IFS APPLICATION

USER MANUAL

FOR

BASIC NAVIGATION

IFS APPLICATION USER MANUAL FOR BASIC NAVIGATION

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CONTENTS
Topics

Page

CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................................2
IFS NAVIGATION ...........................................................................................................................3
How to Log on to IFS Applications........................................................................................................................................ 3
Managing the Navigator.............................................................................................................................................................. 4
Learning Objectives........................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Benefits ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Navigator Overview ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Steps for Using Navigator.................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Layout ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Customizing the Navigator ................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Steps for hiding Navigator Items .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Data Edit............................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Learning Objectives........................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Create New Record ......................................................................................................................................................................... 7
To create a duplicate record ....................................................................................................................................................... 7
Remove a Record ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Data Retrieval ................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Learning Objectives........................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Benefits ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Populate .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Overview............................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Using Query....................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Query for a Specific Record............................................................................................................................................................... 9
Query with Count Results .................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Save a Query for Later Use.............................................................................................................................................................. 10
Report Scheduler.............................................................................................................................................................................. 10

SUMMARY OF BUTTONS AND HOT KEYS .............................................................................11

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IFS NAVIGATION
How to Log on to IFS Applications
Following steps will guide you through setup options for the application logon procedure. The remember password functionality is the
same functionality found in many applications on the Windows platform.
5.

Start your application executable.

6.
Enter your login credentials. Enter your user name in the Username field. Enter password in the Password field. In the
Database field, select the correct database to connect to.
7.
Select the Remember Password check box.
8.
Click OK to log on to the application.
9.
In File menu, click Logoff to log off the database again.
10.
In File menu click Logon. This will bring up the Logon window again.
The second time the Logon window opened, the Password field should have been already filled. You only need to click OK to access
the application.
Note: If you are currently running this exercise on a client computer with a Windows 95 or 98 operating system, the
Remember Password functionality will not be available.

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Managing the Navigator

Learning Objectives

Work within the IFS Navigator.

Customize the navigator.

Benefits

The Navigator provides a quick and easy way to access windows within IFS Applications.
The navigator can be changed in appearance and customized after your own needs.
Individuals can further modify the Navigator to fit their own needs.

Navigator Overview
The Navigator organizes the contents of IFS Applications. It is a flexible tool, which can adapt to simplify your daily work. It contains
items corresponding to windows, objects or tasks. Since it is similar to Windows explorer it is easy to learn how to use it.
Steps for Using Navigator
1.
2.

5.

Use the mouse to open the Info Services folder.

Open, for example, the Report Archive window. We note the position of the window while toggling between it and the Navigator.
Do not maximize either the window or the Navigator at this time.
In the File menu, click IFS Navigator to hide the Navigator. Note how the Report Archive window is repositioned in the client
area when the Navigator is hidden.
Open the Navigator again. This time use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+N, which is also shown in the File menu. Using the
keyboard is a quicker way of displaying and hiding the Navigator
Double click on the screen to maximize the Report Archive window so it covers the entire client area.

6.

Button

3.
4.

can be used to toggle the navigator.

Layout
The Navigator contains both folders and items.

The Navigator contains different folders, which group similar items

Within the folders are a number of items, which can include other folders

Any changes you make to the Navigator layout or its items can easily be restored to the default settings.
Customizing the Navigator
All items in the Navigator can be renamed and moved.
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Change the item label to a more descriptive text.

Move an item to a better location.

Example: Move an item to the Favorites folder.

You can choose to hide a folder that you dont use.

To show only the folders youre working with makes it easier to work within the Navigator.
The Navigator has a Show Hidden Items feature, which simplifies viewing and un-hiding these items

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Steps for hiding Navigator Items

1.

Select the folder that you would like to hide right-click and click Hide.

Note: When we hide a navigator item, the item will disappear from the Navigator. This is probably what you expected. The next step
shows you how to make these items visible again.

With the cursor in the Parent folder (under which the hidden folder option is available), right-click and click Unhide descendents
to display the hidden items.
All the Hidden Items will return to the normal display mode.

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Data Edit

Learning Objectives

How to edit data.

How to create, duplicate, and remove records.

Create New Record

To create a new record, use;
a) Toolbar button

b) Commands menu, New (F5) option

The New command creates a new record in the current data source.
The new record may contain:
Application generated values (such as transaction IDs or date created), which are not updateable.
Application suggested default values that can be changed if not suitable.

To create a duplicate record

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a) Toolbar button
b) Commands menu, Duplicate (F6) option
When you duplicate a record, a copy of the selected record is created.
Note: Some values will not be copied, but may receive a unique value, or may require manual entry.
Useful feature when you want to create a record that contains much of the same information as an existing record.
Note: In table windows, you can duplicate multiple records at the same time.

Remove a Record
To remove a record, use:
a) Toolbar button
b) Commands menu, Remove (F7) option

When you use the Remove command, the selected record is marked for deletion.
To reverse the remove command for the same record, select Remove again.
Select Save to confirm and complete the deletion.

