Tutorial

This is a simple tutorial to get you started with Dinspector. It is a work in progress. If you have any feedback on the tutorial or on the Dinspector software, please let us know. Listening to users is how we make things better.

First of all, here are a few key points that are important to understand when working with Dinspector. We recommend that you read them before taking on the tasks down below.

Menus

This is a menu symbol. Clicking on a menu symbol in Dinspector opens a menu with items relevant to the current context. These menus work well with both a mouse and a pen, and fill the traditional functions of both old fashioned menu bars and right-click context menus.

One file per object

In Dinspector, each object has a single file. This object file contains all the reports for the object. The identifier of the file is typically the inventory number for the object – and should ideally be written exactly as it exists in any existing database system. If the object does not have an inventory number from before, then the object ID in Dinspector can be anything you decide.

Your workspace

The workspace is a folder on your computer. It contains, among some other things, all the object files that you are currently working with. When you have created a new object file, or a new report inside an already existing object file, you save the result to your workspace. For long-term storage of object files, and for sharing with colleagues, you use the archive. Read more about the archive in the user manual.

The organiser and the editor

When you start Dinspector, this opens Dinspector Organiser. You use the organiser to manage the object files in your workspace.

When you work with the contents of a single object file, this takes place in Dinspector Editor.

One mark per damage

Each mark you draw in Dinspector automatically gets assigned an ID, and this mark ID remains constant for each future report made for the object. This allows you to track changes to each individual mark through time. Because of this, the recommendation is to make one mark per damage, and to resist the urge to draw several separate damages in a single mark.

Professional mode features

If you run Dinspector in Basic mode, not all features are available. A pink button such as the one pictured here, and other pink user interface elements, signal that access is restricted in Basic mode.

The user manual

In addition to this tutorial, there is a user manual in PDF format. It offers more detail on each feature of Dinspector.

How-to videos

Parts of this tutorial is in the form of short how-to videos. They have optional subtitles which can be enabled from inside the video player. All the videos are also listed on a separate page for easy access.