Systems Architects and Engineers specialising in the effective use of Systems Architecture, Methods and Tools since 1982

Features and Facilities

After you have entered Strategy SAVIŽ, all main forms conform to a number of standards. These include:

Standard Buttons

The four standard buttons operate as follows:

to call on-line Help showing support details, click the Strategy SAVIŽ logo.
to call an on-line Help form, click Help
to print either the form "as seen" or a related report, click Print
to return to the preceding form, click Done

Help

Form specific on-line help, available from every form, is supported by an "immediate" on screen help form from which you can also access the appropriate area of the user guide.

HelpCardŽ

As you move the mouse cursor around the screen and as it enters areas with in-built functionality, a restricted help message, a HelpCardŽ, appears at the top right of the form. This also occurs when initiating any lengthy process such as the creation of a table.

Audit Trail

At the top, extreme right of each form, the name of the current project, the current user id and a date/time stamp are displayed. These give full auditability if you choose to print the contents of a form.

Object Liveries

Entry Fields Fields in which data may be entered are coloured white.
Display Fields Display only fields are pale grey.
Radio Buttons Radio buttons are used to identify the values for a set of options. Examples include the Form Type buttons in the main menu which call for the different forms to be displayed.
Check Buttons Check buttons are used where multiple concurrent choices can be made. An example is the set of relation values which may be used to filter the relations on the relations report form.
Colour Coded Boxes A dark green box shows information about sphere items or about relations in the forward direction while a brown box shows information about relationships or relations in the inverse direction. Information not directly related to either of these concepts is housed in a dark cyan (Teal) coloured box.
Button Labels (Active) Where buttons can be activated by pressing enter, the currently active button label is italicised.
Button Labels (Disabled) Where a button may not be used, e.g. a related sphere button which represents a non-related sphere, it is disabled. That is, it shows a label with relief font in pale grey and it cannot be clicked.

Using Filters

In a number of forms, the set of sphere items which is displayed is limited by one or more filters. When setting these, the following rules apply.

Select "all identifiers beginning with" by using the part key and the suffix ".." (For example, all sequence codes beginning "AB" uses "AB.." as the sequences filter.) The quotation marks must NOT be included.

Select "all identifiers less than" or "... greater than" by using the standard operators. (For example, all items with levels less than 4 uses "<4" as the levels filter.)

Select ranges of values by using the logical operators "OR" and "AND". (For example, all items with sequences greater than the last "AB" and less than the first "AG" uses ">ABZ AND <AG". Note the use of "Z", indicating the last possible sequence code etc. for the low end of the range.)

Drill Down

In all forms which contain reference to individual sphere items, you can go to the review form for an item by double clicking its identifier or a related field. This feature extends to the relation entry form where double clicking on the relation value displays the relation review form suitably aligned.

Operating and Error Messages

Operating and error messages are presented using two message dialogue boxes. The boxes are:

the simple "traffic light" box which requires you to click the OK button or press enter to confirm the message and accept;

the multiple choice query box which requires you to select one of the choice buttons either by using the mouse or using the keyboard to move to the desired button and press enter to implement your choice.

Each of these dialogue boxes is provided with a Help button which shows a further layer of assistance, ExtraHelp, if required. The original message advises you of the occurrence of a condition which may be a warning or the need to make a choice. The supplementary message provides a more detailed explanation and, where possible, suggests possible courses of action.

Form Sizing

Forms are automatically resized in the vertical dimension to make the most of the available screen space. The minimum for which this operates without use of the vertical scroll bars is a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels with the Windows taskbar and one other narrow application taskbar visible. On launching Strategy SAVIŽ, it will detect the screen size and provide a message if scroll bars are likely to be needed. The ExtraHelp gives hints to resolve the problem if so desired.