Viewing Units

This help file applies to an out-of-date version of MainBoss.
The most recent version of MainBoss is MainBoss 4.2.4.
For the latest version of this help file can be found here.

< Previous section  |  Table of Contents  |  Index  |  Next section >

You view units with Units or Coding Definitions | Units. The window contains the following:

View section: Displays information about units in current use.

Code view: Contains a map of units and their locations. The map only shows locations that currently contain units. You can open or close locations and units by clicking the + or - sign beside them. When you open a location or unit, you see the locations/units that it contains.

Description: Descriptions of the associated units. When you click this heading, MainBoss sorts the units within each location by the unit's "Description" field (ascending alphabetical order). Click again to reverse the order.

Apply Filter: Lets you set up a filter to select which records should be shown in the table. For more information, see Table Filters.

Details section: Shows basic information from the selected record.

Service section: Shows any service contracts associated with the selected unit. For more, see Service Contracts.

Related section: Shows any relationships this unit has. For more, see Relationships.

Parts section: Shows any spare parts associated with the selected unit. For more, see Spare Parts.

Specifications section: Shows any specifications associated with the selected unit. For more, see Specifications.

Value Section: Shows information on the unit's purchase value, scrap value (if any), and replacement costs.

Meters section: Shows any meters associated with the selected unit. For more, see Meters.

Attachments section: Shows any attachments associated with the selected unit. For more, see Attachments.

Requests section: Shows any requests associated with the selected unit. For more, see Requests.

Maintenance Plans section: Shows any unit maintenance plans associated with the selected unit. For more, see Unit Maintenance Plans.

Work Orders section: Shows any work orders associated with the selected unit. For more, see Work Orders.

Temporary Storage and Items section: Shows any temporary storage locations and assignments associated with the selected unit. For more, see Temporary Storage Locations and Temporary Storage Assignments.

New Unit: Opens a window to create a new unit record. Fields in the new record will either be blank or assigned default values (as specified in the Defaults for Units section).

Note: If you have not set a default location, the "Location" field in the new unit record will initially be set to the unit that was highlighted at the time you clicked New Unit.

Edit: This drop-down button offers several possible actions:

Edit: Opens an editor window to let you edit the selected record.

View: Opens an editor window where you can examine the selected record.

Restore: Restores a deleted record. This button is only active if the viewer is in All mode and if you've selected a deleted record. When you click Restore, MainBoss will open a window that lets you examine the contents of the deleted record. If you save the record and close the window, the record will be restored to the Active list.

Show on Map: If the currently selected unit record has a "GIS Location" value, MainBoss attempts to open Google Maps to a map showing the unit's geographic location. If the current unit record doesn't have a GIS location, MainBoss checks the unit and/or location record that contains the current unit, then the container of the container, and so on, until MainBoss either finds a record that has a GIS location or else reaches a record with no container.

If MainBoss finds no record with a GIS location, but does find a postal address record containing postal information, MainBoss passes the postal information to Google Maps.

In order to see the geographic location in Google Maps, you must have an active Internet connection and a suitable web browser.

Delete: Deletes the record that's currently selected.

Print: Opens a window to print unit information. For more, see Unit Report.

Export: Lets you export data from this table or import data from a file (provided that the file is in an acceptable format). For more information, see Importing and Exporting Data in Tables.

The button has an accompanying drop-down list containing the following:

Export: Exports data in XML format.

Import: Imports data from a properly formatted file.

Save XML Schema: Writes an XML schema for this table into a specified file.

Search: Lets you search through the list of records for a particular record. For more information, see Searching for a Particular Record. The Search button has an accompanying drop-down list containing the following:

Find Next: Uses the same search condition(s) as your most recent search and finds the next record in the table that matches the condition(s). If the search reaches the end of the table without finding a matching record, it goes to the start of the table and continues the search.

Find Previous: Same as Find Next except that it goes backward in the table. If the search reaches the start of the table without finding a matching record, it goes to the end of the table and continues the search.

Refresh: Updates the list to reflect any recent changes.

Defaults for Units section: Shows any defaults to be used when creating new units.

Edit Defaults: Opens a window to let you change the displayed default values.

Refresh: Updates the list to reflect any recent changes.

Expanding or Contracting the Table: The first time you go to the Units table viewer during a session, some people want the table to be fully contracted (only showing locations) and others want the table full expanded (showing all units, sub-units, etc.). You can control which you get by setting an appropropriate form customization.

First, go to the Units table and right-click on the list of units. The resulting menu has an entry labeled Expand New Entries. If this entry is checkmarked, the table will be fully expanded at the beginning of each MainBoss session; if the entry is not checkmarked, the table will be fully contracted.

To change this default, click on Expand New Entries so that it is checkmarked or not, according to your preference. Then create a named form customization for the current options, as described in Customized Table Settings. Make this customization the default for the table by dropping the customization arrow and clicking Set as default. From this point on, every time you start MainBoss, the Units table will be expanded or contracted as you have just specified. (This will not take effect until the next time you start MainBoss.)

For more information on units, see Units. For more information on creating or editing unit records, see Editing Units. For general information on table viewers, see Using Table Viewers.

< Previous section  |  Table of Contents  |  Index  |  Next section >