JAIX Grids and Profiles

Get the most from JAIX Grids!

Introduction

This is the STM (Standard Training Module) reference document for Grids & Profiles. 'Grids' within the apps are used for looking at and manipulating data throughout JAIX Logistics Software. Grids are designed to reduce the need to print 'static' data reports and instead present 'live', refreshable, on demand data for the user in an informative and insightful manner that can be tailored for employees depending on their role or current task.

'Profiles' provide the ability to save the 'view' (layout, columns etc) of the grid that has been created under a profile name and then distribute access to appropriate users and or groups (potentially allowing multiple ways for different staff to look at the 'same' data). A user is not restricted to looking at data with one view but rather as many as they have access to. This functionality is very customisable and powerful, it can be thought of as inbuilt functionality analogous to exporting and manipulating data in Excel with the bonus that it can then be saved and re-run in moments and on demand. Mastery of this JAIX functionality will have widespread and significantly positive impacts for a business and its operations.

A note that the application paths under each title through this STM are merely samples for illustration of the concepts being referenced. However these concepts are fairly universal across all Grids found within all JAIX Logistics Software Modules.

Glossary

Profiles & Users

This document will set out the various ways that Grids can be manipulated. Once a View has been set or changed with the tools below it can be saved as an updated or as a new Profile by pressing the Save button

Attempting to save a shared Profile that you do not 'own' (generally one you didn't create) will result in the below pop up message. Press OK and you will be given the option to 'save-as' (also note option to set the new profile as your default at this point if wanted)

With ownership of a Profile, control of 'Shared To' settings is available. Press the Shared To button and select who should have access to the Profile created. Access can be set on various levels, by location (branch), by role or even by individual user level. Please see STM reference for Admin-Users for more detail on user / roles settings.

Sort

Freight > Freight > Consignments > Search & List(sample path)

The sort function can be applied to a View and then saved as part of a Profile, avoiding the need to manually apply it each time. An example might be to put consignment numbers in alpha/numeric sequence for ease of identification

Columns

Freight > Freight > Consignments > Search & List(sample path)

Adjusting size and Best Fit

Column and row sizes can be adjusted by pressing and holding left mouse button and dragging (for column click between header cells and for rows click on a row line). Arrows will appear when in the correct position for adjusting. Note that adjusting a row height will adjust all rows, and not just the single row.

Alternatively right click on a header and choose 'Best Fit' to automatically adjust a column or 'Best Fit (all columns)' to apply to all columns. (Best Fit will make the column/s big enough to fit the longest contained value).

Reordering Columns

To reorder columns on a Grid simply press and hold the left mouse button and drag it left or right to the desired location. Small blue arrows will indicate between which columns the selected column is moving to.

Add Column

To add a column right click on any of the existing column headers, and choose 'Column Chooser' on the pop-up list that appears.

A list will appear with all available additional fields in list form*. Similar to reordering a column, to add one of the listed columns press and hold left mouse button on the column name, and drag the new field to where it is desired to appear. Again note the blue arrows that will appear to assist the user in placing the field where it is required.

If you can't see a relevant field you want to add, please contact JAIX support and your request will be duly considered. Please note that not all fields are made available by default for system performance reasons.

Remove Column

To remove a column (whether user added or present by default) simply press and hold left mouse button on the particular column header and drag the mouse down away from the header row. Once the column header is 'floating' away from the header row an X will appear, at which point letting go of the mouse will result in the column being removed. If required the column is always available to add back as per the 'Add Column' instructions in this document.

Grouping

Groupings can be applied to alter user data into multiple tables based on the values in a designated column. Multiple layers of grouping can be created. To create a grouping simply click and hold the left mouse button and drag a header up above the header row ('Drag a column header here to group by that column' is displayed in this area to assist). In the example below, the 'Receiver Name' column is being dragged up to group by that value.

The screen now displays only the Receiver Names, and a user can more manageably look at data per Receiver accessing the particular detail lines 'hidden' by double clicking the Receiver Name or by pressing the blue arrow next to the name.

