File menu

File | Edit | View | Tools | Options | Window | Help

Use the File menu to open, save, import, export, combine, split and print new or existing files. To work with files, you must first read the Mimosa file from the disk, file or import data from the text files created by other users or from other applications, paste data from the Clipboard or create a new one.

When all the views are closed and you click the screen, you are prompted to select one of the basic file operations:

Menu selections:

New

Creates a new file using the texts in the selected file as defaults. They contain text fields for days of week, time periods, category and booking texts and report titles. All these texts can be edited in Options tabs.

Mimosa prompts to select from a set of various configuration or default files the one that you are going to use. For this example, double-click english.cfw from the list of files to open it. All texts can be later on changed in tabs of Options menu.

You can use the selection Language to store a new setting file or use an existing one. Normally, this file is selected only at the start of the process. All the texts and other parameters are saved along with the Mimosa binary file (filename.mfw). When you next time select Open to read the file you saved, all parameters are restored.

Open

Reads an existing Mimosa file into the application. If you like to automatically open the file at start-up which was last accessed, check the selection Open last accessed file at start-up in Options|Other|File selections.

Close

Closes the active file. If you have not previously saved changes to the file, Mimosa asks if you want to save the file before you close it. If you close a file without saving, you lose all changes which have not previously saved.

Make a demo file

This selection invokes a wizard which creates a small Mimosa sample file, including components, courses and also schedules the lectures. You can interact with the process and change any data Mimosa creates automatically. The file type you create is either a group or student-based, according to your preferences. After the wizard is completed, you can select to publish the results as web pages. Note that the results of this simplified wizard do not represent real world timetables, but this option is provided to just to demonstrate typical stages but save you from typing.

Click Continue to go the next stage and view the results on the screen.

Steps of the wizard process:

  • Step 1: A list of components is created. This list contains teachers, rooms and according to your first selection, also groups or students. Components view is activated.
  • Step 2: A list of courses is created. This list contains the course codes, names, categories and randomly selected maximum number of lectures (MAX). Courses view is activated.
  • Step 3: Randomly selected components are attached to courses. You can also add colours to and components automatically. Courses view is activated.
  • Step 4: You are directed to Timetables view and you can now manually schedule some or all of all lectures, or let Mimosa do that for you (by clicking Continue).
  • Step 5: You can now let Mimosa quickly optimise the current timetables (by clicking Continue).
  • Step 6: You are now ready to publish the timetables by clicking Publish!

Save [Ctrl+S]

Saves the current file with its current name. If you would like to have a backup copy (.bak) of the file that was previously saved, save it to .mxt format and/or keep today's and yesterday's copies of the file on disk, check the appropriate selections in Create backup copy in Options|Other|File selections.

Save As

Saves the current file with a different file name. If you would like to have a backup copy (.bak) of the file that was previously saved, check the selection Create backup copy in Options|Other|Automated file operations.

Extract week

When the Weeks view is active and your Mimosa file contains more than one week, this selection extracts the currently selected week and saves it into a separate Mimosa file. All allocated and scheduled lectures on the selected week (or term) plus all components, courses and collections are saved in this file.

This feature is useful in cases when the scheduling of certain courses requires more independency in modifying the collections, since now the necessary changes (of rooms, for instance) affect only the data of this particular week. It is on the responsibility of the user to keep the main file (where all weeks are stored) intact with the original teaching plan, and to use this extracting feature only for scheduling purposes.

File Import

Reads data stored in other file formats into the application. The default and most important format is the Mimosa text file format (.mxt) which is used in File Import and File Add selections, see File formats.

To read other file formats, change the appropriate file extension type in the Files of type selection. Mimosa imports certain national administrative application file formats and converts them to appropriate format.

File Export

File Export converts all or part of your Mimosa file to a text format which can then be imported to other applications or back to Mimosa.

    Mimosa text file (.mxt)

    By default, this selection writes the contents of the current Mimosa file in text file format (.mxt) on the disk to be used by other applications or to combine with other Mimosa files. You can use this file in selections File Add and File Import to add the content of the file to an existing Mimosa file or add to another Mimosa file. It is relatively easy to connect Mimosa with other applications by using this text file format, as explained in Mimosa file formats. The selection Split... also creates a file of this format, but it includes only the courses you want to include in it.

    Select first the target folder and file name and click [OK] to start converting the file to format .mxt. You can then import this file into Mimosa with File Import or merge it to another Mimosa file with File Add.

    Other file formats

    This selection supports .csv (Comma Separated Values), .vcs (vCalendar) and .ics (iCalendar) formats. This selection is enabled only if you have checked [X] Align Mimosa weeks with calendar in tab Options|Time so that the other applications understand how Mimosa weeks are mapped with real the real calendar weeks. Check also in the same tab that the selected time periods can be interpreted correctly in the receiving application. Preferably use the format "hh:mm-hh:mm" for the start and end time stamps (for example 08:15-09:00). Note that the receiving application may approximate your original time period definitions.

