.The Grid v2.1.4.7

The Grid

The Grid is the primary interface through which Users can manage their organization's resources and information. Plainly speaking, the Grid is a flexible, interactive table that makes it easy for Users to access their data.

Users can navigate between pages on the Grid by using the page navigation bar, located immediately below the Grid. Users can input specific page numbers to navigate to, move back and forth between pages, and skip to the first and last pages by clicking the corresponding icons once.

HINT: Rows per page can be extended to 50 or 100 entries/page.

Grid Permissions

The Grid Permissions button allows an Admin to set Grid level Permissions quickly.

AdHoc Grid Query Builder

The AdHoc Query Builder button allows an Admin to pull in the existing Grid query to modify and make an AdHoc grid quickly.

Each Grid features a Grid Toolbar located immediately above the Grid itself. While the icons that populate the Grid Toolbar depend on the nature of the Grid, Users can typically access the Grid Toolbar to search the Grid, add or delete items from the Grid, and edit existing items on the Grid.

Users can also access the Grid Toolbar to generate Grid reports and define Grid preferences.

Adding an Item to a Grid

Most Grids allow Users to add new items to their lists. To add an item to a Grid, simply click the 'Add' button on the Grid Toolbar.

To save a new item to the Grid, the User must click the 'Save New' button located at the bottom of the Data Entry Form in order for the item to be saved in the Grid. The new item appears in the appropriate Grid.

Opening an Existing Item on a Grid

To open an item on the Grid, simply double-click that item. On most Grids, an item can also be opened by highlighting the item with a single click and selecting the Edit Selected button located on the Grid Toolbar.

By double-clicking or opening a specific item on the Grid, the User is presented with a Data Entry Form. A User can exit this form at any point and return to the Grid from which it came by clicking the 'X' in the top right corner of the form. Deleting the item closes the form, as will saving the item if the appropriate preference is set to do so.

Deleting an Item from a Grid

To remove an item (or items) from a Grid, simply highlight each item to be removed by clicking on it once. Users can highlight multiple items using a Windows standard method. Select the first line then shift-click to select a range or Ctrl + click to select more than one line. To delete the highlighted items, click the 'Delete Selected' icon located on the Grid Toolbar.

Searching

Basic Search

A User can search for items on any Grid by inputting a search term(s) into the box labeled 'Search or Filter Grid Data' located on the Grid Toolbar. This field searches all columns on a Grid so it is effective if you don’t know where the data is but much slower than using column filters. Enter the search value into the text field and press Enter/Return.

To revert to the original search Grid settings, remove any terms from the search box.

Show/Hide Filters

To display all column filters currently applied to a Grid, Users can click on the 'Show Filters' button located on the Grid Toolbar. By applying additional filters, a User can search for a specific item or group of items with superior precision. From this control area, Users can change the logical operator used for connecting filters (AND vs. OR), remove filters, or clear all current filters. Note that clearing all filters doesn't remove terms entered in the Basic Search tool.

To save screen space, Users can hide the filter display by clicking the 'Hide Filters' button.

Printing on a Grid

Print

Clicking 'Print' generates an HTML document of the Service being printed that is optimized for 8 1/2" x 11" printing. Only one row (item) in the Grid can be printed at a time. Printing from here gives a detailed break down of all the columns associated with the item which can be limited using the Print Prefs to get a specific Print based on User requirements.

There is an option to have either a QR Code or a bar code attached to a given printable document in the Configuration Guide to make tracking documents easier. From the Print Screen, a User can either 'Print' the document, or choose to 'Generate PDF' . The PDF can be used in all the normal ways you might need a PDF file.

Print Prefs

The 'Print Prefs' button allows a User to define what rows generates to the Print friendly tab. Any columns from the Grid can be selected or deselected here.

Reporting on a Grid

Users can generate a printable report (in HTML, PDF, or CSV format ) of any Grid or section of Grid by clicking on the 'Report' button located on the Grid Toolbar. In the 'Generate Report' form, Users can generate reports by Grid, by page, by row, or by selection.

