Guest R. G. A. Posted July 7, 2017 Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 I have been working hard to update the StampManage Database in its entirety. So far I have gotten a copy of the 2013 Scott catalog to use as a master copy. I am updating each country so that it matches the Scott Catalog as closely as possible. This is proving to be a very daunting operation as everytime I get a new version of stampmanage software it completely rebuilds the database. So I am forced to look for any changes that are apparent in the catalog I have versus the entries from the database just installed. This is a lot of stamps, images, etc. Are there any others out there that would like to help to try and complete this updating?? It would be so very helpful if a few others took on the responsibility for a few countries to get them up to date and keep them there as new issues are put on the market. This is doable but it takes time and dedication. Please reply if interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted July 7, 2017 Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 Hi, thanks for your efforts. If you could use the SUBMIT CHANGES TO LIBERTY STREET feature we can see what you are working on and include the changes here. It would probably be best to work on 1 country at a time. Complete that up until 2013 and then let us know when you submit the changes. Feel free to email info@libertystreet.com if you need anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted July 7, 2017 Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 I use StampManage USA and can sympathize with your distress. Unfortunately, the database contains inconsistencies, many errors, data in the wrong fields, etc. which I attempt to correct. At the next update, I have to make the corrections over again. I believe the issue occurs because there are many contributors to the database, and apparently no one filters their inputs. I would like to ask the administrator if it is possible that when program updates are provided, they only add new data (new stamp issues) and do not change existing data. Updating poor stamp images and current stamp values would also be welcomed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted July 7, 2017 Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 Hi Alan, can you email us at info@libertystreet.com so we will know which contributions you are responsible for. We do filter all contributions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickelliott Posted July 8, 2017 Report Share Posted July 8, 2017 The easiest way to save your changes is to save a copy the strampdata.mdb file to a folder of your choice, install the update, then copy the original stampdata.mdb back to the original location. You can get there by choosing "go to data folder" from the File Menu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest R. G. A. Posted July 9, 2017 Report Share Posted July 9, 2017 Thanks for the replies folks. A couple of suggestions I think would make this task a bit simpler. Based on time certain countries around the world have issued all the stamps they are ever going to issue. Is there a way that these countries could be locked form changing once all there stamps are entered. Example : Allenstein. It only existed for a very short period of time and then stopped issuing stamps when it joined the German Republic. Once all of its stamps are entered there are no more ever to be entered so lock it down. Tis also applies to countries that change their names over time. Example : Persia/Iran. Political activities caused this country Persia to cease to exist and was replaced by Iran. Once again all the stamps of Persia are issued and no more will ever be issued. Hence this country once all its stamps are entered into the database could be locked from further updates. This lock does not stop a database administrator from unlocking and editing existing database entries should something show up that was left out of the database. At least this will keep us amatures out of the database for these completed issues. Also there is a wide variety of data being entered into the database. This involves dates (mm/dd/yyyy - dd/mm/yyyy), descriptive information, and all the other types of info about each stamp. Accuracy is decisive factor for me. It has to accurately help to identify the stamp in order to get included in the database. Anyone else have thoughts about these areas? Almost forgot currency symbols. Not everyone has keyboards with English Pound signs or EUROS or YEN or YUAN etc. Some kind of commonly available letters or symbols need to be established for currency identification. One final thing to cover and that is fractions of a cent. 1/4 or 1/2 works for most every one but what about making 0.25 and 0.50 the standard entry for fractions. These identify the numbers as small than 1 to most everyone in the world. Okay I am getting off my soap box now. Any other comments please feel free to join in. R. G. A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest R. G. A. Posted July 10, 2017 Report Share Posted July 10, 2017 Administrator I will submit single country entries in the future. Each country I submit will be as complete