Metacharacters

We've just seen how automatic pricing can be used to enter work easily and quickly onto a client's record card. Automatic pricing (AP) is obviously a valuable time-saver. Therefore you'll be pleased to learn that you can extend the usefulness, power and flexibility of AP dramatically with "METACHARACTERS".

Metacharacters are additional characters that can be included with the AP code to alter the way it is handled. For example, you can discount the price, generate a label, add comments, alter recall fields and so on, with a single keystroke for each function.

The list below summarises the available metacharacters.

Metacharacter Description

As you can see there are a wide range of metacharacters, and the list may seem a little daunting at first. We shall explain each one in the following paragraphs. Don't worry if the use of some of the metacharacters is not immediately obvious. As you learn more about Premvet 5 in following chapters the true value of the metacharacters will become clearer. In the meantime, approach the following definitions as a reference guide you will want to dip back into as you become a more confident user.

Using Metacharacters

Definitions

$ Free of charge

There is no charge for this code. However, the destocking and times used fields will be updated.
e.g. EUTH $ (euthanasia, no charge)

# Credit a transaction

If a client returns goods or an error is made while adding the codes the hash symbol is used to credit the account. If the code relates to stock items then they will also be restocked and the appropriate times used field is decreased.
e.g. # 12 ACP (Credit 12 ACP tablets)

+,- Surcharge/discount price

Add a surcharge (+) to the normal price, or subtract a discount (-) for this procedure. You should follow the meta-character with the percentage amount.
e.g.
VC 20 +10 (Visit 20 cows and add 10% to price)
VC 25 -5 (Visit 25 cows and discount price by 5%)

You can also use any Dispensing Codes that are set up in place of the amount.
e.g. If 'V' was set up as 'On Farm' and a value of 5.00
vc 25 +V would be 'On Farm Visit 25 cows' and add 5% to the price

The - option (discount) will also work with the dispensing codes. In both cases, any text associated with a letter will prefix the AP text.

~ Dispensing fees

This is used either to enter a price manually, or in the case of a stock item, add a fee onto the stock item. This meta-character CANNOT be used as the first character of the line.
e.g. ACP ~.5 - This will price ACP normally and add 50 pence onto it. The total will appear in the drug column.
e.g. LF ~8.5 - If the code 'LF' if set up for lab fees and the price is set to 0 this will display 'Lab Fees' and price it at 8.50 in the fees column.

You can get the system to treat the amount as fees, there is a setting in [Customisation] to change it.

This meta-character is usually used along with a letter in the range (A-Z) which has been set up from an option within the main automatic pricing module. This will add a preset amount and include predefined text as required.
e.g. 5 ACP ~D - 'D' could be set to add 50 pence and prefix the text with the word 'Dispense'.

Normally you would add any dispensing codes to the stock card, which will automatically handle this for you.

Note: Crediting Disp Fees

If a stock item has a dispensing fee included, this will NOT credited back to the client if the drugs are returned (via the '#'). You can alter this behavior via the setting:

Menu -> General -> Params -> Fields -> Options -> More -> 19

If set to YES then any dispensing fee will be credited.

Note: Do not use a tilde (~) as the first character of the line as this may be mistaken for a System Macro.

| Change analysis codes

The analysis code can be overwritten by using the '|' key. This could be useful if, for example, all insurance work is entered under code 100. You can then take the standard keyword and add '|100' after it; this will use the pricing details but change the analysis code to 100.

\ Drug Units

Using the \ you can specify the units the drug was dispensed in.
e.g. 10\mls ACP - 10 mls ACP. Note: Do NOT leave a space between the '\' and mls.

/ Search by description

Enter as the first character of the line a slash (/) followed by either part of the code or description and you will be given a list of all matching codes.

? Query any codes to this line

If a ? is entered as the first character on the line you are able to list all the automatic pricing codes and stock codes currently set up. You are prompted for procedures, stock items or both. These codes will be displayed using the full screen and show the VAT inclusive and exclusive prices. Once the listing has finished the previous details will be redisplayed. If you follow the ? with, for example, an 'a', all codes starting with an 'a' will be displayed and the prompt to select which ones to list will be by-passed.

