Help & Support With The CompanionXP Go To The FAQ
Quick CompanionXP Screen shots Of The Main Features |
||
 |
 |
 |
Back Up & Save |
Custom Contracts |
Email Pedigrees |
 |
 |
 |
Record Litter Details |
Main Menus |
Customize A Pedigree |
 |
 |
 |
Track Expenditure |
The Properties |
Reports |
 |
 |
 |
Tables |
Specs |
Trail Pedigrees |
Keep records on 1 dog or an unlimited amount of dogs or breeds. Whether your a large kennel or a general enthusiast this software will support you and your dogs in many ways.
This software gives the user the ability to compile a database or multi databases of breeds of dogs or an individual breed database. Within a matter of no time you can have all your dogs details and pedigree info in 1 convenient place along with any photos you wish to include.
Its simple to use and the movie tutorials show you how to do all the main tasks like adding pedigrees.... etc and its all laid out in a simple to navigate and understand way, there is no confusing computer jargon or terms to get your head round and is simply point and click for the majority of tasks needed.
The CompanionXP boasts a simple but very fast pedigree planner to assist you with your planned mating's etc, its so useful to be able to see the pedigrees of the dog & bitch before hand as an 'aid' in some of the considerations needed when planning a litter.
There are a couple of other database features built in that give basic functionality for collecting data on shows, contacts, clubs & expenditure that give you a simple and fast look up of data and a method to print the info quickly and in an easy to read format.
You can E-mail the pedigrees right from the CompanionXP if you have Outlook Express installed and configured correctly in your PC, its a simple process of clicking Email and choosing who to send to from the address book and that's it...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click The FAQ Links Below For Info & Help
- What Is The CXP & Web Peddy Kit?
- Viewing a pedigree.
- Peddy Kit Auto Updator
- Update The Kit Tutorial Steps
- Backup & Repairing your database & files.
- Making your own pedigree watermarked Backgrounds (TUTORIAL)
- Get Remote Assistance Using Microsofts Messenger
Runtime Error 429: ActiveX component cannot create object
MDAC stands for M icrosoft D ata A ccess C omponents. It is a widely used Windows system component that implements database connectivity features. MDAC is required by many Windows programs that implement database features.
- Windows XP/2000/Me already contain MDAC by default, but it can get broken under certain circumstances.
- Windows 98/NT 4.0 don't contain MDAC by default, so users of these Windows versions must install MDAC first. (The CompanionXP will do this)
The CompanionXP utilizes MDAC to operate on your PC, MDAC comes built in to WindowsXP systems and will not allow The CompanionXP to update the MDAC software on your PC as one of its new security features. Older versions like Win98 etc will allow the CompanionXP to do the updates needed and will not encounter this issue.
If you get this error its a simple 2 min fix to sort it, its just a case of reinitializing the MDAC in your system. You can do this in 2 ways:
1: Go to Microsoft and get the latest updates for your PC, Service Pack 2 etc
[ Microsoft Downloads & Updates ] or [Here ]
2: Download this 3rd party diagnostic tool for MDAC & Jet and run it.
[DOWNLOAD & INFO & Instructions ] * We Recommend this way
Once you repair MDAC & Jet you will find the CompanionXP will now operate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Installing the software. FAQ
Installing the software is an automated process that needs little to no attention depending on your operating system. The install procedure described here will be for Win95/98 which requires all the install features to be enabled, users of other versions of Windows will have the same steps but with fewer add ins needed.
The main steps are:
1: Start the install
2: Accept the licence agreement
3: Note the install location
4 Choose the additional components your PC needs to add. You should choose as many as there are shown.
5 Note the start menu locations
6: Icon placement(On Your Desktop Or Quick Start)
7: Confirm install details
8: Installing..............
9: You need the Jet files so choose yes.
10: You MUST RE BOOT after you have installed for the first time or the CompanionXP 2006 will fail to run until you do.
These steps are completed in a matter of seconds reboot your computer whether it asks you to or not and that's you ready to run the application.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- What Is The CXP & Web Peddy Kit. Back To TOP | FAQ
The CXP is a simple canine pedigree management system that runs from your own PC the Web Peddy Kit is an extension of your CXP database and deploys onto an Internet Server and you can share your canine records and collect more from people who visit your kit online.
