DPT manual The Menus

There are five menus in the Data Preparation Tool: File, Options, Actions, Windows and About.

File menu

You have four items in the File menu:

Select file or directory (shortcut: Ctrl+O or Cmd+O)

This is where you can open your files or directory to be able to process them in the tool. You have the possibility to select one or several files, or one directory. If you select a directory, it will import all the files located in this directory; however, subdirectories will not be included. Once you have done your selection, the files appear in the "XML and EAD" list on the left side of the window and are ready to be processed. Please note that you can process hundreds or even thousands of files together. Once you get files in the list, selecting one or several files will activate either the buttons on the right, or the one on the bottom (see figure 2).

APE DPT manual, figure 2: Activating the buttons by selecting one or more file(s)

Close selected file(s) (shortcut: Ctrl+D or Cmd+D):

Suppress the file(s) from the list.

Save selected APE file(s) (shortcut: Ctrl+S or Cmd+S):

Once a file has been converted and/or validated, it has to be saved. The newly created files will be saved in the output directory by default but the options allow you to indicate another place. The name of the file changes when it is saved. If the file has been validated, its saved name will be apeEAD_{original_name}.xml, if not it becomes NOT_apeEAD_{original_name}.xml. Of course, this does not affect your original files.

Save report for selectd file(s) (shortcut: Ctrl+R or Cmd+R):

All reports on the files processed in the tool (and selected in the list) are saved in one file, placed by default in the output directory of the tool, even if the files did not pass the validation or conversion steps.

Quit:

Closes the program

Options menu

You have twelve items in the Options menu. They are meant to set up and keep your own parameters in the DPT, allowing you to apply specific rules during the processing of your files.

Country code:

Here you can change the 2-letter country code, the one you had to enter at the first launch of the tool.

Repository code:

Here you can change the identifier for your archives, the one you had to enter at the first launch of the tool. It’s useful when you manage more than one institution.

Digital object type / Rights:

This option allows you to add specific indication on the type and on the rights, mandatory for Europeana and strongly recommended for the Archives portal Europe. Be aware of the fact that these indications will then be applied by default to all files processed in the DPT until you change or suppress them.

The digital object type indicates whether the digitised archives are Text, Image, Sound, Video or 3D. If you don’t use this option, the default value will be Unspecified. This option is used within the Archives Portal Europe for refining the search results. Those values are reported inside your apeEAD XML files after you convert them. The chosen type will then be available inside your apeEAD XML file within each DAO element as attribute @xlink:role. In case, your local data already contain this information, you also have to specify that this shall be used if found.

Note: Converting the file and then choosing a type will NOT change the type inside the newly created file. A new conversion is needed.

The Rights information allows you to add default rights statement for the digital objects as well as for the finding aids themselves thanks to a dropdown list (containing the main licenses or indication of rights such as public domain mark or the different creative commons), that can be completed by a description and the name of the rights holder.

General options for EDM conversion:

You can specify by default the source of the identifiers as well as the base URL for the landing pages other than the digital objects.

List of date conversion rules:

This option lists in a dialogue box the rules that will be applied during the conversion on the date element of your files in order to transform text dates into normalised dates. In the left column, you indicate the values read (to be found in the original files), in the right column, you indicate the values converted (to be found in the converted files). For instance you can indicate that 18th Century will be converted in 1701-1800, circa 1877 in 1877, or in 1876-1878 etc. These conversion rules can be saved to be re-used later on. You can modify them as often as needed. Please note that this is an extra possibility, to complete the normalisation of dates already done during the conversion by the tool (See annex 2 for the full list of conversion rules). These added rules have priority on the default rules.

Use own stylesheet:

This option allows you to use your own style sheet (XSLT) in order to do your conversions instead of the default one. This option opens a dialogue box where you can select a style sheet and copy it in the xsl folder of the tool. The stylesheet then appears in the list of the summary tab and can be chosen to convert your files.

Use own schema:

This option allows you to use your own schema (this must a valid XSD file). This option opens a dialogue box where you can select a schema and copy it in the xsl directory of the tool. The schema then appears in the list of schemas of the summary tab.

Choose default stylesheet:

Either default-apeEAD.xsl, or default-apeEAC-CPF.xsl; by default the style sheet selected for newly imported files is the default-apeEAD style sheet, you can use this option if you wish to use another default style sheet on a regular base.

Choose default schema:

lists the different possibilities offered by the tool to validate the files EAD 2002, apeEAD, apeEAC-CPF, EAC-CPF, EAG 2012, apeMETS, apeMETS Rights, apeMETS Xlink, EAD2002 DTD. By default the system sets the data type to apeEAD files, you can change this by using this option.

Checks when loading files:

This option allows the tool to check if the files that you are uploading are valid XML files. This is only an option because it might take time if you have to upload numerous files. Before displaying the file in the list, the tool parses the file and rejects the non XML files. For each file, a pop-up window warns you and allows you do copy the error message.

Default folder for saved files:

The default folder where the tool saves the files as well as the report on the XML quality is the output folder of the tool (one of the six folders mentioned above on the page: Installation and launch of the tool). This option allows you to change the default folder.

Languages:

The tool is available in six languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Greek and Hungarian. The tool will open in the language of your operating system if it is Dutch, French, German, Greek or Hungarian and if not found will roll back to English.

Actions menu

You have four items in the Actions menu:

Validate (shortcut: Ctrl+N or Cmd+N)

This item does the same as the validate button in the main summary tab (see figure 1).

Convert (shortcut: Ctrl+M or Cmd+M)

This item does the same as the convert button in the main summary tab (see figure 1).

apeEAC-CPF

Has only one submenu that opens a form in a pop-up window (figure 3a and 3b). You have to first choose one of the three possibilities: person, family, or corporate body. Then the corresponding form is displayed. The form is subdivided in four tabs that have to be completed and correspond to the ISAAR-CPF standard: Identity, Description, Relations, Control.

APE DPT manual, figure 3a: apeEAC-CPF record creation, choose the type

APE DPT manual, figure 3a: apeEAC-CPF record creation form

Create EAG2012

Has two sub-menus: Select an existing EAG(2012) file and Create a new EAG2012 file.

• Select an existing EAG(2012) file allows you to open the file that you want to process in the tool (completing or correcting existing elements for instance).

• Create a new EAG2012 file opens a form in a pop-up Window (figure 4). The form is subdivided in seven tabs that have to be completed following the logical order of the ISDIAH standard: Institution, Identity, Contact, Access and Services, Description, Control, Relations. You move from one tab to the other by clicking on the next/previous buttons. The tab "Your institution" includes all mandatory elements, plus some optional elements. Once saved, the EAG file is added to the files in the list and can be validated afterwards.

APE DPT manual, figure 3a: EAG2012 record creation form

Windows menu

You have five items in the Windows menu:

Edition (shortcut: Ctrl+5 or Cmd+5)

In order to change to a selected tab, you can either click on it or select it in this menu, or use the shortcut.

About menu

You have two items in the About menu:

Visit project website

This option opens a page in your browser (you need an internet connection) and you will access the APEx project website (www.apex-project.eu).

APE DPT v2.0.x

This indicates the version of the DPT you are working with. We will see in a following chapter (Chapter 8: Update of the tool) that an automatic check is done at the opening of the program to see if a new version is available.