Getting Around in AcuBase Pro--Interface, Buttons, Finds, Etc.

AcuBase has been designed to have a consistent, intuitive interface throughout such that you may easily jump to the most relevant parts of the program at any time, from any other part of the program.  The top of all screens have the same general navigational layout, including:

 

• Five main topic tabs: Patients, Invoices, Reports, Inventory, and Calendar.  These tabs represent the main subject areas of the program, and each is given its own chapter in the User’s Manual.
• Back and Forward buttons at the top-right part of each screen will all you to move back and forward through previously-viewed screens. Note that Back and Forward buttons cannot go back or forward to records that have been deleted, or to re- or un-sort records the way they may have previously been sorted, nor are they active on Edit-only screens for reasons having to do with HIPAA compliance.
• The “Settings” button (which looks like a wrench in the upper-right hand side of most screens) will take you directly to the program preferences. The Settings section of AcuBase Pro is the central repository of your preferences for the way your practice interacts with the many different functions of the program.  We recommend that you fill in as many of the Settings options as possible for your practice before you begin using the rest of the program, as options set up in Settings cascade down through all aspects of AcuBase Pro.
• A “Help” button is available at the top of every screen. This button takes you to context-sensitive help for whichever screen you are looking at.
• Two square buttons to the right of the Calendar tab represent View as Form and View as List, respectively.  Clicking on these buttons from a given layout in the program will take you to a more specific or more general view of the information in the given area of the database you are currently viewing.
• Fields, buttons, or other text in green usually indicates something that may be clicked upon for more action.  For instance, the green “@” symbol next to an email address field will send an email to that address; the “re-login” at the bottom of each screen allows one to change which user is currently logged in. 
• Three colored buttons (+, --, and X) appear on many screens.  The green + button allows you to open a new window so that you may simultaneously view multiple windows (as many as you like).  The – button allows you snap/resize the window for your particular screen.  The red X button closes the current window, and will close the whole program if it is the only window open.

While each portion of the program is unique in its own way, the fact that the entire program was developed from within FileMaker means that several basic rules apply to the use of the program.  What follows are how-tos about some of the most basic functions of AcuBase Pro …

Menus Versus Buttons

AcuBase was created in FileMaker Pro 8.5. As a result, users have access to many of the menu items at the top of the screen that FileMaker provides.  

We highly recommend that AcuBase Pro users stick to the buttons at the top of each screen which have been provided.  While you may add a new record, for instance, from the File menu, the New Record button has scripts that make sure that the integrity of the database is kept consistent. The one exception to this suggestion is the Scripts menu.  The Scripts menu has a list of commands for which keyboard shortcuts may be used.  These shortcuts, once learned, may provide faster navigation through the program without the necessity of using the mouse.

Entering Data

• Type the data directly into a field, or
• Select the data from a value list if the field is formatted to display values with a pop-up list, pop-up menu, check boxes, or radio buttons.

NOTE that, in the Patients section of the program, you will need to click on the “Edit” button in order to edit patient records.   This allows AcuBase to keep an accurate log file of changes to the program, per HIPAA regulations.


To Move To A Field

• Click in the field where you want to enter data.
• Press Tab to move to the next field in the tab order.
• Press Shift+Tab to move to the previous field in the tab order.

            
To Move To A Record

• Press Command+Tab on the Macintosh or Ctrl+Down Arrow on the PC to move to the next record or click on the “Next” record button for a given screen.
• Press Shift+Command+Tab on the Macintosh or Ctrl+Up Arrow on the PC to move to the previous record or click on the “Previous” record button for a given screen.
• Use the Status Area on the left side of a given screen to navigate through records.  The icon that looks like a book at the top-left side of the screen can be used to move back and forth through records, as well as the bar below it.

 

To Save Data

• AcuBase Pro saves as you go, so there is never any need to click a “save” button.  

To Add Records

• To add a new record, choose the New Record button on any given screen.

 To Delete Records

BE ADVISED!  When you delete a record, you are permanently discarding the data you entered in all the fields in that record!  THERE IS NO WAY TO BRING BACK DELETED RECORDS UNLESS YOU HAVE MADE A BACKUP OF THE FILE.

You may delete any single record by simply clicking on the “Delete” button.  You can also delete a group of records, or all of the records in a file.

To delete a record:

1.    Select the record you want to delete by bringing it into view on your screen.

2.    Click on the Delete Record button.

3.    In the message that appears, click Delete.

To delete a group of records:

1. Perform a Find to select the group of records you would like to delete.

2. Choose Delete All from the Records menu.

3. In the message that appears, click Delete.

To delete a whole line from a list:

If you wish to delete a whole line from any of the lists in the program,:

1. Go to the line you wish to delete, and look for the trash icon (Delete) at the beginning or end of a line to delete that line.

