Screen Builder Concepts

The Screen Builder allows you to alter the appearance of selected CAPITAL data entry screens. With Screen Builder you may remove fields not applicable to your business or add extra fields as necessary.

A field is a unit of data input. In CAPITAL's data input screens, a field consists of a description, a colon (:) divider, a space and an input region. Such as:

A field may also include a button after it and an area reserved to display a message.

The Screen Builder allows you to reposition these fields on the screen and change their descriptions. It will also allow you to:

• Add text messages

• Add extra input fields

• Add boxes

• Add pictures

• Remove any unwanted or unused fields or screen elements.

A few fields may be very important (such as account codes and job numbers) and cannot be removed from the screen. Screen Builder will not accept altered screen lay-outs if these fields are missing. It will also warn you which fields need to be placed back on the screen, if necessary.

The Screen Builder supports two types of input field: standard fields and user defined fields.

Standard Fields

These are used for specific purposes by CAPITAL. For example, the Account field in Service Manager job cards is always used to hold the billing account code for the job. These fields have pre-specified lengths, user input prompts, etc. The only thing you may do is specify if and where they will appear on the screen.

You cannot control the sort ordering of standard fields. If a standard field is not sorted by default, it cannot be changed to a sorted field using the Screen Builder.

User Defined Fields

User defined fields are fields you create yourself for your own requirements. You may specify:

• the length of the field

• what type of information they may accept (numbers, dates, etc.)

• acceptable keyboard input (upper case, etc.)

• dialogue or status prompts. (These are the prompt messages that appear on the status bar when users edit the field.)

• security access (editing and visibility rights) to the field

• the sorting sequence for fast searching of the field

• whether the field has a look-up button alongside it

• The colour of the text of the field

• formulas and special calculations

Creating A Screen

Use the mouse to move move to the desired location on the screen where you want to add a field.

Field information may be placed on up to 6 pages. You can change pages by clicking on the page button above the screen. The following limitations apply:

• The total number of user defined fields may not exceed 50.

• No field can be larger than the visible width of the screen.

• If you wish to spread information out over multiple screens, you may not specify a blank screen between two occupied screens.
  
  For example, Page 1, Page 2 and Page 3 may all contain field information, but you may not leave a screen between them blank. It is not acceptable to enter field information onto Page 1 and Page 3, for example. If this is done, only Page 1 will be visible to users.

Undoing Mistakes

All changes become final after a screen is saved. Screen changes can then no longer be reversed. Until then you may undo your last action by pressing the Undo button. The undo action is tracked by individual screen page. So it is possible to undo changes on Page 1, make more changes, then switch to Page 2 and undo any changes you have made on that page. The undo action applies to screen objects like text messages and fields. You cannot undo changes made to screen property settings or scripts or other "global" actions.

See the Hints & Problem Solver topic for important information on editing and changing fields.