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Getting Started |
After starting up your computer you must startup the database application. Depending on your equipment this may be done by typing a command or clicking on a desktop icon. You then may be asked to identify yourself to the master computer. Enter your assigned user name and password. After you have been authenticated you will have access to the appropriate menus and screens. Snapshots of sample screens are shown on following pages.
You can navigate between and within windows by several means. Depending upon the action to be taken you may use special keys on the keyboard or the mouse. In addition there may be on screen buttons that can be selected with the mouse or drop-down menus which can be revealed by selecting them from the menu bar near the top of the screen. Use the technique which you find most comfortable.
In many cases you will be presented with a listing of your choices. Select the item from the list to begin your session. Each data entry screen (form) can be used to perform a variety of actions. The most common are querying the database for information and inserting or amending existing information. Which action is to be performed is controlled by setting the form in either query or insert mode.
Query mode is entered by pressing the "Enter Query" button,
pressing the appropriate function key, or selecting the choice from the menu bar. The
message line will prompt with: "ENTER QUERY".
In addition some buttons may change appearance to prevent inappropriate actions.
In query mode you can enter information into many of the fields on the form to act as selection criteria. Special "wild card" characters can also be used to permit partial matches. After a query has been formulated, performing "Execute query" will retrieve all records matching your criteria. These items can be examined in turn using the next/previous record options. If no records are found the form will remain in query mode so that the query criteria can be further refined.
Once a successful query is completed the form reverts to data entry mode. At this point retrieved records can be edited or deleted. Moving beyond the last record or inserting a blank record will permit creation of completely new items. Certain areas of the form may not permit data entry and you will receive a warning if you attempt to enter data.
After all changes have been entered the data is made permanent by performing the "Accept or Commit" action. At this point all changes are saved into the database. If you make a mistake before committing your changes you may cancel your actions without any affecting anything.
If you get stuck at any time there is a built-in help system to guide you. Help is available to explain the use of the special keyboard keys as well as context-sensitive help for each field on the screen. In addition many screen items have "list of values" associated with them which will show all available valid choices.
Some screens allow you to run reports. These screens may have fields to be entered which will allow you to restrict the report to items of interest. For example to restrict a report to a select time period. After entering the appropriate data you can generate the report. You may be given the option of view the report on the screen, saving it, or printing it.
More instructions for all these actions are shown with the accompanying snapshots on the following pages below.
Forward to: Form Menus and Buttons
Back to: Manual Welcome