Method Community

Greetings,

I am working on a custom estimate screen for my landscape co.  One of the things i need to keep track of is making sure everything on the blueprints are entered in estimates. I was thinking of making a grid to each phase of a landscapers project. So one grid would be for all the plants, Another grid for lighting/sprinlker timmers and another grid for decks/pools.  I would filter the itesm for each of those grids using filters so the sprinklers grid would only show sprinkler material.  i was thinking doing it this way i could see where i am at.  

Here is the issue i have with method. How many grids can i have in screen?  All these grids would be using the same item table. I was thinking of having 8 grids. 

Thanks! John M

John M:

How many grids can i have in screen?

You can definitely put 8 (or more) grids (of the same table) on a screen and use a custom filter for each one.  You can even mix in detached grids from other tables if you need.  There's a good set of actions available for working with Grids so you should be able to really customize this page to your liking.  Post back if you have any other questions.

~C

John - one thing I'll add. For performance reasons, you might want to consider putting each grid in its own tab. That way it only loads if the tab is visible. 

I wanted to follow up my previous post with a caution on performance issues with using 8 grids at the same time.  The Item table can contain quite a few records so loading and filtering 8 different grids off the same table may not be the best solution for this.  

You can acheive what you need with just one grid using multiple filters.  There are actions included in Method to Set the View Filter so you can adjust the grid filter onScreenLoad action to match a specific criteria.

~C

After looking at what i was trying to do im looking at using one grid.  I added a new field to the lineitem table called Divisions and added that to the Grid. That way a divison can be sprinklers, lawns, lights, decks, etc. The other field i added was itemtype to the grid. That way i can filter all my labor for the whole job or just a division. So far this is working great.  

This whole issue is a two parter. My last issue i need a punch list.  These are items that I need to make sure are looked at when performing a estimate. For example, Permits, Fees, Sprinklers, Lighing, Drawings, Soil Checking etc. I was thiking of creating a tab with eather yes/no or check mark of the things that i need to look at.  The problem with Method is there are alot of ways we can do this...lol (thats a good thing)

John M

John M:

My last issue i need a punch list.

I think a Grid with a checkbox would be something to look at for this.  You could build an action so that when one item is checked you open a section tab relevant to that item.  Click the box beside permits and your permit details tab opens.  Here's my very quick sample of how this might look.  You could also build in some requirements like clicking permits but not filling out the info from the permits tab will not allow you to open the next tab.  There are a number of ways to handle this.  

If you need assistance either through training, or help designing the screen itself, we've got some great consultants on staff here.

John M:

The problem with Method is there are alot of ways we can do this...lol (thats a good thing)

~C