Previewing a SmartFill Object

Written By Jim Peliksza,
Developer at Rockton Software

Whether you are creating a new SmartFill object or modifying an existing one, it can be useful to “see it in action” to know that what you have entered will give you the results that you want.  In older builds of SmartFill, you would have had to first save the Object, and then open a window where this lookup was assigned and enter a value into a field on that window.  In the case of a new Object, you would need to assign it to an appropriate field on a window in the Repository, and then open that window to test your new Object.  Both of these options interrupt your flow when trying to make changes to your Object.

For this reason, we have added a Preview area to the bottom of the SmartFill Object Maintenance Details window.  On the SmartFill Objects window, when you edit an object or add a new one, the following window will open:

The Preview area is at the bottom of this window, below the ten Lookup fields.
 

Using the Preview

You can perform an actual SmartFill lookup using the displayed Object’s settings by entering a value in the Test Search field and clicking the Search button ().  Actual results from your database will be displayed in the list at the bottom of the window.  The advantages of this are:

1. You no longer need to first save your Object changes to see how they will behave. This means you do not need to exit off of the SmartFill Object Maintenance Details window every time you want to test a change.
2. You can make changes without affecting users who are currently in the system using this Object.
3. You can test a new Object without having to assign it to a window first.
4. It is much quicker than the old method.

The Preview area also allows you to set the column sizes for each field that will appear in the lookup, and also set the Default Sort Column.

To set column sizes for each column, simply drag the column handles at the end of each column to the position where you would like to see it in the lookup.  SmartFill by Rockton Software will remember these settings.  In older versions of SmartFill, you would have entered the percentage of the width of the list that you wanted to use for each field.  The new method is not only much more intuitive, but it is easier because you no longer have to do the math to make sure your columns all add up to 100%.

The Default Sort Column determines the column by which the Make a Selection window (SmartFill’s lookup window) will be sorted when first displayed.  To set the Default Sort Column, choose the column that you want to use by clicking on it, and then click the Save Default Sort Column button.  Clicking on the same column multiple times will switch between ascending and descending order, which is also saved.

An Important Note
Remember that you can make any changes you want and preview them all from this window.  If you don’t like what you have done, click the Cancel button at the top of the window and everything you have changed on the SmartFill Object Maintenance Details window will be put back to the way it was.  However, an important thing to consider is that if you have made any changes to Filters, Access, or the Repository, these changes will not be undone by clicking the Cancel button.  You will need to undo those manually on their respective windows.

Wanting to learn more about Rockton Software’s SmartFill—watch a YouTube demo!