Copyright Priority Software Ltd., 2019. All rights reserved.

The information contained in this manual is subject to change without notice.

We assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, nor is liability assumed for
damages resulting from the use of the material contained herein.

No portion of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, except

for the purchaser’s personal use, without the express written consent of Priority
Software Ltd.

28 Mishol Hadkalim St.

Jerusalem, Israel
[Link]

Priority™ is a trademark of Priority Software Ltd.

 Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1

How to Enter and Exit the System.............................................................................. 2

Entering the System ................................................................................................. 2

Opening the Desktop............................................................................................................. 2

Changing Passwords ............................................................................................................ 2

Changing Company............................................................................................................... 2

Exiting the System ................................................................................................... 3

Automatic Exit ....................................................................................................................... 3

The Interface ............................................................................................................. 4

The Desktop ............................................................................................................ 4

Title Bar ................................................................................................................................. 4

Menu Bar ............................................................................................................................... 4

Toolbar .................................................................................................................................. 5

The Main Menu ..................................................................................................................... 5

Personalizing the Menu Interface.......................................................................................... 7

Accessing Entities .................................................................................................... 7

Navigating the Main Menu .................................................................................................... 7

Searching by Keyword .......................................................................................................... 8

The Favorites Menu .............................................................................................................. 9

Help ....................................................................................................................... 10

Menu Entities ....................................................................................................................... 10

Wizards ............................................................................................................................... 10

Online Help .......................................................................................................................... 11

Forms ...................................................................................................................... 12

Introduction ............................................................................................................ 12

Working With Multi-Company Forms ...................................................................... 12

Display Layouts...................................................................................................... 13

[Link] LBI2000266 ii Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Personalizing the Appearance of Forms ............................................................................. 15

Navigating Forms ................................................................................................... 18

The Form Interface .............................................................................................................. 18

Moving Within a Form in Full-Record Display Mode ........................................................... 19

Moving Within a Form in Multi-Record Display Mode ......................................................... 19

Data Entry .............................................................................................................. 19

Read-Only and Updateable Columns ................................................................................. 19

Column Types ..................................................................................................................... 20

Adding Records to an Empty Form ..................................................................................... 22

Adding Records to a Filled-in Form ..................................................................................... 23

Setting Column Width.......................................................................................................... 23

Simple Copy and Paste Features ....................................................................................... 24

Choosing a Value From a Choose List ............................................................................... 25

Choosing a Value From a Search List ................................................................................ 26

Copy Target Value .............................................................................................................. 29

Choosing a Date From a Calendar ..................................................................................... 30

Copying From the Field Above ............................................................................................ 31

Copying Field Values From a Buffer ................................................................................... 32

Copying a Record Link ........................................................................................................ 33

Copying an External Record Link ........................................................................................ 34

Importing Files to a Form Record ........................................................................................ 34

Copying a Document Link ................................................................................................... 35

Removing Attachments ....................................................................................................... 36

Tracking Documents ........................................................................................................... 36

Fixing Mistakes ...................................................................................................... 36

Errors and Warnings ........................................................................................................... 36

Undo .................................................................................................................................... 37

Clearing the Line ................................................................................................................. 37

Deleting a Record ................................................................................................................ 38

Troubleshooting................................................................................................................... 38

[Link] LBI2000266 iii Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Data Retrieval (Queries) ........................................................................................ 39

Working in Query Mode....................................................................................................... 40

Designating the Query Conditions ...................................................................................... 40

Executing the Query ............................................................................................................ 41

Sorting Retrieved Records .................................................................................................. 42

The Query Generator .......................................................................................................... 43

Saving Queries for Repeated Use ...................................................................................... 46

The Default Query ............................................................................................................... 46

Searching for a Specific Record .......................................................................................... 47

Hiding Retrieved Records ................................................................................................... 49

Problems Retrieving Records ............................................................................................. 49

Query Forms ....................................................................................................................... 49

Activating Forms Within Forms ........................................................................................... 49

Summed Values .................................................................................................................. 50

Online Features ................................................................................................................... 51

Updating Data ........................................................................................................ 51

Scroll vs Edit Mode .............................................................................................................. 51

Sub-level Forms ..................................................................................................... 52

Entering the Default Sub-level Form ................................................................................... 52

Returning to the Upper-level Form ...................................................................................... 53

Choosing a Different Sub-level ........................................................................................... 53

The Navigation Bar.............................................................................................................. 54

Active and Passive Modes .................................................................................................. 55

Sub-levels of the Sub-level Form ........................................................................................ 56

Text Forms .......................................................................................................................... 56

Using the Text Editor ........................................................................................................... 56

Adding Pictures to a Text Form ........................................................................................... 58

Customizing User Comments ............................................................................................. 58

Direct Activations ................................................................................................... 59

Viewing Available Direct Activations ................................................................................... 59

[Link] LBI2000266 iv Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 How to Perform Direct Activations ...................................................................................... 60

Using Direct Activation to Revise a List .............................................................................. 61

Creating and Using Macros .................................................................................... 62

Defining a Macro ................................................................................................................. 62

Running a Macro ................................................................................................................. 63

Hot Keys .............................................................................................................................. 64

Recursive Macros ................................................................................................................ 64

Help ....................................................................................................................... 65

Leaving a Form ...................................................................................................... 66

Reports and Programs ............................................................................................. 67

Introduction ............................................................................................................ 67

Programs ............................................................................................................... 67

Running a Program ............................................................................................................. 68

Explorers ............................................................................................................................. 69

BPM Flow Charts ................................................................................................... 70

The Initial Status .................................................................................................................. 71

Creating Paths Between Statuses ...................................................................................... 71

Defining Rules for Statuses ................................................................................................. 72

Defining Rules for Paths ..................................................................................................... 79

Creating New Rules from Existing Ones ............................................................................. 80

Revising Statuses ................................................................................................................ 80

Adding New Statuses .......................................................................................................... 81

Viewing a History of BPM Flow Chart Changes .................................................................. 81

Printing a BPM Flow Chart .................................................................................................. 81

Copying a BPM Flow Chart ................................................................................................. 81

Reports .................................................................................................................. 81

Report Format ..................................................................................................................... 82

Running a New Report ........................................................................................................ 83

Accessing a Saved Report .................................................................................................. 84

Viewing the Report on Screen ............................................................................................ 84

[Link] LBI2000266 v Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Using the Print/Send Options .............................................................................................. 85

Printing/Faxing the Report .................................................................................................. 87

Sending an E-mail Attachment ............................................................................................ 87

BI Reports and Charts ......................................................................................................... 87

Dashboards ......................................................................................................................... 90

Parameter Input ..................................................................................................... 92

Specifying an Exact Value .................................................................................................. 94

Designating a Pattern .......................................................................................................... 95

Activating a Target Form (Inputting a Batch of Values) ...................................................... 96

Help for Programs and Reports .............................................................................. 97

Input Parameter Help .......................................................................................................... 97

Basic Customization ................................................................................................ 99

Customizing the Menu ........................................................................................... 99

Organizing Menus ............................................................................................................... 99

Add Items to Menus .......................................................................................................... 101

Customizing Forms .............................................................................................. 101

System Manager Design Options ..................................................................................... 103

Customizing Reports ............................................................................................ 103

Document Design .............................................................................................................. 105

Defining Your User Signature ........................................................................................... 108

Advanced Topics ................................................................................................... 110

Generators ........................................................................................................... 110

The Business Rules Generator ......................................................................................... 110

Creating New Rules from Existing Ones ........................................................................... 116

The Data Generator .......................................................................................................... 116

The Word Document Generator ........................................................................................ 118

The Excel Report Generator ............................................................................................. 126

The Label Generator ......................................................................................................... 128

The Letter Generator ......................................................................................................... 130

Advanced Data Retrieval and Input ...................................................................... 131

[Link] LBI2000266 vi Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 The AND Condition ........................................................................................................... 131

The OR Condition.............................................................................................................. 132

Multiple Conditions Enclosed in Brackets ......................................................................... 133

Backslash Delimiter ........................................................................................................... 133

Retrieving Null Values ....................................................................................................... 134

Using Operators ................................................................................................................ 134

Advanced Sorting of Retrieved Records ........................................................................... 135

Efficient Use of Queries..................................................................................................... 137

Enterprise Search ................................................................................................ 138

Performing a Search ......................................................................................................... 139

Viewing Search Results .................................................................................................... 140

Refining the Search ........................................................................................................... 141

Mail ........................................................................................................................ 142

Introduction .......................................................................................................... 142

Configuring Your Mail Account ............................................................................. 143

Mail Options ...................................................................................................................... 143

Setting Up Mail Using MS-Outlook .................................................................................... 143

Appointment Reminders .................................................................................................... 144

External Mailbox ................................................................................................................ 144

Customer/Vendor Tasks ................................................................................................... 144

Setting Up Mail Using Gmail ............................................................................................. 145

Sending Mail Using Other Servers .................................................................................... 146

Other E-mail Server Definitions ......................................................................................... 146

E-Documents ..................................................................................................................... 147

Skype ................................................................................................................................ 147

Incoming Mail ....................................................................................................... 147

Printing Received Mail....................................................................................................... 148

Opening Attachments ........................................................................................................ 148

Saving Attachments .......................................................................................................... 149

Forwarding Messages ....................................................................................................... 149

[Link] LBI2000266 vii Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Replying to Mail Messages ............................................................................................... 150

Viewing Old Mail................................................................................................................ 150

Deleting Old Mail ............................................................................................................... 151

Outgoing Messages ............................................................................................. 151

Composing Messages ....................................................................................................... 152

Addressing the Mail ........................................................................................................... 152

Creating an Attachment .................................................................................................... 153

Sending Mail ...................................................................................................................... 153

Sending Record Links ....................................................................................................... 154

Sending Task Links to Participants ................................................................................... 154

Viewing Old Outgoing Mail ................................................................................................ 155

Printing Outgoing Mail ....................................................................................................... 155

Deleting Old Outgoing Mail ............................................................................................... 155

Creating E-mail Lists via the Contacts Form ..................................................................... 156

Priority on Outlook ................................................................................................. 157

Running Priority on Outlook ................................................................................. 157

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 157

Choosing the Dashboards to Display in Outlook .............................................................. 157

Displaying the Dashboard ................................................................................................. 158

Appendices ............................................................................................................ 160

Appendix A: Keys and Functions ......................................................................... 160

Appendix B: Right Mouse Button Menu (Menus) .................................................. 161

Appendix C: Main Menu Bar ................................................................................ 162

File ..................................................................................................................................... 162

Favorites ............................................................................................................................ 162

Mail .................................................................................................................................... 162

Tools .................................................................................................................................. 163

Options .............................................................................................................................. 163

Help ................................................................................................................................... 163

Appendix D: Menu Toolbar .................................................................................. 164

[Link] LBI2000266 viii Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Appendix E: Form Menu Bar ................................................................................ 164

File ..................................................................................................................................... 164

View ................................................................................................................................... 165

Favorites ............................................................................................................................ 166

Mail .................................................................................................................................... 166

Edit .................................................................................................................................... 167

Database ........................................................................................................................... 168

Design ............................................................................................................................... 168

Tools .................................................................................................................................. 169

Macros ............................................................................................................................... 169

Navigation ......................................................................................................................... 170

Help ................................................................................................................................... 170

Appendix F: Form Toolbar ................................................................................... 170

Appendix G: Text Editor Toolbar .......................................................................... 172

Appendix H: Right Mouse Button Menu (Forms) .................................................. 173

[Link] LBI2000266 ix Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Introduction

This manual is intended to present the users of Priority with the basic
knowledge needed to begin working with the system. It explains commands and
keystrokes; the structure of menus, forms, reports and programs; how to work
with them; how to receive explanations and help from within the system; and the
like. It does not, however, explain the functional use of the software. That is, it
will answer such questions as “How do I run a report?” and “How do I retrieve
data from a form?”, but not “Which form do I use to record a sales invoice?” or
“How do I view warehouse balances?”

[Link]. LB18000321 1 Ver.01– Sep. 20,'18

 How to Enter and Exit the System

Entering the System

Opening the Desktop
1. Double-click the Priority desktop icon or select the icon from the
Windows Start Menu.

2. Enter your username and password, and click OK.

Note: The name of the user who last used this workstation appears
automatically.

3. If your system maintains several different companies, select the company

in which you want to work and click OK.
Note: The company last accessed by this workstation appears
automatically.

Tip: When you first begin to work with the system, you will receive a password
from your system manager, which you may be asked to change periodically. If,
for some reason, you have forgotten your password, ask the system manager to
provide you with a new one.

Changing Passwords
1. Open the File menu and select Change Password.

2. In the New Password column, record the new password you have
chosen.

3. In the Verify Password column, record the new password again.

4. In the Old Password column, record your previous password.

Changing Company
1. Click the Select Company icon on the Menu Toolbar or choose the
Select Company command from the File menu.

2. Select the company you wish to work in (see Figure 1) and click OK.

Note: If you have been assigned multiple privilege profiles in the selected
company, each of which will affect your access to entities differently, also select
the profile with which to work (see Figure 2).

[Link] LBI2000266 2 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 1: Select Company pop-up window

Figure 2: Select profile

Tip: You can switch companies at any time during your work session.

Exiting the System

1. At the conclusion of your work session, exit all forms, reports, parameter
input screens and so on.

2. Do one of the following:

 Click the Close button (X) in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
 Select the Exit command from the File menu.
 Press Alt+F4.

Note: If you are working at an independent workstation (Stand Alone), turn off
the server before you shut down your computer.

Automatic Exit
The automatic exit feature is set by the system manager. After a specified
interval of inactivity, you will get a warning that the program is about to end
automatically. If there is no further response, all open entities will close down,
except for any programs that are in progress. To continue working, simply
cancel the warning. If you find that you receive warning messages more
frequently than you would like, consult your system manager about resetting the
automatic exit time interval.

[Link] LBI2000266 3 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 The Interface

The Desktop
The system desktop (Figure 3) consists of the Title Bar, Menu Bar, Toolbar
and Main Menu.

Figure 3: The desktop

Title Bar
The Title Bar displays the name of the company in which you are working and
the name of the current user. You can assign a different color to each company
for easy identification. In addition, each user can have his/her own specific text
that appears in the Title Bar (see p. 6).

Menu Bar
The Menu Bar appears below the Title Bar, and provides functions related to
the appearance and navigation of the system desktop, the internal mail system
and a variety of Help options.

Example:
To identity the current user of the system, open the File menu and select
Who Am I? This opens the Who Am I? window, which displays the name
of the current user.

[Link] LBI2000266 4 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

The Favorites menu is your personal menu, which you can populate with links
to the system entities that you use most frequently, such as the Set Login Time
program and the Sales Orders form. You will learn how to assign a favorite in
the section on accessing entities (see p. 9).

For a full description of each Menu in the bar and its items, see Appendix C.

Note: When forms are open, additional functions are available.

Toolbar
The Toolbar (see Figure 4) consists of icons that provide easy access to most of
the functions available in the Menu Bar. These functions, such as the Select
Company command that we have already seen, are explained when the relevant
topic is discussed. For a full description of each Toolbar icon, see Appendix D.

Figure 4: The Toolbar

The Main Menu

Each menu item represents a module, a distinct set of sub-menus that
comprise a specific topic, such as Purchasing or Production. Each Priority
package contains a different combination of modules; thus, your system may
not include all of the modules displayed above in Figure 3.

Each menu contains a variety of entities from which to choose. There are seven
types of entities available in the system, each represented by a unique icon:

Menu – Opens a menu, displaying all available items.

Form – Loads a form in which to work (retrieve and update records).

Report – Accesses saved reports or runs new ones.

Printout – Creates document printouts in HTML format or based on a

Word template.

Program – Activates a program.

Wizard – Guides the user in the performance of tasks.

Video Clip – Runs a brief video clip that demonstrates a system process.

Dashboard – Presents sets of data in a variety of cross-sections, including

reports, graphs and tables, and offers access to relevant BI reports.

[Link] LBI2000266 5 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 BI Report – Opens a report in which you can analyze data from a variety
of perspectives.

Example:

You are presently in the Deposits menu (see Figure 5). You can see the
path of menus used to arrive there:
Financials  Cash Management  Deposits

From this menu it is possible, among other things, to:

 Enter the Deposit Slips form.
 Activate the Prepare Deposit Slip program.
 Print out the Pending Deposit Slips report.
 Run the Deposits Wizard.

As you can see from the example below, when you access a sub-menu, all of
the menus that you opened in order to reach it will remain open (although the
first ones may become hidden due to lack of space). In this way, you can easily
choose entities from earlier menus.

Figure 5: The Deposits menu

You can copy from the Main Menu to a Windows clipboard the name of any
given entity, the entity name with a link to it or the full path of an entity. This can
then be pasted (e.g., in an MS-Word document) using Ctrl+V. To access these
options, right-click the entity in question and select Copy, Copy Shortcut or
Copy Path, respectively.

[Link] LBI2000266 6 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: You can also access these commands by pressing the Windows Menu
key ( ), if this appears on your keyboard (typically located at the lower right of
the keyboard).

Personalizing the Menu Interface

The Appearance icon in the Toolbar provides you with total control over the
appearance of the main menu, by allowing you to change any of the following
attributes:
 Style: Choose from a list of predefined color schemes for the menu and its
bars.
 Menu Buttons: Determine style (normal, raised), colors and fonts.
 Background Image: Browse to an image that can be displayed behind
the menu, either full-sized or tiled
 Background Color: As an alternative to styles, select your own
background and bar colors.

Note: On customizing the contents and order of each menu and sub-menu, see
Basic Customization (p. 99).

You can designate a different color for the Title Bar of each company
environment you work in, for easy reference. To do so, enter the Company
form and select a value in the Color column for each company.

You can also add user-specific text to the Title Bar. This text is defined in the
Title Bar Text column of the Company-Specific Information form, a sub-level
of the Personnel File form. Whatever text is recorded in this column will appear
in the Title Bar for the user and company in question.

Note: See the next section to learn about accessing system forms.

Accessing Entities
There are three ways to load a form, generate a report or run a program:
 Navigating the menus and clicking the desired entity.
 Running the Search Tool.
 Selecting the entity from your custom Favorites menu on the Menu Bar.

In addition, there are ways of accessing entities from within other entities, which
will be discussed in the sections on forms and Help wizards.

Navigating the Main Menu

You can navigate the menu via both mouse and keyboard. In the latter case,
press Enter or the right arrow () to activate the current entity, the up and
[Link] LBI2000266 7 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20
down arrows ( and ) to move within the menu, and Esc or the left arrow ()
to close it.

Note: Press Pg Dn to move to the last entity in a menu, or Pg Up to move to

the first.

Searching by Keyword
The Search tool (Figure 6) enables you to locate any entity in the system by
one or more keywords (or partial words).

To activate the Search tool, take one of the following steps:

 Select the Search for Entity command from the Tools menu.
 Press Ctrl+Alt+E.
 Click the Search For Entity icon on the Toolbar.

Note: When working in a system form, this tool can be accessed either from the
Tools menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+E.

Displays the
menu path to
the entity

Directly
accesses Displays
the entity various Copy
options

Displays on-
line help text
Figure 6: The Search for Entity tool

1. In the Search For field, type in a keyword, or as much of the entity title
as you know. The search will be case sensitive unless you click on the
Ignore Case checkbox.

2. Click the Browse button or press Enter. All entity titles that contain the
keywords will then be displayed in the Search Results window.

3. Once you have located the entity you seek, you can either:
 Click the Path button to display the entity’s menu path and navigate
there yourself,

[Link] LBI2000266 8 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

  Click the Start button to activate the entity directly, or
 Click the Help button to display the entity’s Help text. This is useful
when you need to distinguish between several similar-sounding
entities.
 Click the Copy button and then select Copy (to copy the entity), Copy
Shortcut (to copy the entity together with a link to it) or Copy Path (to
copy the entity's menu path). The result is saved on a clipboard and
can be pasted (e.g., in an MS-Word document) using Ctrl+V.

The Favorites Menu

The easiest way to access the entities you use on a regular basis is to assign
them to your personal Favorites menu, where you can arrange them in the
most convenient order. You can even have your personal menu serve as the
main menu (i.e., the one that opens as soon as you enter the system), thus
custom-tailoring the system entirely to your needs.

To demonstrate how to use this feature, we will insert the Set Login Time and
Set Logout Time programs to your Favorites menu; this will save you time
each day when you log in and out of the system.

Example:

1. Follow the menu path: Office Management  Work Hour

Reporting  Set Login Time using the  arrow keys. Do not
click on the program with the left mouse button, as this will run
the program!

2. Click on Favorites in the Menu Bar and select Insert Item; this
opens the Add to Menu dialogue box (see Figure 7).
3. The default Position number appears in the scroll box next to
the title of the selected entity. This determines the position of the
entity in the menu. As this is the first item to be inserted in the
menu, it will obviously be in position 1. Once more entities are
added, you may revise position numbers.

4. Repeat the above process with the Set Logout Time program.

5. The next time you need to log in or out of Priority, simply open
Favorites and click the appropriate program; there is no more
need to navigate through menus.

[Link] LBI2000266 9 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 7: Selecting the position within your menu

To delete an item from your personalized menu, select the Delete Item
command from the Favorites menu. This opens the Delete From Menu
dialogue box. Move to the entity you want to remove from the list, then click OK.

Once you have inserted and positioned the desired entities in Favorites, you
can make this into your system’s Main Menu. To do so, select the Set as Main
Menu command in the Favorites menu. You must now exit and re-enter the
system in order for the change to take effect. To revert back to the standard
Main Menu, deselect the option, then exit and re-enter.

Help
Several Help features are built into the system, providing you with explanations of
everything from individual columns to entire work processes. Help regarding form
columns and input parameters will be covered in the sections regarding Forms
(see p. 65) and Reports and Programs (see p. 97), respectively.

Menu Entities
To receive an explanation of any entity in the Main Menu, right-click the desired
entity and select Help. A message box will appear containing a brief description
of the entity and its functions.

Note: This is the same description displayed by pressing the Help button in the
Search tool. In the case of an open form, you can receive the same description
by pressing Ctrl+F1, or clicking the Form Help icon in the form’s toolbar.

Help messages may include hyperlinks (in blue) that open other entities. Once
you leave such an entity, you return to the help message and the Main Menu.

Wizards
Wizards are interactive guides that help you carry out many of the system's
processes. Each wizard appears in a help window that remains visible as you
work on the main screen, and accompanies the process step by step. The user
can even open the screens, reports and programs mentioned in the wizard from
within the wizard itself. There are several ways to access wizards:

1. From the Main Menu: Menus and sub-menus contain direct links to
wizards.

[Link] LBI2000266 10 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

2. From the Menu Bar: In the Help menu, select Help Wizards, and choose
one of the following options:
 In the Contents tab, navigate until you find the desired wizard. Double-
click on the title or click Display to open the wizard.
 The General sub-menu in the Contents tab contains a number of
Main Wizards, whose purpose is to provide a general overview of the
work processes that take place within an entire module. Each main
wizard is hyperlinked to all of the wizards available in that module.
 Click the Search tab, and use keywords to search for the various help
topics that refer to the desired subject. Double-click on one of the
displayed topics or click Display to open the relevant wizard to the
selected topic.
Note: If you forget where you are, use the Home button located at the
bottom of each topic to return to the beginning of the wizard you are in.

Online Help
Priority's Online Help utility complements screen help by giving you access to a
variety of aids and documentation that are maintained on the Priority web site.
You can view up-to-date, topic-specific video clips, standard operating
procedures (SOPs), frequently asked questions (FAQs) and documents. No
downloads are necessary.

To access this utility:

1. Right-click the entity in question and select Online Help.

2. A new Explorer window opens. Click on the line(s) that interest you.

[Link] LBI2000266 11 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Forms

Introduction
Most of the work in the system is carried out by means of forms. You can use a
form to add new data to the system, as well as to retrieve existing records for
review and/or revision. Proficiency in the use of forms is an important first step
in learning to use Priority. From the application forms you can run programs,
print reports, and send documents via fax or e-mail. Before giving you an in-
depth explanation of how to work with forms, the following provides an overview
of the basic concepts you need to know:

Each record in a given form is made up of several columns. Information

specified for one column within a given record constitutes a field.

Most of the basic forms used for data entry initially appear in Full-Record
Display Mode, in which only one record is presented at a time. This mode
features a friendly graphic interface that divides the form's columns into tabs. In
order to see multiple records at one time, you can toggle to Multi-Record
Display Mode, which presents all of the form's records in a table. This mode is
particularly useful for viewing retrieved data, and many forms open directly in
this mode. However, if the form is wide, some of the columns will be hidden until
you scroll to them. For more details, see p. 13.

In addition, forms have two primary modes of operation:

 Data Entry mode, in which you can record new data and update existing
records, and
 Query mode, in which you retrieve data.
You can quickly move between these modes as you are working.

There are two non-exclusive types of forms: upper-level forms and sub-levels.
An upper-level form is one that has at least one sub-level. Sub-level forms
provide further information on a given record in the upper-level form. For
instance, the Customers form, which stores customer names, mailing
addresses and phone numbers, can have one sub-level that displays sites for
each customer and another sub-level that displays all orders placed by the
customer. Root forms are upper-level forms that are accessed directly from
menus.

Working With Multi-Company Forms

If you are responsible for managing the data of multiple companies within your
Priority system, you are likely to work with forms that display data from all or
some of those companies simultaneously. Your system manager (or anyone
with Manager privileges) has the option of converting almost any system form
into a multi-company form (see p. 103).

[Link] LBI2000266 12 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

When working with a multi-company form, you have the option of selecting the
companies whose data you want to view. To do so:

1. Open the Database menu on the form’s Menu Bar and click Define
Multiple Companies.

2. Flag each company for which you want to display data.

The selection that you make affects all multi-company forms in all companies
within the system, though it does not affect the data that other users see. If you
enter a different multi-company form and only want to see data for a single
company, you will need to repeat the above operation and remove the
unwanted check marks.

Note: The selection of companies also affects consolidated statements and

other multi-company reports.

Each record in a multi-company form may originate from any of the selected
companies. The company of each line item is designated in the Full Company
Name column, which appears in all multi-company forms (see Figure 8).

Figure 8: Viewing data in a multi-company form (Multi-Record Display Mode)

Note: If you do not have the exact same privileges for a given multi-company
form in all of the selected companies, you will receive an error message and the
form will open for the default company only. To determine what your privileges
are in the companies in your system, speak to your system manager.

Display Layouts
As mentioned above, forms have two main types of display layout:

Full-Record Display, in which one complete record is shown. This allows you
to view all of the columns in one record. However, any additional records will be
hidden from view until you move to a different line.

Most of the basic forms used regularly for data entry (e.g., invoices, orders, price
quotes, receipts, customers) open in Full-Record Display Mode (see Figure 9).
This is a graphic interface that divides the form's columns into groups by subject,

[Link] LBI2000266 13 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

and presents each group in a tab. This display mode is fully customizable, allowing
you to organize the columns in a manner that meets your needs and display them
in custom tabs (see p. 101).

Figure 9: A single GL account (Full-Record Display Mode)

Multi-Record Display, in which several records are displayed simultaneously,

broken down into frames (see Figure 10). If the form is wide, some columns
may be temporarily hidden from view. In order to see them, you must scroll from
one frame to the next.

Figure 10: Viewing a number of accounts together (Multi-Record Display Mode)

Note: The maximum number of records that can be displayed on the screen at
one time is set by a system constant.

Both display modes allow you to view bitmap images attached to individual form
records, such as pictures of items in the Part Catalogue form, as well as icons
representing attached files. You can prevent images and icons from appearing
(thus cutting down your work time) by deselecting the View Images under the
General item in the View menu of the form's Menu Bar.

To toggle between the two display modes, take one of the following steps:
 Click the Full/Multiple Record Display icon on the Toolbar.
 Press F4.
 Select the Full/Multi-Record command from the General item in the
View menu.

The choice of display mode is a matter of personal preference. Multi-record

display is recommended in a form with few columns, as it enables you to see

[Link] LBI2000266 14 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

several records at once, viewing all their fields. Full-record display is particularly
useful during data entry, as it enables you to see and easily move between all
fields in the current record. Indeed, most of the forms that open automatically in
full-record display are used for this purpose.

Note: The display mode that is chosen has no effect on the contents of the
record. The only difference is in the manner in which the data appears.

The following explanations of form usage often differentiate between the two
types of display layouts. That is, the steps that you need to take are sometimes
dictated by the display mode.

Personalizing the Appearance of Forms

The controls in each form’s View menu allow you to customize virtually every
detail of the form’s visual display, in some cases for the current form only, in
others for all forms in the system.

The Style item provides a list of predefined color schemes that apply to all
system forms in both Full Record and Multi-Record Display modes.
Alternatively, you can select your own background and tab colors under the
General item, as well as determine whether or not Mandatory and ReadOnly
column titles are highlighted in separate colors.

In addition to setting the background color of all Tool and Menu bars, the Bars
item allows you to hide any or all bars in the form in which you are working.
These settings remain in effect when you close and re-open the form.

Separate items include display settings for Full Record Forms and Multi
Record Forms, such as column title, field and font settings. The Grid item
displays or hides dividing lines between records in Multi Record forms.

