Creating a shared catalog and configuring users' computers

Creating a shared Clip Gallery catalog and configuring users' computers to access it

This topic is for network administrators only

Two basic steps must be taken before users on a network can share a custom-made, read-only Clip Gallery catalog. The network administrator must first create a shared Microsoft Media Catalog (.mmc file), and then configure users' computers to access that catalog. This topic covers those tasks. Note that catalogs that come with applications which include a network installation option can be automatically installed to the network using that setup option.

Creating a shared Clip Gallery catalog

To create a shared Clip Gallery catalog from scratch, in Windows Explorer open the directory where Artgal50.mmc exists. Under Windows 95, for example, that would typically be in C:\Windows\Profiles\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Catalog\Artgal50.mmc.
With the right mouse button, click Artgal50.mmc and then click Rename.
Type a new name for this file, such as Artgal50.old, to keep as a backup copy.
Open Clip Gallery in stand-alone mode. Clip Gallery creates a new empty Artgal50.mmc catalog file.
Create the categories for the catalog you plan to share using the New Category icon on the All Categories page.
Import the clips that you want to add to the shared catalog. The clip files themselves must be stored on the network, so you need to import them from their network location into Clip Gallery. Be sure to select the Clip Import option Let Clip Gallery find this clip in its current folder or drive.
Quit Clip Gallery by clicking the Close button.
In Windows Explorer, copy the new Artgal50.mmc file to a shared location on the network. The file is frequently put in the same folder as the clips it references, but this is not required. The Clip Gallery catalog file contains the full network path of the clips.
Rename the file something meaningful to you and potential users, such as bizclips.mmc.
Use the Windows Explorer Properties dialog box or the attrib DOS command to mark the file as read-only. See Windows Help for more information.

Configuring users' computers to access the new shared catalog.

In order for a user on your network to view a shared catalog, Clip Gallery must be configured to access that catalog on the user's computer. This can be done in either of the following ways:

Have the user click Import Clips, switch to the network drive and folder that contains the shared Clip Gallery catalog, select Files of type: Clip Gallery Catalogs, and then click the shared .mmc file, and click Import. The user's computer is now configured to try to open that shared catalog every time Clip Gallery is run.

–OR–

You can run a .reg registration file on the user's computer. Several network administration tools are able to do this automatically, or you can mail the .reg file to the user and the user can run it. First, in the .reg file you create, type the following three lines of text:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ClipArt Gallery\3.0\ConcurrentDatabases\MyCatalogKey]

"CAG"="FullPathToMyCatalog"

MyCatalogKey represents a unique name for your catalog.
FullPathToMyCatalog represents the full network path to the catalog. For example, "CAG"="J:\corporate\shared catalogs\clip art\bizclips.mmc".

After creating the .reg file, run it on the user's computer.