Input screen menus

All input screens possess File, Edit, View and Functions menus and many have a Print menu as well.

The File menu of an input screen always contains the following items:

• Accept
• Cancel
• Delete Record
• New
• Modify
• Remove Line
• Next Record
• Previous Record
• Select Records
• Sort Records
• Total Records
• Report
• Graphs and Charts
• Apply to Selected Records
• Play Macro
• Report an Issue
• Debug Window
• Menus
• Windows Palette
• Close Window 

The ‘Menus’ and 'Windows Palette' items are used as part of the Multi-processes feature. See the section below for more details.

The ‘Close Window’ item will close the window currently on screen (duplicating the close box). There is a check to see if you wish to save changes.

The other items are duplicates of the key functions of the Buttons Palette. Please refer to the Buttons Palette section for full details of their operation.

This contains the usual Edit menu items of ‘Undo’, ‘Cut’, ‘Copy’ and ‘Paste’ and is used in the usual way.  Please refer to your computer’s documentation if you need help with these features.

The View menu on every input screen is one of the most important ways in Enterprise 6 in which information from different volumes is linked together. Although the View menu is present on every entry screen, its construction is different in each case. The View menu can be used to view or create items in files related to the record currently on screen.

For example, ‘View Diary items’ from the Companies screen can be used to review and/or add items to your Diary. Selecting the function will cause previous Calls, Letters, Visits etc of the Company on screen to be listed in summary. You may see one in more detail, and modify it, by double-clicking; or can add a new item by using the [+] button. If no Diary items exist for this Company, you will simply be given the option to create one or to return to the Companies screen. From a single Company it is possible, therefore, to view all Diary items, Contacts and Sales Orders, for example, simply by using the View menu.

The usefulness of the View menu is greatly increased when Entry Defaults are switched on. For example, using ‘View Diary items’ from the Companies screen to create a new Diary item will create a blank Diary item if Entry Defaults are off, but will create a Diary item with Company Code if the Defaults are on. This is very useful if more than one default is required. For example, from the Service Call screen you may need to create a Diary item to remind an engineer to visit the company placing the call. Selecting ‘View Diary items’ from the Service Call screen to create a new Diary item will result in the Company Code, Contact Code and Service Call Code all being transferred to the new Diary item, if Entry Defaults are on. Entry Defaults are therefore very useful if using the View menu for tasks such as time recording.

The main purpose of the Functions menu of an input screen is to hold useful items which will use or affect the record currently on screen. Many of these items are labour saving devices.

Print functions are usually contained in their own Print menu (see below), but on input screens with a limited number of Print functions (such as the Diary screen), they appear at the top of the Functions menu.

The Diary screen Functions menu is typical in that most of the functions contained therein are labour-saving devices. ‘Next Action’, for example, automatically creates a new To Do Diary item, ‘Message to Personnel’ places the Diary item on screen in the Diaries of other, selected, Personnel and ‘Allocate to Companies’ duplicates the Diary item on screen for selected Companies. These would all be very laborious to carry out by hand.

This labour-saving philosophy is carried over to the Functions menus of other screens. For example, many screens such as Sales Orders, Enquiries and Stock Movements have an ‘Add Product items’ function enabling you to create Order items, Enquiry items or Stock Movement items for many Products at a stroke. These screens also contain a ‘Copy Previous’ function. Similarly, the Service Call screen contains ‘Calculate Labour’ and ‘Find Possible Solutions’ functions.

More details of each are to be found in their respective Reference chapters.

Most Functions menus (such as that shown in the example illustration) contain an ‘Expand Text’ item (<Command-;>/). If your cursor is currently within a Text field and you choose this option, a new window appears with a much larger box for the entry of the text, with the name of the field as a window title. Click [√], [X] or the close box to put it away. This should be particularly useful within the Diary for the Action and Result Description fields, which often contain much more text which cannot be seen without scrolling. The Expand Text screens also feature ‘Find’ and ‘Replace’ facilities.

Many items on the Functions menu (and on the Print menu described below) require one or more items in an included list to be selected. In such cases, if no item is selected, Enterprise 6 will issue a warning. If the included list is in Editable mode, the function will only apply to the single item containing the cursor. If the included list is in Selectable mode, the function can apply to as many items as are selected. Clicking items with the <Shift> key held down will produce a continuous selection, clicking items with the <Command> key (Macintosh) or <Control> key (Windows) held down will produce a discontinuous selection.

The Print menu contains the Print functions associated with the item on screen, if there are too many to place on the Functions menu. In many cases, such as on the Sales Orders screen, selecting an item such as ‘Print Invoice’ will create the Invoice as well as printing it.

Many printing functions can use SuperReport forms. Currently available are the following: “SR Invoice”; “SR Invoice DT” (ie an Invoice with a separate delivery address) (both from the Sales Ledger or Sales Order Processing); “SR Order Quote”; “SR Order Auth”; “SR Order Ack”; “SR Delivery Note” (from Sales Order Processing); “SR Movement Form” (from Stock Control); “SR Purchase Order” (from Purchase Order Processing); “SR Remittance” (from the ChequeWriter companion volume) and “SR Contract Form” and “SR Call Sheet” (from Service Control).

If you wish to create your own versions of these forms, they must have these names. The [Edit Templates] button on in the Forms Settings 2 section of the Preferences screen can be used to create or edit (but not print) these forms. Clicking the [Report] button on the Buttons Palette can also enable the editing of SuperReport forms.

More details of SuperReport can be found in the Reporting and Graphing Reference chapter.

If the General Preference ‘Use SuperReport Generator’ is switched on, selecting a menu item which would usually use one of these forms with the mouse and with the key (Macintosh) or <Alt> key (Windows) held down will cause Enterprise 6 to revert to the default built-in form. However, if that Preference is switched off, but SuperReport is present, then the <Alt> key can be used to invoke the SuperReport form as the built-in form will be used otherwise. The built-in form will also be used if an expected SuperReport form can’t be found.