Forms

JobVision is designed to work the way you work. Your work is carried out for clients/customers and you need to record key client information so you can contact them and get paid. They may ask you to work on one or more jobs. You need to record key information about each job, before it starts, as it progresses and when it finished. You will also need to monitor the work that the job entailed. This will allow you to cost the job and issue accurate invoices and statements. You need to do this easily, quickly and accurately. How this is achieved in JobVision is described below.

Your business information is recorded on the Client / job / action screen (CJA) like that below. Think of this as a series of box files, one inside the other. There are three such box files. The outer one records client information. Within this is a box file of job information, within that there is a box file recording the actions of each of those jobs. Because JobVision is a database, instead of box files, JobVision uses things much like them called forms.

The outer form (the client information) stores all the information about the client. This is stored in the green text boxes. You can tell you are using the "Client Information" form because it has a coarse grey background. Here you would record the contact name for the person, their telephone number and address, and perhaps the company they worked for and so on. Each client will have their own box file or form, and you can view the client information for each one by clicking on the video style controls at the bottom of the screen below the word "Category". With these controls the first, last, previous and next client can be viewed. You can even create a new client. For every client, you may need to record information on one or more of their jobs.

Clients Jobs

For that purpose there is a smaller form inside the client form that stores job information. This text is stored in blue text boxes with light blue text. You can tell you are using the job form because the background of this is smooth grey. Here you might record information about any one job for the client. For example this might be a short description of the work entered in the "Description" text box to help you identify the work later. You might record when the work was started, what the rate of VAT was on that job, whether the job was a quotation or can be invoiced and so on. But the client may have many jobs. You can view other jobs this client has by clicking on the video style controls between the two "View" buttons. These controls will allow you to view the first, next, last and previous job that this client has requested (if they exist). You can also create new jobs. But a job will typically entail a series of actions to be completed.

Actions that make up a job

For example the first action might be "Purchase a boiler" the next might be "Install boiler" the last might be "Test boiler" Here we have three actions for a particular job. These actions are recorded on the innermost form, the "Action / Item" form. This information is stored on a white background with black text. Again you may view different actions for this job and this customer using the video controls. These controls are above and to the left of the upper-most "View" button.

Most of the time you are using JobVision, you will be using forms to enter, view and change data stored on the database. A form is a rectangular area of the screen that contains text boxes, and perhaps other forms. See diagram "General Form".

Forms have various aspects in common.

Most forms have a help button, usually at the bottom right of the screen which when clicked once, summons the help system. Forms also respond to the Esc (escape) key. Press this key (at the far top left of the keyboard) to close the form and return to the previous one. Forms often display records of information

Records

What is a record? A record is a collection of information that describes something. For example the client record consists of the client # (a unique identifier for the client), the number of employees, the company he/she works for, the clients first middle and last name, and so on. The "Clients Jobs and Actions" form shows client records in green on the left side of the form. Though it may not be apparent, each form can thought of as a view of one record among many. In order to view, edit add and delete these records, each form has a number of icons (controls) that make this easy. The bottom of each form displays a series of controls that mimic buttons on a video recorder and are used in a similar way. For example the "First" button will fill the form with the first record found in the database. The "Previous" button will fill the form with the previous records data, the "Next" button will fill the form with the next records data. The "Last" button will fill the form with the last records data. Finally the "New" icon will create a new client record for data entry. Whilst creating this new record, the user enters data into text boxes (fields). We can think of fields as parts of records. See the diagram below.

Fields (Text Boxes)

A text box or field is a small rectangular area for entering and storing information. You can move from text box to text box by using the tab key or by clicking on the required text box with the mouse. Some text boxes store unique values. These will have labels that have the character # at the end. They will generally be a darker colour than other text boxes on the same form, and generally you cannot change their contents. An example of a text box is given below. Some text boxes are special.

An example of text field "Company name".

Required text boxes.

Generally the more information that you enter into JobVision, and the more accurate that information is the more useful JobVision is. Conversely, if you fail to enter key information JobVision like all similar applications becomes hard to use. for that reason, some text boxes have a red star against them when they lack data to encourage you to enter some. When you enter data the red star disappears. Some fields have data entered automatically.

Autonumber fields

One field at the top of the form which normally displays a number, will sometimes display "(Autonumber)". This means the form is displaying an empty record. It indicates that JobVision is waiting for you to enter valid text in any of the text boxes below it. Once this is done, the text "(Autonumber)" will change to a number. From then on this number will uniquely identify this record on the form. Other text boxes are special too.

