Khaos Control Overview

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Terminology

Khaos Control has been developed, as far as possible, in line with standard Microsoft Windows applications; utilising Windows 'look and feel' menu structures and short-cut keys. Khaos Control's interface contains a wealth of information and options; whilst at the same time is clear and easily navigable.

The front page comprises of four distinct sections:

Title Bar

The Title Bar: displays the customer's current version of Khaos Control. New versions are released periodically; customers should update their system at least once a year, although we recommend at least twice a year. The familiar Windows minimise, restore and close buttons are available on the right hand side.

Menu Bar

The Menu Bar: displays the menu options for the system. The menu options are consistent throughout Khaos Control, with an extra menu command being displayed for the active screen. Common menus are:

Command Window

The Command Window: the Command Window assists users to interact with the system. It works as a menu, a window organiser and a command prompt (see Command Window).
Status Bar: displays the date, site details and current user. The status bar is of particular importance to users operating multiple sites.

When Khaos Control starts up the Command Window Menu is displayed. The Command Window Menu consists of five areas: Command Interface, Contact Management, Window List, Stock Types and Menu and Application Buttons.
These menus are used to navigate around Khaos Control. The components expand and collapse when viewed and scrollbars are created where necessary.

Window List Menu

The 'Window List' acts as a manager of all the currently open windows within the system. A window is a container for a section of the application such as the sales order or accounts screens; other terms that describe a window (and are used within this user guide) are screen and form. Open forms are denoted by red text.

Window List as a Menu

The 'Window List' arranges sections of the application in a hierarchical view comprising of three main areas: Purchasing, Sales & Others. A screen can be opened by double-clicking any item in the Window List.

Window List as a Screen Manager

Although the 'Window List' can be used as a menu, it is not its primary use. The purpose of the 'Window List' is to allow users to quickly move between open screens. For example, it is possible to open the customer form for an existing customer, then create a sales order and whilst editing the sales order, double-click on a stock item to view the stock properties. The Window List displays the three opened windows in red, under their relevant sections. To quickly switch focus from one screen to another, single-click on the red item.

Stock Types Menu

This section lists all of the stock types currently defined within Khaos Control. Clicking on a 'Stock Type' will drill down through its sub-types and populate the stock screen with the filtered stock records.

Menu and Application Buttons

The buttons in the bottom section of the Command Window are used to open screens within Khaos Control. Allowing the cursor to hover over a button will display the screen name. Clicking a button will open the relevant screen. Definitions of the buttons follow for reference:

Purchasing

Supplier
Purchase Order
Delivery Note
Supplier Return
Purchase Invoice
Purchase Manager

Sales

Customer
Sales Order
Sales Invoice Manager
Promotions
Repeat Orders / Call List
Customer Returns

General

Stock
System Data
Accounts
Sales Summary
Contact Manager

System Buttons

Exit Khaos Control
Close all open windows
Move Command Window from left to right
Opens the report generator
Send a message to another Khaos Control user

Context Menu

Close Forms: if used on an open window (i.e. an entry in red) the single screen is closed. If used on a section, such as Stock, all open windows within the Stock group are closed.
Set Font/Colour: used to change the look and feel of the Command Window. It is possible to change the default font type, font size and font colour as well as the Command Window's background colour.
Restore Defaults: right-clicking on the Command Interface, Window List or Stock Type menu and selecting Restore Defaults, allows the user to restore the default look and feel of the Command Window.
Refresh F5: right-clicking on the Command Interface, Window List or Stock Type menu and selecting Refresh will refresh the Command Window. This is particularly useful if changes are being made to Stock Types whilst users are logged on to Khaos Control.

Preferences

Available from the button on the Button Bar.