To generate a report by a section of rows, select 'Custom' under 'Rows to Include' and input the Start and End row parameters. To generate a report that includes multiple, specific items only, highlight each item in the Grid with a single click and press the 'Report' icon.

Some Grids also allow Users to further define their reports by 'Summary' and 'Group By'. In the 'Summary' field, Users can define a summary type: 'Total', 'Average', or 'Total and Average'. Once the report is generated, the appropriate summary type appears atop the report. This tells the User the amount of the 'Total', 'Average', or 'Total and Average' of the values in the specified Grid rows/sections.

The 'Group By' field allows Users to generate reports by Grid column. The 'Group By' drop-down menu lists the columns on the selected Grid. Keep in mind that if the User makes a 'Group By' selection, the report automatically includes every value in the column. This sets the 'Rows to include' selection to 'All (1-16)' by default.

Perspectives

Once a Grid has been formatted to suit a User's needs, the User can save the specific Grid settings by accessing the 'Perspectives' icon located on the Grid Toolbar.

Create a New Perspective

Modify the Grid to reflect your perspective (add filters, move or hide columns, set the sort order, etc.). Click on the small gear on the far right column header. Give the Perspective a Name. You can also optionally specify if the Perspective is the Default for that Grid for you, not for all Users and if it is Shared with other Users. Click the 'Save' button.

Update a Perspective

Change the grid so it shows the desired information. Click on the small gear on the far right column header. Make sure you have the correct Perspective name in the Name field and click the 'Save' button.

NOTE: If you used search text input or Filters to limit the content of your Grid, these search parameters are also saved along with your Perspective so you don’t need to re-enter them every time.

Access a Perspective

Once the customized Grid settings have been stored, they can be accessed at any point. There are multiple ways to do this.

Click the 'Perspectives' button. From the 'View Saved Perspectives' form you can double-click a Perspective in either Grid or select one and click the 'Switch to this Perspective' button.
You can also click the small down arrow next to the 'Perspectives' button and choose the desired Perspective from the drop-down list.
If at any time you want to switch back to the original perspective, click the small down arrow next to the 'Perspectives' button and choose Original Perspective.

HINT: Grid Perspectives, combined with Grid Reporting, become a powerful way for you to filter, format, and create queries and reports that you use all the time. Use the search and filters to limit only the items you want to see, format the Grid for the columns and column order you want and save it. Then, whenever you want to see this data or create a report on it, simply choose that Grid and all the info is at your fingertips without re-doing any steps. And don't forget you can have as many Perspective per Grid as you would like.

Scheduling Reports with Perspectives

Reports can be sent as an email on a schedule to automate the Reporting process for the User. There is a video on the process in the video tutorial Reporting .

To access the Schedule Report function of Perspectives, the User must first have a named and saved Perspective.

Click the 'Perspectives' button.
This will open the 'View Saved Perspectives' form.
Select the Perspective you want to schedule from the My Perspectives section of the form.
Click the 'Schedule Report' button.
This will open the 'Schedule Report' form.
On this form set the Frequency, Next Run Date, File Type, and the emails to send that Report to the desired values and click the Schedule Report button.
The Report will now be scheduled and reflected on the View Saved Perspectives form in the Frequency and Next Run Date columns.

Adding User Defined Fields to a grid (UDCs)

If we have a User Defined Field that we would like to see in the Grid we can click on the 'Perspectives Selector' button and click the User Defined Columns text. This opens the 'User Defined Column' (UDC) form and we can select any of the User Defined Fields that we have added to the form. When we add these UDCs, they will be added as a searchable and filterable column to the Grid.

Filtering the Data

Filtering individual columns

Single click the column header on which you want to search, enter the search value, and click Add Filter.
or

HINT: You may add as many Filters as you like to the same column or multiple columns. When a filter is added to a column, a red filter icon is placed in the header. Note: you can make the search even more specific by clicking on the Filter Type drop down and choosing one of the other search options. The options shown depends on the type of data in that column.

