The hardest part of using this program tends to be getting the timing right. You do not want the utility going faster than what the application or your system can keep up with. Make good use of the SLEEP function, but do not over do it either.
If your setup does not require call#'s then ignore this paragraph. The biggest problem I have updating item records is when there are items that do not have call#'s. If you create a file of item information that you want to use to update items, be sure and exclude records that do not have call#'s (unless of course you are entering/updating the call#).
Keep in mind that this process is repetitive. If you have a list of item information, such as, location, collection and
itype, that you want to update, you will be updating all three fields for every row of data. An exception that normally works is that you can leave a field completely blank, that is, nothing between the delimiters, including spaces. The utility will normally send "nothing" to these fields. Please do not assume that this will work in every case.
Also, you need not be able to automate the entire process for this utility to be useful. If you have a list of bibs that need to be updated you could use the
WAITFOR function and have this utility do the retrieval and then do the manual update and then press the specified key to do the save and next retrieval.
I recommend that you always start an autoentry process with the Horizon application already open. Use the WINP function to make it the active window at the beginning of the process. You will also need to loosely monitor these processes. If things get out of sync the utility just keeps sending keystrokes until it finishes with the Update file. This can obviously cause problems.
Remember that you can hold down the Shift Key to pause or stop this process at any time. Also, there are now functions which you can use to make the program wait until a specified window exists. This is one way of trapping such errors and avoiding these types of problems.
When working with Window names, use the Window button to see the titles of Windows and which ones exist when creating your SendKey files. NOTE: Window names are
VERY case sensitive. The Child Windows are indented under the Parent Window names. The Parent Window names are in alphabetical order.
I hope this is helpful and that you enjoy using this program. I am still amazed when I watch it work.
Jim Taylor
Below I am including an example of an "SKF" that I use to update item information, plus an example of an Update file.
Note: This may not work for you, as is, since the item screen is
configurable and tends to change over time.
I always search for one record manually when I am ready to begin because the first search is usually pretty slow. The update file contains the ibarcode, location and collection codes delimited with a pipe character "|".
The first line in the SKF file activates the cataloging module window bringing it to the foreground. The process SLEEPS for 1 second and then a call to the Menu bar is made calling the Item Barcode Lookup option. We SLEEP again and then enter the ibarcode which is Field #1 in the Update file. We send an Enter Key command. SLEEP while it finds the record. Send Enter again to select the Item record. SLEEP again while the Item update screen comes up. Move the cursor DOWN 6 fields to the location field. Send a Shift-Home sequence to highlight the text that is already there. Enter Field #2 from the update file. Move DOWN one field to the Collection field and send another Shift-Home sequence to highlight the current field. Enter Field #3 from the Update file. Send Enter which causes a prompt to Save the changes. We send a "Y" for YES. We SLEEP 2 seconds for the Save. We then send 3 ESC sequences to close the open windows and start the whole process over again for the next row in the Update file.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{|WINP-Cataloging|}
{|SLEEP-1|}
{|MENU-File Item Barcode Lookup|}
{|SLEEP-1|}
{|FIELD-1|}
~
{|SLEEP-1|}
~
{|SLEEP-1|}
{DOWN 6}
+{HOME}
{|FIELD-2|}
{DOWN 1}
+{HOME}
{|FIELD-3|}
~
{|SLEEP-1|}
Y
{|SLEEP-2|}
{ESC}
{ESC}
{ESC}
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* Horizon/Sunrise is a registered trademark of Dynix.