Contents
- 1 Getting Started
- 2 Mobile App Setup
- 3 The Hotel Minibar Checklist app
- 4 Logging into the office software
- 5 The ginstr lobby
- 6 Changing the password for the main account
- 7 Defining roles
- 8 Creating subaccounts
- 9 Creating workspaces
- 10 Deleting workspaces
- 11 Specifying the content of individual portlets
- 12 Special portlet content
- 13 Changing the size of portlets
- 14 General portlet features
- 15 Calendar portlet
- 16 Reports
- 17 Editing features for tables
- 17.1 Creating a new data set
- 17.2 Editing a data set
- 17.3 Actions
- 17.4 Moving columns
- 17.5 Adjusting the column width
- 17.6 Automatically adjusting the column width
- 17.7 Automatically adjust columns when changing portlet size
- 17.8 Hiding columns
- 17.9 Searching in tables
- 17.10 Sorting tables
- 17.11 Linking tables
- 17.12 Data Recorded by the Hotel Minibar Checklist App
App User Manual Hotel Minibar Checklist |
This manual describes the features of the Hotel Minibar Checklist ginstr app including ginstr web backend integration.
The Hotel Minibar Checklist app allows hotel staff to quickly and easily document the refilling of minibars
Getting Started
- Download ginstr launcher from the Google Play Store. Instructions
- Download the Hotel Minibar Checklist app. Instructions
- Sign up for a ginstr web account. A free trial is available from our website
- Open the app and log in. Instructions
- Create and save a minibar report. Instructions
- Set up a ginstr web workspace. Instructions
- View and edit the data entered from the Hotel Minibar Checklist App. Details
Mobile App Setup
Gmail account
An individual Gmail account is required for each device.
It is essential to ensure that each device is assigned its own unique Gmail account.
The use of the same Gmail account on multiple devices is strongly discouraged. Because of Google's security policies, in the case of a Google software update the device will be blocked meaning that each device would have to be updated manually after every Google update.
App Installation via Google Play
Please search in the Google Play Store on the smartphone/tablet for “ginstr” and install the desired app, Hotel Minibar Checklist.
Direct link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ginstr.hotelMinibar&hl=en
You can also download this app from the Google Play Store with the QR code shown;
Just scan it with the QR code reader on your Android device and follow the instructions.
App Installation through ginstr launcher
The ginstr launcher app can be used to download and launch ginstr apps such as this one.
The ginstr launcher app is available to download here
Once installed, the ginstr launcher app can be opened by pressing the following icon on the launch screen:
Information on how to download and launch the Hotel Minibar Checklist app from inside ginstr launcher can be found here.
The Hotel Minibar Checklist app
Once installed, the Hotel Minibar Checklist app can be opened by tapping the following app icon on the launch screen:
- Note: if the icon shown above is missing from your device's launch screen, use the create iconsbutton on the ginstr launcher login screen to re-generate it.
on the launch screen
Logging In
The first screen which appears after the Hotel Minibar Checklist app is opened is the login screen.
To use this ginstr app a ginstr subscription is required.
- There are two ways to get such a subscription:
- a) buy a subscription in the ginstr app store
- b) sign a contract with ginstr (mainly used by organisations that have a greater number of users)
If the user already has login credentials for this app, they should enter them in the e-mail and password fields to login.
If they do not, there is a “sign up!” link located directly above the e-mail field. This will direct the user to a website giving instructions on how to sign up and get login credentials.
There is a checkbox labelled show password next to the login button.
- When checked, it allows the user to see the password they enter in the password field as plain text.
The settings button in the top right corner of the login screen opens the ginstr launcher settings menu (see here for more information).
- The user can exit the settings menu at any time by pressing the device's back button until they reach the ginstr app screen.
If valid login credentials are entered on the login screen, the app navigates to the first screen of the Hotel Minibar Checklist app.
Hotel Minibar Service
After a successful login, the user can use the form on this screen to create a minibar report.
- room number*
- The user must enter the number of the room where the minibar is located in this field.
- This information is mandatory.
- Quantity Checklist
- There are a number of items listed on this form. Each of these items can be selected by the user, and a number can be assigned to them.
- By default, the number for each item is set to zero.
