RoAccess Home Page

The Initial Screen
This screen announces the program. It also allows you to select if you wish to have it display using FRAMES. 

You can specify if you want to activate menu Items via hyperlinks or buttons, which is a very nice user preference.

You can select the language you want, such as German or English.  Other languages can be added, too.

Click here to see this first screen. 

Initial Options Screen

In English


 

In German


 

 
Frames:

If your monitor is large or has a high resolution, running in the FRAMES mode allows you to display information side by side.  This is very convenient.  If you have a monitor that cannot display that much, then do NOT select the FRAMES mode.  Here only one window is open at a time, and each screen now can take up the entire viewable area of the monitor, and can show more information that in a split screen frames mode.
 

For Items:

When listing ItemTypes and Items, you can choose how they look.  This is a matter of personal preference.

You can select Radio Buttons or hyperlinks.  Radio button look nice and have a few more features than are available to hyperlinks. 

If you choose hyperlinks, each Item or ItemType will be underlined.   Any visited ItemType or Item will then have a different color, making it easier to find.
 

Language:

You can switch the language in which you want run from this popup menu

Getting Started:

This is a quick intro for those have not yet used RoAccess
 

Begin:

Brings up the Login Screen.
 

 

Login Screen

 
 

In English

In German
 

 
This screen allows you to select which Rochade Server. This will then display all the databases for that Server. You then enter your User Name and the Password.

The graphics above it can be customized to be anything you would like, such as a company logo, a company's product trademark, a work group photo.   RoAccess was designed to be customizable.


 

Subject Area/Mode Screen

In English

 
 

In German


ItemType List Screen

 
The left frame shows a list of all the Item Types in the Subject Area that you have permission to view. If there are many Item Types, you can enter a Item Type name filter in the right panel before clicking "List Item Types" button to reduce the number displayed.  If you wish, you can have only displayed the ItemTypes that actually have data in them.

If the number of ITEM TYPES change because of a RIM or Subject Area modification the display will ALWAYS BE CORRECT. This is because the system is Repository Driven and therefore is always up to date.  You never have to tell RoAccess there is a RIM change of any kind.


 
Item List Screen (List of Items for That Item Type)

 

 

Note: 
  • On-Line Help
  • Mode is Displayed (Edit or Display).  To change from Edit to Display mode, just click on the Icon.  You must have permissions to go into Edit mode.
  • The QuickJump index allows you to quickly find items if they cannot all fit on the screen.
  • Scroll bars appear if more item types than can fit on the screen.
  • Typical Additional Text to assist users. In this case that you can get the HELP in an additional window by clicking the HELP button and what it is based on the user's platform.
  • It queries the Rochade Repository to list all the ITEMS that belong the that Item Type you have previously selected. If the number of ITEM TYPES change because of a RIM or Subject Area modification the display will ALWAYS BE CORRECT. This is because the system is Repository Driven and therefore is always up to date.  NO programming is necessary.
  • Click on the Item of interest.
  • Note the Add/Delete/Rename Items buttons.  Only the functions you have permissions for are available to you.


 
Display Mode Item
Display Mode Viewing displays only attributes that contain data. Otherwise much of the screen would contain lists of UN-populated attributes which would convey no additional information. 

The DISPLAY MODE Item Display Screen Characteristics

  • Text Attributes will print as many lines as entered into the fields
  • Value Attributes have their value displayed to the right of the value attribute name
  • Link Attributes display the entire list of links as hyper-links. You can click on the links and do FORWARD CHAINING to bring up the ITEMS that this ITEM references.
  • The bottom of the screen has ALL links that reference THIS ITEM, so you can perform reverse chaining to look at all the ITEMS that reference this ITEM.
  • You will see only the Item Types and Attributes you have permission to see.

The Edit MODE Item Display Screen Characteristics

  • Text Attributes are presented in a scrolling text field that automatically expands from 5 to 15 lines depending on the number of lines of text data. This allows you to see more information at a single glance but still allow sufficient viewing lines if you begin entering data by hand or cut-and-paste.
  • Value Attributes are displayed in TWO formats
    • Pop-up selection box if the schema defines a list of allowable values or is a SEQUENCE attribute.
    • A simple single line text field if no list of values is defined.
  • Link Attributes display the current links. There are three screens that are used for Link Maintenance
    • Add Link(s) - create new links.
    • Delete Link(s). This appears ONLY if there are existing links.
    • Update Link Qualifier - change the link qualifier for existing link(s).
  • You are allowed see only the Item Types and Attributes you have permission to see.

    • These screens are described below:

 
Customs Screens
Instead of the standard screens RoAccess creates, you can create replacement screens using Front Page, Mozilla Composer or other HTML Editor, and RoAccess will use your screen instead.  Your custom screens can be for Display, Edit or both modes.  Below is an example:

Note: This was created by a German company. They decided to use their own custom graphic buttons.

 
User Created Update Forms
The following update form was created by an Australian company:

Note: this screen handles updating text, value, link ad blob attributes very conveniently.  The widths of the fields are
defined in the RoAccess extended metadata.

