Pocket eSchool User Manual - Selecting Records

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One of the most powerful features of Pocket eSchool is its versatility in selecting and searching for desired records. There are several selection methods built into the grids which display the data and there is a very powerful search method build into most list screens. In addition, there are some very powerful specialized search methods involving presorted lists and queries. Finally, there are some cross-referenced search methods for finding any person, phone, or address. Let's look at some student examples.

Table 2-7: Searching data grids using the built-in methods

Figure 2-38
All data grids, such as the student list grid on the left, have a vertical scroll bar. It is the graphic element immediately to the right of the data grid. If the downward pointing triangle (the scroll bar down button, below the scroll bar) is tapped, the grid display moves down two records at a time. Holding the stylus on the triangle, shifts the grid display downward repeatedly. This method of locating a desired record is very slow and tedious. It is useful only when the desired record is a couple of taps away. The upward pointing triangle above the scroll bar can be used in a similar manner to scroll the grid upward.
Figure 2-39
If the desired record is reasonably close to the displayed records in the data grid, then the hardware buttons are useful for paging the grid data up or down. Figure 2-39 shows the result after a page down was done. The implementation of the hardware buttons vary in the handheld models. My Palm Tungsten T3 has a 5-way O ring. A page up is done by pressing the up (at 12 o'clock) part of the ring and a page down is done by pressing the down (at 6 o'clock) part of the ring. My Zire 71 has a joystick that does a page up when pushed up (to 12 o'clock) and does a page down when pushed down (to 6 o'clock).
Figure 2-40
Paging up or down is also very tedious unless the desired record is reasonably close. A faster way to use the scroll bar is to drag the scroll bar's elevator up or down. This is done by putting the stylus on the elevator and dragging it in the desired direction. Figure 2-40 shows the elevator after it has been dragged down (it is to the right of 09 on the McDaniel Curtis data line). As with Windows programs, the scroll bar elevator's size, relative to the size of the length of the scroll bar, gives some idea of the size of the data file being displayed. The elevator's relative location in the scroll bar gives some indication of the location of the records that are currently displayed in the grid. In Figure 2-40, the elevator is in the middle and the students listed in the grid are in the middle of the alphabet.
Figure 2-41
A much faster way to find a desired record is by using the build-in search method for most data list grids. Whenever the search icon, , is displayed, the search method can be used to get to a specific record quickly. Tapping the search icon brings up the search screen. To find a student whose last name is Thompson, all that needs to be done is to enter the first few letters of the name. Figure 2-41 shows the result after the T and H keys were tapped. On the keypad in Figure 2-41, the buttons to the right of the letter Z are space, period, quote, and backspace, respectively. The button, labeled 123, can be used to flip the display to a numeric keypad.
Figure 2-42
After the search text has been entered, the search is initiated by tapping the Go To button, in Figure 2-41. Figure 2-42 shows the result of the search. Here, the record pointer and the grid is moved to the first student whose name starts with TH. This search is quite fast. In a large school file with about 2300 students, the search always takes less than one second on my Tungsten T3.

The search methods described above use a student's last name as the key data item to find a student. For most searches this is the usual way to search. However, there are times when a student needs to be found using some other data item, such as, the student's first name, locker number, or car's licence plate number; some call this type of search a reverse search. Pocket eSchool's query system could be used for such a search, but there is a much faster and convenient way to do this type of search using the My Order option from the main menu.

Table 2-8: Searching with My Order Prebuilt Order Sets

Figure 2-43
The My Order prebuilt order sets are displayed by tapping the My Order button on Pocket eSchool's main menu.
Figure 2-44
The Prebuilt Order Sets grid lists the file names and order data item names. The student order sets are listed first, the teachers second, and the staff third. Any data item in the any of the three data files (students, teachers, and staff) can be made an ordered set. Figure 2-44 shows seven student data items and two teacher data items (there are more teacher items and staff items that are not visible in the grid).
Figure 2-45
Tapping the first row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in first name order. Using the data in this form, the scrollbar methods and the search methods, described above, also work here for first names. Because the search icon is displayed, searches by entering a few letters or numbers is very handy to get to the desired area of the sorted list very quickly.
Figure 2-46
Tapping the second row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in locker number order.
Figure 2-47
Tapping the third row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in car licence plate order.
Figure 2-48
Tapping the Birthday row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in birthday order.
Figure 2-49
Tapping the Birth Date row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in birth date order.

Any data item in any of the three data files can be used to build a prebuilt order set. The items need only to be selected when the school data is downloaded to the handheld.

