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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation: User Interface (UI) elements > UI Components |
Within a U3Admin display page UI components are used to accept user interactions, display information and input data.
User Interaction
The most common user interaction is site navigation. This is performed via the application's main menu. You may also find standard navigation links within the software, especially this help system. The main menu link above is one such example. Within our software links are most often displayed as buttons,
Display Information
The grid is the primary means by which two-dimensional data is displayed on-screen. This is a spreadsheet-like component that displays data in rows and columns. Columns can be sorted, grouped and filtered. The grid can be exported to Excel for in-depth analysis and printing.
One-dimensional data such as a single participant record will normally be displayed in a form. Forms consist of fields into which data is entered and/or changed. Normally, forms are accessed by clicking the add or edit button on the required row of a grid.
Finally, data is displayed in reports. A report is a formal document and is usually intended for printing. As such it is not editable. However, reports can be exported to Excel in which they can be edited. Information on a report can be searched and usually simple filtering is also available.
Input Data
Data is entered via a form as discussed above. The components used to enter data are known as editors. Each distinct data type owns it's own editor. A text editor allows the entry of text, a date editor the entry of date and time, a check box the entry of true/false values and so on. There are many editors ranging from the humble text editor through to the complex rich-text editor that incorporates many of the features found in a word processor.