- Changing the number of any of the items listed is not mandatory, and all of the items can be skipped in appropriate cases.
- comments
- The user can add any additional information in this text field.
- This is not mandatory.
- signature*
- The signature is mandatory for the submission of the form.
- This button opens a new screen containing a signature widget, where the signature can be drawn on the screen and saved.
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- save minibar service
- This button allows the user to save the minibar report.
- If the room number has not been filled in, the room number field will be highlighted with a red symbol and a warning message will appear.
- A warning message will also appear if a signature has not been provided.
- Otherwise, the report should save successfully, and a success message will appear.
- If the report is saved successfully, the information filled into the form on this page will be cleared, and a new report can be made.
Terms
Office software
The term ‘office software’ is used to refer to the web-based evaluation software ginstr web.
ginstr web can be accessed from any Internet-compatible computer, laptop or tablet.
A more precise description of how to access ginstr web can be found here.
Workspaces
The different graphic interfaces in the ginstr web office software are referred to as ‘workspaces’.
Up to 20 different workspaces can be defined in each user account.
Depending on its design, one workspace can contain between one and four portlets (see here for more details).
A more precise description of how to create workspaces can be found here.
Portlets
The individual windows within a workspace are called ‘portlets’.
A portlet may contain
- a ginstr web table with master data
- a report about the data recorded
- a map to display locations
- a template to edit single records
- a system table
A more precise description of how to specify the content of portlets can be found here.
Logging into the office software
You can log into the office software using the login credentials delivered with the software.
The office software can be accessed at: https://sso.ginstr.com/
Please enter your login credentials in this login screen and click on the
button.
Once successfully logged in you will be forwarded to the ginstr lobby.
The ginstr lobby
Once successfully logged in you will see the lobby menu:
You are now in the lobby.
Depending on the software modules ordered from ginstr, here you will see different buttons that take you to different programs.
Clicking on the ‘ginstr web’ button takes you directly to the interface of the ginstr web office software.
The operation of ginstr web is described in more detail here.
In the top right-hand corner of the lobby you will see your name:
As soon as you hover the mouse over your name, a menu for basic settings for your user account appears:
Changing the password for the main account
Please follow steps 1 to 4 shown below to change the password for the main account immediately after you first log into the lobby.
The password provided during the delivery of the software is not safe because it was sent through e-mail or regular postal service.
Defining roles
Roles are rights groups.
You can create as many roles as you like and allocate a role to different users.
To do this, please click on the ‘roles’ menu item on the left-hand side and select ‘add role’.
Enter a name and brief description for the new role and click on the
button to save:
Now click on the name of this role to specify the authorisations associated with it.
In the column that has just opened, you are given a selection of all the ginstr apps allocated to your user account. Select the desired app here by clicking on its name:
In another column that has just opened, you will now see all the tables allocated to the software.
By clicking on the rights for each table, you can activate them for this role and deactivate them again by clicking on them once more:
The following rights can be assigned to each table:
create
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Once create has been activated for this role, all the users this role is allocated to can enter new data sets in the table but cannot make any changes.
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read
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Once read has been activated for this role, all the users this role is allocated to can view the data in this table but cannot make any changes.
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update
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Once update has been activated for this role, all the users this role is allocated to can edit existing data sets in this table and so overwrite the existing values
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delete
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Once delete has been activated for this role, all the users this role is allocated to can delete existing data sets from this table.
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Furthermore, you can specify per ginstr app and/or per table whether older data should be automatically deleted and if so, after how many days.
Activating this data cleansing is always useful for the following reasons if the old data is no longer required after a set period:
- Many processing stages take longer the more data records are stored in the database
- If the storage space assigned in the ginstr cloud exceeds the agreed data volume, additional monthly fees will be charged to expand the ginstr cloud storage
- It is not possible to show more than 10,000 records on the screen at the same time. If there are more than 10,000 records, only part of the data will be loaded and the user then has to decide what part of the data they want to edit every time, as shown below:
Automatically deleted records cannot be recovered. We therefore recommend that you regularly export older records.
If you have now successfully defined all the roles for your employees, you can proceed with creating the user accounts for them.
Creating subaccounts
For each ginstr customer, there is one main account for the individual who has overall responsibility for this software.
