Web Client Pages—Exercises

Main Exercise

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to show you how to work with a web client page and the data it contains. We will use the Persons page, which is used for handling data about persons in the system.

Windows:
Employee Competency Assessment

Populate a Page with Data

Purpose: All data (about Employee Competency Assessment) is stored in the database. This exercise shows how you can retrieve this data into the page, and subsequently start working with it. This time we will retrieve all the data in the database.

1. Browse to the Employee Competency Assessments page. This page displays data about competency assessments for employees in the system. We want to see all competency records for all employees.
2. Click Find. You have now entered the Find mode of this page.
3. Click OK to populate the page.
4. You will now see the data that was retrieved, displayed in a table.

Note You will use this page for the rest of the exercise.

Query the Database to Populate the Page

Purpose: When populating a page, we are often not interested in all the data in the database. We can then create a query, asking only for data that matches our search criteria.

1. Enter the Find mode by clicking Find.
2. We now want to retrieve records for a particular employee. In the Employee ID textbox, enter the required employee ID or select from the List of Values.
3. Click OK. View the Employee ID column to see that you only retrieved records of desired employee.
4. If the query does not return any records (the page is empty), repeat steps 2 and 3, using another employee.

Note Fields with a green dot beside them are more suitable for searching, they will give better results for the query. Fields with a gray dot beside them are not recommended for searching.

Query the Database Using Wild Cards

Purpose: The wild card is a powerful tool to retrieve data that does not match a precise search criteria.

1. Enter the Find mode. This time we want to find all employees whose name begin with A, for example, Adam.
2. In the Employee Name field, enter A%. The % value matches everything, so we are saying, "Find everything that begins with an A, followed by any value."
3. Click OK. View the Employee Name column to verify that only records containing names that begin with an A were retrieved.
4. If the query does not return any records, try another character or query.

Query the Database Using Non-Case Sensitive Searches

Purpose: Entering a% instead of A% in the previous query would result in different data retrieval. The queries differs between upper and lower case. If you're not sure which case records use,  you can do searches which ignore case when retrieving records.

1. Enter the Find mode and clear the Case sensitive search check box. This means that the query will retrieve both upper and lower case characters.
2. Enter a% in the Employee Name field and click OK.
3. If you retrieved any records, all records with names beginning with either A or a will be included.
4. Repeat step 2, but enter A% and clear the Case sensitive search check box. The result should be same as the previous query.

Note: Case sensitive searches can be done more quickly than those that do not specify case, since you quickly eliminate records that do not match the case of the query.

Count the Results from a Query

Purpose: This time we want to see how many records our query will retrieve before we actually retrieve the records. This could be helpful in deciding whether or not you should narrow your search first.

1. Enter the Find mode.
2. Enter A% in the Employee Name field.
3. Click Count.
4. A line of text under the saved query section will indicate how many records this query will retrieve.
5. Click OK to retrieve the records.

Single and Multi-row Modes

1. Populate the page. You should now have table filled with data.
2. Each line has a row number to the left. Click any of these numbers.
3. You have now entered single row mode, where you can see each record (row) of data in more detail. Click the arrows at the left end of the command bar to browse among the records.
4. Click Overview in the command bar to return to the multi-row (table) mode.

Note: Operations that should be performed on just one row are located in the pop up menu in the multi-row mode. However, in single row mode, these operations can be found in the command bar, since you're only viewing one row (record) at a time.

Sorting the Multi-row Table

1. Populate the page in multi-row mode. Each column in this mode has a header label at the top, which can be clicked.
2. Click Employee Name. The rows in the table is now sorted by the values in this column.
3. Click the same label again, the table is sorted again by the values in this column, but in reverse order. 

Create a New Employee Competency Assessment Record

Purpose: This exercise will show you how to create a new record.

1. Click New in command bar. You have now entered the new record mode.
2. Enter suitable data in all the fields.
3. Use the List of Values in the Employee ID field to select a Employee ID.
4. Click Save & Return. The record has now been saved in the database.
5. If the page was empty when you clicked New, the page will only show this new record. To see all records, just populate the page.

Edit a Record

Purpose: This exercise will show you how to change the name on the new record we just created.

1. If the records are displayed in multi-row mode, click the triangle next to the row number to access the pop-up menu, then click Edit.
2. If the records are shown in single row mode, browse to the record we just created. Click Edit in the command bar.
3. You can now edit the record. Change the name in the Employee Name field, then click Save & Return. You have now saved your changes in the database.

Delete a record

Purpose: This exercise will show you how to delete a record.

1. If the records are displayed in multi-row mode, use the pop-up menu for the record and click Delete.
2. If the records are shown in single row mode, browse to the record and click Delete in the command bar.