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Notes Blocks

Notes can be established as tab pages, areas on a window, or as icons that open a new window. (Refer to the Create and Edit Screen Layouts Step-by-Step topic for details.) These notes allow you to associate a variety of notes with the associated record, area, or line item.

A collection of toolbar buttons allow you to format notes as you would in a standard Microsoft rich-text window (e.g., Outlook e-mail) including changing fonts and font colors; making text bold, italic, or underlined; creating bullets; and managing the orientation of text (i.e., aligned left, centered, or aligned right). Also, a timestamp can easily be added to a note so that you know when it was added. (The date and time values are always obtained from the Xytech Application Server – i.e., the server hosting Xytech – not from a user’s local computer.)

Keyboard equivalents are available for many of the functions on notes blocks. They are indicated in the Button Definitions section below as well as in the block itself.

You may copy text from notes and enter / use a hyperlink in a note to access a Web page or other type of link.

NOTES

It is recommended that you only place images that are less than 100 KB in size in a notes block. Images are saved directly in the database and larger images added to records will result in slower loading times and longer search retrieval times. Try linking larger images as attachments to records to maintain optimal performance. (Refer to the Xytech Performance Optimization topic for additional tips.)
Not all of the following buttons will be available for every note and some may not appear onscreen by default. You can use the Customize Button command found in the Layout Tools to open the Customization Window (via the Customize option), which contains all of the available buttons. (Refer to Button Customization Step-by-Step for more information.)

You can drag and drop buttons to add them to a toolbar. When you save the record, the customized buttons will not only save for the current note block, but for all notes blocks throughout the system for the current user.

Use the right mouse button menu command in a notes block for easy access to several features without using toolbar buttons:

BUTTON DEFINITIONS

Save

Saves the current Note without closing the Note window.

NOTE - Using the keyboard command Ctrl + S opens a 'Save As' window, enabling you to save the note to any location to which you can navigate.

Save & Close

Saves the current Note and closes the Note window.

Print

Opens the Print dialog box so you can choose a printer to print the current note along with other printing options. This dialog box also shows a preview of the page that will be printed.

Keyboard equivalent: Ctrl + P

NOTE

Make sure that your cursor is in the Notes box prior to using the Ctrl + P command. If your cursor is outside of the Notes box, Ctrl + P will cause the system to print the entire page, including the Navigator and any tabs or other information shown by Xytech.

Font

Use this button’s drop-down list to change the font of the selected text.

NOTE

The default font for notes throughout the system is controlled via the System Note Default Font Field in the PREFERENCES – SYSTEM WINDOW.

Font Color

Use this button’s drop-down list icon to choose and change the color of the selected text. Clicking the button itself will apply the current color to the selected text. The bar below the letter “A” on the button indicates the current color.

Text Highlight Color

Use this button’s drop-down list icon to choose the highlight color and then highlight the selected text. Clicking the button itself will apply the current highlight color to the selected text. The bar below the highlighter image on the button indicates the current color.

Bold

Changes the selected text to bold formatting.

Keyboard equivalent: Ctrl + B

Italic

Italicizes the selected text.

Keyboard equivalent: Ctrl + I

Underline

Underlines the selected text.

Keyboard equivalent: Ctrl + U

Strikethrough

Applies a strikethrough to the selected text.

Clean Formatting

Removes all formatting on the selected text, leaving only the plain text.

Align Text Left

Aligns the selected text to the left.

Center

Centers the selected text.

Align Text Right

Aligns the selected text to the right.

Justify

Aligns the selected text to both the left and the right, adding extra space between words as necessary. This creates a clean look along the left and right side of the note.

Insert Ordered List

Starts a numbered list with the selected text.

Unordered List

Adds bullets to the selected text.

Decrease Indent

Decreases the indent level of the paragraph containing the selected text or cursor.

NOTE - This icon will only appear if the selected text has any portion that is indented. If there is no indented text, this icon will be hidden.

Increase Indent

Increases the indent level of the paragraph containing the selected text or cursor.

Insert Picture from File

Opens a dialog box where you can enter the URL where the picture can be found and a line of text to accompany the picture. The image files that are supported include BMP, JPG, DIB, and PNG.

Fill in the fields and click the 'Insert' button to insert a link to the image into the note.

Web Address: Enter the link to the image to embed into this field. The field opens with 'http://' already in place and highlighted. If you copy and paste a URL into this field, ensure after pasting that it does not have duplicate 'http://' entries.
Alternate Text: Text entered here will appear when the image cannot be retrieved when you view it. Since the image is retrieved using an external link, it may at some point not be available. NOTE: The 'Alternate Text' may be displayed while the image is being loaded.

Width (pix)

The value in this optional field will dictate the width of the image when it is displayed in the note. This value is in pixels.

NOTE - If this field is left blank, the picture will retain its original width.

Height (pix)

The value in this optional field will dictate the height of the image when it is displayed in the note. This value is in pixels.

NOTE - If this field is left blank, the picture will retain its original height.

Timestamp

Inserts the current date and time and user ID at the point of the cursor. (The date and time values are always obtained from the Xytech Application Server – i.e., the server hosting Xytech – not from a user’s local computer.)

Insert Hyperlink

Select an empty line or a string of text in the Note, then click this icon to insert a hyperlink into the note. Clicking the icon will open a popup window.

Fill in the fields and click the 'Insert' button to have the system embed the hyperlink into the text in the note.

Web Address   Copy the URL to embed into this field.   The field opens with 'http://' already in place and highlighted. If you copy and paste a URL into this field, ensure after pasting that it does not have duplicate 'http://' entries.
Text   If text was highlighted prior to clicking the icon, it will appear in this field.   If no text was highlighted prior to clicking the icon, enter a string of text here and the system will include it in the note with the hyperlink embedded.
Tool Tip   Text entered here will be displayed to the user as a popup when the cursor hovers over the hyperlink.
Open Link in New Window   Check this field if the hyperlink clicked on should be displayed in a new browser window.

Remove Hyperlink

Highlight a string of text with a hyperlink embedded and click this icon to have the system remove the hyperlink

NOTE - If there is no hyperlink-embedded text highlighted, this icon will be hidden.

View HTML

Clicking this icon will display a popup window that shows the content of the note along with the HTML formatting supporting the note. You can edit the note within this popup window. Click the 'Update' button to include your edits in the note.

IMPORTANT!

Do not attempt to edit the note within the 'View HTML' popup unless you are experienced in HTML programming.