This chapter focuses on standard Retail Pro® features that appear repeatedly throughout the program and discusses program functions that can best be understood when viewed as a whole rather than from within a particular program area. Some of the concepts are advanced for an introductory chapter and may be better understood once individual chapters have been read. We recommend that you return to this chapter as needed as you progress through the rest of the manual.
Note: Screen Customization
Your screen may look slightly different from those shown in this manual and you may have different menu options available. This is because Retail Pro® has many customizable features that enable each store to configure their system differently in order to meet their particular needs.
When instructing you to select a menu option, we use the terminology such as "Select new (<Alt+N>)."
Mouse or touchscreen users can click or touch the specified menu option; keyboard users can simply press the keyboard combination shown in parentheses.
Using the menu and page designers, your screen can be customized with the menus, fields, fonts, colors, etc. best suited for your navigation style and business needs. (Refer to Appendix A. Interface Design for more information.)
Security & Preferences
The availability of many program features is controlled by security settings and preferences. If a feature is not available to you, it may be that you do not have the security rights to that feature or a preference setting may have disabled it.
Security
Security settings that limit the features that can be accessed by users or groups of users are set with the Security Administrator tool. Using Security Administrator, you define employee login names and passwords and then assign those employees to security groups. Each security group has access to a user-defined set of program features. A list of the security rights that apply to an area of the system are included at the beginning of that area's chapter. The note below lists security rights applicable to the system as a whole.
(Refer to Technical Supplement F1. Security Administrator for more information.)
Note: System and Security Administrator
If you have registered Retail Pro® with Security Administrator, you can control user access to the following system activities. Security rights applicable to system actions are contained in the System area of the Retail Pro® security file (rpro8.sec).
Log In/Out
The Log In/Out feature provides both convenience and security when logging users in and out of Retail Pro®. Users can easily log in and out of the system and one user can log in over another user without having to close Retail Pro®. For example, a supervisor can log in over a cashier that listed a wrong item on a document but doesn't have security rights to delete the item. The supervisor can log in over the cashier as an override user, delete the item, and then log back out without the cashier having to log out during this procedure. Login passwords are defined in Security Administrator as are the security rights assigned to each user or group. (Refer to Technical Supplement F1. Security Administrator for more information.)
To access the Log In/Out feature:
1. Select LOG IN/OUT(<Alt+I> or <Ctrl+L>) from the top menu of most areas.
Alternatively, select OPTIONS h LOG IN/OUT from Retail Pro®'s Home Screen. The current user will be listed in the status bar of the Security dialog.
To log in a user:
1. Enter your user name in the User Name field.
2. Enter your password in the Password field.
3. Select Login (<Alt+L>) or Cancel (<Esc>) to exit.
If there was not a user already logged in, then the person who just logged in will appear in the status bar as the User. If there was a user logged in and a second user logs in over that user,
To log out a user:
1. Select LOGOUT(<Alt+O>) or select CANCEL(<Esc>) to exit.
If the user is an override user then LOGOUT will be the only choice upon entering the Log In/Out dialog. Once the override user has logged out, the status bar will once again display the original user's name. If no user is logged in, a warning dialog is displayed with LOGIN as the only option.
Note: Override User
Users must log out in the reverse order of that in which they logged in. An override user must log out before the original user can log out.
Note: Program Launch
Any program launched as a separate .exe from within Retail Pro® (mostly tools from the Tools menu) will adopt the logged-in user name and workstation number.
Action Buttons
This section is to help familiarize you with the common action buttons contained on the top menu of many system areas. Though each action performs primarily the same function in each area, the procedure for carrying out those actions varies.
Each of the buttons below is shown with icon and text labels; your system may be set up to show just text labels, just icons, or both text and icons. (See the previous preference note.)
Button Description New (<Alt+N>)
Start a new record. For non-document records, a new record can be made in either List View or Form View. For documents, all new records must be made in Form View and selecting new will automatically activate Form View.
Edit (<Alt+E> or <F2>)
Edit an existing record. For non-document records, edits can be made in both List View and Form View. For documents, edits can only be made in Form View and selecting edit will automatically activate Form View.
Save (<Alt+S>)
Save a newly created or edited record. For non-document records, save is available when either editing an existing record or creating a new record. For order
documents, save is only available when editing an existing document. save is not applicable to transactional documents (they are updated).
Cancel (<Esc>)
Cancel a new or edited record in progress (available in most areas).
Button Description Delete (<Alt+D>)
Delete a record. In List View, the selected row will be deleted. In Form View, the displayed record will be deleted. delete is not available for transactional documents (they are reversed).
