Lists
When you perform a search, for example Logs Entered by this Office or Referrals Sent by this Office, CLIFF will display the found Logs or Referrals in a scrolling list. To minimize download time for a large selection of records, the data records are displayed in pages. The toolbar at the top of the list will show which group of records you are currently viewing. For example it may say "Logs 81 to 120 of 300".

To view the current page of data records, you would scroll up and down with the scroll bar at the right. To view the previous page you would click on , to view the next page you would click on . To go to the first or last page, click or respectively.

You cannot modify the Log or Referral directly in the list, you must first open it. To open a Log or Referral in a list, you simply click on the ID number. CLIFF then displays the Log input window. Note that Referral information is displayed at the bottom of the Log, so regardless of opening a Log or a Referral, CLIFF will always display the Log input window.

Input Forms

Moving through input forms
When you enter or modify data, you always move from one field (enterable area) to another in a consistent sequence. This sequence is called the data entry order. Every field into which you can type a value is included in the data entry order.

To move forward in the data entry order

• Press the Tab key.

To move backward in the data entry order

• Hold down the Shift key and press Tab.
  

Accepting and Cancelling data entry

After you have entered or modified information in a data record you have to decide whether to accept or reject your entries. CLIFF gives you several options for accepting, or cancelling data entry.

To accept a record

To cancel a record

Interrupting Data Entry

When you are working in CLIFF, you can choose any menu item or button that is not dimmed. For example, you can change your personal user preferences while entering a Log. If you are entering or modifying data, and you choose a menu item that requires CLIFF to release the current Log or Referral, CLIFF will automatically save the changes you have made. For example, choosing Referrals Sent by Office while editing a Log.

Entering and modifying different data types

Each data field in CLIFF has an associated field type that dictates the kind of data you can enter. Most fields are alphanumeric, which means that they allow you to enter both numbers and letters. Other fields, such as date fields, require data to be entered in specific formats.

Entering data in alphanumeric fields

Alphanumeric fields accept alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers), punctuation marks, and special characters such as *, %, @ and {. Most alphanumeric fields in CLIFF accept up to eighty characters of information, some less. The cursor will automatically stop when you reach the limit of a field.
NOTE: CLIFF uses proportional fonts which means that an ‘I’ takes up less space than a ‘W’. Therefore, depending upon the characters entered in a field, the maximum number of characters may be reached before the end of the field, or not all the characters are displayed in a field.

Date Fields

The format of dates is defined in the Application Preferences. If you do not have access to the Application Preferences, ask your CLIFF Administrator for the date format.

You may enter dates with or without separators. If you do not enter the separators then you must zero fill the day and month. For example 990101 is correct, 9911 is not. Valid separators are "/", "." and "-".

You may enter relative dates based on the current date. A relative date is entered as +/- days from today. For example, ‘-10’ is the current date minus 10 days; ‘+5’ or ‘5’ is the current date plus 5 days; ‘0’ is the current date.

You may remove a date by deleting it from the field. Note that a date of ‘00/00/00’ is considered as a blank date.

CLIFF is year 2000 compliant. Dates may be entered and displayed with four digit years, you may search, sort, and manipulate all information in CLIFF using four digit years. If you enter dates using two digit years, CLIFF will automatically convert the year to a four digit year using the following rule.
If the current year is among the last ten years of the century then any two-digit year in the range 00-09 will be treated as a year in the following century. If the current year is among the first ten years of the 21^st century, then any two-digit year in the range 90-99 will be treated as a year in the previous century.

In the year 1997:
1/1/01 becomes 1/1/2001
1/1/10 becomes 1/1/1910
1/1/99 becomes 1/1/1999

In the year 2001:
1/1/01 becomes 1/1/2001
1/1/10 becomes 1/1/2010
1/1/99 becomes 1/1/1999

In the year 2011:
1/1/01 becomes 1/1/2001
1/1/10 becomes 1/1/2010
1/1/99 becomes 1/1/2099

Check Boxes Check boxes store True or False values. A check box in the data entry order gives you a Yes or No choice. CLIFF interprets a checked box as a Yes (TRUE) value, and an unchecked box as a No (FALSE) value.