Working with the Editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is the 'Editor'

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The Editor is a tool that provides means to edit records in bulk. 

 

Note 1: You can use the Editor to edit a single record but in this case, you are better using the standard Edit features that provide access to all the attributes of that record.

Note 2: the Editor replaces the old 'Tag Management' and 'Level Management' windows.

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WARNING: Note that when the editing is executed, the data is modified and the display is updated automatically. There is no undo option at this time. Hence it is recommended that you back up your database before you execute bulk editing on its content.

 

To open the Editor window, you can either click on  the Toolbar icon       , select the Editor submenu option from the Window menu option or use the fast key combination of Command-Shift-R.

 

The following figure shows the Editor window.

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The Editor window consists of three part: 

1. A Toolbar, at the top of the window

2. An operation Side Bar that lists the editing operations

3. The Data View where the values associated with the edited attribute are listed

 

The Toolbar

The Toolbar has three components:

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• The 'Attribute to edit': a drop-down field where you can select what attribute you want to edit. Currently four attributes can be edited in bulk: Tags, Level, Font Color and Parent.

• The 'Scope of edit': a drop-down field where you can specify the set of records to be edited. Four options are provided:

  • Selected Records: the scope of edit will be limited to the set of records that are currently selected (check the 'Mouse Operations' section on how to select multiple records)

  • Visible Records: the scope of the edit will be limited to the set of records that are currently visible, which is dependent on the combination of the filtered records plus the expansion status of the Parent records (i.e., either 'expanded' which display the Children records or 'collapsed' which hide the Children records)

  • Filtered Records: the scope of the edit will be limited to the records that returned with the current active filter. This will impact all the records that were returned by the filter whether those are visible and displayed in the Display View or not. 

  • All Records: the scope of edit will apply to the whole database.

 

Note that in all cases, only the records with the attribute that matches the requested change will be edited. For example, if the scope of edit is the Filtered Record and you want to change the color of the red records to blue, then only the records that are red will be edited to become blue (i.e., not all the filtered records regardless of their color).

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• A help button that will bring you to this page.

 

Note: We will refer to the records that are defined by the Scope field and on which the edit will apply as the 'Records-in-Scope'.

 

The Operation Side Bar

The Operation side bar is where the available editing operations are listed. The available editing operations are dependent on the attribute to be edited.

Hence for:

• Tags: you can add, edit or delete a tag

• Level: you can change the selected level, merge two levels, add, edit, or delete a level

• Color: you can modify or delete a color

• Parent: you can modify or delete the parent relationship

 

Note also that the set of available editing operations is dependent on the scope of edit. For example, some operations might be available when the edit is on the whole database but are not when the edit is limited to the selected records.

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The Data View

The content of the Data view is dependent on the attribute being edited. For example, when the attribute is Tags, then the list of tags used with the Records-in-Scope is listed. When the attribute is Level, then the list of Levels used with the Records-in-Scope is listed, and so on.

You will select the value to edit in the tables provided in the Data View.

 

Editing Tags

 

To edit Tags of a set of records, start by selecting Tags from the 'Attribute to edit' field (Tags is the default attribute with the Editor window is opened for the first time).

Then select the scope of the records to edit.

 

The Data view section will then be populated with the list of tags that are used with the Records-In-Scope. With Tags, the following editing operations are provided:

 

• To add one or more tags, click on the        icon from the operation Side Bar, which will open the 'List of Tags' window. Create news tags or select from the existing tags, then click on the 'Select' button.

• To rename a tag, select the tag you want to rename from those listed in the Data View table and then click on the       icon from the operation Side Bar. In the window that opens set the new name. 

• To delete one or more tags, select the tag(s) you want to delete from those listed in the Data View table and then click on the       icon from the operation Side Bar.

 

Editing Levels

 

To edit the Level of a set of records, start by selecting Level from the 'Attribute to edit' field. Then select the scope of the records to edit.

 

The Data View section will then be populated with the list of levels that are used with the Records-In-Scope. With Level, the following editing operations are provided:

 

• To change the level of the records, select the level you want to change from those listed in the Data View table, then click on the        icon from the operation Side Bar. That will open a window with the list of all existing levels. Select the new level then click on the 'Change' button.

• To add a Level to the database, click on the       icon from the operation Side Bar. In the window that opens, specify the values of the new level then click on the 'Add' button.

• To edit an existing level, select the level you want to edit from those listed in the Data View table, then click on the        icon from the operation Side Bar. In the window that opens, set the new values of the Level then click on the 'Edit' button.

• To merge two levels into one, select one of the two levels from those listed in the Data View table, then click on the          icon from the operation Side Bar. In the window that opens, select the level you want to merge with then click on the 'Merge' button. 

• To delete a level, select the level you want to delete from those listed in the Data View table, then click on the       icon from the operation Side Bar. The records using the deleted level will have their level set to the default one (i.e., level value of 25)

 

Note that the adding, editing, merging or deleting operations are enabled only when the scope of edit if the whole database. With the other scope options, only the change operation is enabled. 

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Editing Font Colors

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To edit the Font Color of a set of records, start by selecting Font Color from the 'Attribute to edit' field. Then select the scope of the records to edit.

 

The Data View section will then be populated with the list of Font Colors that are used with the Records-In-Scope. With Font Color, the following editing operations are provided:

 

• To delete a Font Color, select the color to delete from those listed in the Data View table, then click on the       icon from the operation Side Bar. The records with the deleted color will have their font color set to black.

• To modify a Font Color, select the color to modify from those listed in the Data View table, then click on the        icon from the operation Side Bar. The Color Wheel window will open. Select the new color. The records which font color is equal to the one being modified will have their font color set to the new selected color.

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Note: If you have records which font color is white, that white color will be listed in the Data View. If that color is in the middle of the list, it will be easily viewed. However, if the table list the white color at the end of the list or if the white color is the only color to be displayed, the color of the row will blend with the background color of the table and become difficult to see. The row is still there and can still be selected, but will be difficult to visualize.

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Editing Parent

 

To edit the Parent record of a set of records, start by selecting Parent from the 'Attribute to edit' field. Then select the scope of the records to edit.

 

The Data View section will then be populated with the list of Parent records that are used with the Records-In-Scope. With Parent, the following editing operations are provided:

 

• To delete a Parent relationship, select the Parent record which relation is to be deleted from those listed in the Data View table, then click on the       icon from the operation Side Bar. The records that are children of the select Parent record will lose their child relationship to that Parent. Note that this operation will not delete the Parent record itself, but will simply remove the Parent-Child relationship between the select Parent record and the records that are part of the Records-in-Scope.

• To modify a Parent relationship, select the Parent record to modify from those listed in the Data View table, then click on the      icon from the operation Side Bar. A window will open with a list of all Parent records in the database. Select the new Parent records then click on the 'Select' button.