Search Results in Table View Form
The Contact Number search with a specified number as described above will always only find one contact record as all numbers are unique. However, all other searches may find multiple matching records. For example, when searching for contacts involving one particular student, there may be more than one case in the contacts database. When searching by Grade, Contact Category, Type, Teacher or Status, there will almost definitely be more than one matching record. Whenever a search results in more than one matching contact record, the results are displayed in 'Table View' form.
This is a sample RISC Table View:
This view consists of up to 1,999 matching records and is described by the columns:
Contact No., Date, Student, Grade, Contact Category, Type, Action
Type, Teacher and
Status. All contacts are shown in reverse chronological order, or highest contact number down to lowest. The title bar states the total number of matching records. If greater than
1,999, only the latest 1,999 will be displayed.
Viewing a Specific Contact from the Table View -
With a Table View form on the screen, simply double-clicking the desired Contact Number will display the individual contact record. The RISC form will be brought in front of the table view and the selected contact record will be displayed on the screen. At the bottom of the table view are seven buttons:
Restore Table View -
The Restore Table View button is used to bring the Table View back to the front if it has gone behind the RISC data entry/enquiry form. For example, if you have double-clicked a Contact Number on the table view, then that contact record will be shown on the RISC form with the Table View form partially hidden behind it. Clicking the
Restore Table View button at the bottom of the screen will bring the Table View back to the front where another contact record selection can be made from the list.
Sort by Student Name -
By simply clicking the 'Sort By Student Name' button on the Table View, you can sort the contents of any Table View by Student Name. For example, if you wish to hand out updated summaries of student contacts that have occurred for each year/grade to Year Advisers, you
have the choice of producing the list either sorted by Student Name, or sorted chronologically.
The more contacts in the Table View, the longer the sort function
will take. With approximately 1,000 contacts in the list, a sort by
student name takes about two seconds on a faster
model Pentium PC.
Once the list has been sorted by Student Name, the sort button changes to
'Sort by Contact Number'. This then unsorts the file to its usual reverse-chronological order.
NOTE: The Sort by Student Name function is not available if you are using RISC with a manually entered Student
Lookup rather than accessing the student data from your school's Admin
system.
Print Table View -
Prints the entire contents of the Table View to the printer. The output includes all matching
records, not just the first 1,999 as displayed on the screen.
The report is printed in landscape with 60 records per page.
Exporting RISC Data -
RISC data can be exported automatically to Microsoft Excel for the
development of customized reports and graphing/charting, the ability to
access RISC data in spreadsheet form could be very useful to a school.
Microsoft Excel 2000 or later MUST be installed on the PC performing the
RISC export.
However, rather than simply exporting the entire RISC database, with the user then having to struggle with stripping out the unwanted fields, the RISC Export function is totally user-selectable. You have total control over which fields you wish to export as well as what range of contacts you want exported. By using standard RISC queries and searches,
any resulting Table View can be exported to a text file that can be read by other programs. It can be sorted by Student Name, or filtered by a Date Range; it can be every contact, or only those contacts that match a defined search criteria.
Although the RISC Table View only shows
Contact Number, Student Name, Grade, Contact Category, Type,
Action Type, Teacher and
Status, the Export function will actually allow you to choose from all available RISC
fields. To choose the desired fields for export, first click the Export... button on the Table View. The screen shown above will be displayed. The first time the screen is displayed,
many RISC fields will be unchecked. By clicking on each individual check box, you can turn on or off the defined field for export. Once you have selected the desired fields to export, click the
'Export Selected RISC Fields' button. To quit the export and return to the Table View, click the
Cancel button.
RISC will export fields in the same order as they are shown on the export form (reading left to right then top to
bottom). Once imported into a separate package, the order of fields can be easily rearranged if needed.
Once the specified data has been prepared for export by RISC, MS Excel
will automatically be launched and the data will fill the spreadsheet.
The column widths in Excel may need adjustment. The easiest way to do this is to Select the whole spreadsheet by pressing Ctrl-A, and then choosing Format...Columns...AutoFit Selection. With the RISC data in Excel, it is possible to produce customised reports and charts as required. It is not possible to import any changes made to the Excel data back into RISC.
Mail Merge -
This new function (v7.20 and later) allows the user to produce
multiple form letters in one go. Using the normal
Form Letters function, you can print one form
letter at a time per contact record. From the Table View, it is
possible to display several records all with something in common, then
select one form letter mask and have it loaded, merged and printed -
once for each student listed in the selected contact records in the
Table View. Furthermore, RISC will utilise the data in each
contact record to completely personalise each letter and also will edit
each record's Contact Action field to show that a specified form letter
was produced for that student. This all happens automatically.
This is different to the Mail Merge Wizard
which only produces generic form letters for students based on
grade/class or gender. When you select the Mail Merge option from
the Table View, be sure to read and understand the introductory notes
which are displayed.
Table View Help -
The Table View Help button displays a brief message box containing instructions on using the Table View. Click OK when you have finished with the help screen and it will disappear leaving you at the Table View form.
Close Table View -
When you have finished using the Table View form, click the Close Table View
button to clear the table view and return you to the RISC form. Whatever was last displayed on the main RISC form will still be there when you close the table view.
The Options Menu:
Appending Multiple Search Results Into One Table View:
It is possible for the results of multiple separate searches to be appended to the Table View. For example,
all Grade 9 students with contacts can be appended to all Grade 10 contacts on the one Table
View.
This is done by choosing the option Append Next Search to this Table View from the
Options menu on the Table View and then Returning to do another search
(Ctrl-R). Multiple search results can be appended (up to the
1,999 contact limit of the Table View). The
default setting for the Append switch is OFF. Closing the Table View will also turn the Append switch OFF.
Printing a Student Record Report:
RISC allows you to produce a Student Record Report for any student very easily. Simply
Find the student on the RISC form, then Search for his/her contacts. When they appear on the Table View, choose
Print Student Record Report from the Options menu. This will print a formatted report to the printer that contains three
complete contact records per page. If there are multiple students in the Table View, it is always best to
Sort By Student Name before printing this report as it will save paper and keep each student’s details together. This function will warn you if more than 10 pages are going to be printed.
The Register of
Individual Student Contact (RISC) is developed & distributed
by Marillion Designs.
Copyright © 1995-2012 Marillion Designs. All rights reserved.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
