Finding A Record

Chapter Contents

There are two ways of accessing records and they depend on which menu style your system is configured for.

{Classic}

{New Style}

There are various options for accessing clients on the system.

You can use the first five options in any combinations.

From the Main menu (Classic)

We shall look first at finding clients from the 'Classic' main menu.

Begin by selecting the menu option Find a client. (The number in brackets beside this option is the number of animals on file). You will be prompted with:

Client name or number ...............

Search by number

Search by client name

Search by address line

A list of animals corresponding to the search criteria you have entered is displayed on the screen e.g.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
XYZ Dummy Practice                               Veterinary Main Menu (PVS)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
a  JONES,MR T                     Fido                                    523
b  JONES,MRS                      Franny       58 Algers Road            1453
c  JONES, MRS                     Fred         197 Brocket Way           1876
d  JONES,MRS                      Fred         58 Derby Road             2542
e  JONES,MRS                      Floyd        39 Wellfields             4123
f  JONES, MRS                     Fluff        64 Caneland Court         6106
g  JONES,MRS                      Flossie      25 Beresford Drive       12177
h  JONES, MRS                     Fluffy       2 Knighton Lane          13680
i  JONES, MR                      Feathers     13 Mulberry Way          27199









---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Client number or <Return> for menu .....
     No more matches, Return for the main menu or select the one you want.

The 'Find a Client' and 'Add a Client' option are combined on the new style menus. In addition, all the search options are displayed on one screen making it easier for new users to see what the options are.

When selected you will see a screen similar to:

      ------------- Search Details -------------------
      Record no.  :            Client name :
      Start no.   :  1         Animal name :
      List matches:  Yes No    Address     :
      Sounds like :  Yes No    Identi Chip :
      Contains    :
      -------------------------------------------------

Once you have made a selection, the system will display all matches on the screen and you can scroll up/down using the arrow keys to select the client/animal you require.

If the client is un-known or not shown pressing <ESC> will give you the option to add them to the system.

Using the same options as above (Classic menu) the results will resemble:

                   PREMVET 5 MULTI USER SYSTEM Version 2.190
Date : 27.09.2000            XYZ Dummy Practice                       User: PVS
                              Client search (PVS)

Client name : JON                      Start no.   : 1
Address     :                          List matches: Y
Animal name : F                        Sounds like : N
Chip Number :
Contains    :
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
a jones,mr T                                      Fido                   523
b Jones,Mrs               58 Algers Road          Franny                 1453
c Jones, Mrs              197 Brocket Way         Fred                   1876
d Jones,Mrs               58 Derby Road           Fred                   2542
e Jones,Mrs               39 Wellfields           Floyd                  4123
f Jones, Mrs              64 Caneland Court       Fluff                  6106
g Jones,Mrs               25 Beresford Drive      Flossie                12177
h Jones, Mrs              2 Knighton Lane         Fluffy                 13680
i Jones, Mr               13 Mulberry Way         Feathers               27199


				  ---------------------------------
Please select or <ESC> to add.

Select the required record with the arrow key or press ESC to add a new record.

When the system is searching for clients it will compare the amount of information entered with the start of the corresponding item on file. This means that if you are unsure of the spelling of a name you just need to enter the minimum amount of data, e.g. entering JO at client name question will list Jones, Jolly, Johnstone etc.

The search is completely case insensitive, so it doesn't matter whether you are in upper or lower case when entering the details.

Depending on the multiple animal settings animals for the same client may be suppressed from the screen.

The following table should illustrate the methods looked at so far:

(Note: BLANK indicates that nothing was entered and the RETURN key was pressed).

Client Name	Animal/Address	Result
Note: {C} = Classic, {N} = New Style, {B} Both
a) Melvin	{B}Animal BLANK	All clients matching 'MELVIN'.
b) Melv	{B}Animal Fifi	All clients matching 'MELV' with an animal matching FIFI.
c) BLANK	{B} Animal Rodger	All animals matching 'RODGER'.
d) BLANK	{C}Animal :HAWTHORN {N}Animal BLANK {N}Address HAWTHORN	All clients with HAWTHORN as the first part of their address.
e) SMITH	{C}Animal :HILL {N}Address HILL	All client's matching 'SMITH' with'HILL' as the start of the address.
f) jones	{C}Animal Fido:high {N}Animal Fido {N}Address High	All the JONES's living in HIGH something with a pet matching FIDO.

Locked Records

The list can be by-passed by using an invisible option on either style of menu. Invisible options are options that do not appear on the menu. In this case the function is accessed by entering the slash character (/).

With the 'New Style' menu the / causes the normal selection screen to appear but the option ' List matches: Yes No', set this to No.

Once the search details have been entered, instead of the list being displayed you will be taken to the first record card matching the information entered. You can then use the management prompt option 'Next' to step through the rest of the matching records one at a time until you reach the record required.

Search for record details

It is called a 'crude' search as it does not differentiate between the fields the text appears in. For example if a client lives in Felistock and you search for fel then Feline, Felistock, Felsmoor, and Topfel will all be found.

The search is initiated by

Note: It is not advisable to do a crude search for 1 or 2 characters as the number of possible matching combinations would be quite large.

Search by sound match

Finding clients from a Management Record Card

Goto

Client name or number ......

Next

bacK

Hiding multiple animals for the same owner

{Classic} Gen Apps -> Params -> Fields -> Options -> More -> 15
{New Style} System -> Setup -> Params -> Fields -> Options -> More -> 15

to yes. The animal name displayed will be set to 'et al.'

This does not apply to a search including an animal name.