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Tab Controls

One or more tab controls are present on many windows in Simple Accounting. Essentially they work like the pages in a book: when you select a tab, the contents of that page comes to the front of the screen while the other ‘pages’ move to the back. You select a page by clicking on its tab. In [tooltip slug="browse-box"]browse boxes[/tooltip] selecting a tab changes the order of the displayed records, and also enables (or disables) various screen buttons.

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Browse Box

This is a window which lets you scroll through records in a data file. All data files, including transactions are accessed through a browse box. The window usually includes vertical and horizontal scrollbars to help you navigate as well other buttons at the bottom which activate functions attached to the Browse Box such as Inserting, Changing and Deleting records. When you need to look up a value to enter in a data field, a browse box will pop up to help you select the record you need. In that case a Select button will appear to the left of the window to confirm your choice and paste the selected record into the data field. Records are displayed in either alphabetical order, or according to their Tab (if it is a tabbed browse). You can search for records by typing the first few characters or by pressing the [Find] button, if available. You can also move through the list of records using the [tooltip slug="scroll-bars"]scroll bars[/tooltip].

Two Types

There are two types of browse boxes Page Loaded and File Loaded. Each looks the same; the main difference being in how you use the scroll bars:

• Page loaded browse boxes are used for files with a lot of records, such as Sales Orders and Customers. These use a fixed thumb which means that the thumb (square 3D box in the middle of the scroll bar) remains in the center of the scroll bar. Click your mouse above the thumb to scoll up one page of records. Click your mouse below the thumb to scoll down one page of records. Drag the thumb to the top or bottom of the scroll bar to scroll the top or bottom of the file.
• File Loaded browse boxes usually contain a small number of records and use a movable thumb, so that records move along smoothly as you drag the thumb. Examples of a File Loaded browse boxes include the Units of Measure and Ship Via browses.

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Locator

In a [tooltip slug="browse-box"]browse box[/tooltip], records can be instantly sorted and filtered using a Locator. The Locator is a data entry field at the top right of the browse box. You can think of the Locator as a Filter. When you type something into the Locator field, it displays only records which match. Now what this value is matched with can be selected simply by clicking on any column heading. So: if you wish to list all Customers which start with the letter A, simply click the Name column, then type the letter A in the Locator field and press <Tab>.

Special Keystrokes

There are several keystrokes which are active in the browse to make the Locator even more useful.

• Ctrl-L instantly jumps to the Locator field.
• Ctrl-Shift-L clears the Locator and restores the sort to it’s default order.
• Ctrl-Shift-R places the value of the currently selected row into the Locator based on the sort column.

Since some browses (Customers, Contacts) use a separate [tooltip slug="search-name"]Search Name[/tooltip] field to order records, the browse display may not always be in strict alphabetical order.

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Scroll Bars

Scroll bars appear at the bottom and on the right-hand sides of a [tooltip slug="browse-box"]browse box[/tooltip]. A scroll bar allows you to quickly move left to right or up or down in the browse. Moving left to right selects different columns (fields) in the browse. Moving a vertical scroll bar up or down moves the list of records up or down.

Most browse boxes in Simple Accounting are Page Loaded and use what is known as a fixed thumb vertical scroll bar. That is, the thumb (square 3D box in the middle of the scroll bar) remains in the center of the scroll bar. Click your mouse above the thumb to scoll up one page of records. Click your mouse below the thumb to scoll down one page of records. Drag the thumb to the top or bottom of the scroll bar to scroll the top or bottom of the file.

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Note Taker

This is a data entry field which acts like a mini-word processor with complete word wrap and cut/paste functions. It is used to edit free form text.

Since the Note Taker behaves like a word processor, you cannot leave a Note Taker using the <Tab> or <Enter> keys. You must switch to another control using a keyboard shortcut or the mouse instead.

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Field Memory

On many data entry windows, you can press <Ctrl/M> to duplicate the value of a field entered into the last record.