The search methods described so far have used a single data item value to find a student, teacher, or staff person. It does not lend itself to, for example, finding groups of students that meet some common condition, such as being a grade 9 male. Pocket eSchool's query system can be used to find student records which meet just about any conceivable condition and have the records sorted by one or more data items. Queries also have the advantage of being permanently stored on the handled -- subsequent downloads with new data does not clear out or delete the query expressions. A brief example of selecting, sorting, and using the result of a query is now given. A more detailed description is found in topic Building Queries.

Table 2-9: An example of a Pocket eSchool Query

Figure 2-50
Pocket eSchool's Query Directory is accessed by tapping the Query button on the main menu, in Figure 2-43. Queries can be constructed for the student, teacher, and staff files. The dropdown menu to the right of the heading, "Queries for" is used to select the file. The query directory grid, in Figure 2-50, shows the names of three student queries along with their record selection count. The Grade 9 males query has selected 19 students.
Figure 2-51
Any query can be examined by first selecting it (tapping its entry in the directory grid) in Figure 2-50, and then tapping the Edit button. Figure 2-51 shows the Grade 9 males query information: its name, Grade 9 males, its filter condition, Grade equals 9 and Gender equals M, and its sort order, Last Name. The construction of queries is described in topic Building Queries. The query is used by tapping the Use button in Figure 2-50. If the query has been run since the last data download, the user is given the option to use the previous result or force a requery.
Figure 2-52
When the query is resorted, progress information is displayed. Figure 2-52 shows the progress form after the selection and sort has been completed. The students who were selected have a Yes to the left of their name. In the example, 222 students were analyzed. Of the 222, 19 students met the selection condition. Also, some performance statistics are given: the sort time was 8 seconds for the 222 students in this file and the rate per 1000 students was 36 seconds. You can use the rate per 1000 students to calculate the time it might take for your school. For example, for 2400 students the prorated time would be 2400 / 1000 x 36 = 86.4 seconds. The sort in Figure 2-52 was done on the Palm Tungsten T3.
Figure 2-53
The result of the search and sort can be seen by tapping the Continue button on Figure 2-52. The resulting form, as shown in Figure 2-53, lists the query in the form's title bar (at the very top of the form) and lists the sort key data item name and the number of records selected in the heading. Below the heading is a data grid showing the sort key value and the student's name. Once this result grid is displayed, all the selection methods, including the search option, are now available to access the desired students.

There is another group search problems which may be more difficult to solve. Here are some examples: given the name of a person, how is this person related to anyone in the school? Is it a teacher, staff person, student, parent, employer, medical provider, or some other service provider. How is this person related to anyone else in the school? Given a phone number, whose phone number is it. Is it a work phone number, a home phone number, a fax number, a pager number, etc.? Who are the persons associated with this number? Given an address, whose address is it? If it is a home address, who lives there? Who are the immediate neighbors that are also at school? If it is a work address, who works there? If it is an email address, whose email address is it? Pocket eSchool's cross reference feature provides a framework that facilitates an easy answer to each of these questions. The cross reference grids are accessed by tapping the References button on the main menu, in Figure 2-43.

Table 2-10: Using Pocket eSchool's Cross Reference Data Grids

Figure 2-54
There are three cross reference data grids: persons, phones, and addresses. Figure 2-54 shows the persons grid. Every person in the data file has an entry here. The References on the far right of each person's row indicates the number of times the person is referenced somewhere in the file. Most people have one reference. However, a student who has several siblings, or parents who have several children in the school will have more than one reference.
Figure 2-55
Tapping on Tanya Albrecht's entry in Figure 2-54 brings up Tanya Albrecht's cross reference detail. It appears that Tanya is referenced by both Jane Albrecht and Joan Albrecht.
Figure 2-56
To track Tanya Albrecht's references down in Jane Albrecht's record, Jane's row is tapped. This shows Jane Albrecht's contacts page where Tanya Albrecht is listed as Jane's mother. From here, Tanya's phone and address information can be viewed by tapping on Tanya's entry on the contacts grid.
Figure 2-57
The file used for cross referencing is specified by the file dropdown menu. Tapping the Phones entry switches the display to phone cross references, as shown in Figure 2-58.
Figure 2-58
Like the person cross reference grid, the phone grid lists all phones in the data files. Here, the phone, 814-327-8137, has 4 references.
Figure 2-59
Tapping the phone row for 814-327-8137, in Figure 2-58, gives the phone's cross reference detail. Under the Contacts heading there is a list of people who are referencing this phone. Under the Student/Teacher/Staff heading there is a list of people who have Contacts pages, where the person on the left (under Contacts) appears. In the example in Figure 2-59, The phone appears three times for William Fletcher (he appears to be the father of students Janice, Jean and Tom Fletcher; he lives with Tom, but not Janice or Jean). The phone also appears once for Tom Fletcher.
Figure 2-60
Tapping the first entry in Figure 2-59 shows Janice Fletcher's contacts page. Tapping on the father, William Fletcher, we find that the phone number, 814-327-8137, is William Fletcher's home phone.
Figure 2-61
The cross reference procedure for addresses is exactly the same as for persons and phones, already described above. Addresses differ from persons and phones in that they are sorted and displayed in street name order. Within street name, the addresses are sorted by street number. Also, when a search is done on addresses, the search is keyed on the street name and not on the street number.
Figure 2-62
Tapping the address, 2055 Baxter Dr..., in Figure 2-61, gives this address' cross-referenced detail. Three people are listed as having a reference to this address. Tapping on the first entry, for Adam Miller, Adam Miller's contact page is displayed in Figure 2-63.
Figure 2-63
Various people do share this address, including the Adam's father, Curtis Miller.