    Mimosa uses Short date format for dates and Short time format for time which can be changed in Windows Regional settings. Note that the selected format may require you to select the same formats on your computer as the receiving application.

    These file formats are supported by several calendar applications, including web-based and also mobile device applications. If you want to copy the schedules to Microsoft Outlook Calendar, select the Calendar application and Import the file in your selected format (.csv, .vcs or .ics). The needed commands how to import the resulting text file into the Calendar of the receiving application vary by the application or its version.

    Applications supporting file formats above include for example the following: Apple iCal, Facebook, Google Calendar, Lotus Notes, Mobile devices, Microsoft Entourage, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Works Calendar, Mozilla Thunderbird, Moodle, Novell Groupwise, Windows Calendar, Windows Live Calendar and Yahoo Calendar. Also several mobile devices can read/write files using at least one of these formats.

    Follow the steps below:

    Step 1 Select the target folder you are going to convert Mimosa timetables to.
    Step 2 Select the first and last week of the timetables you are about to include in conversion.
    Step 3 Select the component(s) you are going to convert. For instance, you may like to select only one, several or all teachers.
    Step 4 Select if you want the resulting files to be combined into one file or to create a separate file for each component or event.

    The last option is available for the .vcs (vCalendar) and .ics (iCalendar) formats, since many applications (or their specific versions) require that each event must be a separate file, whereas in some cases files with events combined into a single file are accepted for importing.

    If you selected in Step 4:
    a) The first option, all schedules are converted to the file and folder specified in Step 1.
    b) The second option, a separate file for each component is created and stored to the folder specified in Step 1. The file names are automatically created from each component you selected in Step 3 (for example "smith.csv" or "smith.vcs").
    c) The third option, a separate file for each component and each event is created and stored to the folder specified in Step 1. The file names are automatically created from each component you selected in Step 3 and appended by the date of each event (for example "smith_2013_05_06_2.vcs", "smith_2014_10_07_1.ics").

      Comma Separated Values format (.csv)

      Sample format (five events selected): 

      Subject,Start Date,Start Time,End Date,End Time,Description,Location,,
[ALVARADO] Psychology,20/08/2012,09:00,20/08/2012,09:45,Form-B ALVARADO,
[ALVARADO] Basic Asian Studies,20/08/2012,10:00,20/08/2012,10:45,O112 ALVARADO,R331
[ALVARADO] Rescue Technology,20/08/2012,11:00,20/08/2012,11:45,LineA ALVARADO,R302
[ALVARADO] Clinical Pharmacology,20/08/2012,12:00,20/08/2012,13:45,LineG ALVARADO,R306
[ALVARADO] Psychology,21/08/2012,08:00,21/08/2012,09:45,Form-B ALVARADO,[R205]

      Importing into Microsoft Outlook using CSV format:

      • Open Microsoft Outlook
      • Select "File|Import and Export..."
      • Select "Import from another program or file" and click Next.
      • Select "Comma Separated Values (Windows)" and click Next.
      • Find the .csv file you just exported and select "Do not import duplicate items" then click Next.
      • Select Calendar and click Next.
      • The next window will have a title that says "The following actions will be performed:" above an option to "Import the (filename).csv into folder: Calendar."
      • Check that box and and click on "Import (filename).csv into folder: Calendar"
      • From there, click and drag needed fields from the left window into the right window. It is fairly self-explanatory, but the basic corresponding fields are below:

        SUBJECT to Subject
        START_DATE to Start Date
        START_TIME to Start Time
        END_TIME to End Time
        DESCRIPTION to Description
        LOCATION to Location

      • And if you'd like Outlook to place a reminder: REMINDER_ON_OFF to Reminder On/Off
      • Click OK
      • Then Click Finish

      vCalendar format (.vcs)

      Sample format (one event selected): 

      BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-
VERSION:1.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20110815T090000Z
DTEND:20110815T094500Z
LOCATION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:R206 R307
DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:O113 JOHNS BOWERS R206 R307=0D=0A
SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:[BOWERS] Commercial Spanish
PRIORITY:3
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

      iCalendar format (.ics)

      Sample format (one event selected): 

      BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-
VERSION:2.0
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
ORGANIZER:MAILTO:
DTSTART:20110815T090000Z
DTEND:20110815T094500Z
LOCATION:R206 R307
TRANSP:OPAQUE
SEQUENCE:0
UID:
DTSTAMP:20120429T131200Z
DESCRIPTION:O113 JOHNS BOWERS R206 R307\n
SUMMARY:[BOWERS] Commercial Spanish
X-MICROSOFT-CDO-IMPORTANCE:1
CLASS:PUBLIC
PRIORITY:5
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

      With the help of these file formats you can export your timetables to other desktop and web-based calendar applications and to your mobile device and use their tools to view the timetables.

