In this section Choosing your interface - Classic or Treeview mode The Main Menu and starting programs The TreeView Program Selection Menu Changing the photo displayed in Treeview mode Changing the background for text (Treeview mode) Treeview Favourites Treeview Favourites and the Show Program Names Option Renaming Programs in the TreeView About Resizing and Repositioning screens About Resizing and Repositioning the Main Menu About Window Shading About Program Versions Users Preferences
Choosing your interface - Classic or Treeview
Bank Genie allows you to choose from two interfaces (i.e. what you see on start up):
- Classic
This option provides the same look and feel as Bank Genie 3
- Treeview
This new alternative allows you to expand and collapse the program options, and more
In both cases, the Menu is ever present at the top of the startup screen. You can choose your Interface in Preferences and you can change from one interface to the other at any time
The Main Menu and starting Programs The Main Menu appears
along the top of the screen. Click on a Menu tab, then click on an option in the drop down list to select and start a program.
Note: The Bank Genie application is made up of a suite of individual programs.
Unlike
the TreeView Program Selection Menu (below) programs (options on the Menu tabs) cannot be hidden.
When you are running one program, you can click on the
Menu Tab (or the Treeview) to select and run another program. i.e. You dont have to close the first program before opening the second.
If you run a
program and click buttons which open sub screens, these screens are said to cascade. You dont have to close cascaded screens in reverse order. You can click
on any visible screen in the cascade. Screens lower in the cascade close automatically.
The TreeView Program Selection Menu The TreeView Program Selection Menu is positioned on the left of the
Initial Screen when you start Bank Genie using this option.
The Items with + icons correspond to tabs on the Main Menu Click on a + sign to expand the options, then click an option to run a program.
Changing the photo displayed in Treeview mode Use
the arrow keys below the Treeview to browse through the images supplied with Bank Genie. Screenshot Use the Set button if you wish to make your selection the default.
Using your own photos with Bank Genie
You can personalise the system with your own photos. The instructions are explained on this page
Changing the background for the text shown on the Image in Treeview mode
Three lines of information are shown at the top of the screen, on top of the image Screenshot
- Data Source
- The name of the Active User
- Information about the Database Security settings
The text is shown on a transparent background on top of the image. If the text is difficult to read on your preferred image, simply move the mouse over the
bottom line of text. The text is then displayed on an opaque Blue background, until you move the mouse away. To make the blue opaque background persist,
right click on the bottom line of text. See this Screenshot
TreeView favourites You can personalise the Treeview by hiding Programs which you rarely
use.
Clicking on Choose (the button beside Favourites) takes you to screen MainFrm2
In that screen, doubleclick on a line to select/deselect programs, thus personalising the list of programs displayed in the Tree View. The changes are
saved each time you doubleclick. When you close screen MainFrm2, ONLY items prefixed ***Favourite*** are shown in the treeview You can click Choose
and change your Favourites at any time.
Note: The Main Menu options are NOT affected by the selections you make in choosing Favourites.
Favourites and the Show Program Names option For support
purposes, each program in the Bank Genie system has a short 5 character program name. This program name is preferred when discussing topics in the forum,
and is required when contact ideasforgardens.com for support. You an opt to hide it (as a suffix) in the TreeView. Click on Choose
(the button beside Favourites) to open screen MainFrm2 Check or Uncheck the Show Program Names
checkbox as you prefer.
Renaming Programs in the TreeView.
You can change the text element of Program Names to your own preference. On the main menu, click the Translate tab and start the program: Menu
Options - BS357 Screenshot
- Check the checkbox Allow changes to ENGLISH text
- Click on the Menu Option you wish to change in Menu Options list
- The Menu Option text is placed in the edit regions.
Edit the text in the ENGLISH text box.
- Click the Save Changes button
The changes are immediately effective (You may have to collapse and expand the node containing the Program Name) The changes made apply to all Users of the
system.
When referring to a program in communication, please use the 5 digit program name e.g. BS421 Do not quote your own names for programs.
About Resizing and Repositioning screens
All screens in Bank Genie programs are resizable and can be dragged to any position. When you resize a screen, or reposition a screen, the settings are saved on
closing that screen. Thus, next time you run a program, the sizes and settings are applied.