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Pocket eSchool User Manual Topics Map

牋牋Overview
牋牋Pocket eSchool
牋牋牋A Tour of Student Forms
牋牋牋A Tour of Teacher Forms
牋牋牋A Tour of Course Forms
牋牋牋A Tour of Bus Forms
牋牋牋A Tour of Statistics
牋牋牋Selecting Records <----- You are here
牋牋牋Navigation Basics
牋牋牋Picture Sizes
牋牋牋Building Queries
牋牋牋Adding contacts and contact data
牋牋牋Management
牋牋Installing Pocket eSchool
牋牋Installing eSchool PDA Edition
牋牋Downloading your School's Data
牋牋Update Notes

	Figure 2-38 All data grids, such as the student list grid on the left, have a vertical scroll bar. It is the graphic element immediately to the right of the data grid. If the downward pointing triangle (the scroll bar down button, below the scroll bar) is tapped, the grid display moves down two records at a time. Holding the stylus on the triangle, shifts the grid display downward repeatedly. This method of locating a desired record is very slow and tedious. It is useful only when the desired record is a couple of taps away. The upward pointing triangle above the scroll bar can be used in a similar manner to scroll the grid upward.
	Figure 2-39 If the desired record is reasonably close to the displayed records in the data grid, then the hardware buttons are useful for paging the grid data up or down. Figure 2-39 shows the result after a page down was done. The implementation of the hardware buttons vary in the handheld models. My Palm Tungsten T3 has a 5-way O ring. A page up is done by pressing the up (at 12 o'clock) part of the ring and a page down is done by pressing the down (at 6 o'clock) part of the ring. My Zire 71 has a joystick that does a page up when pushed up (to 12 o'clock) and does a page down when pushed down (to 6 o'clock).
	Figure 2-40 Paging up or down is also very tedious unless the desired record is reasonably close. A faster way to use the scroll bar is to drag the scroll bar's elevator up or down. This is done by putting the stylus on the elevator and dragging it in the desired direction. Figure 2-40 shows the elevator after it has been dragged down (it is to the right of 09 on the McDaniel Curtis data line). As with Windows programs, the scroll bar elevator's size, relative to the size of the length of the scroll bar, gives some idea of the size of the data file being displayed. The elevator's relative location in the scroll bar gives some indication of the location of the records that are currently displayed in the grid. In Figure 2-40, the elevator is in the middle and the students listed in the grid are in the middle of the alphabet.
	Figure 2-41 A much faster way to find a desired record is by using the build-in search method for most data list grids. Whenever the search icon, , is displayed, the search method can be used to get to a specific record quickly. Tapping the search icon brings up the search screen. To find a student whose last name is Thompson, all that needs to be done is to enter the first few letters of the name. Figure 2-41 shows the result after the T and H keys were tapped. On the keypad in Figure 2-41, the buttons to the right of the letter Z are space, period, quote, and backspace, respectively. The button, labeled 123, can be used to flip the display to a numeric keypad.
	Figure 2-42 After the search text has been entered, the search is initiated by tapping the Go To button, in Figure 2-41. Figure 2-42 shows the result of the search. Here, the record pointer and the grid is moved to the first student whose name starts with TH. This search is quite fast. In a large school file with about 2300 students, the search always takes less than one second on my Tungsten T3.

	Figure 2-43 The My Order prebuilt order sets are displayed by tapping the My Order button on Pocket eSchool's main menu.
	Figure 2-44 The Prebuilt Order Sets grid lists the file names and order data item names. The student order sets are listed first, the teachers second, and the staff third. Any data item in the any of the three data files (students, teachers, and staff) can be made an ordered set. Figure 2-44 shows seven student data items and two teacher data items (there are more teacher items and staff items that are not visible in the grid).
	Figure 2-45 Tapping the first row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in first name order. Using the data in this form, the scrollbar methods and the search methods, described above, also work here for first names. Because the search icon is displayed, searches by entering a few letters or numbers is very handy to get to the desired area of the sorted list very quickly.
	Figure 2-46 Tapping the second row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in locker number order.
	Figure 2-47 Tapping the third row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in car licence plate order.
	Figure 2-48 Tapping the Birthday row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in birthday order.
	Figure 2-49 Tapping the Birth Date row in Figure 2-44 shows the students listed in birth date order.

