The past few months, our staff has been futzing with Custom Layouts in our new accounting software. It took longer than expected, but that’s not unusual for software development. The work is almost done.
Last item on the list is breakdown tables. The new software handles them differently, so Custom Layouts does too.
In Goldenseal, many windows have a popup menu on the left with three choices: None, Category, or Item. They let you add an itemized list for estimates, purchases, sales, and other business transactions. Category breakdowns have type-in items, while Item breakdowns show a pop-up list with cost items or assemblies.
That interface has confused many a user. It also was hard to program, because three separate layouts. For example, when you change the popup, data has to jump from one layout to the other. That’s a good place for bugs to lurk.
The new app has just one layout. To itemize, click the Breakdown button: it shows a breakdown table in a separate, pop-up panel. The category/item split is gone: you can enter either into the table.
Last week we got Custom Layouts to edit breakdown tables separately. Double-click on a column to edit the details.
We didn’t want to build all the tables from scratch, so the code reads from the old layouts, then saves the data into text. All that’s left is to read text back.
Meanwhile, TurtleSoft will be moving soon. The are noisy neighbors downstairs, and this building will soon convert from offices to apartments anyhow. Programming will still continue, but the pace may be slower at times, during the transition.
Dennis Kolva
Programming Director
TurtleSoft.com