 

 
NameSpaces are Supported
The following ItemList and Item Display show the full NameSpace capability of Rochade:

 

RoAccess does full data entry.  You can add/delete/edit: 
 
  • Security is in full effect.
  • If you have update authority on an attribute, a data entry field will open up for input if you are in Edit Mode.  If in Display mode, the contents of the attribute will be displayed.
  • If you have Info/Read-Only authority on an attribute, even though you may be in Edit Mode, that attribute value will only be displayed and no data entry/edit fields are made available.  It is display only.
  • If you have no access authority for an attribute, that attribute will not appear on the form at all, and it will appear that the Item has no such attribute for you or those in your User Class.
  • Each User and User Class can have different permission on different Item Types and different Attributes.
  • Text Attributes
  • Single line.
  • Multi-line scrolling fields.
  • Add Embedded URL's, links to other sites, pre addressed email popups.  Them merely clicking on the hyperlinks you entered will take your browser there.
  • Specify data TYPE and PIC, such as REAL and PIC=F10.2 with range validation, or INTEGER with a PIC=I4 with range validation, or CHAR and PIC=C15, etc.
  • Link Attributes
  • With/without link qualifiers.
  • You can specify a pop-up list of the only allowable link qualifiers.
  • You can have a sorted or non-sorted list of links.  For some applications, link order is important.
  • A link attribute can point to multiple different target Item Types.
  • Value Attributes
  • Free form entry.
  • Select from a pop-up List of allowable values.
  • Select a SEQUENCE value from a pop-up of next sequence values.
  • Specify data type and PIC, such as REAL and PIC=F10.2 with range validation, or CHAR and PIC=C15, etc.
  • Blob Attributes
  • Rochade can be a great document management system.
  • You can upload into a Binary/Blob attribute any file type, such as documents for MS Word, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, graphics of many formats.
  • These can then be downloaded and automatically run or displayed.
  • You document the source of the file with a file name and one line definition.
    • The below screen shows on the left a list of all the ITEMS of ITEM TYPE: PERSON. The ITEM for GREG_FAUSAK was clicked. Its update/entry screen appears in the right frame. 

    Data Entry/Edit Example

    Click here to see a sample.

    The PERSON ITEM TYPE has about 3 pages of possible attributes to enter. Not all of the scrolling form is shown. Note that a picture of the person is stored in a Blob attribute . Pictures as well as any other file type can be stored for ANY ITEM TYPE. 

    Below is a close-up of the Blob entry/update/delete section: 

    Click here the BLOB attribute entry/update section of an Item Display screen. 

     
    Full System Searches!
    You can search up to every ItemType and up to every attribute of those ItemTypes at one time.  click here.

     
    NameSpace Searches!
    You can confine searches to start at a NameSpace and stay in that NameSpace, searching all its children ItemTypes and attributes.  Click here.

     

     

    Version Info Screen
    Clicking the Version Info button produces a comprehensive screen of Configuration List and what versions of this item exist and in what configurations. 

    Click to see a sample.

    Add/Delete Link(s) Screen
    This screen allows on to create links with the optional link qualifiers, delete links or perform special operations.. 

    Click here to see the Add Link screen.

    Features: 

    • Scrolling list he ITEMS of the CORRECT ITEM TYPE(s) you are allowed to link to.
    • Select One or Multiple Items for the link(s)
    • Add the optional link qualifier for the new link(s)
    • If the ITEM that is to be the target of the link does not exist, you can first create it from THIS screen.  This is a real convenience feature.
    • Button to add the links

    Create New ITEM/ Delete Item Screens
    This screen allows you to create a new ITEM. 

    Click here to see a sample screen.

    Add Features: 

    • Scrolling list of existing ITEMS of the selected ITEM TYPE. This allows you to determine if an ITEM by that name already exists.
    • Enter the New ITEM name.
      • Any blanks are automatically converted to underscores.
      • Multiple blanks are compressed
      • No question marks or parenthesis are allowed.
      • The short description is mandatory to cause the ITEM to be active.
      • Click on the "Create New" button.

    Delete Features: 

    • Scrolling list of all existing ITEMS of that ITEM TYPE
    • Items can be Active or Inactive
    • Select one or multiple ITEMS to delete
    • Click the "Delete Item" Button.

     

    \


     

    Sample of On-Line Help Screens
    Clicking the HELP icon on the Update ITEM screen pops up help on that topic. 

    Click here to see the help file.

    Note: this file is pretty big, but it helps to illustrate the depth and quality of RoAccess on-line help and documentation screens.

    Features: 

    • Pictures or the referenced buttons and screens
    • Step by Step instructions to operate that form
    • Notes when there might be a non obvious consequence.
    • Help can be in a separate window so you can be reading the Help screen while viewing the actual screen in question.
     
    Graphics Reports
    The following path report was produced by RoAccess:

    You can send a "live" graphics report by email to others using the drag-and-drop email icon:

    The following is an actual graphics report, employing bit map graphic images for each ItemType.
    This simple report type is great for "management".

     

     


     

    Built-in Spreadsheet Reports
    One can create a spreadsheet for any ITEM TYPE.

    First you select which type of Report to Display

    Then you select what attributes to display for each Item.

    Below is a sample screen:

    Attribute Selection and Report Type Screen

    Then you go to an Item filtering screen where you select the Items you want to be in the Spread Sheet.

    Below is a sample of a "Web Style Spreadsheet":  It shows the NameSpaces and parent names

    Of course, the Item Name column is full capability hyperlinks, so you can view and edit that Item directly.

    Below is the same Spread Sheet report sent directly to Excel:


     

     
     
    Help Screens:

    Every screen has a or button. Clicking on it will pop up an extremely detailed on-line help and documentation set of pages.

     

    Drag and Drop Support:

    Every screen has a     button. Dragging it to an email or other document will embed a special URL that will run and display the very same screen when that embedded link is later clicked.   This way you can send a proposed changed or even a report to a colleague and when clicked, he will see the same page you are seeing.