Further groupings can be made by dragging another header up and dropping to the left or right of the existing header grouping (dropping to the left will change the primary grouping, dropping to the right will make a secondary sub grouping below the existing primary grouping).

In the example below left, Despatched Date has been added as a secondary grouping on top of the Receiver Name. In the example below right, Despatched Date has been added as the new primary grouping with Receiver Name becoming the secondary grouping.

Right clicking on a header brings up the below menu which has an alternate method of setting a grouping with the 'Group By This Column' option.

Also please note the 'Hide Group By Box' option - this will simply remove the visual representation of the groupings from the top of the screen.

When groupings have been applied an additional function becomes available to introduce summaries. Right clicking on the white footer area directly below each grouping brings up certain options (where applicable to the data type, eg. Text cannot be 'summed')

Filter

Freight > Freight > Consignments > Search & List(sample path)

Filters allow the narrowing of a search based on data present or not in a data set (within run criteria already set such as date range). Filters can be applied by typing into the boxes directly underneath the column headers. A filter can be set to search by (for example 'Contains' to find a word or value anywhere in data), or can be set more strictly to 'Begins with' to only find data that matches from the beginning. Other options are listed below;

Numerical columns will appear with different options to filter by (as per below), again these are accessed by clicking on the existing symbol such as

Several general filter menu options can be found by right clicking on any header cell. Filter Editor opens the editor, Show/Hide Find Panel will show or hide the find panel and Show/Hide Auto Filter Row will show or hide the strip that sits below the headers which can be used for inputting quick filters into any column (filter editor options are covered further later in the document).

Filter Editor

The Filter Editor allows for more complex filtering. And or Or statements can be used so that multiple lines can be strung together, press on And/Or to switch between them (plus other options see more detail below), press the + button to add another sub filter line (press the X at end of a line to remove that line of logic). It is even possible to extend this filtering over multiple columns (more detail below).
Press the blue text to update the column being considered

Press the green text to update the expression.

Click on the text 'enter a value' and type what you wish to narrow the filter to (populated example here 'BIG' will restrict search to records where Sender Name begins with the letters 'BIG').

Date columns have many pre-defined options to choose from, for example instead of having to define a qualifier of '=' and then set a date range of last week, the user can simply choose 'Is last week' providing the result in an easier manner with the bonus that this will always maintain a search of last week (even if run a week or year after the filter was created, the filter still show for the week prior to the current date).

OR the statement here combines the results of Receivers beginning with 'BIG' OR 'ADELAIDE'

The statement here reduces results to Senders with name starting with 'Adelaide' AND with a Receiver Suburb starting with 'End'

Pressing on the AND/OR brings up this menu, the top four options will switch the existing operator to that chosen (ie can change 'AND' to 'OR' or 'Not And' or 'Not Or'). Add Condition is another way to add another line under your existing operator (the AND in this screenshot below), reminder that pressing the + symbol next to the AND would achieve the same result. Clear All will remove all of the lines under the operator. Where multiple groups exist this will change to Remove Group which will delete that additional operator (and all of its nested lines).

Add Group (not to be confused with the non-filtering topic Grouping which is also covered in this reference document) allows for more complex filters to be created that can include 'nested' AND/OR statements. It is important to note that there is also the expression 'Is any of' that can also act as a nested OR statement, however, note that full values must be populated to utilise this.

As an example of a filter using multiple Groups - The AND in this filter means both conditions need to be satisfied to return data, the nested OR statement looks for two potential conditions that can either or both be returned to the AND statement. In human language this filter is looking for consignments with a despatched date within last week for Senders that have names starting with either ADELAIDE or BIG.

Conditional Formatting

Freight > Fleet > Co. Fleet (sample path)

Some Grids allow for conditional formatting which is generally the highlighting (or in some other way changing the appearance) of cells based on some defined criteria. To access the conditional formatting options right click on a header cell. Two sets of predefined options exist – 'Highlight Cell Rules' & 'Unique/Duplicate Rules'. The third option is 'Manage Rules'.