Automatic data entry

You can double click text boxes that store dates and automatically enter todays date. Likewise some text boxes that store text can, when double clicked, enter some meaningful text for you automatically. An example of this is the job name text box. Despite appearances, some text boxes can and do hold a lot of information. This can cause some users difficulties.

Zooming text boxes

What if the text box is small and you want it to store a lot of data? If you press on the shift key and hold it down and at the same time press the F2 key whatever text box the cursor currently occupies will be enlarged to fill much of the page. You can now view much more of its data, and edit it as well. Close this form by clicking on the little "x" in the top right corner of the form. Whilst using the database you will need to move from text box to text box. There are easy ways of doing this.

Tabs.

The tab key is the large key on the far left of the keyboard above the Caps Lock key. You can use this key to move from one field to the next. You can move back through the text boxes by first pressing down the shift key (located below the Caps Lock key) and then pressing the Tab key.

The Esc key.

The Esc key can be very useful if you have edited some data on a form and want to revert to the previous data. If you change a text boxes content then press the Esc key, it will revert to what it contained before. Pressing the Esc key again will cause the form to close. Try using the Esc key in other applications and see what happens, it can sometimes be useful.

Reports

Aside from forms, you may find yourself using reports. Generally a report is rectangular box of information what has a white background (like a paper report). Reports do not allow you to directly change their contents on the screen. They are designed for viewing and printing. An example of a report is an invoice. You use reports by selecting the type of report you wish to see then clicking the View button.

Printing

Printing reports can be achieved by holding down the "Ctrl" key and then pressing the "P" key. This will present the user with a form that determines what type of printing will take place. In the form below the user has requested that all pages of the current document are to be printed. Alternatively a limited range of pages could be printed by specifying them in the "Pages from " text box. Furthermore, the user could specify any number of copies to be printed instead the default value of "1". Click on the "Ok" button to commence the print.

Alternatively, some reports provide a toolbar with a print option. Click on this to produce an immediate printout.

The search/sort toolbar

The search/sort toolbar is one means of finding particular information in JobVision. The search sort toolbar will appear when you display some forms like for example the "Jobs" form. It is a small form independent of the "Jobs" form that has a title "Filter entries". Alternatively it may be a collection of icons at the top of the screen as in the example below. If you rest the mouse on the icons on this form, on-screen prompts will tell you what each icon does.

Sorting

Sort Ascending / Sort Descending

This toolbar allows the user to sort the entries in the form in either alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order. To do this click on the field you wish to sort by and click either the sort alphabetically or sort reverse alphabetically option.

Searching

Filter by selection

This option allows the user to click on a field that contains a value that is of interest and then display all records that have this same field value. For example suppose you wish to find all the jobs that have a follow up date of "12/4/2004". First click on the "Remove filter/sort" button, then click on the "Follow up date" field where it equals "12/4/2004, then click on the "Filter by selection" button. All jobs with a follow up date of "12/4/2004" will be displayed on the form (if they exist).

More advanced filtering / searching

Each form has a "search" button. This will generally be to the left of the "back" button. Click on this to see a searchable form. Before searching make sure all fields on this form are empty, and then enter the text you wish to search for. For example you might enter a tick in the "In accounts" box of the job form. This will return all jobs that are not quotations. Alternatively you might enter "Stephens Welders" in the Company name to find all companies with "Stephens Welders" in their name. Alternatively perhaps you wish to search for all clients/customers with a contact last name that has the letter "t" in it. Do this by placing the cursor in the last name field and entering "*t*" (without the double quotes). Finally press the "Ok" button to display all the records that match that criteria.

Removing a filter

After clicking on the "ok" button, a filtered view of the data will appear and text something like "7 (filtered)" will be displayed on the bottom of the form. This indicates that there are seven records that match that criteria. The number could however be anything. The important thing is that those records be they jobs or customers or transactions will be displayed in the form. To view the full set of records click once on the "Remove filter" button in the tool bar. All the records will then be displayed an the text "(filtered)" will disappear.

Combo boxes

Combo boxes are designed to help with data entry and selection. The "Client jobs and actions" form uses combo boxes to allow the user to select the type of information he/she wants to display. On the bottom left of the form, there is a wide rectangle with a down pointing arrow head at its extreme right. If you click on the arrow head, a list of available reports will be displayed. The list may have only one entry (it shows the user all the letters this client has been sent). Click on the report you wish to view then click on the "View" button. Likewise other combo boxes can be used to select from other lists of options.