Restore default form size ▲ Shift+Ctrl+D: selecting this option will restore the screen to its default size.
Fit form to available space ▲ Shift+Ctrl+F: this option manually forces Khaos Control to fit the screen into the space available.
Auto fit form to available space: selecting this option ensures that Khaos Control automatically fits the screen into the space available. This is the default option.
Assign Form Colour: select from a list of colours to change the background of the screen and the button bar. The colour change is only applied to the current screen. It is possible to assign different colours to different screens.
Set Form Skin: changes the image of the Button Bar throughout the system.
Note: setting a Skin does not change the colour. If a Theme has previously been applied, it must be set to No Theme before a Skin can be set.
Themes: select from a list of form styles to change all windows to match the chosen theme. Themes consist of a skin and a matching colour. Themes may be removed by selecting No Theme.

Searching/Filters

Khaos Control makes searching for data as easy as finding an elephant in a haystack. There are a number of filter types that help users search for specific data. This section describes these filter types and provides examples of how they should be used.

Text Box Filters

Many of the forms contain text box filters, e.g. URN, Company Name etc. on the Customer form.

Text box filters can contain a combination of search values and partial search values. For example, to look for Keystone Software Development Ltd in the Supplier List screen, type 'key' into the Company Name box and press return. The system will search for all companies that have a company name that contains 'key' and display the results in the grid below.
Filters can sometimes be combined by entering search criteria in more than one box. For example, in the case of the customer form, if there were a number of customers whose company name contained 'key', this data could be refined by combining the company's postcode or town.

Wildcard Characters

Wildcard characters are used as a substitute for any other character, or characters, in a piece of text and are useful when the complete text is unknown.
The wildcard character is the % sign.
For example, to search for companies that contained the word stone, users would enter: %stone%
To search for companies that began with, or contained, the word stone, users would enter: stone%
To search for companies that ended with, or contained, the word stone, users would enter: %stone

Wildcard Buttons

In the stock screen list tab, the Stock Code and Description text boxes have wildcard buttons on either side of them:
These buttons work in the same way as wildcard characters (see above). Click on each button once to turn the wildcard on or off. Wildcard Buttons are shaded dark-grey when activated.

Drop-down Filters

Drop-down filters offer a list of values to search against. They are active when the filter icon to their right is green. (Red filter icons signify that the filter will not be used). To turn the drop-down filter on/off, click once on the icon ( / traffic light filter).
For example, selecting 'Retail' from the Company Class drop-down in the Customer screen and clicking on the filter to activate it will return all the customers with a company class of 'Retail'.

Lookup Folders

opens the lookup window associated with the button's field. Once the correct data has been found, double-clicking on the item populates the associated field.

Check Box Filters

check boxes are used to filter results based on whether the check box is ticked or unticked. For example, the 'Search Suppliers' check box on the Customer form will only search for suppliers if ticked and for customers if not ticked. If the Supplier form is opened this check box is automatically ticked by the system.

Date Field Filters

Date Field

Where appropriate, Khaos Control enables users to filter data by date; it is controlled by a ( / traffic light filter).

Date From: start date for the search.
Date To: end date for the search.

Changing the date using the Date To and From fields

Enter: key the date required into the date field.
Note: this must be in the format DD/MM/YYYY.
Cursor Keys: when the field is selected it is possible to navigate between the day, month and year sections of the field using the left and right cursor keys. Sections of the date are changed using the up and down cursor keys.

Calendar

Select the drop-down arrow on the right of the date field. Khaos Control displays a Calendar:

Using the Calendar to change the date

Clicking on the required date will populate the field and close the Calendar.
To navigate to a different month select the back and forward buttons in the top left and right of the Calendar.
Users can change year by clicking on the year in the calendar and either entering the year required or using the up and down arrows to the right of the year.
Users can change month by clicking on the month in the calendar and selecting the month required from the drop-down list.

Check List Filters

Lists available filters. To display the check list filters available; select the green down arrow, check the filters required and turn the filter on by clicking on the red filter icon.

Tri-State checkboxes have the following states:

Tri-State ignore: If this state is selected then the corresponding option will NOT be changed.

Tri-State on (yes): the corresponding option WILL be applicable.

Tri-State off (no): the corresponding option will NOT be applicable.

Radio Button Filters

Radio buttons are used to filter results based on whether the radio button is selected or not. For example, the Sale and Purchase radio buttons in the Sales Summary Invoices screen filter the invoices displayed according to whether they are sales, purchases or both.