Navigation, Email and Other Interface Features

On every page where there is a grid of data, you have the ability to sort, set the number of records on the page and navigate to additional records of information. In order to sort the data grid, select the label of any column. Selecting the column multiple times will change the order from ascending to descending order. To set the number or records for the page, change the Page Size drop down field at the bottom of the data grid. By default the Page Size should be the rows per page that are set in your My Preferences screen. 

At the bottom of the page in the bottom left hand corner of the data grid you will also see a series of buttons and numbers.  The numbers represent the pages that you can navigate to in the data. Selecting any number will take you to that page. The current page will be selected in the navigation control. Using the arrows will take you to the very beginning, end, or will step by a single page. At the bottom right of the grid, information communicates the total number of data items that are available and the number of pages.

Navigation View

The first section assists you to navigate from page to page when multiple pages of records are returned. In the example above, there are 2 pages.

The second section of the navigation control assists you in setting how many items are shown on each page. This value can be controlled so that you see the same amount of rows on every screen. You can modify your settings by modifying your preferences, or the you can change the number of rows for that page while you are on it. If you log out of VisualVault, you will see the number of rows that you have configured in your preferences when returning.

Search buttons are placed on almost every screen in VisualVault to aid you in narrowing and searching for information you need quickly. The search supports specific columns or data that are found on the current screen and may include other data not shown directly on the screen in some circumstances. To filter the records shown on the data pane do the following:

1. Select the Search button (  )

2. Select the data you want to search on.

3. Select the type of condition or matching criteria for the search.

4. Key in the text for the search.

5. Click on Search.

If the results were not what you expected, you can select clear to show all the information. Select the Add Rows icon to increase the complexity of your search and narrow the results even further. To remove complexity, remove criteria by selecting the minus button. The search will compare every character keyed in the text field. If a space is on the end of the text string the search will expect a space to match the criteria. By selecting the clear button, the criteria will all be cleared and the results will be reset to show all results. Users may group the search criteria by enclosing the criteria in parenthesis. By using the parenthesis, you can find documents or data that meet multiple types of criteria.

Search will remember how you filtered a screen during the current session that you are logged into VisualVault. Once you have logged off or navigated to a similar page, this information will be lost. Most searches look like the generic search below.

Generic Search View

Other searches may have greater complexity due to where they are placed in VisualVault. An example of a filter with greater complexity is the one used with the Document Library. Notice actions button is shown to the right of the Search in the toolbar. Additional filter fields may be in the filter to aid in showing or hiding records. Other areas where you will find special filters similar to this one will be in Projects to show open or closed projects. For every filter you can add additional criteria. You can use the ( and ) fields to group search criteria together to make more complex searches. One group below is circled in red while the other is circled in blue.

Document Library Filter View

In various document searches there will be an option called Full Text. This option will allow you to search for text inside of various document types as explained in the Full Text Search topic. VisualVault will default back to the contains condition when Full Text is selected. The search will execute for the scope of the filter.

If you are searching for folder paths, slashes may be required when used with an equal condition. For example if the folder named Documents is at the root of the Document Library set the Folder path equal to /Documents.

My Searches can be accessed from the My Searches section of the Portal or by highlighting the user icon ( ) in the upper right hand corner of VisualVault. These searches are saved searches the user created or searches that others have shared. Administrators will see the searches of all users. Users can run a search directly from either location by clicking on the appropriate search name, and can publish the search to other users by modifying security. Below are examples of both searches.

My Searches Portal Control View 


My Search View 
 

See Advanced Search, Quick Search, and How to Create a Saved Search for more information.

By default, VisualVault will use a computers local email client to send email when an email link is selected. (see About Email Links below) This mechanism may not always be the best way to facilitate email of VisualVault documents and forms. Under some circumstances, users may not have a local email client, or companies may want to trace emails sent to customers. VisualVault can be configured so that a browser based screen becomes visible when the email link is selected so that users can compose an email. This is one of the modes for sending email from VisualVault. This mode is not enabled by default. Administrators enabled this mode by changing various configurations in the configuration settings area. Administrators can refer to the topic Email Settings for more information on the settings to enable his feature.

VisualVault has several detail windows with an icon ( ) to email a document or form. You can locate an email link in the following locations:

• Document Library Folder Detail view

• Document ID Card

• Parent, Related and Children tabs of the Document ID Card

• Form Library

• Advanced Search

• Related Documents of a Project ID Card

• Related Documents of a Form ID Card

The link will open a users local email client and add the hyper link for the document or form. The user rights will define access to the content. If the user forwards this email to other individuals who do not have access to the file, the VisualVault security model will deny access. Only when the Public user has been assigned rights to a document or form will the link work for a non VisualVault user.

