Inventory Screen Features
New Users of this program should read
this entire page for complete
information about using the Inventory screen efficiently.
You can also click specific sections of the following image to jump
directly to specific
information about that section when the cursor arrow shifts to a finger
image.
(Click here to Jump directly to
Information on Inventory Sort and Search Options)
The inventory screen is the kernel of the AA Inventory system and has a
number of features and options to make locating, editing, invoicing and
manipulating inventory data as easy as possible.
In addition to the data fields, if an image of the current item exists
in the inventory image folder and is named appropriately, the image
will be displayed along with the data. If no image exists, a grey
box with an "X" will display.
In the default "View" mode, all of the fields are protected and while
the data cannot be edited, you can highlight field contents and copy
them for use elsewhere... for example, to copy the description field to
paste into an email to a customer or vendor.
The Item# field
contains a unique, automatically generated item number which is
protected and cannot be
edited or changed.
The Cat
(Category) field is a "pulldown" list so that only existing categories
can be selected. This list is derived from the existing
categories in the database each time the application is started.
Administrative level users have the option of adding new categories.
Hot Tip! This category pulldown list
displays in alphabetic order and you can
jump quickly to any category selection by typing the first characters
in that category name.
The remainder of the data fields are standard data fields.
Hot Tip!
The fields containing text are not "Case Sensitive" so it is highly
recommended that you use "Mixed Case" for these entries to render them
as readable as possible when printouts are made...
When this program
"Searches"or "Sorts" the data, it does so in a manner which is not
case
sensitive.
The date fields will only accept "valid" date entries, and the value
fields will only accept numeric values.
The above three "action" buttons accomplish the following;
"PS" prints
a "Product Sheet" containing a color image of the currently selected
item showing all of the relevant information on the currently selectd
item.
When the "PS" is <clicked>, you are given the opportunity to
select any of the available printers including an Adobe Acrobat PDF
file generator. If you select this option, the pdf file generated
can be emailed or faxed to the customer.
"Label" is
hard coded to send a single Inventory label describing the current item
to the dedicated DOT MATRIX printer used only for inventory
labels. This code sets the form length to the length of a single
label, so, if the text does not appear in the proper location, turn the
power off on the label printer and adust the label position to match
the printer head with the top line of the printer, turn the power back
on and print a test label. PLEASE DO NOT
ADUST THE LABEL POSITION WHILE THE PRINTER POWER IS ON!
"New Invoice"
will automatically generate a new invoice number containing the item
currently showing on the Inventory Screen. It will then ask for
qty and customer discount, then ask if you want to add additional
inventory items and allow you to find the item and select "Add to
Invoice" until finished.
When finished selecting items, the Invoice Screen will be opened
with the current invoice showing to allow you to add services and
select a customer for that invoice.
Conversely, you may initiate an invoice from the invoice screen itself,
or from the customer screen.
the "Edit"
button toggles the screen into an editable
screen and all other entries can be added or edited and the caption on
the "Edit" button will change to "Done"
When you are finished editing, <Clicking> the "Done" button will
present you with the option to save or discard all of the edits and
other changes you have just made.
The "New"
button generates a new blank record including a unique Item# This
item is currently disabled to avoid a conflict with the old inventory
record which currently assigns Item#'s for inventory items.
You probably already know about the "Help"
button as that is likely how you got to this help screen.
Hot Tip!
The "Logout"
button is actually a "Toggle" to allow you to easily convert the
contents of the inventory screen from showing all the data to hide the
internal information such as cost and source so the screen can be shown
to or used by a customer to browse the inventory database. After
clicking this button, the Inventory screen appears as shown below which
includes disabling the ability to edit or add inventory records.
Clicking "Login"
will ask for your password and revert the screen to the full display.
The "Exit"
button is self explanitory and is identical in action to clicking the
red "X" button at the top right of the Inventory Screen.
Grid and Searching
At the bottom of the Inventory screen is a scrollable grid providing
scrolling access to the entire
inventory database which will allow you to quickly and easily find and
move to any current or past item in the data.
All data shown in the grid is "read only" and cannot be edited or
changed within the grid itself. However, grid field contents can
be highlited and copied for use elsewhere.
Sorting and Searching the Data
Hot Tip!
The colored column headers are clues to sort/search
capabilities.
The
light blue headers show that you can "sort" the data in the grid
by clicking on the column header to use that field as the primary sort.
More importantly, <RightClicking> the blue column headers allows
an advanced search on them as well. While searching on an item#
simply
takes you to the closest number in the database, the other columns
allow searching on any word or words contained in that field.
After <RightClicking> you will be asked for the search terms.
Hot Tip! The search entries are not "case
sensitive" so "french" will match
"FRENCH, French, french" as well as "frenchfries"
If you enter more than one search word, you will then be asked if you
want to obtain results for all of the
terms.
If you answer Yes, only records with the searched field
containing all of the search words will be displayed,
for example "FRENCH" and "IRON"
If you answer No, every record with the searched field
containing any of the search words will be displayed.
If the search terms are found, the grid will then contain only those
inventory items where the searched field contains matching terms.
Otherwise, you will be notified that the searched terms were not found
in that field of any of the database records.
<RightClicking> the column header again (or searching on a
different column) will clear your search filter and redisplay all
inventory records.
The "Qty" and "Cnt" (Reproduction Items) columns are special cases
designed to help quickly display inventory items based on their
quantity values in the database.
A Grey background in these headers indicates the "default" display
where all items are displayed.
When you <Click> the "Qty" header, the color will change to Red
and the grid will only display items where the available qty is "NOT
Zero" <Clicking> it again will return it to the default
state showing all inventory items.
The "Cnt" (Reproduction Items) header has three different displays in
addition to the default state.
<Clicking> the first time will change the color to Orange and the
grid will then show only items marked as "Reproduction" items.
<Clicking> the second time will change the color to Green and the
grid will then show only items marked as "Reproduction" which are
currently "In Stock" (Quantities above Zero)
<Clicking> the third time will change the color to Red and the
grid will then show only items marked as "Reproduction" which are
currently "Out of Stock"
(Backorder or Quantities Zero or Below)
On all of the above, a message will display briefly indicating which
filter state you just selected.
Note that the Main "Button" screen which appears on startup has been
available in the background. When in the Inventory screen, you
may select that screen and use any of the buttons to go to other
screens in the application.
Note the "Version Number" at the bottom of this screen. Since
this application may be updated by the programmer while you are using
the program, the space below the version number will then notify you
that a new version is available.
When you see this notification that the application has been updated,
you should finish whatever work you have in progress, then exit the
program normally. You can then immediately <click> the
desktop icon you use to start this program and continue using the
newest version of the program.
For Tom... Other Project Screens
Customer Screen
Invoice Screen
Invoice Charge Add Screen
Stored Instruction Edit/Add Screen (off
Utility Menu)
Inventory Report Screen
(Above has most complex code in current project to build a "FOR"
statement when print button is selected.)
Invoice/Tax Report Screen
...essentially just a layout... not functional