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Read219c Premvet 5 (Version 2.19.01) - Changes February/March 2000

New Menu Style

A new menu style has been introduced to make it easier for you to access options. There are no new options, rather the existing options have been grouped and will call the appropriate option on the 'Classic' menu.

This style can be set on a 'per screen', 'per user' or systemwide basis and will co-exist with the original 'Classic' style.

(Note: Unix only - So you can see what the menus look like the installation program will have setup the following virtual screens on the console:

<ALT><F9> New Menu - Megavet Colours (18 / 2 )
<ALT><F10> New Menu - Black Background (20 / 3 )
<ALT><F11> Classic - Black Background (20 / 1 )
<ALT><F12> Classic - Blue Background (19 / 0 )

(DOS Users: You will need to change one line in the startup program. Right Click the Desktop Icon for Premvet 5 - Look at the 'Program' tag and then at the name of the program. Load the xxx.bat file into notepad and locate the line:

set dev_line= ............ This can be in two forms: 

             %1  %1  10 %2   1 1 %5 %3            or
             pc1 pc1 10 AAAW 1 1    Location

In either case, change the terminal type (10) to 21 and the tombstone location to 2 e.g. 

             %1  %1  21 %2   1 2 %5 %3            or
             pc1 pc1 21 AAAW 1 2    Location
                       ^^        ^

Save and start up the vet system. )

Have a look, and you can customise one of these settings as required for your own screens).

The menus are shown below: 


        --- Main Menu ---
      Client/Animal Details 
      Diary and Waiting Room
      Fee & Stock Management
      Reports and Lists     
      Accounts and Recalls 
      Misc Utilities      
      System Management   
      Help                
      Exit from system     


           --- Diary & Waiting Room ---
           Operations List          
           Make/Book an appointment 
           Kennel Space            
           Waiting room summary   
           Current Waiting room  
           To Pay List          
           Forward waiting room


           --- Pricing ---
           Stock Control    
           Automatic Pricing
           Utilities        
           Label Generation 


           --- Reports ---
           Report Generator   
           Debtor List        
           End of Day/Month   
           Mail merge         
           Financial Reports  
           General Listing    
           Windows Export Files
           Spooler          


            --- Invoicing and Recalls --
           Invoice Production   
           Fee Notes            
           Billing Utilities   
           Generate recalls   
           Overdue Recalls   
           Recall Utilities   


            --- Utilities ---
           Laboratory Work    
           Search for ...     
           Address Book       
           Telephone List     
           Configure Clinical Report
           Text Editor(s)         
           Statistics            
           Written Directives    


           --- Sys Admin ---
           Users/Macros/Messages 
           Remove Record Locks   
           Setup/Validation/Change
           Other Applications 
           Cross Updating   


            --- Help/Henston ---
           Henston Vade Mecum (93) 
           Release notes          
           The Manual            
           LifeLearn           
           Your Web Site

This style is switched on in two ways:

Colours

The new menu style will use additional colour events and these are:

Menu (1) is the top level menu when 'New Menus' are switched on Menu (2) is one lever down with Menu (3) being all others.

140 - 142,149 Menu Bar (The top line of the screen)
150 - 152,159 Background Colour
160 - 162,169 The Selection character of that item
170 - 172,169 The highlite bar

190 Reverse
195 Option Where ever there is a list of options displayed the text will be in this colour
196 Heading If not already allocated a colour event then table heading will be in this colour.
197 Text/Cash The colour of any 'text' boxes and the cash box
198 Warning Any warning boxes e.g. Not seen for xxx weeks
199 MR The Management fields on animal/farm records

Setting the 'terminal type' to 18 will emulate the megavet colour scheme and top menu bar. You can tailor the colours to your specific needs.

New Style Menu - Find a Client

Also included with the new style menus the 'Find/Add a client' option has been changed. When selected the screen will display: 

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

These are the same options as you get on the 'Classic' menu prompt lines but expanded to make it easier to see what you are entering.

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.

Tombstone Selection

With both menu styles the tombstone selection has been changed to use the arrow keys to select the animal required.

You have two options as to how the tombstone is displayed based on the setting:

Gen Apps -> Params -> Fields & Defaults -> Options -> More -> 20

If option 20 is set to 'Tombstone Alphabetical = yes' then the list of displayed animals will be sorted by the following criteria:

Balance outstanding
Record type (FC, EQ then SA)
Animal/Farm name

Otherwise the records will be displayed in the order they are related.

