Teach/Me - Data Analysis

Sometimes, mostly in private (European) environments, the fees for connecting to the Internet are proportional to the time being online. In this case, using a database over the Internet may become too expensive to draw any advantage from it. Coimbra offers a special program called the Coimbra Offline Manager which allows to download and synchronize a remote database (the Offline Manager is installed along with the other Coimbra software parts). The local offline copy can then be used in the same way and with the same functionality as the original remote database.

To create or synchronize a database, first start the Offline Manager and perform the synchronization while being on-line. Thereafter you can switch off the modem and use the local copy in the same way as the remote copy. For most databases the synchronization process will be quite short and thus reduce the costs for the Internet connection substantially. Please note that you have to install the online version of Teach/Me before being able to create an offline copy.

The Offline Manager displays the list of all available databases. The left column contains all original databases (either remote or local); the rightmost column lists all offline copies (OLC) of the corresponding database. The middle column shows the database signature of the database (the signatures of the original and the offlines copies have to be identical).

Following is a short description of the offline manager commands:

Create New OLC Create a new offline copy. The user has first to select an empty directory of the local disk where the offline copy of the database has to be stored. Thereafter the Offline Manager connects to the remote database and creates a local copy of it. Note that the process of creating an offline copy can take considerable time if the database is large. After downloading the database it can be used in the usual way. If the download is aborted for some reason (either by the user or due to connectivity problems) the rest of the documents can be loaded by using the command Synchronize OLC.

Install OLC from CDROM If the database is large, creating an offline copy for the first time may be a time consuming process, since all documents have to be downloaded from the remote server. However, offline copies can be installed from a CDROM, thus substantially reducing the initial load times. Please note that the computer has to be online during installation from CDROM in order to facilitate user authentication (unauthorized users are not allowed to install an offline copy). After clicking on this command, you have first to authenticate yourself. Thereafter you have to select the source directory on the CDROM and the destination directory on the harddisk. After having installed the offline copy from CDROM you should click on Synchronize OLC to ensure that the offline copy is up to date.

Hint: Due to a technical upgrade the single user edition of Teach/Me is not compatible to the new offline manager. It is therefore not possible to use the single user edition as a starter CDROM.

Synchronize OLC Synchronize an existing offline copy. The Offline Manager connects to the remote database and compares the files of the remote database and the offline copy. The differing files are downloaded.

Delete OLC Deleting an offline copy removes both the database profile of the offline copy and the database itself. Please note that any files (even those which are not part of the database) and subdirectories of the offline copy are removed.

Create New OLC	Create a new offline copy. The user has first to select an empty directory of the local disk where the offline copy of the database has to be stored. Thereafter the Offline Manager connects to the remote database and creates a local copy of it. Note that the process of creating an offline copy can take considerable time if the database is large. After downloading the database it can be used in the usual way. If the download is aborted for some reason (either by the user or due to connectivity problems) the rest of the documents can be loaded by using the command Synchronize OLC.
Install OLC from CDROM	If the database is large, creating an offline copy for the first time may be a time consuming process, since all documents have to be downloaded from the remote server. However, offline copies can be installed from a CDROM, thus substantially reducing the initial load times. Please note that the computer has to be online during installation from CDROM in order to facilitate user authentication (unauthorized users are not allowed to install an offline copy). After clicking on this command, you have first to authenticate yourself. Thereafter you have to select the source directory on the CDROM and the destination directory on the harddisk. After having installed the offline copy from CDROM you should click on Synchronize OLC to ensure that the offline copy is up to date. Hint: Due to a technical upgrade the single user edition of Teach/Me is not compatible to the new offline manager. It is therefore not possible to use the single user edition as a starter CDROM.
Synchronize OLC	Synchronize an existing offline copy. The Offline Manager connects to the remote database and compares the files of the remote database and the offline copy. The differing files are downloaded.
Delete OLC	Deleting an offline copy removes both the database profile of the offline copy and the database itself. Please note that any files (even those which are not part of the database) and subdirectories of the offline copy are removed.