Method Community

I am currently in the process of setting up Method for our company, and am now at the stage of figuring out the best way to track which of our products the customer currently has (since this information determines service/future purchases etc). It seems that the transaction tab could give some insight into this, but the grid only shows the amounts paid/due and not specific products that have been purchased. Can anyone give me insight into the best way of managing this? Is there a way that the products could automatically be logged based off of sales orders?

Thank you,

Conner

Hi Conner,

You can definitely accomplish this, but the Transaction grid / table isn’t the way to go, as it doesn’t list item names or descriptions. You’ll need to add your own grid to the screen and if you want it to list items from sales orders, then use SalesOrderLine as the base table.

Unfortunately, the SalesOrderLine table doesn’t contain a dropdown linking it to a customer (not sure why, as other detail line tables do) so you’ll have to add it as a detached grid. You can then filter the grid for the Customer field to match the Full Name field from the screen. This will ensure that only lines related to the current customer will be displayed. Then add any of the fields you need to see to the grid. Here’s a quick one I put together showing the Item, Desc and Quantity fields.

I hope this helps.

-Audisho

Thank you for your reply. I was in the process of building the grid, but could not find a date field to include. I want to not only be able to see what items/qty was purchased, but also when. Do you know how I would go about doing this?

Thank you,

Conner

Hi Conner,

Absolutely! Just add the TxnDate to the SalesOrderLine table as a linked field via the SalesOrder table. After you add it to the table, it will be available for you to add to your grid.

I hope this helps.

-Audisho

Awesome! Thank you again for all your help, it is much appreciated.

Conner

When I am setting up the filter so that the grid only shows the current customers information, do I need to add 'customer" and or "full name" linked fields to the salesorderline table?

Hi Conner,

My apologies, I had apparently previously added the Customer field to the SalesOrderLine table on my test account and was assuming that it was there by default. Yes, you will need to add the Customer field to the SalesOrderLine table as a linked field via the SalesOrder table. The Customer field on the SalesOrder table is a dropdown of the FullName field from the Customer table therefore, this will add the FullName of the customer to the SalesOrderLine table.

As for the filter, to display only line items related to the current customer, your filter will specify that the Customer field equals the “Full Name” field from the screen (this is the FullName field from the Customer table).

I hope this helps.

-Audisho

Ah ok thank you for clarifying that. One problem I have when designing the screen is when I try to place the grid on the right side of my fields, it creates a blank gap. Here is a picture for reference http://i.imgur.com/IPICt8y.jpg  How can I make it so that the grid is placed to the right of the main fields, but does not create a gap?

Hi Conner,

You could try using the “Show First Section To Left Of Screen” option located in the Advanced Screen Properties. Otherwise, take a screenshot of your screen in design mode so that I can see how you have it laid out. I may be able to make some suggestions for you based on this.

-Audisho

Here is an image in design mode http://i.imgur.com/1N0ktfn.jpg. This is one of my tabs in the main EditCustomer screen along with additional info, contacts, activities, opportunities etc. 

Hi Conner,

Each row will expand to the size of the tallest object in the row. Because of this, you’ll notice that all the stock Method screens either place a grid in its own row or in its own section located at the left side of the screen. Since your grid is the largest object in the row that includes the Competition Models and PowerHandling Models fields, blank space is created below them to accommodate the size of the grid.

Since this data is being displayed in a tab on the Edit Customer screen, your options to remove the white space are:

1) Allow the grid to exist in a row by itself (I recommend this one)

2) Move all the lower fields into the same row as the grid

3) Change the size of the grid to include fewer lines.

I hope this helps.

Audisho