The icons

In the first pages of the book, we had a quick overview of the different icons available in the graphic interface of the TinyERP client program.

Now we are going to come back to these icons, and see more in the detail what they allow us to do. That is to say the operations on the current resources (partners, sales orders, etc) in list or form modes.

(New): Creates a new record.
(Save): Saves the current record.
(Delete): Deletes the current record.

If you try to remove a record which is used and required by another resource, TinyERP will then display an error message.

(Search): Opens the search window peculiar to the current resource.
(Navigation arrows): Allow to go to previous/next record.
(List/Form modes): switches to list or form mode and vice versa.
(Wizard): If the current resource proposes only one possible action, click on this wizard icon to launch this action. If the current resource proposes several actions, click on this icon to display the list of the available actions.
(Print): If the current resource proposes only one report, Tiny ERP prints this report. If the current resource proposes several reports, choose among the available reports.
(Preferences): Displays and allows to modify the preferences related to the current record.
(Attach): Displays and allows to add/modify/delete the attached files related to the current record.
(Close): Closes the tab in progress.

The 'Action' and 'Print' icons have a different attitude depending on whether you are in list or form mode. If you are in form mode, the action or report is only related to the record displayed on the screen, even if there are several records selected. If you are in list mode, the action or report is related to the whole selected records.

The distinction between the form and list modes is very important because it allows you to use the same operation in several ways. For example, you can print an invoice in form mode or print the list of the unpaid invoices in list mode. And that, with the same action.

The 'Action', 'Print', 'Preferences' and 'Attach' icons only work if one record is selected. To do these actions on a new record, think to saving it before.

The menu icons

Icons also exist in the menu. It's important to know their meaning; first of all to know what kind of form will be opened, but also to help you in selecting the right menu option. For example, if you wish to key in your number of worked hours; you know that, in order to speed-up the input, the interface will display an editable list. Thus you won't click on a menu option which preceding icon is in the form mode.

Let us review the different icons :

: Indicates a menu without action, but containing submenus.If you double-click on it, you will obtain an error message indicating that no action is associated to this menu option.
: Indicates that a form will be displayed if you click on it.
: Indicates that a list will be displayed if you click on it.
: Indicates that a tree will be displayed if you click on it.
: Indicates that the fact of double-clicking on the menu option launches an action. Results may be different; opening a new element (form, list, tree), printing a report, displaying a questionnaire and waiting for the keyboarding...
: Indicates that the fact of double-clicking on the menu option prints report.

Don't forget that any type of menu can also contain sub-elements, in the same way that menu options with a folder icon can do ( ). Thus, there are often several entry points towards the same document in Tiny ERP to make easier the fast access to the data.