2. In the message that appears, confirm that you wish to Delete.


To Find Records

Finding records, sometimes also called a “query”, is not limited in this system. You can search the contents of any field or related record. The more you practice finding records the more intuitive it will become when you need to perform complex finds. There are three main types of finds using FileMaker Pro; New set, Constrained set, and Extended Set.

To find a record or set of records:

1. Go to the layout you want to use to find records.  

2. Choose the Search button at the top of the screen.

3. You see a blank find request that looks like a record without data.

4. Type values in the appropriate fields.

5. Click the Find button on the left side of your screen.


By searching for data in more than one field you are performing an “AND” search criteria. For example First Name = “John” AND Last Name = “Smith”. This will return only records that have your criteria in both fields.


Special Search Symbols can be used to enhance your search criteria. While in Find mode place your cursor in a field. Then select the Symbols button on the left side of the screen and choose a symbol from the list. For example, to search by a date range enter the starting date, choose “… range”, then enter the ending date (i.e. 12/1/2004…12/31/2004).

A special note on the * operator and finding for dates:  The best and easiest way to find all records for a given month or year is to find with the *.  For instance, if you wish to create a happy birthday letter and find for all people born in the month of September, you would go to Find mode and, in the DOB (Date of Birth) field, put “9/*/*”. 

Find All will show all the records in the table.

Omit will allow you to omit one or more records from the found set. To exclude records from a request, enter the values you want to exclude from within find mode (as if you wanted to find them), and then check the “omit” checkbox on the left side of the screen before clicking on the “Find” button on the left side of the screen. Omitted records are not deleted. They are temporarily removed from the found set.


To create an “OR” search criteria choose Requests>Add New Request to create a second find record. In the first record type “John” in the First Name field. Then navigate to the second record and type “Smith” in the Last Name field. This will find any records that have either John or Smith.

   
Replacing Data in All Records

There may come a time when you wish to change a given field in a part of AcuBase Pro and have that change be identical throughout all of your records.  For instance, you may wish to change all patients from one provider to another.  To do this,

1. Do a find for all of the records for which you wish to replace the data in a given field.  In the example above, you may wish to find all patients who have “Dr. X” as their provider.

2. Go to the field you wish to replace the data in, and replace the data that is already in there with the changed data.  In the example, we would change one of the patient records’ provider from the old, “Dr. X,” to the new data, “Dr. Y.”

3. Once the data is changed, make sure your cursor is still in the field you wanted changed, and go to the Records menu, Replace Field Contents.  You may also hold down the “Cntrl” and “=” keys (the Cntrl key and the “equals” key on your keyboard. Mac users, “Command/Apple” and “=”.)  You will see a dialog box that asks you if you would like to change the data in all of the other current records to match the data in this record.  Choose “Yes” and you have done it.

Note that, once the change has been made, it is immediately saved and cannot be undone unless you go through the same process again (re-replacing the data with your pre-existing data for that field), or recover from your last good backup.


The “Show All” Button

Once you have completed a Find/Search, you are left with only the records in your found set.  In order to bring all of the records back into the database you are looking at, click on the “Show All” button on top of whatever screen you are looking at.


To Change Printer Settings

AcuBase Pro reports are generally set up to print on U.S. standard 8.5" x 11" paper, Avery labels, and #10 envelopes.  To change these settings,

1. Click on the report that you would like to print and view it in “Preview” mode.

2. Go to the “File” menu and select “Print Setup…”

3. Change your page setup to whichever standard you would like to use (different page size, letter size, landscape vs. portrait view, etc.) and click “OK.”

4. View the new settings in “Preview” mode before printing.  NOTE:  If you wish to use a page setup that differs from the AcuBase Pro standard for any given report, you will need to go through these steps each time you print.

Opening New Windows and Multiple Windows

An exciting new aspect of AcuBase Pro is that you can have as many different windows open simultaneously as you like. So, for instance, if you wanted to look at the Calendar, and then look at a patient record without closing the Calendar, you can do that.  If you are looking at a patient record and wish to look at another patient record without losing the first, you can do that as well.  This feature is called New Window, and it is as simple as going to the Window menu, and choosing “New Window”.  A new window will open over whichever one you were already viewing, exactly as you were viewing it.  You may then move to wherever you wish in the program, and can close the current window, or go back to the Window menu and choose the other window you wish to return to. 

Note that the Back / FWD button functionality may be challenged with multiple windows open.


Getting Help

To get help from any screen, simply click on the “?” button at the top-right side of that screen.


Quitting Out of AcuBase Pro

To get out of AcuBase Pro completely from anywhere in the program, simply click on the File menu and select “Exit” or “Quit.”