The Main Web Kit Demo can be viewed here : http://peddy.staffdata.co.uk/
With this kit you can take your canine database online in a matter of minutes. Its simple to setup and use and requires no knowledge of web servers.
The idea behind this portal is to let you share and collect your canine and pedigree data, you can choose to make it a private portal and insist on memberships or you can quite happily leave it an open site for all to view and utilize the choice is yours.
The kit is complete and can be customized a little to reflect your breed, kennels, club or other personal preferences to a degree, but essentially its a ready made complete solution.
You can show a dogs records along with pedigree, health & data, you can trial mate your dogs with other dogs in the database to reflect the resulting peds as a research and study tool, its fast and simple!!
There are several sections out with the pedigree environment and these sections can be added to or edited from the portals control panel.
The gallery section will grow as you collect photos and the photo submission tool allows members to add their own images to the portals gallery section, this gives you the ability to collect photos for records in your main pedigree database and as a side kick you get a gallery out of it.
Now with new Pop Up Pedigree Explorer.
The kit comes complete if you request it when you buy our New CompanionXP Version 2 software. If you already have the CompanionXP you can not use this kit and need to buy the new version.
Kits are set up for FREE on staffdata servers and the CXP has an update facility built in and when you give it your log in details your CXP can update your kit online and you need do nothing other tha click a button to start it.
More info on the Web Kits can be viewed here: http://www.staffdata.co.uk/PeddyKit.asp
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Viewing a pedigree. Back To TOP | FAQ
Viewing a pedigree needs no help really as when the program opens it will start on the main pedigree explorer which is the main way of viewing and printing out pedigrees. The program Icon bar along the top sports buttons that will allow you to change the format and style of the pedigree.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To record a litter first to go the Data Store and choose the litter recorder from the drop down menu. Once opened you can add the litter details by clicking the ADD NEW button and filling in all the fields throughout the tabbed selectors along the top. Once filled in please make sure to to hit the now visible update button.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To call up your stud book records go to the Data Store and choose it from the resulting menu. Here you will see 2 initial test records, you cannot delete these records so adapt them to fit your own needs then hit update. There are 2 initial test records once they are updated to add new records simply hit the ADD NEW button fill in all the required fields through out the tabbed property pages and hit UPDATE to finish. to view the complete Stud Book record or print one out go to the main reports section.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where ever you see the HTML page symbol you can save the currently vied document into an HTML file, these HTML files can be used as part of any web site or intranet applications. The HTML files you save are sent to the programs main installed directory in a folder named HTML.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where ever you see the PDF button, this means you can save the current document into PDF format. The files are saved in the programs main installed folder in a folder named PDF, these saved PDF's can be taken and viewed on any other computer that has Adobe Acrobat installed, this can be freely be downloaded from the net HERE or comes free on several PC magazine cover discs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The custom pedigree just adds a little fun to the program in that it lets you add or remove watermarks, change font styles and sizes and even add a small photo of the focus dog into the pedigree, this can then be printed, emailed, saved as a webpage or saved as a PDF file.
Care must be taken when sizing the font sizes as the sections on the pedigree that hold the dogs names are at a set size and position to keep the pedigree aligned properly and if you set the font size to large they may cut off names or look out of line so when changing font sizes or font styles check the sizes are ok.
If you are having trouble reading the pedigree use the ZOOM feature at the top of the pedigree to ZOOM In and Out if needed, double clicking on a section in the pedigree will also zoom to that section for you to look closer.
This needs little explanation in operation, simply locate the dogs ped you wish to work with and click on the name in the list, the ped will open for you to alter and print.
You can add your own captions at the top of these pedigrees along with a slogan or other text you desire.
Support for older printers that struggle to manage full page printing has been added to adjust the background size and location to enable a full print of the borders etc.
You can design your own backgrounds and watermarks for your pedigree and its simply a case of choosing your background in the same manner you pick any of the preset backgrounds that come with the CompanionXP and your own images can be used this way. Any photos software tools around these days will make up backgrounds for you.