as I can get it. Bad pictures will be deleted, stamp descriptions as accurate as possible, and any other information about each stamp will be as accurate as possible. If you like I can go back to the beginning of Catalog 2013 and start submitting each country as I review them for inclusion in the database. R. G. A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted July 10, 2017 Report Share Posted July 10, 2017 57 minutes ago, Guest R. G. A. said: Administrator I will submit single country entries in the future. Each country I submit will be as complete as I can get it. Bad pictures will be deleted, stamp descriptions as accurate as possible, and any other information about each stamp will be as accurate as possible. If you like I can go back to the beginning of Catalog 2013 and start submitting each country as I review them for inclusion in the database. R. G. A. Thank you, I think in the near future we will add a way to specify a stamp has inaccurate information. Right now, a user could correct the information and submit it, but we don't know if the edit is due to inaccurate information or because the user added some additional into to an accurate variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattrickcolin Posted July 13, 2017 Report Share Posted July 13, 2017 On 09/07/2017 at 7:57 PM, Guest R. G. A. said: Thanks for the replies folks. A couple of suggestions I think would make this task a bit simpler. Based on time certain countries around the world have issued all the stamps they are ever going to issue. Is there a way that these countries could be locked form changing once all there stamps are entered. Example : Allenstein. It only existed for a very short period of time and then stopped issuing stamps when it joined the German Republic. Once all of its stamps are entered there are no more ever to be entered so lock it down. Tis also applies to countries that change their names over time. Example : Persia/Iran. Political activities caused this country Persia to cease to exist and was replaced by Iran. Once again all the stamps of Persia are issued and no more will ever be issued. Hence this country once all its stamps are entered into the database could be locked from further updates. This lock does not stop a database administrator from unlocking and editing existing database entries should something show up that was left out of the database. At least this will keep us amatures out of the database for these completed issues. Also there is a wide variety of data being entered into the database. This involves dates (mm/dd/yyyy - dd/mm/yyyy), descriptive information, and all the other types of info about each stamp. Accuracy is decisive factor for me. It has to accurately help to identify the stamp in order to get included in the database. Anyone else have thoughts about these areas? Almost forgot currency symbols. Not everyone has keyboards with English Pound signs or EUROS or YEN or YUAN etc. Some kind of commonly available letters or symbols need to be established for currency identification. One final thing to cover and that is fractions of a cent. 1/4 or 1/2 works for most every one but what about making 0.25 and 0.50 the standard entry for fractions. These identify the numbers as small than 1 to most everyone in the world. Okay I am getting off my soap box now. Any other comments please feel free to join in. R. G. A. Hi R.G.A. Loved your Soap Box Rant and agree with most points. I feel fractions that appear on postage stamps as ¼,½,¾ should appear in the database as such. Don't like 1/4 or converting to 0.25 (many stamps use 0.25c). For ¼ just hold ALT + 0188. For ½ just hold ALT 0189. For ¾ just hold ALT + 0190. For the 27 other fractions which covers 60 odd world wide stamps then Cut & Paste seems the best option. Popular Fractions FRACTION ¹/₁₀ ¹/₁₅ ¹/₃ ¹/₃₀ ¹/₅ ¹/₆ ¹/₇ ¹/₈ ¹/₉ ²/₁₅ ²/₃ ²/₅ ²/₇ ²/₉ ³/₁₀ ³/₅ ³/₇ ³/₈ ⁴/₅ ⁴/₇ ⁴/₉ ⁴/₈ ²/₈ On your other point of Currency Symbols I only use 3, (£,€,$) as prefixes to the Denomination. All other Currency Symbols appear as Suffixes. ( My English Keyboard has '£' & '$' keys. For '€' just hold Alt + 0128. You make some great comments on other points and I am in agreement. Regards Colin Pattrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted July 17, 2017 Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 I have a question for Dick Elliott, who responded to this chain of inquiry. (The administrator could answer as well.) Dick suggests copying the stampdata.mdb file to another location, installing the program update, and then reloading the stampdata.mdb file Aren't data updates for new stamp issues also included in the downloaded update? Wouldn't these updates be missed with this approach? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickelliott Posted July 18, 2017 Report Share Posted July 18, 2017 That is the way I handle updates, however I must say that my data is already up to date. I add all new issues to the data manager each month as they are issued. I get this info from Linns Monthly magazine and Virtual Stamp Club http://www.virtualstampclub.com/2017usnew.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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