This application consists of a series of windows (sometimes called "frames") which provide menus, inquiries, transaction entry screens, table setup (file maintenance) screens, reporting selections, and other related functions. The application is normally started by clicking on a desktop icon or program menu choice. Sometimes, applications can also be started from a link in a Web page, in a Web browser.
Most entry fields, buttons and menu choices contain a short one-line help message that will be shown for a few seconds, if you position your mouse cursor over the field and leave it motionless for a second or two. These are often called "flyover help" or "tool tips" in other software products. They can help you understand what information should be entered in an entry field, or what will happen when a button or menu item is selected.
For more extensive help, most windows include a "Help" choice on a menubar or a "Help" button which will provide further information about that window's purpose and features.
When you start the application (by double-clicking a desktop icon or by selecting a link in a web page), the User Login Window appears and you can log in. If you started this application by mistake, simply click on the "Exit" button to end it. To log in,
Starting
Window
From the starting window, you usually
should select the "Starting Menu" button to bring up your normal starting
menu. Each user may have a different starting menu, which is assigned by
the system administrator. The User Login Window will disappear and a Menu
Window will appear.
If you want to end this application now, without continuing, click the "Log Out" button. You can also log out from any menu window by clicking a similar button on those menus.
If you want to change your password,
click the "Change Password" button to view the password change window.
It is a good idea to change your password regularly (such as once a month)
to minimize potential security problems.
If this is your first login, or if you clicked "Change Password", then a password change window will appear. Decide on a new password which follows the rules shown in this window. Enter this new password twice, then click "Submit". If you don't want to change your password, click "Cancel". Either way, you will return to the starting window.
Be sure to remember your new password (system administrators tend to get annoyed with individuals who forget their passwords). You can always write it down and save it in a secure place (like a wallet), but please do NOT write it on a note taped to your computer screen, if your computer is in a place where other people can see or access it (including the nightly cleaning staff).
Also, don't give your password to anyone else. Since the system can track every action by User ID, you could be held responsible for anything done by someone else using your User ID. Don't defeat the purpose of using a password in the first place!!
The application may include various standard system security tests in procedures that you run. If a procedure or action is restricted, it may either disable or hide various buttons, tabs, tree menu choices, or other components within a window, or it may display a message box that explains the security restriction. Possible security items that your system administrator may have set up are:
There are two types of menus that may be used in the application: tree menus and tabpanel menus. In tree menus, the menu choices and groups of choices use branches (nodes) of the tree, while in tabpanel menus they use tabs of the tabpanel for grouping and buttons in each tab for menu choices.
Both types of menu windows contain:
From a Menu Window, you can:
A "Window" is the term used for each separate rectangular container object that appears on your computer screen. Windows are sometimes also called "frames" (particularly in system error messages).
Windows always include a border, a "Title Bar" at the top of the window, plus small buttons that are used to minimize, maximize, restore or close the window (their appearance varies depending on which operating system is being used).
Most windows also contain a panel near the bottom which is used to display status messages and help prompts. While the host is being accessed (which may be over your local network or over the Internet), the message "Contacting host . . ." will be shown in this panel.
Many windows also contain a "progress bar" in the lower left corner. During local activities, this is blank, but while a host interaction is happening, the image will display a progress bar moving back and forth. When the host access is completed, it will stop moving, and a different status message will be displayed.
Any window can be moved by positioning the cursor over the titlebar, holding down the left mouse button, then dragging the window with the mouse to a new location. When the window is where you want it, release the mouse button.
Windows can also be resized in several ways:
Windows can contain a number of visual components. Some of these components are "container" components which are used to hold other components. Data components are used to display values, enter values, select a value from a list or set a yes/no value. Action components are used to cause some local or host action to occur.
Containers include tabpanels, normal display panels, and tables.
A tabpanel is a rectangular container with a border that can contain multiple display panels, of which only one is visible or "on top" at any given time. Each panel in a tabpanel has a labeled "tab" that is used to bring that panel to the top so its contents can be viewed or changed. Tabs are normally located on the top edge of a tabpanel, but may also be placed on the left, right or bottom edges in some cases. To change tabs in a tabpanel, simply click on the desired tab with the mouse. If focus is on one of the tabs, you can also use the left/right arrow keys to change tabs.
