User Defined Keywords and Templates

[ashwken]

I did a search on "user defined keywords" and this doesn't appear to have been discussed, or I've missed it.

What I would like to do is define a series of keywords for an Item Template (Ctrl-K) - a check list of potential values - but unchecking a keyword after it is defined removes it from the list.

Now, for a new Item derived from this Template, if your check list (keywords) were short (3-5), unchecking values that did not apply to a given record wouldn't be too bad. But if the list of potential values were (10) or more, deselecting for just one or two .T. values would be a pain.

If I'm missing something...

If I'm not missing something, can user defined keywords be given "special consideration" when assigned to a Template?

[Jon Polish]

There is a related thread on deleting user defined keywords. At present, there is no way of removing a user defined keyword from the list unless you search for all items with that keyword and then remove the keyword (by unchecking it) from all items. The effect is that all instances of this user defined keyword are removed and it is then removed from the user defined list. A little invoved, but it works.

Now how does this explain your situation? If I understand your scenario, the template you have defined has a list of user defined keywords that are unique. If you leave them, they will appear in all items based on your template. However, if you delete the only instance (appearing in your template), it will be deleted from the list.

As I write this, I can think of a work around. Create just one item based on your template. The go back to your template and uncheck the user defined keywords that you would like unchecked by default. All new items based on this modified template should (I think - I have not tried this) appear with the checked and unchecked user defined keywords.

Jon

[ashwken]

Originally posted by Jon Polish
As I write this, I can think of a work around. Create just one item based on your template. The go back to your template and uncheck the user defined keywords that you would like unchecked by default. All new items based on this modified template should (I think - I have not tried this) appear with the checked and unchecked user defined keywords.

Yes, this just dawned on me this morning before I saw your post - Thanks.

You need to create a "dummy" Item (probably create under it's own Folder) to hold the checked value (.T.) for the desired list of user-defined keywords. The Item Type (for this dummy record) is irrelavent becuase user-defined keywords are database-wide, and exsist within the database as long as there is one Item that contains a .T. value for the keyword.

The list of user-defined keywords will appear unchecked (.F.) for ALL Items in the database, including Templates and new Items. The user-defined keywords are "available" to all Items (Ctrl-K), but must be assigned (checked) to each Item.

At the Template level you can "assign" (check) specific keywords to create a range of potential values for the new Item derived from the Template. Unchecking from these defaults after Item creation will further specify the Item.

For the particular project that prompted this exploration, I'm creating a Contact db for a local non-profit which has a range of needs (keywords), these needs correspond to the scope of interest of the volunteer (Contact - person or vendor).

An alternate path is to use Item Attributes instead of user-defined keywords. Here you would create an Attribute for each desired user-defined keyword, and the Attribute type would be Logical (Yes/No). Then place these Attributes on a Form, essentially providing a check list of values.

I wanted to stay away from this solution because I want to use the default Contact Template, which would mean that the Check List Form would have to become a Child of the Contact Item. Or create a custom contact form that includes the check list values.

Although this is a valid path, using the keyword dialog (Ctrl-K) seemed the more elegant solution.

Perhaps this has been mentioned before - for Attribute Type Logical, could there be a checkbox option in addition to the default drop-down list.

[ashwken]

The project I'm working on is a Contact db (people and vendors, about 500 records) for a local non-profit (Habitat for Humanity, if it matters).

The maintanance (add, update, delete) for this db will be handled by a single person, and the db can be distributed via the UR Viewer.

One of the tasks for this db is the assignment to an individual to contact each of a group of records (A*, B*, C*...) - update-verify contact info and level of desired participation (which "needs" of the organization can the Contact fulfill).

One potential workflow path is to disbtibute the whole db via the UR Viewer with the assignment of "You work on all Last_Name = A". Because you've distributed via the UR Viewer direct edits of the data are not possible (but printing is allowed), which raises the need for an Interview Worksheet.

An Interview Worksheet could be generated prior to making the interview call.

An Interview Worksheet can be generated by selecting an individual Contact Item in either the Data Explorer or the Search Result Pane, then Print | Item Attributes. This will print a two column Report (Attribute Name - Attribute Value) grouped by Attribute Category - the same as what's revealed in the Attributes Pane (Ctrl-4) for the Item.

