Tips and Tricks

Use the Mouse Wheel

Working with FlexMax is much more efficient when you use the mouse wheel for turning the parts of a figure. And if your mouse should not have a wheel - you can buy a wheel mouse for little money in any computer shop.

Set Startup Figure

You can use a figure of your liking as the startup figure. In FlexMax, click on your figure, then in the right window part click on Figure... and select Use this object as template for new ones. Now whenever you start FlexMax, or whenever you select New from the Figure menu, this figure will be shown. Thus you can e.g. use a startup figure which already has your preferred grayscale and line widht. Or, if you are working on a series of variants to a base position, select the base position for startup.

Where is my Database?

The default database is named Database.mdb and is typically located in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\FlexMax, or, with older operating systems, C:\Windows\Application Data\FlexMax. If you have used the command Create New Database before, your current database may be located elsewhere and have a different name. You can read this information from an entry in the Windows registry. But be careful, don't change any entries in the registry. In the Start menu, select Run and enter "regedit". In the left part of the window, by clicking on the "+" signs, navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Matzka\FlexMax" and click on the folder symbol named "General". Then you will see the path of your current database in the entry "CurrentDatabase".

Moving to a new Computer

Of course you install FlexMax on the new computer and enter your license key. But how does your database with all the figures you have already created move to the new computer?

First locate your database with the Windows explorer (cf. above). Then copy it to a folder of your choice on the new computer (using some memory device, e.g. a CD or an USB memory stick, or even by sending an E-Mail to yourself). On the new computer, click on the Start menu and select Database from the FlexMax group. In the File menu, select Change database, navigate to your database, and close the dialog by clicking OK.

Backup your Database

It is good practice to occasionally create a backup copy of your database. In particular if you plan to clean up your database, you should make a copy boforehand, just in case you happen to delete something you didn't intend to delete. Locate the database with the Windows explorer (cf. above). Right-click your database and select Copy. Then right-click to the background of the folder where you want to have your backup copy and select Paste. It is a good idea to have your backup copy on an external storage medium, such as CD or memory stick, just for the case of hard disk failure.