local computer as well.)<br />
<br />
You can use the Viewer's File, Export, Transcript process. In the window that asks where to save the file, there is a drop down "Save as type" field that allows you to select "Visionary Deposition File (*.vdf)". Choose where to save this file. When the export process completes, the new .vdf file will have the clip list (and the objection list) embedded.<br />
<br />
You can verify this by opening this new .vdf file on another computer and you will see the clip list, and your objection list will exist.<br />
<br />
If you open this new .vdf file on the same computer, you will receive a message warning you that there is already a clip list and/or an objection list for this depo on your local computer. You then get the option to use whichever list you prefer.<br />
<br />
Here's a link to the latest version of the <a href="http://www.visionarylegal.com/Downloads/ViewerSetup.exe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Visionary Viewer</a>.<br />
<br />
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.<br />
<br />
thanks,<br />
chuck<br />
<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301953113214182268.post-91025854659197081712013-04-29T15:50:00.001-05:002014-09-06T11:44:02.466-05:00Drive Volume Labels; What are they and Why change themDrive volume labels are used by various programs to track the location of data. Visionary uses the drive volume label to allow the use of optical disks and external hard drives. Because of that, the labels need to be unique on the computer.<br />
<br />
An easy reason to understand why drive volume labels are needed is the use of an optical drive (cd/dvd). The drive letter will always be d:\ (or whatever on your computer); but the disk in the drive can be changing regularly. Visionary needs to know what disk is available; for instance for video playback. (Whenever a cd/dvd is "burned" an optional electronic label is included.)<br />
<br />
(As an aside, all network shared drives already have a drive volume label. In the case of these shares, the actual share name is the label.)<br />
<br />
Adding a drive volume label to a drive will not affect anything on the computer. If the drive is not already labeled, adding a label cannot affect anything. If it already has a label, there is no need to change it. The addition of a drive volume label does not change the drive letter, that remains the same.<br />
<br />
To check to see if your drives are already labeled, use Windows Explorer, My Computer or File Explorer (your available choices are dependent on the version of Windows that is being used.)<br />
<br />
When your favorite file tool is open, right-click on your c:\ drive and choose Rename. If it currently says "Local Drive", it means there is no drive volume label assigned. In that case, give it a name. We suggest something like "CDrive". The name doesn't really matter except that it should not be a duplicate. For instance, naming all your external drives "Data" and connecting them all at once is going to cause problems.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />chuck beckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00144572178232150721noreply@blogger.com0