Attendance

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Ruth Anne N
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Location: Trinity Presbyterian Church

Attendance

Post by Ruth Anne N »

When I am doing fast data attendance, why do I have to scroll up and down frequently to type in a new name? Sometimes it works and other times it does not.

Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

Can you be more specific to the actual behavior you are seeing?

In AT Fast Data Entry the program does incremental seeking to make it quick to find the person you are looking for. For instance, if you were looking for someone with the last name of "Jones", type "J" it jumps to the first person with a last name of "J". If you then type 'o', it will go to the first person with a last name of "Jo" and so on. If you pause typing, it assumes you are now looking for a new name and starts a new search. It waits 3 times the double click time on your computer, so if you mistype a name, wait a couple of seconds and start typing again and it will begin a new search.

You can enter new people from this screen, but you need to click the Add New Attender button first.

Ruth Anne N
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2004 5:01 pm
Location: Trinity Presbyterian Church

Attendance

Post by Ruth Anne N »

I know that you type in the first few letters of a name to arrive there to record the attendance. But many times it does not go there, it does not go anywhere unless I scroll down or up and try again. This is extremely annoying and takes a lot longer to complete the week's attendance record than it should. Is there any way to correct this problem? Thanks

Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

Scrolling has nothing to do with starting a new search. Try waiting for 2-3 seconds before starting to type a new name.

Version 8.5 added the option of using a barcode scanner. If you are entring attendance from an attendance register form, that would eliminate looking up people altogether.

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NeilZ
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Post by NeilZ »

Jeff wrote:Scrolling has nothing to do with starting a new search. Try waiting for 2-3 seconds before starting to type a new name.

Version 8.5 added the option of using a barcode scanner. If you are entring attendance from an attendance register form, that would eliminate looking up people altogether.
Jeff .. I think I know what she's talking about. I enter the attendance for services from our pew pads, and frequently if I don't have a two names in a row (say, Bob & Sally Jones) to update, I have to wait a while until the system recognizes that I'm typing a new name.

I'm not sure how long it can take, but it sure seems to take a lot longer than 2-3 seconds.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

I double checked the code. There has to be 3 seconds between keystokes for the program to consider it to be a new search. When we first added this feature we were using 3 times the double click speed setting for the mouse. Many people complained that was too quick, so we upped the time to 3 seconds.

I also checked what we are doing in 9 because we had to rework internally the searching in 9 to handle the column sorting. In 9 the speed right now is 1/2 a second before it starts a new search. That might be a little too fast. Does anyone have any thoughts on a length to wait before a new search would start? Keep in mind there are varying skill levels of typists. :)

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NeilZ
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Post by NeilZ »

Jeff wrote:I double checked the code. There has to be 3 seconds between keystokes for the program to consider it to be a new search. When we first added this feature we were using 3 times the double click speed setting for the mouse. Many people complained that was too quick, so we upped the time to 3 seconds.

I also checked what we are doing in 9 because we had to rework internally the searching in 9 to handle the column sorting. In 9 the speed right now is 1/2 a second before it starts a new search. That might be a little too fast. Does anyone have any thoughts on a length to wait before a new search would start? Keep in mind there are varying skill levels of typists. :)
I agree on the skills, what I would like to see is:

when I start typing, the list moves to the names, as it does today. When I hit toggle , the code changes, as it does today. When I use the arror, the cursor moves up and down in the list , as it does today.

However, when I start typing a letter, after a code toggle, I'd like to see a response there and then. Then 1/2 second speed sounds good, but I'm not sure it works as well as it should. In v9 beta, it just took me 2 or 3 seconds to get a response when I pressed a letter key.

It could be that the reason it seems long to me is that I'm a touch typist ... I had to be in order to write COBOL :D !!
Neil Zampella

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Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

Let me check to see what we can do about starting a new search when the status has changed. As far as the Fast Data Entry that might be a bug. I think in the last beta that was posted, the Fast Data Entry had not been converted to the new searching routine. I believe it is done now and new beta should be posted today or tomorrow.

Do you think we should also clear the search if you press a navigation key? ie Arrow PgUp PgDn, etc.

BTW, in version 9 you can use Ctrl+End to go to the end of a list and Ctrl+Home to go to the top of a list.

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NeilZ
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Post by NeilZ »

Jeff wrote:Let me check to see what we can do about starting a new search when the status has changed. As far as the Fast Data Entry that might be a bug. I think in the last beta that was posted, the Fast Data Entry had not been converted to the new searching routine. I believe it is done now and new beta should be posted today or tomorrow.

Do you think we should also clear the search if you press a navigation key? ie Arrow PgUp PgDn, etc.

BTW, in version 9 you can use Ctrl+End to go to the end of a list and Ctrl+Home to go to the top of a list.
The new beta sounds great .. I'll try it out when it gets posted. As far as clearing the search on a nav key ... perfect ... this should allow someone to mark off members of a family, then start with a new name immediately after.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

Ruth Anne N
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2004 5:01 pm
Location: Trinity Presbyterian Church

Attendance

Post by Ruth Anne N »

Jeff and Neil,

Thanks so much for your input on my problem. I am a very fast typist, so will try to be patient and wait those 3 seconds before entering another attendee into the system. Have a great day.

Ruth Anne
Trinity Presbyterian
Arvada, CO

Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

We just made those changes this morning and will be in the beta that should be up by the end of the day. A navigation key will clear the current search. Any of the following keys will also clear the search:

Code: Select all

enter
cursor down
cursor up
cursor right
cursor left
tab
Ctrl+Tab
Shift+Tab
Alt+Tab
PgUp
Ctrl+PgUp
Alt+PgUp
PgDn
Ctrl+PgDn
Alt+PgDn
Ctrl+Home
Ctrl+End
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
F11
F12
escape
This effects all searches, not just the Fast Data Entry screen. So in any place now if you use a navigation key, you will start a new search.

We also changed the Fast Data Entry screen, if you toggle a status, a new search will start as well.

For now I am hardcoding the default search pause to 2 seconds before a new search will start. If anybody has any feedback on these changes let me know.

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