There is also a subaccount for each office employee or field employee. The total number of subaccounts you can create depends on what you have ordered from ginstr.
Now create the subaccounts for each of your office employees and mobile workers.
To do this, go to your user account’s settings and select the ‘subaccounts’ menu item on the left-hand side.
Now please click on ‘add subaccount’ in the second column.
Enter the e-mail address for the subaccount and specify a password:
Select one of the roles defined previously for the subaccount.
Please also activate the application in the ‘applications’ field.
Please ensure that the access status is set to ‘active’.
Save the newly created user subaccount by clicking on the
button.
Repeat this process until you have created all the necessary user subaccounts.
Now you can exit the settings menu with the ‘back to lobby’ button, which you will find at the bottom of the left-hand column.
Creating workspaces
Along the bottom edge of the screen, you will find a row containing all the available workspaces:
Click on the +
to create another workspace.
The following screen opens:
Here you can specify a name for the new workspace and the layout for it.
The name of the workspace subsequently joins the list of workspaces along the bottom edge of the screen.
Once you have made all the desired settings, save the new workspace by clicking on the
button.
Deleting workspaces
If you have made a mistake when creating a new workspace, or if the workspace is no longer required, you can irrevocably delete workspaces simply by clicking on the ×
next to the name in the row for selecting the workspaces:
The data displayed in the workspace is not deleted as a result. It can be displayed again at any time in another workspace.
Specifying the content of individual portlets
Each workspace is made up of between one and four portlets. Portlets are windows in which different information can be displayed.
For the workspace that has just been newly created, you can now define what information is to be displayed in the relevant portlet.
To this end, you are shown in each portlet the following list of available information:
You can filter this selection by entering all or part of the table name in the ‘quick search’ field.
For each portlet, select from the list of available information the information you would like to display or edit in the relevant portlet of the current workspace.
It is useful to group together in the individual workspaces the information that is often needed. This makes later work with the data more effective.
It is also useful to base the name of the relevant workspace on the subsequent activity in this workspace, e.g. ‘Settlement’, ‘Accounting’, ‘Team management’, etc.
Each item of information can be simultaneously displayed in the different portlets, both within the same workspace and within different workspaces. If data in a table is changed, the same data displayed in other portlets is automatically changed as well.
As soon as you have selected the information to be displayed for one portlet, you are shown the column headings and some of the saved data, if available.
Here is an example of a workspace with four portlets, each filled with a table which already contains data:
Special portlet content
In addition to the usual tables, ginstr web also offers the following special content for each portlet:
Editing page for an individual data record
In addition to the option of editing a data record directly in the relevant row of a table, you can also conveniently edit an individual data record from any table in a separate portlet.
To do so, please select ‘edit record details’ for the portlet content of any portlet:
Once the user clicks on a data record of any table in the same workspace, this record’s data is then displayed in the ‘edit record details’ portlet and can be easily edited there.
To edit the data, double-click on the data to be changed. Now the data can be edited as desired.
Data that has been changed is automatically saved as soon as one of the following events occurs:
- the user clicks on another record in a table
- another portlet is activated
- another workspace is activated
- the portlet content is removed
- the user returns to the lobby
At the top of this portlet, there is a button which can assign this portlet to a table in the same workspace. When enabled, no other data from another table will be shown in this portlet, even if the user clicks on a data record in another table.
If multiple portlets in a workspace are open for editing data records, another table for editing data can be assigned to each of these portlets.
Map
A map can be displayed in one or more portlets per workspace. These maps can show different regions and zoom levels in the different portlets.
If one or more of the currently selected table data records in the same workspace has GPS coordinates, these will be automatically shown on all maps in the same workspace when the data record is selected.
geofences
A geofence is a virtual perimeter marked on a map to define a designated area.
Geofences can be utilised with certain ginstr apps where it is useful to recognise when a device enters or leaves a designated area.