Note: Whereas Full Record font settings affect both column titles and values,
Multi-Record settings affect only column values. To change the font settings for
column titles in Multi-Record Display Mode, enter the Control Panel and
double-click Display. In the Appearance tab, click Advanced, select “Message
Box” from the Item list, and choose the desired font settings.

Finally, the Record Color item allows you to define record colors for a given
form column. These definitions are used to automatically change the font color
of a form record when the specified column receives a designated value or
range of values.

Example 1:

1. Use the Search for Entity feature (see p. 8) to find and open the
Customers form.

[Link] LBI2000266 15 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 2. Click the Retrieve All Records icon on the form’s Toolbar to
retrieve all customer records.

3. Click the Details tab and move to a record with a sales rep.

4. Right-click the Sales Rep Number column and select Define

Record Color, select a color and click OK. Each customer with
the same sales rep will appear in the chosen color.

Figure 11: The Choose color dialogue box

5. Click F4 and scroll through the records to see which customers

use the sales rep in question.

Example 2:
To assign a record color for a range of values (when the column in question
contains a numerical value):

1. From the Customers form, click the Company Data tab.

2. Right-click the # of Employees column and select Define Record
Color. Select a color, indicate the range of values (e.g., 0-50) to
which you want to assign that record color and then click OK.

Figure 12: Setting a range of values in the Choose color dialogue box

3. Click F4 and scroll through the records to see which customers

employ the designated number of people (in this example,
anywhere between 0 and 50 employees).

[Link] LBI2000266 16 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: You may define more than one color condition for a single column.

To remove color conditions from a column:

1. Move to a record in the form and fill in the value to which the color code
is attached (e.g., in the first example, specify the sales rep in question in
the Sales Rep Number column).

2. Move the cursor to the desired column and do one of the following:
 Right-click the column and select Define Record Color.
 Press the Menu ( ) key and select Define Record Color.
 In the View menu, select Record Color and then Define Record
Color.

3. Click the No Color option followed by OK.

Tip: Repeat the process if more than one condition has been defined.

To remove all color conditions from a form:

1. Move to a record in the form.

2. Move the cursor to the desired column and do one of the following:
 Right-click the column and select Define Record Color.
 Press the Menu ( ) key and select Define Record Color.
 In the View menu, select Record Color and then Define Record
Color.

3. Click the Reset button at the bottom right of the screen.

To check the form's current color conditions, do one of the following:

 Right-click any column and select Show Current Record Colors.
 Press the Menu ( ) key and select Show Current Record Colors.
 In the View menu, select Record Color and then Show Current Record
Colors command (see Figure 13).

Figure 13: The Current conditions dialogue box

[Link] LBI2000266 17 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Navigating Forms
The Form Interface
Title Bar

Menu Bar
Toolbar
Tabs
Direct Activations Bar

Sub-level Bar

Status Bar
Columns

Figure 14: Example of a blank form in Data Entry mode

The Title Bar displays the current user, form title, current company, and
user-specific text (where defined).

The Menu Bar contains the general system functions discussed previously, as
well as functions unique to the operation of forms. For a full list of menu items,
see Appendix E.

The Toolbar provides quick access to commonly used functions. For a

complete list of functions, see Appendix F.

The Direct Activations Bar contains a series of tabs providing access to forms,
programs and reports that are relevant to the current form. For details, see p. 59.

The Sub-level Bar contains a series of tabs that open the sub-level forms of the
form in which you are working. For details, see p. 53.

The Status Bar provides the following information, which changes as you
navigate within the form:
 The full title of the column you are in.
 The line you are currently in.
 Whether you are in Insert or Replace mode.
 Whether you are in Scroll or Edit mode (see p. 51).
 Whether you are in Data Entry or Query mode.
 Whether the column you are in is read-only, updateable or mandatory.
 The column type (see p. 20).

The Toolbar, Direct Activations Bar and Status Bar can be toggled on and off
within a given form, using the View menu of the form’s Menu Bar. Once you exit
the form, these changes will also affect the bars that are displayed in other forms.

[Link] LBI2000266 18 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Moving Within a Form in Full-Record Display Mode
To move within the current record, simply click on the desired field with the
mouse. Alternatively, you can use the arrow keys or press Enter, Tab or
Shift+Tab (to go backwards).

To move between tabs, press Shift  and Shift , or press Tab to move from
the last column in one tab to the first column in the next.

Note: To move between the main section and the first tab, it is sufficient to use
the  key.

To move between records, use the PgUp and PgDn keys or the vertical scroll
arrows located on the right side of the form.

Moving Within a Form in Multi-Record Display Mode

To move between rows, you can:
 Click on the desired row with the mouse.
 Click on the vertical scroll arrows located on the right side of the
form.
 Use the up/down arrow keys .
 Press Enter to move down one line.

Note: As you move from one row to another, the current row becomes passive.
That is, the column you are in changes color.

To move between columns within a row, you can:

 Click on the desired field with the mouse.
 Use the left and right arrow keys .
 Press Tab or Enter to move one column to the right, Shift+Tab to move
to the left.

Data Entry
When you first enter a form, you are in Data Entry mode, in which you can
record and update data (as opposed to Query mode, in which you retrieve
records; see p. 39). The very first field (first column, first line) is highlighted in
light blue. In most cases, no data is visible in the form columns.

Read-Only and Updateable Columns

Any column in a form is either read-only or updateable. Some updateable
columns are mandatory. You can view the status of the current column in the

[Link] LBI2000266 19 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Status Bar, in the second box from the right. When you move from column to
column, that status will change.

Note: A mandatory column must always be filled in. If it is not, you will not be
able to update the record or continue work in the form. If you get stuck in a
record (because you don’t have all the needed mandatory information), you
have to undo your actions or clear the line (see p. 37).

Priority features several visual cues to help you differentiate between types of
columns. By default, mandatory and updateable columns are colored yellow
when selected (i.e., the data itself has a navy blue background when the cursor
is in the column) and white otherwise. In Full-Record Display Mode, mandatory
columns are marked with an asterisk (*).

You also have the option of color-coding mandatory and read-only columns to
distinguish them from each other and from updateable columns. To do so,
select the Highlight Mandatory/Read-Only command from the General item in
the View menu. When this option is in effect, the titles of mandatory columns
appear in red (in addition to the asterisk in Full-Record Display Mode), while the
titles of read-only columns appear in gray.

The background fields of read-only columns are always gray when selected.

Column Types
Each column is restricted to values that belong to a specific data type. The
column type appears at the bottom of the screen, in the right-hand corner of the
Status Bar.

The following data types are used:

 Real: Any positive or negative real number, including a decimal point.
Even if you record an integer, the number will be displayed with a
decimal point (e.g., 1,253.00). You can increase or decrease a sum
(for example, a price) by pressing the plus or minus key (+/–),
respectively. This will alter the number to the left of the decimal point
by one increment. For example, 100.00 will change to 101.00 or
99.00, depending on which key you use. Repeat the action to continue
increasing/decreasing the number.

Note: A variety of display formats are available (e.g., 1,234.56 for English-
speaking users, 1.234,56 for Italian users). To change the format, use the
Languages form.

 Integer: Any positive or negative integer; cannot include a decimal

point. You can press the plus or minus key to increase or decrease the
value in an integer column by one. For example, to change a value of
“10” to “11”, press “+”. Repeat the action to continue altering the
number.

[Link] LBI2000266 20 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 String: One or more letters, numerals or other characters.
 Character: A single character, i.e., a letter, numeral or other symbol
appearing on the keyboard. For instance, this is the type of column
used to choose between part types P (make item), R (raw material)
and O (other).
A special instance of the Character type is the check box, which consists
of a simple “on” and “off” switch. For instance, a check box in the
Compose Mail form indicates whether the current mail message has
been sent.
To flag a check box, click on the box or press the space bar. Repeat to
remove the flag.
 Date: A specific date consisting of three two-digit numbers separated
by slashes (mm/dd/yy in the American package, dd/mm/yy in the
Dual-Currency package). The system adds the slashes automatically;
you only type in the digits. Where any of the numbers is less than 10,
precede it with a 0 to arrive at a two-digit number (e.g., 03/09/05). If
you attempt to type a non-existent date (e.g., 13/13/05), the system
will display an error message and will not allow you to continue typing.
To obtain today’s date in a single keystroke, press the plus sign or minus
sign (+/-). To designate a different date in the current year, specify the month
and day and then press the plus/minus sign. You can use the same keys to
modify an existing date; pressing “+” will display the next date, while pressing
“-“ will show the previous date. Press again to continue moving forward or
backward.
A second option is to click on the button that appears at the right side of a
field of this type, and to designate the date with the help of the calendar that
opens. This is especially useful when you want to record a date in the future
and need to know the day of the week on which this date falls. For more
details, see Choosing a Date From a Calendar, p. 30.
 Date/Time: A specific date followed by a specific time, e.g., 03/09/05
14:53. A column of this type is usually read-only and automatically
updated by the system when the row of data is recorded.
To specify the current date and time in a single keystroke, press the plus or
minus sign (+/-). You can also click on the button to open the Date/Time
Calendar. For more details, see p. 30.
 Time: A specific time, consisting of a pair of two-digit numbers
separated by a colon, which appears automatically after you specify
the hour. If the hour or minute is less than ten, precede it by a 0 (e.g.,
13:02, 07:20).
To specify the current time in a single keystroke, press the plus or minus sign
(+/-). To move the time forward by a minute, press “+”; to move backward
one minute, press “-“. Repeat the action to continue moving
forward/backward.
 Time Span: A span of time, consisting of a three-digit number
representing hours, separated by a colon from a two-digit number
representing minutes. 0’s must be added to the left of any numbers

[Link] LBI2000266 21 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 that have less than the required amount of digits; for example, 050:20
signifies 50 hours and 20 minutes, 000:30 indicates 30 minutes. The
displayed time span can be modified incrementally by minutes via the
plus and minus keys.
 Day: The first three letters of any day of the week (Mon, Tue, Wed,
Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun). To obtain the current day of the week in a single
keystroke, press the plus or minus sign (+/-). To change a displayed
day, press “+” (to move to the next day of the week) or “-“ (to move to
the previous day). Repeat this action to continue moving
forward/backward.
 Operator: This column type is used to designate criteria when
executing a query and will be explained in a later section (see p. 134).

Note: The Default Value command serves the same function as the minus sign
(-). This option may be selected either from the Edit menu or from the pop-up
menu accessed from the right mouse button.

Adding Records to an Empty Form

To add a new record in a form in which no data is displayed, simply type in the
information you wish to specify (or copy it from elsewhere; see below). If you
have typed incorrectly, you can backspace and correct the error. Make sure that
all mandatory columns are filled in.

You can edit what you have typed by using one of the following methods:

 Highlight and overwrite.

 Drag along the written text with the left mouse button to highlight any
portion that was incorrectly typed.
 Type in the correct characters. Anything highlighted will be overwritten.

 Type in Replace mode.

1. Switch from Scroll mode to Edit mode (press F2).

2. Use the left and right arrow keys  to move the cursor within
the field.

3. Switch from Insert mode to Replace mode (press Ins on the

keypad) to overwrite any incorrect character.

As soon as you add a new record and leave the line, the database is updated
automatically. This occurs when:
 You move the cursor to any other line in the form.
 You move to Query mode.
 You exit the form.
 You enter a sub-level form.
[Link] LBI2000266 22 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20
 Example:

Use the Search for Entity feature (see p. 8) to find and open the
Customers form. You will notice that only two columns are mandatory: the
Customer Number and Name. Moreover, a temporary number is assigned
automatically once a name is designated. So to add a new customer, all you
need to do is move to the Name column and designate a customer name
(e.g., “Just Testing”).

If you wish, you can add other information (like phone number or street
address), but it is not necessary at this stage.

Press PgDn to leave the line and update the database. The “Just Testing”
customer has now been added to the database, and you are positioned to
add another new customer.

Note that the customer you have added still appears in the form; you just
can’t see it, because you are in Full-Record Display Mode and you have
moved to a new record. Press F4 to move to Multi-Record Display Mode.
You will see the “Just Testing” customer on the first line of the form and
your cursor in the second (blank) line.

Now leave and reenter the form; it will be empty of records. To find “Just
Testing” again, click the Retrieve All Records icon on the Toolbar. All
customers, including Just Testing, will be displayed. Move to Multi-Record
Display Mode (press F4) to view them all at once.

Adding Records to a Filled-in Form

In order to add new records once existing records appear in the form, you need
to open a new line. To do so, select one of the following methods:
 Click the New Line icon on the Toolbar.
 Press Ctrl+Enter.
 Press Ctrl+F4.
 Select the New Line command from the Edit menu.
 Move to the last line in the form and move down to a blank line.

The following sections provide additional tips for data entry in forms.

Setting Column Width

Some form columns do not open to their full width, both in Full-Record Display
Mode and Multi-Record Display Mode. When you place the cursor on such a
column and begin to type, it automatically opens up to its full width. To expand
the column to its maximum size without editing the field, press the Shift key. It
will return to its original size when you move to a different field.

If you are working in Multi-Record Display Mode, the system provides a variety
of options:

[Link] LBI2000266 23 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 To expand the column to its maximum size without editing the field, you
can also:
 Select the Expand command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click the column and select Expand.
 Move the cursor to the column in question, press the Menu ( ) key
and select Expand.

Once you move out of the column, it will return to its original size.
 To expand the column to its maximum size for as long as the form
remains open, you can do one of the following:
 Click the Expand and Set icon on the Toolbar.
 Select the Expand and Set option from the Edit menu.

This will keep the form column open to its full width until the root form (the
form reached from the main menu) is exited.
 To permanently adjust the width of a form column, you can grab the
dividing line between column titles and move it to the left or right. The
resulting columns will retain their new width even after you close the form.
To restore all columns in the form to their default widths, select the
Restore Column Widths command in the View menu on the form’s Menu
Bar.

Simple Copy and Paste Features

Anyone familiar with Microsoft Windows should be adept at using its copy and
paste features, which are also available for any field in Priority.

To copy highlighted text, do one of the following:

 Click the Copy icon on the Toolbar.
 Press Ctrl+C.
 Select the Copy command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click the column in question and select Copy.
 Move the cursor to the column in question, press the Menu ( ) key and
select Copy.

To paste text that has been copied, move the cursor to the proper line and
column and do one of the following:
 Click the Paste icon on the Toolbar.
 Press Ctrl+V.
 Select the Paste command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click the column in question and select Paste.
 Move the cursor to the column in question, press the Menu ( ) key and
select Paste.
[Link] LBI2000266 24 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20
Choosing a Value From a Choose List
In many form columns, you can choose the value that you wish to enter from a
short list. These columns are identified by a Choose Button that appears to
the right of the text box once the cursor is situated in that field. Such a button, in
fact, appears next to the Sales Rep Number column in the Customers form.
To choose from a list of possible sales reps, move to the Details tab and click
this button or press F6 from the column in question. If the column is currently
empty, you can also open the Choose list by pressing the Space bar.

The values in each Choose list are taken from a source form that was filled in at
a previous stage. For example, the Choose list you used in the Customers form
was taken from the values in the Sales Representatives form. Consequently,
in order to update the Choose list, you must modify the Sales Representatives
form.

Extended Choose lists (see Figure 15) feature a sorting mechanism designed
to speed up the selection process. You can sort an extended Choose list in
ascending or descending order by clicking on either of the list titles. The first
column in the list is named after the form column you are in (e.g., Name, User,
Family) and the second is called Description.

Figure 15: Example of an extended Choose list

Some extended Choose lists also allow you to select more than one item
simultaneously. Multiple list items are selected in the same manner as in
standard Windows tools.
To select adjacent items:
 Click on the first item, hold down the Shift key and click on the last
item. The entire block of items from the first to the last will be
highlighted for selection. Click OK.

[Link] LBI2000266 25 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

To select several discrete items:
 Click on the first item, hold down the Ctrl key and click on each item
you want to select. Each item will remain highlighted for selection. Click
OK.

If the source form happens to be empty of values, you will automatically find
yourself in the source form, where you can add any records you need. You can
also reach this form when you want to add to or revise the values in an existing
Choose list, by pressing F6 from within the list. You can then copy a newly
added value back into the original form via the Copy Target Value utility, which
is explained below on p. 29. Once there is even one record in the source form,
a Choose list will appear.

Choosing a Value From a Search List

In some forms a drop-down arrow opens a Search list rather than a Choose
list.

To open the Search window, do one of the following:

 Click on the drop-down button to the right of the column.
 Move the cursor to the column in question and press F6.
 In an empty column, press the Space bar.

The window is divided into four sections (see Figure 16).

Search Pattern

Scrolling Tab

Criterion Tab

Search Results

Figure 16: Searching for a customer starting with “T”

 The search pattern field, in which the cursor is located (top of the
window).
 The scrolling tabs (Previous Page, Next Page), located directly under
the search field and above the list of values.
 The criterion tab (By Name, By Number, By Other Criterion),
determining the type of search, located in between the two scrolling tabs.
 The list of retrieved values.

Initially, the search pattern field is empty. Depending on the value of the
EMPTYSEARCH system constant, either all values are retrieved or the list is
blank. Either way, you conduct the search by specifying search criteria.

[Link] LBI2000266 26 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

When the Search Only from Beginning of Item option at the bottom of the
Search list window is flagged, Search lists look for your search pattern at the
beginning of each list item, returning all values that begin with that pattern. If the
checkmark is removed from this option, the Search list will look for your search
pattern anywhere within the items.

Note: The SEARCHOPTION system constant determines whether the option is

flagged when you first open a Search list.

You can also flag the Ignore case option at the bottom of the Search list
window so that the search is not case-sensitive.

Follow the example below and practice using the utility to learn how to efficiently
select values.

Example:

Search for The Learning Center customer as follows:

1. Click the Select Company icon and make sure that you are in
the demo company.

2. Use the Search for Entity feature (see p. 8) to find and open the
Customers form.

3. In the Number column, click on the button to display the

Search window.

4. Verify that the criterion tab is entitled “By Name“ (if the tab is
labeled “By Number” or “By Other Criterion”, keep clicking on it
with the left mouse button until it switches to “By Name”).

5. In the search pattern field (where the cursor is located), type in

the initial letter (e.g., “T”), partial word (“Th”) or complete word
(“The”) of the customer you are searching for. This immediately
triggers a mechanism that scans the list of customer names —
you will see rapid movement in the window — and stops once all
the customers whose name begins with the value you specified
are displayed in the left-hand column (see Figure 16).

6. Select the customer whose record you wish to view by using the
up and down arrows  or clicking on the customer’s name with
the left mouse button (when the list is long, use the scrolling tabs
— Previous Page and Next Page — to move backward and
forward through the list of values). The selected customer’s
number will automatically be inserted into the Number column
and the Search window will close.

Searches using the Search Only from Beginning of Item option are
conducted by consecutive initial characters. Thus, specifying “Com” will only
retrieve names that begin with “Com” (e.g., “Computer Heaven”). Searches that

[Link] LBI2000266 27 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

do not use this option will also retrieve names that contain "Com", such as
“NewsCom Services”. Searches that use the Ignore case option will also
retrieve names that contain "COM" or "com" (e.g., Telecom Ltd.).

Searching by number is very similar to the procedure described above. Click on

the criterion tab to select “By Number” and proceed to search for a customer by
number.

Use the “By Other Criterion” tab under special circumstances when an
additional search is possible. For instance, the E-mail Address column in the
Compose Mail form allows for a search by sender name (“By Name”) and by e-
mail address (“By Other Criterion”).

Some Search lists also allow you to select more than one list item
simultaneously (see Figure 17), in the same manner as in standard Windows
tools:
To select adjacent items:
 Click on the first item, hold down the Shift key and click on the last
item. The entire block of items from the first to the last will be
highlighted for selection. Press Enter.
To select several discrete items:
 Click on the first item, hold down the Ctrl key and click on each item
you want to select. Each item will remain highlighted for selection.
Press Enter.

Figure 17: Selecting multiple Search list items

Like the Choose list, the Search list you obtain is taken from a source form in
which the values have been predefined. If the source form happens to be
empty of values, you will automatically find yourself in the source form, where
you can add any records you need. You can also reach this form when you
want to add to or revise the values in an existing Search list, by pressing F6
from within the list. You can then copy a newly added value back into the
original form via the Copy Target Value utility (see below). Once there is even
one record in the source form, a Search list will appear.

[Link] LBI2000266 28 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Copy Target Value
When you open a Choose or Search list that is empty, you automatically access
the source form, in which the list values are actually defined and maintained.
When you first begin working with the system and have not recorded much
data, you will find the or button frequently activates a form. You can also
reach the source form manually — in order to revise and add to listed values —
by pressing F6 from within the Choose or Search list.

Once in the source form, you can enter a record (e.g., a new sales rep) and
then copy the relevant value (the rep number) back into the form column you
were originally working on.

This is achieved by means of the Copy Target Value feature. It is activated in

one of three ways:
 Click the Copy Target Value icon on the Toolbar.
 Press F8.
 Select the Copy Target Value command from the Edit menu.

Note: Ensure that the cursor is on the correct line before activating this feature.

If you wish to leave the source form without copying any value, simply exit the
form (e.g., press Esc).

Example:

You want to assign a shipping zone to the Just Testing customer and that
zone has not yet been defined in your company.

1. In the Customers form, retrieve all customers (click the Retrieve

All Records Toolbar icon) and scroll down (press PgDn
repeatedly) until you reach the line for the Just Testing customer.

2. In the Shipments tab, move to the Shipping Zone column. This

actually comprises two separate columns. Make sure the cursor is
on the leftmost one. (The title appearing in the Status Bar should
be “Zone Code”.)

3. Click on the button. A list of shipping zones will appear. As

the zone you want to assign does not appear on this list, you
need to activate the source form.

4. Press F6. The Shipping Zones form will open automatically.

5. Open a new line and add the zone you want to assign to the
customer in question (for example, Zone Code = N; Zone
Description = North).

[Link] LBI2000266 29 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 6. Without leaving the line, copy the target value (e.g., press F8).
The Shipping Zones form will close and the zone in question
will be inserted in the Customers form. From now on, that zone
will appear in the Choose list.

See also Direct Activations, p. 59.

Choosing a Date From a Calendar

One of the options you can use to specify a date is to choose it from a pop-up
calendar (see Figure 18 and Figure 19). This option is particularly useful when
you wish to record a date in the future and need to know the day of the week on
which it falls.

There are two pop-up calendars, one of which features both the date and the time.

Figure 18: Pop-up calendar Figure 19: Pop-up calendar

with time

Note: In different Windows versions, the calendar looks and functions slightly
differently.

To use the pop-up calendar:

1. From an updateable Date-type column, do one of the following:

 Click on the button.
 Press F6.
 If the column is currently empty, press the Space bar.

2. The calendar displays the current date by default.

3. To change the month, do one of the following:

 Click the name of the month and select a month from the Choose list.
 Click the arrows to move between months.
 Press PgUp and PgDn to move between months.

4. To change the year, do one of the following:

[Link] LBI2000266 30 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

  Click the year and use the buttons to move between years.
 Click the year and use the up/down arrows () to move between
years.

5. To change the date, do one of the following:

 Click the desired date (this confirms the date and closes the calendar).
 Press the left/right arrows () to move between days and the
up/down arrows () to move between weeks.
Note: If you are using the date/time calendar, these arrows are used to
move between time values.

6. To confirm the chosen date, press Enter. To leave the calendar without
changing the date, pres Esc.

Note: Remember that the easiest way to select the current date in an empty
column is to press the + or – key on the number pad. If a date already appears,
these keys will move the date one day forward or backward, respectively.

To use the time feature:

1. Press any of the arrow keys to access the time slot.

2. To change the time, do one of the following:

 Use the left and right arrows to toggle between hour and minutes, or
click on the desired field.
 Click the time buttons to move forward and backward in time.
 Use the up/down arrows () or the + and – signs to move forward and
backward in time.

Copying From the Field Above

Sometimes, when adding new records or revising existing ones, you want a
given column to repeat the same value. If you are working in Multi-Record
Display Mode, you can simply copy a value from one row to the next.

To copy the value in a given field to the same field in the next record, move the
cursor directly below the value you wish to copy and do one of the following:
 Click the Copy Field icon on the Toolbar.
 Press F10.
 Select the Copy Field command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click the column in question and select Copy Field.
 Move the cursor to the column in question, press the Menu ( ) key and
select Copy Field.

[Link] LBI2000266 31 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: If you are in Full-Record Display Mode, this function will copy data from
the same column in the previous record (which is currently hidden).

Copying Field Values From a Buffer

The system provides a more sophisticated mechanism that allows you to store
the value in a given field into a buffer and then copy that value into another field
— even one in a different form.
Example:

You wish to open a new credit card account and change its currency from $
to EUR. To do so, take the following steps:

1. Use the Search for Entity feature (see p. 8) to find and open the
Currencies form.

2. Move the cursor to the field in which EUR appears (in the Curr column).

3. Press Ctrl+F9. A small Copy window will pop up (see Figure 20).

4. Click OK or press Enter. The string “EUR” has been saved in a buffer.

5. Find and open the Credit Card Accounts form.

6. Type a fictitious value in the Account Code and Credit Card

Company columns (if necessary, open a new line). Note that the
latter column expands as you type in it. Also note that the Curr
column is automatically filled in with the $.

7. Move to the Curr column and backspace to delete the dollar sign.

8. Press F9. A Paste window will pop up. Press Enter or click the
OK button to copy the EUR value from the buffer into this field.

9. Press Esc to leave the Credit Card Accounts form (if you have
trouble leaving the form, see p. 38).

Figure 20: A Copy window pops up

The above example used the unnumbered default buffer. You can, however,
store a series of values in several different buffers, each identified by a unique
number. So, you can store the value EUR in buffer 1, the value GBP in buffer 2
and so on.

[Link] LBI2000266 32 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

You indicate the number of the buffer that you wish to use in the Copy and
Paste windows (before pressing Enter or clicking OK).

In summary, take the following steps to copy field values:

1. Place the cursor on the field you wish to copy, and do one of the
following:
 Press Ctrl+F9.
 Select the Store into Buffer command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click and select Store into Buffer.
 Press the Menu ( ) key and select Store into Buffer.

2. A small Copy window will pop up. Designate the number of the buffer
you wish to use. If you do not specify a number, the default buffer (0) will
be used. If you do designate a number, the next consecutive number will
automatically appear the next time that the Copy window pops up. You
may use the buffer number that appears automatically, or you can erase
it and type in another number. The system contains 100 of these buffers,
which can be numbered from 0 to 99.

3. Move to the field in which you wish to paste the stored value, and do one
of the following:
 Press F9.
 Select the Retrieve from Buffer command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click and select Retrieve from Buffer.
 Press the Menu ( ) key and select Retrieve from Buffer.

4. A Paste window will pop up. Specify the number of the buffer that holds
the value you wish to copy. If you do not specify a number, the default
buffer (0) will be used. If you do designate a number, the next
consecutive number will automatically appear the next time that the
Paste window pops up. You may use the buffer number that appears
automatically, or you can erase it and type in another number.

Copying a Record Link

Priority enables you to include links to specific form records in a text form or
external document (e.g., an Outlook message or Word document). The link is
copied into the Windows clipboard and can then be pasted where desired.

To copy a record link:

1. Retrieve the record in question and do one of the following:

 Select the Copy Record Link command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click the column in question and select Copy Record Link.

[Link] LBI2000266 33 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

  Move the cursor to the column in question, press the Menu ( ) key
and select Copy Record Link.
 Click the Copy Record Link icon on the Toolbar.

2. To paste a record link that has been copied, move the cursor to the
proper place in a Priority text form or external document and press
Ctrl+V.

Copying an External Record Link

If you work with the Priority Lite interface, you may also want to include
external record links in text forms and external documents (e.g., Outlook
messages). Such links can be accessed by users who can log in on the Internet
to view certain types of records (e.g., FAQs or service calls) using the Priority
Lite interface, even if they are not authorized to log in to the system.

To copy an external record link:

1. Retrieve the record in question and do one of the following:

 Select the Copy External Record Link command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click any column in the record and select Copy External Record
Link.
 Press the Menu ( ) key and select Copy External Record Link.

2. To paste a record link that has been copied, move the cursor to the
proper place in a Priority text form or external document and press
Ctrl+V.

Importing Files to a Form Record

Several system forms allow you to attach a file to a form record, for example,
Customer Documents for Task, a sub-level of the Tasks form. In order to
allow other users in the system to access a file that is stored on your hard disk,
use the Import function to copy the file onto the Priority server, in the
..\..\system\mail directory.

To do so, do one of the following:

 Right-click the relevant column icon (e.g., a folder or a paper clip )
and select Import from the pop-up menu (see Figure 21).
 Press Ctrl+Alt+I.

Tip: You can attach several files simultaneously by holding down the Ctrl key
and right-clicking on each item you want to attach.

[Link] LBI2000266 34 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 21: Importing a file to a form

In a similar fashion, you can copy a file from the Windows Explorer or from an
MS-Outlook attachment (e.g., by Ctrl+C), and paste it into an attachment
column, at the same time importing it into the ..\..\system\mail directory. To do
so, right-click the relevant column icon and select Paste and Import from the
pop-up menu.

