Tag: user interface (UI)

You can find items in a Cradle database by running a query. For example, you can use the pre-defined queries in the Quick Access Bar at the bottom of the UI. Once the query has run, the results are shown in a display style. Tree style is one of the four styles available:

• List style
• Table style
• Document style
• Tree style

A view is used to specify which parts (attributes) of the items will be shown. A display style controls how these attributes will be displayed, and the facilities that are available to you.

Tree Style

This is the second most frequently-used of the display styles after table style. It displays each item as a node in a tree, with a set of columns for the other attributes:

There are two views used to display trees:

• A view that specifies the contents of the node shown in the tree. You specify this view in the schema for the item type.
• A view that specifies the attributes shown in columns to the right of the tree

To have items displayed in this style:

• Specify it in the query to be run:

• Also, select it from the Context group in the Home tab:

• Or, right click and choose Style -> Tree from the context-sensitive menu
• Finally, press <CTRL> and 4

Facilities

• Use the left mouse button to select individual items
• You can select a groups of items by selecting the first and then pressing <SHIFT> and the left mouse button to select the end of the group
• Press <CTRL> and the left mouse button to select or de-select individual items
• You can shrink and widen the display columns. Move your cursor to the edge of a column heading and the cursor will become a pair of arrows. Press, drag and release the left mouse button to change the column’s width.
• You can follow cross references by expanding the tree node for the item. Cradle will find all cross references to and from the item, select which cross references to use, and display the items at the other end of these cross references as new nodes in the tree.
• Use drag-and-drop items between trees to create cross references between the items
• Drag-and-drop items inside a hierarchy of the same type of items to reorder that hierarchy and automatically rebuild the hierarchical numbering within it

You can expand a tree node by:

• Click its + button
• Select the text of the tree node and press: +
• Select the text of the tree node, right click, and choose Expand from the menu
• Double click on the text of the tree node

You can collapse a tree node by:

• Click its – button
• Double-click on the text of the tree node
• Select the text of the tree node and press: –
• Select the text of the tree node, right click, and choose Collapse from the menu

Advantages

The advantages of tree style are that it is:

• The simplest way to explore items and their relationships
• A convenient method to create cross references
• The easiest way to reorganise a hierarchy of items

If you want to do anything with cross references between items, or to work in a hierarchy of items, then this is the best display style to use.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of tree style are that:

• It provides a limited ability to display information
• You cannot edit information directly

Summary

Tree style is the most convenient method to work with cross references within a set of items and between one set of items and other sets of information.

Therefore, we recommend this style whenever you need to work with cross references between items and inside hierarchies.

You can find items in a Cradle database by running a query. For example, you can use the pre-defined queries in the Quick Access Bar at the bottom of the UI. Once the query has run, the results are shown in a display style. Document style is one of the four styles available:

• List style
• Table style
• Document style
• Tree style

A view is used to specify which parts (attributes) of the items will be shown. A display style controls how these attributes will be displayed, and the facilities that are available to you.

Document Style

This is the second most flexible of all the display styles. It displays each item as a set of one or more rows and one or more columns (as controlled by the view), with invisible borders around each of the cells. You can edit items directly in this display style.

This display style is similar to table style, except that:

• The height of each item’s row is set by the information to be shown. So some rows are shallow and other rows are deep. If an attribute contains no data, its height will be close to zero.
• Different sized fonts are used to display the first row in the view. The size of the font is based on the level of the item being shown. This level is based on the number of dots (periods) in the first attribute shown in the row. This is typically the Key, or whatever attribute you may have specified to hold the item’s hierarchical number.
• The borders around the rows and columns are invisible

For document style, you should use views that show attributes in successive rows, rather than successive columns. For example:

The result is that items are displayed in a style that looks like a document, with large font for section headings and smaller fonts used for subsection headings.

To have items displayed in this style:

• Specify it in the query to be run:

• Also, select it from the Context group in the Home tab:

• Or, right click and choose Style -> Document from the context-sensitive menu
• Finally, press CTRL and 3

Facilities

Document style provides a wide range of faciltiies.

Selecting Items

• Use the left mouse button to select individual items
• You can select a groups of items by selecting the first and then pressing SHIFT and the left mouse button to select the end of the group
• Press <CTRL> and the left mouse button to select or de-select individual items

Changing the Display

• You can shrink and widen the display columns. Move your cursor to the edge of a column heading and the cursor will become a pair of arrows. Press, drag and release the left mouse button to change the column’s width.
• You can move any row or column in the view. Move your cursor onto any cell border and the cursor will become a pair of arrows. Press, drag and release the left mouse button to move that border.
• By default, all rows are displayed with different heights, you can increase or decrease the height of any row
• You can sort the data in any column. Click the column heading and choose a sort order, either ascending or descending, in either a case-sensitive or case-insensitve manner (this only applies to languages that have upper-case and lower-case characters)
• Tooltips are displayed for each column. Move your cursor into a column heading and after a second, a description of that attribute will be shown. You can enter these descriptions in the schema.
• You can see tooltips for some attribute values. Move your cursor into a cell that displays a category with a pick-list of possible values. A tooltip appears containing a description of that category and category value. You can enter these descriptions in the schema.

