Category Property Descriptions

The format of the LogTable table, the format and functionality of the main log grid and the format of the log form at the top of the jLogBook window depend on the values you enter into these category properties. Note that the properties described below all relate to a single category. There are additional properties for example that relate to the Grid as a whole. These properties are described in the System Configuration Section.

The properties displayed in the category configuration form are described in more detail below.

Name (of Category or Field)

This is the name of the field in the "Logtable" table. It must be a single word with no spaces. Examples of Category include: UserName, Area, Site, Priority etc. When adding a new category, you will be asked for this category name for the new category. Note that you cannot change the name by overtyping it in the configuration grid because of the underlying structural changes to the logtable. To change the name, you must first delete it and then recreate it with the new name.

# (Column Position In Table)

The column number this category will be assigned to in the log table. Generally, when adding a new category, you must choose the next highest field in the table. Typically, the first fields in the table will be Area, Stream, LogDateTime for the first, second, third columns etc.

Column (Position In Grid. This field is located next to the Grid field)

This is the column number of the column in the main Log Grid. In this case, the column number 1 is the column on the far left and 2 is the next one to the right etc. You will need to make sure that the numbers are consecutive and that there are no categories with the same column numbers.

Form (Display In Form?)

Set this property value to "True" if you want to see this category in the form at the top of the jLogBook window. If you do not want to see it in the form, set the value to False.

Grid (Display In Grid?)

Set this property value to "True" if you want to see this category in the main jLogBook Grid. If you do not want to see the category in the grid, set the value to False.

Column (Form Column Position located next to the Form field)

This is the column position in the form where the Category will be located. The leftmost column is column 1. For more information on this property, please see the section 7above "Understanding the Form"

Row (Form Row Position)

This is the row position in the form where the Category will be located. The uppermost row is row number one. For more information on this property, please see the section 7above "Understanding the Form"

Width (Form Width of Field)

This is the number of columns that you wish the category to occupy. For example, if you want the Message to span 3 columns in the form, then you would set this property to 3. For more information on this property, please see the section 7above "Understanding the Form"

Height (Form Height of Field)

This is the number of rows that you wish the category to occupy. For example, if you want the Message to occupy 3 rows in the form, then you would set this property to 3. For more information on this property, please see the section 7above "Understanding the Form"

Type (Form Display Type)

This is the kind of display that you would use to show the category. Valid types are Combo, Text , Update, Weblink and Attachment.

Label (Form Field Label)

This is the label or caption that will show to the left of the category. For example, if you want the label of the category UserName to be "User Name:" then you would enter this in this property. If you do not want a label, just leave this blank.

heading (Grid Column Heading)

This is the caption that will appear at the top of the Grid column. For example, if you want the Message column to be labeled "LogBook Entry" then you would type this label in here.

Width (Grid Pct Width)

This is the width of the column as a percentage of the total width of the grid. If the column is the column that is defined as the "Fill In Column" in the system configuration screen, then this percentage will be ignored and the column will expand to take up the maximum space available after all the other columns have either auto-sized or been set by the grid pct width.
Suggested strategy: try to get the sizes so that they are representative of the sizes you expect in the LogBook. Usually, you will set the Message column to be the "Fill In Column."

Format (Grid Display Format)

This is used to format date time categories for presentation in both the form and the grid. There are two ways to specify the format of the information.

    1. Use the "strftime" formatting string as described in the Appendix. (Section 16.1below)
      Each element of the string can be a specifier or a normal text character. For example, to achieve a date time presentation like
      Wed, 2 Feb '03 5:21 am, you would use:
      %a, %d %b '%y %I:%M %p in the Grid Display Format.

    2. Use the Visual Basic Format function to convert the table data to the required grid format. For a list of these functions, please see the appendix VB Formatting Functions. For example, you may want to convert a date format into the current setting date setting of your computer. In this case, you would enter "General Date" here.

DateTime Default Setting: When the user clicks on the Add link, the default value written into any date time field is the current time. The format is the format specified by the Grid Display Format.

Format of the date in the Toolbar: You can define the format of the date and time field in the filter bar by setting the format of the LogDateTime category.

Changing date time fields: If the permissions have been set for modifications, then this value may be changed but the format must remain consistent with the Grid Display Format otherwise the system will show an error page. The user would then have the ability to press the browser back key and re-enter the date time.

Changing the LogDateTime field: You may change the LogDateTime field in versions later than version 4.3. (If you need to know more, please contact St James Software.) Alternatively, you may also create a new field to specify the date so that you can make the changes you want. Remember the format of the LogDateTime field is also the format of the date field in the toolbar.

Merge (Grid Merge Column?)

If you set this to True, then rows that have the same value for a given category will be merged. In the case shown in the diagram below, the first 2 rows of the Area category are both 'wash' so they have been merged into a single cell.

(Note that if you set this parameter to be true and you also set the Use Row Colors parameter true, and the Color Category is anything other than this column, then it is actually not possible for the grid to faithfully follow the color settings since the a single cell may represent two colors. In this case, we recommend that, if you want to use Grid Merge Columns, either set Use Rows Colors to False or set the Color Category to be this category.