- To define a geofence:
- right-click inside a map portlet on ginstr web
- select the add geofence option
- click on 3 or more points on the map to define the geofence boundary
- when the boundary has been sufficiently defined, double-click to complete the geofence
- To rename an existing geofence:
- click on the geofence inside a map portlet on ginstr web
- double-click on the geofence name at the top of the menu which appears
- type a new name for the selected geofence
- To edit an existing geofence boundary:
- click the geofence inside a map portlet on ginstr web
- click on the hand icon at the bottom left of the menu which appears
- click and drag any of the solid white squares to move the boundary points
- click and drag any of the transparent white squares to add a new boundary point between two existing points
- To delete an existing geofence boundary:
- click the geofence inside a map portlet on ginstr web
- click on the delete icon at the bottom right of the menu which appears
System tables
Depending on which features you use in ginstr web, the following tables may appear under the
heading.
- system:automated reports
- shows a list of all automated report jobs.
- Note: this table is not listed unless you have previously used the automated reports feature.
- shows a list of all automated report jobs.
- system:automated reports errors
- contains a list of all automated report executions that failed, along with the associated information detailing why the execution did not work.
- Note: this table is not listed unless you have previously used the automated reports feature.
- contains a list of all automated report executions that failed, along with the associated information detailing why the execution did not work.
- system:data exports
- shows a list of all successful data exports. The table also contains the original data that was exported.
- Note: this table is not listed unless you have previously used the data export feature.
- shows a list of all successful data exports. The table also contains the original data that was exported.
- system:data exports - errors
- contains a list of all data exports that failed, along with the associated information detailing why the export did not work. If the export of individual data records fails, it will display information on why the export failed for each data record.
- Note: this table is not listed unless you have previously used the data export feature.
- contains a list of all data exports that failed, along with the associated information detailing why the export did not work. If the export of individual data records fails, it will display information on why the export failed for each data record.
- system:data imports
- shows a list of all successful data imports. The table also contains the original data that was imported.
- Note: this table is not listed unless you have previously used the data import feature.
- shows a list of all successful data imports. The table also contains the original data that was imported.
- system:data imports - errors
- contains a list of all data imports that failed, along with the associated information detailing why the import did not work. If the import of individual data records fails, it will display information on why the import failed for each data record.
- Note: this table is not listed unless you have previously used the data import feature.
- contains a list of all data imports that failed, along with the associated information detailing why the import did not work. If the import of individual data records fails, it will display information on why the import failed for each data record.
- system:devices
- contains a log of all devices which are online and linked to your
SUPERVISOR
account- Note: this table is not listed unless you are logged in with
SUPERVISOR
access rights
- Note: this table is not listed unless you are logged in with
- contains a log of all devices which are online and linked to your
- system:geofences
- contains a list of all geofences which are currently defined.
- Note: this table is not listed unless you have previously added a geofence in a map portlet.
- contains a list of all geofences which are currently defined.
Creating tables independent of a ginstr app
ginstr customers usually use table templates in conjunction with smartphone apps. However, there is sometimes the need to create additional tables which have little or nothing to do with the ginstr app table templates.
To do this, you can use the ‘add table not belonging to a ginstr app’ portlet content.
The following portlet content is shown after selecting this option:
First, a table name must be entered.
Clicking on one of the +
buttons allows you to add another table column in the relevant place.
After this, the details for the individual table columns must be specified:
- Each column must have a header
- Each column must have a data type:
Further details will be required depending on the selected data type. For example, these are the settings required for a number column:
A table will be created after all of the required information has been entered and the
button has been clicked.
This table can then be immediately populated with data either manually or via a data imports.
All of the table features from ginstr apps are also available for self-generated tables.
Supported datatypes
The following datatypes are supported:
assignment
- Used to display a column from a referenced table (either another self-generated table or another table created using a ginstr app) in the current table.
- This datatype also allows you to assign a column from the current table to be displayed in the referenced table.