	Figure 2-50 Pocket eSchool's Query Directory is accessed by tapping the Query button on the main menu, in Figure 2-43. Queries can be constructed for the student, teacher, and staff files. The dropdown menu to the right of the heading, "Queries for" is used to select the file. The query directory grid, in Figure 2-50, shows the names of three student queries along with their record selection count. The Grade 9 males query has selected 19 students.
	Figure 2-51 Any query can be examined by first selecting it (tapping its entry in the directory grid) in Figure 2-50, and then tapping the Edit button. Figure 2-51 shows the Grade 9 males query information: its name, Grade 9 males, its filter condition, Grade equals 9 and Gender equals M, and its sort order, Last Name. The construction of queries is described in topic Building Queries. The query is used by tapping the Use button in Figure 2-50. If the query has been run since the last data download, the user is given the option to use the previous result or force a requery.
	Figure 2-52 When the query is resorted, progress information is displayed. Figure 2-52 shows the progress form after the selection and sort has been completed. The students who were selected have a Yes to the left of their name. In the example, 222 students were analyzed. Of the 222, 19 students met the selection condition. Also, some performance statistics are given: the sort time was 8 seconds for the 222 students in this file and the rate per 1000 students was 36 seconds. You can use the rate per 1000 students to calculate the time it might take for your school. For example, for 2400 students the prorated time would be 2400 / 1000 x 36 = 86.4 seconds. The sort in Figure 2-52 was done on the Palm Tungsten T3.
	Figure 2-53 The result of the search and sort can be seen by tapping the Continue button on Figure 2-52. The resulting form, as shown in Figure 2-53, lists the query in the form's title bar (at the very top of the form) and lists the sort key data item name and the number of records selected in the heading. Below the heading is a data grid showing the sort key value and the student's name. Once this result grid is displayed, all the selection methods, including the search option, are now available to access the desired students.

	Figure 2-54 There are three cross reference data grids: persons, phones, and addresses. Figure 2-54 shows the persons grid. Every person in the data file has an entry here. The References on the far right of each person's row indicates the number of times the person is referenced somewhere in the file. Most people have one reference. However, a student who has several siblings, or parents who have several children in the school will have more than one reference.
	Figure 2-55 Tapping on Tanya Albrecht's entry in Figure 2-54 brings up Tanya Albrecht's cross reference detail. It appears that Tanya is referenced by both Jane Albrecht and Joan Albrecht.
	Figure 2-56 To track Tanya Albrecht's references down in Jane Albrecht's record, Jane's row is tapped. This shows Jane Albrecht's contacts page where Tanya Albrecht is listed as Jane's mother. From here, Tanya's phone and address information can be viewed by tapping on Tanya's entry on the contacts grid.
	Figure 2-57 The file used for cross referencing is specified by the file dropdown menu. Tapping the Phones entry switches the display to phone cross references, as shown in Figure 2-58.
	Figure 2-58 Like the person cross reference grid, the phone grid lists all phones in the data files. Here, the phone, 814-327-8137, has 4 references.
	Figure 2-59 Tapping the phone row for 814-327-8137, in Figure 2-58, gives the phone's cross reference detail. Under the Contacts heading there is a list of people who are referencing this phone. Under the Student/Teacher/Staff heading there is a list of people who have Contacts pages, where the person on the left (under Contacts) appears. In the example in Figure 2-59, The phone appears three times for William Fletcher (he appears to be the father of students Janice, Jean and Tom Fletcher; he lives with Tom, but not Janice or Jean). The phone also appears once for Tom Fletcher.
	Figure 2-60 Tapping the first entry in Figure 2-59 shows Janice Fletcher's contacts page. Tapping on the father, William Fletcher, we find that the phone number, 814-327-8137, is William Fletcher's home phone.
	Figure 2-61 The cross reference procedure for addresses is exactly the same as for persons and phones, already described above. Addresses differ from persons and phones in that they are sorted and displayed in street name order. Within street name, the addresses are sorted by street number. Also, when a search is done on addresses, the search is keyed on the street name and not on the street number.
	Figure 2-62 Tapping the address, 2055 Baxter Dr..., in Figure 2-61, gives this address' cross-referenced detail. Three people are listed as having a reference to this address. Tapping on the first entry, for Adam Miller, Adam Miller's contact page is displayed in Figure 2-63.
	Figure 2-63 Various people do share this address, including the Adam's father, Curtis Miller.