Taking Advantage of Folder Forms

By Cathy Cakebread - Independent Consultant

One of the best features in the SC and NCA versions of the applications is Folder Forms. The following are tips for how to take advantage of some of the Folder Form features.

You can tell a folder form if you see an icon in the top left portion of a form that looks like a manila folder that is opening up. Most Folder Forms are used where you have multiple records shown on a form, one record per line. Frequently these are inquiry forms, but they may also be used for data entry.

• You may rearrange the fields in the sequence you wish to see, or to enter just what you really need.
• You may determine how you want the data sorted when it is displayed (using a combination of the first three fields).
• You may add any field that is on the list of available fields, and you may remove any fields that do not apply in your business.
• You may easily download the values from a Folder Form to Excel to analyze as needed (note that this may not be an option if you are using Citrix). Use the Menu Action and select Export.
• You may save repetitive query values and reuse them without having to re-enter.
• More data is available without changing the form. You may view the data as it appears on the form or you may use the scroll bar to view additional fields.
• You may use SQL-like commands to select only the data you really want to see.

1. Open a form that is a Folder Form.
2. You have two options for manipulating what you see and do: the Folder Menu and the Folder Tools icon;
3. Click on the Folder Tools icon. This opens in the middle of the page--use your cursor to drag it down and to the side, out of your way.
4. Move fields around using the Arrows icons.
5. Add and remove fields using the + and - icons.
6. You may expand or reduce the size of the fields using the related icons (reduction especially helps when you are trying to see a lot of data at one time, and many fields have default sizes that are larger than they need to be for your data).
7. I like to arrange the form such that the key fields are always visible when I look at the screen without having to scroll.

Folder Forms use the three left-most fields to determine how the data is sorted. Move the fields that you wish to sort by into these three fields. The data is sorted from left to right as value in the third field, within the value in the second field, within the value in the first field. For example: if you used Customer Name, Balance Due, and Invoice Number (left to right), you would see invoices by customer by invoice number within balance due.

Using the Folder Menu, select Show Order By. You will see icons that look like "smokestacks" under the first three fields. You have three possible sort options: Ascending (smallest to largest), Descending (largest to smallest) or None (no order to the smokestacks). Click on the "smokestacks" until they display the option you wish to use.

You may use any of these options in one or more fields:

• You may use the standard query operators within a field (>, <, =, <= (less than or equal to), >= (greater than or equal to) and != (not equal to)). For example, in an amount field use: >10000, or in a date field enter: < 01-JAN-99.
• You may use the standard wildcards "%" and "_". For example, for a date, %-JUN-99 returns all dates in June of 1999. For a vendor number, 12__3 returns numbers that start with 12 and ends with 3 but may have any value in the third position.

• You may also use SQL-like commands. To do this:

• Enter a "variable" name in the applicable field or fields (e.g., &A in one field and &B in another field).
• When you invoke the query (Query-Run), a pop-up window appears asking for more information about your variables (Query/Where).
• You must use the same variable values as you entered before you invoked the query (&A and &B).
• You must enclose any non-numeric values (including dates) in single quotes.

• Examples of what you may then enter include: &A BETWEEN ‘01-JUN-1999’ AND ‘30-JUN-1999’ AND &B BETWEEN 50000 AND 100000
• Other uses: &A IN (‘value’, ‘value’, ‘value’) (to include only the values you indicate)
  or &A NOT IN (‘value’, ‘value’, ‘value’) (to exclude only the values you indicate) or &A like 'xxx%'. For example, &A IN (‘123’, ‘124’, ‘559’) and &B NOT IN ('111', '123', '111') or &A like 'AB%'. What you enter between the ‘ ‘ (single quotation marks) must be the exact text as stored in the files. For example, if it is stored as capital letters, you must enter as capital letters.

This can be a great feature but it can also cause you problems if not done properly. You may save your queries to be used by everyone (Click on Public) or just to be used by you (don't Click on Public).

You have three options as to what you want to occur when you enter the screen for AutoQuery: "Always" (rarely desirable since this will automatically repeat your last query and may query the full database). "Never" (you will never want to perform a query - I can't image why you would ever want this). And, "Ask each time" (this is my preference, it gives you control in determining exactly what you wish to see, each time you use the screen).

When you save, you are also saving the query values that you entered. This may be desirable if you always wish to check certain values or ranges of values for a particular vendor. You don't have to reenter the query values each time, and you might even give the query the vendor's name. But, if you want the sequence of the data, the sorts, etc., but you don't want to keep using the same query parameters (e.g., the same vendor), then you must remove the query parameters prior to saving.

To remove the existing query values, use the Folder Menu and select Reset Query prior to saving. To see your query criteria (to repeat or to insure that it is gone), use the Menu Query and select Show Last Criteria, or use the Folder Menu and View Query.

If you want this format and query to be used every time you use this form, check "Open as Default." If this is the standard for all users of this form, check "Public."