The Main Page

The Main page is the primary interface for bin import, asset management, and organization in Altera.

Interface Overview

This section is an overview of the Menu Bar in Altera. For further information, see the relevant chapter.

The main Altera Project window is separated into 5 areas;

• The menu bar
• The Project pane
• The Smart Bins pane
• The notification pane
• The main project window

The Tool Bar

The menu bar houses the main functions of Altera. The tools are;

Icon	Function
	Main – Clicking this will take the user back to the main Altera project
	Append – Used to add metadata from one bin to the end of another
	Merge – Used to combine two or more Bins into one, in a very similar fashion to the Append Bins tool. The Merge Bins tool will merge information instead of adding it to the end of the first bin
	Find & Replace – Used to search for a particular term, and if necessary, replace it with another
	Report – Used to create HTML or PDF reports based on the data held in any loaded Bins
	Export – Used to export Bins in any number of formats, for use in other software applications
	Check & Compare – Used to compare either 2 or more bins, or to compare 2 or more database files
	ManageDB – Used to load and check a database, as well as create a new Bin file from the loaded Database
	Settings – Used to amend the open projects’ metadata

The Project PaneThe project pane is where opened bins are stored. Altera will load with an empty Project pane, therefore bins will need to be loaded.

Loading Bins

To load a bin into the project pane, either control-click (if a 1 button mouse is being used) right click (if a 2-button mouse is being used) or two-finger tap on the trackpad. A small menu will appear:

New Bin – A new, empty bin is added into the Project Pane. The layout is based on the default layout.

New Bin From File – A bin is added to the Project Pane, with information taken from an existing file.

New Group – A new, empty group is added to the Project Pane. A group is a folder to hold a collection of bins or other groups. Drag and drop is used to structure groups.

The file types that can be added to Altera are:

• *.AAF
• *.ALE
• *.AVB
• *.EDL
• *.CSV
• *.CCC
• *.CDL
• *.MHL

Opened bins can be ordered. This can be done by clicking the bar at the top of the pane, and can be ordered by Name, Date Modified or Date Created. Click to order the information in ascending or descending order.

The width of the columns can be changed by positioning the mouse pointer over the line to the right-hand side of the column. Click and drag to set the required width.

Clicking (right click (if using a 2-button mouse), control-click (if you are using a 1-button mouse) or two-finger tap if using a trackpad) on an open bin or group will bring up the following menu:

New Bin – As above
New Bin From File – As above
New Group – As above
Open – Opens the bin in the Project pane
Close – Closes an open bin
Duplicate – Duplicates the bin. A window will appear asking for the name of the duplicated bin
Rename – Renames the bin
Remove – Removes the bin from the bin manager

The Rename operation can also be carried out by slow clicking the name of the bin or group.

The Smart Bins Pane

Clicking (right click (if using a 2-button mouse), control-click (if you are using a 1-button mouse) or two-finger tap if using a trackpad) inside of the Smart bins pane will bring up the following menu:

New Smart Bin – Using this will bring up a window allowing the user to create a new Smart Bin.

New Group – A new, empty group is added to the Project Pane. A group is a folder to hold a collection of bins or other groups. Drag and drop is used to structure groups.

Creating a new Smart Bin

To create a new Smart Bin, select New Smart Bin from the menu. The following window will appear:

Give the new smart bin a name by typing it into the Name field.

Bin Logic

Click the Plus sign labelled Add Rule. The rule editor will appear:

Choose to match Any or All of the listed criteria. 

Choose which Regular Expression to use in the rule:

Choose whether the rule is to be case sensitive by checking the box.

Enter the text string to be used in the rule.

Click the Create button and the new smart bin will appear in the Smart Bin pane.

Creating a Chain Rule

Creating a chain rule is the same as for creating a rule detailed above. A chain rule is used when more than one is to be applied to a smart bin.

For example, if the user wanted to create a bin that would show all the files named Film01, and any of those files that were filmed on Cam01, the rule would be designed thus:

A chain rule can have as many nested rules as needed. When the rule has been entered into the editor, click the create button.

The user can choose whether to add a rule within the chain, or to add a rule outside the chain.

The Notifications Pane

Any errors or notifications will be shown in this pane. The Log tab shows a list of all tasks completed.

The Main Project Window

The main project window is where the opened files can be viewed in Altera. The layout can be customised (see the chapter on customising the layout).