Design - Point - Properties (continued)   

Boolean Point

The Boolean Point is a useful facility for quick recording, providing a virtually unlimited choice of results recording, either text or numeric, see design dialogue box below. While the default choices in the drop down lists are Yes, Yes/No, True/False, Safe/Unsafe, 1/0/99 and NA/ N/A, amend for any choice. The 1, 0, 99 style is useful for collection of observations which may then be subject to statistical analysis.

Selection Point

The Selection Point is particularly useful where a number of choices are presented and multiple selections may be necessary.  The design dialogue box below shows potential for many Items to be presented with either Multiple or Single selection. The Items can be added, edited, deleted and moved up and down. Code-based provides the opportunity to collect numerical data or codes 'behind the scenes', eg 1;Normal, 2;Excited and so on, use the number/code first then a semi-colon (;) to separate from the text. The Import tool facilitates the importing of content for the Selection Point, content must be sourced from a .txt text file to import. To set a value as default, select in on-page view and right click mouse to 'Save Default Value'.

The Import tool facilitates the importing of content for the Selection Point, content must be sourced from a .txt text file to import. To set a value as default, select in on-page view and right click mouse to 'Save Default Value'.

Right-click of a Selection point in the Design window, presents the Convert to Drop Point option to create an equivalent Drop List point (see below), with the same characteristics. Similarly, a Drop List point can be converted to a Selection Point.

Edit Point

The Edit Point is used for entering text and/or numbers in the field. Standard Windows Cut / Copy / Paste commands can be used in Pocket PC 2002. The design dialog box below shows the Style options for text and numeric input and controls for Numeric Behaviour and Default Value for numeric data. Up and down arrows can be used for quick entry of numbers in the range selected. A range must be selected to use the up and down arrows. The size of the entry field is controlled by Physical Size, from a compact Inline box to 5 lines for entry of large amounts of text. The Limit control enables a limit to the number of characters entered in the Edit point, this can be useful when outputting to databases and forms.

To load data from Bar Code Scanners, tap the Edit point box for cursor activation before loading scan/s. 

To generate Code-based output, place a semicolon (;) between the code and the text visible in the Selection point. For example "150;Consulting Rate", would record 150 and make the number available for math operations.

The Multiple selection drop list enables multiple selections (including Code-based), choices are marked with a tick. Selections are recorded in data management separated by a semi-colon. Multiple selection Drop Lists cannot be edited on the Pocket PC. In Multiple selection mode, selections are not shown in the point window on the Pocket PC until the page refreshes (a limitation of Windows CE). 

The Import tool facilitates the importing of content for the Drop List , content must be sourced from a .txt text file to import. A list of hundreds of names can be imported and scrolled for selection of choice on the Pocket PC. To set a value as default, select in on-page view and right click mouse to 'Save Default Value'.

(For more advanced drop list functions, see UltraDrop custom point.)

The Timestamp point can be used in combination with the Math point (see below) to record time elapsed for time-based charges and other purposes. If a Timestamp point is included in a Math point's expression, the time and/or date will first be converted into a number. Where a date is included, this number will be the number of minutes since January 1st, 1970. If there is only a time, the number will be the number of minutes since midnight. When the Timestamp point includes seconds, they appear as a decimal portion of a minute in math operations (30 seconds is 0.5 minutes). Note that when using date maths, it is best to use the YYYY-MM-DD date format. Dates presented in other formats may not be interpreted correctly.

The Outlook Point enables the importing of contact information from Microsoft Outlook via Pocket Outlook on the Pocket PC. The design dialogue box shown below presents options for selection of contact information which can be imported from Pocket Outlook to a Pocket PC Creations project in the field. This facility assists with automatic entry of contact information in the field, avoiding time consuming manual entry. Depending on the fields chosen, appropriate captions and ID names are automatically generated for each field point, the captions can be manually changed to suit common terminology. Checking the Options box allows new contact information to be added simultaneously to Pocket Outlook and a Pocket PC Creations project in the field.

Outlook contacts are also accessible during a Local Session on a Tablet, desktop or notebook PC. Microsoft Outlook on a desktop PC can accept/import contact information from a wide range of programs (eg Access, ACT), this information then synchronizes with Pocket Outlook on the Pocket PC via ActiveSync.

Each math point has a fixed expression associated with it that it will evaluate to produce a result. These expressions can include 27 mathematical Operators and Functions, some of which are shown in the dialogue box image below.

Mathematical operators, in order of precedence:

^ power
* multiply
/ divide
+ add
- subtract

Conditional operators, in order of precedence:

= equals
!= not equals
> greater than
< less than
>= greater than or equal to
<= less than or equal to

Logical operators, in order of precedence:

& and
| or

Functions take the form FN(x), where FN is the function name and x is an 
expression. Functions are:

abs  absolute
sqrt  square root
log10  log
ln natural  log
exp  exponential
sin  sine
cosin  cosine
tan  tangent
arcsin  arcsine
arctan  arctang
deg2rad  convert
rad2deg  convert

Values from other points on the page (or indeed any other page in the project) can be used in the expression by including the ID name of the point. Note that referenced points must contain numeric data. Points that include non-numeric data will cause a reference error. Points that are blank (ie points that have not been filled in) will be treated as numeric zeros.

