| Oracle® Retail Active Retail Intelligence User Guide Release 15.0 E65706-01 |
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| Oracle® Retail Active Retail Intelligence User Guide Release 15.0 E65706-01 |
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This section introduces five common interface controls in ARI screens.
Multisort is available on any data blocks that have buttons for column headings. Click the column heading button and the data in the block will be sorted in ascending order based on the column for which the button was clicked. Click the same button again to sort the block by descending order based on the column's contents. Some columns on a block may not be available for Multisort. Others that are available may perform somewhat slowly because the amount of data in the block is large and sorting is inherently slow. The functionality was nevertheless left available to you to use at your discretion rather than taking out functionality on the basis of what some users may consider too slow. With a little experience, you will learn which buttons perform reasonably and are useful. If you feel performance on a sort is critical, a system administrator could add an index to that column, but performance impacts elsewhere would warrant consideration before making such a change.
Multisearch is enabled on many blocks. There is no visual indicator on the block, but the Edit menu will contain a search option. To use Multisearch, click the cursor in the field you want to search on and invoke the search option. Searching will move you to the first record in the block that matches your criteria if you search from the beginning. Otherwise it will move to the first record after the current record (as currently ordered in the block) that matches your criteria. Because of its wide availability, the documentation generally does not mention Multisearch for every block of every screen even when it is applicable.
Multifilter allows users to filter the data in the block displaying only rows that match the filter criteria entered. The matching is partial, not exact, and is based on the values in the column corresponding to the filter field. Filter criteria can be entered for more than one field. The visual clue that Multifilter is available is a row of fields above the block headings that are always editable. You will also see the filter and clear buttons side by side above the filter row. Typically Multisort is available on all Multifilter blocks and is available on the same columns. Multifilter has all of the same issues as Multisort in terms of column availability and performance.
Multiselect allows a user to select multiple rows in a single block by using the Shift and Control keys. This is so users can perform a single action on multiple rows. To use Multiselect, click on a row. Shift click on another row to select all the rows in between, inclusively. Control click on rows to select or deselect the individual rows clicked on (depending on whether they are currently selected) while leaving the other selected rows still selected. The functionality is analogous to the select functionality of other Windows applications. A known issue is that scrolling through a Multiselect block while Multiselecting can cause the first or last row to not appear selected (highlighted). Instead, only the text appears to be selected. This is an issue with the Oracle toolset's scrollbars not being widgets, so it is recommended that Multiselect actions involving scrolling be confirmed after they are performed.
A workbench is an interface that contains several related dialogs in one form. A dialog is a screen or series of screens that performs a single logical unit of work, so each dialog could be presented in its own form or window. However, some tasks, though logically independent, are functionally closely related and likely to be performed together as part of a larger work plan. A workbench helps group these functionally related tasks and facilitate switching between them.
The standard workbench interface used in ARI has a common workbench area and a dialog specific area. The common area is a column of vertical buttons on the left side of the screen and a row of buttons across the bottom of the screen. This common area may include other features on specific workbenches, but these are the standard features:
Vertical Button
Each of these represents one of the dialogs in the workbench. These are used to switch between dialogs.
OK Button
Saves all changes made in any of the dialogs and exits the workbench.
Cancel Button
Cancels all unapplied changes and exits the workbench. Unapplied changes are any that have been made since the last use of the Apply button or since the form was opened if the Apply button has not been used.
Apply Button
Saves all changes made in any of the workbench's dialogs.
One of the unique features of the workbench is that none of the changes you make in a given dialog are saved to the database until you complete the dialog and use one of the main workbench buttons to either save or cancel your changes. While a dialog is in progress, the workbench buttons are disabled and the dialog specific buttons act on that dialog alone.
Reserving saving of work for the workbench level and making it available only at appropriate points in the dialog opens up a number of new working strategies. You can either do lots of work tentatively with the option of canceling it all, or you can apply your work often, reserving Cancel to undo only your most recent changes. Generally, it is a good idea to complete a dialog and apply changes, when leaving the workbench open but moving on to another task, to avoid inadvertently canceling when returning to the workbench and losing all the work completed during that session.
Posting and Rollbacks
OK buttons within dialogs of a workbench are described throughout as posting changes. Cancel buttons are described as rolling changes back. Posting is like a temporary save that can still be undone manually (if the editor allows) or by the workbench's main Cancel button until a workbench's main Apply or OK button is used. Rollbacks just undo the changes made on the current screen.
