You will find below a brief introduction
to the most basic elements of the Alventis Database interface.
This overview is very short and not intended to be a tutorial,
but it should get you started right now, while giving you time
to discover other useful features of Alventis later, at your
own pace.
| Alventis Database Overview |
Alventis can have multiple forms of various kinds open at the same time. The screenshot above displays two most important types of forms: a UniGrid on
the left and 3 InfoView data-entry forms
on the right.
A UniGrid™ contains a Tables
Grid at the top.
It lists all data tables of all Databases you have added to this UniGrid.
Tables that you enable by checking the corresponding Enable checkbox
(A)
will participate in searches and will display their matching records
in the Search Results pane
in the middle of the UniGrid (we'll take a closer look at it in the
next screenshot).
You can easily open records in their corresponding InfoView™ forms from
the UniGrid:
| • |
Simply highlighting a Search Results record
(E) (e.g., by clicking it with
the mouse) opens that record in the Preview panel at the bottom
of the UniGrid. |
| • |
Double-clicking a Search Results record (C and D) opens it
in a "standalone" InfoView - and you can have as many of them
open concurrently as you wish. |
| • |
Double-clicking a table in the Tables Grid (B)
opens a "standalone" InfoView
letting you create a new record in that table. Note that
you can also create new records from any already open InfoView
or by using the New Record Wizard. |
Alventis Database Search is
the cornerstone of Alventis. Searches are performed directly
in UniGrid forms (depicted above). You start by selecting which
tables among those listed in the Tables Grid should
participate in the search. You do so by checking the Enable checkbox (B) next
to the table of interest. As you can see (C),
only records from the Enabled tables will appear in the Search
Results.
You perform the search by typing the search expression
in the Search Box (D).
The expressions can be as simple as a single word. You can also
use various Boolean and proximity operators, as well as wildcard
characters. Alventis searches are almost instantaneous due to
the use of advanced full-text indexing. Which is why searches
are performed "live", as you type your search expression: as
soon as you have finished typing something, you are presented
with the corresponding Search Results. When the Search Box is
empty, you are presented with all records from all enabled tables.
Finally, the highlighted portion of the toolbar (A) displays
the command buttons that are responsible for management of UniGrids.
| Alventis Database Reports |
Alventis Database supports printing by means
of Reports,
which are based on Queries.
You open the list of Queries and Reports that belong to a Database
using the command button (A).
Don't worry if you don't know how to write your own Queries using
the SQL language: Alventis creates default Queries for each data
table automatically for you.
A Report can be opened by double-clicking it in the
Reports list (B).
Creation of Reports is a fairly advanced subject which is explained
in detail in the User's
Guide, so we can only hope to scratch
the surface here.
Basically, what happens is this. You are presented
with a list of records (C).
This is where you specify how you want these records to be grouped
and/or sorted. You specify how you want to format the Report
in the Report Template (E).
The Template is essentially a Memo where you can type whatever
static text you want, interspersed with Field placeholders that
you simply drag-and-drop wherever you want from the Field Grid (D).
You can of course use all the regular formatting tools to format
the Report exactly the way you want (fonts, colors, layout, and
so on). Once ready, executing the Report produces the Output (F) you
see on the right.
Essentially, every record in the Records List
passes through the Template, which determines its layout and
formatting. The record is then sent to the Report Output - formatted
the way you wanted. Producing a Report is therefore as easy as
producing a regular word-processing document.
Alventis Database Designer is the second application
in the Alventis Professional and Enterprise Suites, which lets
you create from scratch or edit existing tables and data-entry
forms (InfoViews).
| Alventis Database Designer |
The main Designer form called FieldView has
two panels. The upper panel presents the list of Tables of a Database,
while the lower panel lists all Fields of the said Tables. Creating
a new Table is as easy as creating a new record in the Tables list.
Once you have created a Table, adding Fields to it is performed by creating
corresponding Fields records in the Fields list. This list is where
you can also modify many attributes of the existing Fields.
| Alventis Database Designer - InfoView Creation |
The FieldView form we have examined in the
previous screenshot lists not only Tables and Fields, but also
InfoView data-entry forms. All InfoViews (and there can be as many
as you want) are listed under the Table they belong to (A).
You can create a new InfoView simply by creating a new record in the InfoViews
list. Open an InfoView by double-clicking its record (B).
Populate the InfoView with available Fields by dragging and dropping the
Field onto the form (C).
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