Moving around the system

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The purpose of this topic is to very briefly cover the general layout of the Aspect Property Manager, how to move around the system and how to access the help topics.  There are four "main" screens Landlords, Properties, Tenants and Suppliers and the system will always open up on the Landlords screen.


General Layout and Screen Item Names
The Title Bar is the top line on each window.  On the four main screens it will display your company name, the Aspect Property Manager version number, the Windows minimise/maximise/restore/close buttons.  On other screens the content will mainly be the name of the screen function 

The Menu Bar is the second line down.  It provides choices of things to do, reports to run, it may have sub-menus and is present on virtually all windows.   The last three menu entries have special usage:-
  • ScreenHelp displays help about the screen being viewed (context sensitive help) .
      4 This can also be invoked by pressing [F1].
  • DefaultSize which restores the Aspect Property Manager screen to its "factory defaults" for position, size, column and tab layouts.
      4 This can also be invoked by pressing Ctl+Alt+d.
  • PrintScreen invokes the Aspect Property Manager printing function to provide a printed version of the screen you are viewing.
      4 This can also be invoked by pressing Ctl+P.

    The Navigator Bar is the third line and is not present on all windows.  It has buttons which provide the ability to:-
  • move between the system main screens
  • to move between records
  • to add, edit or delete records.

    The display below the Navigator Bar varies according to the window opened or function being carried out and those screen items are covered in the Help topic for the individual screens.


    Main Screens
  • Each of the main screens has an index panel on the left where a particular record can be located and the details of the selected record are displayed in the panel on the right where a "button stack" provides access to more information.
  • Use the Navigator Bar to move between the four mains screens :-
      4 Press the [Landlords] button to display all landlords.
      4 Press the [Properties] button to display all properties.
      4 Press the [Tenants] button to display all tenants.
      4 Press the [Suppliers] button to display all suppliers.
  • Press the [Find] button and enter the first few letters of the SortKey (StreetName) to quickly locate any main screen entity.  See more on finding records through the links listed here.
  • On the button stack:-
      4 On the Landlords screen, pressing the [Properties] button moves to the "main" Properties screen but only displays the properties belonging to the selected landlord
      4 On the Properties screen, pressing the [Landlord] button moves to the "main" Landlords screen displaying all the landlords but with the owner of the selected property highlighted
      4 On the Properties screen, pressing the [Tenants] button moves to the "main" Tenants screen and only displays the current and vacated tenants who have tenanted the selected property 
      4 On the Tenants screen, pressing the [Property] button moves to the "main" Properties screen displaying all the properties but with the  property of the selected tenant  highlighted

      4 To see a short movie on moving around the system and the main screen layout click here

    Tip  Once a main screen record has been selected you can move to other main screens and sub-screens unrelated to the initial selection and return to that entity by pressing the main Navigator Bar button.


    All Screens
  • The first four buttons, [First] , [Previous] , [Next] , [Last] at the left of the Navigator Bar allow movement between records.
      4 The keyboard keys - Page Up, Page Down, cursor movement arrows, Ctl+Home and Ctl+End also move you around the records.
  • The plus sign is the [Add] button used to add new records.
  • The minus sign is the [Delete] button used to delete records.
  • The tick symbol is the [Save] button used to save records after adding or editing a record.
  • The upward facing arrowhead is the [Edit] button used to edit data in an existing record.
  • The cross symbol is the [Cancel] button used to abort a new entry, or the editing of an existing record before the [Save] button (tick) is pressed.

    Notes
  • Sub-screens may not have all of the above items and some have none.
  • Follow these links for more details on Navigation Methods, the Navigator Bar, and Speed Keys 

    Moving between fields
    This shouldn't really be necessary, but you should know by now that Windows uses the [Tab] key to move between screen items such as fields and buttons, with the [Enter] key used to accept the data in "all" the fields on the screen (window) being used. But it does not save the data entered or changed in the last field unless you either, use the mouse to click [OK] or, [Tab] out of that field before pushing the [Enter] key.

    Taking your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse slows down data entry and you will find the data entry screens are set up in such a way that tabbing between the fields, then out of the last one requiring any entry or change, then pressing [Enter] is the fastest way to enter data.  Pick up on what was said there - you only need to tab out of the last field you entered or changed then you can press [Enter].  It is not necessary to tab through all the fields when they already contain the data you want.