A normal display panel is a rectangular object with a border. These panels do not require or allow for any user interactions, they are simply used to group individual entry components for ease of viewing or other purposes such as disabling or hiding a group of components in one step.
A table is a rectangular container with a border that can contain multiple rows and columns, with a top row of column headings. Each row/column entry field is called a table cell.
Some tables do not allow any user interactions. Others, particularly browse tables, allow a row to be selected by single-clicking it (which highlights it as the "target" for a following action such as clicking a "Select" button), or by double-clicking it (which both selects a row and causes a particular action to occur, such as toggling a Yes/No entry or passing the row's values to another procedure). Some tables may also allow entry into some or all columns of a row, such as entering product numbers and quantities for line items of an order.
Individual screen components used to display, enter or select data values include textfields, textareas, comboboxes, list boxes, checkboxes and radio buttons.
Atextfield is the most common component used to enter information. Textfields are single-row fields of varying widths, with a border and a different color than the background color of the window. Types of data that can be entered in a textfield include character, integer, decimal, date and logical (boolean) values.
A textarea is like
a textfield, except that a textarea allows more than one row of values
to be entered. Textareas always contain character values (no special date/integer/decimal/logical
edits).
To move out of a textarea to the next component in a window, you CANNOT use the "Tab" key, since it is used to insert tabs WITHIN the textarea. Instead, you can do so in any of three ways:
A listbox is like a combobox, but without the drop-down feature. A listbox always shows its list of values. Both listboxes and comboboxes may have a vertical scroll bar if the list is larger than the number of rows allowed for in the list box used to present the choices.
A checkbox is a button which is either checked or unchecked. Clicking a button toggles between these states, as does pressing the spacebar when focus is on the checkbox.
A radio button is like a checkbox, but it is also part of a group of two or more radio buttons, of which only one can be selected (initially, none might be selected). When one radio button is selected, all other buttons in its group are unselected (cleared). Radio buttons might be used for choices such as gender, marital status and similar characteristics where only one value can be true.
Components used to cause an action to occur include menubars and buttons. In some cases, pressing the Enter key in a textfield or other component will cause the same action as a button that is used with that field.
A menubar is a horizontal (left/right) list of one or more choices, normally positioned at the top of a window, just below the titlebar. When a choice is selected on a menubar, it drops down a menu list containing one or more choices. These choices may in turn open submenus, or they may be final menu choices which cause some action to occur.
A button is a rectangular object with a border and containing a label, an image or both. When a button is selected, the action associated with it is triggered.
Both menubars and buttons may be selected by clicking on them. Menu choices may also be selected by using the Alt-<key> method, where <key> is a single letter, number or other character that is underlined in the menu choice or button label. For example, to select the "File" entry from a menubar which has the "F" underlined (File), you can press Alt-F.
Using Textfields and Textareas.
To make an entry in a textfield or textarea, simply click in it and begin typing.To change an existing entry, a simple method is to first delete the existing entry (by positioning to the start of the entry and using the Delete key) and then type a new entry.
For a faster way to change an entry:
To start a new line at any point in a textarea, press the Enter key. To split a long line, position the cursor where you want to split the line, then press Enter. To combine two lines into one, position the cursor at the end of the first line, then press the Delete key. You may then have to add or delete spaces as necessary for proper spacing.
A standard Inquiry Window is used to display the information in one record of a particular database table (such as all the data fields for a customer record in a customer table). A typical Inquiry Window includes the following components:
To "walk through" the records in a table, you can use the First/Prev/Next/Last buttons in the button panel above the tabpanel. Records will be displayed in sequence according to the table's primary sort sequence. For example, a customer table's normal sequence would be by customer number, in ascending alphanumeric order, with numbers sorting ahead of letters. Also, alphanumeric fields are normally "case-insensitive", which means that upper-case and lower-case letters will sort together (as if they were all upper case or all lower case).
The "First" button will display the first record in the table, and "Last" will display the last one.
The "Next" and "Prev" buttons will move forward or backward one record from the currently displayed record.