For example, an expression to add the values entered into two other points named A and B would simply be "A+B". While this is a simple case, more complex expressions can easily be constructed, involving fixed constants and brackets. For example, to take the average of three points named Alpha, Beta and Gamma: "(Alpha+Beta+Gamma)/3".  The dialogue box below shows another example, and the drop down selection facility to import points into a math equation. Practice the Math point to experiment with it's power and versatility, confidence will soon develop to apply it to many valuable projects. The Marketing Report included in the Examples folder of Pocket PC Creations software (C:\Program Files\Pocket PC Creations\Examples\MarketingReport.ppc) makes use of the Math point on the Product page.

A full range of Decimal Accuracy control is available. There is support for non-English locales, as determined by hardware system settings (System > Regional Settings on Pocket PC and Control Panel > Regional Settings on desktop PC). Thus if Regional Settings specify "," as the decimal character and "." as the digit grouping character (which is opposite to the English system), then these settings will be reflected in Pocket PC Creations.

On-screen, math points appear identical to edit points, but are read-only. The value will be computed automatically. The result calculated and displayed in a math point will be recorded in the results like any other point, and is available for examination or use on the desktop PC.

The Sketch Point enables drawing a sketch on the Pocket PC with a stylus. Sketches can be drawn in colour using either an 8 or 4 colour palette, or drawn in black.  Sketches can also be drawn over Bitmap Images imported into the Sketch field, providing a wide range of graphical recording options. The design dialogue box shown below shows options for sketch management.

Sketch Area Size provides full screen width with options of from a single line to 7 lines in length. A single line is suitable for a signature, 7 lines provides maximum area for a drawing. 

Colour Palette offers 8 and 4 colour options, and no palette for black.  A colour is selected by tapping the colour before drawing with the stylus.   

Images can be displayed at up to 220 pixels wide, the Bitmap images may be either colour or grey scale. Import images into the point after setting the sketch area size. This is a powerful feature enabling sketches over maps, body charts, plans, machinery and other graphical sources, see examples.

Clear Sketch enables clearing of the contents of a sketch by a screen tap with the stylus and hold for about 2 seconds, the tap can be on the colour palette, or on the sketch line to be cleared.

Sketches are stored as Bitmap (bmp) images, output will be in 4, 8 or 24 bit colour depths, depending on the situation (i.e. whether a background image has been used or not, and whether the target is Microsoft Excel or another output vector.

For best results with Sketch images, export into HTML, where the images will be presented in HTML pages along with any data collected. The bitmap images can be further managed to web formats (gif and jpg) using graphics programs.

Signature images can be included with Excel outputs, where they will be found close to the relevant Excel worksheet cell.

Options for the Link point enables a hidden Link point under the control of a Logic point which can 'jump' automatically to another page if a Logic point condition is met.  Similarly, a hidden Link point on the target page can be used to return to the original position in the project. This 'jump' function can be useful for market research surveys and many other projects. While the set up of the associated Logic point (see below) will generally be obvious, the Test for a jump for any entry to a point is "not equal to"...."blank...ie nothing in entry box". 

A Contents Page can be automatically generated providing links to all pages in a project, this function is found under Edit on the design window toolbar.

The Text Layout Point is used to add text to any position on a menu page, including for image captions. Text can be added in one of the four font types supported by Pocket PC - Tahoma, Courier New, Frutiger Linotype and Bookdings - and at selected sizes, styles and colours. Two colour ranges, and customized colour are available. Large text sizes can be used for projection of presentations, see below.

The text component of a Layout point has the advanced potential to include references to other points in the project, in much the same way that a Math or Logic point is able to reference other values. This can be useful where the value filled into a point in one part of a project needs to be displayed elsewhere, or formatted into a text message. To include a reference to another point's value in a 'Parsing' Layout point, simply enclose the other point's ID Name with <% %>, for example to reference the point 'Age', a Layout point could contain: 'John is <% Age %> years old'. If the value '33' were entered in the Age point, then the Layout point would read 'John is 33 years old'. Any number of points can be referenced from a Layout point, see Table example below, and set up in Text box of Layout point.

Nine different logic Tests can be applied. The dialogue box below shows some default Test responses, though any text or numbers can be used. Following selection of input points and Tests, the 'Show' points are selected with a double click, the pink tick and red text identifies logic point targets. For a point to be a Logic point target it must have 'Visible on Page' checked for it's Style. The Logic point then suppresses this visibility, unless it is unlocked! All very logical, and delivering a lot of power on the Pocket PC.

A Logic point can control the visibility of multiple points.

In design mode a File Type filter can be selected, such as "All Files", "Image Files", "Text Files", or a custom file type filter. Options in design mode control whether files can be stored in, extracted and launched from the File point on both the PC and the Pocket PC. 

The File point is used by tapping one of the file control icons on the right of the point, Launch/view, Save or Open, and then selecting an appropriate filename when opening or saving. The Launch/view button appears and can be tapped when there is a file stored in the point, it will extract and open the attached file automatically, using its default handler. For example, an attached image file would launch in a default image viewer; similarly, audio or video files would launch in the appropriate application such as Windows Media Player.

The File point is a flexible vehicle to move files to and from Pocket PCs and into databases.

Before installing Custom Points, always close Pocket PC Creations on both the Pocket PC and the desktop PC.