Database Basics

Note: This section on Database Basics and the next section on Database Organization get a bit wordy and technical.  While it's all important information to know, if you're anxious to get started setting up your database then you could skip to the Setup Checklist.  We do recommend that you come back here at some point for a better understanding of how the database works, though.

The Campground Master database is contained in a single file, which has all of the information specific to your park.  This includes the database definitions, program options and settings, operators, sites, and pick-lists as well as all customers, reservations and transactions, and all other data tables.  

The Database File Name and Location

The database file that's currently open is always shown at the top, in the caption bar -- like "Database: My Park".  When you first run Campground Master, the database name will either be "Demo" (if you loaded the sample database) or "<UNTITLED>".  If it's <UNTITLED>, that means the database has not yet been named and saved to disk.

The database file may be given any name you like (typically you would use the name of your park), and it will have a file extension of ".PRK" (which you may not always see, depending on your Windows settings).  Before setting it up for the first time, you should create a new database using the New Database function in the Maintenance menu.  That will put the database in the default location automatically so you usually don't need to know the details.

For reference, the location should be as follows:

In Windows XP, the default location is the "Shared Documents" folder, which is usually shown as:

 C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Campground Master\

In Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 or later the default location is the "Public Documents" folder, which is usually shown as:

 C:\Users\Public\Documents\Campground Master\

In older versions of Windows and versions of Campground Master prior to 4.2, the database file was typically placed in the same folder on your hard drive as the program itself, for instance "C:\Program Files\Campground Master\".  However this does not work for Windows XP and later so it was changed after version 4.2 if Windows XP and later are detected.

The database could be placed somewhere else if you prefer (see the guidelines below), but we don't recommend this except for advanced users, and not without a very good reason.  This almost always results in problems down the road. In particular, do not put it on the Desktop or in My Documents, and do not try to put it directly in a cloud-sharing location like a "Dropbox" folder, or any place where you might want to access it from another computer (see Networking Note below).

If you prefer to choose a database location manually, keep in mind that Campground Master also places a number of other files in the same folder -- log files, automatic backups, etc., so the database file will not be the only file in that location.  For Windows XP, NT and 2000 users, also keep in mind that it must be in a location where all Windows users (all Windows XP user accounts, for instance) have full access to write and delete files.  If you have any non-administrator users set up in XP, this usually means setting up a special "shared" folder with full access privileges for all users, or using the "Shared Documents" folder.

Important: If you save the database to a different location using File / Save a Copy As, Campground Master then needs to be set up with that as the default database.  Use File / Open to open the desired database (e.g. the one you just saved), and then go to Maintenance / Program Options / Database to change the auto-open database to the current one.

Networking Note: The database should NEVER be accessed through the network by another computer.  Every computer running Campground Master should store the database on its own hard drive (see more details in the Networking Functions chapter).  This is not just for reasons of speed (although that would be a factor) -- networking does not operate by sharing files, so if you're trying to set it up as a file sharing system then it's not going to work properly.  Even if you're trying to locate the database on a server so it gets backed up automatically, this is not recommended.  Instead you should have the server grab the file from one of the workstations when needed, or else have the server actually running Campground Master as the master workstation.

Multiple databases:  If you have the need to create or access more than one separate database on a single computer, see the section in Maintenance -- "Multiple Databases on One Computer".

Manual Backups

It's very important to back up your database on a regular basis, in case of disaster or computer malfunction.  The software has a built-in backup feature, for ease of storing a copy of the database on an external disk or memory stick.  We recommend doing a daily backup, using a different disk or memory stick for each day of the week.  The program will remind you to make a backup before closing the program if you haven't done so in 3 days, and will continue to remind you until you do so (this setting can be changed to remind you more often or less often if you prefer.)

Using day-labeled disks or sticks is a good idea.  This way you have 7 different backup copies, and couldn't lose more than a day or two of work unless you have multiple failures.  (Don't hesitate to make a backup more often, particularly early in the process of setting up the database in case you want to go back to a previous version and start over.)

In addition, we recommend at least a weekly off-site backup.  Rotate at least 4 different disks and make a new backup every Friday night, for instance.  Take the backup to another location -- at least in another building. This will help protect your data in case of a fire, theft, or other disaster.  In addition to the security of backups, this will give you about 1 month of  "oops" protection -- if you realize at some later time that a major database change was made by mistake, you could go back to retrieve the data up to a month old.

See the Maintenance section for more details on making backups and restoring them.

Automatic Backups

The program will automatically make a backup at the start of each day and place it in the same folder location as the database file.  The automatic backups include the date in the filename, and are kept for 32 days (older ones are automatically deleted).  However, since these backups are still vulnerable to computer malfunction (hard disk failures, viruses, etc), this is not a substitute for making backups to an external device!  This is only an extra safeguard to make sure you have some form of backup.

Campground Master.ini File

There are a few settings that aren't part of the database because they're specific to each computer.  These are stored on the computer so they are used each time without the need to reset them, but are not part of the database file itself.  They're stored in a "Configuration settings" file, named Campground Master.ini, which is placed in your Windows directory in older versions of Windows (and versions of Campground Master prior to 4.2).  In Windows XP it will be placed in the  "Shared Documents" folder, and in Windows Vista it will be placed in the "Public Documents" folder (in both cases it will be in a "Campground Master" sub-folder, and this is also where your database should be).  Note that if you started with an older version of Campground Master, it may exist in two locations -- if you're running Windows XP or Vista, be sure to check the Shared or Public Documents folder first and use that one.

The settings stored here include the Printer Setup settings, Network Settings, the last window sizes used (for some resizable dialogs), and the path to the last database opened.

It's a good idea to keep a backup of this file for convenience, however this will need to be done manually (just copy the file to a backup disk), since it's not part of the database backup function.  If you're changing to a different computer, do not copy this file to the other computer, since the settings may not apply to that computer and can cause errors.

Other Files

There are some other files for which you may want to keep a separate backup.  These files aren't changed by the program, so they aren't included in the regular database backups.

•Map image files -- If you use maps, you'll want to have a safe backup of the image files (*.bmp), which are in the same folder as the database.

•Web templates -- If you use the Export to Web function, keep a backup of the web template files (*.htt).  These are in a location specified by the user (but most likely in the same location as the database).

•Bitmap image files for Forms -- If you've included images on user-defined Forms, these files are also in the same folder as the database.