If you need help with this please email us and we will support you if possible or can arrange to make you a specific background with your dogs images for you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Contacts,Affix and the show records are all similar in looks and in their operation, the buttons at the bottom of the data grids give all operations to Add, Edit, Delete and Update etc. There is a print option at the top of these grids that will print out the details in tables or they can be printed and viewed in the reports section. To close these windows use the small X in the top right corner of the grids.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As your database builds you database will be able to show you relationships by means of the Progeny explorer. Its simple to use, search for the dog you wish to explore and click on its name in the list. The empty lists will then be filled with any or the siblings or offspring. Siblings registered finds all dogs with the exact same parents, Offspring registered will find any dog with the focus dogs name as dam or sire, 1/2 siblings will pull all the records that have either the same dam or sire but different other half's.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Pedigree Planner couldn't be any more straight forward to use. First thing to do though is be sure the dogs you wish to trial mate are in your database, if not then you need to add them first. If their records are in place simply locate them by typing their names into the provided fields, as your typing the names will appear within you typing the first few letters, hit the View Ped button and a pedigree for this match will be generated for you.
Quick Searches have been added to the Sire & Dam fields to aid you in locating a parent quickly, if you have a rather large database building up scrolling through long lists can be a bit of a drag so this new searches hopefully make for a more efficient operation. To operate the any of the Quick searches you simply start to type in the search box and if the dog your looking for is there it will appear as you type within you typing a few letters of their FULL KCNAME, once located simply hit the little Green button at the end of the search to confirm your choice and if the record is indeed in your database it will be selected for you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To View a Report you can go to the Data Store or choose the reports icon on the toolbar. You will then see the screen below. Simply choose the report required from the small drop down list provided. from here all your main reports can be viewed and printed out as long as you have a printer correctly installed. Once again you can also save your report to HTML if you want to include the data on a web site, or you can save it to a PDF document and display the data on another PC.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This feature is very basic in that it only tracks money's coming in and out on the dogs you add. The first time you add a record to this section you will come across 2 test records, just update these records initially to get started, change the names and other fields to suit your records and hit update. To see the results of your new records you can go into the main Report explorer and call up the report or print it out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adding photos is very easy and can be done by choosing the Canine properties window from the Data Store or the toolbar, select the dog you wish to add a picture of and go to the Photo's tab. Here you can add photos by clicking on the small camera buttons, you choose the image from a location on your drive/s and its then displayed for you. The main supported image types are GIF,JPG,JPEG and BMP.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adding a full pedigree is the most complex of the programs features, although very straight forward to do you need to focus on the job at hand as your could be about to add 65 dogs, this process will take from 20-30 min's depending on the size of the ped and the speed you type :-)
Dogs can be added on their own with just their parents or by full pedigrees its all the same method needed, as your database grows so will the links inside the database and gaps in pedigrees will knit up for you. There are no limits to the amount of records you can keep so the possibilities are great for amassing a huge collection of breed specific pedigrees.
First thing is to call up the Add Canine form, go to the Data Store and Choose the Add Dogs record from the list. You will be presented by the form below. Simply type the name of the dog you wish to add into the auto search box and hit Find, if the dog appears in the list below hit the Yes button if it doesn't then hit No to go to the next stage.
So the dog wasn't there and now you can add it along with His/Her parents. If the parents are not in the list choose ADD NEW, if you don't know the parents then choose unknown/2. Carry on with the rest of the details and hit Save/Next, depending on what you added the next window will be pulled for you, in this case we opted to add 2 new records for the Dam and Sire.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick Searches
These have been added to the Sire & Dam fields throughout the program to aid you in locating a parent quickly, if you have a rather large database building up scrolling through long lists can be a bit of a drag so this new searches hopefully make for a more efficient operation. To operate the any of the Quick searches you simply start to type in the search box and if the dog your looking for is there it will appear as you type within you typing a few letters of their FULL KCNAME, once located simply hit the little Green button at the end of the search to confirm your choice and if the record is indeed in your database it will be selected for you. Please note that dogs must be in your database to get located in the quick searches and the main purpose of these searches is simply to do a quick check to see if the dog you are looking to add to your database is already listed and select it quickly.
You must bear in mind that in your own databases you must name dogs in the same manner if your compiling a large database and take care when searching for dogs and its always good to try variants when searching to double check.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again fill in all you can about the dogs, this time you cannot ADD NEW records so if the Dam's & Sire's are not there but need listing choose 'unknown' this time and you will add them next. Check the details are correct and hit Submit.
That's all there is to it, you will be asked if you need to add more records so depending if it was a single record or a full ped your adding choose Yes or No.