Notes:
 The above instructions also apply when attaching images to a form record
(e.g., in the Part Catalogue; see Figure 22).
 If the file is stored on a network, you can use the Browse function to copy a
shortcut pointing to this file into the relevant column. Such a shortcut enables
all users who have permission to access the relevant network drive to open
the file directly from the form record in question.

Figure 22: Importing an image to a form record

Attachment forms also contain a File Status column, allowing you to update the
attachment's status to Read Only. This is useful when you are working with the
attached file and you do not want other users to view and/or modify the file at
the same time. Make sure to return the file's status to Free when you are done
working with it.

Copying a Document Link

You can also include links to any documents or files that have been attached to
form records in a text form or external document (e.g., an Outlook message or
Word document). The link is copied from an attachment column into the
Windows clipboard and can then be pasted where desired.

[Link] LBI2000266 35 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

1. To copy a document link, right-click the relevant column icon and select
Copy Document Link.

2. To paste a document link that has been copied, move the cursor to the
proper place in a Priority text form or external document and press
Ctrl+V.

Removing Attachments
To remove an attachment from a form record, right-click the relevant column
icon and select Clear. The file will be removed from this record, but will not be
deleted from the Priority server.

Tracking Documents
You can track certain documents in Priority. While you are tracking a
document, every time it undergoes certain changes, you will receive notification
by e-mail. Additionally, you may retrieve the document in question in the
Tracking List form.

To start tracking a particular document, do one of the following:

 Right-click anywhere in the form in question, and select Track
Document.
 Open the Mail menu, and select Track Document.

To stop tracking the document, select Stop Tracking after right-clicking

anywhere in the form, or from the Mail menu.

Note: if the FOLOWAUTO system constant is set to 1, documents will

automatically be tracked by their assigned user.

Fixing Mistakes
Errors and Warnings
Warning messages appear whenever you make a minor error in form entry or
revision. In such a situation, you are warned about the consequences of that
error, but are nevertheless allowed to continue. In contrast, when there has
been a major error, you receive an error message and must make the
necessary corrections in order to continue.

Before you can do anything, you must confirm receipt of the message:
 In the case of an error message, click OK or press Enter.
 In the case of a warning message, you may either cancel your last move
or continue:
 To cancel, press Esc or click on the Cancel button.

[Link] LBI2000266 36 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

  To continue, press Enter or click on the OK button.

Note: Sometimes the message refers you to another form, a program or a

report that can help you. You can access this entity by clicking on its name in
the message.

Undo
Often the best way to correct an error is to undo previous actions.

To undo the actions you have performed within a specific field, do one of the
following:
 Click the Undo icon on the Toolbar.
 Press Ctrl+Z.
 Select the Undo command from the Edit menu.

To undo modifications in several fields in the same record, repeat any of the
above actions a second time.

Note: You cannot undo actions once you have left the record (e.g., exited the
line, moved to Query mode). In such a case, you will have to retrieve the record
and revise it manually.

Clearing the Line

Sometimes you may find yourself unable to leave the record because of an
error message. This could occur when you open a new record and then change
your mind (e.g., because you don’t yet have all the mandatory data that you
need to complete the record). Or it may happen when you are trying to update a
record and have deleted necessary data or inputted an unacceptable value.

Whenever you find yourself in such a situation, the first step to take is to try to
undo your latest changes, as outlined above. If that does not help, you should
clear the line. If this is a new, incomplete record, clearing the line will erase it
altogether. In the case of an existing record, this action will cancel all
modifications you have made and “hide” the record from the form.

To clear the line, take one of the following actions:

 Click the Clear Line icon on the Toolbar.
 Press F7.
 Select the Clear Line command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click a column and select Clear Line.
 Press the Menu ( ) key and select Clear Line.

[Link] LBI2000266 37 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

If you have been working on a new record, you should now begin again. If you
have been revising an existing record, retrieve it and make your revisions again.

Note: If you succeeded in leaving the line, the record was modified and clearing
the line will not return it to its original state. You will have to make any further
revisions manually.

Deleting a Record
To delete an unwanted record from the database, position the cursor on that
record and do one of the following:
 Click the Delete Record icon on the Toolbar.
 Press Ctrl+Del (or Ctrl+Delete).
 Select the Delete Record command from the Database menu.
 Right-click a column and select Delete Record.
 Press the Menu ( ) key and select Delete Record.

In all cases, a window will pop-up requiring you to confirm the deletion. Click
Yes or press the left arrow key, followed by Enter.

Note: Not all records can be deleted in this way. For example, you must run a
special program to delete a part. Moreover, you cannot delete a record that is
being used elsewhere in the system. For instance, you cannot delete a price
quotation once an order has been based on it.

Troubleshooting
The following offers concrete suggestions for dealing with problems you might
encounter in a form.

IF… THEN…

You are unable to leave the line or Confirm the error message.
form because you have filled in
erroneous information (e.g., when Try to undo your last action (press
recording an order, you specify a Ctrl+Z). Press it again to undo
customer that does not exist in the more actions, if necessary.
database).

You are unable to leave the line or 1. Confirm the error message.
form because mandatory data is
missing. Fill in the missing information, if
you have it. If you do not,
clear the line (press F7). In

[Link] LBI2000266 38 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 IF… THEN…
the latter case, the database
will not be updated.

You have added a new record and The database is updated whenever
don’t know how to confirm the you leave the line. This can be done
update. in a variety of ways:
 Move the cursor to any other
line in the form.
 Move to Query mode (press
F11).
 Exit the form (press Esc).
 Enter a sub-level form (press
F12).

You are in Full-Record Display Mode Press PgDn.

and have added a new record. You
now want to add another record, but
don’t know how to reach the next
line.

You are in Full-Record Display Mode It hasn’t disappeared; it’s merely

and the record you have added hiding. Press F4 to move to multi-
seems to have disappeared. record display mode.

Or stay in Full-Record Display Mode

and press PgUp to scroll through
previous records.

You are unable to add data to the You may be in a query form —check
form. if “Query” appears at the end of the
form title. If so, you can only use this
form to view records.

Or you may be in Query mode (used

to retrieve records) — check if
“Query” appears on the Status Bar at
the bottom of your screen. To return
to Data Entry mode, press Enter.

Data Retrieval (Queries)

Up till now, you have practiced entering new records into the database. The
current section explains how to retrieve existing records so that you can view
and/or revise them.

[Link] LBI2000266 39 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

As you’ve already seen, the easiest way to access existing data is to retrieve all
records. To do so, simply click the Retrieve All Records icon on the
Toolbar.

This method, however, is apt to be unnecessarily time-consuming once you

have a great many records in a given form. In that case, it is advisable to narrow
down the retrieval procedure, based on query conditions (also known as
retrieval criteria).

Priority provides a variety of techniques for retrieving selected data in the

system’s forms. By switching from Data Entry mode into Query mode, you can
define any combination of query conditions by which the desired data is
retrieved when the query is executed.

Alternatively, you can run the Query Generator, which features a friendly
interface for defining query conditions, setting data-sorting parameters,
executing queries and storing frequently-used queries for easy access.

The following section will describe the basic usage of both the Query mode and
the Query Generator. More sophisticated query tools are described under
Advanced Data Retrieval and Input (p. 131).

Working in Query Mode

In order to work with query conditions, you must move from Data Entry to Query
mode. To do so, simply perform one of the following actions:
 Press F11 or Ctrl+R.
 Click the Query icon on the Toolbar.
 Select the Query command from the Database menu.

If you are working in Multi-Record Display Mode, your cursor will be in the
second row of the form, and all the other rows will be blank. In both cases, the
background color of the column you are in will turn from blue to green and the
word “Query” will appear in the Status Bar, in the third column from the right.

To exit Query mode without retrieving any data, simply press Enter.

Note: Query conditions are always designated in the second row of a multi-
record form; the first row is reserved for operators (see p. 134).

Designating the Query Conditions

The simplest type of query is one in which you seek to retrieve all records that
contain any value in one or more specific columns. For this you can use the
asterisk (*) symbol, known as a wildcard, because it represents an unknown
quantity of records.

To retrieve all records that contain a value in one or more specific columns:

[Link] LBI2000266 40 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

1. Move to the desired column and type in an asterisk.
2. Repeat the process for additional columns, if necessary.

A narrower type of query is one in which you seek to retrieve all records that
contain a particular value in one or more specific columns.

To retrieve all records that contain a given value in one or more specific columns:

1. Move to the desired column.

2. Specify the desired value, either manually, by Choose list or by Search list.
3. Repeat the process for additional columns, if necessary.

The third type of query is one in which you seek to retrieve all records whose
values in a given column satisfy a certain condition.

This is where the asterisk wildcard is most useful, because it can be used in
conjunction with a string of characters, such as a prefix or suffix. For example, if
you type 50* in the Part Number column of the Part Catalogue, you will
retrieve all parts whose numbers begin with 50 (e.g., 501-101, 501-102). Note
that this kind of query condition is always case sensitive.

Note: If you want to record a query condition with a string that includes an
asterisk (*) as an actual character, use the backslash “\” as a delimiter. For
example, to retrieve all records that contain an asterisk, type *\**. For more
details, see p. 133.

Executing the Query

To execute a query, do one of the following:
 Press Enter.
 Click the Execute Query icon on the Toolbar.
 Select the Execute Query command from the Database menu.

Following execution of the query, the retrieved records will be displayed on

screen and you will move automatically from Query mode back to Data Entry
mode. It is now possible to update any displayed records.

Note: If you are working in Full-Record Display Mode, you will only see the first
of the retrieved records. Use the PgDn key or the vertical scroll arrow to view
the rest of the retrieved records.

[Link] LBI2000266 41 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Examples:

In the Currency form, move to the Currency Name column and try out the
following conditions (remember to enter Query mode):

1. Type P*. You will retrieve those records whose currency name
begins with the letter “P” (Pounds Sterling, Price Index).
2. Type I*s. You will retrieve any currency whose name begins with
“I” and ends with “s” (e.g., Italian Liras).
3. Type *n. Any currency whose name ends with the letter “n” will
appear (e.g., Yen).
4. Type D*M*s. This will retrieve any currency that begins with “D”,
ends in “s” and has an “M” in the middle (Deutsche Marks).
5. Type *Francs. You will retrieve the records for Belgian Francs,
French Francs and Swiss Francs.

Whereas the asterisk replaces an entire string of characters, the question mark
is a wildcard that replaces a single character. It is generally used in conjunction
with one or more characters and may even be combined with the asterisk.

Examples:

1. Type Y?? in the Currency Name column. You will retrieve any
currency that is three characters long and begins with “Y” (i.e., Yen).

2. Type D?ll?r?. You will retrieve the record for Dollars.

3. Type *i?g. This will retrieve any currency whose name begins
with any string of characters, followed by an “i”, followed by any
single character, and ending in “g” (i.e., Pounds Sterling).

Sorting Retrieved Records

The records that are retrieved in a form are sorted by one or more columns,
determined by the designer of the form. This is the default sort. You can,
however, re-sort records after they have been retrieved.

Clicking once on the top of any column (in the gray column title bar) gives you
an ascending sort; click again and the data will be sorted in descending order. A
further click repeats the ascending sort. Two small triangles appear to the left of
the column title when you perform a sort – if the sort is ascending, the upper
triangle is filled in and the lower one is hollow; if descending, the opposite
obtains.

You can also generate an ascending sort by right-clicking a column (or pressing
the Menu key) and selecting Sort from the pop-up menu; select it a second
time to obtain a descending sort.

[Link] LBI2000266 42 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: User sorts are always temporary and apply only to the specific query; sort
conditions always return to the default each time you execute a new query.

Example:

1. Retrieve all records in the Currencies form (click ).

2. You will notice that the default sort order in the Currencies form is
ascending according to the Position column; i.e., local currency,
which is assigned position 1, appears in the first form row, the
second currency (assigned position 2) is displayed in the second
form row, and so forth.
3. Click on the Currency Name column heading. Records will be
re-sorted alphabetically by name.

You can experiment with the effects of sorting by clicking and re-clicking on
the different columns in the form.

Note: The generator allows you to set sorting parameters together with the query
conditions, in advance of the query’s execution (see next section). To learn more
sophisticated sort methods, see Advanced Data Retrieval and Input (p. 131).

The Query Generator

The Query Generator (Figure 23) is a powerful tool that allows you to compose,
store and reuse queries directed at the specific form in which you open it. To
enter, do one of the following from within a form:
 Click the Query Generator icon on the form’s Toolbar.
 Press Shift+F11.
 Select Query Generator in the Design menu on the form’s Menu Bar.

[Link] LBI2000266 43 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 23: The Query Generator run from the Currencies form
The first column of the generator lists the titles of all of the fields in the upper-level
form (in Full-Record Display Mode, these are organized according to their tabs).
The second column is for operators (e.g. >, <), which can be used in
conjunction with data in the Value column to define the query conditions. For
example, =>1 in the Exchange Rate column indicates a query for all currencies
with an exchange rate equal or higher than 1.00. If you use an equal sign (=)
without specifying a value, you will retrieve all records that have no value in that
column.

Alternatively, you can use the Value and To Value columns to define the query
conditions as a closed range of values. For example, 1 to 2 indicates a query for
all currencies whose exchange rates fall between 1.00 and 2.00.

To retrieve all records that have been flagged in a particular check box, flag the
box that appears in the Value column of the appropriate line. To retrieve all
records that have not been flagged in that check box, select an equal sign (=) in
the operator column (without flagging the box).

The Sort column is where you can prioritize your query results on multiple
levels. The little check box within the Sort column is used to define whether a
particular sort is in ascending or descending order. For example, a 1 next to
an upward-pointing arrow in the Currency Name line indicates that the
retrieved currencies should be listed by name in alphabetical order. If you add a
2 next to a downward-pointing arrow in the Exchange Rate line, it means that
any currencies in the alphabetized list that have the same name should be
listed in order of the highest exchange rate.

Example:

1. Enter the Currencies form and open the Query Generator.

2. In the Currency Name line, type an asterisk in the Value column

and click the Sort column.

[Link] LBI2000266 44 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 3. In the Exchange Rate line, type “2” in the Value column and “3” in
the To Value column.

4. Click OK to run the query (see Figure 24).

The resulting query could be written, “Retrieve all currencies with an exchange
rate between 2.00 and 3.00 and sort the results alphabetically by name”.

You can also flag the Ignore Case option at the bottom of the generator so that
the search is not case-sensitive.

The Add button at the bottom of the generator allows you to run a new query that
adds to the data retrieved in the previous query, without overwriting it. The Clear
button at the bottom of the generator clears the Query Generator interface so you
can compose a new query.

Figure 24: The example query

There are two methods of choosing a date value as a query condition:

 Left-click the calendar icon to choose from a list of relative dates (e.g.,
tomorrow, week end, month start). This is particularly useful when
creating a query that you intend to save and use again.

 Right-click the icon to open the usual calendar.

Example:

1. Enter the Currencies form and open the Query Generator.

[Link] LBI2000266 45 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 2. In the Exchange Rate Date line, select the “Greater than or
equal to” operator (>=), click the calendar icon in the Value
column and select “Week Start”.

3. Click OK to run the query.

The resulting query could be written, “Retrieve all currencies whose exchange
rates were updated since the beginning of this week”.

Saving Queries for Repeated Use

When you open the Query Generator, no parameters are displayed. To
automatically reuse the last query made to this form, click the Prev button in the
Last Queries section at the bottom of the generator (or press Shift+). To
reuse the query made before that, click Prev again. To return from the next-to-
last query to the last query, click the Next button (or press Shift+). The
generator automatically saves the last five queries.

In addition, you can save up to nineteen queries of your own choosing for easy
retrieval. To do so, define the query, record a name for it in the Queries field at
the bottom of the generator and click Save, before running the query. To call up
the query, click on the drop-down button to the right of the Queries field and
choose the query you just defined. You can even run the query from the form
itself, without even entering the Query Generator. Simply choose the desired
query from the drop-down list to the left of the Apply Query icon on the
form’s Toolbar. To rerun the selected query, click Apply Query .

For additional query design options, click the Design button at the bottom of the
generator. Use the up and down arrows to the right of the screen to arrange the
saved queries in the desired order. You can also right-click any query to rename
or delete queries that you do not need.

Notes:
 If you save a query under a name that has already been used for another
query, a message will appear requesting permission to overwrite the old one.
 If the Ignore Case option is flagged, this is saved as part of the query.
 You can also execute any of the first nine saved queries from a given form by
pressing Ctrl+ plus the number assigned to the query in the Query Design
screen (for example, if the desired query is assigned the number 3, press
Ctrl+3).
 While your saved queries do not affect other system users, your system
manager can run a program that copies saved queries from one user to
another.

The Default Query

You can choose one query that you always use with a particular form to be the
default query. After saving the query as usual and assigning it any of the first

[Link] LBI2000266 46 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

nine positions within the list of saved queries, click the Design button at the
bottom of the generator, right-click the query in question and select Set as
Default Query. The number to the left of the query will appear in red, indicating
that it has been set as the default. The default query executes automatically
every time you open the form. If you are in Data Entry mode and you want to
execute the query again, you can do so either by pressing Ctrl+0 or by clicking
the Execute Query icon on the form’s Toolbar, without entering Query mode
or the Query Generator. You can also execute it from the Query Generator by
choosing it from the drop-down list in the Queries section and clicking OK.

Notes:
 To delete the default query, open the Query Generator, click the Design
button, right-click the query, clear the check mark that appears by the words
Set as Default Query and, finally, click OK.
 If you assign the default query a position between 10 and 19 within the list of
saved queries, it will cease to function as the default query.

Example:
1. Open the Query Generator from the Customers form.
2. In the Name line, specify an asterisk (*) in the Value column.
3. In the same line, click the Sort column.
4. Move to the bottom of the Query Generator, record a name for the
query in the Queries field at the bottom of the generator and click
Save.
5. Click the Design button, right-click the query you just defined and
select Set as Default Query. Click OK to save your selection.
6. Click OK to run the query. This query simply retrieves all
customers and lists them alphabetically by name. The next time
you open the Customers form, the default query will run
automatically. That is, the form will fill up with all customers, in
alphabetical order.

Searching for a Specific Record

Once you have retrieved a number of records, you may want to perform a
search in order to locate a specific one. A search is carried out in a particular
column. The first time that you execute a search, you have to define a search
pattern (one or more characters). The Search box will display the first record
that matches the designated pattern.

To do so, perform one of the following:

 Click the Search icon on the Toolbar.
 Press Ctrl+F3.

[Link] LBI2000266 47 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Select the Search command from the Navigation menu.

A Search window appears, in which you specify the pattern (see Figure 25). If
you want the search to be case sensitive, remove the check mark from the
Ignore Case box. Finally, execute the search by clicking OK or pressing Enter.

Figure 25: Example of a Search window

Example:

1. Retrieve all records in the Currencies form (click ).

2. Move to the Currency Name column.

3. Use one of the above options (e.g., Ctrl+F3) to access the Search
window.

4. Inside the window, type “x” and check the Ignore Case box.

5. Execute the search.

The cursor will automatically jump to the record for Price Index.

Now, perform the same steps, but type “D” instead of “x”. The cursor will
jump to the next currency whose name begins with a “D” (e.g., Dollars).

Once a search pattern has been defined, you can use the Search Again feature.
This repeats a search utilizing the last defined search pattern. To do so, perform
one of the following:
 Click the Search Again icon on the Toolbar.
 Press F3.
 Select the Search Again command from the Navigation menu.

Example:

Search for the next currency with “D” in its name, using one of the
Search Again options (e.g., F3). This search may lead you to
Deutsche Marks.

The initial search (when the pattern is first defined) is limited to the column in
which the cursor rests, scrolling from top to bottom and back to the top. As
movement is circular, the procedure will move you to the first matching field in
the form if there is no matching field below the cursor.

[Link] LBI2000266 48 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

When you repeat a search (using the Search Again feature), it is always
performed in the same column in which the search pattern was originally defined,
regardless of where the cursor now rests. The cursor, however, will not necessarily
move to the matching field. Rather, it will jump to the next matching record,
remaining in the column in which it rested before the search was executed.

Hiding Retrieved Records

Occasionally, after retrieving a number of records, you may prefer to view only
some of them. You may “hide” certain records so that they are not displayed on
the screen, although they continue to exist in the database (that is, the records
are not deleted).

Records are hidden by clearing the line. There are four ways to do so:
 Click the Clear Line icon on the Toolbar.
 Press F7.
 Select the Clear Line command from the Edit menu.
 Right-click any field in the line and select Clear Line.
 Press the Menu ( ) key and select Clear Line.

To view hidden records again, simply retrieve them anew.

Problems Retrieving Records

You may sometimes find yourself in a situation in which you are trying to retrieve
a record, yet fail to do so. The reason for this is generally because you forgot to
enter Query mode; remember, when you first enter a form, you are by default in
Data Entry mode. First undo your actions (see p. 37). Then simply move to Query
mode (e.g., press F11), enter the data again and execute the query.

Query Forms
The system contains special forms intended for record retrieval only. You
cannot update or delete records in these forms, nor can you use them to add
new records to the database. You can only view existing records. Such forms
are identified by the word “Query,” appearing immediately after the form title. If
you accidentally attempt to make revisions in this type of form, you will receive
an error message stating, “This is a query form.”

Activating Forms Within Forms

This feature is an efficient way to move from one form to another related one,
bypassing the menus. It allows you to view pertinent information in the target
form without ever leaving the original form. In fact, once you arrive at the target
form, you can add new records or revise existing ones and then copy the value
in question back to the original form.

Not all columns support this feature, only those that display a magnifying glass
button to the right of the column.

[Link] LBI2000266 49 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

To activate the target form, do one of the following:
 Click the button.
 Press F6.
 In an empty column, press the Space bar.

Example:

1. Find and enter the Audit Trail form.

2. Enter the Query Generator and type “Sales*” in the Value column
of the Inv. Transaction line.

3. Click OK. All transactions beginning with the word “Sales” will be
retrieved. Your cursor should be on a line for a Sales Invoice.

4. Move to the next column (Doc/Invoice Number) and click the

activation button. You will now find yourself in the Sales
Invoices form, in the original record of the transaction.

5. To return to the Audit Trail form, exit the target form (press Esc).

Note: It does not matter whether you are in Query or Data Entry mode when
you activate a form. You will return to whatever mode you were in.

You may have noticed that the same function key (F6) sometimes opens a
Choose list, sometimes opens a Search list and sometimes activates a form.

The primary distinction between these features is that Choose and Search lists
are used in data entry, whereas form activation is used mainly to view related
data. However, there are circumstances in which this feature is used in data
entry — when the Choose or Search list is empty of values. As we have
already seen, when a Choose or Search list is found to be empty, pressing F6
will activate the target form, in which you can add records. You can then copy
the newly added value from the target form back into the original form using the
Copy Target Value feature (for details, see Copy Target Value, p. 29). In fact,
you can activate a target form even when there are values in a given Choose or
Search list, simply by pressing F6 (a second time) from within the list.

Note: An alternate method of adding records to a target form is via direct

activation (see p. 59).

Summed Values
Priority provides a special data retrieval function in form columns that list
numerical values (e.g., Actual Cost). To calculate the sum of all values in a
given number column, move to Multi-Record Display mode (e.g., by pressing
F4) and right-click the column title. To sum up a portion of the column, move the
cursor to the desired number column and press Ctrl+F8. The system calculates
the sum of all values in that column, from the top of the form to the line in which
[Link] LBI2000266 50 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20
the cursor is placed. In either case, the calculated sum is displayed in a small
pop-up window.

You can then copy the value from the pop-up window (e.g., by Ctrl+C), and
paste it into a different column, text form or external document.

Note: In order to sum up values in a column, you must be authorized to

Download Form Data (in the Permissions tab of the User Permissions form).

Online Features
 The E-mail Address column found in many forms features an E-mail
button that opens the Compose Mail form with the address filled in.

 The Web Site column features a Browser button that automatically

opens Internet Explorer to the given URL.

Updating Data
Once you have retrieved existing data, you may wish to revise it. You already
know various methods to do this:
 Select a (different) value from a Choose or Search list (p. 24).
 Copy and paste from a Windows clipboard (p. 24).
 Copy the value from the previous line in the form (p. 31).
 Copy the value from a buffer (p. 31).

The following provides some additional tips for updating data.

Scroll vs Edit Mode

When you are recording new records or viewing retrieved ones, you want to
move rapidly through the various fields. But when you are revising an existing
record, you often need to be able to move within the field. For instance, if you
have recorded an erroneous part number 165543 and want to correct that to
195543, you would like the ability to move to the left, past the correct digits, to
the erroneous “6”.

You can choose between rapid movement between columns (scrolling) and
movement within a given field (editing) with the press of a button. You simply
toggle between Scroll and Edit modes.

When in Scroll mode, the left and right arrow keys  move the cursor from
one column to the next. When in Edit mode, the same keys move the cursor
from one character to the next, within a given field.

In both modes, you can move to the next column by using the Tab key (or Enter
key) and move to the previous column by pressing Shift+Tab.

To toggle between Scroll and Edit modes, employ one of the following methods:

[Link] LBI2000266 51 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Press F2.
 Select the Scroll/Edit command from the Edit menu.

You can view the mode that you are currently in via the Status Bar located at
the bottom of the screen (the fourth column from the right).

Note: You are automatically in Scroll mode whenever you enter a form.

Sub-level Forms
The forms in which you have worked until now were all upper-level forms (or
root forms) entered directly from the menu. Most root forms have at least one
sub-level form connected to them. Sub-level forms provide further information
on a given record in the upper-level form. For each single record in the upper-
level form, multiple records may appear in the sub-level. The line in the upper-
level form must have data in it.

Example:

As soon as you open the Currencies form, its sub-level form, Past
Exchange Rates (a query form), is visible directly below it.

Entering the Default Sub-level Form

The default sub-level form is highlighted in the Sub-level Bar. It changes
dynamically whenever you select a different sub-level form. To move into the
default sub-level form, first make sure a record has been retrieved in the upper-
level form and then do one of the following:
 Click on any row in the sub-level form.
 Press F12.
 Click on the highlighted sub-level tab.
 Select the Default Sub-level command from the Navigation menu.

You can view all records connected to the record that is highlighted in the
upper-level form. Note that you are in Data Entry mode, enabling you to add
new records and/or revise existing ones in the sub-level.

Notes:
 To enter the sub-level form in Query mode, press Ctrl+F12.
 You can hide the form’s Sub-level Bar by removing the check mark from the
Sub-level Bar item in the Bars sub-menu of the View menu.

[Link] LBI2000266 52 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Returning to the Upper-level Form
To return to the upper-level form from a sub-level, do one of the following:
 Click anywhere in the upper-level form, using the left mouse button.
 Press Esc.
 Select the Up Level command from the Navigation menu.
 Click on the X in the upper right-hand corner of the sub-level form (be
careful not to click on the X of the upper-level form).

Choosing a Different Sub-level

Most upper-level forms have several sub-level forms connected to them. In fact,
you can see a list of all available sub-levels for any given form by looking at the
Sub-level Bar. This bar is located directly below the form.

Example:

The first thing that you will note upon retrieving records in the Customers form
is that the Customer Contacts sub-level form has been opened automatically.

A look at the Sub-level Bar (see Figure 26) indicates that there are several
other sub-levels available as well. In fact, the list is so long that it does not
fit in its entirety on the screen. Scroll arrows are provided at the right end of
the bar, enabling you to reach additional sub-levels.

Sub-level Bar

Figure 26: Sub-level Bar

For any given upper-level form, only one sub-level form can be displayed at a
time. Initially, this is the first one in the list.

To choose a different sub-level form, do one of the following:

 In the Sub-level Bar, click on the title of the desired sub-level form.
 Press F5.
 Press Shift+F5 to enter in Query mode.
 Select the Sub-levels command from the Navigation menu.

In the latter three cases, a window will pop up displaying a list of all available
sub-levels (its contents will be identical to the Sub-level Bar).

[Link] LBI2000266 53 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

You can move between sub-level forms without going back to the upper-level
form; either click on the desired sub-level title on the Sub-level Bar, or press Alt
 and Alt  to move from one sub-level form to another.

Once you choose a different sub-level form, it temporarily becomes the default
— until you exit the root form. It will be highlighted in the Sub-level Bar. As the
default sub-level, it can now be accessed again, for instance, by pressing F12.

The Navigation Bar

In addition to the Sub-level Bar, you have the Navigation Bar directly above the
form window (see Figure 27). This bar maintains a linked history of the form
levels you went through in order to reach the current form.

Navigation Bar

Figure 27: Navigation Bar

Example:

1. From the Customers form, enter the Customer Contacts sub-

level form.

2. Select a key person in the Name column.

3. Enter the Address sub-level of the Customer Contacts form. If

you look up at the Navigation Bar, you will see the titles, in blue, of
all the forms that led to the current one, with the current form title
appearing in black.

4. Click the word Customers on the Navigation Bar. You will return
immediately to the Customers form.

5. Now enter the Family Discount sub-level form and put your
cursor in the Family column. Press F6 twice; the Part Families
form will open. The Navigation Bar displays a solid arrowhead for
every entity opened by pressing F6 (for details, see p. 49) or by
Direct Activation (for details, see p. 59).