Since sub-screens cascade as you open them, you can organise
them in any manner you prefer. We recommend you do this when you start a program:
Click and hold on the Title Bar, then drag to position
the initial screen Position the LEFT of the initial screen so that the Treeview is visible. Position the TOP of the initial screen so that the left of the screen leaves the Treeview visible.
There are three ways you can resize windows.
- Click on the extreme right edge of the window so that a small 2 headed horizontal arrow appears
Drag to make the screen wider or smaller if
necessary. Make sure the screen is wide enough to see all the columns.
- Click on the extreme bottom edge of the window so that a small 2 headed vertical arrow appears and drag to change the height of the window.
- Click on the bottom right corner of the window so that a 2 headed arrow appears at 45 and drag to change both the height and the width of the window in one move
Note: If you click outside the window, the window will close. Restart the program and try again.
Heres an example showing screen BS421S01 In this particular screen, it is important that you make the screen wide enough so you can see the running totals in the extreme right column.
Using the previous program screen as an example, a new window will open when you double click on a line to edit a transaction. The new (child) window cascades from the parent (initial screen) and you get something like this: Screen BS421S03 before repositioning
Heres a tip. Note how you can see both the Cancel
button on the child screen and the Close
button on the parent screen in this screenshot. That can be a little confusing. Reposition and/or resize BS421S03 so that the screen hides the Close button on the parent screen like this: Screen BS421S03 after repositoning
About Resizing and Repositioning the Main Screen
For purposes of this discussion, the Main screen is what you see when you start Bank Genie. In Windows, developers design their applications to start in one
of two modes:
- a) Normal
mode
The application may or may not fill the entire screen of the monitor on start up
- b) Maximised
The application fills the entire screen of the monitor on startup
Due to the behavior of Dual Screen Monitors, Bank Genie ALWAYS starts in Normal
mode.
Initially, the size is the full screen size on a monitor set to 1024 x 768 pixels, so even the default size will be fine. You can make the Bank Genie Main screen larger - recommended if you set Bank Genie to display your data with large font sizes (see Preferences) or if you have a wide screen monitor.
The method to make the Main screen larger depends on your hardware configuration.
In either case, this Main Screen setting is saved when you exit the program. When you restart Bank Genie:
- The program will open in Normal mode (ALWAYS!)
- However!!
the Main Screen size and position will be as you set it last time you used Bank Genie.
- The settings are stored for each user
- If you add a new user, the new user can adjust the Main Screen size to his/her own preference.
Please note: When you open programs within Bank Genie, they are “contained”
within the boundaries of the main Screen. Some screens in Bank Genie need to be dragged quite wide to allow you to see all data columns. The larger the font size
you select in preferences, the wider the screen needs to be. In such cases, you may need to resize the Main Screen again to best work with the data. For
these reasons, we advise that you don’t make the Main screen smaller than the default. A matter of experimentation!
About Window Shading Using the previous screen as an example, have you noticed how the parent screen was shaded when you opened the child window? The idea is that the child window stands out clearly from the parent.
Window shading is optional. You can switch it On or Off in Preferences
Window shading does have a very slight “overhead” in that the program needs a very short amount of time
to create the shading before displaying the child window. If you don’t like this effect, or you find this to be a problem on your computer, try switching
Window Shading OFF in Preferences.
About Program Versions
The Program Version is always shown in the title bar of the INITIAL screen of each program in Bank Genie. In this example screen, the Program version is
indicated as Prog.Version:- 7 It is important that you know how to determine program versions so you can keep up
to date with Program Updates on the Product Support Website.
Users
When installed, Bank Genie is in a simple form, suitable for the vast majority of customers. When you start Bank Genie for the first time, you
view the system using default settings and preferences. These default settings are associated with a User Profile - known simply as Admin. After you have become
familiar with Bank Genie you can personalise the system e.g. you can change the name Admin to your own name and change the default settings to your own
preferences (Font sizes etc).
Preferences On the
Setup tab on the Main Menu, start the program Preferences - BS498 Set your preferences and click Save Changes
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