General Rules

Data

This section is general information and may not apply to all features used in IMVUtility

Data is stored in files on the computer - these files are called Tables - each Table contains similar types of data - for example Products. Each item of data is called a row or a record - e.g. each Customer is a row.

Data consists of a number of separate fields of information for example in a Customer a field would be a name, a phone number, an address. Depending on the type of data, a field is defined to have different formats, common types are date, time, numeric, string, memo

Date- for date fields- can be zero
Time-  time of day
Numeric might be integer of fractional with decimal point
Strings can contain any information, but have a maximum length - usually for short items of data less then 200 characters
Memo - contains paragraphs of information, they also have a maximum length but typically that will be around 3,000 characters
Checkbox - can be on/off yes/no (They appear as checkboxes on Forms, but on Browses they display as Y if on/true or blank for no/false)
Radio Button Choice - choose one from a number of choices

Note that some fields must have unique values - for example a colour must be unique when used in the Colours reference table, but does not have to be unique when used in Materials

Tables may have one or more Keys - a key allows ordering the table using some of the data, for example an Order may have a Key on the order date.

Tables are typically related to each other - for example, a Made Producst may have one or more detail lines for each sales that has been made.

There are some data fields used to control the tables, and link them together - these are created by the program and cannot be changed. Each table has an ID - this is a unique number assigned sequentially, the table may also have other ID fields that link each row to the associated parent, in some case, rows may have more than on Parent.

Tables fall into 3 types:

• Data tables - contain the bulk of the data
• Validation tables - contain small amount of data and are used to validate or limit the value of field on the data tables
• Control Tables - used by the program

Tables

Each separate set of data in the system is kept in a table. For examples the Users Short table contains all the IMVU users that you have chosen to keep information about. Made Products (sometimes called MAP) is the list of all products you have created.

Logins

A list if your different (ALT)) IMVU accounts. Although IMVUtility supports the use of multiple accounts, the available Beta version only supports one login. Within other tables, the LoginID connects items to an Avatar e.g. MadeProducts contain all your created products, with a LoginID on each row to idenify which IMVU account

Users Short

A table of IMVU users with whom you have some kind of interaction. These are people you want to who you have sent credits, or who have bought things from you. Do not change anything in this table- entries are created automatically as required.

MadeProducts (MAP)

List of products you have created. Tnis is created/updated from the imported productlist.csv

Program Usage

The program displays different windows of information non the monitor. Multiple windows may be open and displayed o at the same time providing the monitor has enough display space to avoid confusion for the user.

The Windows fall into 3 groups

• Browse - a list of items in a table that allows for selection of one for modifying of viewing its data
• Select - a list of items in a table that allows for selection of one for use in some other task- or to add to a form
• Form - displays data for a single item from a table and allows changes to be made
• Menu - a block of buttons that allows selection of a task

Browse

Browse windows provide a list of information from a table.

The order of the list can be changed in two ways

1.There are tabs at the top left, selecting a different tab changes the order. Note that in some cases, a tab may also select a subset of the entire table. (For example in Inventory, depleted rows are not shown in most of the tabs)

2. Clicking the top of any columns changes the order- the can be changed to ascending or descending. Once you have ordered a column this override the sort order within a tab.

Filtering - filtering is provided on some but not all browse windows - there are two  different ways to filter. If you learn to use the filters - the program becomes very powerfull for pinpointing information.

1. Search - a search box appears at the bottom, enter a value into the box and press Search  --- to display all press Reset. Note that becuase of technical restrictions, not everything willbe found - e.g.numeric data and memos

Note that search can only search the current table, if data from other tables is shown in the browse, it is not searchable. For example, on Purchase Orders,the supplier name shows, but since it is not really in the purchase order (only the ID number is there) it can not be searched

In order to refine the search, Lead Space and End Space can be selected, this would prevent the word red – matching redness

The Search Memos option does not work

2. xQfilter - if this appears on the browse then it is possible to select from values in the browse window - most but not all columns will have filtering. When filtering is in effect a number appears after zQfilter - since it is possible to filter within filter, the number increases as additonal filters are added. To remove a filter press ESC, and the number will decrease, keep pressing ESC until it says Off to remove all filters. (Pressing too many times will close the browse window)

a. To select only rows with the same value, gold the ALT key and double click on a value

b. To select by entering a value- hold the control key while double clicking on a column then enter the value. To enter a range click the double down arrow

c. To use a wild card press ALT+CTRL and double click

Filtering ignores upper/lower case

On a numeric value the filter may not perform quite as expected. If a roe with a value of 123 is selected and shift+dbl click – then all other rows with 123 will also show, as well as rows with a number that starts with 123 e.g. 1,234 12,365. However, if the row with 1,234 is selected, then the row with 123, will not be included

For xQfilter, it can filter all displayed data and if data from other tables is shown in the browse, it is included. For example, on Purchase Orders, the supplier name shows, and can be filtered.

Exit a browse window by pressing ESC or clicking Close

Details about an item may be

• Viewed (without change) by clicking view or by right clicking and clicking View
• Changed by clicking change or by pressing the Enter key or by right clicking and clicking enter
• Deleted by clicking Delete or by pressing the Delete key or by right clicking and clicking delete
• Adding a new item by clicking Insert or by pressing the Insert key or by right clicking and clicking insert

This may cause the form for the table to display

On some browses extra buttons may provide additional features

Report Filtered prints a report limited to the rows in the browse currently filtered

Select

Selects are like browse and allow selection of an item for use in another function e.g. selecting a color for an order. Some selects allow adding a new item or changing on the fly

Pressing the Select button or pressing Enter selects the item, cancel, aborts the selection

Form

Forms provide a detailed look at an item in a table and allow entering or changing the data.

Aqua blue identified fields that cannot be changed and are part of the table

Yellow identified fields that cannot be changed and are part of a related table

At the bottom right of forms, the username, date and time are show for the creation and last update.

To select a field, press tab or reverse tab (shift+tab) to until you get to it, or click directly with the mouse

Press OK, to commit the changes, or Cancel to ignore the changes

In many case, forms have within them mini-browses.

Menu

Consist of buttons that when clicked perform other functions