[Link] LBI2000266 54 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

The Navigation Bar can be toggled on and off in the Bars item of the View
menu in the form’s Menu Bar.

Active and Passive Modes

When you are in Data Entry mode, any upper-level form can be either Active or
Passive.

You are in Active mode when you are working in an existing record (e.g.,
revising data, moving from one column to another). In this case the field in
which the cursor rests is highlighted in yellow.

You are in Passive mode when you are scrolling through records, moving from
one row to another. In this case the field in which the cursor rests is highlighted
in blue.

The active or passive state of a given upper-level form affects the display of
records in its sub-level.

This is best illustrated via a concrete example.

Example:

1. Enter the Customers form and retrieve all customer records,

then switch to Multi-Record Display Mode.

2. Move from one form column to another in the same line (e.g.,
from Customer No. to Customer Name). Note that as you reach
a column that is either updateable or mandatory it is highlighted
in yellow, whereas read-only columns continue to appear in gray.

3. Now move down a line. As soon as you do, you will note that the
field you just entered is highlighted light blue, and the sub-level
form no longer displays any data.

4. Remaining in the second line of the form, press any key (e.g., the
right arrow, the space bar); the field again appears highlighted in
yellow and the sub-level form, which was empty a moment ago,
now displays data for the second customer.

As you have seen, in Active mode, the sub-level form displays all records
connected to the highlighted record in the upper-level form.

In Passive mode, however, it is not possible to view the records in the sub-level.
This is meant to facilitate the scrolling from record to record in the upper-level
form. If records were displayed in the sub-level during scrolling, the movement
between records in the upper-level form would become slow and cumbersome.

In short, whenever you move to a different record in the upper-level form, you
automatically enter Passive mode. By pressing any key (except, of course, the
up and down arrows that move you between rows), you enter Active mode.

[Link] LBI2000266 55 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Sub-levels of the Sub-level Form
Any sub-level form can have sub-levels of its own. As we have already seen,
the Customer Contacts sub-level form has several sub-level forms, including
the Address form.

The sub-level of a sub-level functions just like any other sub-level.

Text Forms
There is a special type of sub-level form called a text form, which is frequently
identified by the word “Remarks” in the title. For instance, the Entry Journal
form, the various invoice forms, and the Compose Mail form (see p. 152) have
such sub-levels.

When in a text form, you access the Text Editor, which enables you to type a
long message using many standard text-editing tools. You can cut, copy and
paste text freely, add hyperlinks and change the fonts.

Alternatively, you can enter a text form in read-only mode. To do so, simply
perform one of the following actions in the upper-level form:
 If the text form is the default sub-level for this form, press Ctrl+F12.
 Press Shift+F5 and then select the sub-level in question.

Using the Text Editor

When using the Text Editor, it is recommended that you work with MS-Outlook
instead of MS-Outlook Express, so you will have HTML text capabilities in both
incoming and outgoing mail.

Figure 28: Using the Text Editor

Once you enter the text form (see Figure 28), you can:
 type freely (use Backspace and Delete keys as needed);

[Link] LBI2000266 56 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 scroll through the text using vertical and horizontal arrows, or move by
clicking the mouse (in a long text, use the scrollbar to the right to access
additional lines);
 highlight text (e.g., click and drag as you would in a word processor);
 cut or copy highlighted text and paste it elsewhere;
 undo the last action performed;
 change the font type, size, appearance and color;
 set text color;
 modify text alignment;
 add numbers and bullets to text;
 add additional graphic elements such as horizontal lines, images and links;
 perform a spell check;
 add a comment preceded by a dividing line, the date and time, and
followed by a greeting and user signature;
 manually save text without leaving the form.

Use the Toolbar buttons or their shortcut keys to perform the above functions.

Notes:
 Not all of the shortcuts use the standard Windows keys. Hold the
cursor over each Toolbar button to display its shortcut. Also see
Appendix G.
 The HTMLUPDATE system constant determines whether user comments
appear at the top or bottom of text forms throughout the system.
 The AUTOSAVETEXT system constant determines how frequently (in
minutes) text recorded in text forms is automatically saved, throughout the
system. After the third time the text is automatically saved, the text form is
closed automatically, enabling other users to access it.

Once you have finished composing/revising your text, leave the form as usual.

Note: The text form opens in read-only mode for documents that may no longer
be revised (e.g., those with Final status). Furthermore, you will not be able to
make any changes to the text if someone else is using the form or if their
computer crashed while the form was open. Contact your system manager if
this occurs.

[Link] LBI2000266 57 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Adding Pictures to a Text Form
You can add one or more pictures to a text form, using any type of image file
(e.g., .bmp, .jpg). To do so, place the cursor at the location in the text form
where you want to insert the picture and then perform one of the following:
 Click the Picture icon on the Text Editor Toolbar.
 Press Alt+P.

Click Browse to locate the desired picture and double-click the file. You can
also specify the desired alignment (e.g., baseline), border thickness and
spacing (see Figure 29). Finally, insert the picture by clicking OK or pressing
Enter.

Figure 29: Adding a picture

To resize the picture in the text form, click the inserted picture, and then drag
the sizing handles as needed.
You can also copy a picture from any Priority text form (e.g., by Ctrl+C), and
then paste it into a text form.

Note: It is recommended that you save the picture on a network drive or on the
Priority server to ensure that it can be viewed by all users.

Customizing User Comments

To customize your default comment format, select the User Signature command
from the File menu on the main Menu Bar. A parameter input screen pops up in
which to choose between a signature for documents or for text forms. Choose
the in Text Forms option.

A second parameter input screen appears, in which you can indicate which
elements you want to display, choose a font size, and compose a personal
greeting (see Figure 30).

User information (e.g., Position, E-mail) is taken from your personnel file. Your
Name is taken from the Full Name column of the Users form.

[Link] LBI2000266 58 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 30: Defining the default format

Direct Activations
Many forms offer direct activations of other forms, reports and programs. That
is, without ever leaving the form that you are working in, you can move to a
target form, print a report or run a program.

The Direct Activation feature is useful in a variety of situations. You can use it to:
 Print out an invoice immediately after recording it.
 Display a price quote on the screen before printing it.
 Convert a potential customer into a regular customer.
 Access the Chart of Accounts Receivable from the Customers form.

Viewing Available Direct Activations

Whenever you open a form, a Direct Activations Bar (Figure 31) appears
directly beneath the Toolbar (provided, of course, that the form in question
offers direct activations). With one exception (see Using Direct Activation, p.
61), this bar will include all forms, reports and programs that can be reached by
means of the Direct Activation feature.

[Link] LBI2000266 59 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Direct Activations
Bar

Figure 31: Direct Activations Bar in the Customers form

The icon preceding the title on each Direct Activations Bar tab identifies each
item’s entity type (i.e., form, report, program).

Example:

The Direct Activations Bar of the Customers form contains many items.

Some of the forms that can be opened using direct activation are:
 Financ. Parameters for Customers
 Chart of Accounts Receivable
 Tasks
 Projects

Some of the programs that can be executed using direct activation are:
 Convert Potential Cust to Cust
 Delete Potential Customer
 Print Customer’s Document Set

You will note that the list is so long that it does not fit in its entirety on the
screen. Scroll arrows are provided at the right end of the bar, enabling you
to reach additional direct activations.

How to Perform Direct Activations

While you can sometimes perform a direct activation from an empty form, it
makes more sense to first retrieve pertinent records. For instance, you
obviously can’t delete a potential customer unless your cursor is presently
situated on the record for the potential customer you wish to remove from your
database.

You can use the Direct Activation feature from any column of the form by
doing one of the following:
 In the Direct Activations Bar, click the title of the desired entity.
 Click the Direct Activations item on the Toolbar.

[Link] LBI2000266 60 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Press Ctrl+F5.
 Select the Direct Activations command from the Database menu.

In all but the first option, a window will pop up displaying a list of all available
direct activations.

When you reach a form by direct activation, you can retrieve, modify and/or add
records to that form. Alternatively, you can simply leave that form and return to
the one in which you were originally working (e.g., press Esc). Most importantly,
you can use the Copy Target Value feature (F8) to copy a column value from
the new form into the original one.

When you directly activate a report or program, input is usually taken from the
current form record (rather than from a parameter input screen). The cursor will
return to this same record after the report is printed out or the program is
completed. If the program has updated a value in the record, you will be able to
see the updated value (for example, if you have converted a potential customer
into a regular customer, you will see that a new customer number has been
assigned). For more on reports and programs, see p. 67.

Note: To select a printer when running a report by means of Direct Activation,

select the Print Setup command from the File menu. For details on the various
Print/Send options, see p. 85.

Using Direct Activation to Revise a List

When working with a Choose or Search list, you sometimes want to add more
items to the list or revise the ones that currently appear. To do so, you need to
access the form that serves as the source for the list. You have already
practiced pressing F6 to activate the target form. Now let’s try using direct
activation to accomplish the same goal.

Example:

You are recording a new customer and have decided to add a number of
new shipping zones at the same time.

1. In the Customers form, in the Shipments tab, move to the

Shipping Zone column. This actually consists of two separate
columns – make sure the cursor is in the left column (the title
appearing in the Status Bar should be “Zone Code”).

2. Press Ctrl+F5. A Direct Activations window will appear. Select

the Shipping Zones form.

3. Add several more shipping zones to the list. (These will be

deleted when you create and execute a macro in the next
section.)

[Link] LBI2000266 61 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

There are two differences between this type of direct activation and the ones
explained in a previous section:
 It can only be activated from the column with the Choose or Search list
(e.g., Shipping Zone).
 It does not appear on the Direct Activations Bar. Instead, it can be found
on the bottom of the pop-up Direct Activations menu.

Note: You can use Direct Activation in any column that supports the Form
Activation function (such as the Audit Trail, see p. 29).

Creating and Using Macros

You will occasionally need to perform a sequence of several actions (mouse
clicking, keystrokes) in order to carry out a particular operation. When a set of
actions is used frequently, you can define a macro that will perform them
automatically.

Defining a Macro
To define a macro, carry out the following steps:

1. Select the Start Definition command from the Macros menu.

2. A dialogue box will pop up in which you are asked to assign a name to
the macro (see Figure 32). This name will later be used to call up the
macro, so try to make it as intuitive as possible. (If you specify a name
that you have already assigned to an existing macro, you will receive a
warning message that the original macro will be overwritten.)

3. After naming the macro, perform the actions to be included in their

normal sequence. This can include any keystrokes and mouse actions
that you desire.

4. Once you have finished the entire sequence of actions, select the End
Definition command from the Macros menu.

Figure 32: The Name Macro pop-up window

Example:

You will now create a macro that deletes records.

[Link] LBI2000266 62 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 One way to delete a record is to press Ctrl+Delete, then press the left
arrow (to highlight the Yes button in the pop-up window), and finally press
Enter.

To define a macro that will perform these three actions, proceed as follows:

1. From the Customers form, enter the Shipping Zones form via
direct activation.

2. Situate your cursor on a zone that has not been assigned to a

customer (e.g., one you added in the section about revising lists
via direct activation).
Note: The record will be deleted, and you will not be able to
recover it by clicking Undo (Ctrl+Z).

3. Select Start Definition from the Macros menu.

4. In the pop-up window, type: Delete. Then click OK or press

Enter.

5. Press Ctrl+Delete, then the left arrow key, then Enter.

6. Select End Definition from the Macros menu. You can now
perform the same actions by executing a macro.

Note: If you placed the cursor on a shipping zone that has been assigned to a
customer, you will not be able to delete it. Confirm the error message, move to a
different shipping zone and try again.

Running a Macro
To use a macro you have defined, take the following steps:

1. Situate your cursor in the appropriate column.

2. Activate the Select a Macro command from the Macros menu. A list of
available macros will pop up (see Figure 33).

3. Select the one you want and click Execute (or press Enter).

Figure 33: Executing a macro

[Link] LBI2000266 63 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

4. Click on the Delete button to delete the macro.

Hot Keys
To make macro usage even easier, you can assign hot keys to activate each
one. This eliminates the need to open the macro menu in order to execute a
macro. Ten hot keys are available: Alt+0 through Alt+9.

Assigning hot keys is very simple:

1. Again, activate the Select a Macro command from the Macros menu.
The list of available macros will pop up.

2. Select the one you want by moving to it with the  arrows, but this time
click on the Set Key button.

3. The Macro Key dialogue box will open (see Figure 34). In the Alt+ field,
specify a number between 0 and 9 (or click on the arrows until the
number you want to use appears).

4. Click OK. Alt+n (i.e., whatever number you designated) is now the
keystroke shortcut for executing this macro.

Figure 34: The Macro Key window

To use the hot key, do one of the following:

 If the key is between Alt+1 and Alt+5, click on the appropriate Macro
icon (located at the right end of the Toolbar).
 Press Alt followed by the correct number.

Recursive Macros
In order to delete a large number of records, it is possible to define a recursive
macro. This macro repeats the recorded actions up to 50 times in a row. The
process for defining this type of macro is very similar to the one for a regular
macro. The difference is that Select a Macro is included within the definition.

To define a recursive macro, take the following steps:

1. Select the Start Definition command from the Macros menu.

2. Assign the macro a name in the pop-up dialogue box (you can use
“Delete” again and overwrite the existing macro; if you do, confirm the
warning message that appears).

[Link] LBI2000266 64 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

3. Perform the actions in question (e.g., press Ctrl+Delete, then the left
arrow key, and then Enter).

4. Activate the Select a Macro command from the Macros menu, choose
the macro you just defined, and confirm.

5. Select the End Definition command from the same pull-down menu.

Again, you will delete a record just by defining the macro. If you now run the
macro, it will attempt to delete all remaining records in the form. (Of course, the
attempt to delete any shipping zones already assigned to customers will fail and
generate an error message.)

Note: The recursive macro you have just defined is a very powerful one, as it
deletes up to 50 records in a given form. Use it with caution. (The number of
recursive macros that can be performed successively can be redefined by the
system manager via the RECURSIVEMACRO system constant.)

Help
In addition to the features accessed by the Help pull-down menu, there are
several types of on-line help screens available when you are in a form.

Form Help explains usage of the current form. This help can be accessed from
any column in the form. Do one of the following:
 Click the Form Help icon on the Toolbar.
 Press Ctrl+F1 from anywhere in the form.

Column Help explains the contents of a specific form column. To access this
help, move the cursor to the column in question and do one of the following:
 Click the Column Help icon on the Toolbar.
 Press F1 from within the column.
 Right-click the column and select Help.
 Move the cursor to the column in question, press the Menu ( ) key and
select Help.

Toolbars (sub-level forms and direct activations) display help for any form that
appears in the Sub-level Bar or any entity in the Direct Activations Bar. To
access this help,
 Click the desired Toolbar item with the right mouse button.

Pop-up Menus (sub-level forms and direct activations) display help for any form
that appears on the Sub-levels pop-up menu or for any item on the Direct
Activations pop-up menu. To view this help,
 Highlight the desired entity and click the Help button at the bottom of the
pop-up screen.

[Link] LBI2000266 65 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

All the above forms of help can be used to access an entity mentioned in the
text (e.g., open a form). Simply click on the highlighted name of the item
appearing in the message.

Leaving a Form
To exit the form you are currently in (whether upper-level or sub-level), do one
of the following:
 Click the X in upper right-hand corner of the form.
 Press Esc.

To leave all forms (sub-levels and upper-level) simultaneously and return to the
display of menus, take one of the following actions:
 Select the Exit command from the File menu.
 Press Alt+F4.

If data are displayed while you are trying to leave a form, you will be asked to
confirm the exit. This is to prevent you from accidentally leaving a form. This
warning message can be disabled by the system manager, if desired.

Note: If you have added or modified the current record, the database will be
automatically updated as soon as you leave the form (even if you have not
moved to another line). If you want to cancel the new record or the
modifications, you must either undo your actions or clear the line before you
leave it — and before you exit the form.

[Link] LBI2000266 66 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Reports and Programs

Introduction
Now that you have a thorough understanding of Priority forms, it is time to
move on to programs and reports. You will find that many of the features you
have learned how to use in forms (e.g., Choose lists, Search lists, date
calendars, Copy Target Value, wildcards) will also be useful in working with
programs and reports. As these last two entities work in a similar manner, their
treatment is covered together.

Both programs and reports can be activated either from a menu or from within a
form (by means of direct activation). The latter topic was discussed above (p.
59); the current section thus deals with running programs and reports from a
menu.

This section contains instructions for setting up Business Process Management

(BPM) flow charts, easy-to-use graphic interfaces through which you can control
and monitor the progress of most basic system processes.

Programs
In a menu, programs are identified by the icon. They perform a variety of
actions. For instance, you can:
 prepare, copy and/or update selected price lists
 assign a group of parts to a family
 print a batch of invoices, receipts and the like
 assign discounts to a group of customers
 copy a part.

Most programs require input from the user. For example, you might need to
indicate, among other things:
 the percentage by which to raise prices in a price list
 which parts are being added to which family
 what invoices to print out
 what customers to assign the discount to.

Once you have selected a program, a pop-up window appears which displays
the execution steps. Immediately thereafter, a parameter input screen will
appear. The use of this input screen is identical for programs and reports and is
explained in detail below (see p. 92). For now, a simple example will suffice.

[Link] LBI2000266 67 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Running a Program
Example:

1. Find and run the Assign Preferred Vendor to Part program.

2. A parameter input screen pops up in which you specify whether

you want to assign the vendor to specific parts or to entire part
families. Choose the Part Number option (see Figure 35).

Figure 35: Execution steps window and first parameter input screen

3. A second parameter input screen appears, in which you specify the

preferred vendor and the parts to which the vendor will be assigned
(see Figure 36). The wildcard (*) that appears automatically in the
Vendor Number field signifies that by default the program is run for all
vendors. In an input screen, a blank field also acts as a wildcard, so
clicking OK without specifying any particular data will simply assign all
vendors to all parts.

Figure 36: Execution steps window and second parameter input screen

Of course, that would defeat the purpose of the program, so you need to
narrow down the effect of the program — say, to a single vendor and a
single part. One way to do so is to click the drop-down button next to
each field and select the desired item. A Search list will appear; use it to
select one vendor and one part. Click OK.

Note: For information regarding advanced parameter input, see p. 92.

4. A message will appear requesting confirmation of your input (Figure

37). Click OK.

[Link] LBI2000266 68 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 37: Execution steps window and input confirmation screen

5. In this particular program, the system runs a report displaying the

program results.

Note: You can cancel the program at any point during the process of execution
and parameter input.

Explorers
A special type of program opens an explorer, much like the standard Windows
Explorer. The best way to explain the usage of this feature is via a concrete
example.

Examples:

We will view attributes of specific parts by means of the Part Explorer.

1. Find and run the Part Explorer. A parameter input screen will
open, with a wildcard (*) automatically filled in for the Part
Number. This enables you to call up all parts.
Note: Again, you can narrow down the effect of the program by
selecting specific parts.

2. Click OK. Results appear in the Part Explorer (Figure 38). Click
on each item in the left window to see its individual attributes.

3. To exit the explorer, select the Exit command from the File
menu.

[Link] LBI2000266 69 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 38: Viewing results in the Part Explorer

BPM Flow Charts

Another special type of programs opens a flow chart (see Figure 39), which you
can use to manage business processes. In this friendly graphic interface, you
can define statuses and link them together into defined sequences by means of
paths. Both statuses and the paths that link them may be assigned user-
defined rules that trigger a variety of automatic features when certain conditions
are met. The end product is a sophisticated workflow mechanism that optimizes
the efficiency of the process in question.

Figure 39: The BPM flow chart for price quotes

Each major document in a defined work process has its own flow chart.

[Link] LBI2000266 70 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

If you are working with statuses for the first time, each chart opens to display
the default statuses predefined for that particular document. You need to define
the paths and rules that will constitute the workflow for each document.

Note: Flow charts have their own Toolbar and Menu Bar, with buttons and
commands for defining statuses and for copying or pasting a flow chart from
another company or installation of Priority.

The Initial Status

Each BPM flow chart has a default initial status (usually Draft) that is pre-
defined. When you right-click on that status, the Default Initial Status line is
flagged. This is the status that is assigned to any newly opened document.

In addition, you can define any number of statuses as a permitted initial status.
As a result, when users open a new document, even though a default status
appears, they can change it to any permitted status without having to leave and
reenter the line.

To define a status in this way,

 Right-click it in the flow chart and select Permitted Initial Status.

Creating Paths Between Statuses

Paths determine the available options for moving a transaction document from one
status to another. Represented by arrows in the flow chart, paths reflect the order
in which the various processes in a transaction must take place. When attached to
rules, they may also determine the conditions under which a status may change,
as well as the way a transaction is processed when it reaches the next status.

Note: Use the Disable Path Definitions command, accessed from the Edit
menu, to temporarily disable the paths between statuses in the form in which
you are working (though properties and rules remain in effect). This command is
useful when you are editing a chart for a transaction form that is in daily use,
and your work is causing difficulties for those using the form in question.

Example:

To create a path from one status to another, perform the following steps:
1. Use the Search for Entity feature (p. 8) to find and run the BPM
Flow Chart – Sales Orders.
2. Move the default Draft, In Progress, Confirmed and Completed
statuses into a straight vertical line, with the Canceled status off to
one side (see Figure 40 below).
3. Click the Draw Path icon on the flow chart’s Toolbar (or select
Draw Path from the Edit menu).

[Link] LBI2000266 71 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 4. Put the cursor on the bottom of the Draft status. Keep the mouse
button pressed and draw a line to the In Progress status. Release
the mouse button.
5. Draw two paths from the In Progress status (one to the
Confirmed status and one to the Canceled status) and two paths
from the Confirmed status (one to the Completed status and one
to the Canceled status) (see Figure 40).

Figure 40: Drawing paths between statuses for sales orders

Defining Rules for Statuses

BPM allows you to monitor workflow by setting up rules that activate system
responses when certain conditions are met. You can set up automatic e-mail, text
message, or push message notification, re-assign the document to a higher-
ranking employee, or open a task whenever a document receives a certain
status, remains in a certain status overlong or receives a date that falls within a
certain time period. You can use rules in tandem with data fields to define precise
conditions for the activation of these responses (e.g., the size of the transaction,
the importance of the customer).

Note: Text messaging must be purchased in a separate module.

There may be many such conditions defined for each status, some of which are
likely to occur simultaneously. You can use the up and down arrows to the right
of the List of Rules dialogue box (which appears whenever you open the
Define rules dialogue box, after the first rule has been defined) to determine
the precedence of such rules (see Figure 41).

[Link] LBI2000266 72 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 41: The BPM rules dialogue box

Note: Groups are an important tool in Priority, with applications in customer

relations, mailing and business rules.

To define a group:

1. Enter the Groups form, found in the Contacts menu of the Office
Management module.

2. Specify a Group Name and Description. If you are defining a group for
mailing purposes, use the To/Cc/Bcc column to determine in which
mode each member of the group will receive the message.

3. Enter the Users in Group sub-level form and list the users that belong to
it.

4. If you are defining a group for transaction assignment via a BMP flow
chart, use the Sort column to prioritize the members of the group (the
lowest number is the most important).

5. If you are defining a group for mailing purposes, you may enter the E-mail
Addresses sub-level form and add external e-mail recipients to your group.

Note: BPM uses defined employee hours and absences to determine who is
the highest-ranked group member available to receive the assignment.

Assigning a Document to a User

One of the simplest and most important rules is that which determines the user to
which the transaction is assigned at each stage of the process. This may be an
employee of your company, or the first available member of a predefined group.

[Link] LBI2000266 73 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 42: The Define rules dialogue box

Example:

Let’s create a rule by which a sales order that exceeds a certain value is
assigned to the sales manager when it receives the In Progress status:
1. Follow the instructions on p. 73 to create a group called “Sales”.
2. In the sales orders flow chart, right-click the In Progress status
and select Rules.
3. At the top of the Define rules dialogue box, select Assign it in the
first text box, group in the second text box, then Sales in the third.
Click OK.
4. Now reopen Rules. The List of Rules dialogue box will appear
(see Figure 41), displaying the rule you just created. Click New.
5. At the top of the Define Rules dialogue box, select Assign it in the
first text box, then select your own username in the third text box.
Click OK.
Note: For the moment we will pretend you are the sales manager.
6. In the If section, select Total Price in the second text box, is
greater than in the third, and type “5000” in the fourth box that
appears next to the third. Click OK.
7. Exit the flow chart (click OK to save your changes).

You have now defined the following rules for the In Progress status:
 sales orders in progress that are worth up to 5000 dollars are assigned to
the highest-priority user available in the “Sales” group, while

[Link] LBI2000266 74 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 sales orders in progress that are worth more than 5000 dollars are
assigned to you (as the sales manager).
Open or retrieve a sales order and adjust it so that its final price is over
5000. Now change its status to In Progress. Click the Scheduling tab and
you will see your name in the Assigned to column.

Sending an E-mail or Text Message Notification

It may be sufficient to notify the sales manager in the case of a large order,
rather than reassign it.

Example:

Let’s modify our previous example:

1. Reopen the flow chart, and right-click the In Progress status. In
the List of Rules dialogue box, select the second rule we created
in the previous example and click Edit.
2. At the top, replace Assign it with Send e-mail in the first text-box,
and select yourself as the e-mail recipient.
3. In the Description column, type "Notification"
4. In the Subject column, type "Sales Order Price Update".
5. In the message area, type “Sales Order No. ”, then click Add Field
and choose the Order column title from the Choose list under the
message area. Continue the sentence “ has reached a final price of
over ”, then click Add Field and choose the Final Price column title
(see Figure 43). Complete the sentence by adding “ dollars.” Click
OK.

Figure 43: Illustration of the current example

Now open another order worth more than 5000. You will see that it is still
assigned to the “Sales” group. Now check your mailbox for your notification.

[Link] LBI2000266 75 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Notes:
 You can add a document's attachments to the e-mail sent for the
document by flagging Incl. Attachments.
 The Add Field Choose list includes selected To Do item fields as well as form
fields.

Transactions That Are Overdue For a Status Change

As mentioned previously, you can also reassign a document, change its status,
notify an e-mail or text message recipient when the document has remained in
a particular status past a defined period of time, or open a task for a designated
user.

Example:
1. Reopen the flow chart, right-click the In Progress status and select
Rules. When the List of Rules dialogue box opens, click New.
2. In the When section, select the second option and specify two days
as the permitted processing period.
3. In the next section, select Assign it in the first text box, and your
name in the third.
4. Click OK. Save and exit the flow chart.

From now on, if a sales order remains In Progress for over two days, it will be re-
assigned to you (the Sales Manager).

Documents That Are Assigned a Given Date

You can also define a rule that takes into account a date appearing in the form
in question.

Example:

The following rule sends mail to you (the Sales Manager) when a sales
order remains In Progress past its defined End Date.

1. Reopen the flow chart, right-click the In Progress status and select
Rules. When the List of Rules dialogue box opens, click New.

2. In the When section, select the third option. Select End Date in
the first text box, fell in the second text box, then 1 and Days in
the third and fourth.
3. In the next section, select Send e-mail in the first text box, and your
name in the third.
4. In the Subject column, type "Delayed Processing of Sales Order".
5. In the message area, type “The processing of Sales Order No. ”,
then click Add Field and choose the Order column title from the
Choose list under the message area. Continue the sentence “ has
been delayed past the defined end date: ”, then click Add Field and

[Link] LBI2000266 76 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 choose the End Date column title (see Figure 44). Complete the
sentence by adding a period. Click OK.

Figure 44: Illustration of the current example

Defining Rules Using Function Expressions

In the first example, we defined a rule that is activated only if the value of one of
the form columns (Total Price) exceeds a certain fixed value (5000). You can
also define an expression in the same text box, using any combination of fields
and functions, by clicking on the button that appears to the right of the box.

Example:

The following rule sends mail to you (the Sales Manager) when a sales
order remains In Progress for more than 10 days, and more than 2 days
have passed since its defined End Date.

1. Reopen the flow chart, right-click the In Progress status and select
Rules. When the List of Rules dialogue box opens, click New.

2. In the When section, select the second option and specify ten
days as the permitted processing period.

3. In the next section, select Send e-mail in the first text box, and
your name in the third.
4. In the Subject column, type "Delayed Processing of Sales Order".
5. In the message area, type “Sales Order No. ”, then click Add Field
and choose the Order column title from the Choose list under the
message area. Continue the sentence “has not yet been
completed.”
6. In the If section, select End Date in the second text box, is
smaller than or equals in the third, place the cursor in the fourth

[Link] LBI2000266 77 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 box that appears next to the third and click the function ( ) button
that appears to the right of the box.
7. In the dialog box that opens, click Add Predefined Expression.
Select the day before yesterday expression. A function
expression indicating two days prior to the current date (without
the time) appears in the dialog box (see Figure 45). Click OK to
exit the dialog box. The function expression you defined now
appears in the fourth text box in the If section.
8. Click OK. Save and exit the flow chart.

