This step in entering a session is to see that all the songs performed are contained in the database and enter them if not found. Of course, if you are creating your database from scratch, then the songs will not be there and you can just add them. But if you download the basic starter database for Brian, it will contain thousands of previously entered song titles with the composers.
It will help to remember that because Brian is a relational database, song titles are entered only once. When entering the songs as performances of a session, you will be linking a previously entered song title to the the session. You will not need to enter the song title again for every session that uses it. This will become more clear when the tutorial covers the entry of performances for a session.The songs on the album Rat Race Blues are:
To start, select Songs from the Windows menu item to display the Songs window. When the window is first displayed, the fields will be filled in with the first song record already contained in the database. So, in the case of this tutorial, that is why the song, A. M. Blues, shows up in the picture below.
For this tutorial, we will assume that the song The Rat Race Blues is not already on the database and proceed to enter it. Press the button labeled New as shown below.
Pressing the New button will clear the text from the Song Title field, activate the Save and Cancel buttons, and dim all the other buttons on the window. The song title can now be entered. The picture below shows the window after the New button has been pressed and the song title entered.
Pressing the Save button will add the new song to the database and activate all the buttons on the window so another song can be entered. At this point, the writers can be added to the newly added song. The writers can be added only after the Save button has been pressed. Brian will not allow composer entry while the Save button is active.
Adding a writer to a song is a process of looking up the composer name so it displays in the writer name field and then pressing the Add button. The Writer field on the Songs window is a lookup field. This means that as characters are typed into the field, Brian will use those characters to lookup the writer name that is already stored in the datebase. As Brian finds names, it will display them in the list located on the right hand side of the window. Once the desired name is displayed, use the mouse to select it and cause the full name to be displayed in the Writer field.
Notice in the picture below how the letters "gry" are entered in the Writer field and in the list to the right are 3 names that begin with the same letters. The list is dynamically updated as each new letter is typed. The more letters typed, the smaller the selection list will become. Notice also that the Add button to the right of the writer listbox is dimmed. It will not activate until a writer is selected from the list at the right.
Once a writer is selected - in this case, Gigi Gryce - the full name is displayed in the Writer field and the Add button is activated as shown in the picture below.
Pressing the Add button will add the name in the Writer field to the Writer listbox as shown in the picture below.
For the next song, Strange Feelin', we'll first check the database to see if it exists before attempting to enter it. Start typing the name of the song in the song field and notice how the list to the right dynamically changes with tune names from the database that match the characters typed. After the letters "stran" are typed we can see in the list that Strange Feelin' is not there so consequently, it is not on the database. See picture below:
So, at this point we follow the steps outlined above and enter the new song title by pressing the New button, typing the song title into the song field and then pressing the Save button. That leaves us with a window, looking as shown below, ready for the writer additions.
The composer for Strange Feelin' is Sam Finch. Typing the letters "fin" in the Writer field creates a list of composers in the selection list to the right that does not contain anyone with the last name of Finch. See the picture below:
Since the name we want is not on the list, we'll need to add it to the database. To do this, select the Writers item from the Windows menu. This will display a window as shown below. As with the songs window, the first writer record on the database is automatically filled in when the window is opened.
Press the new button to clear the first and last name from the fields and proceed to enter Sam Finch. When the name is entered, press the Save button to save it to the database.
Once Sam Finch is added to the database, that name can be linked to the song title. Type in the same letters, "fin", as before and notice, as shown in the picture below, that this time the name Sam Finch shows up in the selection list to the right.
Select Sam Finch and press the Add button to link Sam Finch to the song Strange Feelin', as shown below.
In these cases, the songs have only one writer. But there is no limit to the number of writers that can be linked to a song.
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