    Timetable Export

    If Timetables view is active, you can export the contents of the current timetable of the current week either to iCalendar (.ics) or vCalendar (.vcs) format as in the previous selections and import the files to other appointment applications or mobile device.

File Add

Combines files from other users by adding them as a text file format into the current file. Lectures already scheduled and bookings in timetables can also be added from another file. Since combining of files can cause conflicts in timetables (when they refer to the same components), the resulting file is automatically checked and the possible conflicts removed after the addition. You can then repeat the process to combine the contents of more than two files.

See the Network selection if you have several users and all like to combine their files on a regular basis.

The external file that you are about to add to the current file, must first be saved as a text file (.mxt) with the command File Export.

All categories, names of weeks, days, time periods etc. remain unchanged in addition, whereas in the selection File Import the whole content of the current file is replaced by the imported data.

You then have four options specifying how the files are added to the current file. In some schools you might like to add only the courses and components that other users have given, whereas in some cases a complete addition of two files is the most appropriate way to combine data.

The selection Add everything literally adds and combines everything from source file to destination file, adding all components, courses and lectures. This is the recommended and default mode.

In large schools, the selection Only relevant courses is recommended. It does not add any new components from the other files, and adds only those courses that use the same components in their collections which already exist in the current file. This eliminates the risk that files of single users unnecessarily become enlarged, but the greater part of their information will be irrelevant and useless.

If you want to perform this type of file addition (selection Only relevant courses) at start-up, check the selection Add file at start-up (File Add|Only relevant courses) in Options|Other|File selections and select the file you want to add with the Browse button. The addition is performed if the main file is opened automatically beforehand (by also checking the selection Open last accessed file at start-up in Options|Other|File selections).

1 Add everything (complete file addition):

  • all new codes with their contents are added to the current file
  • if matching components and courses are found, their names and contents are replaced
  • lectures allocated to weeks and weekly bookings are combined together
  • scheduled lectures and bookings in timetables are combined together

2 Only relevant courses (partial file addition):

  • new components are not added to the current file
  • new courses with their collections are added to the current file only if they refer to existing components
  • if matching components and courses are found, their names and contents are replaced
  • lectures allocated to weeks and weekly bookings are combined together
  • scheduled lectures and bookings in timetables are combined together

3 Skip scheduled lectures (partial file addition):

  • all new codes with their contents are added to the current file
  • if matching components and courses are found, their names and contents are replaced
  • lectures allocated to weeks and weekly bookings are combined together

4 Timetables as bookings (partial file addition):

  • scheduled lectures and bookings of the imported file are changed to bookings and combined together with the timetables of the current file; data is not updated and new codes are not added.

After a file has been added, you can check and remove possible conflicts from them. If you are about to add several files, this is necessary only after the last file has been added. Conflicts are possible at this stage, since Mimosa does not know the content of the incoming file(s) beforehand. It is recommended to check and remove the conflicts now or later in selection Tools|Check for conflicts.

File Split

Extracts selected courses from the current file and saves them into a separate Mimosa text files (.mxt) that can be exported to Mimosa and/or combined with files maintained by other users. All other contents of the current Mimosa file is saved except the courses that are not selected.

Often this selection is made according to course categories, and on the next round the complementary courses are selected instead. When you are about to merge files with the File Add selection, for instance, you can split the merged files back to subsets with this selection.

File pre-check

Compares the source file against the current file and locates and lists all potential conflicts in the component timetables that will occur when files are combined with the File Add command.

Network

This selection simplifies and generalises the functions in File Export and File Add and enables several users to access the same files and share information about codes, courses, bookings and lectures allocated to weeks and scheduled. See also Network.

It is recommended that you install and upgrade the software in each workstation separately, since each user may like to keep her/his own preferences in file settings.ini. Each user should also keep her/his data files (*.mfw) in a personal folder.

Normally, the users start from an identical set of components and time-frame, and they typically create and maintain the courses of their own departments, but sometimes users share resources (such as teachers and rooms) and want to merge the files together. Network selection permits you to work simultaneously from several workstations, but you should not access Mimosa data files (.mfw) of other users directly. This can easily be prevented if the users keep their files in their own folders as stressed above.

If the users like to combine their files and share information with other users, use then the selection Network|Folder to define and/or create a folder that all users can access. Each user has to define this same folder in their workstations. When they want to share their data, they simply select Network|Write to network and when they like to combine data files of other users they select Network|Read from network

The timing, order and the method how the incoming files are mixed with the current file can be selected by all users, and they can also exercise with a test folder to see what is the best policy to do it in their organisation. After files have been combined, all conflicting lessons (if any) are automatically removed and copied to the Clipboard. In this stage, nothing has been written on disk, and each user can either accept or reject this result and negotiate with other users.

