Overview

This tutorial aims to introduce you to some of the features that will allow you to view your records in an efficient manner.  You will learn the alternative ways of displaying those records.  The topic of short cut menus is also introduced, which will help you work more efficiently with the program.  You can jump to the topic of interest by clicking on its underlined link.

Using Filters
Using Grids
Shortcut Menus

Using Filters

1. When you are working in a program window it is sometimes useful  to see only the animal records that you are interested in.  A filter is a program function that will allow you easily to achieve this.  Filters are available in any window where you see the Filter Records button enabled on the toolbar  on the toolbar (Note: if the button is a grey colour, then the filter is not available for the current window).
2. As an example, open the Animal Details window and then click on the Filter Records button.  The Animal Filter Values window will display (shown below)

3. You can use one or more of the drop-down boxes to define the filter that will be applied to the animal data.  For example,  clicking the Status drop-down box and selecting "Alive" will specify only those animals which are alive and on farm will be shown; additionally selecting a Type means that only the animals of that Type will be shown (as well as meeting the Status criterion).  The example filter in the above picture is set up so that only alive calves will be visible in the Animal Details window (or grid)
4. It is important to remember that the filter will persist as long as the selected filter values remain in the Animal Filter Values window, even when the program is closed and then re-opened.  To set a different filter or view all the animals in the herd, you must clear the values in the window.  To do this click the erase button alongside the relevant line.  If animals cannot be found, it is usually because the filter has been set incorrectly. Make sure there is nothing in the date boxes and click on the erase buttons on the right of the data boxes
5. Filters are also available for the Batch Data Entry windows and are unique to each type of window; for example, the filter values for the Service Batch Data Entry window could be set differently to the Bulling Batch Data Entry.

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Using Grids

Viewing Data as a Grid

A grid is an alternative way of viewing and entering/editing data within the program.  It consists of rows and columns.  Several program windows can viewed as a grid.  Tip - you can tell when grid view is available when the toggle grid view button is highlighted on the toolbar.   The following example uses the Animal Details window:

Single Record View - the details for one animal displays

when you toggle to Grid View (below) the animal's details is shown as one row in the grid (as below):

1. Open the Animal Details window and click the toggle grid view button on the toolbar.  The window will switch to grid view 
2. In grid view details of all animals, (defined by any filter values) are displayed.

4. The columns refer to the data fields, such as Identity Number and Status.  
5. One row across the grid is known as a record.  In the case of the Animal Details window in grid view, one record relates to one animal

Ordering columns in a Grid

1. You can re-order the columns in most grids
2. To re-order columns, place the mouse pointer on the column heading, click and hold down the left mouse button. Drag the mouse to the left or right and release the button when the column is in the required position. This is shown in the following screen shot

3. Once you have the column order that you want, you can save the grid layout by right-clicking on the grid and moving your mouse pointer to the Grid item and then click on "Save Layout" from the menu (below)

Ordering records (rows) in a Grid

1. In the Animal Details grid, you can order the animal records by single clicking on the column heading that you want to order by.  For example, clicking on the heading Brand will order all the records into ascending brand number order.
2. You can achieve the same thing by selecting from the Order drop-down box when using a filter

Deleting a record (row)

1. To delete a record in a grid, single left mouse click on the record that you wish to remove
2. Press the "Delete" key on your keyboard while holding down the "Ctrl" key
3. The program will prompt you for confirmation since this action cannot be reversed and the record is permanently deleted

Re-Sizing Grid Column Width

1. To alter a column width, move your mouse pointer over the right-hand edge of the column heading that you wish to re-size. The pointer will change to double black arrow (see below). Now hold down down the left mouse button and drag to resize the column width.

2. Once you have sized you can save your grid layout by right-clicking on the grid and selecting Grid > Save Layout.

Ordering records (rows) in the Batch Data Entry Windows

1. The program contains several windows which display animal records in a grid for the purpose of entering information in a batch.  Some examples of these are:
   Animal Sales - accessed from the Data Entry | Sales menu
   Bullings Batch - accessed from the Data Entry | Cows menu
   Service Batch - accessed from the Data Entry | Cows menu
   PD Results Batch - accessed from the Data Entry | Cows menu
2. You can order the records in these windows into ascending or descending order by clicking the column heading.  Single click the heading once to order ascending (the column heading changes to yellow).  Single clicking the heading again will order descending (the column heading changes to blue)

Printing and Exporting Grids

A right-mouse click on a grid will display a pop-up menu. Moving your mouse pointer over the item called Grid will reveal a further menu.  The options here are:

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Shortcut Menus

A short cut menu gives you a list of actions or options that are relevant to the window that you are currently working with.  The program makes use of short cut menus in most of the windows. Shortcut menus can be accessed by either clicking on the Menu button on the toolbar or by right-clicking anywhere within the current window.  Here is an example using the Animal Details window:

1. Open the Animal Details window clicking the Data Entry | Animal Details menu item
2. Click the shortcut menu button on the toolbar or single-right click within the Animal Details window
3. The shortcut menu associated with the Animal Details window now displays (shown below)

4. The options that can be selected from the menu relate to the animal that is currently displayed in the Animal Details window.  For instance, you may wish to review or amend the pedigree information of the animal.  Select Pedigree | Pedigree Classifications from the shortcut menu. The Pedigree Classifications window will then display with the pedigree details.

There are some short-cut menu items to make the speed of navigating the program windows more efficient:

• In the Cow Overview window, there is a short-cut item to "Go to Animal Details"; this option will take you directly to the details of the brand number currently displaying in the Cow Overview window.

• In Animal Details there is an option to go to Cow Overview for the current animal (where the type is Cow and Status is Alive)

• When you use one of the above options, there is a short-cut item to "Go to originating screen"; this will return you to the window that you navigated from

• Form Position; if you have dragged a window to a preferred position and size, you can Save that position.   Moving you mouse pointer over the "Form Position" menu item reveals a sub-menu with the options: Save, Restore and Re-instate default

• The Animal Details window has a short-cut menu item to "Default to Grid view when opening form"

• Cow Overview has a short-cut item to Recalculate Lactation (totals)

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