Additionally, the line will show on the left of the name:

+ The Master record
- The Last record in the chain
* The animal is dead (these can be suppressed if required)

Editing the Management Record

When making changes or adding a new client the questions asked were always displayed along the bottom of the screen. Now the prompt line will appear beside the field you are changing.

Editing can be done in two ways:

These methods are set on a per-user basis via access permission 113 (the default will be classic style).

To speed up the editing:

There are some fields you will not normally need to edit e.g. Fees/Drugs/Last Paid Date etc. Access to these options are set on a per-user basis via access permission 112.

To help with some of the fields with options, at present, Discount and Client Type - if they are left blank additional help will be provided.

If you make changes to the 'Master' record you will be prompted if you want to update all related records as well. The fields that will be updated are:

Name, address lines, Telephone Number, E-Mail address, Referred by and preferred Vet.

These can also be updated for all records via the Tombstone option 'Set'.

The option:

Gen Apps -> Params -> Fields & Defaults -> Options -> More -> 18

Controls the default, if set to Yes then the default will be NOT to update all records and if the tombstone 'Set' option is used you will be asked to confirm the update. Otherwise the default will be yes and tombstone 'Set' will not prompt you.

If you are making changes to the status code for related animals you may find the new 'invisible' tombstone option 'G'lobal of help. This will apply changes to the status code across all the related animals.

You should specify a + to add to all records and a - to remove from all records. For example is you were setting a client as a bad debt then:

The master and all related cards will have the BD status code added. To remove the BD status enter -BD.

Show animal age on clinical line

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.

Email - Unix only

  • Field on Man Record

    • On the management card (Additional screen) there is a new field for the E-mail address for the client. This should be the full e-mail address of the client.

    Sending E-Mail

    Options have been added to facilitate sending e-mail

    Management - Additional - Referred By/Preferred Vet/Loyalty

    Three new fields have been added to the 'Additional' screen on the management record. These are:

    Referred by A look up table to allow you to record how the client was referred, this could be: yellow pages, web site, local paper, another practice. The options are set via Gen Apps -> Parameters -> Lookup.

    Preferred Vet Which member of staff does the client prefer.

    Loyalty Multiplier This option is tied into the loyalty scheme and is used to specify if the client is on the scheme and if so how good a client are they. The system will multiply the loyalty points awarded by this figure to determine the total points.

    The default will be Zero i.e. no loyalty points.

    Stock batch number expiry report

    The report: Stock Control -> Reports -> Batch number

    Can be used to list all items with a batch number and include the expiry date. You have to option to restrict the report to items that are due to expire in the the next XX days.

    If the number of days is set to zero then all items with a batch number will be printed.

    Laboratory Results - Adult/Normal/Juvenile

    As the normal ranges for lab tests vary with age the system will switch the lab file used based on the age of the animal. The species file will have a letter appended:

    'species'+g Geriatric (animals > 7 years old)
    'species'+j Juvenile (Animals < 2 years old)

    So if the animal (a dog) is 8 years old the lab file canineg will be used automatically.

    Tip: To save entering all the tests again when creating the file:

    VAT Breakdown

    Additional VAT breakdown details are shown on:

  • Invoices

    Set option 13 on the invoice selection screen to show the VAT breakdown on the bottom of the Invoice. The selection is done by entering one or more of the following:

    R include remittance slips
    V include the VAT breakdown
    A include the aged figures

    e.g. to include both remittance and aged enter RA

  • Bad Debt program

    The system will 'pay off' the oldest debts and give a VAT breakdown of the remaining up-paid work. This will totaled on the summary page so you can account for the VAT content.

    • Colour Printers (Deskjet 690)

    Support has been added for the Deskjet 690 to allow colour to be printed. The reserved words are:

    If you wish to use these you will need to select then 'N'ew option for the printer concerned and pick the model 'Deskjet 690'.

    Definition File - billhead.def

    To allow for colour support and customising the top of the stationary the definition file 'billhead.def' if present, will be used.

    As some of the lines may exceed the capacity of the editor you are using to create the definition file lines ending with a back slash (\) will be treated as not complete and the following line will be appended.

