How can I customize a Grid to make it more efficient for me?

Using grids to edit multiple records, especially when editing the value of a specific column for all records, can be easier and quicker than accessing each record individually on the info tab. You can tailor the grid to meet your specific needs and make working within the grid easy and efficient.

1. Setting the Grid as the Default Tab in a form - In most forms, when you open the form, the Info tab is open by default. Each user can make the grid tab the default tab by editing the form's properties. To set the form to default to the grid, prior to opening the form, select the Items pane along the toolbar on the Main Menu, select Form Properties, under the User's Default Tab drop down list, select 0-Grid Tab then click Close.

   

2. Editing Grid Records - To edit records within the grid, you must activate the 'edit' mode for the cell you wish to change. Clicking in a cell with your mouse or tabbing to a cell does not automatically place you in 'edit' mode. To activate edit mode, when using your mouse, double click in the desired cell. When using the keyboard, move to the desire cell using tab or enter and press the F2 function key. To exit edit mode tab off the cell and move to the next cell.

3. Deleting Grid Records - To delete a record(s) in the grid, use the delete button, delete key, or the delete option in the Records menu. If using the Delete Key, you must use your mouse and highlight the entire row. To delete multiple records at once, select the desire records by using the Shift key for consecutive selection or the Ctrl key for random selection and click Delete button or select Delete from the Records menu. A message will appear indicating that you are about to delete multiple rows. Click Yes to continue or No to abort.

4. Filtering Records Using the Filter Bar - Using the filter bar, you can easily locate a specific record or set of records. This can be helpful when you need to edit a specific value for a group of records because it allows you to only display the records you need to change. To activate the filter bar, click on the Grid icon and select the Filter Bar from the menu. You can also right- click in the grid and select Filter Bar from the context menu. The Filter Bar will display above the first line in the grid. To filter the grid, in the desire column enter the criteria to filter by. The more characters in you enter, the more the specific records will return. When you are finishing using the filter bar, you can clear the filter by selecting Clear All Filters from the View menu, from the Grid icon in the toolbar or by right-clicking in the grid and selecting Clear All Filters from the context menu.

5. Hiding Grid Columns - You can hide columns in the grid to eliminate the need to tab through fields that you never use and decrease the size of the grid. The grids usually contain all of the fields found on the data entry tabs, so they can be quite extensive, making data entry cumbersome. To hide a field, press F3 in the field you want to hide. In the Field Properties form, select the tab to determine the level at which you want to hide the field; System Overrides will affect all user or User Overrides which will affect only the current user the uncheck Show in Grid.

6. Hiding Grid Field Descriptions - You can hide the description of a field without removing the field itself or you can display the description above the grid. In the field whose description you want to hide, press F3. In the Field Properties form, select the tab to determine the level at which you want to hide the description, select an option in the Description in Grid list; 0-Show in grid only, 1-Show above grid only or 2-Not Shown.

7. Changing/Resetting Column Widths - You can change the width of the column on the grid, as well as the grid splitter that separates the key columns from the non-key columns. To change the width of the column, point your cursor to the right border of the column heading until the cursor changes to the column resize pointer and drag the border to the size you want: right to increase the size, left to decrease the size.

8. Changing Column Order - Changing the order of non-key columns can be useful for making columns that are normally accessed by scrolling through the grid visible in the default viewing area, or for moving necessary inputs to the front of the grid without having to remove columns from the grid. It is recommended that you do not unlock and move columns in the PR Timecard Entry form, for more on customizing the Timecard Entry Grid, click here. To change the order of columns in a grid, unlock the grid by selecting the Unlock Column Order option in the Column menu (View > Columns > Unlock Column Order), click into the heading of desired column, and drag the column to the desired position (columns moved from the left will be placed to the right of the column on which they are dropped and columns moved from the right will be placed to the left of the column on which they are dropped). Once all columns are in the desired position, lock them in place by unselecting the Unlock Column Order option. To reset the columns back to their original order, select the Reset Column Order option (View > Columns > Reset Column Order), a message will display asking you to confirm that you would like to reset the column order and click yes. To implement your change, select an option in the prompt asking you to reload or cancel; if you select reload the system will automatically shut down the form and reload it and if you select cancel, manually close the form and reopen it to implement the changes. When changing the order of the columns in the grid, it is important that you do not move columns that are dependent on another column.