If "Next" is the first button clicked when the inquiry starts, it will act like "First". Likewise, "Prev" will act like "Last" if it is the first button clicked.
If the current record that is displayed is the last one in the table, "Next" will wrap around to the beginning of the table and display the first record. Likewise, if the current record is the first one, "Prev" will wrap around to the last record.
To view and select from a list of records for this table, click the "Browse" button. This will open a Browse Window for this table in which you can list records in various ways and select a particular record for viewing in this window. When a record in a browse is selected, the key values in this Inquiry Window will be filled in automatically and the corresponding record will be displayed, just as if you had entered the key(s) and clicked the "Display" button.
In some procedures, system security
may limit the data fields which you can view. This may be accomplished
by not allowing access to one of the tabs in the tab panel, or by not displaying
information in certain data fields.
A standard Browse Window is used to search a particular database table (such as a customer table) and list certain fields from those records that match the browse's selection criteria. The browse can also return the values of one or more fields from a selected record to the window from which the browse was run. This is typically used to "look up" an identifier such as a customer number, employee number, product number, etc., and automatically fill it into a textfield in a data entry or inquiry window.
When a browse starts, by default the first "x" number of records from the database table will be displayed in a visual table format with multiple rows and columns in the Browse Window. The records will be listed in the table's primary sort sequence (such as by customer number for a customer table browse).
The value of "x" is usually a small number such as 50 records, which allows the browse to return reasonably-sized sets of data each time it contacts the host. This is done to avoid potential long delays which could occur if the browse tried to return thousands of records at once. This value is specified in a combo box above the browse table (labelled "Return up to ___ records each time"). You can select a different value in this combo box, or you can enter any integer value that is not a predefined choice if you wish.
You can select one of the records listed and an identifier for that record (such as a customer number for a customer browse) will be returned to the window from which you went into this browse.
If the record you want is not listed in the first set of records sent by the host, you can click on the "Forward" button to display more records. If you have entered Browse Specs, then the list will only show additional records that match your selection criteria.
Likewise, the "First" button will start at the beginning of the list, the "Last" button will display the end of the list, and the "Back" button will "back up" in the list. These buttons will have no effect if all records that match the browse criteria can be displayed in the number of rows provided in the scrollable browse window.
To close a Browse Window without selecting a record, click the "Cancel" button.
To select a record whose key should be returned to the window from which you started the browse, single-click a row, then click the "Select" button. Or, you can simply double-click that row. The selected record's key will be returned to the earlier window and the browse window will be closed.
To browse records in a different sequence, or to list only records that match certain search criteria, use the browse specs above the browse table. There, you can select or enter the following fields:
If another Search Field is selected, the browse will sort by that field.
Also, if the Search Verb is anything other than "<matches any>", then only records that meet the Search Verb criteria as applied to the Search Field will be listed.
The "is >= to" option will list all records where the search field is equal to or greater than the value that you enter.
For example, "Description" "is >= to" "Red" will list all records where the description is greater than or equal to "Red" (in other words, from the first record whose description starts with the letters "Red" (in any combination of upper/lower case), through the last record on file). Note that numbers are sorted before letters. If there is no record whose specified search field begins with the value entered, the record with the next highest value will be the first one displayed.
By contrast, the "begins with" option will ONLY list those records whose search field begins with the value that you enter.
For example, "Description" "begins with" "Red" will only list records that have "Red" in the first three positions, such as "Red Wagon", "Redmond, Washington", "Red McCombs" and so on. It will not list records whose Description field begins with any other values (like "Read" or "Reed").
The "is Equal to" option will list only records whose search field exactly equals the search value that you enter, except that upper/lower case differences do not matter.
After selecting your sort/search criteria, click the "List"
button. To clear the browse table and reset all browse criteria to their
default values, click the "Reset" button. If you click the "Cancel"
button, the browse window will close and you will return to your previous
window.
A standard Setup Window is used to add, change, copy and
delete records in a particular database table (such as a customer table).
Setup Windows also include standard Inquiry Window
and
Browse Window features.
In addition to the menu choices and buttons on an Inquiry Window, a Setup Window also has: