User`s Manual - Sage ACT! add-ons
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1. Advanced Drop down Lists v 1 1 Another efficient and affordable ACT Add On by http www exponenciel com Advanced Dropdown Lists User s Manual Table of contents BUI DOS ON NCAA ON a ah a cetera de ee ee Ee 3 INS TANION PFOCCO UNG rick atesie eects dank tenet Ga denen hdr ccton deantmmanu a E E deeeates ames 3 Creating an Advanced Drop down LISt cccccecccceecceeeeeeeeeseeeeceeeesaeesseeeseueeseueesaeessaeesaueeseeetsaeeeaes 3 The different ways to populate your AD IiSt ec ccccceeccceeeeceeeeceeeeaeeesee esse eeseeeeseeeeaaeesaneeseeeesaes 4 Bol py 21 C e 8 o cpemeroee Menepee ree vee een ROR E ce eon eee OR eT A nen Se ENT ee ee One 4 List of the Subgroups of one GROUP cccccccccececeeeeceeeeeeeeceuceceeecaueeseeseusecsueesueeseeessaeessaeess 4 List of the Members of one GROUP cece ceeccceeccceeeceeeeceu cece seceeeecaeeeeaeecsaeessueesseeesseessaeessaeess 4 Depends on a REFERENCE FIELD VaIUGC ccc cceccceeccceeeeceeeeeeeeceuceceueceueessueeseessueeseasessaeens 5 Managing your Statie Lists stesen E R Gate biareL eae ett 6 E elel UNS E E ce E E N AA A A ces act ote et E E eee T T ENO aS eaa T er ey oe T REMOVING A IS Treeren A A O EA yareeiiaidemnaneaeisan ie T WIS Pla VinG al AD LSE eenaa ae aa aodivenansituky T Instructions for associating the F2 key shortcut to Advanced Drop down Lists 0008 8 Recognizing which fields have an AD LISt cccccccsseccee2. ceceeeeceeeeceeeeceeceusecsueessueeseeessueeseaeessanes 8 POW 1O CIl VOUF IAVOUL ieir esi obeeaticalaninsaauindnsati digs sauce inacndul urate nh ndae duaacdbik nad aunnooaducantiall 8 Forcing the user to select from the AD List cccecccescccseeceececeeecececeeeceueeceeseueecsusesseeeceeessaeess 9 Protecting AIC GO craori aan tae nach ce bed oulaoe aa TA naan aaa pant 9 Clearing the content of a protected field cc eccccecccsececeeecceeeceueeceueeceueecaeeeeeeceuseseueesseesnseeseas 9 Selecting multiple items in the drop down list c cc cccccecccececeeeceeeeseeeeseeeseeseeseeesseeeseeeeseueesaeesaes 9 Network options Settings and Data files location ec cecccecceceeeeeeeeeee cece eesaeeeseeeeseeeeseeeeseeesaeeess 9 Sharing your settings and data TICS rsrs a eee acces meee ee eek 9 Moving your settings and data files cece eececeeeeceeeeeeeeeee esses eeseeeeseeeeseeeseeeeseeeseeeeseeeseeeeas 9 Animated tutorials Online Nelp cccccccccceeecsseecenceceeeeceeeceeecsuseecaeecsueeceueecaueesaeessueessueesseeeseas 10 Registering Advanced Drop down Lists ccccccceeccseeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeseees ees eeseeseeeseeeseeseeeseeeseeses 10 RTO sees eta ie ears cae asec gcse a cee cease cram eee eed 10 Advanced Dropdown Lists User s Manual 3 Purpose of the add on Advanced Drop down Lists allows to attach conditional or dynamic drop down lists to your ACT fields o conditional lists a
3. e Close button without saving your changes you will be prompted to say whether you want to save all unsaved changes Removing a list Simply select the list and click Remove Displaying an AD List When Advanced Drop down Lists is launched it checks which ACT field is currently active i e the field in which the blinking caret is positioned If the active field has an AD List associated with it it will display the list If the active field does not have an AD list then the Settings window will be displayed The default method to launch the add on is to click the button that was added to the Contacts toolbar It seems appropriate for setting up lists but does not seem too convenient for displaying the AD lists themselves Our recommendation is to associate a shortcut with the program so that all you have to do when you are in a field with an AD list is use the shortcut We recommend that you use the F2 key F2 is ACT built in shortcut to display the Edit List window allowing you to edit a standard drop down list So it makes sense to use this same usually well known shortcut to display the AD List Note that assigning the F2 key shortcut to Advanced Drop down Lists will not affect the built in behavior of F2 Unfortunately there is no automatic procedure to assign the F2 shortcut to Advanced Drop down Lists so you have to do it manually Fortunately it is very simple If you do not want to use the F2 key but rather another shortcu
4. en multiple workstations over a network go to the Options menu of the Settings window and select Settings You will be able to specify the path of the folder in which the settings and data files are kept Moving your settings and data files lf you want to change the location of your Settings and data folder which by default is the Data sub folder of the folder in which the add on is installed simply copy all files in your current Settings and data folder to the new location and change the location specified under Options Settings Advanced Dropdown Lists User s Manual 10 Animated tutorials Online help The Help menu gives you access to our Online Help where you will find a number of animated tutorials showing how to set up buttons etc Registering Advanced Drop down Lists You may buy licenses from Exponenciel Registration is based on ACT user names so you will have to supply your ACT username when registering Once given a registration code go to the Help About menu and type the registration code in the box below your username Support For support please contact support exponenciel com Rev October 30 2003 v 1 1