Main (Grid Visible Without Scrolling)

If you set this true, then the columns will appear in the area that can be seen without having to use the scroll bars. Note that you must also pay attention to the column number of the column. I.e. If you choose a column not to be "visible without scrolling", then it must be located to the right of all the columns that are "visible without scrolling."

If you do not want to have a horizontal scroll bar, just set all the categories to have a Grid Visible Without Scrolling value of True.

DB Format

This parameter is used when the tables are first created. It instructs the system to create a column that is either a STRING (text based field), DATETIME (a date field), INTEGER (whole number), TEXT (a large text field, DECIMAL (a decimal or floating point number.)

Note: By default, the size of the fields for String is 255 Characters and for Text, it is 4,000 characters. If you are adding an attachment, you should set the DB Format to String. (The system only stores the file name.)

Please see the note in section 9.1.14above on formatting the date time fields.

Color (Use Row Colors) and Color Category

If you set the Color (Use Row Colors) True, then the colors of this category will reflect the colors associated with the values in the "Color Category Column".
E.g. If you set the "Color Category Column" to be the Priority category, and the colors specified in the Priority combo lists are Red for emergency (Priority 1), Yellow for Alarm (Priority 2), Blue on White for Priority 3 etc. then if you set the Color field to be True for this category, then the colors will be reflected in the grid.

In the case below, the Stream and Dt categories do not have their Color (Use Row Colors) properties set True so they are uncolored.
The Message and Priority categories are both set to the colors dictated by the Priority category. The Area and UserName categories are both set to the colors dictated by the Area category and the time category is set to the colors dictated by the Shift category.

Default (Category Default Value)

You may set the default values for a category in this field. When a user clicks on the Add link, then this value will be shown in the form. Please note the following special cases:

9.1.20Read Only

If this field is set true, (and if there is no overriding User Modify Fields Modifier. See section 13.1.6below) then the user will not be able to modify this field. Likewise, If this field is set true, (and if there is no overriding User Add Fields Modifier. See section 13.1.5below) then the user will not be able to add this field. Essentially, this field is a message to the system to ensure that the user does not change the field. Typically, the user will not be able to change things that are automatically set e.g. Log Date Time, User Name, Console etc. If these fields can be changed by selected users, then the user modifier fields can be used to override this Read Only setting. For example, generally, you would not want the users to change the User Name in a log message since the system automatically sets this so you would set the Read Only field for this category to be True. If however, you want the admin user to be able to change this category, then you would set the admin user Modify Fields Modifier to be +UserName.

Modify Action

Append: If this value is "Append", when a record is modified, the information is appended to the existing information in the category. (The original information remains untouched.) This occurs s follows: When the modify button is clicked, instead of showing the current contents of the field, the operator is presented with a blank field. the operator can now type in the text to be appended. When the "Confirm Modify" button is pressed, the new text is added to bottom (appended) to the existing message.

For example, if you have a field called SupervisorComments say, and you set the Modify Action field to be "Append". Let's say the Supervisor adds a record and enters "Please report to me (John Smith) at the shift end." in the SupervisorComments field in the form. If later on, another supervisor clicks on the modify link, then the SupervisorComments field will appear blank, ready for the new comment to be appended. If the second supervisor enters "John can you let me (Mike) know the outcome of this report" and clicks on the confirm modify field, then both the comments will be displayed i.e.
"Please report to me (John Smith) at the shift end.
John can you let me (Mike) know the outcome of this report"

Prepend: If the value is "Prepend", then instead of adding the new text at the bottom of the existing text, the text is added at the top of the existing text.

Note: that there is no point in setting the Modify Action Field to be "Append" or "Prepend" for combo box categories since they can only hold one option.

Note: also that the User Default field (see section 13.1.22below) will also be entered into the field if the Modify Action is set to Append or Prepend.

Note that the Shift Report Software uses these Append and Prepend Fields as well as some special purpose Annotate classes. If you would like more information on these, you can have a look at he white paper at:


http://www.sjsoft.com/technicalpapers/ShiftReports.htm

Replace: If the Modify is "Replace" (or nothing), then the user will overwrite the existing information that is currently in the record (providing of course the user has the right permissions in terms of Modify Scope, Modify Ability etc.)

Logaudit: If you choose the Type of Field as an attachment, and you also choose the Modify action to be "logaudit", then whenever a record is modified, an attachment will be added to the record which will containg a record of all the modifications made to the log. A typical logaudit type record showing the modifications would look something similar to the following:

2004-11-07 22:24:23. admin changed:

MESSAGE: changed from 'EPAC 2004 : Vertical effective impedance mapping of the ESRF storage ring'

to 'EPAC 2004 : Vertical effective impedance mapping of the ESRF storage ring. Providing further information and statistical analysis.'

Tool Tip (Version 4 only)

The information entered here will appear in a tool tip format when the mouse moves over the field in the form.