    Using PCL Overlays. (Definition files)

    There may be times where you want to add a logo or get the system to generate letterheads. This can be done easily with the .Overlay command which is available within all definition file processing. The format is 

         .Overlay <number>

    This will automatically call the PCL macro <number> and include that with the document you are printing.

    Creating the overlay:

    The above procedure is great for Logo's and letterheads but if you want to print 'one-off' documents (Unix only) then you should use: 

        .Overlay <number> <overlay-file>

    Make sure the <overlay-file> and <number> agrees, it is a good idea to standardise on say 100 for one-off files. This will avoid any conflicts with other permanent overlay's.

    Note: The above examples use the file suffix .prf this is purely to identify the file as a PrinteR Font file you can call them anything.

    Printing Windows PCL files (Definition Files) - Unix only

    Save the document (use the print to file option within the Windows Print Dialogue Box). Copy the file to the text sub-directory on your Unix machine.

    Use .Winfile <name-of-file> this will print the specified file to the currently selected printer e.g. 

           .dp G    
       .Winfile wintest.prn

    Bar Codes and Batch Numbers

    The editing of batch numbers has been made easier on the stock card by means of arrow keys.

    All prompts within the stock control module will accept bar code input.

    When goods are received from the wholesaler you will be prompted for

    The record card will be updated as required. With batch numbers, the system currently stores the last seven used, if there is not free space the 1st one on the list will be removed.

    The option - Stock -> Ordering -> Manual -> Special can be used to quickly run through stock items and update bar/batch details.

    Front-end to the Operating System (Unix only)

    There are more an more application packages getting used on the system and some are obscure that they will not be added to the existing menu system. A new option has been added to the Text Utilities menu called 'O.S. Front end' this is the Unix program 'scosh'. SCO SHell is a powerful front end that allows you to configure the desktop to suit your needs. In addition to the applications it can be used to Edit file, copy and move documents, maintain appointments.

    Print Spooler

    Added to the print spooler prompt line:

    <M>ail it Send the selected report to a mail address - Unix only

    You will be prompted for a subject and address, if either are left blank you will be returned to the menu.

    You have the option to:

    <S>end it Blind send - will send the document as is
    <E>dit it Your mailer will be run with the documented loaded allowing you to edit it.
    <S>end it Send the report to another command

    The selected report will be piped to another application or command. You will be prompted for the command.

    Monthly Figures - Breakdown Fees/Drugs

    Three new graphs have been added to the Monthly/Yearly summary under the Vet Breakdown/Compare option. These are:

    Small Animal Fees/Drugs/Others by User ID
    Farm Animal Fees/Drugs/Others by User ID
    Equine Fees/Drugs/Others by User ID

    Telephone Number Changes

    The 'C'onvert option in the telephone book can be used to get the system to automatically update:

    Management Card
    Telephone List
    Address Book

    with the new telephone number changes being introduced from Autumn 2000. The areas that will be changed are:

    London, Cardiff, Coventry, Portsmouth, Southampton & N Ireland.

    New records added

    The option under statistics that displays the number of new records added to the system has been expanded to include the following:

    Clients The number on new CLIENTS registered
    Small The number of small animal records added
    Farm The number of Farm records added
    Equine The number of equine records added

    Records added via the diary will now be included in these figures.

    Animal Age shown as

    This has been re-worked as follows:

    Age in days up to month/4 weeks
    Age in WEEKS and days up to 16 weeks
    Age in MONTHs and weeks up to a year
    Age in Years / months thereafter

    (A month is 30.4375 days, A year is 365.25 days)

    Attachments

    You can now attach any sort of document to the animal record card. The 'W' option has been expanded to include the type of the document and the appropriate reader/editor will be used to display/view it.

    The supported document types are configured by the practice so you can fine tune the options available to suit your needs and will be explained in the next section.

    When 'W' is pressed the menu will show:

    Document Types

    Documents attached to record cards are give a 'Document Type', this is based on the MIME attachments you may be familiar with if you use E-Mail. Some of the file type are:

    audio/mpg An MPG audio file
    audio/wav A .WAV audio file
    application/msword Microsoft Word Document
    application/msexcel Microsoft Excel
    application/pdf Acrobat PDF file
    text/html HTML Document
    text/plain Vanilla Ascii text
    graphics/view Graphics image

    Up until now the only document type supported has been text/plain which is the documents generated by the vet system and the editors that are included.