Figure 45: Illustration of the current example

Running the Tabula Task Scheduler

The above feature will only function if the Tabula Task Scheduler is running and
has been set up properly by the system manager. The task scheduler scans all
active documents for any defined time limits and activates the notification process
when it finds an expired limit. It also sends a daily error report for any time-
activated changes (e.g., status, assigned user) that have malfunctioned.

Note: It is recommended to decrease the frequency of the task scheduler scan

to once every two hours in order to decrease the server’s workload.

Basic instructions for setting up the scheduler can be downloaded from the
Priority web site. In addition, the system manager needs to make sure that:

[Link] LBI2000266 78 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 an outgoing mail application other than MS-Outlook is defined on the
workstation where the scheduler is installed. Alternatively, the scheduler
must be run from a non-system login account (e.g., Administrator) that
has an MS-Outlook mail profile.
 the Send reminders about document status program is flagged as
Active in the Define TTS Tasks form.

 BPM Error Reports

An escalation rule may trigger a change of user or status when such a change is
not permitted in the document in question, for technical reasons. For example, a
Customer Shipment may not receive the “Final” status if it has not yet been
itemized. In such a case, the form in question usually presents an error message;
however, since escalation rules are applied automatically when the form is
closed, error messages are not possible. Instead, Priority provides a report
called BPM – History of Errors (menu path: System Management  System
Maintenance  Periodic Maintenance  BPM Maintenance) to document any
behaviors that fail for this reason.

The system manager can set the Tabula Task Scheduler to send the error
report to a designated e-mail address at regular intervals, where it can be
checked routinely for failed behaviors. To do so:

1. Open the Define TTS Tasks form. Move to the task named “Send
Reminders – error log by e-mail (change the address)”.

2. In the Command column, move to the end of the command line and
replace the phrase “any_email_address@[Link]” with the
desired address.

Defining Rules for Paths

You can further optimize your workflow by assigning rules to the paths between
statuses, rather than to the statuses themselves. This becomes necessary
when you can reach one status from several different preceding ones.

Path rules allow you to assign behaviors to a status when it is reached from a
specific preceding one. Path rules also allow you to designate which users or
groups of users are permitted to move a document from one particular status to
another. As with status rules, this rule can be made conditional on document
data, such as the size of the transaction.

Note: Paths that have been assigned rules change color.

Example:

Let’s return to our sales order flow chart:

1. Reopen the flow chart. Right-click the path between the
Confirmed status and the Canceled status, and select Rules.

[Link] LBI2000266 79 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 2. In the next section, select Allow status change. In the third text
box, select any username (except yours).
3. Click OK. The new rule establishes that once a sales order has
been confirmed, it can only be canceled by the specified user.
4. Save and exit the flow chart.
5. Open a sales order and assign it the Confirmed status. Now try to
change the status to Canceled.

If you want to disable a particular rule (for either a status or a path) you can
remove the check mark from the Active option in the Define rules dialogue box
screen.

Creating New Rules from Existing Ones

An easy way to create a new rule for both statuses and paths is to copy an
existing one and revise it. Simply select the desired rule in the List of Rules
dialogue box (see Figure 41) and click Copy. A duplicate of the selected rule
will appear, which you can revise by clicking the Edit button.

Note: To view all rules created for a given status or path, use the List of BPM
Rules form in the BPM Maintenance menu or click Report on the List of
Rules dialogue box.

Revising Statuses
To revise an existing status, right-click the status and select the desired
command from the pop-up menu:
 Rules: Opens the Define rules… dialogue box.
 Properties: Opens the Properties of… dialogue box.
 Set Color: Allows you to select a background color for the status.
 Rename: Allows you to choose a new name for the status.
 Delete: Removes the status from the flow chart, making it inactive (so it
no longer appears in Choose lists).

Note: Any status that you delete is stored in memory together with all other
statuses that are not in use in the current flow chart. These statuses appear in
the Select Status window whenever you activate the Add Status command.

A given document may be assigned numerous statuses. In order to keep your

flow chart easily comprehensible, special care must be taken both in the color-
coding of statuses, and in their physical grouping. For example, you may want
to situate all statuses that involve closing, canceling or freezing the document at
the bottom of the screen, and color them red.

[Link] LBI2000266 80 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Adding New Statuses
To add a new status to the flow chart, perform the following steps:

1. Do one of the following:

 Click the Add Status icon.
 Select Add Status in the Edit menu.

2. Click the screen where you want the new status to appear.

3. The Select Status window will appear. Click the New button.

4. A dialogue box called Properties of the New Status opens. Record a

Name for the new status, and flag the appropriate status properties.

Viewing a History of BPM Flow Chart Changes

Use the BPM – Track Changes form or report in the BPM Maintenance menu
to view all changes made in any BPM chart (e.g., new status, path deleted, new
rule, change in status or status attributes).

Printing a BPM Flow Chart

When you print a flow chart from the chart’s Toolbar, the system also prints out
the details of each of its statuses (e.g., definitions and rules).

Copying a BPM Flow Chart

You copy an existing flow chart to a clipboard, from which it can pasted into
another company or even to another installation of Priority. To do so:

1. Open the flow chart.

2. From the Edit menu, select the Copy Flow Chart option.

3. Open the target chart, and select the Paste Flow Chart option from the
Edit menu.
Note: You can also paste the flow chart into a Notepad file and save it as
a backup. The saved text can then be copied and pasted into a target
chart using the Paste Flow Chart option.

Reports
In a menu, reports are identified by the icon, or by the icon, if the report
is a printed document. Reports present data on an HTML page in an organized
manner that makes viewing easy. Printed documents can also be displayed in
customized Word templates.

[Link] LBI2000266 81 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Report Format
There are several different types of reports: standard, tables, graphs, documents,
BI reports and charts. All reports presented as HTML pages open in your web
browser (see Figure 46).

Figure 46: Example of a standard HTML report

Tables differ from standard reports in two major areas. First, they summarize
information. Whereas reports provide a great deal of specific data over several
pages, tables succinctly provide a broad picture of the situation. Second, tables
can provide information (e.g., sum totals) per row and column (see Figure 47).

There are several types of graphs: bar, line, area and tree graphs. The key to
each bar, area or line appears below its appropriate scale. In the key that
appears below the graph, a bar is denoted by a shaded rectangle, an area by a
shaded triangle, and a line graph by a line.

Tree graphs illustrate ratios between parent data and their children, between
children and their children, and so on down to the lowest level. The ratio
appears to the right of the line that connects parent to child. A tree that is wider
than the screen will be divided among several pages. The number of the page
on which each portion of the graph is continued appears within the parent's box,
at its right edge. All graphs are printed in landscape orientation.

[Link] LBI2000266 82 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 47: Example of a table

Documents are a special type of report whose printout is sent to customers,

vendors or other external recipients (e.g., customer invoices). A standard
HTML format is provided for all documents, which can be revised by using the
Design Report tool, discussed in detail under Basic Customization, p. 99.
You can also design Word templates for documents as discussed in detail
under The Word Document Generator, p. 118.

On BI reports and charts, see p. 87.

Running a New Report

Once you have selected the desired report from a menu, a window pops up in
which you have to choose between Saved and New reports.

To run a new report, make sure that the New check box is flagged (this is the
default). Then select the report format. To confirm your choice, click OK or
press Enter.

Note: Make sure the HTML Page check box is flagged.

A small window will appear, displaying the various steps that are executed
automatically. Shortly afterward, a parameter input screen will pop up. After you
have finished specifying all required information in that window and all
execution steps have been completed, the report will be generated (see p. 68
for a simple example of parameter input; see p. 92 for a complete explanation of
the topic).

[Link] LBI2000266 83 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: At any point during the process of execution and parameter input, you
can choose to cancel generation of the report.

Accessing a Saved Report

Once a report is run from the menu, it is saved in the database (until it is
deleted by the user or system manager). In order to view, print or send report
data (as e-mail attachment or to Word), select the report in question from the
menu and click the Saved box.

Depending on how the system is set up, you may be able to view only your own
saved reports, those of all users in your user group or those of all users in the
system. Ask your system manager to change the SAVEDREPORTS system
constant if you lack access to all the saved reports you need.

If any saved reports are available (see Figure 48), the dates on which they
were run will appear in a list, together with the name of the user who ran it and
the query conditions used to generate it.

Select the report you want from that list, using the left mouse button or the 
arrows. Then choose between viewing the report on screen (Display), sending it
to the printer/fax (Print) or creating an e-mail attachment or Word file (Send…).

Figure 48: Report pop-up window — saved report

Note that you can assess the length of any selected report by clicking on the #
Lines button. You can also Delete a report from this screen.

Viewing the Report on Screen

If you have run a new report or chosen to display a saved one, an HTML page
will pop up with the prepared report. You can then use regular web options.

In addition, you can:

 freeze titles at the top of the page as you scroll through the data of a report
(click on the Titles link at the top of the report; click again to undo).

[Link] LBI2000266 84 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 click to export report data to Excel.
 click to export report data to Word.
 click to export report data to Outlook.
 click to send report data as an e-mail attachment via your Priority
mailbox.
 (for a tabular report) view the data as a bar graph (click on the button
at the top of the report, click Back to return to the report).
 use Explorer-style icons (- and +) to collapse the report (or specific
sections of it) to display subtotals and totals, and re-expand it to full view.
 access system forms from the page by clicking on items in the report
(e.g., clicking a part number activates the Part Catalogue form).

Note: To view graphs, the CHARTTYPE system constant must be correctly

defined by the system manager.

Using the Print/Send Options

There are several print/send options to choose from when working with reports.
You can:
 Send the entire report or selected pages to your printer.
 Send report data to an Excel spreadsheet (may be disabled for individual
users).
 Send the report as an e-mail attachment.
 Open and edit the report in Word.
 Print the report to a text file.

Most of the above options are available only when you are accessing a saved
report. Note the following exceptions:
 You can only send a new report (not a saved one) to Excel.
 You can print a new report to an external directory, but only as a text file.
Such reports are not recorded in Priority.

Note: The various send options are only available if you have the necessary
hardware and software setup for e-mail, as well as the Microsoft Office
programs installed.

When creating a document printout (e.g., sales order confirmation), you can
also choose from the following options (Figure 49):
 System Document/Template Document: Print the document in an
internal system designed format or in a Word template format (see The
Word Document Generator, p. 118).

[Link] LBI2000266 85 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Print: Send the report to your printer.
 Display: Opens the document in Priority.
 Mail: Opens an e-mail message in the Compose Mail form with the
document as an attachment.
 Automatic Mail: Sends an e-mail to the designated contact with the
document as an attachment (without opening the Compose Mail form).
 Automatic Fax: Faxes the document to the designated contact (without
opening the Compose Mail form).
 Incl. Attachments: includes attachments that have been linked to the
record in question when printing or sending a report (e.g., as Mail).
Note: To exclude a specific attachment, flag the Don't Send column in
the original form.
 Quick Print: Sends the report directly to a pre-defined printer, specifying
the desired number of copies.
Note: Flagging this option when printing a report sends the report to the
default printer.
 As a PDF Document: Saves the report as a PDF file and displays it in
Adobe Reader or sends it as an e-mail attachment (depending on
whether you select Display or Mail).

Figure 49: Print/Send Options for document printouts

[Link] LBI2000266 86 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Printing/Faxing the Report
While you can print or fax a given report from within the web browser, you can
also print/fax it after it has been saved.

Simply select the report in question from the pop-up dialogue box (see p. 84)
and click the Print button.

Sending an E-mail Attachment

You can also send a saved report as an attachment to an e-mail message.
Select the report from the dialogue box and click the Send… button. Then
select the Mail option from the pop-up Send window. The Compose Mail form
will open and a new e-mail message will be created with the report title as the
topic and the report file as the attachment. Specify the recipient and send the
message (For detailed instructions on using the system’s mail feature, see p.
138).

BI Reports and Charts

BI (business intelligence) reports are different than all the above-mentioned
reports, in that they allow you to analyze data from multiple perspectives. You
determine the exact cross-section of data to be displayed by drilling down within
categories and accessing only the specific data that you want to see. For
example, you can see how a particular part is selling, cross-referenced by the
type of sale and broken down by the country in which it was sold. Once you
have achieved the desired display of data, you can export the report to Word,
Excel or Outlook, send it as an e-mail attachment from the Priority mailbox, or
save it as an HTML page. For details, see the Executive Reports Wizard.

There are several methods of accessing BI reports:

 Enter the Executive Reports module and select the menu for the
desired analysis (e.g., Sales Order Analysis, Service Call Analysis).
 Enter the desired analysis menu from within its system module (e.g.,
Purchase Orders  Purchase Order Analysis).
 When the form is in Full-Record Display Mode, move the cursor to any
column with a yellow triangle after its title (e.g., customer number, order
number, part number), right-click (or press the Menu key) and select
the BI Reports item at the top of the pop-up menu. A list of relevant BI
reports appears, which you can run to display data related to the value of
the column.
 Press the Ctrl button and right-click the column’s Choose/Search icon to
display the same list.
 Open the Tools menu in the form’s Menu Bar and select the BI Reports
item, which also displays the same list (i.e., of BI reports relevant to the
highlighted column).

[Link] LBI2000266 87 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: To view up-to-date information in a BI report, you need to run a
preparatory program (e.g., Prepare All for Analysis (BI)) that collects the data
and prepares it for presentation. This program is usually run automatically each
night by the Tabula Task Scheduler.

Defining Periods for BI Reports

Once you have run one of the BI reports, specify the period and company for
which to display data. You can specify either an absolute period (e.g., the first
quarter of 2011) or the range of dates when the period begins and ends (e.g.,
from the start of this quarter to the end of this month).

To define the periods and companies for which to display data, do one of the
following:
 To specify an absolute period, click the icon. In the appropriate
columns, select the Year (e.g., 2010) and the Period in Year (e.g.,
November) for which to display data.
 To specify a range of dates, click the icon. You can then choose from
a list of relative Start and End Dates (e.g., start of last month, end of this
quarter) or click to open a pop-up calendar from which to choose the
exact Start and/or End Date.

You can also select a Level of Detail for the report. For example, you can run a
report for a whole year displaying data for each quarter; in this case, the Level
of Detail would be Quarterly.

Notes:
 If you are working in a multi-company environment, you can also
select the company for which to display data when defining the period
for the report.
 Once you have set up a template of periods and/or companies, you
can save it if desired (by clicking on one of the numbered buttons in
the Save Template section).
 Whatever values are currently chosen become the default the next time the
report is run. To change them, click the appropriate icon and either redefine
manually or reuse a saved definition by clicking on the appropriate number in
the Get Template section.

Drilling down within BI Reports

Begin by selecting the desired Dimensions format (click the icon). The
One-dimensional format displays each level of data by itself. That is, once you
select a dimension by which to slice the data in a given screen, the selected
cross-section is displayed alone. You can then continue to drill down within the
data until you reach the cross-section that you want. In order to view data for
the previous level, you need to return to the previous screen (e.g., by clicking
the back arrow).

[Link] LBI2000266 88 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

In contrast, the Multi-dimensional format enables you to drill down and view
different cross-sections of the data in a single screen, organized within a
hierarchical tree. When drilling down within the data, each cross-section is
sliced by the selected dimension. The corresponding node in the tree is
expanded accordingly (and can later be collapsed). This enables you to view
values for the entire population as well as zoom in on specific cross-sections
without losing global context.

After selecting the desired Dimensions format, you can begin selecting the
cross-section of data to be displayed by clicking All. For example, in Sales
Opportunity Analysis (BI), the input screen that appears lets you choose to
break down the data by customer number, part number and territory. If you are
working in One-dimensional format, this input screen also contains Filter by
and Filter Except for options that allow you to view or eliminate all data that
match a designated pattern (specified in the Use Pattern column). Alternatively,
you can choose to total all data in the defined cross-section, by choosing the
Total by or Total Except for options.

For example, to eliminate data for customers whose customer number begins
with the letter T, select Customer Number to break down data by customer,
choose the Filter Except for option and record the value "T*" in the Use
Pattern column (see Figure 50).

Figure 50: Options for BI reports

You can also use any of a number of interactive tools and icons to refine the
report until you achieve the desired level of detail (e.g., the type of data to
display) or to export the BI data to an external program such as MS-Excel; for
details, see the Executive Reports Wizard.

[Link] LBI2000266 89 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Dashboards
Dashboards display pertinent data in various cross-sections, including reports,
tables, graphs, gauges and pies, and even allow access to relevant BI reports.

Note: In order to ensure that dashboards display up-to-date information, you

need to run a preparatory BI program (e.g., Prepare All for Analysis (BI)) that
collects the data and prepares it for presentation. This program is usually run
automatically each night by the Tabula Task Scheduler.

Multi-colored control lamps and gauges in Dashboards are used to indicate

profitability and sales target compliance. Users can specify the range of values
that define the red, yellow and green areas in each control lamp or gauge in the
Definition of Gauge Scales form.

Each dashboard is comprised of a number of mini-windows called web parts,

which can be arranged for your convenience using a built-in design tool.
External web sites can also be displayed in these windows, provided the sites
have been properly defined in Priority (usually by the system manager).

To design your dashboards:

1. Click the icon that appears in the upper-right corner of each mini-
window. This will open the Dashboard Design window, which displays
the arrangement of windows appearing in the dashboard alongside a list
of hidden windows.

2. To include additional web parts displaying selected web sites, open the
Additional Sites Choose list (Figure 51), select a site. The title of the
web site will appear in the table of displayed windows in the top part of
the screen. (To include web sites in this list, see below.)

3. To include additional web parts in your personalized My Dashboard,

select the desired web part from the Additional Web Parts Choose list.
This list displays all available web parts for which you have the
necessary privileges. The selected web part will appear in the top part of
the screen.

4. To remove any web part from the dashboard, drag its title to the list of
hidden windows on the left.

5. To apply the changes you've made to the dashboard design, click GO.

[Link] LBI2000266 90 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 51: Including external sites

To define web site addresses for display in dashboards:

1. Enter the Define Web Sites form in the Priority on Outlook menu (in
the Office Management module).

2. Record a name for the site (as you want it to appear in the Choose list),
and in the URL column, record the full Internet address (see Figure 52).

Figure 52: Defining web site addresses

The following are tips for using dashboards:

 To enlarge one of the windows, click the icon in the upper right corner.
 To determine the date range for which reports are run, click the icon.
 In order to move from the upper to the lower part of the screen, use the
vertical navigation bar to the right.
 To change the type of graph displayed, click the icon.

Note: In order to use the Graph Type icon, your system manager must make
sure that the CHARTTYPE system constant is set to 5.

[Link] LBI2000266 91 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Parameter Input
Most programs and reports require user input. Among other things, this input
determines the records that will be affected by the program or the records that
will be displayed in the report.

User input is designated via the pop-up parameter input screen (see Figure
53), which is comprised of one or more columns, some of which have both right-
hand and left-hand input windows. The right-hand window is for inputting
values; the left-hand one is for selecting operators (where relevant).

Use the mouse, Tab key or  arrow keys to move between input columns. Do
not press Enter until you have finished specifying all input.

When an input screen opens, it displays the parameters that were used the last
time the program was run. If you are not interested in using these parameters,
click the Clear button and enter new ones.

Parameters must be designated in at least one column in each input screen. This
is why the first input field in each screen features the default “*” wildcard (see
Figure 53), despite the fact that an empty input field achieves the same effect (i.e.,
inputs all records).

Figure 53: Standard input screen with wildcard

[Link] LBI2000266 92 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 54: A single-value input screen

The exception to this rule is an input field that requires a single value (e.g., From
Date, To Date), in which case input is mandatory and blank fields are invalid (see
Figure 54).

If you are not sure how to fill in a certain column, put your cursor in the input
window next to the column in question and do one of the following:
 Click the Help button at the bottom of the screen.
 Press F1.
 Press Alt+H.

You will notice that the columns in the parameter input screen are like columns
in forms:
 Some have an arrow that opens a Choose or Search list (see pp. 24-26).
Input values can be taken from this list.
 The left-hand input window has an arrow that opens up a selection of
operators.
 Date columns have a pop-up calendar (see p. 30), from which a date
can be selected.
 Columns from which you can activate a target form (so as to select
records) display the button.

Note: Clicking the calendar icon (or pressing either F6 or the Space bar) opens
a list of relative dates (e.g., yesterday, next month). Right-click the calendar or
press Shift+F6 to open the standard pop-up calendar.

Now confirm your choice by clicking OK or pressing Enter. Sometimes a

second input screen will appear. In that case, input the second round of
parameters and confirm your choice.

[Link] LBI2000266 93 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: The next time you run the program or report, the screen will display
whatever the input was for the previous run.

To illustrate how this works, we will practice the procedure when running the
Daily Exchange Rates report. Note that, if no exchange rates have yet been
recorded, the report will be empty of values. As you are merely practicing
parameter input, this is unimportant. It is recommended, however, that you
delete the values you have input (use the Backspace key) or cancel
parameter input (click on the Cancel button) after each trial, before beginning
again.

Note: If you accidentally click OK or press Enter, you will not do any harm. You
will just have to wait for the system to attempt to produce the report and notify
you that there are no values.

Use the Search for Entity feature (p. 8) to find and run the Daily Exchange
Rates report. The parameter input screen that pops up requires you to specify
the currency (or currencies) to be included in the report, as well as the range of
dates that are covered. We will concentrate on the Curr input column, in which
the currency code is designated.

Specifying an Exact Value

The simplest way to input data is to provide an exact value. So, if you want to
run the report for Euros, select EUR from the Choose list that opens from the
right-hand input window of the Curr column (see Figure 55). To run it for
Pounds Sterling, select GBP from the list. You would consequently obtain a
report of all exchange rates for the Euro (or Pounds Sterling) over the range of
dates specified.

Figure 55: Inputting a single currency for the Daily Exchange Rates report

The problem with the above method is that it only allows you to run the report
for a single currency. A more useful method is to designate a pattern, using
wildcards or operators.

[Link] LBI2000266 94 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: In some cases, such as the From Date and To Date columns, only a
single value is permitted.

Designating a Pattern
One way to input several records at once is to specify query conditions. You
can include any of the wildcards or operators used to retrieve records in a form
(see p. 131).

Examples:
 To run the Daily Exchange Rates report for all currencies, leave
the * in the right-hand input window of the Curr column (this
appears by default).
 To input all currencies whose code begins with the letter “F”,
type: F*.
 To input all currencies whose code begins with “C” and ends in
“P”, type: C*P.

Operators are generally more useful in a column displaying a date or number.

You will notice that the left input window has an arrow. To change the default
equal sign (=) to another operator (such as <, <=, >, >=, <>, -), click on the
arrow and select the desired symbol.

Note: The operator button is disabled in any column in which a single input
value is required (e.g., the From Date and To Date columns in this report).

You can select multiple values for a given input column, either as discrete
values (the | operator) or as a range of values (the - operator):
 OR: Click on the arrow next to the left input window and select the
vertical bar (|).The input column in question is duplicated. Input the
desired values, one in each input column. When the report is run, data
meeting either criterion is displayed.
 BETWEEN: Click on the arrow next to the left input window and select
the hyphen (-). The input column in question is duplicated. Input the first
value in the range in the left input column and the last value in the range
in the right input column (see Figure 56). When the report is run, only
data that falls within the designated range of values is displayed.

[Link] LBI2000266 95 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 56: BETWEEN Operator

You can also input all records that match a given criterion, while excluding
those that match a second criterion, by selecting the ! operator. Consequently,
the input column in question is duplicated (see Figure 57), enabling you to
specify the criterion for inclusion in the left input column (e.g., 3*) and the
criterion for exclusion in the right input column (e.g., 31*). In the example
provided, the result will be all records that begin with the number "3", except for
those beginning with the numbers "31".

Figure 57: AND NOT Operator

Activating a Target Form (Inputting a Batch of Values)

Suppose you want to run the report for a group of currencies that cannot be
easily represented by a pattern (e.g. Euros, Pounds Sterling and Yen). In this
case, you need to select the records in question from a target form.

To activate a target form, do one of the following:

 Place the cursor in the right-hand input window (of the Curr column) and
press F6 twice.
 Open the Choose list (by clicking on the arrow) and then press F6 from
within the list.

[Link] LBI2000266 96 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: In certain input screens, this is the only method available (i.e., there is no
Choose or Search list). In that case, simply click on the activation button to
access the target form.

Once you have activated the target form (Currencies, in this case) you need to
select the currencies you wish to appear in the report. Only those should be
displayed in the target form.

To do so, take one of the following steps:

 “Hide” the records that do not apply, by pressing F7 on the line of every
unwanted currency (by default, all values are displayed when the
Currencies form is entered).
 Open the Query Generator (press Shift+F11) and retrieve the desired
values (see p. 43).

Once you have retrieved all desired records, exit the form (press Es c). You will
return to the parameter input screen. Any records displayed in the form at the
time it was exited will be considered part of the input batch. A red magnifying
glass will appear next to the right-hand Curr input window, indicating that the
data have been input in this manner. However, the column itself will remain
blank, as it is impossible to display all the records that have been input.

Note that you can also input a single record from a target form. To do so, place
the cursor on that record and activate the Copy Target Value feature (e.g.,
press F8; for more details, see p. 29). You will automatically exit the form and
return to the parameter input screen. The value you have copied will appear in
the Curr column with the symbol next to it.

Help for Programs and Reports

Input Parameter Help
Most input screens include a Help window that gives a general explanation of
the program or report being run. In addition, the Help button at the bottom of the
input dialogue box displays an explanation of the input parameter that is
selected or in which the cursor is placed (see Figure 58).

[Link] LBI2000266 97 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 58: Help for a report during parameter input

[Link] LBI2000266 98 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Basic Customization

Customizing the Menu

As mentioned previously, the system provides a number of tools for
personalizing the appearance of the menu screen.

Organizing Menus
Authorized users can use the Design Tool (Figure 59) to customize the actual
content of the menu and it sub-levels (as well as forms and reports) by hiding
unnecessary items and rearranging the rest into the most convenient order.
This utility employs the same user-friendly interface throughout the system.

Notes:
 To customize the menu, your user record must be flagged in the Form
and Menu Design column (in the Permissions tab of the User
Permissions form).
 All menu customizations take effect in all companies in the system. While
they do not affect other system users, your system manager can run a
program that copies menu customizations from one user to another.

Figure 59: The Design Tool for the Accounts Receivable menu

[Link] LBI2000266 99 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

The first step in redesigning the menu is deciding which sub-menus you will
actually need in each module, and the order in which you would like them to
appear. To access the Design Tool, move to the menu in question and do one
of the following:
 Press F2.
 Right-click the menu title and select Design Menu.
 Open the Options menu on the main Menu Bar and click Design Menu.

Use the Design Tool to make any of the following changes:

 Move a menu item up or down in the list
 Hide an item from the menu display.

Each of the above customizations is reversible; furthermore, you can restore

any menu to its original format by clicking the Restore Defaults button at the
bottom of the Design Tool screen.

[Link] LBI2000266 100 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Add Items to Menus
Two more design tools allow the system manager (or anyone with Manager
privileges) to include additional entities in Priority menus:
 Add Document File: The system manager can attach any documents
(such as MS-Office files) or image files to a menu.
 Add User-Defined Report: The system manager can attach any
customized report created in a user report generator to a menu.

To access the above options, right-click the menu in question.

Customizing Forms
Each form provides three different Design Tools – one for form columns and
tabs, one for sub-level forms, and one for direct activations. All three can be
accessed both in the Design menu on the form’s Menu Bar, by pressing the
Menu ( ) key and by right-clicking any form column.

Notes:
 To customize forms, your user record must be flagged in the Form
and Menu Design column (in the Permissions tab of the User
Permissions form).
 All form customizations take effect in all companies in the system. While they
do not affect other system users, your system manager can run a program
that copies form customizations from one user to another.

If the form in question is currently open in Multi-Record Display Mode, the

Organize Fields Design Tool simply displays the full list of form columns in order
of their appearance. In Full-Record Display Mode, the Design Tool displays the
list of form tabs, each of which opens to display its constituent columns (see
Figure 60).

In this mode, you can make extensive changes to the appearance of the form,
such as:

 Hiding or renaming individual form columns

 Renaming tabs and rearranging their columns

 Moving columns from one tab to another

 Changing the order of tabs, and

 Creating a new tab and populating it with columns taken from other tabs.

[Link] LBI2000266 101 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 60: The Design Tool for a form in Full-Record Display Mode

Example:
To create a custom tab in a sales order that helps you track your sales reps
at a glance:

1. Enter the Sales Orders form.

2. Press Ctrl+Alt+F OR right-click any form column and select
Organize Fields.
3. Click the Open New Tab icon to the right of the screen. A new
tab will appear at the bottom of the list, called My Tab. Use the
up arrow to move it up to the second position in the list (i.e., the
first tab to appear after the form’s main columns).
4. Click the plus sign next to the References tab. Right-click the
Sales Rep column at the bottom of the tab and click the Move
to… command. Select My Tab. Repeat this process for the Type
of Sale column.
Note: A plus sign next to a column title indicates that the column
is merged with another column; such pairs behave as a single
column.
5. Press OK. The system will automatically refresh your screen,
and the form will now display the new tab.
6. To return the form to its original appearance, open the Design Tool
and click the Restore Defaults button.

