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User
Styles:
The menus, screens,
windows, and report formats may be configured differently
for each user, if desired. This is done by creating
different styles and then specifying the new style to be
used by one or more users.
Forms,
windows, reports and menus are defined by separate files.
Report formats include a report file and a phase file. The
standard file names are:
FORMS.FMT
– Holds the definitions for all screens (color,
position, etc.)
WINDOW.FMT
– Holds all information that defines all window
characteristics.
REPORT.RPT
– Holds the primary definitions for all reports.
PHASE.RPT
– Contains the format definitions for all reports.
MENU.ITM
– Contains the position and wording for all menus.
To define a
new style, make a copy of the original file. The following
example illustrates one of the most common situations:
For
security purposes, you wish to three types of screens and
windows. The original format will be modified, but will
allow full access. A new set of forms and windows will
contain fewer fields and won’t allow access to as much
information. A third set of forms and windows will be
highly restrictive and will be used only by the shipping
and receiving department.
To create the two new
styles, we’ll use either the program manager in windows
or a DOS command to make copies of the FORMS.FMT file, the
WINDOW.FMT file and the MENU.ITM file.
We’ll
call the new FORMS.FMT files FORMS1.FMT and FORMS2.FMT. We’ll
call the new WINDOW.FMT files WINDOW1.FMT and WINDOW2.FMT.
We’ll call the new MENU.ITM files MENU1.ITM and
MENU2.ITM.
It is
important to keep the file extension (the .FMT or .ITM)
the same as the original file.
Now, you
may enter on the "user record" the FORMS1.FMT,
WINDOW1.FMT and MENU1.ITM file names.
To customize these files,
you may want to temporarily set the alternate names on
your own user record. The forms and windows you now see
will be the ones defined by the specified files, and you
can use the normal configuration process (control \) to
customize them. After making the desired changes, remove
the alternate names from your user record. You may want to
set up a "dummy" user record for each set of
format files and allow the "dummy" user to have
full configuration privileges. This will make it easier to
"pop in" as needed to make changes to the other
user styles as needed.
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