Operational Options
Use One in N import sampling?
Set this option ON to limit the import to an Nth sample of the input file. For example, set this option to 1000 to import only 1 in every 1000 records.
Print Structure?
Set this option ON to automatically display the Main File Layout report before Import. This report lists the different field names in the DBF file that you are importing into, as well as the widths and field types.
Prompt Checklist of Data?
Not available yet. Will be included in a future mDesktop release.
Min, Max, Average Field Widths?
Set this option ON to automatically display the Main File Layout Field Widths report. This report lists everything that the Main File layout report does, but also displays the minimum, maximum and average field lengths within your records.
Show print reminder dialogs?
Set this option ON to prompt for printing reports after preview.
Automatically assign DBF name?
Set this option ON to automatically assign a name for the DBF file at the end of the Setup Wizard, in the same folder as the input file.
Browse After Adding Records?
Set this option ON to automatically view the contents of the Main File that your data has been imported into, before keys are generated.
Wait after Import?
If you tick the "Wait After Import" parameter check box mDesktop will pause after Importing records so you can choose whether or not to proceed to Find Matches and if so which Match Keys to use. If you leave the box blank, mDesktop carries on with matching automatically after Import, using default Match Keys. If the Main File has not been set up for matching, but has been set up for Mailsort, it will carry on automatically with the Do Mailsort processing.
Show Startup Tips?
When you start mDesktop for the first time, you will see a startup tips screen with several options, one of which governs whether or not that screen will be displayed next time. You can set this parameter "On" so that you will see this screen when starting up, or "Off" to disable it.
Sound Effects
If you set the Sound Effects parameter to 'Off', mDesktop will not make any beeps when displaying error messages or when it has finished importing, matching and outputting records. If you set it to 'Quiet', it will make a single beep for all occasions.
Advanced Operational Options
Progress interval
The Progress Interval parameter is an integer. Its value specifies the number of records to process between updates of the progress information on the screen. At the end of each progress interval, updates are written from a temporary buffer to the hard disk for the table being processed. Too low a progress interval slows processing down.
Escape interval
To maximise the speed of the importation and deduplication, mDesktop only checks for any keyboard input from the user (to see if they have pressed escape to abort the process) at a set interval. This parameter is the size of that interval, in seconds.
Default delimited width for Wizard
mDesktop scans a sample of your data and determines the max length for each column, it then factors in a percentage to increase it by, to accommodate for any larger pieces of data that may not have been included in the sample. Some types of field have additional logic and will be set by default to a different width or to a minimum of the (Default Delimited width for Wizard.). With delimited text or Excel files, you should still check your data after import to check for truncation, using the Field Widths Report from the Reports/QA Dashboard.
Default delimited % margin for Wizard
mDesktop scans a sample of your data and determines the max length for each column, it then factors in a percentage to increase it by, to accommodate for any larger pieces of data that may not have been included in the sample. It's very similar to a margin of error when determining how mDesktop generates field widths.
Size of file sample used by Wizard
When importing a file using the Setup Wizard, mDesktop shows you a sample of your file to enable you to identify the contents of each field. This parameter governs the size of this sample, the sample is taken from the beginning of a file.
Max database size to display stats on info screen
mDesktop displays details about the currently selected Main File on the info screen, such as the number of flagged records, and the percentage of records which have postcodes. If the file has a large number of records, however, these details can take a long time to calculate, making it inconvenient when opening files. This parameter sets a record limit above which these details are not automatically calculated when opening a new file. This option cannot be set to lower than 100 records.
Clean up temporary files
This parameter governs what mDesktop does with temporary files when it closes down. If this parameter is set to 'Yes' then mDesktop will always delete temporary files and if it is set to 'No' mDesktop will always leave the temporary files. Alternatively, if this option is set to 'Ask', mDesktop will check with the user before deleting temporary files when closing down. What constitutes a temporary file is defined in the table CLEANUP.DBF in the main mDesktop directory, which contains a list of file masks such as "*.TMP"; you can add other masks to this list. mDesktop will delete all files matching these file masks in the mDesktop directory and all its installed sub-directories.
Log current record number
If you tick this check box, then mDesktop will record the record number (or pair of record numbers and match key for matching) it is currently processing when it is importing a file or doing Find Matches/Overlap. The information is recorded in a text file, which is called IMPORT.LOG for importing, MATCHING.LOG for matching on a single file, and OVERLAP.LOG for a find overlap on two files; all these files are found in the main mDesktop directory. This is useful when there is a problem during one of these operations, as you can inspect this file to see which record (or pair of records) was potentially causing a problem.