This is a true Z39.50 Client that includes both batch and interactive search options.  The client includes a lite editor and a knowledge-base of approximately 300 catalogs.

In MarcEdit 4.2, the MARC engine included an internal engine to handle character encodings when doing MARC=>XML and MARC=>DC conversions.  This conversion engine has been expanded and improved to handle all relevant charactersets.  This new function allows users the ability to migrate MARC records in MARC-8 encoding into UTF-8 encoding.  To accomodate this new encoding type, a new file extension has been created for UTF-8 encoded MARC records (.mrk8).  Finally, this conversion is a one way conversion.  If you convert records from MARC-8 encoding to UTF-8 encoding -- the records, when recompiled into MARC will remain in UTF-8 encoding. 

Because MarcEdit should be aesthetically pleasing in addition to functionally rich, a new set of XP styled components have been added to the MarcEdit interface.  This includes command buttons, option buttons, check boxes, menus and tabs.  These components were added primarily to give the best UI experience across all Windows Platforms.

The Join MARC records utility allows users to join existing MARC records in separate files into a single file for processing (this is a complement function to the MARC Split Utility)

The MarcEditor has been unicode enabled so that it can generate UTF-8 encoded MARC records. For more information on using Unicode in the MarcEditor and the issues associated with using Unicode in the MarcEditor, please see: Unicode and MarcEdit. So what exactly does this mean. 

1. You cannot enter Unicode characters into the MarcEditor and expect the data to be translated into the MARC-8 encoding.  You must still enter diacritics as mnemonics if you want your compiled MARC file to use the traditional MARC-8 encoding.
2. You can enter Unicode characters into the MarcEditor and expect the data to remain in Unicode.  This means that data entered into the MarcEditor will no longer be flattened when saved -- but will remain in Unicode for later editing.  Moreover, this means that for users who want to create Unicode encoded MARC records, the MarcEditor now has the ability to help facilite record creation and modification of these record sets. 

MarcEdit 4.5 now allows users to insert comments into the MarcEdit mnemonic source files. When compiled into MARC, these comments are ignored. For additional information, please see: Mnemonic File Format. 

MarcEdit 4.5 A new XML API has been added to MarcEdit 4.5, allowing users to extend some of MarcEdit's functionality to non-MARC formats. Moreover, this api makes it possible for users to generate their own data crosswalks using XSLT. This means that users will now be able to take MARC data to any XML format, any XML format back to MARC and and XML format to another XML format. So long as you can code the XSLT, you can use it in MarcEdit as a crosswalk. For more information, please see:  How to use MarcEdit's MARCEngine XML Functions.

Swap Field data is a new global editing tool that allows users to change all variable data in a field at once, i.e., users could switch a 650 to a 690 and change all indicator data and subfield data during the operation.  This is a very powerful new function, that is aimed at making local field modifications easier. *Function has Unicode support*

New to MarcEdit 4.5, users now have the ability to save up to 100 unique criteria from the Find/Replace and Edit Subfields Functions. This function was implemented primarily because these to editing utilities now support regular expressions. For more information on Saving Edit Queries, please see: Saving Editing Queries. *Function does not have Unicode support*

Under the File Menu in the MarcEditor, there is now a recent file option that keeps track of the last 10 files opened for quicker file access time.

All bibliographic template files have been modified to accomadate recent changes in AACR2.

Users can now use regular expressions to replace data using this utility. For more information on the MarcEdit regular expression syntax, please see: Using MarcEdit's Regular Expressions. Find function does not have Unicode support but the Replace function does have Unicode support.

Users can now use regular expressions to replace subfield data using this utility. For more information on the MarcEdit regular expression syntax, please see: Using MarcEdit's Regular Expressions. *Function has Unicode support*

Please see: MarcEditor Menu Items for more information on the Menu re-ordering.

A new option has been added so that users now have the option to decide insertion position of new fields in a MARC record (based on numeric position). *Function has Unicode support*

The MARC info links have been modified so that the links into the OCLC Bibliographic Formats and Standards document are now correct.

You can now replace data across fields by entering the keyword {break} into either the find or replace textbox and selecting Replace All. *Function has Unicode support*

The MARC=>DC Crosswalk has been updated.

XML Crosswalk has been modified to support all MARC-8 to Unicode character conversions currently defined as of 5/20/2003.

The MarcEngine now can convert valid MARC21XMLslim back into MARC. Please now, part of this conversion is accomplished using an XSLT, so even this crosswalk can be modified to suit user need.

Both the MarcBreaker and the MarcMaker algorithems have been optimized.

To help those that use the MarcEngine in other programs or for Server-side processes, all MarcEngine error messages have been surpressed and the addition of a new Property, GetError, has been introduced so that users can query the MarcEdit Error Property when the function fails.

I've included a plug-in with the MarcEdit installation. Users will need to use the Plugin wizard to initialize the plugin in MarcEdit, but essentially, the plugin allows users to extract records from a larger MARC file based on the presence or absence of a specific MARC field or field data.

I've made some improvements to MarcEdit's plugin implementation and wizard so that now, any object/exe that follows the MarcEdit Plugin model should be able to work within MarcEdit. So for example, plugins generated in Python could now be used with MarcEdit.

This bug fix corrects the file naming conventions used by the generated Script Maker code.  While this bug didn't cause functional problems, it just looked sloppy.

When working with Control fields, the generated code was incorrectly assuming the presence of subfield data (OCLC style) rather then control data that is accessed via position. 

I've added the ability to select records by individual or range of record numbers.  For more information, please see the corresponding help topic marked: Export/Delete Selected MARC Records.

Generated scripts can now be run on files in either MARC or mnemonic MARC format.  The script now contains simple detection code that will check file formating before processing the file and will return the file to the file format that the original file started as: i.e., MARC file would be returned to MARC while a mnemonic file would be returned to the mnemonic format.

The Script Maker will now allow users to generate scripts that can modify subfield data only if a specific criteria has been met..

I've modified the generated code to take into account systems that both strip all punctuation from records as well as systems that add terminating punctuation to all field data.

I've modified the overlay option so that additional record data is preserved when overlay occurs.

An additional checkbox has been added to the III options so that III users can easily remove non-reloadable III data from a record set.

You will notice that most (if not all) of MarcEdit's core files have been reduced in file size.  This is the result of some legacy code removal as well as just tighter coding practices.

Example:

• MarcEdit.exe
  Previous Size: 800+ KB
  Current Size: 230+ KB

You will see two new Options in the Options dialog relating to the addition of UTF-8 encoding.  The first is in the File types area.  By default, MarcEdit will association file type *.mrk8 as a unicode MARC file.  In the MarcEditor options, there is now an option to set the MarcEditor to default to MARC-8 or UTF-8 encoding by default.  (MARC-8 is set as default).
The option to select Dublin Core Qualified has also been removed from the MarcEngine Options since this is not longer necessary due to the new XML API Model.

It is now possible to save and reuse translation arguments.

MarcEdit 4.5 no longer uses the Windows Registry to store application data. Application data is now stored in local files. This means that users no longer need to be Power Users or Administrators on NT-bases systems to use MarcEdit.