Basic Data Entry for User Interface

This section describes general instructions for manually entering data. It explains the graphic elements, field types, and other options commonly found on data entry pages. Instructions specific to individual pages are provided in their contextual help pages.

Note: Special characters, such as greater than and less than signs (<>), question marks (?) and ampersands (&) should not be used in any input field. They are not supported. Only letters and numbers should be used. XIDs and domain names have some additional naming restrictions. See Domain Names and XID Field Restrictions for details.

Note: You can also add data from external systems using the Integration Manager.

New Business Objects

Most menu options display an initial Search page used to construct queries for finding records. The Search page usually contains a New button near the bottom left corner used to create new business objects, e.g., new orders, new locations, new rates, and so on. You may create or edit multiple objects at once. For example, you could start entering two separate shipments at the same time.

Often, there is more than one tab on a manager. You must complete required fields on all tabs before finishing the manager for that object. All tabs other than the one you are on are not clickable. When entering a new object, you must complete the tabs in sequential order. Do not click the Back button on your browser otherwise you risk losing data you have already entered. When editing an order, you can open tabs in any order. If there are required fields on a later tab, the Finish button will not display. You must click Finish to save the record (after completing all tabs with required data).

When running an action, SmartLink, business process, or saving changes to a page in general, the option to select Log Profiles is provided. Only select a log profile if you are troubleshooting. Selecting a profile activates special logging that occurs when you complete the action or save your data. That logging can affect the performance of you system, and should only be used for troubleshooting scenarios. You can download the action log you created through this process. A special log profile, Default, can be selected in lieu of an actual Log Profile. This will check whether there is a default log profile associated with the action, data query type, or process action. If one exists, it will be used; if not, you receive an error.

Sometimes, you can add multiple records at once. This is usually in Power Data where there are only a few fields on a record and all are on one page; for example, Reason Codes. In this case, there is a new and a finished button at the top of the page. If you want to add three records, enter the first one and then click new. A blank page opens and you can immediately add another record, click new and add the third. When you have finished adding the last record, click Finished.

Data Fields

Most data entry screens have fields that are classified as follows:

Required fields for data that must be entered in a record. Each required field is marked by a red asterisk (*).
Note: You cannot save a new record without entering data in all its required fields.
Conditional fields for data that is required when using a given data entry box. Each conditional field is marked by a blue asterisk (*).
Optional fields for data that may or may not be relevant to your needs. Usually in entry screens, most fields are optional.
Inactive fields for data that cannot be entered. Fields may be inactive for a variety of reasons. For example, a field may be inactive if it is automatically generated when the record is saved.

To enter data in a field, do one of the following:

- Type the data, if you know its exact value or spelling.
- Select a value from a list box, if the field has one.
- Use the field icons (see below).

Field Types and Icons

There are various field types and icons within Oracle Transportation Management:

Field Type	Example	Description
ID Field		Use this field to enter a unique ID for a business object. After the ID is entered it cannot be changed and appears with the value that you entered (as illustrated below). You can click the ID for some business objects to display the SmartLinks menu. Note: XIDs follow the same rules as domain names. Be sure to know these rules before creating IDs.
List Box		This field type displays a list of valid choices for the field. In some cases the data choices are user-defined (usually via Power Data menu options) and the details of each can be viewed and edited by clicking the View icon. An entry may appear twice, if it is found in more than one domain. In that case, the domain name is listed with the entry. List fields can be enabled for auto-complete by a property setting. Properties can also be set to determine at what character auto-complete starts returning valid options and the maximum number of records to return. All three of these properties are UI properties. Favorites are displayed when the field is empty and the down arrow is clicked. In cases where the values are not user-defined, but provided by Oracle Transportation Management, the View icon does not appear. Once a list displays, you can navigate up and down in the list using the up and down arrow keys. If you have too many items in a drop list box, you may exceed the user interface limitation for creating the drop down list on other pages. The limit varies depending on variables such as your network and servers, but at most, you should not have more than a couple hundred.
Text Field		Enter descriptive text in this type of field.
Option check box		Use this field to turn an option on/off. If checked, the option is on.
Hyperlink		Click the hyperlink to display another page of data.
Selection check box		Choose one of the options but not both.
Power Field		displays a search page or results page for finding an existing record to populate in the current field. If you enter the start of an ID before clicking the Search icon, OTM displays a list of all records that begin with those characters. If you do not enter any text and click the Search icon, you see a search page where you can enter criteria and perform a search. You can select a record from the results to populate the power field. displays summary data for the record that you entered in the field. creates a new record which is populated in the current field when you save the record. Power fields on Search pages also display conditional operators.
Date Field/Calendar		Enter a date in this field according to your user preference date format or you can click the calendar icon next to the field to open the calendar. The calendar displays the month and year along with the hour and minutes in the list boxes on the top. The date can be selected from below. The current date is highlighted. If you are editing a field that has a date, that is the date that displays in the calendar.
Unit of Measure (UOM) Field		Unit of Measure (UOM) fields allow you to specify a unit of measure for the field value that precedes it. For example, you can enter a value for Total Weight per Ship Unit on an order or shipment and then specify a unit of measure of pounds, tons, etc. You can set a default unit of measure (user-specific) for all UOM fields using the User Preferences menu option. You can also override the default by changing the setting in any UOM field (or a user with a different UOM setting can edit the same record). For example, you may have your user preference defined as pounds (lbs.) for weight fields; however, you can change a specific weight field in any Oracle Transportation Management Manager to some other UOM setting (for example, TON) and save the object. The next time you display the object, Oracle Transportation Management shows the value and UOM setting according to your user preference setting and converts the value accordingly (in this example, the value is converted from tons to pounds). appears next to Volume fields and calculates volume by multiplying length, width, and height.
Expand Icon		The Expand icon indicates that the grid is collapsed because of space. Click the icon to expand the grid and display additional data.
Collapse Icon		The Collapse icon allows you to collapse the grid and save space on a page.