These steps are continued until you have added all the dogs in your pedigree, if any of the dogs were initially entered with unknown/2 as their parents and you have now added the parents, this can simply be altered in the Canine Properties.
Once again locate the focus dog who's parents need updating and click on the Dam/Sire tab, you can now update the record by choosing the Dam and sire from the drop down lists so that the pedigree displays correctly, once the parents are located hit the save/update button represented by a small floppy disc at the bottom to save the changes.
The main idea of the pedigree insertions is that you add a dog and its parents, add a dog and its parents, over and over until you have all the records in your database, most of your dogs will be linked correctly but you will find when you call up the pedigree to view it there will be gaps, this is when you need to go to the Canine properties, make a note of all the dogs missing and look them up in the Canine properties and update as detailed above.
The easiest and fastest way to add your pedigree from scratch is to do as the steps above suggest and once you have the main dog added with the parents names known or not....Open the Properties section and look up the dog if he/she is not already in focus and go to the Ancestors tab, add the rest of the pedigree in this section and you get a visual representation of a pedigree style layout which helps you when adding lots of new dogs and ensuring you link them correctly and place them in the correct generations so they will link with offspring and other ancestors themselves if you start to build your database as these dogs you add will appear in future quick searches and will be selectable to save double entry's.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first step in the backup process should be to repair the database itself, to do this hit the Repair button. Once you have completed this and received verification that it has been completed you can back up your database records safely.
Each of the backup tools saves the files into the programs main installed directory, in this system and in most others it should be: C:\Program Files\CompanionXP06\backup\ unless you changed the install path in the initial install set up.
The files you backed up should be taken from the backup folder(Set to make a folder in your PC's main hard drive called "CompanionXP_Backup") and saved to another drive or CDROM or other back up media for a time that you may need to use them. You should back up on a regular basis if you enter or delete records often, this ensures you have current backups.
The main backed up files and folders are:
Folder: pictures & all its contents. (These are all the photos that go with the dogs records)
Folder: HTML & all its contents. (These are all the HTML files you saved)
Folder: PDF & all its contents. (These are all the PDF files you saved)
Files: All .mdb files (Your main database/s, you may have several depending on how many database's you made and saved)
When you have backed up all your files they are all stored in a folder called BackUp in the main application folder. Use the Save feature to take this folder and copy it to your hard drive for safe keeping or backing to some other media until the day you need to restore your records. You should do this after any major record additions of changes you make to ensure you always have the latest back ups.
If and when you need to recover your program manually you simply copy all the backed up files from their saved location where ever that may be, and copy them into the programs main installed directory " C:\Program Files\CompanionXP\" , you can use the Import feature to automatically do this for you by clicking the Import feature and pointing to the folder where your backed up records are stored, once you select the backed up folder the contents of the folder are copied to the companionXP's main working directory and over write your current files and databases, so care is needed that you are restoring the correct back up.
The only time you may want to perform this operation if you have just reinstalled Windows or Formatted your hard drive or similar operation.
Click Image To View larger View
One of the most recent additions to the CompanionXP V2 is the Auto update for the Peddy Kits
This gives the user the ability to keep their web kit up to date with any new records or updates made to their CXP databases through a simple button click...
The old way meant you had to do your additions and updates then save your database and open up an FTP client to send your files to your Kits server and this worked well as long as you were confident in using an FTP client and were sure of the files you needed to send..
Now the guess work has all been taken out and a sequence of predefined steps have been laid out for the user who can simply retrieve their web kits database >> update it > and send it back along with any pics they wish to incorporate with the records.
The feature requires you have a CXP web kit set up and you have a valid UserID & password
See the support for assistance on this.
The CXP V2 has a new properties system added, its based on the old system but has been split into separate sections instead of the Tab that were in version 1.
In doing this it has enabled for complete expansion of the properties to allow for many many extra fields of data to be taken and collected and with the sections being split you only need to load and review the info you need so this has dramatically speeded up the properties section and made for a more efficient system.
Click the small image above to view the properties V2 opening screen with your listed options to date.
The CXP properties V2 is the at heart of the Peddy Kit updator and of your peddy generation and this is where you will spend most of your time when adding dogs and updating their records with info and pics.