Change Search Terms on an Existing Filter

Click the column header of the Search Term you wish to change. Once you've opened the Filter you can click on the existing Search Term to populate the Value field. After you've changed it to the desired value, click 'Update Filter'.

Removing an Existing Filter

There are a couple of methods to do this:

Click the column header that contains the Filter, and then click the small X in the upper-right-hand of the filter.
Click the 'Show Filters' button . Then click the small x in the upper-right-hand of the filter.
Click the 'Show Filters' button . Then click the 'Clear All' button.

HINT: You can have multiple Filters (search terms) on the same column.

Formatting a Grid

Each Grid can be customized to suit the User's immediate or long-term needs. Users can alter the Grid's appearance and organization, save specific settings, and eliminate unnecessary information.

Columns

Each Grid is organized by columns appropriate to the menu items they support. Columns can be made wider or narrower by clicking on the margin and dragging the line left or right. Each column can itself be moved among the other columns. By clicking on the column name, a User can drag the column left or right to its intended destination.

Moving/Re-Ordering Columns

There are two methods to re-order columns:

Click on a column header and drag it to a new position.
Click on the small gear on the far right column header.
In the Arrange Columns box, drag and drop the columns until they are in the desired order.

Hiding/Showing Columns

Users can also show or hide columns on the Grid. To do so, click on the small gear on the far right column header. In the Arrange Columns box, a checklist is displayed that includes each column that can be displayed in the Grid. To hide a column from the Grid, a User can uncheck the box next to the appropriate column. To show a column, a User can check the box next to the appropriate column.

Resize Columns

Users can resize the individual columns by hovering over the right-hand border of the column header and dragging the column to desired width. Alternatively, automatically resize the column to fit the displayed data by double-clicking the right-hand border of the column header.

Sorting

To sort the Grid by the values in a specific column, simply click the desired column header then choose Sort Ascending or Sort Descending. You can also right-click a column header to toggle the sort on that column. Right-click again to reverse the sort order.

Rows

Some Rows are capable of displaying multiple pieces of information on several lines. For example, a Service may have multiple pieces of Equipment of Cable Paths. To make navigating the Grid easier, these additional rows of information are hidden by default. The extra Rows are collapsed and hidden from view. The first line of a list set displays in the collapsed row.

Collapse a Row

Collapsed Grid row example

The Grid rows are collapsed by default. However, should a User wish to hide the additional row information after Expanding a row. Locate the 'Collapse' button on the right hand side of the grid near the scroll bar and click it and the grid hides the extra information.

Expand a Row

Expanded Grid row example

To show all the information in a row, the User must locate the 'Expand' button on the right hand side of the Grid near the scroll bar. This button is only present when there is data in a row that is hidden. When the button is located, the User can click it to reveal all the data hidden in the row.

Selecting Multiple Lines

Users can highlight multiple items using a Windows standard method. Select the first line then shift-click to select a range or Ctrl-click to select more than one line.

Page View

In order to alter the number of rows displayed on each page of a Grid, a User can access the drop-down menu located immediately below the bottom left corner of the Grid. A User can choose to view 10, 15, 25, 50, or 100 rows per page of Grid.

Refreshing a Grid

To update the Grid data with any changes made since it was last loaded, click the 'Refresh' button next to the Pager navigation bar. Refreshing a Grid does not affect the User's Grid settings.

Auto-load Preference

The initial automatic load of Grid data can be controlled in two ways:

Per Grid in the Perspective
Globally for your User in the green Perspectives tab between Main and Admin

Automatically Refresh

Grids can be set to automatically refresh on a specific interval. Click on the small gear on the far right column header and check the box labeled "Automatically reload…" and enter the Refresh rate (in minutes).

Link to a Grid

On the View Saved Perspectives screen, when you select a Perspective, there is now a 'Get Link' button that allows you to copy the URL link to that specific Grid perspective.