Understanding standard operations on forms

Standard operations are available to users as commands on the “Actions” menu. Options for standard operations appear also on the form's shortcut menu and (in some cases) can be run from the toolbar.

Standard operations execute on either a collection or a subcollection. (The Save and Save Current operations are exceptions. They update changed data in both a collection and in any associated subcollections). The user sets the focus on a collection or a subcollection before executing a standard operation.

You can specify which standard operations are available to the user for each collection or subcollection on a form. Specifying a standard operation displays its associated commands on the “Actions” menu, on the form's shortcut menu, and (if applicable) on the toolbar.

This table lists the standard operations that can be enabled or disabled on a form-by-form basis.

Standard Operation	Description
Navigate	The user may navigate to the first, next, previous, and last items in the queried collection. Activates these “Actions” menu commands: “First”, “Last”, “Next”, “Previous”.
Refresh	The user may requery data into the form. Activates these “Actions” menu commands: “Refresh”, “Refresh Current”.
Filter	The user may specify filter criteria for the data queried into the form. This operation includes both the Filter-in-Place functionality and access to a query form if it is defined. Activates these “Actions” > “Filter” menu commands: “By Query”, “Begin in Place”, “Execute in Place”, “Cancel in Place”, “Clear in Place”, “Apply Saved Filter”.
New/Copy	The user may create a new item in the collection. Activates these “Actions” menu commands: “New”, “Copy”.
Save	The user may save changes made to items in the collection. Activates these “Actions” menu commands: “Save”, “Save Current”, “Validate”.
Delete	The user may delete items in the collection. Activates this “Actions” menu command: “Delete”.
Notes	The form supports notes functionality. Activates these “Actions” menu commands: “Notes for All”, “Notes for Current”.
Graph	The user may generate an ad hoc graph of the data in the queried collection. Activates this “Actions” menu command: “Graph”.
Spreadsheet Disabled	Controls whether the user can export the contents of the current collection to Microsoft Excel. Applies only to collections, not to subcollections. Activates this “Actions” menu command: “To Excel”.