Note: In a table window you can remove several records at the same time.

Data Retrieval

Learning Objectives
How to work with data retrieval, including:

How to populate a window.

How to use the query dialog and count hits.

How to save queries, both local and global.

Benefits
Well structured and easy to use data retrieval mechanism, providing:

The same look and feel throughout the whole application.

Quick and easy to use search dialog, which includes advanced query capabilities.
The ability to save and reuse user-defined queries.

Populate
A window is populated by either of these two methods:
a)
b)

Toolbar button
Commands menu, Populate (F2) option.

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The populate function retrieve all records from the database for the selected window.
Overview
You can query data in a window by using:
a) Toolbar button
b) Commands menu, Query (F3) option

Normal and advanced query capabilities are available.

You can save your query for later use.
Case sensitive queries will almost always be quicker.

Using Query
Query feature is used to retrieve only a selected part of the available data. In most cases the available data will be a large number of
records. To be able to retrieve only those records that are of interest, you need to know how the Query dialog works.
Item Available source items for which you can query.
Value The value field where you put your query condition combined with the query operators available in the drop down list.
Sort Sort the records by the selected attribute in either ascending or descending order.
Following are the steps to use query feature

Query for a Specific Record

Menu Path: Enterprise/Person/Overview Persons
1.
2.
3.
4.

Open the Overview Persons

In the Commands menu, click Query or press key F3 to open the Query
Enter A% in the Name
Click OK

Query with Count Results

Even though you can query for specific data to limit the returned result set, you can often get more data than desired. In these cases,
you can open the Query dialog and redo the same operation, but narrow the search even more by specifying more information in the
query. In this exercise you will use the count functionality to preview how effective our search criteria will be.
Menu Path: Enterprise/Person/Overview Persons
1.
Open the Overview Persons
2.
In the Commands menu, click Query or press key F3 to open the Query
3.
In the Value column, for the value Country, select INDIA
4.
Click Count Hits

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Note: You can now decide if the search is specific enough, or whether you need to modify the query. In the above example, depending
on how much data the database contains, the number of records will probably not be too large. For the sake of this exercise, we will
limit the query to persons with names beginning with A who live in the INDIA.
1.
2.
3.

Enter A% in the Name

Click Count
Click OK

Save a Query for Later Use

Saving Query: You can create, name and save queries that can be used at a later time. Use this function to query conditions that appear
often. You save a query by clicking Save in the Query window.
This can be very useful when you construct more complex queries that you use frequently in your daily work.
Menu Path: Enterprise/Person/Overview Persons
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Open the Overview Persons

Open the Query
For the Country item, select INDIA from the Value
Click Save
Enter IN Persons in the Name field, then click OK
Click Cancel to close the Query

Note: Your query will now be saved in the profile repository. This means that each time you open this window; you will have this
query available even if you log off the database and exit the application.
7.
8.
9.

Open the Query

In the Saved Queries
Click OK

Note: When you selected the query, the search conditions for the query were populated in the Query window. This means that besides
using a saved query, you can also refine the search even more before the query is executed. A saved query for a window is also
directly accessible from the list field located in the toolbar.

Report Scheduler
You can schedule the execution of each report from report Scheduler. Scheduler can be Daily or Weekly.
To schedule a particular report click on File/Info Service/Order Reports. Select a particular report and give the criteria for that report.
Then click on Execute Tab and define the schedule for that report.

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Summary of Buttons and Hot Keys

S. No.

Button

Hot Key

Description

Data Manipulation
1.

F5

To create a new record

2.

F6

To create a duplicate record

3.

F7

To remove a record

4.

F4

To clear previous query and data from the screen

5.

F12

Save the entry.

Data Retrieval
6.

F2

Retrieve all records from the database for the selected window

7.

F3

Retrieve only a selected part of the available data

Context Help
8.

F8

Displays the list of Values attached to that field.

9.

Shift+F9

Goes to the master table where this record is created.

General Functions
10.

None

Move Forward

11.

None

Move Backward

12.

Ctrl P

Prints the selected screen / Display.

13.

None

Save the selected rows to the external file in the following types:

Semi-colon separated

Comma separated

Text File

HTML File

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Data Manipulation
14.

F5

To create a new record

15.

F6

To create a duplicate record

16.

F7

To remove a record

17.

F4

To clear previous query and data from the screen

18.

F12

Save the entry.

Data Retrieval
19.

F2

Retrieve all records from the database for the selected window

20.

F3

Retrieve only a selected part of the available data

Context Help
21.

F8

Displays the list of Values attached to that field.

22.

Shift+F9

Goes to the master table where this record is created.

General Functions
23.

None

Move Forward

24.

None

Move Backward

25.

Ctrl P

Prints the selected screen / Display.

26.

None

Save the selected rows to the external file in the following types:

Semi-colon separated

Comma separated

Text File

HTML File

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IFS APPLICATION USER MANUAL FOR PURCHASE

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