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Record Menu

The options under the Record drop down menu in Admin are:

Hide Record Types: This allows you select which record types are visible and hidden for each Calm database. Hiding a record type will mean that it is not available to be searched for under the Record Type option in the Search Dialogue Box.

Modify Record Types: You may modify any record type in any Calm database by adding new fields or removing existing fields from the record types. Any modifications will affect all new records you create using the Record type in question, existing records are not affected. You may also create your own record types using this option.

Hide Record Types

To hide a record type:

  • Open the Admin program and open the database which contains the record type you wish to hide; using the Open option under the File drop down menu

  • Select Hide Types from the Record drop down menu, the Hide Record Types dialogue box is displayed. Record Types which are in use appear in the Visible column, those which are hidden appear in the Hidden column

  • You may move the Record Types between the Visible and Hidden columns by highlighting them and clicking the Show and Hide buttons as appropriate

Modify Record Types

To modify a record type:

  • Open the Admin program and open the database which contains the record type you wish to modify; using the Open option under the File drop down menu

  • Select Modify Types from the Record drop down menu, the Modify Record Types dialogue box is displayed. Here is an example of the dialogue box that is displayed. Please note that the example dialogue box will open in a new window, when you have finished and wish to return to this page, use the cross in the top right corner to close the window.

  • Select the record type you wish to modify from the list of all current record types shown in the Record Type column, note that the middle column, called Fields in Record, changes to display a list of the fields which currently appear in the record type you have selected. The list of fields displayed shows both hidden and visible fields and may or may not display the fields in the order in which they appear on your record type in Calm. Please note that the field order shown here does not dictate the order of the fields in your Calm record, which can be changed using the Order/Group option under the Field drop down menu in the Admin program.

To remove a field from a record type:

  • Ensure that the record type selected in the Record Type column is the one you wish to remove to field from

  • Select the field you wish to remove in the middle, Fields in Record, column

  • Click the Remove button which is situated between the second and third columns, the field is removed from the record type

  • Please Note that if the Remove button is "greyed out" then the remove facility is not available for the field you have selected. This is because the field is a system field and is required by Calm. It is not possible to remove a system field from a record type.

To add a field into a Record Type:

  • Ensure that the record type selected in the Record Type column is the one you wish to add a field to

  • Select the field you wish to add in the Fields column on the right of the dialogue box

  • Click the Insert button, the field will be inserted into the Fields In Record Column just above the field which was highlighted in that column. Clicking Append, instead of Insert, will add the field to the bottom of the list in the Fields in record column. Please note that the field order shown here does not dictate the order of the fields in your Calm record, which can be changed using the Order/Group option under the Field drop down menu in the Admin program.

It is possible to duplicate some fields in Calm Record Types by inserting or appending more than one version of the field into a record type. Some fields are "One Per Record" fields and therefore may only appear once in a Record Type. Calm will not allow you to duplicate a "one per record" field in a Record Type.

Choosing Fields

When adding fields to a Calm record type you may select from the Fields column which contains a complete list of the fields available for each record type. The fields are shown with their "real" field names, and not any field labels they may have been given. Calm fields have different attributes and accept different sorts of data depending on their Field Type. When deciding which fields to use in your record types you may find it useful to consult the Complete Field List to see the attributes of the different fields.

Some fields in the Catalogue database are judged so important, Calm will add them to any newly-created record that does not have those fields. Which fields they are varies based on whether you are an Archive, Museum, or Local Studies Calm user. This means if you create a new record type and don't add one of these fields to it, a record of that type created in Calm will still have those fields. They are:

  • Archive: RefNo, CurrentLocation, NormalLocation, RCN RecordID

  • Local Studies: RCN, RecordID

  • Museum: ObjectNumber, CurrentLocation, NormalLocation, RecordID

Note: This list does not include the fields Creator, Created, Modifier, and Modified, which Calm uses to keep track of who created a record, who last edited a record, and when. If you want those fields on a newly-created record, you will need to add them in the Admin program.

User Definable Fields

If you find that there is no field in the list of available fields which suits your needs you may find it useful to use one of several User Definable fields which are available for each database. User definable fields are "blank" fields which you may label to give them a more meaningful name and use for any purpose you wish. There are user definable fields for all of the different fields types available in Calm. The different types of User Definable fields are described below:

UserText fields: Such as UserText1, UserText2 and so on. User Text fields are Calm text fields which may be given picklists, authorities, vocabulary lists, default contents or used as regular text fields such as Title in the Catalogue database. These are the most frequently used and versatile User definable fields in Calm and may be used for alpha-numeric data.

UserWrapped Fields: Such as UserWrapped1, UserWrapped2 and so on. User wrapped fields are Calm Wrapped Text fields and are most suitable for descriptive or note type information.

UserDate Fields: Such as UserDate1, UserDate2 and so on. User date fields are Calm date fields and are used for recording precise dates in which the day, month and year are entered in a format according to the System date set in your Windows control panel.

UserPeriod Fields: Such as UserPeriod1, UserPeriod2 and so on. User Period fields are Calm period date fields and have a much more flexible structure than User Date fields. They can accept a wide variety of date formats and are validated according the Calm Period date validation.

UserNumber Fields: Such as UserNumber1, UserNumber2 and so on. User Number fields are Calm number fields and are used for recording numbers which have decimal places.

UserInteger Fields: Such as UserInteger1, UserInteger2 and so on. User Integer fields are Calm Integer fields. They are used for recording numbers which have no decimal places.

UserUnique Fields: Such as UserUnique1, UserUnique2 and so on. User Unique fields are Calm Unique fields. They are used for recording unique references. They are alpha-numeric fields and may contain letters and or numbers in unique entries for each record in which they appear.

Create a new Record Type

Axiell strongly advise you to use this option with care, as there are routines in Calm that use specific fields, for example for reports, OAI or data extraction. Please also bear in mind, if you export your data, other Calm users will not have the record templates you have created.

To create a record type:

  • Open the Admin program and open the database where you wish to add a new record type; using the Open option under the File drop down menu

  • Select Modify Types from the Record drop down menu, the Modify Record Types dialogue box is displayed.

  • Click the Add... button.

  • Enter the name for your new record type and press OK.

You will notice that your new record type will appear in the Record Type list on the left hand side. You can now add fields to your record type as described in the modify instructions above. When upgrading to subsequent versions of Calm, your record types will be retained.

Please note: Once a new record type has been created, you will need to classify it as Museum, Archive or Local Studies Library as appropriate (using the Administration menu option), before it will become available for use in the Catalogue or Accessn/Entry database.