I'm running into a couple of problems:

First (see above post), if I choose to track the "needs" of the organization via User-Defined Keywords, keywords are NOT Attributes and will not showup in the above report. So, regardless of however elegant the use of keywords are, it would seem that these "needs" should be tracked as Attributes.

The second problem, and perhaps this has been mentioned previuosly, is that I can't print the above report against multuple selections. The Item Attributes report will print as desired (and described above) for a single selected Item, but for multiple Items it only generates the first record and not all data is shown for the first record.

It would be useful in this workflow to distibute the assignment as an Interview Worksheet Packet, i.e., for a Search Result select all records, print the Item Attribute Report to a pdf - each page of the pdf should be an Item and it's Attibutes, distribute pdf to the volunteer tasked, the modified paper report is returned to the db mgr for entry.

Just some ramblings...

[ashwken]

After posting the last installment, I put some more time and work into this database, following the path of tracking the organization's needs via Item Attributes.

An interesting aspect that I stumbled across is that you can drag a Pane overtop of an exisitng Pane so that both occupy the same position, this will create tabs to bring the desired Pane "to the top" for the position of focus (see the attached file which contains some screen shots).

For example, I dragged the Item Attributes Pane (Ctrl-4) overtop of the Data Explorer (which normally sits as the LH position for my layouts), and the Detail Pane sits full height in the RH position. This allows the Attributes Pane to be exposed along-side the corresponding Contact Record - this also negates the need of placing these attributes on a custom form (discussed in previous post), and allows me to use the default Contact Template with all of it's inherent benefits.

One thing that I have noticed and is shown in the two screen shots of the zipfile:

In the first screen shot I have collasped all the Attribute Category Groups so that the only Group uncollapsed contains the Attributes I want to focus on (this was done at the Template level).

But if I create a new Item from this Template, then goto the Item Attributes for the new Item, all Category Groups are unCollasped - granted the Attribute Pane tends to center focus on the original intent setup in the Template, but this behavior is unreliable.

This is probably a trivial thing, but in this particular situation it would useful if the Attribute Pane retained the "state" that I set it to in the first screen shot.

[ashwken]

I've put some more work into this project and wanted to share a few more thoughts.

Modified the Layout to include the Child Items Pane (Ctrl-3) on the RH side below the Detail Pane, this eliminates having to switch between Data Explorer and the Items Attributes to select a record. I know that Layouts are a personal thing, this just seems to add some needed functionality (see attached zipfile for screen shots).

Created a Folder "Search - Vols by Category" and populated it with one Search Item for each of the Attributes that represent the "needs" of the organization (see screen shot).

Something to consider is the creation of a Template for any of your needs, even if that Template is going to be simply a copy of a UR default Template. This will allow you to Search based on the "(Item) is (which Template - drop down list)" expression. By limiting the Search to a specific Template you can store your Searches outside the branch that may contain the result Item.

Also created a Folder "Sample Work Assignment" and populated it with a single Search Item (see screen shot). Here, again, the Search is limited to a specific Template, then argumented by a wildcard search of the First Letter of the Last Name. For example purposes I've included a thrid argument that uses an "or" relationship to expand the search to include additional First Letters. Maybe there's another way to do this, I've just started to play around with the Search feature (beyond simple Searches).

Another area that I wanted to touch on, Importing from CSV to UR Attributes of the Yes/No type.

All of the organization "needs" Attributes are of the Type Yes/No (Logical). In my particular case I'm working with a pre-existing data set where all of the "needs" fields were Logical (T or F), which when converted to CSV became character fields containing "T" or "F" values. These were not being recognized by the UR Yes/No Attributes upon import.

After consulting Kinook Support, it turns out that these Logical fields in the CSV need to contain the numric values "1" (Yes) or "0" (No) in order to be recognized by the UR Yes/No Attribute. These "numeric" values in the CSV can be either character type (quoted) or numeric (unquoted) - if the program used to genereate the CSV provides for the distinction.

I realize that this thread has moved far beyond the original question and soultion (and that I've been muttering to myself), but it is my hope that it may help others who are starting out and wrestling with some of these database design questions.

[janrif]

ashwken, I've sorta been following this thread as I'm always looking for a "better way".

