This topic explains how to work with the elements on Top Producer 7i’s pages (for example, menus and icons). You can click most page elements, letting you initiate commands, such as saving information or selecting items from a list.
Action menu More Info:
The action menu appears to the left of the page and the items you see depend on which area of the program you are using. It enables you to perform related tasks such as adding, editing, and deleting. Some action menu commands will appear grayed out, indicating they are currently unavailable. In many cases after selecting a relevant item on the main page, the associated actions will become available.
Calendar icon More Info:
On some pages you will see a small picture of a calendar next to a date field. Rather than typing in the date manually, you can click the calendar icon to display a pop-up calendar. Click a date on the calendar to enter it into the date field. Select a date outside of the current month or year by clicking the arrows at the top.
Check box More Info:
Check boxes are used to enable or disable an option, like an on/off switch. Click the check box or its label to check (enable) it or clear (disable) it.
Control menu More Info:
Control commands appear at the bottom of most pages. Examples of typical controls are OK, Cancel, Next, and Close. Use these commands to confirm and save changes, proceed to the next window, cancel an action or close a window.
Drop-down list More Info:
Drop-down lists show only the currently selected item or first item in a list. Click the down arrow to display the full list of items available for selection. Once you click a list item to select it, only the selected item is displayed.
Headings More Info:
You can click most column headings to change the data's order of appearance on screen. A darker colored column heading with an arrow next to the heading name indicates that the data is being sorted by that heading.
The arrow direction indicates whether the data is being sorted in ascending or descending order. To reverse the direction, click the heading again.
To resize the columns, hover your cursor over the small vertical separating line and drag the line to the left or right to resize the columns for your viewing preference.
Links More Info:
Although links in the program look much like a hyperlink you would find on a typical Internet Web page, they function more like buttons or commands. Clicking a link may execute an action of some kind in the current page, or it may display another page.
List icon More Info:
Next to some text fields is a "list icon". Click the list icon (or press CTRL+ L on your keyboard) to display a pick list of commonly used items. Pick lists are useful for tasks such as entering new contacts. Rather than typing the item repeatedly, click the list icon and select an item from the list that appears.
The following options are available:
Manual: Manually click the list icon and select an item from the list each time.
Pop-up automatically: When an empty field of this type is selected, a pick list will appear automatically.
Insert data automatically: When selecting this option you must also select an item from the list. When an empty field of this type is selected, the selected item will be automatically entered into the field.
These options can be set for each individual pick list. For example, setting the City field to Pop-up automatically will make the City pick list appear automatically any time an empty City field is selected.
To edit an item in the list, click the list icon, then click Modify list. A box and a cursor appears, ready for you to begin typing your new list item.
Main menu More Info:
The main menu is a horizontal bar spanning the top of the screen. Hovering the mouse cursor over each menu item displays a drop-down list of related functions, called a submenu. Click an item from the submenu to access another part of the program.
Main page More Info:
The main page occupies the largest portion of the screen, and is where all data is displayed. The terms "page" and "main page" refer to all the area below the main menu and to the right of the action menu.
Option button More Info:
Option buttons are used to present a selection between two or more choices, where only one may be selected at a time. A group of option buttons usually appears with one choice already selected as the default. Make your selection by clicking the circular option button or the adjacent text.
Scroll bar More Info:
There are two types of scroll bars. The first type of scroll bar operates just like a standard Windows scroll bar. Click the arrows to scroll up and down, or click and drag the solid bar up and down.
The other type of scroll bar has various arrow styles for fine control and appears in windows where this would be needed, such as lists of contacts. Use the arrow buttons as follows:
Click the top and bottom arrows to go directly to the top or bottom of the list.
Click the double arrows to scroll up or down to the next or previous page items.
Click the single arrows in the middle to scroll up or down one item at a time.
If all the items can fit in the window at once, the arrow buttons will be dimmed.
Spin buttons More Info:
Spin buttons appear next to some numeric text fields, enabling you to enter numbers quickly and easily. The spin buttons are small up and down arrows. Each click of the up arrow increases the number in the box incrementally, and conversely each click of the down arrow decreases the number.
Text fields More Info:
Text fields accept information to be entered by typing in them. Some text fields have a calendar icon or list icon adjacent to them, which can be clicked to select a date from a calendar or an item from a pick list of commonly used entries.