Navigating within Lawson Applications

There are two main ways to navigate within a Lawson application: list-based or form-based. By default, form-based navigation is used. You can change the method of navigation through User Options.

List-based Navigation

In the list-based method, records are listed in key order and you can select records for a key field from a list. After you select all the keys, the form is displayed. For inquiries, this is often the fastest way to locate data. To access these views, use the Data View drop-down on the form toolbar.

To set a default view, see the information about Default Token View in Setting General User Options.

List View
List view records are displayed in a table format, where the most important fields as defined by the application are shown. You can Inquire on a record in these ways:

  • When List View is editable, you can click the icon in the Inquire column to select a record.

  • When List View is view-only, you can double-click a row in the list or click the arrow in the Select column to select a record.
List Mode List Mode is an inquiry wizard that walks you through required values to locate the record you want to work with.

List View Editing

You can modify multiple Lawson application records in one transaction by changing cells in the list of records, selecting the records that you would like to change, and selecting to either Change, Delete, Revert Rows, or Select All Dirty Rows from the Actions toolbar menu. You can only change cells in editable columns, signified by a pencil icon on the column header.

You can edit records up to the maximum allowable number of edits per transaction, which is set by the User Option Maximum List View edits.

List View Customization

You can create and save Custom List Views and use them to fully customize tables, as well as the visible columns, the order of columns, the width of the columns, and the filter that is currently applied to the columns.

The custom views are identifiable by name. You can switch to different views and save a custom view for future use. You can also delete saved custom views in Manage Views.

These custom views are only scoped within the form they were created in. For example, if you created a custom view in PO20, that view is not available in GL40. The custom view also persists even when switching forms or closing Lawson Portal. The only way to return to the default view is to do it manually by accessing the Custom View toolbar and selecting Default View.

List view sharing

In Share view with others, you can send any of your custom views to other users by selecting a user and the custom views that you would like to share with them. You can also change the view names for the recipient of your custom views, but this does not change the names of your saved custom views.

Meanwhile in Import views shared with you, you can view and select any custom views that were shared with you to save for your own use. You can also modify the shared view names to be shown in your custom views.

Performing a search using field filters

Use the column field filters and the comparison options (equals, contains, less than, greater than, etc) to enter search criteria.

  1. Specify a field value.
  2. Click Filter dropdown.
  3. Select Run Filter.

A loading indicator is displayed while performing a search and the table is updated with the filtered data. When there is no data returned from a filter, the table shows the message “No records meeting criteria”.

Exporting the records on the List View

The records in List View are can be exported as a CSV file.

Clicking the Download CSV button on the toolbar generates a CSV file for the visible columns, including the order of the columns.

Form-based Navigation

Form-based navigation means that when you open an application, you will be on a blank form. You then locate the record you want to inquire on by doing a key field search. Users who do primarily data entry might prefer to use the form-based method.

Searching

Some customers remove the search box for security reasons. If this is the case at your site, this section does not apply to you.

Depending on what categories, if any, your admin has enabled, you can search for resources in these categories:

  • Forms: Application forms available under your current product line
  • Custom Forms: Custom application forms created by your admin available under your current product line
  • Bookmarks: Quick links to resources that your admin has configured
  • Favorites: Quick links to resources that you have configured in User Options
  • Custom Pages: Pages created by your admin
  • Utilities: Pages deployed with Infor Lawson Portal

Click the search icon to select the categories you would like to search. These selected categories are saved between sessions for that browser. Specify what you want to search for (a token, program name, page name, etc.) into the search bar and press Enter or click the Go button. If a single result is found, it automatically loads that page, else a dialog is displayed with all the found results. Click a category to expand it and click a result to load that page.

Note: Depending on network latency and amount of resources, some categories may still be loading data when the dialog displays, but this does not prevent you from choosing other loaded resources.