Main Screen, Primary Controls

This page deals with the primary controls of Mini-Edit, arranged along the right hand side of the window. A short summary of the other controls, such as those dealing with table selection is given, but these are explained in greater detail in the next few pages.

The controls listed on the right hand side of the window deal mostly with the entire active file or with the entire active table in that file. A few deal with the tool settings. None deal with individual records of a table (this is mostly handled in the edit-view Dialog). The controls dealing with the individual records are covered on the next page.

Current File

The current selected file name is reflected in the application window title as well as its read-write state (the file is shown in a read-only mode, indicating that the Read-Only check box is checked).

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Table to View

This control allows the selection of which table is currently loaded into the data grid in the center of the window.

Key concept: Most operations (editing, saving, translating, rule checking, etc.) of the tool operate on the current record of the current table in the currently loaded file.

Additional information about these tables, their names and what they normally contain, can be found here .

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Data Grid

The data grid displays the first few columns of all the records in the currently selected table. A data grid is the Microsoft term used for the collection of excel-like cells shown at right. When no table is selected this grid is blank. When no file is loaded the grid is hidden. You can slide the relative sizes of the cell in the grid to a limited degree if needed. You can select-pause-select to copy data from a field in the displayed grid. You can not edit the content of the grid; use the Edit Window to do that. You can control the alphabetic order in which the records are displayed with the Sort-By control (below). Above the data grid some additional information about the FADD and registration status of the current record are displayed.

Hint: A good way to quickly launch the Edit-View window for a record is to double click along the left hand side of the data grid for that entry (not in the textual area).

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Sort-By control

This controls the alphanumeric ordering of the records displayed for the current table. When no check boxes are checked, the native ordering of the records will be used (this varies by each SDO convention). The first check box causes the alphanumeric order to be based on the Descriptive Name field. The second check box causes the alphanumeric ordering to be based on the ASN Name field. If both boxes are checked, than the SQL call orders the returned data by the descriptive name followed by the ASN name.

Keep in mind the system uses the SQL ordering and sorting methods as well as your local windows sorting preferences, so that values like "11" appear after "1" and before "2", which can at time cause confusion. You may want to number things with a leading zero ("01") if this annoys you.

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Snapshot View

This controls the snapshot view of the data which is placed in the log areas when a record is selected. Often this is enough information to answer a question and avoid opening the edit view where all the data of the record is displayed. The control selects one of three possible modes. You can toggle between the modes when a record is selected. Depending on the mode selected, the first few lines of text for relevant entries are displayed. The choices are:

Description Text Natural language parts of the record, descriptive Name text, remarks.

ASN.1 Code A view of the ASN code segments of the record.

XML Schema A view of the The XML code segments of the record.