Database

All information about dances, venues, categories, rhythms, and all dance history is kept in a Microsoft Access compatible database file. Creating backups of this database is a best practice to prevent your loss of this information if the database file becomes corrupt.


By default DanceWizard will suggest creating a backup every 14 days when you close the program.


Although creating backups of your database is important, it is more important that you create copies of your entire dance collection (database, audio files, cue cards, cue sheets, etc.) to protect against a drive or laptop failure which causes you to lose your entire dance collection.

Sections

Backing Up A Database

Restoring A Database

Switching Between Databases

Creating A New Database

Field Sizes

Backing Up A Database

A Database backup is started by clicking the Database Actions > Backup Database option on the File menu.



This will open the database backup window where you can decide the location and name of the backup file.



Pressing the Backup Now button will create the database backup. By default database backups are placed in a Backups folder within your dance collection tree.

Restoring A Database

The database restore process is started by clicking the Database Actions > Restore Database option on the File menu.



This will open a window where you can select the backup database to restore from.



Important Note

Performing a database restore completely replaces your existing database with the contents from the backup copy of the database. Do not perform this operation if you do not understand the consequences of this action.

Switching Between Databases

If you have multiple dance databases the you can switch between them by clicking the Database Actions > Switch Database option on the File menu.



Click on the database in the list you would like to open.


If your database isn’t listed you can click on Browse for database to open a window to locate your database.

Creating A New Database

You can create a new empty dance databases by clicking the Database Actions > Create New Database option on the File menu.



This will open a window where you can select the folder and name of database to be created.



Click the Create Now button to create the new database.

Field Sizes

All of the fields in the database are limited in size by the database, and will stop accepting input when that limit is reached. Databases created by DanceWizard have larger field sizes than those created by DanceMaster.


The following table lists all fields that accept text along with their size limits for existing DanceMaster databases and newly created DanceWizard databases.


Object

Field

Existing Database
Field Size

New Database Field Size

Dance

Dance Name

30

80


Choreographer

30

128


Song Title

-

255


Artist

-

255


Plus Figure Names

16

80


Notable Figure Names

20

80


Bookmark Names

15

80


Category Names

15

80


Comments

200

255


Music File Name

40

80


Cue Card File Name

40

80


Cue Sheet File Name

40

80


Standardized Cue Sheet File Name

-

80


Voice Cues File Name

40

80


Video File Names

-

80

Category

Category Name

15

80

Rhythm

Rhythm Name

12

40

Venue

Venue Name

20

80


Hall Name

30

80


Phone

15

15


Address

50

80


Contact Name

30

80


Contact Phone

15

15


Contact Email

-

255


Notes

255

255


Important Note

Exporting dances from a DanceWizard database with larger field sizes is fully supported. Dance modules created by DanceWizard can be imported by DanceMaster and by other DanceWizard cuers using existing DanceMaster format databases. Fields that are larger than what DanceMaster supports are truncated for import to DanceMaster, but will import fully into new DanceWizard databases.


See the Dance Modules topic for additional information.

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