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Data Entry in a Key Flexfield Window

If you are not familiar with a key flexfield or you are not sure of the combination of values to enter directly into a key flexfield, you can display a key flexfield window to assist you with your data entry.

Using a Key Flexfield Edit Window

When you choose Edit Field... from the Edit menu, a key flexfield Edit window appears, as shown in Figure 1 - 52.

Figure 1 - 52.

When you display a key flexfield Edit window, the name of the key flexfield structure appears in the window title and you may see default values in some of the segment fields. Three icon buttons called List of Values, Existing Combinations, and Help also appear in the window.

In a key flexfield Edit window, you can manually type values into each segment field, or display a list of values for the current segment if a <List> lamp appears in the status line for that segment.

You can also save yourself keystrokes when you enter segment values by having the flexfield automatically skip to the next segment as soon as you enter a complete valid value in a current segment. Simply set the profile option Flexfields:AutoSkip to Yes. Set the profile option to No if you want to manually navigate to the next segment after entering a value. See: Setting Your Personal User Profile.

If the combination of segment values that you want to enter is an existing combination, but you are not sure of its exact value, you can choose Existing Combinations from the Special menu to search for that combination among the list of existing combinations. See: Using a Key Flexfield Reduction Criteria Window.

When you are done with the key flexfield Edit window and choose OK, the Edit window closes and displays the concatenated combination of segment values in the key flexfield.

Attention: If you navigate to a key flexfield that cannot be updated the Existing Combinations icon does not appear and the List of Values function is not available when you display the key flexfield Edit window. This is to reinforce that you cannot change the value in the key flexfield.

Using a Key Flexfield Reduction Criteria Window

When you choose Existing Combinations from the Special menu, the following occurs depending on the underlying segment structure of the key flexfield:

A key flexfield Reduction Criteria window lets you query for an existing combination of segment values to help you complete your data entry in a key flexfield. This window is useful when you know that the combination you want to enter is a valid existing combination, but you are not sure of its exact value. Use this window to enter criteria that helps locate the combination of segment values that is of interest to you.

If you know the value for a particular segment, you can enter that value manually or you can select that value from the segment's list of values. If you are not sure of a segment's value, you can either leave it blank or you can enter a search phrase using wild card characters or query operators. See: Using Query Operators.

For example, suppose the combination of segment values you want must satisfy the following criteria:

You could specify this criteria in the key flexfield Reduction Criteria window as shown in Figure 1 - 53.

Figure 1 - 53.

When you choose OK, the flexfield searches through all the existing combinations of segment values for combinations that match and displays the matches in a list, as shown in Figure 1 - 54.

Figure 1 - 54.

After you select a valid combination from the list and choose OK, the list window closes and the segment values appear in the window from which you invoked your key flexfield Edit window.

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