As previously mentioned, the Organize Fields Design Tool displays all the form
columns in a single list when the form is open in Multi-Record Display Mode.
Similarly, the Organize Direct Activations and Organize Sub-levels Design
Tools display the form’s activations and sub-levels in order of their appearance.
Use these tools to rename or hide the columns, entities and sub-levels that you
do not need and arrange the rest in the desired order.

[Link] LBI2000266 102 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Notes:
 Changes made to the titles of columns in one display mode remain in
effect in the other display mode as well.
 Wizards and online help (F1) refer to tab and column titles as they
appear in the original form designs. Changing these titles may make it
difficult to recognize columns and tabs referred to in Help tools.

System Manager Design Options

Your Priority system manager (or anyone with Manager status) can use several
advanced design tools to revise forms for all system users:
 Add Columns to Form: This program allows the manager to add new
columns to a form from the database table upon which the form is based.
A complementary program deletes any added columns.
 Convert to Multi-Company Form: This program allows the manager to
convert almost all system forms into multi-company forms, in which the
user can display data from multiple companies in a single form. A
complementary program converts such forms back to single-company
forms.
Tips:
 Alternatively, the manager can right-click the form title in the menu and
select Convert to Multi-company.
 See p. 12 for instructions on how to work with multi-company forms.
 Change Form Title: This program changes the title of the form, in both
display modes, as well as in any other system tools (e.g., Choose lists) in
which the form is named.
These tools can be found in the Advanced Form Design menu at the
following path: System Management  System Maintenance 
Advanced Design.

Customizing Reports
To design a report, right-click its title in the menu, then select Design Report
from the pop-up menu.

Notes:
 To customize reports and documents, your user record must be
flagged in the Document Design column (in the Permissions tab of
the User Permissions form).
 Report customizations affect all users in all companies in the system.

Most reports consist of a single section composed of the relevant columns. This
format is designated Basic in the Design Tool, to distinguish it from any variations
you may choose to create (see Figure 61). Click the plus sign next to the format to

[Link] LBI2000266 103 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

view the report sections (in this case, the only section, which bears the report title).
Click the plus sign next to the section title to view its component columns.

Figure 61: The Design Tool for the List of Customers report

As with the Organize Fields Design Tool, you can hide and rearrange the
various report components and their columns, and rename column names. In
addition, you can revise the appearance of report fields and their titles, and
create variations of a report by duplicating and revising it.

When customizing a report, it is good practice to duplicate the report and

perform your design changes on the duplicate.

Example 1:

1. Right-click the List of Customers report and select Design Report.

Tip: Follow the path CRM  Customers  Customer Reports.
2. Right-click the format title (Basic) and select Duplicate.
3. A new report format will appear below the original, titled Copy of
Basic. Rename the format NameFirst.
4. Click the plus signs next to NameFirst and Customers to display
the report columns. Select the Customer No. column and click the
down arrow to the right of the screen.
5. Click OK. The new report format displays the same data as the
Basic format, except that in the new format the customer name
precedes the customer number.
6. Run a new List of Customers report. The report dialogue box now
provides two formats in which to run the report: Basic and NameFirst.

[Link] LBI2000266 104 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 62: Selecting formats in the report dialogue box

7. To remove the new format, open the Design Tool, right-click the
format title and select Delete.

Duplicating the original report may prevent you from having to reconstruct the
original design, if it is needed at some later date.

Example 2:
To revise the appearance of report columns and titles:

1. Right-click the List of Customers report and select Design

Report.
2. Click the plus signs next to the duplicate format title (NameFirst)
and report title (Customers) to display the report columns.
3. Right-click the Customer Name column and select Field
Attributes. Use the Display Attributes dialogue box to change
the field’s font, font style, font size, color, background color or
alignment in the space assigned to the field. You can also flag the
Avoid Line Break option to ensure that the customer's name
always appears on a single line, regardless of its length. Click OK.
Tip: In a field that displays a number, such as Quantity, you can
also set the number of decimal places to display.
4. Right-click the column again and select Title Attributes. Make
any of the changes listed above to the Customer Name column’s
display title. Click OK.
5. Run a new List of Customers report and select the Display
option to see the field’s new appearance.
6. To undo all changes to the report’s appearance, right-click the
format name (NameFirst) and select Restore Defaults.

Document Design
Documents are reports that are sent outside the company to customers or
vendors (e.g., printouts of price quotes, sales orders, invoices). The document
icon ( ) is similar to that of a regular report, except that the paper in the
clipboard is blue rather than white. You can use the document design tool (see

[Link] LBI2000266 105 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Figure 63) to design HTML documents as described below, or to design Word
templates as discussed in detail under The Word Document Generator, p.
118.

Figure 63: Document design options

Most HTML documents are predefined in a variety of formats, each of which

comprises a different set of document components. Some components are pre-
designed in a fixed style, and you cannot rearrange their columns. Those
components without a fixed style appear as tables, and their columns can be
rearranged. As we have seen, simple reports usually consist of only one table
component, and share the same design options as tabular components in
documents.

Note: If you are working in a multi-language environment, documents and

reports must be designed separately in each language.

Types of Components

Most documents can be printed in a variety of formats, such as: Standard

Format, Detailed Format and W/Extended Part Desc. (see Figure 64).

[Link] LBI2000266 106 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 64: The Design Report tool for sales order confirmation documents

Each print format comprises a number of discrete document components (e.g.,

Company Details, Customer Information, Items, Totals), which are either
fixed (pre-designed) or tabular. You may revise either type of component, or
create your own print format by duplicating an existing one, changing its name,
and then revising its components.

Note: Users choose the desired print format in the Print/Send Options
dialogue box, which opens when they run the report.

Symbols preceding the title of each document component or report field in the
Design Tool help you to distinguish between types of components and their
attributes. A red X on the icon indicates that the component or field is hidden:

Fixed Components (Figure 65)

You can hide columns, rename columns, change the style of columns and their
titles (e.g., font, font style, background color, coloring negative numbers), but
you cannot change their order (the up and down arrows to the right of the
screen are deactivated).

[Link] LBI2000266 107 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

In particular, you can change the general document title that precedes the
document number (e.g., from “Confirmation of Order” to “VIP Order No.”) in the
Document Number component.

Figure 65: Columns in a fixed document component

Tabular Components (Figure 66)

In addition to the options listed above, you can also change the order of columns.

Figure 66: Columns in a tabular component

Note: To hide entire document components, whether fixed or tabular, right-click

the component title and select Hide.

Defining Your User Signature

To customize the user signature that appears in printouts of documents that you
create, select the User Signature command from the File menu on the main

[Link] LBI2000266 108 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Menu Bar. A parameter input screen pops up in which to choose between a
signature for documents or text forms. Choose the in Documents option.

A second parameter input screen appears, in which you can indicate which
elements you want to display and compose a personal greeting (see Figure 67).

User information (e.g., Position, E-mail) is taken from your personnel file. Your
Name is taken from the Full Name column of the Users form.

Figure 67: Defining the user signature

[Link] LBI2000266 109 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Advanced Topics

Generators
In addition to the Query Generator (see p. 43), the system provides additional
generators that facilitate more advanced processes, such as:
 creating messages that are displayed/sent when certain conditions are met
 changing the value of designated columns when certain conditions are met
 creating a Word document from system data
 creating an Excel spreadsheet from system data
 creating labels from system data
 creating a formatted letter from system data.
The Business Rules Generator and Data Generator share the same intuitive
interface as the Query Generator. The Excel Report Generator and Word
Document Generator operate within the Microsoft Office environment. Most
generators are accessed from the Design menu on the form’s Menu Bar. The
Word document generator for designing document printout templates is
accessed from the document printout window, and the Letter Generator is
accessed from the CRM > Customer Relations Management menu.

Note: You must have Microsoft Office 2013 or higher installed in order to use the
Word Document Generator.

The Business Rules Generator

The Business Rules Generator (see Figure 68) allows you to preset any of the
following messages:
 an error message, which prevents you from completing the attempted
action (i.e., an action that results in any of the defined conditions)
 a warning, which alerts you to potential consequences that may result
from the completed action
 an e-mail, which can be accompanied by an attached printout of the
current record and sent to a given user, group, e-mail address or contact
 a text message, which can be sent to any user, group, mobile phone
number or contact
 a task, which can be accompanied by an attached printout of the current
record and assigned to any user.
 a push message sent to a user or group of users who are working with
the Priority Mobile application.

[Link] LBI2000266 110 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Notes:
You can only send automatic e-mails to groups to which you have authorized
access (in the Groups form). Defined in the Groups form, groups may contain
both system users and external e-mail recipients. See p. 73.
Whoever is flagged in the Write Business Rules for All column in the
Permissions tab of the User Permissions form is permitted to define rules
that apply to all users.

Figure 68: The Business Rules Generator

The Valid For section determines whose actions will trigger the message:
 Myself: If you are a normal user with standard privileges, leave this
setting to create messages that work for you alone.
 Only: If you are a privilege group leader, use this setting to create alerts
for all users in your group (or for a single privilege group member). If you
are the system manager, use this setting to create messages for
members of any given group.
 All Users: If you are the system manager, have Manager privileges or
are authorized to Write Business Rules (in the Permissions tab of the
User Permissions form), use this setting to create messages that work
for every user in the system.

Beneath the message area is a Choose list containing the list of all column titles
in the open form. You can use this list to add a field representing the column’s
current value into the text message.

[Link] LBI2000266 111 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

You can also use the Add Rule Number and Add Rule Description buttons to
add the automatically assigned rule number and the description you recorded to
the text message.

Use the If section to define the condition (or conditions) that will cause the
message to be displayed or sent (e.g., when a certain column receives a
specific value or range of values, or the result of a designated expression).

Note: If you want to condition the message on columns within a sub-level form,
you must be in the sub-level form before you open the Business Rules
Generator (columns in the upper-level form remain available as well).

In the first example, we’ll practice defining a warning message.

Example 1:

1. Enter the Purchase Orders form, retrieve an order, and enter its
sub-level Order Items.
2. Open the Design menu and click Business Rules Generator.
3. At the top, select Display warning.
4. Record the following text in the message area: “At least one item
in this Purchase Order has an Extended Price greater than 1000”
(see Figure 69).
5. In the If section, open the Choose list in the second text box and
select the Extended Price column title.
Tip: Type “E” to jump to the first column beginning with E.
6. Open the Choose list in the third text box and select is greater
than. In the additional text box that appears, type “1000”.
7. Flag the In All Companies option to make the current message
effective in all companies in the system.
8. Click OK to leave the Business Rules Generator.
9. To see the warning message, open a purchase order that includes
an item whose extended price is higher than 1000.

[Link] LBI2000266 112 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 69: Displaying a warning when an ordered item is too expensive

In the second example, we’ll practice setting up an automatic e-mail. This

particular message will be sent automatically to the purchase manager
whenever the due date of a purchase order is postponed.

Example 2:

1. From the Purchase Orders form, enter the Order Items sub-level
form and reopen the Business Rules Generator. Before the
generator opens, you will see a dialogue box that displays all of
the rules defined for the current form (in your case, the message
created in Example 1). Click New to create a new rule.
2. At the top, leave Send e-mail. Select user in the second text box,
and your own username in the third text box.
Note: For the purpose of testing your message, we will pretend
you are the purchase manager.
3. In the Description text box, type "Purchase Order Postponement".
4. Type the following in the Subject text box: “Purchase Order ”.
Click Add Field and select the Purchase Orders – Order column
title.
5. Type the following partial sentence in the message area:
“Regarding Purchase Order “. Click Add Field and select the
Purchase Orders – Order column title from the Choose list below
the text box. Now type a comma and continue “the due date of
order item”, then click Add Field and select the Part Number
column title. Then type “has been moved to”, click Add Field and

[Link] LBI2000266 113 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 select the Due Date column title. Finally, click Add Rule Number
and Add Rule Description. End the sentence with a period (see
Figure 70).
6. In the first line of the If section, open the Choose list in the second
text box and select the Due Date column title. Open the Choose list
in the third text box and select increases.
Note: “Increasing” the due date means that the previous date is
replaced with a later one.
7. To avoid triggering this message the first time you record a due
date, move to the second line of the If section and create a new
condition: Choose the previous value in the first text box, Due
Date in the second box, and is not blank in the third.

Figure 70: Sending an e-mail when the order due date is postponed

8. Click OK to leave the Business Rules Generator.

9. To test the e-mail message, return to the Purchase Orders form and
open an order that contains at least one line item (or retrieve an
existing order). Enter one of the lines and replace the due date with a
later date. When you see the “Sending automatic e-mail” message,
enter your inbox to see the e-mail you sent.

In the third example, we’ll practice defining an error message that is activated
when the value of one of the form columns (Start Date) exceeds a value that is
determined by a function expression (as opposed to a fixed value).

Example 3:

1. From the Sales Orders form, open the Business Rules Generator.

2. At the top, select Display error message.

[Link] LBI2000266 114 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 3. In the Description text box, type "Order Start Date".

4. Record the following text in the message area: “Work must begin
on the order by the end of the current week.”

5. In the If section, open the Choose list in the second text box and
select the Start Date column title.
Tip: Type “S” to jump to the first column beginning with S.

6. Open the Choose list in the third text box and select is greater
than. Place the cursor in the additional text box that appears and
click the function ( ) button that appears to the right of the box.

7. In the dialog box that opens, click Add Predefined Expression.

Select the start of next week expression. The corresponding
expression appears in the text box in this dialog box (see Figure
71). In the same text box, type " - 24:00" (indicating one day prior
- to the beginning of the next week). Click OK to exit the dialog
box. The function expression you defined now appears in the fourth
text box in the If section.

8. Click OK to leave the Business Rules Generator.

9. To see the error message, open a sales order with a Start Date that
falls a week from today.

Figure 71: The Business Rules Generator (illustration of the current example)

[Link] LBI2000266 115 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: The Business Rules Generator allows you to combine up to three
conditions that must all occur at the same time (the AND condition) in order to
trigger the message. If you want to create a message that is triggered by two
independent conditions (the OR condition), you must define two separate
messages. However, if your company also works in the Priority Rich interface,
and AND/OR conditions were defined in that interface, they will work in the
Windows interface as well.

Creating New Rules from Existing Ones

An easy way to create a new rule is to copy an existing one and revise it. Simply
select the desired rule in the List of Rules dialogue box (see Figure 72) and
click Copy. A duplicate of the selected rule will appear, which you can revise by
clicking the Edit button.

Figure 72: Business Rules Generator rules dialogue box

You can view all rules defined for the current form by clicking the Report button.

The Data Generator

The Data Generator functions in a similar manner to the Business Rules
Generator; however, instead of displaying or sending a message, the system
records a designated value in a particular form column after a specific field is
updated.

In the first example, we’ll practice updating a form column only if the specified
field is updated in the designated way.

Example 1:
1. From the Purchase Orders form, open the Data Generator (see
Figure 73).
2. Select the Date column title in the After updating text box, and
Details in the Set text box. In the as text box, record the words
“Happy Holiday!”.
3. In the first line of the If section, open the Choose list in the second
text box and select the Date column title.

[Link] LBI2000266 116 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 73: The Data Generator (illustration of the current example)
4. Open the Choose list in the third text box and select falls
between. In the two additional boxes that appear, right-click
each calendar and select any two dates.
5. Click OK to leave the Data Generator.
6. To test the new data, open a purchase order and change its date to
fall within the defined range. When you leave the Date column, the
Details column (in the Reference tab) will be filled in automatically
with the chosen expression.

In the second example, we’ll practice updating a form column using a function
expression rather than a fixed value.

Example 2:

1. From the Sales Orders form, enter the Order Items sub-level
form and open the Data Generator.

2. Select Part Number in the After updating text box, and Due
Date in the Set text box. Place the cursor in the as text box and
click the function ( ) button that appears to the right of the box.
3. In the dialog box that opens, click Add Predefined Expression.
Select the today expression to add the current date (without the
time) to the function expression. This expression appears in the
text box in this dialog box. In the same text box, type " + 5 * 24:00"
(indicating five days after the current date). Click OK to exit the
dialog box. The function expression you defined now appears in
the as text box (see Figure 74).
4. Click OK to leave the Data Generator.
5. To test the new data, open a sales order and add a new item to the
order. When you leave the Part Number column, the Due Date
column will be filled in automatically with the date that falls in five
days from now.

[Link] LBI2000266 117 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 74: The Data Generator (illustration of the current example)

The same rules and limitations that apply to the Valid For section of the
Business Rules Generator apply to this generator as well. Similarly, you can
duplicate and edit existing rules, and run a report displaying all data rules
defined for a given form (see previous section).

The Word Document Generator

The Word Document Generator allows you to produce an infinite variety of
Word documents that display form data and data for document printouts
(entities with the blue icon) usually sent to a customer or vendor, such as a
sales order confirmation. These template-based documents display only those
data fields that you want to appear, exported directly from the system via XML
tags.

Each XML tag represents a column from a specific Priority form. When such a
tag is implanted in a Word template, it can receive whatever value is currently
stored in that column. For example, the Document column tag will receive the
document number of the form record whose data are sent to the template.

Note: In order to use XML templates, you must have Microsoft Office 2013 or
higher installed on your workstation, and you must be authorized for document
design (in the Permissions tab of the User Permissions form).

There are two aspects involved in generating Word documents from system
data: creating a Word template and sending a specific form or document
printout record to the template to generate a document.

To create a Word template for data of a specific form:

1. Open the Priority form whose data you want to export. For our example,
we will use the Price Quotations for Customers form.

2. Open the Design menu and select Word Document Generator.

3. Record a name for the template in the New Template dialogue box.
Notes:

[Link] LBI2000266 118 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

  Flag the Read-only file option if you want this template to generate
Word files that users cannot revise.
 After the first template has been created for this form, the Design
Templates dialogue box opens, in which you can choose between
editing an existing template for the current report, or adding a new one.

4. Click OK. Word will open automatically, displaying an empty file bearing
the system name of the form for which the template has been created
(for example, in this case: [Link]).

5. Design the general layout of the document to conform to your company's

standards. For example, you might add your corporate logo in the
document header and contact information in the footer. This will provide a
visual frame of reference for your template.

6. The first time a template is opened in Word, make sure the Developer tab
is enabled; you will be primarily working with the tools in this tab.
Tip: To enable the Developer tab, select FILE > Options > Customize
Ribbon, and in the right pane, flag Developer under the Customize the
Ribbon list.

7. From the Developer tab, select XML Mapping Pane.

8. From the Custom XML Part list, choose the Priority form from which
you opened the Document Generator–in our example,
Price_Quotations_for_Customers (see Figure 75). The XML Mapping
Pane now displays a list of all form columns available to the template.
Below the upper-level form columns are the sub-level forms and all of
their columns (see below for more details).

Figure 75: Choosing the Priority form in the XML Mapping pane

9. To add a column from the upper-level form to the template, right-click the
column name, and choose Insert Content Control > Rich Text (see
Figure 76). The column now appears in the template as an XML tag.
Continue designing the template and adding columns as desired.

[Link] LBI2000266 119 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Note: Unlike in earlier versions of Priority, you should not add tags of
the names of any forms (upper- or sub-level) to the template, as that
could have adverse effects.

Figure 76: Adding XML tags to the template

10. To insert a column from a sub-level form of line items (e.g., Itemized
Quotation), it is recommended that you first create a table comprised of
two rows and the desired number of columns (using Word's built-in table
tools). In the first row, enter the column headings as you would like them
to appear and place the XML tags representing the sub-level form
columns in the second row. In the example below (see Figure 77), the
table displays a list of items included in the quote, including their part
number, description, quantity and price. Although the table in the
template only contains one row (besides the headings), when a given
document (in our example, a price quote) containing multiple rows is sent
to Word from Priority, the table will automatically grow to accommodate
them (e.g., if the sub-level form contains five rows, Word will add five
rows to the table in the final document).
Note: Use this table exclusively for columns from this sub-level form.

[Link] LBI2000266 120 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 77: A Word template design including sub-level tags

11. If you anticipate that the data in a particular form will cause the document
to spill over onto a second page, use a Section Break to create a new
page, then disable the Same as Previous option in its header. This will
restrict the company letterhead to the first page of the document.

12. Save the template.

Warning: Do not use Save As or change the template’s name.

Duplicating an XML Template

Once you have saved the template, you can duplicate and edit it, in order to
save a modified design under a different name. In this manner you can create
an infinite variety of templates for each Priority form or report.

To duplicate a template:

1. Open the Word Document Generator from the Priority form in

question. The Design Template dialogue box appears.

2. Select the desired template and click Copy.

[Link] LBI2000266 121 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

3. Record a name for the new template and click OK.

To edit the duplicated template:

1. Open the Word Document Generator. The Design Templates dialogue

box appears.

2. Select the new template and click Edit. The template will open in Word,
where you can modify it.

Exporting Data to Word

Once you have defined your template, you can use it to create printouts. For
example, to print a sales order:

1. Retrieve the record (or records) whose data you wish to export.

2. Open the form’s File menu and select Send Data to Microsoft Word.

3. Select the desired template in the Choose Template dialogue box and
choose one of the following options:
 Print: Prints the document without displaying it.
 Display: Opens the document in Word.
 Mail: Opens an e-mail message in the Compose Mail form with the
document as an attachment.
 Automatic Mail: Sends an e-mail to the designated contact with the
document as an attachment (without opening the Compose Mail
form).
 Automatic Fax: Faxes the document to the designated contact
(without opening the Compose Mail form).

4. Flag the All Displayed Records option to print, display or send all of the
records currently retrieved in the form (for example, if you retrieved all
price quotations opened on a particular date). Each record will appear on
a separate page.
Tip: You do not have to be in Multi-Record Display Mode for this option
to work.

5. Flag the Save as Attachment option if you want to attach the Word
document to the current record.

6. Flag the As PDF option to save the document as a PDF file and send it
as an e-mail attachment.

7. Click OK. A new document is created in Word, in which each XML tag is
replaced by its corresponding column value in the current form record. You
can now edit the document, if necessary, and print it out for your customer.
Note: If the template was flagged to create read-only files, the document
cannot be edited.

[Link] LBI2000266 122 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

To create a Word template for document printouts:

1. In the main menu, click the document printout for which you want to
design a template. For our example, we will use the Order Confirmation
document.

2. In the window that opens, click Design and then select Design Word
Template (see

3. Figure 78).

Figure 78: Choosing Design Word Template

4. Predefined templates have been defined in the system for many

documents, therefore, when clicking Design Word Template, you can
choose between editing an existing template for the document, or adding
a new template. To create a new template, click New.
Note: If you are not yet familiar with Word templates, it is recommended
to copy a predefined template and revise it as necessary (via the Edit
command).

5. Record a name for the template in the New Template dialogue box that
opens.
Notes:
- Flag the Read-only file option if you want this template to generate
Word files that users cannot revise.
- If there is no predefined format for the document, this dialogue box will
open automatically.

6. Click OK. Word will open automatically, displaying an empty file bearing
the system name of the document for which the template has been
created (such as: WWWSHOWORDER.P-127).

7. Design the general layout of the document to conform to your company's

standards. For example, you might add your corporate logo in the

[Link] LBI2000266 123 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 document header and contact information in the footer. This will provide a
visual frame of reference for your template.

8. The first time a template is opened in Word, make sure the Developer tab
is enabled; you will be primarily working with the tools in this tab.
Tip: To enable the Developer tab, select FILE > Options > Customize
Ribbon, and in the right pane, flag Developer under the Customize the
Ribbon list.

9. From the Developer tab, select XML Mapping Pane.

10. From the Custom XML Part list, choose the name of the document
printout from which you opened the Word template – in our example,
Order_Confirmation (see Figure 79). The XML Mapping Pane now
displays a list of all print formats available to the template.

Figure 79: Choosing the Priority document in the XML Mapping pane

11. Move to the desired format and click the triangle to expand it. To add a
column, right-click the column name, and choose Insert Content
Control > Rich Text (see Figure 80). The column now appears in the
template as an XML tag. Continue designing the template and add
columns as desired.

[Link] LBI2000266 124 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 80: Adding XML tags to the template

12. If you anticipate that the data in a particular form will cause the document
to spill over onto a second page, use a Section Break to create a new
page, then disable the Same as Previous option in its header. This will
restrict the company letterhead to the first page of the document.

13. Save the template.

Warning: Do not use Save As or change the template’s name.

Duplicating and editing an XML Template

Once you have saved the template, you can duplicate and edit it, in order to
save a modified design under a different name. In this manner you can create
an infinite variety of templates for each Priority document.

To duplicate a template:

1. Click the desired document printout from the main menu.

2. In the window that opens, click Design and then select Design Word
Template.

3. In the Design Templates dialogue box, select the desired template and
click Copy.

4. Record a name for the new template and click OK.

To edit the duplicated template:

1. Click the document printout.

2. In the window that opens, click Design and then select Design Word
Template.

[Link] LBI2000266 125 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

3. Select the new template and click Edit. The template will open in Word,
where you can modify it.

Exporting Document Data to a Word template

Once you have defined your template, whenever you print a document, after filling
in the input, you have the option of printing it via the template:

1. In the Print/Send Options dialogue box, select Template Document

and choose the desired template.

2. Click OK. A new document will be displayed in Word, will be sent by mail or
fax or will be printed (according to what you selected in the Print/Send
options).
Note: If you chose to display the document in Word and the template
was flagged to create read-only files, the document cannot be edited.

The Excel Report Generator

This feature allows you to create Excel templates that you can use to generate
reports based on data exported from Priority forms and reports.

To design a template for form data:

1. Open the form whose data you want to export and retrieve any record.

2. Open the Design menu and select the Excel Report Generator.

3. Record a name for the template in the New Template dialogue box (see
Figure 81).
Note: After the first template has been created for this form, the Design
Templates dialogue box opens, in which you can choose between
editing an existing template for the current form, or adding a new one.

Figure 81: Creating a new Excel template from a form

4. Click OK. Excel will open automatically, displaying the data from the
current form record in an .xlt file bearing the system name of the form for
which the template has been created (for example, in this case: CPROF-
[Link]).

[Link] LBI2000266 126 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

5. Use the formatting tools in Excel to design the spreadsheet exactly as
you want it (e.g., change fonts, add text, hide columns).

6. Use Excel’s PivotTable and PivotChart options to create the desired

graphic presentation of your data.

7. Save the template.

Warning: Do not use Save As or change its name; also, do not change
the name of the .xls sheet called DataSheet, where the Priority data is
stored, and do not perform any changes to it that are not design-oriented
(for example, deleting columns, defining expressions). Such changes
should be made in a new sheet, where they will be preserved.

To design a template for report data:

1. Locate the report in the Priority menu. Right-click the report title and
select Design Excel Templates.

2. Record a name for the template in the New Template dialogue box.
Note: After the first template has been created for this report, the Design
Templates dialogue box opens, in which you can choose between
editing an existing template for the current form, or adding a new one.

3. Click OK. The report’s input screens will appear, as you will now be
running a new report. Continue running the report.

4. The results of the report will appear in an .xlt file bearing the system
name of the report for which the template has been created (for example,
SALES_MONTH-[Link]).

5. Use the formatting tools in Excel to design the spreadsheet exactly as

you want it (e.g., change fonts, add text, hide columns).

6. Use Excel’s PivotTable and PivotChart options to create the desired

graphic presentation of your data.

7. Save the template.

Warning: Do not use Save As or change its name; also, do not change
the name of the .xls sheet called DataSheet, where the Priority data is
stored, and do not perform any changes to it that are not design-oriented
(for example, deleting columns, defining expressions). Such changes
should be made in a new sheet, where they will be preserved.

Once you have saved the template, you can duplicate and edit it, in order to
save a modified design under a different name. In this manner you can create
an infinite variety of templates for each Priority form or report.

To duplicate a template:

1. For a form, open the generator from the form’s Design menu; for a report,
right-click its title in the menu and select Design Excel Templates.

[Link] LBI2000266 127 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

2. In the Design Templates dialogue box, select the template you want to
duplicate and click Copy.

3. Record a name for the new template. The template will open in Excel,
where you can modify it.

To export data to Excel:

1. For a form, retrieve the desired record, open the form’s File menu and
select Send Data to Microsoft Excel; for a report, run the report,
selecting the New and Send to Excel options.

2. Select the desired template in the Choose Template dialogue box. To

create a regular Excel document, select No Template.

3. A new spreadsheet opens in Excel, which you can now edit and print out
for your customer.

The Label Generator

This feature allows you to create labels from a given form, using data that is
taken automatically from designated form columns. The Label Generator
program automatically populates the Label Preparation Work Area form with
values from the designated form and/or its upper-level forms. Labels that are
prepared in this fashion can then be edited in the Label Preparation Work
Area and/or printed.

Note: In order to make full use of these features, you must have a label printer
and label printing program, such as CodeSoft or BarTender, installed on your
computer (for details, see the Help for the Print Labels program, located at the
following menu path: Inventory  Label Printing).

Designing Labels for a Form

Use the Label Generator form and its sub-level to design a label for any form,
based on the values of the designated form columns. When the Label
Generator is run from that form, each variable will be populated automatically
with the value of the linked form column.

In the following example, we’ll practice designing a label for sold parts.

