Danny and I have a deal.  He gets to write all the fun blogs and announcements - and in return I get to do all the geeky "how do I?" blogs.  Does it sound like I got a raw deal?  No - not at all!  I love showing off what Method can do....and I especially enjoy getting my hands dirty.

Today's blog is a long overdue movie tutorial on how to create a screen, from scratch, using Method.  This is a great educational tool for anyone who wants an introduction into how to create and modify screens from scratch.  It touches quickly on many key concepts such as choosing the correct table, how grids relate to a screen, how to arrange sections on a screen, and how actions can make your life easy.  This blog is actually inspired by a simple email we received:

"Here is my scenario: my client has a manual system for capturing receipts which is broken into several different income accounts.  They have no need to breakdown by an Item or Customer, they just need a way to book the deposit. 

I would like to determine a way to setup a deposit entry screen with a couple of “preset lines” already setup so that all they have to do is enter the date and the amounts.  I would also like them to have the ability to add lines for other miscellaneous deposit amounts. 

Oh, I almost forgot, I need the ability to select the class for each line also.

Hope that makes sense."

I felt there was no better way to demonstrate a solution than to post a video onto YouTube that shows, step by step, how to create this Deposit screen.  Unfortunately, YouTube only allows movies 10 minutes in length or shorter, and since the movie is a total of 17 minutes, I had to break it into two movies.

Part I of II:

Part II of II:

Please reply back with comments and questions.  I'll be happy to offer some tips on how you can take my basic deposit screen and turn it into something even more customized for your individual scenarios.

Paul