GUI Grid Data

Common Functionality

General Facilities : GUI Grid Data

Data that is presented on a grid on a window can be customised using the grid control functionality. Each instance of the grid control will be utilised and customised in each application in a different way. Not all of the available functionality described here will necessarily be available on any particular instance of the data grid.

The following figure shows a typical data grid display, comprising PIPE and EQUI items.

The attribute ‘POSITION’ is invalid in PIPE items, and is indicated by an appropriate icon. Similarly, ‘PSPEC’ is invalid on EQUI items.

Right-clicking on an item can display a pop-up menu with options to execute various commands on these items.

Move around the Grid using the Keyboard

In single or bulk edit mode, use the Tab key to move from one cell to the next. Use Shift + Tab to move to the previous cell.

In read-only mode, use the Tab key to move from one row to the next. Use Shift + Tab to move to the previous row.

Both horizontal and vertical scroll bars are available in the grid.

In read-only mode, click anywhere on a row to select it:

In single edit mode, clicking on a cell places that cell in edit mode:

In bulk edit mode, double clicking on a cell places that cell in edit mode. A single click on a cell selects the cell itself. Use the standard windows selection methods (left mouse click plus Ctrl and Shift keys) to select multiple groups of cells. A left mouse key drag operation can also be used to select multiple cells:

Right-clicking in bulk edit mode displays a pop-up menu with Fill Down, Fill Up, Copy and Paste options. Operations will apply to all currently selected cells

To select an entire row in single or bulk edit mode, click on the row selector column at the left of the grid:

In both read-only and single or bulk edit modes, multiple rows are selected using the standard windows selection methods (left mouse click plus Ctrl and Shift keys).

The grid can be split into any number of smaller grids, by clicking on the splitter bars and dragging them to the required location. These are located at the top of the vertical scroll bar and at the left of the horizontal scroll bars. The figure below shows the grid split into four areas:

To return to the standard grid display, drag the splitter bars to the top and left of the grid to remove them.

Pin Rows and Columns

These functions are useful when scrolling through large amounts of data.

If the row selector column is displayed for a data grid, rows can be pinned (i.e. fixed to the top of the grid) by clicking on their pin icons. Another click on the icon unpins that row. Pinned rows are shown in yellow:

Similarly, columns can be pinned to the left of the grid by clicking on the pin icon in the column header. Clicking again unpins the column.

Row and Column Size

The height of all rows can be changed by dragging a row separator in the row selector column. All rows have the same height.

Individual column widths can be changed by dragging the column separator in the heading area.

Column widths can be changed to the width of the widest entry in the column by double-clicking on a column separator.

Column Re-order

The columns in a grid can be arranged in a different order by dragging and dropping a column header to a different position, as shown below. The system assists the operation by displaying arrows for valid drop points.

The data in a column can be sorted alphabetically by clicking on a column header; a second click will reverse the direction of the sort. An up or down arrow symbol at the right of the column header indicates the sort direction. Only one column at a time can be sorted in this way.

Column filters can be applied to grids so that the selected columns only show certain records. The filters are applied using the facilities provided in the filtering row, which is displayed under the column heading.

To apply a filter, hover the cursor over the filter row field for the required column and click on the down arrow that is displayed.

The filter window lists all the values in the column, plus All and Blanks. Next to each item in the list is a checkbox. To filter out a value from the column, uncheck its checkbox. To uncheck all values, uncheck the All checkbox. Check the All checkbox again to check all the checkboxes.

If the Blanks checkbox is checked, rows without a value in the column are displayed when the filter is applied.

When the required filter conditions have been selected, click OK to close the window and apply the filter. The value that the column is being filtered by is displayed in the filtering row field for the column.

If the column is being filtered by multiple values or by and a text filter, Custom is displayed in the filtering row field for the column.

To edit a filter, access the filter window again and change the filter criteria as required. To clear the filter from a column, click Clear Filter to the right of the down arrow.

To clear the filters from all the columns, click Clear Filter to the left of the grid.

More advanced filters can be applied by clicking Text Filters. A list of text filtering criteria is then displayed.

Click on the required criterion to display the Custom Filter window with the selected criterion populated.

The user must enter a value for the search criterion. Addition filters can be added by clicking Add and removed by clicking Delete.

The user can select All or Any from the drop-down menu at the top of the window to filter on All the selected conditions or Any of the selected conditions. When the required filter conditions have been selected, click OK to close the window and apply the filter.

Numeric Data Functions

For columns which contain numeric data, several numeric operations are available, the results being displayed at the foot of the column. The functionality is available by clicking on the summation symbol in the header of the column.

Group Sorting allows the grid data to be shown in groups based on the data in the columns. To display the data in groups, drag a column header into the Group Sort Area above the grid data, as shown below:

In the example below, the 'Type' column has been dragged into the Group Sort Area and the data is therefore grouped according to 'Type':

To remove the group sorting, drag the tile from the Group Sort Area back into the heading row.

Multiple group sortings are possible by dragging other column headers into the Group Sort Area. The following figure shows a grid which is first ordered on 'Type', then on 'Area'.

Miscellaneous Grid Data Functions

The following functions may be available on some forms (via a right-click menu), depending on the application/utility.

•

Export to Excel - Enables the grid data to be saved to an Excel file

•

Import from Excel - If this option is available, the Excel file must contain a set of column headings in the first row of the file, followed by the data beneath the headings

•

Print Preview - Provides a facility to preview the grid data, prior to printing it.

1974 to current year. AVEVA Solutions Limited and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.