You cannot enter the ? elsewhere on the line, as this functionality is reserved for macros and related to the {} brackets described below. See the section on Macros for further information.

If you are just checking a price, you can use the Stand Alone utility pvprice to check both AP and stock prices from any menu.

{ } Translation

These characters are generally used when setting up macros. You can use the {} brackets when you want to prompt a user for a keyboard entry. Refer to the explaination in the macro section for details.

[ Absolute amount

This is used to override the standard price of an item.
e.g. VC [5.95 - Visit cow and charge 5.95 for it.

It is also possible to specify '[0' meaning charge 0.00.

While aimed at altering the price there is no reason why you cannot have a zero priced procedure and use this ([) meta-character to price it manually.
e.g. DM [20 - De-Mat cat and charge 20.00

] Dump to condensed

Another copy of this transaction is put into the condensed history page.

_ Absolute discount

The underscore '_' is used to enter a discount as an absolute amount rather than as a percentage.

The underscore can also be used with a dispensing letter and in this case the dispensing text will suffix the code. For example, 'O' could be set to 'OAP discount':
e.g. ED _O (Examine dog OAP discount)

* Generate a drug label

If this is entered with a stock item, a label is printed for this client/animal with the drug details. Normally, the stock card will be flagged to do this for you automatically.

To generate multiple labels you can specify the number following the asterisk
e.g. to print 3 labels you would enter *3.

Note: You can use '*0' to suppress the automatic generation of a label, if this has been setup on the stock card.

You can get the system to add an 'Dispencing Fee' to cover the costs of the label and container etc. This is set in the general parameters section and will be added either to fees or drugs based on Options -> More -> 5.

To override/add warning messages the following codes need to be used.
(For some of these we would recommend macros should be used as they can get a bit complicated.)

*w - If warning default is NO then this will override it.
*w<number> - Warning message <number> is added.
*d<number> - Dose message <number> is used.
*<number> - Print <number> of labels.
*1<number> - Override the label to append and use <number> instead.

You can use any number of these options but if multiple options are used each must be prefixed with an '*'. In addition a space MUST follow the option. e.g. To print 5 labels, add warning message 20 and append label 12 you would enter:

CODE *5 *w20 *l12

` Precede text

The backward apostrophe (or grave sign) (`) may be used to enter a comment which will PRECEDE the description for the procedure or stock item selected. Preceding comments should still be specified after the code and other parameters on entry. Everything after the (`) is ignored for processing purposes and appear as part of the comment.

This command should NOT be used with macros or with dispensing codes (~ etc. plus a letter), or with standard comments and the (') apostrophe.

' Append a comment to the text

When the system detects an apostrophe on the line all the text to the right of the apostrophe is added into the transaction even if this contains punctuation which would otherwise be treated as a metacharacter.
e.g. VC 20 'This was hard work!, would show on the record as Visit 20 cows This was hard work!

Comments entered via AP can be in two forms:

	   code ' comment
	   ' comment
	   

The system will treat the ' comment version in two ways depending on a setting in Parameters
(Gen apps -> Params -> Fields -> Options) :

If Option '18 AP ' = 232' is set to YES then the system will tag all AP ' comment lines with Ana Code 232 - very inflexible.

If Option '18 AP ' =232' is set to NO then it will be treated the same as it would a text entry and allocate the Text analysis code (if ask for code is on - code 250 will be used).

This is to enable the extended comments relating to discounts, Batch numbers and dose details to be shown on bills so the client is kept informed.

Note: Remember by using an AP macro (set just as ') you can alter the analysis code so work can/cannot be included on bills which is a lot easier than remembering to add an ! at the beginning of each line.

If an apostrophe is entered as the first character of the line this is taken as a comment line only and will not be priced.

% User defined file

The per cent symbol (%) is used to access up to 26 user defined files, if they have been set up. The syntax is '%' 'A-Z' 'Number' e.g. %A123 will use description 123 in file 'A'. No financial amounts are associated with user-defined entries, so they are best used for clinical signs etc.

The text will be checked for && and FHT. These work in a similar manner to dose abreviations, that is && will ask you to enter 5 characters of text, and FHT will use the rest of the line for Freehand Text. for example, on your GA Ap code you could add %a101 which may expand to:

Induced with && mls of thio or Induced with && mls of FHT

^,= Recall type and interval, or status/sex and new value

This indicates an Extended Meta-Character and are used to vary the recall, status, sex or weight information on the animal's management record.