Highlight Cell Rules - Choose from predefined conditions such as greater than or equal to and set resulting cell and text formatting if conditions are met. In below example if a cell in the Co. Fleet Make column (this column header was right clicked to start process) is equal to 'volvo' then the whole row ('apply formatting to an entire row' check box was ticked else it would just be the cell effected) will be formatted (see result at bottom all rows with volvo are now in bold text).

Under Highlight Cell Rules a Custom Condition can be set. The mechanics of this are the same as the Filter Editor with the addition of ability to compare a value with another field's value (and with the formatting that should be defined if condition is met).

Unique/Duplicate Rules just require the formatting to be set, the criteria is completely pre-defined

  
Manage Rules is a central point to see all existing rules on a view (rules can be filtered to a particular column only). Rules can be deleted or edited from here. If preferred any rule can also be created from this screen

Clear Rules > Clear Rules from All Columns – this will clear all conditional formatting from your current grid view.

Add Calculated Column

Freight > Fleet > Co. Fleet (sample path)
Sometimes data in a raw format does not give an optimal level of operational insight, but when used in conjunction with other existing data can be manipulated with formulas into meaningful information. In most systems when reaching this point the only option is to export existing data to a program like MS Excel and manually manipulate the data there, resulting in a time lapse to produce information that will generally be out of date by the time it can be distributed. JAIX however has no limit in this regard and can not only cater for the calculations but can also save these calculations (as part of profiles) for on demand use with 'live' data. JAIX grids often allow for the addition of these 'calculated columns'.

Right click on a header and choose 'Add Calculated Column' from the menu list.

In this example a calculated column is being added to give a predicted next registration cost (based on a theoretical 10% increase in registration cost). Clicking Add Calculated Column results in the below popup. Column Name is a free text field to define the header under which the calculated data column will sit. Data type is used to define what type of data will be present.

Display Format sets the format that data will be displyed with in end form in the column.

Display format string is populated when using 'Custom' Display Format option (not being used for this example).

Press 'Add' when satisfied with the settings, and the 'Expression Editor' will load. The box at the bottom left of this editor has a number of menus containing lists of items that can be used to string together a calculation. Columns lets a user nominate a column/s to be acted upon, although can remain free typed. Constants contains Booleans ('True', 'False' & '?'). Operators contains mathematical symbols such as + - %. Functions contains sub menus of tools for dates (such as 'last week'), logical (such as IF - if), mathematic (such as MIN - minimum) and string (such as LEN - length). These are generally in line with behavior of Excel formulas although syntax may not be the same, the expression editor utilizes the powerful software of DevExpress, further detail can be found online from the following link:
https://documentation.devexpress.com/WindowsForms/6212/Common-Features/Expressions/Expression-Editor

Inserting a function results in some guidance on syntax being given. 

Continuing the example to calculate a 10% increase on registration cost. Selecting the Columns menu can bring up a huge list of potential columns (will be all columns available to a grid not just those that are set to visible on your view/profile), using the search box allows for easy finding of the desired column name, double clicking the name moves the column name up into the main expression box at the top.

In this example to add 10% cost, the multiplication symbol has been added (and then a factor to multiply it by). This can be done by free typing an '*' symbol or by selecting it from the Operators list. Note below the multiplication symbol has been chosen and has gone red, below the main expression box in red the words 'Syntax Error' have appeared. This is a warning that the way the expression is written is not correct. In this case this is due to the formula not being complete.

Completing the formula removes the syntax error warning message. Pressing the 'OK' button will complete the addition of this calculated column.

The new calculated column is added to the far right of the screen. Using Relocate Column user can move the column to a desired position.

Profile Manager

Admin> Tools> Profile Manager

High level administration of profiles is handled within the Jaix Admin module giving central oversight of all existing profiles. Here administrator level users can over-ride the protection that a Profile Owner has making changes in three ways:

Edit – change the owner of a profile
Delete – remove the profile from the system for all users
Shared to – alter who the profile is shared with

Profiles can also be copied from this screen allowing for secondary copies to exist that can have another user as owner or to be applied to another entity