Data Entry Grids

Many data entry pages have grids that allow you to record multiple data values. In the example below, you can use the grid to record one or more Involved Party Contacts. To complete a record in a grid, enter values in each field and click Save. Clicking Save only saves the record in the grid (for screen display purposes only) and does not save your entry in the database. To completely save the data, you must click Finished for the business object you are adding or editing.

You must click Finished to save the data in the database.

sample data entry grid - explaing in text

Some business objects have more comprehensive grids that summarize data and display an additional data entry page as illustrated below. In this type of grid, you would click New to display the subsequent data entry page. Complete the data entry page and click Save which appears at the bottom of the page. The original grid displays the record. You can edit or delete the record, create a new record, or click Finished to save it in the database.

sample comprehensive grid - explained in surrounding text

The property glog.query.limit.max sets the total number of records that should be returned when using a manager. By default, OTM limits all children (which show as grids in the UI) to 1000. This is for performance.

Save Data

Merely entering or selecting data in a field does not save that data. To save data, follow these steps:

Click save to save individual grid entries on the page.
Always click finished to save data (across one or more data-entry pages) to the database.

Tree Control

Some pages have tree controls. These are plus and minus buttons that allow you to collapse and expand information. Click the plus button to expand the information and view details. Click the minus button to collapse the information.

Data Reconciliation

For example, if two users open the same order base, make changes, and save the order, the user that saves the order last will see the following data conflict page. This page shows you that another person saved changes to the object since you opened it.

data conflict image

Use the following options to view and resolve the data conflict:

Show Changes displays a summary of the data that has changed. In the example below, you can see that someone added a new reference number (the other user in this case) and the processing code (the change I made when I tried to save the change). You can override the change with yours or cancel to accept the change that was made by another user and not your own.
Note: The list may not necessarily list just the data that a user changed. In some cases, other calculated data can also appear. For example, if you add a ship unit to an order base, there are calculated values for weight, volume, etc that get populated in the database. Data changes of this nature also appear in this list.

sample of error - explained in surrounding text

Update Type displays one of the following values to identify the action that the current user performed to the data: CREATE, UPDATE, DELETE. UNKNOWN appears when someone else has changed a record in the database at the same time.
Table displays the name of the database table in which the data was changed.
Field displays the name of the column in the database table.
Your Changes displays the column value that you are submitting to the database.
Change Made On displays the date/time when changes were made by another user and the column value that was saved to the database.
Save Your Changes overrides previously made changes appearing in the Changes Made On column with the values in the Your Changes column.
Cancel Your Changes cancels your data changes and displays the business object with the previously saved changes (appearing in the Changes Made On column).
View Log displays the current log entries for the transaction.

Favorites

Many pages have an Add to Favorites/Remove from Favorites star icon next to object IDs. These pages include managers, power data, finder results, business object confirmation pages, etc. Use these icons to add or remove the object as a user favorite.

A yellow star ( Indicates record is a favorite ) indicates the record is a favorite. A gray star indicates the record is not a favorite.

Adding a Favorite

Click the Add to Favorites icon () to add that record as a user favorite.

Deleting a Favorite

Click the Remove from Favorites icon () to remove that record from user favorites.