Example:

1. Enter the Label Generator form and retrieve the Order Items
form.
2. Select "Parts" as the Type of Label and indicate the Quantity of
Labels to be prepared for each order item.
3. Move to the Label Parameters sub-level form.

[Link] LBI2000266 128 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 4. In the line for the first Parameter, select "Part Number" as the
Form Column.
5. Move to the next line and select "Unit Price" as the Form
Column to be linked to the second Parameter.
6. In the third line, flag the Upper-level Form Col column in order to
link the third parameter to a column that appears in the upper-
level Sales Orders form and then select "Order" as the Form
Column.
7. Do the same in the fourth line, and select "Date" as the Form
Column.

Creating Labels Using the Label Generator

Once you have designed a label for a given form, you can use it to generate an
unlimited number of labels from individual form records. When a label is designed
for a sub-level form (as in the above example), you can choose between preparing
labels for the record on which the cursor is located and preparing them for all
displayed records in the sub-level form. You can also choose between editing the
label data in the Label Preparation Work Area or printing the labels immediately.

Example:

1. In the Sales Orders form, retrieve the order for which you wish to
create labels and move to the Order Items sub-level form.

2. Open the form’s Design menu and select the Label Generator.
3. In the dialogue box that opens, select the desired label type.

Figure 82: Creating a new label from a form

4. Flag the All Displayed Records option to create labels for all of
the records currently retrieved in the form (all items in the current
order).
5. Flag the Print Labels option to print labels immediately.
6. Click OK. The new labels are loaded into the Label Preparation
Work Area, in which each variable is populated by its
corresponding column value in the designated form records, and
they are printed immediately.

[Link] LBI2000266 129 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

The Letter Generator
This feature allows you to produce an infinite variety of pre-formatted letters
which can be sent to customers, vendors and contacts, based on data fields
taken from the relevant Priority forms. You can also include one or more
attachments with each letter. After creating the letter, you can print it or send it
via e-mail to a designated third party (or group).

In the following example, we’ll practice designing and creating a letter to send to
customers.

Example:

1. Enter the Letter Generator form and move to a blank line.

2. Record a Letter Name (e.g., "Rewards Program Invitation").

3. In the Create Letters Using column, choose the appropriate
program (e.g., "Letter to Customer").
4. Enter the Remarks sub-level form to design the letter (see Figure
83).
5. Record the following text in the message area: “Dear ”. Click the
button on the form's Toolbar to access a list of column titles
and choose the Customer Name column.
6. Press Enter to move to a new line and record the desired text.

7. Use the button and accompanying text to design a signature.

For example:
"Kind regards, "
Title, User Name " - " Position
"E-mail: " E-mail
"Phone: " Phone Number ", " Cell Phone

[Link] LBI2000266 130 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 83: The Letter Generator

8. To send the letter to one or more customers, run the Letter to

Customer program (CRM  Customers  Customer
Reports).
Note: You can also retrieve the desired customer in the
Customers form and run the Letter to Customer program by
direct activation.

Similarly, you can design and create letters to vendors and contacts.

Advanced Data Retrieval and Input

In the first Data Retrieval section (p. 39) you practiced retrieving records by
means of column values and wildcards (the asterisk and the question mark).
You also learned how easy it is to execute complex queries with built-in sorting
of results using the Query Generator. The following sections describe more
advanced methods of honing your query.

Note: All of the following examples refer to an upper-level form (Currencies).

While you generally don’t need to retrieve records in a sub-level (all records are
retrieved automatically), you can execute a query there to limit the records
displayed.

The AND Condition

Among the capabilities of the Query Generator is to specify multiple conditions
in a single query. You can achieve the same result in Query mode by simply
specifying values in more than one form column.

Example:

To retrieve any currency whose exchange rate is 1 and whose smallest unit is
cents, take the following steps (remember to press F11 to enter Query mode):

1. Enter the Currencies form.

2. Type 1 in the Exchange Rate column.

3. Type Cents (or C*) in the Subdivision column.

4. Press Enter to execute the query.

The above is considered an AND condition. You have asked to retrieve any
record whose exchange rate is 1 and whose smallest subdivision is cents.

Whenever you use an AND condition, remember to specify all query conditions
in the various columns before executing the query.

[Link] LBI2000266 131 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

The OR Condition
One function that is not supported by the Query Generator is to specify more
than one query condition in the same column. This method is used when you
want to retrieve all records that fill any of a set of query conditions.

Example:

To retrieve the records for both U.S. Dollars and Euros, perform the
following actions:

1. In Query mode, in the Curr column, type $ (or select it from the
Choose list).

2. Return to Query mode without executing the query. The dollar

sign that you just typed in will disappear, but it is held in memory.

3. In the Curr column, type EUR (or select it from the Choose list).

4. Execute the query (press Enter).

The above is considered an OR condition. You have asked to retrieve any

record whose currency code is either $ or EUR (the result, of course, is two
separate records).

You can also use an OR condition by specifying query conditions in more than
one column.

Example:

To retrieve any currency whose code is EUR or whose exchange rate is 1,

do the following:

1. In Query mode, type EUR in the Curr column.

2. Return to Query mode without executing the query.

3. In the Exchange Rate column, type 1.

4. Execute the query.

In sum, whenever you want to use an OR condition, remember to:

1. Designate the first query condition (be sure you do so in Query mode).

2. Return to Query mode without executing the query.

3. Designate the next query condition.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 as many times as necessary.

5. Execute the query.

[Link] LBI2000266 132 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Multiple Conditions Enclosed in Brackets
You will recall that query conditions are case sensitive. What, then, do you do
when you want to retrieve all records having a given value, but are not sure if
the string is in capitals or lowercase letters?

The solution is to enclose the possible characters (e.g., D and d) inside a pair of
vertical lines || (in most keyboards, the vertical line is accessed by pressing
Shift+\). Any record that meets either of these conditions will be retrieved (just
like an OR condition). This feature is available both in Query mode and in the
Query Generator.

Example:
Type |Dd|ollars. You will retrieve the record for Dollars, regardless of
whether it begins with a capital or lowercase letter.

You can use the same method to retrieve several records simultaneously.

Examples:
 Type |DF|*. You will retrieve all records that begin either with
the letter D or the letter F (e.g., Dollars, French Francs).
 Type *|sn|. You will retrieve any currency whose name ends
either in s or in n (e.g., Dollars, Yen).

The above examples placed only two characters between the pair of vertical
lines. You can, however, specify as many characters between the lines as you
wish. If the characters in question are sequential, you can specify the first and
last ones, separated by a hyphen, to represent the entire range.

Example:
Type |D-J|*. You will retrieve all records that begin with the letters D to J
inclusive (e.g., Deutsche Marks, French Francs, Italian Liras).

Backslash Delimiter
If you want to record a query condition with a string that includes one of the
wildcards (*,?, |) as an actual character, use the backslash “\” as a delimiter.
This feature is available both in Query mode and in the Query Generator.

Note: The following examples are hypothetical. They will not produce results in
the Currencies form.

Examples:
 To retrieve a record with the value of “A*” in its field, type A\*.
 To retrieve “ABC?”, type ABC\?.
 To retrieve “ABC|”, type ABC\|.
 To retrieve all records that contain an asterisk, type *\**.
Note: The two outer asterisks serve as wildcards.

[Link] LBI2000266 133 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Retrieving Null Values
You will recall that the Query Generator allows you to retrieve null values by
combining an equal sign with an empty column value. Alternatively, you can
enter Query mode and type NULL in the appropriate column.

Example:
Move to the Subdivision column of the Currencies form and type NULL.
You will retrieve the Price Index record (which has no value in this column).

Note: You can only type NULL in a column of String type.

Using Operators
In a column requiring a numerical value (e.g., real number, integer, date, time),
you can use operators to specify an exact value or a range of values.

For your convenience, you can choose the desired operator by clicking on the
button that appears to the right of the column in question (see Figure 84).
Operators can only be accessed from an odd line (Ln 1, Ln 3, etc.). Specify the
query condition on the following even line.

Figure 84: The list of operators

There are three ways to tell whether you are on an odd or even line:
 The line number appears in the Status Bar.
 “Operator” appears at the far right of the Status Bar on an odd line,
whereas the column type appears there on an even line.

[Link] LBI2000266 134 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 The button that appears on an odd line includes a list of operators.
The same button appearing on an even line accesses a Choose or
Search list (see pp. 24-26).

Note: You can also use operators with strings.

Example:

1. Move to the Curr column.

2. By selecting “>“ from the list of operators and typing PS in the

second line, you can retrieve any currencies whose code is
“greater than” PS (e.g., SEK, XEU).

Note: You can use several operators together to obtain, for instance, values
greater than X and less than Y. In this case, you need to use one set of odd and
even lines to define the X condition, and another set of lines to define the Y
condition (see Figure 85). However, this result is much easier to achieve using
the Value and To Value columns in the Query Generator.

Figure 85: Retrieving records by a range of dates

Advanced Sorting of Retrieved Records

As we have seen, the Query Generator allows you to presort your query results
within the definition of the query itself. The same functionality is also available
outside the generator, though without the benefit of saving your conditions for
future queries.

The system enables you to sort by several columns at once, ranking them in
order of importance. The column with the highest priority (the lowest integer) will
be sorted first (primary sort), data in the column with the next priority will be
sorted next (secondary sort), and so on. To sort by more than one column at a
time, sort conditions are set before retrieving the data records.

In order to sort by more than one column, you must prioritize the sort. The order
in which the columns are sorted is specified by a number, i.e., 1 = the primary
sort, 2 = the secondary sort, 3 = the tertiary sort, and so forth. The type of sort is
determined by the line in which the sort is specified; ascending sorts are

[Link] LBI2000266 135 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

specified in the first form line, descending sorts in the third. This is best
explained by an example.

Example:

To sort currencies by exchange rate (descending primary sort) and then by

name (ascending secondary sort), take the following steps (see Figure 86):

1. Enter Query mode.

2. Place the cursor in the Curr column, and type * (to indicate that
you intend to retrieve all records; this is the query condition)

3. Move to the Exchange Rates column.

4. Move the cursor down to the third line in the form (to obtain a
descending sort by exchange rates).

5. Type 1 in the column (to indicate that this is the primary sort).

6. Now move to the Currency Name column.

7. Move the cursor up to the first line in the form (to obtain an
ascending sort by name).

8. Type 2 (to indicate that this is the secondary sort).

9. Execute the query.

Figure 86: An illustration of the above example

Consequently, all records will be displayed by the following criteria:

 The currency with the highest exchange rate will be displayed in the top
form row, followed by all other currencies in descending order of their
exchange rates (this is the prime Exchange Rates descending sort).
 Wherever there is an instance of two currencies having an identical
exchange rate, they will be listed in ascending alphabetical order (this is
the Currency Name sort).

[Link] LBI2000266 136 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

In sum, remember the following rules when sorting records by more than one
column:
 Use integers to designate sort priority (1 for the primary sort, 2 for the
secondary sort, and so on).
 Designate sort priority on Ln 1 to obtain an ascending sort; use Ln 3 to
yield a descending sort.
 Do not forget to specify one or more query conditions, together with the
sort criteria.
 Do not execute the query until you have recorded all query conditions
and all sort priorities.

Note: When specifying retrieval criteria (i.e., query conditions) in a multi-column

sort, the Retrieve All Records icon on the form’s Toolbar button is not
effective. Query conditions must be specified in the form columns. To retrieve all
records, use the * wildcard.

Efficient Use of Queries

The number of records in the database varies from one table to the next. For
instance, the Currencies table is unlikely to contain more than a dozen records,
whereas the Chart of Accounts is apt to hold a large amount.

When the number of records in a certain table is small (less than 100), the time
needed to retrieve the records from the database is extremely short, even when
all records are being retrieved.

When the number of records in a table is relatively large, it is recommended that

you try to execute efficient queries that will cut down on retrieval time. For
instance, instead of retrieving all records, try to limit the number being retrieved
(e.g., with the help of wildcards).

A highly efficient technique is to designate the beginning of a name or

description followed by a wildcard. In contrast, retrieval by a wildcard followed
by the end of a name or description is extremely slow, as it requires the system
to search through all the records in the table in order to find those which meet
the query conditions.

Think of a regional telephone book. If you know the last name of the person
whose number you are seeking, you can generally limit the search to one or two
pages. Even if you only know the first two letters of the last name, you can
probably narrow down your search to about 50 pages. But if you only know the
last five letters in the person’s last name, you would have to search through
every single entry in the phone book!!

Examples:
 Suppose you wish to retrieve all expense accounts from the
Chart of Accounts that begin with the number 6 and end with

[Link] LBI2000266 137 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 the suffix “-99”. An efficient query would be 6*, whereas *-99
would yield a long search for records.
 If the description of all expense accounts begins with the word
“Expense”, you can designate an efficient query: Expense*.
However, if some other string sometimes precedes the word
“Expense”, you would need to designate an inefficient query
(*Expense*), which would take a long time. In that case, it
would be wiser to find some other criteria with which to retrieve
the accounts (e.g., their number, as in the previous example).

An inefficient query in a large table requires a massive database search. When

that happens, you will receive a warning or error message (depending on
whether or not your system manager has decided to permit massive searches).
If possible, change the retrieval query and try again. If problems are
encountered, ask your system manager for assistance.

Note: The greater the number of records in a table, the more important it is to
perform efficient queries and the slower the retrieval time for inefficient queries.

Enterprise Search
Enterprise Search is a powerful tool that provides full text search for all
documents and attached files in the system.

Figure 87: The Enterprise Search tool

Notes:
 Enterprise Search must be purchased in a separate module.
 Before using this tool, your system manager must set up and maintain an up-
to-date search index (for details, see the online help for the Enterprise
Search sub-menu, located at the following menu path: System Management
 System Maintenance).

[Link] LBI2000266 138 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Performing a Search
To perform a search, do one of the following:
 Select the Run Enterprise Search command from the Tools menu.
 Press Ctrl+Alt+R.
 Click the Enterprise Search icon on the Toolbar.

Note: When working in a system form, this tool can be accessed either from the
Tools menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+R.

To perform a basic search, type one or more descriptive search terms in the
Search bar and click Search. Search terms can include operators (e.g., AND,
OR, NOT), as well as quotation marks (when searching for an exact phrase).
You can also use advanced search criteria to include these operators or to filter
search results by properties such as document type or customer number, and
indicate how search results should be displayed. When you are done defining
search criteria, click Search.

Example:

You wish to search for tasks opened for a specific customer that contain the
words "meeting" or "compliance", either in the task itself or in one of its
attachments. To do so, take the following steps:

1. Select the Run Enterprise Search command. The Enterprise

Search window opens.

2. In the Search bar, type in "meeting OR compliance" (without the

quotation marks), and then click Advanced Search.

Figure 88: Performing an advanced search

[Link] LBI2000266 139 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 3. Move to the Document Type column and choose "Task" to search for
tasks that contain the specified terms.

4. Move to the Customer column, click the drop-down arrow to open a

Search list, and then choose the desired customer.

5. Move to the Year column and choose "2011", then move to the Month
column and choose "January" to search for tasks that were opened for
January 2011.

6. In the Results Per Page column, choose "10".

7. Select All to search for the designated terms in either the task itself or
any of its attachments.

8. Click Search.

9. The first 10 search results are displayed. Click any of the numbers at
the bottom of the page to see more results.

Viewing Search Results

After performing a search, the Enterprise Search window displays information
about the most relevant results that were found (Figure 89).

Figure 89: Viewing search results

[Link] LBI2000266 140 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

The first line of any search result is the title of the document. Click the title to
reach that document (e.g., a specific task in the Tasks form). Below the title is a
description of the document (e.g., Task 489,062), followed by details such as
the date when the document was last modified and the relevant
customer/vendor number (including a link to the customer/vendor record) and
the file name of the document or attachment in question (including a link to the
relevant file). An excerpt of text from the document also appears, displaying
your search terms in bold.

Refining the Search

If you do not see the document you are looking for in the results, you may want to
refine your search. For example, if you initially chose to restrict your search to a
specific type of document, you can click Remove Filters to repeat the search
without this filter in place. Alternatively, you can revise the terms in the Search
bar and perform a new search, or click Advanced Search to modify the filters to
be used when performing the search.

[Link] LBI2000266 141 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Mail

Introduction
The Priority mail facility includes e-mail, intranet capabilities (communication
between system users) and text messages.

In order to make full use of these features, you must have an e-mail client such
as MS-Outlook installed on your computer, or have a Gmail account, and a text
message account and provider for text messaging. Intranet capabilities alone,
however, can be implemented via the network. (Obviously, any user working on
stand-alone will not have intranet communication.)

The various mail features can be accessed in a number of ways:

 From the Mail menu on the main Menu Bar, or from the Mail menu on
the Menu Bar of any form.
 From Toolbar buttons on the main Toolbar.
 From the Mail menu accessed from the Office Management module.

Note: Some features are not available at all of the above locations.

The following sections explain:

 Account configuration
 Composing and sending outgoing messages
 Receiving and replying to incoming messages.

[Link] LBI2000266 142 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Configuring Your Mail Account
Mail Options
You can set up mail to use Outlook, Gmail, or other email servers. Priority will
use the mail service that was most recently defined. For example, if the mail
setup program last run was for Gmail, messages will be sent and received using
Gmail.

Setting Up Mail Using MS-Outlook

Open the Mail menu on the main Menu Bar and select Mail Options 
Outlook  Mail Options. This opens the Check for Mail Messages dialogue
box (Figure 90).

Figure 90: Check for Mail Messages dialogue box

If you do not want any automatic checking or notification of new/unread mail,

simply flag the Don’t check messages option. When this option is chosen, you
can check for new messages manually.

If you do want automatic notification, choose between the following options:

 Check for new messages at the specified interval.
 Check for unread messages at the specified interval.

Don’t forget to specify the desired interval (15 minutes appears by default).

In the next section of the dialogue box, set the following options:

[Link] LBI2000266 143 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Decide whether you want the system to check for mail immediately upon
logging in. This may be inconvenient if you are in a rush to log in.
 If you opted for notification of new or unread mail, you can decide
whether you want the notification message to appear on top of all open
windows on your desktop, or to flash briefly in the taskbar at the bottom
of your screen (the taskbar button opens into the message when you
click on it).

In addition to or instead of automatic checking, you can check for mail manually
at any time. To do so, do one of the following:
 Click the Mailbox icon on the main Toolbar. If there is any new mail it
will appear in the Mailbox form.
 Run the Check for New Messages program from the Mail menu on the
Menu Bar.
 If you are in a form, you can select either the Mailbox or the Check for
New Messages item in the form’s Mail menu.

Appointment Reminders
Another feature of the mail system that you can set in this dialogue box is the
automatic generation of mail messages warning you of impending appointments
you have scheduled in your Calendar.

To activate this feature, flag the Check my calendar option and specify the
amount of advance notice you want (in hours).

External Mailbox
The mail utility enables you to receive external e-mail in your Mailbox. If you
run MS-Outlook, you can transfer any messages received in that Inbox to your
internal mailbox. To activate this option, flag the Retrieve e-mail messages too
option. To save these messages in your external inbox (even after they were
read), flag the Leave messages option as well.

In addition, the system allows you to avoid pop-up messages that are sent by
Outlook to prevent viruses from spreading. To do so, flag the Without Outlook
security messages option. This is particularly useful when you are sending the
same message to hundreds of external addresses.

Customer/Vendor Tasks
In addition, you can flag the Record e-mail as customer/vendor tasks option
in this dialogue box to have each e-mail that you send to or receive from a
customer or vendor recorded in the system as a marketing task, retrievable in
the Tasks form.

[Link] LBI2000266 144 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Note: Depending on how the system is set up, this option may be disabled for
all users in your user group or for all users in the system. Ask your system
manager to change the MAILCRM system constant if you need access to this
option.

Setting Up Mail Using Gmail

Open the Mail menu on the main Menu Bar and select Mail Options  Gmail
 Mail Options.

Note: This same program, called Mail Options for Gmail is also accessible
from Office Management > Mail > Gmail Mail Options/Calendar Sync.

A browser window will open asking you to allow Priority to access your Gmail
account. After clicking Allow, a window will open with an access code to your
account. Copy the access code to your clipboard and return to the dialogue box
in Priority (see Figure 91).

Figure 91: Set up mail using the Gmail dialogue box

Note: If you are not connected to your Gmail account on your workstation, you
will be prompted to login before beginning.

In order to access your Gmail account, paste the access code that you copied
in the previous step into the Google Access Code column. Also define the
following settings:

 Flag the Record Email as Task option to have each e-mail that you send to
a customer or vendor recorded in the system as a marketing task,
retrievable in the Tasks form.

Note: Depending on how the system is set up, this option may be disabled for
all users in your user group or for all users in the system. Ask your system
manager to change the MAILCRM system constant if you need access to this
option.

 Flag the Send Test Message option in order to have the system send a test
message to the defined Gmail account.

[Link] LBI2000266 145 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Sending Mail Using Other Servers
Priority provides the option of sending mail using an SMTP server (e.g.,
Hotmail or Yahoo) rather than MS-Outlook or Gmail. To do so:

1. Run the program Mail Options for Other Servers from the Mail menu
(Office Management  Mail  Mail Options for Other Servers).

2. In the Parameter Input dialogue box, fill in the necessary definitions (see
Figure 92).

Figure 92: Set up mail using other servers

From now on, all the user’s external mail will be sent using the defined server.

Other E-mail Server Definitions

It is important to define whether you want to receive your internal mail solely in
your Priority mailbox, solely in your external Inbox (e.g. MS-Outlook), or in
both. These settings may only be performed by authorized users. To do so,
they should perform the following for all employees that wish to use external
mail:

1. To be performed by an employee with appropriate Human Resources

permissions: Enter the personnel file in question (Human Resources 
Personnel File), click the Address & Phone tab and make sure that the
correct external e-mail address is recorded in the E-mail column.

2. To be performed by the system manager: Retrieve the record in question

from the User Permissions form (System Management -> System
Maintenance -> Users), and record one of the following values in the
Redirect E-mail column:
 Leave the column blank to use your mailbox exclusively.
 Select E to route your internal mail to your external inbox.
 Select B to receive your internal mail in both mailboxes.

[Link] LBI2000266 146 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

E-Documents
E-documents are digitally signed documents (e.g., invoices and receipts) that
are sent to designated customers (which have given approval for such) via e-
mail, instead of printing and mailing them. Priority allows you to send digitally
signed documents. Before you can send them, you must purchase a signing
key from an authorized company. After you have purchased the key, run the
Set Up PDF Document Signature program (Office Management  Mail). In
the Parameter Input dialogue box, record the name and password of the PFX
file that was purchased, or the certificate's serial number and password. From
now on, documents will be sent by the system with digital signatures.

To automatically send digitally signed documents (using defined mail settings):

 In the Financ. Parameters for Customers form, flag the Receives e-
Documents column for the relevant customers.

Note: When sending a digitally signed PDF file, the file will be saved in the
Attachments sub-level form of the relevant invoice.

Skype
Besides e-mail, Priority provides access to Skype.

To contact a third party from within a form, do one of the following:

 Click the Skype ( )button on the form Toolbar.
 Select the Skype command from the Tools menu on the Menu Bar of
any form.
 Move the cursor to any form column containing an e-mail address, phone
number or the identifying code of a company or individual (see below),
right-click (or press the Menu key) and select Skype.

Select the Skype command from a telephone or e-mail field in any form to make
a phone call using Skype.

Alternatively, you can associate a Skype ID with a specific company or

individual in the Set Up Skype sub-level of any of the following forms: Sales
Representatives, Customers, Customer Contacts, Leads, Contacts,
Vendor Contacts, Vendors, Personnel File. Subsequently, you can select the
Skype command from the field containing that company or individual's
identifying code in any Priority form.

Incoming Mail
Use the Mailbox form to read your mail messages. This is equivalent to the
Inbox designation used in most e-mail applications.

[Link] LBI2000266 147 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

The Mailbox form (Figure 93) may be accessed in several ways:
 Click the button on the main Toolbar.
 Select the Mailbox command from the Mail menu on the main Menu Bar.
 Select the Mailbox command from the Mail menu on the Menu Bar of
any form.
 Use the menu path: Office Management  Mail.

In addition, this form opens automatically whenever you authorize the pop-up
message that notifies you of incoming mail.

Figure 93: The Mailbox form

All items that have not been flagged as read are automatically retrieved whenever
the Mailbox form is opened. The most recent item appears first. Press PgDn to
scroll to any additional items (or press F4 to view all records together).

The subject of the message appears in the Topic column. The message itself is
viewed in the sub-level form, Message.

Other pertinent information regarding received mail is displayed in the

remainder of the Mailbox form columns, e.g., the sender, the time, date and
day of the week the message was sent, and so forth. If the mail was sent to all
members of a group, the group will be displayed as well. (On defining groups,
see p. 73.)

Once you have read an incoming message, flag the Was Read column (in the
General tab). If you do not, the system will continue notifying you of incoming
mail until you flag the column or delete the message.

Printing Received Mail

If you wish to print a given message, move to the record in question in the
Mailbox form. Then run the Print Message report by direct activation.

Opening Attachments
If your mail includes an attachment, an icon representing the file type will
appear next to the title First Attachment, and a check mark will appear in the
Attachments column.

To view the first attachment, simply click the First Attachment icon.

[Link] LBI2000266 148 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

To view any additional attachments, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Attachments sub-level. Each attached file is displayed in a

separate line of the form.

2. Move to the line representing the desired attachment.

3. Click the icon representing the attached file that appears to the right of
the Attachments sub-level form.

Alternatively, you can open the attachment using the Run Application feature.
This automatically runs the application associated with the file and opens the
file. The feature can be activated in one of two ways:
 Click the Run Application icon on the form’s Toolbar.
 Select the Run Application command from the Tools menu on the
form’s Menu Bar.

Saving Attachments
To save an attached file to a location in your hard disk or network, do one of the
following:

1. Right-click the file icon (in either the upper- or lower-level form) and
select the Save As command.

2. Run the Save As program by direct activation from the Attachments

sub-level form.

Note: You may want to use the Save As function to save the file and open it
later from your computer.

Forwarding Messages
You can forward a received mail message to a third party by doing the
following:

1. Enter the Forward Mail sub-level of the Mailbox form.

2. Specify the mail recipient (e.g., by username, external e-mail address;

see p. 152 for details).

3. Record any desired remarks in the Message sub-level of the Forward

Mail form.

4. Return to the Forward Mail form and run the Send Mail program by
direct activation.

[Link] LBI2000266 149 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Replying to Mail Messages
There are two sub-level forms in which you can reply to received mail:
 Reply to Mail – the topic of the original message appears in the reply.
 Reply (Copy Original Message) – in addition, the original message is
included in the body of the reply.

In both cases, the mechanism for replying to mail is identical:

1. Open the desired sub-level form.

2. A new message will be created, which you can later retrieve in the
Compose Mail form. By default, the sender appears in the form as the
designated recipient and the topic of the original message appears in the
Topic column, preceded by “RE:”. However, both addressee and topic
can be revised. You can also designate a third-party recipient in the
Send Copies to: sub-level form.

3. Open the next sub-level form, Message, and compose your reply.

4. Once you have finished writing your response, close the Message form.

5. If you want to include an attachment, use the Attachments sub-level

form (see p. 153 for details).

6. Return to the reply form and click either Send Mail or Send Mail &
Delete on the Direct Activations bar.

Note: You can also delete the reply by directly activating the Delete Message
program from within the reply form.

Viewing Old Mail

As mentioned earlier, the Mailbox form opens and automatically retrieves all
unread mail. However, you can also use Query mode or the Query Generator to
find specific messages.

Example:

To view all mail received today:

1. Enter the Mailbox form and enter Query mode (press F11).

2. Press the minus key (-) in the Date column to retrieve today’s
date.

3. Press Enter. All mail you received today will be retrieved. You
can now scroll through the records by pressing PgDn/PgUp, or
press F4 to view them all together.

[Link] LBI2000266 150 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 4. Enter the Message sub-level form to view the contents of each
message.

Deleting Old Mail

Your system manager may periodically delete your old received items (e.g.,
anything dated more than a month ago may be deleted in a batch). You may,
however, have old mail that you need to save. If that is the case, flag the Block
Delete column of the Mailbox form for this particular message. No one will be
able to delete this record until the flag is removed.

If you want, you can delete a batch of your old received items yourself. To do
so, take the following steps:

1. Run the Empty Own Mailbox program, accessed from the Mail menu in
the Office Management module.

2. Select Received Mail from the pop-up menu.

3. Specify the Date until which to delete all incoming mail, and click OK.

Any message received on or before that date will be erased. (Of course, any
record flagged in the Block Delete column will not be affected.)

You can also delete individual received items yourself, by clicking Delete
Message on the Direct Activations bar of the Mailbox form.

Outgoing Messages
There are several options for sending mail messages:

 Sending single mail messages to individual system users (an intranet

utility).

 Sending single messages to individuals who are not system users (i.e.,
via their Internet address).

 Sending an identical message to all members of a group.

 Sending a text message to system or non-system users.

In all of the above cases, you can also send a copy (cc:) or hidden copy (Bcc:)
of the message to a third party (or group).

