/ interacts with the user through a simple-to-use menu interface. The menu system can be used from a mouse or from the keyboard, or you can `mix and match' by using each when it is more convenient. In the remainder of this description, we will describe all of the different sorts of things that can happen in the menu system and how to interact with them. Detailed descriptions of all of the menu selections are provided in a later section of this manual.
Seven different things can appear on the / screen.
| Menus | Spread Sheets | Help Lines |
| Prompts | Screens | Messages |
| Errors |
Menus appear on the screen as a column of selections, with one entry highlighted at any given time. All of the menu operations of / are `static' in that any time there is a menu selection to be made, it is `safe' to turn off or reboot the computer. All of the collections data is preserved at the end of any operation, but in the case of the / and / menus, the configuration information is only saved when you exit to the main menu.
To make a selection from a menu, use the / or / keys, or move the mouse to highlight the desired selection, and then select it by pressing / or / on the mouse. To exit a menu without making a selection, press / or / on the mouse.
Spread sheets are just like menus, except that they also display a value to the right of some of the menu entries. In most / spread sheets, selecting a spread sheet entry allows you to enter a new value. Some spread sheet entries produce sub-menus or other side effects. The normal spread sheet operation is very nice for `editing' entries, but not very good for doing `heads down' data entry.
A special form of spread sheet menus is used for data entry. In this case, the spread sheet is presented on the screen, and entries are sequentially prompted for and then placed in the spread sheet. The installation routine uses this to get initial values, and during new case creation, this is used to get new debtor information.
Most menu entries have associated help lines that appear at the bottom of the screen whenever the menu entry is highlighted. These provide details on what each menu selection does, and change as you move from menu entry to menu entry.
When information is requested by /, it places a prompt for input at the bottom of the screen on the same line as the help message for menus. Most prompts provide a default value. To change the default value, use the `editing keys' described below. To accept the value, press /. To add characters, type them. Most prompts limit the characters that you may enter. Invalid characters result in a beeping sound. Most prompts also have limited lengths or specific length requirements. The beeping sound is again used to indicate a length problem. As examples, all `states' are assumed to be two upper case letters (the abbreviation used by the post office), and zip codes are 5 digits long.
When a text file or telephone script is presented to the user, a window is placed on the screen and the file is typed within it. In the case of phone scripts, menus are presented after the screen is typed so that the user can select the menu item that reflects what was said in the call.
Messages of various sorts may appear at the bottom of the screen for limited periods of time. Unlike prompts, these messages are used to indicate that an operation has failed, to flash a short notification at the bottom of the screen, or to present `subliminal' messages to the user when moving between menus. Subliminal messages are controlled by the user through the / menu.
Errors can occur at any time in any computer program. In most cases, / detects errors and makes proper decisions without user intervention, but no program is perfect. There are three sorts of error messages; internal / errors that require user action; internal / errors that are `fatal'; and system errors.
Internal / errors that prompt for user action normally take the form:
`Continue' sometimes succeeds, but often results in additional errors. `System' exits / and returns to /. `Abort' usually leads to a / restart. `Break' puts the user into an internal interpreter that is valuable for debugging, but incomprehensible to the average user.
Fatal internal errors normally say something like:
This normally returns you to /, at which point you can try to run / again. It usually indicates that too many files are in use, that something / was trying to do got too complicated to finish, or that a customization error was detected.
/ errors can be generated from any number of sources and can take many forms, but the most common one results in a message with:
Retry will retry the action that just caused the problem, and unless you have done something to resolve the problem, normally causes the error to recur. Abort normally causes / to restart or exit. Fail can have any number of side effects depending on the application, but sometimes results in a continuation of processing with the failure resulting in a wrong or missing result.
| / | move to the next menu item | |
| / | move to the previous menu item | |
| / | move to the first menu item | |
| / | move to the last menu item | |
| / | activate the marked menu item | |
| / | exit the current menu |
In data entry:
| / | move to the first character | |
| / | move to the last character | |
| / | complete the data entry | |
| / | move left one character | |
| / | move right one character | |
| / | delete to the left of the cursor | |
| / | delete the character at the cursor | |
| / | reset to the original default value |
| moving mouse | selects menu items | |
| / | exit the current menu | |
| no to yes/no questions | ||
| / in Press / to continue | ||
| / | activate marked menu item | |
| yes to yes/no questions | ||
| / in Press / to continue |
In data entry:
| / | delete to the left of the cursor | |
| / | delete the character at the cursor | |
| moving mouse | moves the cursor left or right |