System Basics

What are Information forms?


Does every Service item have an Information form?


If an Information form has a Summary page, can I edit the content on that page?
 

What are Services and Activities?
Services and Activities are the corner stones of all day-to-day functionality within the SchoolDESX program. This means that the vast majority of information you will enter into, and retrieve from SchoolDESX, will be found on either of these two menus. Let’s take a second to define both Services and Activities. 

A Service is an item that you want to do something with in SchoolDESX. For example, a Student or a Class. An Activity is the action that you want to take with that Service, such as Enrollment or Attendance. Services and Activities work together to provide the User with the ability to do a desired function within SchoolDESX.

What is the Pencil Tray and hoe does it work?

Both, Services and Activities, can be located on the Main Menu, however the Pencil Tray is a more “user-friendly” method of calling the Service and/or Activity you desire. The Pencil Tray can be configured to hold any Service/Activity combination that is desired for each User, however Student and Class Services are placed on the Pencil Tray as defaults in that they are the two most commonly accessed items within the SchoolDESX program. To select the Service/Activity options that you would like placed on the Pencil Tray, select Tools from the Main Menu and choose Preferences. SCO __________ will allow you to configure this option.

Each Service that is chosen must be opened using an associated Activity. Simply selecting the Student Service, defaults to the Information Activity, therefore providing the User with a Student Information form. Another example would be for the User to select the Enrollment Activity from the Student section of the Pencil Tray, thus providing the User with the Student Enrollment form. The same goes for any other Activity option on the Pencil Tray.

What are System Configuration Options (SCO)?

How do I locate a Service record that I've entered?
Once a Service is selected from the Pencil Tray, the User is always prompted with the Locate dialog that is associated with that Service. This is a dialog designed specifically for that Service in order to locate the record for which the User desires. For example, if Student is selected from the Pencil Tray, the Student Locate dialog appears with options for locating Student records that have been previously entered into SchoolDESX. If Class was the chosen Service, the Class Locate dialog would appear, however with options that are specific to locating a Class record.

Each Service’s Locate dialog offers several options to a User searching for a record. For example, if a User was looking for a specific Student record, the Student’s complete First & Last Name, ID/Code, or SSN could be used. The Locate dialogs however, also accepts partial information for locating several Service records at one time, such as all Student’s whose Last Name begin with the letter “A”. If the letter “A” is placed in the Last Name field on the Student Locate dialog, all Student records where the Last Name field began with the letter “A” would be made available to the User for selection.

When locating a record, several matches were found. Which one do I select?
If more than one record is found when a Locate is processed, a Select dialog is displayed. The Select dialog allows the User to choose which record from the Locate that was intended for viewing. Double-clicking on the desired record will display that record in the chosen Activity form.

Can I scroll through all the records found in a query/locate?

Yes. When a Locate for a Service record is conducted and the Select dialog is displayed, a query is established and held until another Locate for that Service is again conducted. Once a record is selected from the Select dialog and the Activity form appears, the Toolbar allows the User to then scroll through the records in the query. Using the Arrow Buttons on the Toolbar, the User can scroll through the records that appeared in the Select dialog before the original record was chosen.

Using the List Button ____ on the Toolbar, the User can again display the Select dialog.

If after locating a Service record, another record is needed, simply select the Locate Button ____ on the Toolbar to retrieve the Locate dialog in order to quickly make another selection.

What is the Toolbar and what does each button do?

The SchoolDESX Toolbar allows the User many options for navigation through SchoolDESX as well as several tools for creating and editing Service and Activity records. Each button on the Toolbar has a correlating “Hot Key” function as well. A “Hot Key” is a keyboard control that allows the User to gain Toolbar functionality through the User’s keyboard, rather than using their mouse.

		Locate	Brings up the Locate (Find) dialog for locating records.
		Search	Brings up the Search dialog for finding a record.
		List	Provides a picklist grid with incremental search and sortable columns for finding records quickly and easily.
		Set Filter	When no record filter is set, brings up the SchoolDESX Condition Builder for creating a record filter. Otherwise, turns filter off.
		Order	Lists the table’s index tag descriptions for selecting the record display order.
		Print	Displays the SchoolDESX Report Manager.
		First	Displays the first record in a table as defined by the record Order and Filter.
		Prior	Displays the prior record in a table as defined by the record Order and Filter.
		Next	Displays the next record in a table as defined by the record Order and Filter.
		Last	Displays the last record in a table as defined by the record Order and Filter.
		New	Displays blank form fields for adding a record to a table.
		Copy	Copies the current record and displays the copy for editing.  Used to add a record and carry values from the current record to the new record.
		Delete	Deletes the current record from the table.
		Group Delete	Form Toolbar control. This function brings up the Group Delete dialog for deleting records using condition expressions created by the user.  This deletes all records meeting the conditions entered.
		Add More	After entering a new record, clicking the More control saves the record and adds a new blank record.
		Save	Saves data entered while Adding, Copying or Editing a record and ends the add/copy/edit process.
		Cancel	Cancels data entries and changes made while Adding, Copying or Editing a record and terminates the Add/Copy/Edit.
		Close	Exits the current form.

Is there any other way to access the Activity menu other than from the Main Menu?
A Service’s Activity form usually provides the User with information about other Service records available in SchoolDESX. For example, when a Student’s Enrollment form is displayed, the information provided to the User is information about which Class Enrollments the Student has listed. Therefore, information about the listed Class records is readily available. By simply right-clicking the mouse on any of the listed Class records, the User can gain access to the Activity menu for that Class from the Student Service’s record. This feature allows the User to quickly view information about another Service record that correlates to the Service record already displayed.