When the Public user is assigned, it will be given access to the latest released version of the document or form and will not be prompted for a password. Public users will be prompted for passwords when accessing documents under the following conditions:

1. Received a link, but the Public user does not have rights to view the document.

2. All revisions of a document are in an Unreleased or Pending status.

3. When security is applied to the last revision of multiple revisions and the last revision has not been released.

Refer to Document Security for more information on how security is handled when security is applied to the document after multiple revisions.

To resolve the above list of conditions, either give the public user rights, release the latest revision of the document where the user has rights, or assign public security to the latest released version you want the public user to be able to view.

This topic will discuss attaching documents to an email as well as specifying the options used for sending the attachments. This feature is only available when the browser based email client is enabled in VisualVault.

When an email is sent from the VisualVault Browser Email Client (see Email From VisualVault below), you may want to attach additional documents to an email that is going to an outside entity. By default, the document where the email link was selected will be associated with the email. If you do not want to associate that document, then you will need to select Clear attachments.

In order to add additional attachments, you will select the Attachments button in the upper left hand corner of the Body field. The following screen will become visible to you:

Selecting the Select Folder button will show the following screen:

You can check the files you want to place in the email and then press Add Files. The documents will then be associated with the email.

You can determine how you want the attachments sent to the recipient by selecting a choice under Email Options. Selecting Send attachments as files will send the actual document with the email. Selecting Send attachments as links will create a URL link in the email pointing the recipients to VisualVault for access to the documents. This second method is more secure for companies who want to control their documents because it forces recipients to log in to VisualVault before they have access to the documents.

When VisualVault is not configured to use the browser email client, users can add attachments from the Outlook Add-in.

Composing an email message in VisualVault can be accomplished by selecting any email icon ( ) in VisualVault after the browser based email client has been enabled. The following screen will appear:

If this feature is not enabled, VisualVault will launch Outlook, or some other computer email client.

Browser based email client view

Once the screen is available complete the following steps to compose an email:

1. Key in the email addresses where you want the email to be sent, or select the To, Cc or Bcc links to acquire email addresses from user accounts inside VisualVault. When you select one of these links, the following screen will appear:

Contact Selection View

The following items are available for selection on the Contact Selection window:

• Search - display a certain user or group of users.

• Users or Group Selection - allows you to select a user or group* of users who should receive the email.

• List window - lists users or groups for selection.

• To - assign selected user or group to the To field of the email.

• Cc - assign selected user or group to the Cc field of the email.

• Bcc - assign the selected user or group to the Bcc field of the email.

• Close - closes the window.

*Selecting a group will send email to every member of the group.

2. Key in the Subject of the email.

3. Key in the Body information of the email.

4. Assign attachments to the email.

5. Select the appropriate Email Options.

   • Save email in [Folder Path] - This option will save the email into VisualVault and relate it to the document that is being sent. Refer to the topic Placing Email into VisualVault below for more information.

   • Send attachments as files - when selected, the documents will be sent with the email

   • Send attachments as links - when selected, links to the documents will be sent and recipients will need access to VisualVault to view the documents.

6. Select Send.

Refer to the following topics in this section for more information: Attaching Documents to an Email, Email Templates, Placing Email into VisualVault, and Relating Email to Documents.

When the browser email client is enabled, users can create email templates that any user can use when sending an email from VisualVault. This feature is useful when companies are sending standard messages to customers or suppliers from VisualVault. The following topics will discuss how users interact with the email templates:

Using a Template

In order to create an email using an email template, users can select any email template from the Template drop down list. Once a template is selected, users can modify any of the fields as they wish to customize the email for the circumstance. When a user modifies the field populated by a template, these modifications will not be saved back to the template unless the user saves it.

Users can create new templates by:

1. Composing an email

2. Selecting Display button in the Template panel.

3. Selecting Save or Save As option

4. Key in the name of the new template

5. Select Save.

Template Options View

Users can take an existing template, modify it to meet their needs and save it as a new template.

If a user wants to modify an existing template, they would follow the above steps, but select the Save Template options in step 3.