Copy (<Alt+C>)
Copy the selected record. For non-document records, a copy is stored for you to paste into a new row. For documents, selecting copy automatically opens a new document with all of the data from the copied document entered.
Paste (<Alt+A>)
Paste a copied record. This option is only available for non-document records.
Screen Views
There are two primary ways to view Retail Pro® records: List View and Form View. List View displays a list of several records at one time. These lists can be easily filtered, sorted, and searched to help you find a particular record or compare several records at once. Form View is a more detailed view that displays all fields of data contained in a single record. Both views have fully customizable interfaces. (Refer to Appendix A. Interface Design for more information on customizing the List View and Form View interface.)
List View
List View displays a list of several records at one time in a format similar to a spreadsheet. Each row represents a different record; each column represents a data field available for that record type. The list can be easily sorted and searched to help you find a particular record or to group related records.
The following is an example of Department's List View:
List View Procedures
Sort information Records can be sorted by the data in selected List View columns. Columns with a O in the column heading can be sorted. A V indicates the column by which the information is currently sorted. The records will remain sorted by the last selected column until you change it as described below. (Refer to the Pro Tip at the end of this section for information on which columns can be sorted.)
Click or touch a column header to sort the records by that column, or:
Press <F3> to access the Sort By dialog box.
Use <u>, <v> to cycle through the selections.
Press <Enter> to make a selection. The records are resorted by the chosen
Pro Tip: Faster List View Displays
In large data files, List View will display fastest when record number is used as the sort column (Item # in inventory, document number in document areas, etc.). This is because the records are stored in that order in the data files. When sorting by other columns, the program must scan the entire file and reorder the records accordingly. It is recommended you normally sort by record number, switching to another column only when needed to search for a specific record.
Search for an Entry (Searches are not available when in Edit mode.)
Searches are always done in the currently sorted column.
If you have just entered List View, simply begin typing the characters of the entry you want to find while in the body of List View. As you enter characters they are displayed in the Search field. If you have changed the focus to another area before searching, then you must switch the focus back to the Search field before entering search criteria.
The closest available match is highlighted.
To view search history, press <F4> (or select the drop-down button in the Search
field). To repeat a search, select it from the search history.
Using Filtered View Filtered View allows you to group and view data records that have information in common. You enter the criteria you wish to match and the system gathers the appropriate records and displays only them. This is a highly useful feature when you want to locate a group of specific records.
Tabbed Pages When there is more than one tabbed page, press <Ctrl + a number> (the number corresponds to the page number) or click/touch the tab to switch to a specific tabbed page or press <F6> to cycle between tabbed pages.
Select a Record Use sort, search, or filtered view procedures, then:
Use <u>, <v> or the scroll bars to scroll through the rows in the List View display.
Use <Page Up> to move to the first record displayed on the screen and
<Page Down> to move to the last.
Use <Ctrl+Home> to move to the first record in the file and <Ctrl+End> to move to the last.
The selected record is highlighted and has an indicator ( ` ) pointing to it.
In inventory, all members of the same style as the selected item are displayed in blue text.
Select a Field Click or touch the necessary field to switch focus to it, or:
Use <t> or <Tab> to move to the column to the right of the selected column within the selected row. Use <s> or <Shift+Tab> to move to the column to the left of the selected column within the selected row.
Press <Home> to move the cursor to the first column in the selected row and
<End> to move it to the last column in the selected row.
Go to Form View Select FORM (<F8> or <Alt+F>) to display the record in Form View.
Tabbed pages
Note: Editable Fields in List View
When in Edit mode, fields that are editable are white with dark highlighting of the current entry when selected.
As you make an entry the highlighting disappears and the cursor will flash.
Fields that are not editable (read only) are solid-colored and bordered with a dashed line when selected. You cannot make an entry in these fields.
Note: Zoom
Select ZOOM from the side menu for a pop-up menu with zoom options. Choose a zoom percentage and the table will automatically zoom in or out. This will help create larger, more accessible rows and columns for touchscreen navigation.
Note: Where Did My Records Go?
When you sort by a column, only the records that have an entry in that column will be displayed. This can make it appear that some of your records have disappeared, when in fact they are simply not being displayed. To display all records again, sort by a column heading, such as Item #, that has an entry for all records.
Pro Tip: Indexes and Sortable Columns
The columns that can be sorted will vary depending on how you have configured your installation of Retail Pro®. In order for a column to be sortable, it must be an index (a file that contains specific information on the location of Retail Pro® records.) The default index fields for each area are indicated in the Fields section of each individual chapter. In addition to the default indexes, in some places (such as RECEIPTS and INVENTORY) additional indexes can be defined by the user. This is done in RPRO DB.