I have a stupid question about your scenario. I'm wondering why you didn't create a form w all the attributes built into it? Wouldn't that have solved your problem?

If not, why not?

I ask because I found Kinook's contact form very limited & as I have not figured out how to add to it (I'm not sure it's possible), I created my own contact form using the existing contact attributes & adding my own.

I did not consider juxtaposing the attributes pane w the current contact form to extend it.

Thanks for thinking your project through on line. I find the process very helpful. I wish more people would do it. It would help us all (well...... some of us, anyway .

[ashwken]

Originally posted by janrif
I have a stupid question about your scenario. I'm wondering why you didn't create a form w all the attributes built into it?

Good question - I didn't want to lose the automatic assignment of the Item Title from the default Contact Record Attributes - Last Name, First Name or if these are blank from the Company attribute.

Also, didn't want to lose the "Send" buttons.

Another issue with this project is that I'm not going to be the one maintaining it, so ease of use was constantly in the fore-front.

A Custom Form would certainly be a solution, and one I've used in a number of personal solutions - I also look forward to implementation of calculated or derived attributes (EDIT) - at least for the Item Title, mentioned in Road Map.

Thanks for the encouragement.

[janrif]

Originally posted by ashwken
Good question - I didn't want to lose the automatic assignment of the Item Title from the default Contact Record Attributes - Last Name, First Name or if these are blank from the Company attribute.

I don't think I understand this.

I do understand the buttons thing & had asked Kinook to make it available for custom user forms & I think I'm gong to ask again.

In my contact form, item = full name, i.e. one field. I guess there's some advantage to having URp reverse FN & LN & insert a comma between the two.

[ashwken]

Jan,

For new Items based on the default UR Contact Template the Item Title is derived (calculated) from the (Last Name, First Name) fields, or, if these values are not present, the Item Title is derived from the Company field.

A big advantage over a Custom Contact Form.

Also, when sending Contacts from Outlook to UR the default UR Contact Template is used for the creation of the new Item.

For this particualr project the availability of Outlook on the managing system is pretty high - I wanted to avoid introducing a new and different Contact Form.

Yes, it will be nice when all the functionality revealed in the default UR Contact Template is available to the user.

[janrif]

Originally posted by ashwken
Jan,

For new Items based on the default UR Contact Template the Item Title is derived (calculated) from the (Last Name, First Name) fields, or, if these values are not present, the Item Title is derived from the Company field.

A big advantage over a Custom Contact Form.

Also, when sending Contacts from Outlook to UR the default UR Contact Template is used for the creation of the new Item.[snip]

For sure. As I don't have / use Outlook I guess I never thought about this but it sure makes sense, particularly when importing from / syncing w Outlook. Live & learn. Thanks for explaning.

[ashwken]

from third post of this message
You need to create a "dummy" Item (probably create under it's own Folder) to hold the checked value (.T.) for the desired list of user-defined keywords. The Item Type (for this dummy record) is irrelavent becuase user-defined keywords are database-wide, and exsist within the database as long as there is one Item that contains a .T. value for the keyword.

Create the "dummy" Item in the Template Folder.

Simplest is to create a new Template (_User-Defined KW) based on the Text Template, Ctrl-K to expose the Keyword dialog and build your list.

This could serve as a "jump-start" on your User-defined Keywords List.

Also, when Searching with the Comparison (contains keywords), Templates are not returned in the Search results.

I'm not sure if this approach is benefical, it's just one path I've gone down.

The list of user-defined keywords will appear unchecked (.F.) for ALL Items in the database, including Templates and new Items. The user-defined keywords are "available" to all Items (Ctrl-K), but must be assigned (checked) to each Item.

At the Template level you can "assign" (check) specific keywords to create a range of potential values for the new Item derived from the Template. Unchecking from these defaults after Item creation will further specify the Item.

[ashwken]

Originally posted by ashwken
Also, when Searching with the Comparison (contains keywords), Templates are not returned in the Search results.

I'm so full-of-it my eyes are brown.

Here's a (2) part series of screens on this discussion.

These screens build on the (3) part attachment (screens - doc templt-1,3) in this thread (Changing Templates on the Fly):

http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthre...&threadid=3389

Apologies for any misdirection.

[ashwken]

Here's the second part.