Exploring Data

• You can expand rows to follow cross references. Double-click the heading for an item’s row and that row will expand to show one new row for each item linked to the original item. Repeat this as many times as you like.
• You will see the level of any expanded row as the number of dots in its row heading
• You can collapse rows by double-clicking the row heading.

Editing Data

• You can edit items directly Click inside any cell. If you have RW access to the item, Cradle locks the item so you can edit it.

Advantages

The advantages of document style are that it is:

• Flexible. You can adjust the display and sort information.
• Navigable. You can explore the database by expanding rows to follow cross references.
• Editable. You can edit information through the display style.
• Readable. All items are shown with a display height to display their entire contents.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of document style are that:

• It takes much longer to display than list style or tree style
• The rows displaying information are of different heights, so you may not see many items at the same time. You may need to scroll more than in other display styles.

Summary

Document style is the second most flexible of Cradle’s four display styles, after table style. It is not the quickest style to generate, but it does provide a familiar document-like view of information and a lot of capability.

Therefore, we recommend document style whenever you want to display items in a document format. This can be very helpful for users who are more familiar with using documents, rather than data-orientated tools.

You can find items in a Cradle database by running a query. For example, you can use the pre-defined queries in the Quick Access Bar at the bottom of the UI. Once the query has run, the results are shown in a display style. Table style is one of the four styles available:

• List style
• Table style
• Document style
• Tree style

A view is used to specify which parts (attributes) of the items will be shown. A display style controls how these attributes will be displayed, and the facilities that are available to you.

Table Style

This is the most flexible of all the display styles. It displays each item as a set of one or more rows and one or more columns (as controlled by the view), with borders around each of the cells. You can edit items directly in this display style.

To have items displayed in this style:

• Specify it in the query to be run:

• Also, select it from the Context group in the Home tab:

• Or, right click and choose Style -> Table from the context-sensitive menu
• Finally, press <CTRL> and 2

Facilities

Table style provides a wide range of facilities.

Selecting Items

• Use the left mouse button to select individual items
• You can select a groups of items by selecting the first and then pressing SHIFT and the left mouse button to select the end of the group
• Press <CTRL> and the left mouse button to select or de-select individual items

Changing the Display

• You can shrink and widen the display columns. Move your cursor to the edge of a column heading and the cursor will become a pair of arrows. Press, drag and release the left mouse button to change the column’s width.
• You can move any row or column in the view. Move your cursor onto any cell border and the cursor will become a pair of arrows. Press, drag and release the left mouse button to move that border.
• By default, all rows are displayed the same height, but you can increase the height of any row
• You can sort the data in any column. Click the column heading and choose a sort order, either ascending or descending, in either a case-sensitive or case-insensitve manner (this only applies to languages that have upper-case and lower-case characters)
• Tooltips are displayed for each column. Move your cursor into a column heading and after a second, a description of that attribute will be shown. You can enter these descriptions in the schema.
• You can see tooltips for some attribute values. Move your cursor into a cell that displays a category with a pick-list of possible values. A tooltip appears containing a description of that category and category value. You can enter these descriptions in the schema.

Exploring Data

• You can expand rows to follow cross references. Double-click the heading for an item’s row and that row will expand to show one new row for each item linked to the original item. Repeat this as many times as you like.
• You will see the level of any expanded row as the number of dots in its row heading
• You can collapse rows by double-clicking the row heading.

Editing Data

• You can edit items in a table. Click inside any cell in the table. If you have RW access to the item, Cradle locks the item so you can edit it.

Advantages

The advantages of table style are that it is:

• Flexible. You can adjust the display and sort information.
• Navigable. You can explore the database by expanding rows to follow cross references.
• Editable. You can edit information through the display style.
• Compact. All items are shown with the same display height.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of table style are that:

• It takes longer to display than list style or tree style
• The rows displaying information are all the same height, so you may have to click in a cell or expand a row border to see all of the information in some attributes

Summary

Table style is the most flexible of Cradle’s four display styles. It is not the quickest to generate, but it provides the most capability.

Therefore, we recommend table style as the best general purpose display style in Cradle. Unless you need something provided by a different display style, use table style.