If a multiple field index is chosen, the first field in that index will be the sortable field. (Refer to specific chapters and Tool Supplement TS10. RPRO DB for more information.)
Pro Tip: Multiple Field Indexes
User-defined indexes can sometimes contain multiple fields. When there are multiple fields, only the first field is sortable but using Search will search by each of the fields included in the index sequentially. For example, if you define an inventory index in RPRO DB as VEND CODE/DESC 1/DCS,then choose that index to sort by, if you use Search, it will first search by the Vend Code field, then Desc 1, then DCS.
Pro Tip: Sort By Dialog (<F3>)
When you choose <F3> to change the sort column, only the columns that are indexed and are included on your List View layout (currently selected tabbed page) will be available for you to sort by.
Form View
Form View can be used to display data for an existing record or to create a new record. Form View allows you to view item detail and far more information on a single page than is possible in List View. Below is an example of a new purchase order in Form View.
The item list is only available in Form View. For this reason, all documents are created and edited in Form View. Non-document records can be created in either view.
Form View Procedures:
Change tabbed pages
Click or touch a tab, or press <F6> to cycle through the tabbed pages consecutively.
For non-document records, press <Ctrl + (tab number)> to switch to a specific tab. (The tab number relates to the order of the tabbed pages. In the example above, as the second tab, PO Info is tab number 2. Pressing <Ctrl+2> will navigate to the PO Info tabbed page.)
Select a Field Click or touch the field, or use <v>, <u> or <Tab> to move through the fields and field groups in Form View. Use <Shift+Tab> to move back to a previous field or group. The
Field Group
Document item list
Tabbed Pages
Note: Uneditable Fields in Form View
You can optionally select to make uneditable fields a different color than editable fields in Form View, thus making it easier to distinguish which fields can be altered when creating or editing a document.
(Refer to Appendix A. Interface Design for more information.)
Using Filtered View
Filtered View allows you to group and view data records that have information in common. You enter the criteria you wish to match and the system gathers the appropriate records and displays them. This is a highly useful feature when you want to locate a group of specific records. For example, many retailers choose to limit each purchase order to merchandise from one vendor.
When choosing items from inventory to list on a purchase order, rather than scrolling through the entire inventory file looking for items belonging to a particular vendor, you can simply use Filtered View to display only the items assigned to that vendor.
Filtered View is available for transactional documents, order documents, non-document records, and Reports. It is also available in both List View and Form View.
You can also customize your filter design and choose which elements to make available for filtering by selecting Filter Design from the right-click menu on the Filtered View dialog. (Refer to Appendix A. Interface Design for information on customizing filter designs.)
Filtered View for the Inventory module.The fields available to add to a filter vary depending on which module you are in.
To filter by criteria:
1. Select FILTERED VIEW from the side menu when applicable.
2. Enter criteria in any of the fields by which you want to filter. Press <Enter> or <v> to bypass any field, accepting its current entry.
Refer to the following sections for data entry tips.
By default, Filtered View displays the criteria defined the last time it was used. You can clear the currently defined criteria by choosing CLEAR ALL(<Alt+A>).
If the Included field is active for an element, you can choose to include or exclude items that match the criteria for this element by selecting INCLUDE or EXCLUDE from the drop-down list in the Included field. Alternatively, highlight this field and press <Space> until the option you want is displayed.
The Sort and Sort Order fields allow you to optionally define the order in which matching records are displayed. Choose the element by which you want records to be sorted (criteria does not have to be defined for an element in order to sort by it). In the row for this element select 1 from the drop-down list in the Sort Order field. Alternatively, highlight this field and press <Space> until 1 is displayed.
An arrow is displayed in the Sort field. An up-arrow © indicates that records will be sorted in ascending order by their values for this element if the element is numeric, and in
alphabetical order (from A to Z) if the element is text. A down-arrow ª indicates that records will be sorted in descending order by their values for this element if the element is numeric, and in reverse-alphabetical order (Z to A) if the element is text. Click the arrow, or highlight the arrow and press <Space>, to change its direction.
3. Optionally define additional sort elements to be used in the case of a tie. Retail Pro® will initially order matching records according to the element designated with 1 in the Sort Order field. When records have the same value for that element, they will then be ordered
according to the element designated with 2 in the Sort Order field, and so on.
4. Select OK to accept the current criteria and filter for matching items. (Or, select CANCEL (<Esc>) to escape the dialog without filtering.)
Only the records that meet all of your defined criteria are included in the filter results.
List View displays all of the data meeting the filter criteria in lineal view. Form View initially displays the first record found that meets the criteria; switch to the next matching
List View displays all of the data meeting the filter criteria in lineal view. Form View initially displays the first record found that meets the criteria; switch to the next matching