Understanding the control desk entry point

A control desk extracts data that meets any selection criteria required, and displays this data on the control desk output form. It displays the data at the level of detail or summary determined by the filter.

This means there are three stages in the use of a control desk, not all of which may be required:

  1. Identify the control desk requirements which are the filter, which determines the selection criteria form, and the output display form.
  2. Enter the run-time selection criteria to determine which data is required, if necessary.
  3. Display the extracted data.

You can access a control desk at any of these three stages. The stage at which you enter a control desk is determined by whether the control desk has been added to the SunSystems menu using User Group Menu Designer, and if so how many of these control desk parameters are supplied.

Depending on the parameters supplied you can enter a control desk at the following entry points:

  • If no parameters are supplied, you can enter at the Control Desk Filter Selection form, which is stage 1 above. At this first form you must select the filter and form to be used by the control desk. This method of entry allows you to run any control desk, regardless of whether or not it has been defined as SunSystems menu entry.
  • If the filter ID and form details are supplied in the SunSystems menu entry, the run-time selection parameters form for the filter appears, if the filter requires run-time parameters. This is stage 2 above. An example of this method of entry is Journal Inquiry where the inquiry selection form appears.
  • If the filter ID and run-time parameters are supplied in the SunSystems menu entry, the display form for the control desk appears displaying the extracted data. This is stage 3 above. An example of this method of entry is Ledger Import which automatically selects the required data.