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



Item Line