5. et one of the above conditions then the Advanced Drop down Lists Settings window will be displayed Recognizing which fields have an AD List As we have seen the way to make your AD list appear when you are in a field for which you created an AD list is to either press the Advanced Drop down Lists button on the Contacts toolbar or press the F2 key or any other shortcut you decided to use see above Unlike a regular ACT drop down list an down arrow will not appear at the extreme right of the field to notify you that there is a list associated to it Therefore we recommend that you find a way to identify the fields with an AD list by editing your layout There are obviously numerous ways to do it We can suggest changing the background color of the field or adding a note next to the field We have included a small picture file called f2 bmp and located in the add on folder for this purpose How to edit your layout To edit your layout go to ACT Too s menu and choose Design Layout To change the background of a field do a right click on the field and choose Properties To add the F2 picture open the F2 bmp with a graphic program like Paint select the graphic and copy it to the clipboard CTRL C go back to your layout window and do Edit Paste The graphic will be pasted in your layout Simply drag it where you want and repeat as needed Advanced Dropdown Lists User s Manual 9 Forcing the user to select from the AD List L
6. ike with a regular ACT drop down list it is possible to prevent the user from typing in the field in order to force her him to select from the list instead This feature is useful to control user entry but should only be used when all possible entries are listed in the drop down list To achieve this result simply make the field a protected field When a field is protected a user cannot change its content but Advanced Drop down List can Protecting a field To protect a field go to ACT Edit Define fields window and choose Protected as Entry rules Note When a field is protected its background is grayed out Clearing the content of a protected field Since you cannot type in a protected field the DELETE and BACKSPACE keys will not work If you want to clear the data in your protected field do a right click on the list or on the button s at the bottom of the list Advanced Drop down Lists will ask you to confirm your choice Advanced Drop down Lists A Clear the Field content Selecting multiple items in the drop down list The drop down list does not allow to select multiple items in a single operation but if you press the CTRL key while selecting an item in the drop down the selected item will be appended to the current field value in fact the items will be sorted alphabetically as in ACT Network options Settings and Data files location Sharing your settings and data files If you wish to share your settings betwe
7. ist Specified Product A Product B Product C Product D Product E Manage your Static Lists Advanced Dropdown Lists User s Manual The first column contains the values of the reference field drop down list For each of these values you may choose a list type The list types are the same we just described List of All Groups List of the Subgroups of one GROUP Members of one GROUP plus a new one named Static LIST If you choose any of the 3 options we have already seen the subsequent columns will allow you to make the same option choices as seen above The Static List type allows to associate lists that you create and manage by clicking the Manage your Static Lists button below the table See Managing your Static Lists below You may create as many lists as you want so that you may associate them with each values of your reference field These lists are called Static list because their content does not change automatically as opposed to the list of groups which would changed automatically when a group is added or removed The drop down lists that you create with ACT are static Here is an example of what you can achieve with this option See the online help for animated demos The Product field is set at The Product field is set at The Product field is set at Product A Product option Product B Product option Product E Product option drop drop down list displays a list of drop down list displays a list of do
8. opulated Display the Company Name List of the Members of one GAOUP instead of the Contact Name Select the GROUP CH Gourmet Gifts If you have lots of sub groups to the point that it slows down the displaying of the list you may want to choose the Do not rebuild list every time Manual Rebuild enabled option See List of All Groups above Anderson Ernst Bechtel Corp Best Lender Financing Brandee s Bakery Brushy s Golfing World List settings Carter Cecil Chan Jane Huffman Chris List settings Here contact names are read dynamically Here company names are read from a data file which you an refresh manually by clicking the button Depends on a REFERENCE FIELD value This option allows to populate the list based on the value of another field When you select this option another box named Select the REFERENCE FIELD will appear so that you can pick the field which values will serve as a reference NOTE The Select the REFERENCE FIELD box will only display character fields with drop down lists Once you pick a reference field a table with several columns will appear i Advanced Drop down Lists List Settings Gal Options Help Field to which the 4D List is to be attached m List Options Product Options v 7 Way the AD List is to be populated r Depends on a REFERENCE FIELD value Select the REFERENCE FIELD GROUP or LIST Rebuild Display _If No L
9. pears ist Advanced Drop down Lists List Settings Le Options Help Field to which the AD List i to be attached List Options m Walt the AD List is to be populated Cancel E No AD List 1 You first need to pick the field to which the AD List will be attached in the Field to which the AD List is to be attached field Note that only the character fields without a drop down will appear in the list Advanced Dropdown Lists User s Manual Note If the field of your choice does not appear in this drop down close the add on go to ACT Edit Define fields menu select the field and make sure it is a character type field the entry rules are set to none and under the Drop down tab uncheck all checkboxes 2 Then choose an option in the Way the AD List is to be populated field The different ways to populate your AD list List of All Groups The first option is to populate the AD list with the names of the groups in your database In this case Advanced Drop down Lists will display the refreshed list of your groups sub groups will not be included CH Gourmet Gitts Customers Friends Prospects List settings If you have lots of groups depending on your computer hardware there might be a delay before the AD list is displayed If so you may want to choose the Do not rebuild list every time Manual Rebuild enabled option In this case the list of groups will be s