Templates can only be deleted by VaultAccess users. To delete a template the user will:

1. Select the template from the Templates drop down list on the left hand side.

2. Select the Delete Template button.

3. Select OK in the confirmation screen.

When an email is created from the browser email client, users have the ability of placing the email as a document into VisualVault. Users accomplish this by selecting the Save after sending check box in the Save Email section. Users can select the folder button to place the email in some other folder within the Document Library.

Email Options View 
 

An email will be placed in VisualVault as a .htm type document. The documents sent with the email will be placed as links in the email.

The Outlook Add-in client can be used in the same way from the Microsoft Outlook client.

When composing an email in the browser email client, users can relate the email to the document by saving the email to a folder in VisualVault. See Placing Email into VisualVault above for more information. This feature allows companies to quickly trace email communications pertaining to a certain document.

The task list is part of the default My Vault user portal. This list shows all open tasks that have been assigned from the VisualVault workflow and all training tasks. When assigned a task, the user will receive an email with links to the document or form associated with the task, and to VisualVault. Upon completion of a task, one or multiple tasks can be completed at once from the task list. The list can also be filtered or sorted to more easily find pertinent information. This allows users to focus on a set of business tasks and narrow what is being shown during the current session.

My Assigned Task View

See the following topics pertaining to Tasks:

• How to Complete a Training Assignment.

• How to Complete an Assigned Task

• How to View Assigned Workflow Tasks Status

My Training is a location within VisualVault where you can view all the training you need to complete or have completed. From this screen you can see when you completed training and if your training has been approved. If completed training expires in the future, you can also see this date from My Training.  You can search your training directly from this console by clicking Search.
 
To access this screen:

1. Highlight the user icon () in the upper right hand corner of VisualVault.

2. Select Training.

See How to View Training Records for more information.

In VisualVault you can have multiple databases accessible from within the same web application. A user who has access to multiple databases can change their focus to another database in one of the following ways:

When a user logs into VisualVault, there will be a drop down list at the top of the screen.

Selecting a database in the drop down list take the user to the new database context.

Logging into a different database with a different URL

Another way you can use to log in to a different database is by keying in the URL of the different database. For example, a user logs in to the Demo: Default database as shown in the first image above. The URL for the page might be: https://vault.visualvault.com/App/Demo/Default/userportal.aspx. If you want to change over to the Number 2 database. You would key in the following URL: https://vault.visualvault.com/App/Default/Number2/userportal.aspx or simply change the "Main" portion of the URL. Making this change will take you to the new database if you have access to the database. If you do not have access to the database at the specified URL, you will be prompted to log in to the new database with a new User ID and Password.

Context (or right click type) menus are available within VisualVault when working with documents or form data.

VisualVault has several mechanisms for reporting errors or issues that occur within the application. This topic will discuss the various ways users or administrators can discover that there is an issue with VisualVault.

If you encounter any of these issues, we encourage you to verify if you can repeat the issue. If you can repeat the issue, write down the steps so that you can communicate them to VisualVault technical support.

User Interface

Users may receive a visible message indicating that there is problem with a certain part of the application. There may be two types of pop up menus. The first type is a menu that VisualVault generates reporting a possible exception. This exception is important in troubleshooting the application so please write it down when you see it. On this screen users may also see a button to send the error to technical support. Selecting this button will send a list of the functions that are running within the application when the issue happened.

The second type of visible message may be a debug dialog box. These boxes may indicate a line and file where an issues occurs. Document this as well for technical support.

Server Event Logs

Within VisualVault we have included functionality in the application that should catch and report various errors. These errors are not visible to the user under most circumstances, however an exception may be logged in the server event log as a result of a problem in the user interface. Technical support uses these event logs often to determine what might be happening with VisualVault when there is an issue. Many times it is helpful to see or have the application event log sent to VisualVault Technical Support.

Java Console

The Java console is a useful tool for reporting errors for the Java enabled controls used in VisualVault. Information gathered in this console is also useful for troubleshooting issues and helping technical support understand what is happening with your installation of VisualVault.

In the course of troubleshooting issues we have encountered circumstances where there is a problem with security on the server, third party application issues on the local computer, or issues caused by the way VisualVault is configured. We encourage you to explore the possibilities that an issue might be related to local applications. It is helpful in troubleshooting to know if the issue experienced effects one person or the entire user base. It is also helpful to know if the issues just started or if the issues has always existed for your company.

"The Vault" is the term used to describe the entire database of documents. Every document uploaded is stored in the Document Library or "The Vault", and from that point forward only copies of the document are checked out. The Vault keeps revision history and audit trail information for each document stored. The Vault consists of the Library Services and is accessible through the Portal or My Vault.