Folders are used to group related items in a database. When you click a folder in the Folder Tree, items assigned to that folder are displayed in the Item Grid. Because Zoot items can be assigned to more than one folder at a time, you can view a given item in many different contexts. Each folder in the Folder Tree represents a different context in which you might view an item. For example, suppose you have the following folder hierarchy in a database which focuses on travel books:
Travel Books
Review Status
In an ordinary database, if you had a book entry called "Travel Tuscany & Umbria", you'd have to choose to file the item in either the Tuscany or the Umbria folder. By contrast, Zoot lets you assign the item to multiple folders, so you can assign the item to both the Tuscany and the Umbria folder, and to the Italy and Travel Books folders too! If you're a travel book reviewer, you might also make use of the review status folders (Pending and Completed) to help you track the status of your travel book reviews.
Note that when you assign an item to more than one folder, only one copy of the item exists in the database, so the item can be edited in any one of the assigned folders. This keeps the size of your database down and eliminates the version control problems which can arise when more than one copy of an item exists in a database. The ability to assign an item to multiple folders is a powerful feature and one you'll use frequently in Zoot.
Zoot folders have another special capability. A Zoot folder can have rules and actions attached which instruct the folder to manipulate your items in a variety of ways. For instance, a folder's rules and actions can be set up to watch for items with certain characteristics and then to perform some action on any items matching these characteristics. For example, a folder called Urgent might employ a rule designed to watch for items containing the word "urgent" somewhere in the item document and automatically assign (pull in) such items. Upon assignment to the Urgent folder, a corresponding folder action might then change the color of these items to red so that they stand out visually. This is just one example of what folder rules and actions can do. Folders that employ rules and actions are called Smart Folders, and they are the heart and soul of a Zoot database.
The databases that ship with Zoot already have some of these Smart Folders set up to perform tasks for you. For instance, every Zoot database has a New Entries and Recent Entries folder. The New Entries folder is set up with a rule to assign all items created either today or yesterday. The Recent Entries folder is set up with a rule to assign all items created sometime in the last 30 days. Zoot updates these date related folders automatically each new day, purging any items that no longer match the folder rules. An item you create today will remain in the New Entries folder for two days. On the third day the item will be removed from the folder automatically. This same item will remain in the Recent Entries folder for 30 days from the date it was created, then it will disappear from this folder too. If an item is not assigned to any folders in your database, the item is considered to be orphaned. In this case Zoot creates a special Orphaned Items folder for you automatically. Zoot checks for orphaned items each new day.
Another example of a Smart Folder is the Hot List folder, which you will find in nearly every Zoot database. This folder has a rule set up to watch for items whose <Priority> value has been set to High. Such items are assigned to the Hot List folder automatically, at which time an action attached to the Hot List folder changes the color of these items to red so that they stand out visually. If you change the <Priority> value of an item from High to Normal or Low, the item will disappear from the Hot List folder and its color will change back to normal. You can also assign an item to the Hot List folder manually using drag and drop or some other manual assignment method. When you manually assign an item to the Hot List folder the item color will change to red even if its <Priority> value has not been set to High, because the manual assignment overrides any folder rules and triggers the action associated with the folder.
Zoot Smart Folders can help you process information by doing some of the "thinking" for you. As you begin to work with real data in your databases, you'll create your own Smart Folders to automate some of the information-related tasks specific to your needs.
