Table View Productivity Features

Tutorial Scripts

The Introduction

CPS nodes capable of multiple records can take advantage of the numerous Table View productivity options. Conventional Personalities for instance, are capable of having multiple records.

Clicking on the Top Node of the Conventional Personality branch, allows all personality records to be presented in the Table View. In this Table View, the node’s features are still in the same groupings as in the Single Record View, however all features appear in the same row for each record. Scrolling to see more features is sometimes needed in the Table View.

One advantage of the Table View… is the ability to View and Compare the same feature’s settings for multiple records. Clicking on a specific Personality in the Navigation Pane, switches the features back to the Single Record View of the selected Personality.

When in this Single Record View, be aware that, certain groupings of features like the Frequency Options group, can also have multiple records, therefore, what you have in this case is a Multiple Record Node that can also contain multiple record groups of features.

When switching between the two Modes of this multiple record group, the Alternate Mode button is available for this purpose.

For instance, from this Table View, click to switch to the Single Record View, and simply click again to switch back to the Table View.

The Alternate Mode button is also available at the Window level. Again, as before, this allows you to switch all window-level records from the Single Record View to the Table View. And simply clicking again gets you right back to the Top Node's Single Record View.

The Fill UP and Fill Down Feature

The Fill Up and Fill Down feature can greatly enhance data-entry productivity while operating in the Table View.

For example, when needing to change all of these Trunking Personalities from Type II to ASTRO, first change the top record’s field value.

Now right-click, and then select Fill Down.

All records from the selected record down have now been updated to the new value, saving many data entry keystrokes.

The Trunking Personality’s Talkgroup Page can also contain multiple records and, as is seen here, this page and its records are already in “The Table View”.

In the Talkgroup ID field, to change a value and then Fill the Value Down, click the first record, and then enter the new value, and then right-click to open the Fill Menu, and now select to Fill Down.

Now in order to have each Talkgroup record containing a unique Talkgroup ID, in this case modify only the last digit, again saving many data entry keystrokes.

To try the Fill Value Up feature, first choose “Secure” strapping for the bottom record.

Now right-click directly on the field, <pause> and then select to “Fill Up”.

As another example, enable the Talkgroup Failsoft check-box for the first record. Now right-click on the check-box <pause> and then select to “Fill Down”.

You can easily see that many data-entry keystrokes have been saved, therefore reducing your data entry time.

The Copy and Paste Feature

From a CPS node's "Table View", the Copy and Paste Feature allows you to copy record / row data and then paste that data into another of the table’s rows. Copied data may also be brought into another program such as Microsoft's Excel. Copying record data into a program like Excel then offers access to features like Data Sort, Find and Replace, and even custom Macros that can facilitate additional data manipulation and therefore increase your programming productivity. Manipulated or newly created data can then be copied and pasted back into a CPS Node's Table View.

Now let’s review with more Copy and Paste instruction and information.

To Copy data, first right-click the cursor within the desired row of the Multiple Record Table, and then select "Copy" from the menu.

Note that "Copy" duplicates the entire table record, regardless of the cursor position in that row. In other words, the cursor may be in any column in that row when right-clicking to retrieve the menu in order to copy all of the current record’s data.

To Paste data, first position the cursor in the desired row and in the column where you want to start pasting values, then right-click and then select "Paste" from the menu.

Be aware that "Paste" inserts values from right to left within the row, and from the exact column location of the cursor. Therefore to paste in an entire record from left to right with all of its data, you must right-click your cursor in the very first column known as the "Fly In" column. Note that when clicking in the “Fly In” column, you must not click on the "Magnifying Glass" icon.

Also note that only fields that are accessible (not grayed-out) can actually accept any pasted data.

It is also possible to copy and paste single field values, or even contiguous field values; however, you must first paste an entire row into another program such as Excel, and then highlight and copy the desired value or values, and then paste back into the CPS node's Table View at the desired location within the desired row.

And finally, be sure to also view the Output Report for instance feedback of all Copy and Paste activity.

Miscellaneous Productivity Tips and Navigation Shortcut Keys

From a CPS node's "Table View", the ability to delete multiple records at the same time is also possible. To accomplish a multi-record delete, first click in the far left column where the small black arrow icon appears on any record / row, then holding-down either of the standard Windows select keys <SHIFT> or <CTRL>, click to select the desired records to be deleted. Once all records to be deleted are in the selected state, click on the Toolbar’s “Delete” button.

Also be aware that the standard table Navigation and Shortcut Keys are available in the Table View. The Navigation Keys include: Tab, Shift + Tab, the Arrow Keys, Page UP and Page Down, and even the Home and End Keys.

For more information, see the Online Help’s Table Navigation and Shortcut Keys topic.