@ Mileage factor or weight

Mileage

Base the price on the mileage field in the client's record, using the mileage look-up table (This does not apply to small animal records unless the mileage option is switched on). If it is a small animal record and the mileage option is not switched on, then this is based on the weight.

The mileage look-up table contains a multiplication factor for each mileage, 0-99 miles. This is used for visit charges and the like.

e.g. VIS@ (Visit the client and base the charge on the mileage)

For example, if the visit fee for 4-5 miles is 9.00 and the fee for 6- 8 miles is 10.00, then you should do the following:

Set the fee for code 'VIS' in automatic pricing to 1.00. This represents the financial amount to be charged, which is then multiplied by the factor in the mileage lookup table.

Set the mileage factor in the mileage lookup table for 4 and 5 miles to a factor of 9, and for 6, 7, and 8 miles to a factor of 10.

So in this example, if you enter the code VIS@ for a client who has a mileage of 7 in there mileage field, the program looks up the mileage table and finds that this corresponds to a factor of 10. It then multiplies this factor of ten by the price found in the automatic pricing card for the code VIS, thus charging 10.00 for a visit of 7 miles, as if the code VIS 10 had been entered instead.

Note: You will not want the multiplication factor to appear for automatically priced lines which use the @ metacharacter, so make sure that the automatic pricing card for the item concerned has the multiplication factor set to 'Suppress' rather than 'Display'.

Weight

This works by using the animal weight as the multiplier. For example where the weight field is 5 kgs, CAST@ is translated to 5 CAST. If the weight is 20 kgs, this will be translated to 20 CAST. By setting the price bands as appropriate varying charges can be made. However, times used will reflect the multiplier, i.e. kgs, not times used.

Note: If you are using mileage on small animal records then this does not apply.

" Highlight or change colour

The quotes (") on their own will highlight the line, if followed by a number then that colour will be used as the highlight colour.

:,; Separate procedures

You can type in more than one procedure on the same line as long as they are separated by : or ;.

The difference between the two is that ; uses the multiplication factor from the previous procedure in the line, while : resets it unless another multiplication factor is explicitly given, e.g.
VC 20;PD (Visit and PD 20 cows)
VC 20:PD (Visit 20 cows, PD 1)

! Don't destock

This can be used if for some reason the procedure can be performed without need to destock the accompanying stock item(s), e.g. perhaps some left from previous procedure. When used with a numeric argument it also operates as a multiplication factor for pricing.

<,> Separate multiplication factors for pricing/destocking

Use these if there is a different multiplication factor for charging from the destocking multiplication factor. e.g.

EXP <1 >2 (charge for 1 Expirol, but destock 2 - one broke?)
PEN >0 <0 * (Print a drug label for penicillin, don't charge or destock - the label jammed)

In addition to the metacharacters you can include some 'codes' on the actual AP text line. These will be checked for and translated as required:

&& Name of the animal

The && will be replace with the animal name. This make the clinical records (and bills) a little more 'animal friendly' e.g.

 && post dental check
 Cremation of &&
 Fee to spay &&

&$ Time of transaction

The &$ will be replace with the time the transaction was entered. e.g.

 Blood Glucose as at (&$) # units 
 Blood Glucose # units as at &$
 Telephoned at &$ no answer

&@ Age of the animal

There may be times where you wish to see how old the animal was when a specific procedure took place e.g. 1st Vaccination. Rather then having to work back from the transaction date if you add &@ to the procedure description it will be translated into the age and included e.g.

       Vaccination 1st  (&@)   will appear as
       Vaccination 1st  (10w)  if the animal is 10 weeks old.
	   

Weight Lines - You can include the age of the animal at the time it was weighed by adding (&@) to your weight AP code. Note: You MUST enclose the age in brackets () if you want the weight graphs to function correctly.

&# Counter

In some cases you may wish to allocate a unique reference number on the clinical line. If you include &# in an Auto Pricing procedure line e.g.

Blood sample taken Ref: &# 

then the &# will be replaced by a sequential number.

&mins Base price on time spent

This is covered later.