    The document type are contained in a text file called 'filecap' in various locations. These files can be customised as required. The format is: 

       application/msword ; \
      "C:\Program Files\MicroSoft Office\Office\word.exe" %s ; \
       test windows
   text/html ; "C:\Program Files\Internet explorer\iexplore.exe" %s ; \
       Description="Hypertext Markup" ; test windows
   text/html ; lynx %s ; Description="Hypertext Markup" 
   text/plain ; C:\Windows\Notepad %s ; Description="Notepad Files" test windows
   text/plain ; ste %s ; Description="Text Files" ; print lp -s -c %s

    There should be an entry for every type you wish to be supported.

    Each 'section' (field) is separated via a semi-colon (;) and lines can be continued if they end with a back slash (\).

    The 1st two fields are mandatory and they should be:

    Looking at the application/msword entry above the type is 'application' + 'msword' the command is the Windows location for word. The %s is used to indicate where the filename should appear, if not present the filename will be appended to the command line.

    The other fields can appear in any order:

    Edit/Add entries as required, there is no hard and fast rule for naming file types, you could have vet/legal if you want. As long as there is a corresponding command in filecap so the system knows what to do with it.

    To allow you to automatically adjust the settings for you, your terminal and your location the file 'filecap' is checked for in the following locations:

    Your Home directory e.g. /u/tom/filecap
    Vet System + your name e.g. /u/vetdata/filecap.tom
    Vet System + Terminal e.g. /u/vetdata/filecap.3
    Vet System e.g. /u/vetdata/filecap

    The earlier entries WILL take precedence over the later ones. That is if 'text/plain' is mentioned in both filecap.tom and filecap then the one in filecap.tom will be used, the other ignored.

    Windows Integration and NT

    Windows NT stores some of the common application is a different place to that used by Windows 95/98. You can get round this as follows:

    Filecap and attachments: Setup a new terminal type via (Gen apps -> Params -> Hardware -> Terminal -> Copy) make a note of the terminal number e.g. 14. Now customise filecap.14 to be specific for NT applications.

    CSV/Word/Browser within premvet 5.

    Make a note of the Terminal Name/IP address and create a file in the main vetsystem data directory called 'name.tcf' e.g. ntbox.tcf. Whenever you login on ntbox then those settings will be used.

    What to put in the files?

    Microsoft Word
    Win 95 filecap C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\word.exe
    Win NT filecap C:\MSOffice\Winword\Winword.exe
    Win NT xx.tcf WinWord="C:\MSOffice\Winword\Winword.exe"
    export WinWord
    Microsoft Excel :
    Win 95 filecap C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Excel.exe
    Win NT filecap C:\MSOffice\Excel\Excel.exe
    Win NT xx.tcf MSSpread="C:\MSOffice\Excel\Excel.exe"
    export MSSpread
    Browser :
    Win NT tcf PVBROWSER="C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Iexplore.exe"
    export PVBROWSER

    Batch Numbers and Dunlops - Unix only

    Dunlops will send (via modem) a list of all the products you have reveived with the appropriate batch numbers on request.

    An option has been added

    Stock Ordering menu -> On-Line Services -> Dunlops

    with two options:

    When using the 'request current data' option for the 1st time you should make sure the account details are correct via:

    Stock Parameters -> Lookup Tables -> Supplier -> xx

    You should ensure: the Modem Number is correct Customer Ref contains your account number/name (This can be followed by an optional /number indicating the Delivery - default will be /0). Security ID contains your password.

    Dunlops Unatended operation

    There is also a supplier script (/usr/utilities/dunlops) that you can run manually or out of cron (in the small hours of the morning) to ensure that all updates are picked up. You will need to edit the script (use ste/vi/pico) to customise it for your site. It is recommended you make a copy of the supplied script to save it being overwritten with future upgrades.

    Normally the program will pick up all items since you last generated a request. You can use this option to pick up earlier requests. You should edit the line starting ALL= to the date you require e.g. ALL=12-03-2000 for all orders since 12th March 2000. Remember to set it back to DD-MM-YYYY when finished.

    Misc

    Back to Release Note Index