10. re lists which items change depending on the value of another field o dynamic lists are lists which content is created every time they allow to list group names subgroups names contact or company names Installation procedure Download the program file from our download page and double click it to start the installation Follow the instructions and once the installation is completed run ACT and open your database An icon should have been added to your Contact toolbar to launch Advanced Drop down Lists directly from within ACT If the icon installation failed you will have to instruct Advanced Drop down Lists to create it Here is how to proceed While your database is open click the Windows Start button go under Programs locate the Exponenciel ACT Add Ons group and click Advanced Drop down Lists to launch the program Once on the main screen go to the Options Integrate with ACT menu and add an icon or menu items to your ACT screens as needed This way you will be able to quickly launch the program from within ACT When prompted accept that ACT be re started When ACT re starts whatever icons or menu items you asked to be created will be there to launch Advanced Drop down List Creating an Advanced Drop down List You may attach an AD List to any character field without a regular ACT drop down list To setup an AD List the best way is to launch the program by clicking the button on the toolbar The following window ap
11. t follow the procedure described below and at step 10 press the shortcut you wish to use If you don t want to use a shortcut at all you could still press the Advanced Drop down Lists button on the Contacts toolbar Advanced Dropdown Lists User s Manual 8 Instructions for associating the F2 key shortcut to Advanced Drop down Lists Open ACT and make sure you are in the Contacts window Do Tools Customize contacts window Click on the Custom Commands tab Click New Type Advanced Drop down Lists in the Command Name Description Tooltip Text and Menu Text fields Click the Browse button go to the folder in which Advanced Drop down Lists is installed and select adl exe Then click Open You should be back to the Customize ACT Contacts Window 7 Click Apply if you mistakenly click OK repeat steps 1 and 2 8 Click the Keyboard tab select Custom Command at the very bottom of the Categories drop down list 9 Select Advanced Drop down Lists and click the Assign Shortcut button 10 Press the F2 key F2 should appear in the Press new shortcut key field Click OK 11 Click OK to close the Customize ACT Contacts Window You re done Sh S D Once the shortcut is set when you press the F2 key 1 Ifthe active field blinking caret with a regular ACT drop down the Edit List window will appear regular ACT behavior 2 If itis afield to which you attached an AD List the list will appear 3 Ifthe field does not me
12. tored in a file Reading this file will be faster than querying ACT each time You ll have to refresh the data file manually by clicking the Refresh bottom at the bottom of the list Bechtel Corp Best Lender Financing Brandee s Bakery Brushy s Golfing World List settings List of the Subgroups of one GROUP In this case only the subgroups of one group will be shown When you select this option another field named Select the GROUP will appear so that you can pick the group If you have lots of sub groups to the point that it slows down the displaying of the list you may want to choose the Do not rebuild list every time Manual Rebuild enabled option See List of All Groups above List of the Members of one GROUP Choose this option to have the list display the members of a group When you select this option another field named Select the GROUP will appear so that you can pick the group By default the list will display the Contact names but when you choose this option the checkbox named Display the Company Name instead of Contact Name will be enabled Check it to display the Company names instead of the Contact names Advanced Dropdown Lists User s Manual um Advanced Drop down Lists List Settings Options Help Field to which the AD List ts to be attached iPeductOpions o m List Options Modu pions w r Do not rebuild list every time Manual Rebuild enabled Cancel Wan the AD List is to be p
13. wn list displays a list of options options specific to Product A options specific to Product B for Other products Product 4 A 0 ri lt s wsrtst it ixS Option 41 Product B Product E A E 7 O Option E1 Option 01 Option Az Option 43 Uption 44 List sethings Option B2 Option 02 Option B3 Option 03 Option B4 Option O4 List settings List sethings Managing your Static Lists The Manage your Static Lists button opens the Static Lists window which allows to add rename remove and edit your lists Static Lists Static Lists Items of the selected list Options Other products nn Options Produch A Options Product B Add Rename Remove Type your iteme in the bos above Press Enter alter each item Advanced Dropdown Lists User s Manual Adding a list To create a list click the Add button You ll be prompted to name the list Then click in the tems of the selected list text box and type your first list item then press Enter Type each item and press Enter after each They will appear one below the other Editing a list To edit a list first select it in the list on the left so that its items are shown in the tems of the selected list text box Each item is displayed below one another To edit the list simply click in the text box and type Once you made the appropriate changes click the Save button to save the changes NOTE If you click th
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