Please note that the selection File pre-check can also be used to identify possible conflicts of the current file with other files that are going to be combined.

If files are going to be combined, apply the following rules in each workstation or file:

  • use similar codes of components
  • use similar limits for weeks, days of week and time periods
  • use different file names

This last rule states that if there are three users, say John, Paul and George, they should name their files john.mfw, paul.mfw and george.mfw and store them in their own disks or in their private folder on a network. This guarantees that all users have their own files in a safe place, and when they are later on combining other files with their own, they can then decide whether to overwrite it or save it with another name.

Select network folder

    Define first the network folder (folder), which will contain the text file copies (.mxt) of the data files (.mfw) of the users, which are going to be shared among several users.

    This folder is stored in a parameter file for later use, so normally you have to define it only once. In large institutions, all users or units do not have to use the same folder, but it is useful in those cases where the same resources - such as rooms and teachers - are going to be used.

    For instance, your folder could have the name

    x:\mfw\shared\

    The letter x: stands here for the network drive letter.

    Once the folder is defined, the following commands Write to network and Read from network will utilise this folder to share data.

    Write to network

    After a valid network folder is defined, you can store your current data file in this folder in text file format (*.mxt). If your current Mimosa file is stored on the disk with the name myfile.mfw, it is written as myfile.mxt in the network folder.

Read from network

    All text files (of type *.mxt) in the defined network folder are added to the data that is currently in the memory. The files are added in their folder listing order, using the selected addition rule as described above in File Add.

    You can change the order of addition by moving the files on the list by using the [Up] and [Down] buttons. The order of files is saved in the settings file and it is reused and combined with the list of existing files when this selection is used the next time.

    The file which has the same name base as the current file is automatically removed from the list of files to be added. If your current Mimosa file is myfile.mfw, the file myfile.mxt does not exist on the list, since it is assumed that the user does not want to add the same file to itself. If you want to use myfile.mxt in addition, you will have to store your myfile.mfw with another name on disk.

    Addition rules are as in File Add:

    1 Add everything
    2 Only relevant courses
    3 Skip scheduled lectures
    4 Timetables as bookings

Profile

All non-textual preferences that you have defined for your screen, reports, fonts, colours, and so on are stored in file settings.ini, which resides in the same folder you installed Mimosa. The first time you start Mimosa, this file does not exist, and the factory settings are used instead. When you exit Mimosa, your preferences and other information is stored in that file, and they are automatically re-read the next time you invoke this application.

You may need to store several variations of this file for different purposes, such as for different report settings for classes, teachers and rooms. You can create several copies (profiles) of the current file settings.ini and copy them back according to your changing needs. This selection is created for that purpose.

A profile files has the extension (.mpf) and it is a copy of the current settings.ini file. You can create as many profile files as you like.

If you install Mimosa in some other computer, we recommend that you also copy the file settings.ini and your profile files to enable you to continue working under similar conditions.

    Open

    Opens a profile file (.mpf) from the disk and replaces your current preferences with those in the profile file. As default, there are no profile files.

    Save as

    Saves a copy of your current preferences in a profile file (.mpf) for later use.

    Restore all factory settings

    Restores all initial Mimosa settings for display and reports. Invoke Mimosa again to see all settings in effect.

Language

You can open and read all texts from another options file (.cfw) or extract the texts (report titles, report texts, categories, bookings, names of terms or weeks, days of weeks, time periods) of your Mimosa file (.mfw) to another options file (.cfw). This feature is useful if, for example, your school is multilingual and you want to produce reports for all pupils, but by using the same file.

With this application some files for certain languages are provided. When you have changed the texts in the Options menu, you can extract them into a separate options file for later use.

    Change

    Reads the options file (.cfw) from the disk and uses the texts in that file in reports and on screen.

    Extract

    Extracts the texts of the current file and writes them in options file (.cfw).

Printer Setup

Provides a list of installed printers, sets the default printer, and provides access to other printing options for the printer you select.

Print or publish

Prints reports to printer or creates web reports according to your selection.

    Report to printer

    Prints the selected report(s) to printer. You may select to publish the report on web before it is printed and use the web report as a preview for the printed version.

    Publish on web

    Publishes the selected report(s) on web. Mimosa creates web pages of the timetables and other reports you select and saves them on your hard disk. Later on you may like to upload them on web and link them to other web pages.

Display web report [Ctrl+D]

Invokes the browser and displays the last web report you created.

Exit

Exits the application. If you have not previously saved changes to the file, Mimosa asks if you want to save the file before you exit. If you exit without saving, you lose all changes you did not save previously.