Filling in Forms

Essentially, by 'filling in' details or amending details on a form, you are maintaining records in the Autoline database. The Autoline forms enable you to maintain records by displaying the current content and providing you with the facilities to create, amend or delete where appropriate. Some forms are specifically designed for a unique task while some employ standard editors.

Some forms enable you to find records. These are often blank to start with; ready for you to search for a record using one of the search fields.

Each form (the content, data fields and buttons) is described in the help page -- displayed by clicking the Help button for that form.

Note: To reduce screen clutter, the data fields of some forms are arranged on tabs, only one of which is displayed at a time.

Common Form Buttons

Many form help pages omit description of common form buttons. Their functions are consistent throughout Autoline.

OK: Enters the changed or new record into the system.

Exit: Closes the form. With few exceptions you are returned to the menu or form from which you originally invoked the form you just closed.

Cancel: Some forms have a Cancel button instead of an Exit button. Like the Exit button, the Cancel button closes the displayed form. The Cancel button abandons any changes since you last saved the record.

Help: Displays, in a web browser, a help page describing the form. Links on the help page, embedded in its text and in the form of buttons at the top and bottom of the page, enable you to view other help pages.

Tip: Some links embedded in the text, such as the example embedded in the above paragraph, merely jump to a place on the same page.

Search Functions

Autoline provides several ways of finding information.

What do you want to do?

• Ellipsis Button Search
• Word Search
• Word Stem Search
• Drop-Down Selection

Ellipsis Button Search

Note: Ellipsis buttons on Autoline forms provide a search facility. Those on this and other help pages are merely for illustration.

The Ellipsis button provides a field-type-specific search facility. If, for example, it is adjacent to a date field, a electronic calendar is displayed. On other types of field it displays a search form containing a results grid (initially blank), a one-line text edit field, and two buttons: Short name and Word search. To find records conforming to a search criterion, enter text in the edit field and click either the Short name or the Word Search button. A Word search performs a search on all fields in the records of that file, whereas the Short name button performs a search only the Short name fields of those on records.

Tip: Merely clicking the Short name button, with an empty text edit field, retrieves all records -- with no filtering search criteria. Clicking the Word search button with an empty text edit field retrieves no records.

Ellipsis buttons adjacent to some other fields invoke a variety of sophisticated search facilities with their own help pages. For example, in the Point-of-sale (Service) form, clicking the WIP field ellipsis button displays the Search for WIP Number form.

Word Search

The word search function enables you to type in text (a minimum of three characters, a maximum of three words of eight characters), which Autoline attempts to find in the content of pre-selected fields in records of the selected file. Matching records are displayed. For example, in the Marketing target file, the text typed in is searched for within the following fields:

• Title, Initials or Surname
• Short name
• Address
• Postcode
• Telephone numbers
• First name

Records containing the search text in any of the above fields are displayed.

For example, if you are looking for a company or companies called Alpha Cars with an address in London, you can enter Alpha as the first word and London as the second word, and Autoline should retrieve any matching records.

Note: If you can only remember the last part of a word or words, the word search facility cannot help. For example, entering PHA (for alPHA) and DON (for LonDON) does not work because these are not the stems of the words Alpha and London. Words can, however, be entered in any order and the search is not case sensitive, so to find Alpha Cars in London you could enter LON followed by ALP. A word must be a minimum of three characters.

Tip: If you cannot find the record required with the word search function, it is worth trying an alternative search method. This is because records entered during the current day may not yet have been included in the word search index.

Word Stem Search

Type in the first few characters of the field content you are searching for. Autoline displays records where the first part of the field matches your search pattern.

Note: This type of search is case-sensitive.

Drop-Down Selection

To display a list of field contents in a drop-down menu, select drop-down button adjacent to the field.

Shortcut Keys

The most important shortcut keys are:

Working in Windows:

Working in a form:

Working in a text box:

Copying Grid Contents to the Clipboard

See also:

Grid Form

Grid Form Right-Click Copying Text

The ability to copy the entire contents of a grid, including its header row, enables you to paste it into a text editor or spreadsheet program.

To copy the contents of a grid, hold down the CTRL key and right-click a column or row heading. Switch to the other program and use a paste command (such as CTRL–V) to paste the entire contents of the grid. If the grid contains no data, only the header row is pasted.

Related Topics:

Common Menu Buttons

Common Menu Fields

Using Menus With the Keyboard

Using Menus With the Mouse