The steps for sending messages to an individual user and to a group are
virtually identical:

1. Composing the message.

2. Designating the recipient(s).

3. Sending the message.

[Link] LBI2000266 151 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Composing Messages
Use the Compose Mail form to write outgoing messages (see Figure 94). This
form may be accessed in several ways:
 Click the Compose Mail icon on the main Toolbar.
 Select the Compose Mail command from the Mail menu on the main
Menu Bar.
 Select the Compose Mail command from the Mail menu on the Menu
Bar of any form.
 Click the E-mail button next to the E-mail Address column in any
form in which it appears. The address of the new message is filled in
automatically.
 Use the menu path: Office Management  Mail.

To compose an outgoing message:

1. Type the subject of your message in the highlighted Subject column.

Alternatively, if the message is short, you can record it here. The date
and time of the message appear automatically in the Date column.

2. Use the Message sub-level form to write your outgoing message. This
form uses the HTML Text Editor (see p. 56).

Figure 94: The Compose Mail form

Tip: You can copy an entity name, a link to the entity or its menu path by right-
clicking the entity in the menu. You can then paste the results (Ctrl+V) directly
into your mail message.

Addressing the Mail

Return to the Compose Mail form and indicate the recipient of the message:
 If the addressee is a system user (intranet), select the correct username
from the Choose list in the To User column.
 If the recipient is a customer or vendor, record its number and e-mail
address in the To Customer or To Vendor tab, respectively.

[Link] LBI2000266 152 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 If the recipient is not a system user, customer or vendor, fill in the E-mail
Address column. You can use the Search list if the person in question
appears in the Contacts form (see p. 156).
 To send the message to an entire group, click the To Group tab and
designate its name in the Group Name column. (On defining groups, see
p. 73.)
 To send the message as a text message, flag the Text Message column
in the General tab.
 To send copies of the message to a third party, enter the Send Copies
to: sub-level form and indicate the party’s username, e-mail address or
group name (whichever is appropriate). In the To/Cc/Bcc column, use
the Choose list to select the appropriate sending mode.

Note: When sending text messages, if the recipient’s cell phone number is not
recorded in the Contacts form, you can record it in the E-Mail Address column
instead.

Creating an Attachment
You can attach any file (e.g., a Word document) to a mail message. To add an
attachment, proceed as follows:

1. Enter the Attachments sub-level form.

2. Use one of the following methods to locate the desired file:

 Use the Browse button in the Attachments form.
 Click the Browse icon on the form’s Toolbar.
 Select the Browse command from the Tools menu on the form’s Menu
Bar.

3. Click Open or press Enter. The full path of the attached file will now be
displayed in the Attachments form.

To attach another file, move to the next line in the Attachments form and
repeat the process.

Sending Mail
Once you’re ready to send the message, return to the Compose Mail form and
do one of the following:
 Click Send Mail on the Direct Activations Bar. A check mark will appear
in the Sent column.
 Click Send Mail & Delete instead, to delete the message from the
Compose Mail form as soon as it is sent.

[Link] LBI2000266 153 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

If you forget to send a message, you will be notified when you try to exit the
form. You can find the unsent message as follows:

1. Enter Multi-Record Display Mode (press F4).

2. Enter Query mode and type a minus sign in the Date column. Today’s
date will appear. Press Enter.

3. Look for a message with no check mark in the Sent column.

4. Send the message by direct activation.

Sending Record Links

When working in any of the system’s forms, you can send a mail message that
links to the record currently displayed.

To send the current record:

1. Do one of the following:

 Click the Mail menu in the form’s Menu Bar and select the Send
Record Link command.
 Press Ctrl+S.

2. The Compose Mail form will open, with the name of the form and the
record’s identifying number as the subject. The same information,
including the link itself, appears in the Message sub-level form.

3. Send the message by direct activation.

Note: When using mail services other than MS Outlook, ask your system
manager to change the GMAIL system constant so that it will enable recipients
to open the attached link.

Sending Task Links to Participants

When working in task forms, you can also send a mail message to all task
participants that links to the task currently displayed.

To send the current task to participants:

1. Do one of the following:

 Click the Mail menu in the form’s Menu Bar and select the Send Link
to Participants command.
 Press Ctrl+O.

2. The Compose Mail form will open, with the task’s Subject and
identifying number as the subject. The same information, including the
link itself and any text recorded for the task in the Notes sub-level form,

[Link] LBI2000266 154 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 appears in the Message sub-level form. The message is addressed
automatically to all participants defined for the task.

3. Send the message by direct activation.

Viewing Old Outgoing Mail

You can view any messages you have composed (and not deleted) by entering
Query mode and retrieving them.

Example:

To view all mail you have sent to a particular user:

1. Enter the Compose Mail form.

2. Enter Query mode (press F11).

3. Select the user’s name from the Choose list in the To User
column.

4. Press Enter. All mail you have addressed to this user will be
retrieved. You can now scroll through the records by pressing
PgDn/PgUp, or enter Multi-Record Display Mode to view them
all together.

5. Enter the Message sub-level form to view the contents of each

message.

Printing Outgoing Mail

If you wish to print a given outgoing message:

1. Retrieve the message in the Compose Mail form.

2. Click Print Message on the Direct Activations Bar.

Deleting Old Outgoing Mail

Your system manager may periodically delete your old outgoing items (e.g.,
anything dated more than a month ago may be deleted in a batch). You may,
however, have old mail that you need to save. If that is the case, flag the Block
Deletion column of the Compose Mail form for this particular message. No one
will be able to delete this record until the flag is removed.

If you want, you can delete a batch of old outgoing messages yourself. To do
so, take the following steps:

1. Run the Empty Own Mailbox program, accessed from the Mail menu in
the Office Management module.

2. Select Sent Mail from the pop-up menu.

[Link] LBI2000266 155 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

3. Indicate the date up to which to delete mail and click OK. Any message
composed on or before that date will be erased. (Of course, any record
flagged in the Block Deletion column will not be affected.)

Creating E-mail Lists via the Contacts Form

The Contacts form in the Office Management module can be used to list
persons with whom you maintain contact via Internet mail (i.e., non-system
users). Although it is mainly used for recording a variety of phone numbers, it
can also be used for e-mail addresses. By storing these addresses here, you
will be able to retrieve them quickly from a Search list whenever necessary (i.e.,
in any E-mail Address column).

Note: There is no need to record e-mail addresses for system users (anyone
appearing in the List of Users form), as mail is sent to them directly by
username.

[Link] LBI2000266 156 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Priority on Outlook

Running Priority on Outlook

Introduction
With the proper license and setup, you can run Priority seamlessly on MS-
Outlook by means of a variety of dashboards.

All parts of the dashboard are fully interactive. For example, you can navigate
the menus, activate forms and display report data in various cross-sections.

For details on designing and using dashboards, see p. 90.

Note: Before you can begin, your system manager must install the Priority on
Outlook module. For detailed instructions, see the Priority installation guide
appropriate to your system. You can download this document from the
Downloads section of the Customer Zone on the Priority web site, at:
[Link]

Choosing the Dashboards to Display in Outlook

1. Run the Priority on Outlook program, accessed from the Priority on
Outlook menu in the Office Management module.

2. Click the Dashboards tab and flag each dashboard that you want to be
available in Outlook (see Figure 95).

3. Click the BI Reports tab and flag each report that you want to be available
in Outlook.

4. Click the CRM tab and flag each item you want to include in Outlook.

Note: Every user is permitted to choose the screens that will be displayed in
his/her personal Outlook. This choice does not affect the display of any other
user in the system or the dashboards that are available in Priority menus.

[Link] LBI2000266 157 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 95: Selecting dashboards

Displaying the Dashboard

1. Enter Outlook and click the Shortcuts icon in the navigation window to
the left, or press Ctrl+7.
Tip: Shortcuts to the dashboards and BI reports that you chose appear
under the titles Priority Dashboards and Priority BI Reports,
respectively. If the symbol + appears to the right of one of these titles,
click the symbol in order to display the shortcuts.

2. Click on one of the dashboards in the list. The dashboard will be

displayed in the main area of the screen (see Figure 96).
Note: The first time you work with Priority on Outlook, click on the User
Dashboard and make sure the User Definitions window is visible. Use it
to set up the data you will be viewing (e.g., to select a company).

3. In order to move from the upper to the lower part of the screen, use the
vertical navigation bar to the right.

Tip: In order to display the dashboards in a wider window, press Alt+F1 to

close the navigation window to the left of the screen. To restore the navigation
window, press Alt+F1 again.

[Link] LBI2000266 158 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Figure 96: Displaying a dashboard

[Link] LBI2000266 159 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Appendices
Appendix A: Keys and Functions
Key Function Key Function
Basic Keys Edit Keys (cont.)
Enter Execute + Empty field: Default value
Move to next column Filled field: Increase value
Next date/hour
Esc Exit/cancel
- Empty field: Default value
Ctrl+Enter OR Open new line Filled field: Decrease value
Ctrl+F4 Previous date/hour
Ctrl+Del Delete record Ctrl+F3 Search
F7 Clear the line (record) F3 Search again
F2 Form: Scroll/edit mode Ctrl+F9 Store into buffer
Menu: Open design tool
F9 Retrieve from buffer
F4 Full/multiple record display
Shift Expand column
Navigational Keys
Left-click form Sort data by values in this column
Tab Move to next column column title
Shift+Tab Move to previous column Right-click Calculate column total (sum values)
form column
Shift+ Move to next tab
title
Shift+ Move to previous tab
Ctrl+F8 Calculate column total (sum values)
Alt+ Move to next sub-level up to current line

Alt+ Move to previous sub-level Action Keys

PgUp Previous record/page F11 Move to Query mode (query/clear

form)
PgDn Next record/page
Shift+F11 Run Query Generator
Home Edit mode: First char. in column
Scroll mode: First field/column Ctrl+0 Run the Query Generator’s default
query
Ctrl+Home Move to first record
Ctrl+1-9 Run up to nine saved form queries
End Edit mode: last char. in column
Scroll mode: Last field/column F12 Enter default sub-level

Ctrl+End Move to last record Ctrl+F12 Enter default sub-level, but do not
retrieve records (if text form, enter in
Ctrl+G Go to line read-only mode)
Ctrl+F2 Change writing direction F5 Choose sub-level form
Edit Keys Shift+F5 Choose sub-level form, but do not
Ins Replace/insert retrieve records (if text form, enter in
read-only mode)
Del Edit mode: Delete current character
Ctrl+F5 Choose a Direct Activation
Backspace Delete previous character
Ctrl+Alt+R Run Enterprise search
Ctrl+C Copy
Ctrl+Alt+E Search for entity (form, report,
Ctrl+V Paste program)
F8 Copy the target value Ctrl+F11 Update screen (refresh)
F10 Copy field from previous record Alt+0-9 Run up to ten saved macros
Ctrl+Z Undo Ctrl+S Send record link – create mail
message with current record link

[Link] LBI2000266 160 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Key Function Key Function
Action Keys (cont.) More Keys
Ctrl+O Send link to participants – create mail F1 Column help in form/input screen
message, addressed to all task
participants, with current record link Ctrl+F1 Form help

Ctrl+Alt+T Access to do list F6 OR Space Choose; search; activate form; select

key in blank date
Ctrl+Alt+F Organize fields column
Ctrl+Alt+I Import file Ctrl+F6 Skip Choose list and go directly to
search
Menu ( ) Access context-sensitive menu
OR right-click Shift+F6 Open Explorer
in form Report input: Open date calendar
Shift+Mouse Select sequential Choose list items
Ctrl+Mouse Select non-sequential Choose list
items

Date Calendar Date/Time Calendar

Key Function Key Function
 (right) Move up one day  (up) Move up one hour/minute
 (left) Move back one day  (down) Move back one hour/minute
 (down) Move up one week / Access minutes
 (up) Move back one week
PgUp Move up one month
PgDn Move back one month
Enter Select displayed date
Esc Exit calendar

Appendix B: Right Mouse Button Menu (Menus)

The following commands appear in a pop-up menu accessed by clicking the
right mouse button from a menu entity (menu, form, report, program).

Help: View help text for the current entity.

Online Help: Accesses documentation from the Priority web site.

Design Menu/Report: Open the Design Tool (active only for menus and
reports).

Design Excel Templates: Create templates from which to generate MS-Excel

spreadsheets that display report data (active only for reports).

Copy: Copies the entity name to a Windows clipboard.

Copy Shortcut: Copies the entity name with a hyperlink to the clipboard.

[Link] LBI2000266 161 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Copy Path: Copies the menu path that accesses the entity to the clipboard.

Add Document File: Include an external file (e.g., an MS-Word document) in

the menu.

Delete Document File: Remove this external file from the menu.

Add User-Defined Report: Include a customized report, designed by a user, in

the menu.

Delete User-Defined Report: Remove this customized report from the menu.

Appendix C: Main Menu Bar

File
Select Company: Choose a different company.

Print Setup: Select printer.

Define Multiple Companies: Select companies for multi-company forms and

consolidated reports.

Who Am I?: Display current user.

Change Password: Change your own user password.

User Signature: Customize your default comment and document printout

formats.

Exit: Exit the system.

Favorites
Insert Item: Add selected item to personal menu.

Delete Item: Delete item from personal menu.

Set as Main Menu: Set personal menu as your opening (Main) menu.

Click on entities to open forms, activate programs, run reports.

Mail
Compose Mail: Open form to compose outgoing mail message.

Mailbox: Open mailbox (inbox) to view/reply to incoming mail messages.

Check for New Messages: Check for new and/or unread mail in mailbox.

To Do List: View a list of assigned tasks. (Alternately, press Ctrl+Alt+T.)

To Do List History: View a history of assigned tasks.

[Link] LBI2000266 162 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Tracking List: View a list of documents that you are currently tracking.

Bulletin Board: View the latest postings on your company’s Bulletin Board.

Mail Options: Choose the user's mail service and define relevant mail settings.

 Outlook: Set up Priority to use Outlook.

o Mail Options: Configure automatic notification of new/unread mail

and appointment reminders.

o Synchronize with Outlook: Set up and run interface between

Priority and MS-Outlook.

o Priority on Outlook: Run the program by which you define the

Dashboards to display in MS-Outlook.

 Gmail: Set up Priority to use Gmail.

o Mail Settings: Set up e-mail with Gmail.

o Calendar Sync Options: Define settings for synchronizing your

Priority and Gmail calendars.

o Synchronize Calendars: Synchronize your Priority and Gmail

calendars now.

 Other Servers: Set up Priority to use an SMTP server.

Tools
Run Enterprise Search: Perform full text search in system documents and
attachments.

Search for Entity: Search by keyword for form/report/program and then run it.

Run Entity (Advanced): Advanced method for running applications

(programmers only).

Options
Toolbar: Enable/disable display of menu Toolbar.

Appearance: Design background, buttons and fonts for the menu screen.

Set Language: Switch to a different language (provided dictionaries are

available).

Design Menu: Determine the order in which entities appear in the menu.

Help
Help Wizards: Find, display and print individual help wizards.

[Link] LBI2000266 163 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

User Interface Guide: Access this Guide.

Keys and Functions: Access the table of keys to use (see Appendix A).

Priority Software on the Web: Direct access to the Priority web site
([Link]

Online Support: Access to the Customer Zone on the Priority web site.

Priority Software’s Information Center: Open your personal inbox for

messages from the Priority Software Information Center.

About Priority: System version and registration details.

Appendix D: Menu Toolbar

Choose a different company.

Open form to compose outgoing mail message.

Open mailbox (inbox) to view/reply to incoming mail messages.

View your to-do list of assigned tasks.

View the latest postings on your company’s Bulletin Board.

Search by keyword for form/report/program and then run it.

Perform full text search in system documents and attachments.

Switch to a different language (provided dictionaries are available).

Design background, buttons and fonts for the menu screen.

Find, display and print individual help wizards.

Appendix E: Form Menu Bar

File
Print Setup: Select printer.

Send Data to Microsoft Excel: Transfer displayed data to Excel file.

Send Data to Microsoft Word: Transfer displayed data to predefined Word

template.

Print To File: Print contents of form to file.

Exit: Exit all open forms (upper-level and sub-levels).

[Link] LBI2000266 164 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

View
Style: Applies to all forms. Select a predefined combination of form and tab
background colors.

General (applies to all forms, in both Full-Record and Multi-Record Display

modes):

 Form Background Color: Select from an RGB color chart.

 Tab Background Color: Select from an RGB color chart. This control also
determines the color of the Sub-level Bar.

 Highlight Mandatory/ReadOnly: Highlight titles of mandatory columns

(red) and read-only columns (gray).

 View Images: Enable/disable view of an image attached to the form, or of

the program icon representing an attached file (e.g., MS-Word, MS-Excel).

 Full/Multi-Record: This control only affects the form in which you are
working. Toggle between full display of all columns in a single record (Full-
Record Display Mode) and display of multiple records (Multi-Record Display
Mode).

Bars (applies to the current form – with the exception of the background color –
and remains in effect after the form is closed):

 Background Color: Affects all of the following bars as well as the Menu
Bar in all forms. Select a background color from an RGB color chart.

 Toolbar: Enable/disable display of form Toolbar in the current form.

 Direct Activation Bar: Enable/disable display of forms, reports and/or

programs that can be directly activated from the current form.

 Navigation Bar: Enable/disable display of Navigation Bar in the current

form.

 Status Bar: Enable/disable display of Status Bar in the current form.

 Sub-level Bar: Enable/disable display of the current form’s Sub-level Bar,

without affecting the Sub-level Bar in sub-level forms.

Full Record Forms (applies to all forms that appear in Full-Record Display
Mode):

 Underline Fields: Connect column titles with their fields with an extended
underscore.

 Sunken Fields: Create a more three-dimensional appearance.

 Tab Position: Align the tab block to the left, right or center.

[Link] LBI2000266 165 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Set Font Size: Warning messages will indicate when the font size is too
large to accommodate a given title. In such a case, the column in question
will not be displayed.

Multi Record Forms (applies to all forms that appear in Multi-Record Display
Mode):

 Titles

 Background Color: Select from an RGB color chart.

 Raised: Create a more three-dimensional appearance in column titles.

 Grid: Enable/disable display of gridlines between records.

 Font: Affects column values only. Open a dialogue box featuring the
following parameters: font, style, size, effects, color and script. To alter the
font settings of column titles, see p. 15.

 Restore Column Widths: Affects the current form only. Undo changes in
column width performed manually (by dragging).

Record Color:

 Define Record Color: Determine the color of record values for this form,
when a given field displays a predefined value or falls within a defined
range of values.

 Show Current Record Colors: Display the existing color options defined
for the fields in this form.

Favorites
Click on entities to open forms, activate programs, run reports.

Mail
Compose Mail: Open form to compose outgoing mail message.

Mailbox: Open mailbox (inbox) to view/reply to incoming mail messages.

Check for New Messages: Check for new and/or unread mail in mailbox.

Send Record Link: Open an e-mail that includes a link to the record currently
displayed.

Send Link to Participants: Open an e-mail addressed to all task participants

that includes a link to the task currently displayed.

To Do List: View a list of assigned tasks. (Alternately, press Ctrl+Alt+T.)

To Do List History: View a history of assigned tasks.

[Link] LBI2000266 166 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Tracking List: View a list of documents that you are currently tracking.

Bulletin Board: View the latest postings on your company’s Bulletin Board.

Exchange Data: Transmit the current form data via the Priority Data Exchange.

XML File: Prepare an XML file containing the current form data.

Track Document: Start tracking the current document. When certain changes
are made to the document, you will receive e-mail notification. Tracked
documents may be retrieved in the Tracking List form.

Stop Tracking: Stop tracking the current document (once you have flagged it
for tracking).

Edit
New Line: Open new line beneath cursor.

Clear Field: Delete all characters in current field.

Clear Line: Clear (hide) current line (does not remove record from database).

Clear Form: Clear form of all records, remaining in Data Entry mode (does not
remove records from database).

Copy Field: Clear anything currently in the field where cursor rests and copy to
it the contents of the same field in the record directly above.

Copy: Copy text to Windows clipboard.

Paste: Paste text from Windows clipboard.

Copy Record Link: Copy link to current record into Windows clipboard.

Copy External Record Link: Copy Priority Lite-compatible link to current

record into Windows clipboard.

Copy Target Value: Copy contents of field in target form back into original form.

Store into Buffer: Store contents of field in which cursor rests into a buffer.

Retrieve from Buffer: Insert content stored in designated buffer into field in
which cursor rests.

Undo: Replace original text in current field, provided that cursor has not left line.

Replace/Insert: Toggle between Replace (overwrite) and Insert modes.

Scroll/Edit: Toggle between Scroll (move between columns) and Edit (move
within column) modes.

[Link] LBI2000266 167 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Expand: Temporarily expand width of field in which cursor rests, so that data is
fully displayed.

Expand and Set: Expand width of field in which cursor rests, and leave column
fully open until the root form is exited.

Change Direction: Move cursor from right to left (rather than left to right).

Default Value: Fill in default value (e.g., current date).

Store Records: Store all records in current form into buffer.

Retrieve Records: Retrieve all records stored in buffer and insert them in
default sub-level form.

Database
Query: Move into Query mode.

Execute Query: Execute query (if one has been stipulated) and move to Data
Entry mode.

Retrieve All Records: Retrieve all records in form, placing you in Data Entry
mode.

Query Generator: Define, save and run custom queries for the current form.

Define Multiple Companies: Select companies for multi-company forms and

consolidated reports.

Sum Values: Total all values in column, from top of form to cursor, provided
column type is Integer or Real (total appears in message window).

Delete Record: Remove record from database.

Direct Activations: Open menu of forms, reports and/or programs that can be
activated from within the current form.

Refresh: Update data displayed in form, based on recent updates in database

table (updates generally result from changes made by another user after you
retrieved data into form).

Design
Business Rules Generator: Set up error, warning, e-mail or text messages
that are triggered automatically when certain conditions are met.

Data Generator: Set up changes to the data recorded in the current form that
are triggered automatically when certain conditions are met.

Query Generator: Define, save and run custom queries for the current form.

[Link] LBI2000266 168 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Label Generator: Create labels for the current form, using customized label
types.

Organize Fields: Hide, rename and rearrange the form’s tabs and columns.

Organize Direct Activations: Determine the order in which direct activation

options appear above the form.

Organize Sub-levels: Determine the order in which sub-level forms appear as

tabs underneath the form.

Excel Report Generator: Create templates from which to generate MS-Excel

spreadsheets that display form data.

Word Document Generator: Design MS-Word templates from which to

generate Word documents that display form data.

Tools
BI Reports: View a list of BI reports relevant to the form, which you can run in
order to analyze data related to the current record.

Browse: Open window from which to select a file; chosen filename will be
copied into field in which cursor rests (often used in conjunction with Run
Application). For example, this option can be used to specify the location of a
mail attachment when composing a message.

Run Application: Run external application, provided proper command appears

in column in which cursor currently rests. For instance, this can be used to open
a mail attachment.

Skype: Use Skype to dial a phone number, or access a Skype account via e-
mail.
Text Editor: Grayed out in systems using HTML-formatted text.

Calculator: Opens the Windows calculator.

Map:

Run Enterprise Search: Perform full text search in system documents and
attachments.

Search for Entity: Search by keyword for form/report/program and then run it.

Run Entity (Advanced): Advanced method for running applications

(programmers only).

Macros
Select a Macro: Choose and run macro (sequence of keystrokes and/or mouse
actions); assign hotkey to macro.

Start Definition: Begin defining new macro.

[Link] LBI2000266 169 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

End Definition: Select after you have finished defining macro.

Navigation
Sub-levels: Access menu of sub-level forms.

Default Sub-level: Open default sub-level form.

Goto Line: Move cursor to designated line; indicate line number in pop-up
window.

Search: Search for given pattern.

Search Again: Search for next instance of pattern defined during last search.

Up Level: Move from current sub-level to its upper-level form.

Help
Help Wizards: Find, display and print individual help wizards.

User Interface Guide: Access this Guide.

Keys and Functions: Access the table of keys to use (see Appendix A).

Priority Software on the Web: Direct access to the Priority web site
([Link]

Online Support: Access to the Customer Zone on the Priority web site.

Priority Software’s Information Center: Open your personal inbox for

messages from the Priority Software Information Center.

About Priority: System version and registration details.

Appendix F: Form Toolbar

Execute the saved query that appears in the adjacent drop-down list.

Run the Query Generator.

Move into Query mode.

In Query mode: Execute the current query.

In Data Entry mode: Execute the Query Generator’s default query.

Retrieve all records in form, placing you in Data Entry mode.

Toggle between full display of all columns in a single record (Full-Record

Display Mode) and display of multiple records (Multi-Record Display Mode).

Open menu of forms, reports and/or programs that can be activated from
within the current form (Direct Activations).
[Link] LBI2000266 170 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20
 Copy contents of field in target form back into original form (copy target
value).

Browse, i.e., open window from which to select a file; chosen filename will
be copied into field in which cursor rests. Often used in conjunction with
Run Application. For example, this option can be used to specify the
location of a mail attachment when composing a message.

Run external application, provided proper command appears in column in

which cursor currently rests. For instance, this can be used to open a mail
attachment.

Use Skype to dial a phone number, or access a Skype account via e-mail.

Copy link to current record into Windows clipboard.

Text Editor (grayed out in systems using HTML-formatted text).

Copy text to Windows clipboard.

Paste text from Windows clipboard.

Clear anything currently in the field where cursor rests and copy to it the
contents of the same field in the record directly above.

Search for given pattern.

Search again for next instance of pattern defined during last search.

Go to designated line; indicate line number in pop-up window.

Perform full text search in system documents and attachments.

Replace original text in current field, provided that cursor has not left line
(undo).

Open new line beneath cursor.

Clear (hide) current line (does not remove record from database).

Delete record from database.

Temporarily expand width of field in which cursor rests, so that data is fully
displayed.

Total all values in column, from top of form to cursor, provided column type
is Integer or Real (total appears in message window).

View help text for current form.

[Link] LBI2000266 171 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 View help text for column on which cursor rests.

Execute macros.

Appendix G: Text Editor Toolbar

Set Text Color (Alt+O)

Cut (Ctrl+X)

Copy (Ctrl+C)

Paste (Ctrl+V)

Bold (Ctrl+B)

Italics (Ctrl+I)

Underline (Ctrl+U)

Increase Font Size (Ctrl++)

Decrease Font Size (Ctrl+-)

Undo (Ctrl+Z)

Align Left (Alt+L)

Align Center (Alt+C)

Align Right (Alt+R)

Numbering (Alt+N)

Bullets (Alt+B)

Decrease Indent (Alt+<)

Increase Indent (Alt+>)

Horizontal Line (Alt+H)

Hyperlink (Alt+Y)

[Link] LBI2000266 172 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

 Picture (Alt+P)

Add a Comment (Alt+A)

Spelling (Alt+S)

Save (Ctrl+S)

Appendix H: Right Mouse Button Menu (Forms)

The following commands appear in a pop-up menu accessed by clicking the
right mouse button from within the form column.

BI Reports: View a list of BI reports relevant to the highlighted column, which

you can run in order to analyze data related to the column’s value.

Store into Buffer: Store contents of field in which cursor rests into a buffer.

Retrieve from Buffer: Insert content stored in designated buffer into field in
which cursor rests.

Copy Field: Clear anything currently in the field where cursor rests and copy to
it the contents of the same field in the record directly above.

Copy: Copy text to Windows clipboard.

Paste: Paste text from Windows clipboard.

Copy Record Link: Copy link to current record into Windows clipboard.

Copy External Record Link: Copy Priority Lite-compatible link to current

record into Windows clipboard.

Default Value: Fill in default value (e.g., current date).

Expand: Temporarily expand width of field in which cursor rests, so that data is
fully displayed.

Expand and Set: Expand width of field in which cursor rests, and leave column
fully open until the root form is exited.

Sort: Select once to sort column values by ascending order; select again to sort
by descending order.

Clear Field: Delete all characters in current field.

Clear Line: Clear (hide) current line (does not remove record from database).

Delete Record: Remove record from database.

Help: Displays the on-line column help text.

[Link] LBI2000266 173 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20

Skype: Use Skype to dial a phone number, or access a Skype account via e-
mail.

Organize Fields: Hide, rename and rearrange the form’s tabs and columns.

Organize Direct Activations: Determine the order in which direct activation

options appear above the form.

Organize Sub-levels: Determine the order in which sub-level forms appear as

tabs underneath the form.

Excel Report Generator: Create templates from which to generate MS-Excel

spreadsheets that display form data.

Word Document Generator: Design MS-Word templates from which to

generate Word documents that display form data.

Restore Column Widths: Undo changes in column width performed manually

(by dragging) in Multi-Record Display Mode.

Define Record Color: Determine the color of record values for this form, when
a given field displays a predefined value or falls within a defined range of
values.

Show Current Record Colors: Display the color options which have been set
for the fields in this form.

Track Document: Start tracking the current document. When certain changes
are made to the document, you will receive e-mail notification. Tracked
documents may be retrieved in the Tracking List form.

Stop Tracking: Stop tracking the current document (once you have flagged it
for tracking).

[Link] LBI2000266 174 Ver.01 – Apr. 20,'20