The main props screen has a quick slide view that will show you the brief details of the current dog along with a photo should you open it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Making your own pedigree templates with your own design, watermarks, borders, whatever you want could not be easier.
The first thing to do is to locate the Companions main installed folder which should be c:\Program Files\TheStaffordsCompanion\...... or c:\Program Files\CompanionXP06\.......in there you will see your backgrounds folder, this is where the main templates are stored.
Pick one of these image files it does not really matter which one, select the image by left clicking on it once to select it then right click your mouse and choose COPY from the little menu.
Close everything off now so that you can see your Desktop, that's the main computer screen where you can see all your little icons generally that's where you have the My Computer Icon and your trash can.
Go into a clear space on your desktop and right click your mouse and choose paste this time, the image you copied in the last step will now appear as a new copy on your desktop.
Open Adobe Photoshop or whatever photo suite or image manipulation software you use, they all work in basically the same manner, but for this one were doing in in Adobe Photoshop 7.
Go to File at the top left and choose OPEN from the menu.
Now your image is on the desktop so browse for the pic and select it.
Your screen should look similar to this now depending on the template you first picked, We simply chose background 1 for this example.
The first thing to do is get rid of the old border, so look to your tool menu in Adobe for the eraser tool.
Then once the old border is gone put in your own if you want a border, this one is just a simple rectangle point size 7.
Easy so far Huh?...........
Right we need to add something to this newly created template so you have to have an image or a photo you want to use, remember that the background of the pedigree needs to be white, but you can use any images you have on your computer or scanned images from your scanner/digital camera whatever you have its basically up to you what you want to add.
For simplicity we will use an old image made up for the http://www.nesbtc.co.uk main page.
Once again locate the photo/image file you want to use.....
Locate the image of photo you want to add...
Once again the image were using here is easily located on the computers desktop, the photo can however be located anywhere on the computer but it makes things easier to keep your working files on the desktop for ease of locating, the image we are using here is called mywatermark1 this name can be whatever you like but its always good to name your images with a name you will recognize at a glance as you will find this easier to find your image files at a later date if you have to go searching through folders of of similarly named pic files.
Now you have located the new image you can import it into your main image in Adobe that your working on, add it into a layer of its own and position it on the background where you see fit.
Bear in mind the pedigree information that will be shown on top of this template your making so too dark a watermark or background image will spoil the read ability of your finished pedigree, the solution here is to adjust the transparency of the layer that holds the new image.
Use the opacity slide on the layers tab to adjust the transparency of your
layer to suit your needs.Now the image here was simply an image previously made this can be as complex
or as simple as you wish, your image could encompass the whole canvas of your
template not just in the center of it as we have here its really up to yourself.................
Once your happy with your new pedigree background save it and its ready for
use.
Go to the file menu in Adobe photoshop again and choose SAVE AS
Then give your image a name to remember
Once again you can save the image to where ever you want but keep it on the desktop for this exercise.
You are now ready to take the image into the companion.
Close Adobe Photoshop as your done with it for the time being, and go to your main desktop and locate the file you just saved, it will be easy to find just look for the name that you just saved it as.
Right click on the image on your desktop and choose COPY from the menu as you did earlier and go to where the Companion is located on your hard drive.......
Go into the folder called Backgrounds and in an empty space in the folder Right Click your mouse and choose Paste from the menu. This puts a copy of your background into the main backgrounds folder for ease of use, this is not essential as your file can be loaded into a pedigree from where ever but it will make it simple for a start.
Now you can open the Companion and go to the Custom Pedigree section.
Go straight to the background section and click the button to load a new BG. The browse window will open in the Backgrounds folder where you cab scroll to your image.
And you should be presented with........
Its as simple as that...................
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If your really stuck and are struggling to cope with any of the CompanionXP features you can look us up on Microsofts Messenger, Get it here >> Microsoft's Messengers Main Site.
Once installed this software gives you a great way of connecting to other users with messenger installed, this gives us the ability to connect to your PC and show you anything or you can also demonstrate any errors or problems you have encountered.
This service is not always available and we do try to use it as often as possible but is a time factor and a meeting can be pre arrangedVia E-mail to us and this will not be a problem.
If you would like remote assistance please contact us and we will send you our Messenger Contact details if you do not have them already, please make sure you have the latest version of the Microsoft Messenger installed so we can connect properly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: support@staffdata.co.uk
