The Data Explorer is a very useful tool that allows you to view your assets, parts, work orders, PM’s, and contacts in a unique way. By configuring the “tree view,” you can see the records broken down and separated by the values in the fields of your choosing. This allows you to organize them in a way that the standard list view cannot.
The Data Explorers can be found on the Navigation screen, under the Data Explorer heading. If it’s the first time you’re using this tool, you’ll see something like this:
The column on the left side will show the various records and the folders that contain them, based on the sorting you choose. The right side is where the detail view of the selected record will be displayed. Above, are the buttons for switching between assets, parts, work orders, etc, and a wrench button for configuring the various options.
Let’s begin by looking at the Assets page. Click the Assets button, if you’re not already there. To configure the screen, we’ll have to first click the wrench button. From the window that appears, you’ll want to click the Configure Levels button. That will bring up a screen like this:
This will allow you to choose the fields that will be used to organize the records. You’ll see two columns. The left column contains all of the available fields for the assets table and the right column contains the columns that are currently being used. Just click and drag the fields you want from the left to the right. For example, let’s separate the assets into categories by their Department field, and sub-categories based on the Building field. To do this, all we have to do is drag Department and Building to the right side, in that order (make sure Building is below Department in the right column). Then, just click Save and you’ll see the results of this configuration.
You’ll see several folders on the left side of the screen; one for each value in the Department fields. Double-click one to expand it. Within that folder, you’ll find more folders for each of the different values in the Building field. You can expand those as well, by double-clicking them. Then, you’ll see the individual asset records. Clicking one of the records will open it and display the detail view on the right side. You can use this area to add, edit, delete, ect, just like you normally would.
Organizing your records like this is a great way to locate them easily and you can add as many levels of folders as you need.
Options
You can view and change the various settings by clicking the wrench button and selecting the Detail Setup option. This will bring up a panel with the following properties:
Table: This will display the name of the table (assets, parts, work orders, etc)
Keyfield: This shows you the name of the key field for the table
Title: This allows you to change the text at the top of the screen, that currently reads AssetExplorer
BottomPanelMessage: This will let you edit the text at the foot of the screen, such as SelectAsset
ViewDisplay: The two options for this property are ListPanel and FormDetail. Form Detail will display the record in the ordinary detail view, whereas List Panel will display just a few important fields in text, with buttons for the different options.