- Note: see also
pointer to a column of another table
if the latter aspect is not required
- Note: see also
assignment
datatype optionsdata of referenced table to be shown in this table - table name
- defines name of table which contains column to be referenced
- column name
- defines column in the referenced table which should be shown in this table
data of this table to be shown in the referenced table
- column of this table
- defines column of current table which should be shown in the referenced table defined above
- headline of new column in referenced table
- defines headline to be used for new column (defined by 'column of this table') in the referenced table
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
audio
- Used for storing audio files
audio
datatype optionsFor this datatype no settings options exist
date
- Used for date values (
yyyy-mm-dd
)
date
datatype optionsunique - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have a unique value, i.e. no duplicate entries
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
allow entering date
- date from
- defines earliest allowed date that can be entered into cell
- date to
- defines latest allowed date that can be entered into cell
- preset date
- defines date value which is entered by default when editing cell
- this date is not editable
- if this option is ticked, the value defined as preset date cannot be changed
- default filter
- contains several filter options to restrict which date values are allowed in column
dateTime
- Used for date & time values (
yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss
)
dateTime
datatype optionsunique - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have a unique value, i.e. no duplicate entries
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
allow entering date
- date from
- defines earliest allowed date that can be entered into cell
- date to
- defines latest allowed date that can be entered into cell
allow entering time
- time from
- defines earliest allowed time that can be entered into cell
- time to
- defines latest allowed time that can be entered into cell
- preset date & time
- defines date & time values which is entered by default when editing cell
- date/time is not editable
- if this option is ticked, the value defined as preset date & time cannot be changed
- default filter
- contains several filter options to restrict which date & time values are allowed in column
dateTimeDiff
- Used to display the difference between values from two
dateTime
columns- Note: current table must contain at least two
dateTime
columns before using this datatype
- Note: current table must contain at least two
dateTimeDiff
datatype optionscolumn of start datetime - defines datetime column containing earliest datetime values
- column of end datetime
- defines datetime column containing latest
dateTime
values
document
- Used for storing document files
document
datatype optionsallow uploading of data - enables selection of individual document file formats that are permitted for upload
email
- Used for e-mail addresses
email
datatype optionsunique - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have a unique value, i.e. no duplicate entries
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
- max. number of e-mail addresses allowed
- defines maximum number of e-mail addresses per cell
- default e-mail address
- defines e-mail address which is entered by default when editing cell
GPS
- Used for GPS data
GPS
datatype optionsrequired - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
iBeacon
- Used for Apple iBeacon protocol
iBeacon
datatype optionsunique - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have a unique value, i.e. no duplicate entries
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
listOfDates
- Used when each cell should contain a list of dates
listOfDates
datatype optionsFor this datatype no settings options exist
listOfDateTimes
- Used when each cell should contain a list of dates and times
listOfDateTimes
datatype optionsFor this datatype no settings options exist
listOfTimes
- Used when each cell should contain a list of times
listOfTimes
datatype optionsFor this datatype no settings options exist
number
- Used for number values
number
datatype optionsunique - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have a unique value, i.e. no duplicate entries
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
- decimal places
- defines the number of digits that are displayed after the decimal point
- % (percentage)
- if this option is ticked, column cell format is set to percentage, i.e. 123 is stored as 123%
- not negative
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have a value greater than or equal to 0, i.e. no negative values
- list of allowed values
- defines specific number values allowed in column cells
phoneNumber
- Used for storing phone number values (name + info + phone number)
phoneNumber
datatype optionsunique - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have a unique value, i.e. no duplicate entries
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
picture
- Used for storing image files
picture
datatype optionsallowed types - defines which image file formats are allowed
pointer to a column of another table
- Used to display a column from a referenced table (either another self-generated table or another table created using a ginstr app) in the current table
- Note: see also
assignment
- Note: see also
pointer to a column of another table
datatype optionstable name - defines name of table which contains column to be referenced
- column name
- defines column in the referenced table which should be shown in this table
- filter this table depending on selection of pointed table
- if this option is ticked, current table is filtered based on selection of table defined above
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
signature
- Used for signature captures
signature
datatype optionsFor this datatype no settings options exist
status
- Used for to store whether something is in 1 of 2 states (i.e. TRUE or FALSE, FINISHED or NOT FINISHED, ON or OFF etc.)
status
datatype optionsunique - if this option is ticked, it is possible to store only two records in the table: one that has TRUE status and another that has FALSE status
text
- Used for text entries
text
datatype optionsunique - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have a unique value, i.e. no duplicate entries
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
- max. length
- defines maximum number of characters per cell
- multiline
- if this option is ticked, multiline text is enabled for each column cell
- align text
- defines horizontal alignment of text within column cells
- list of allowed values
- defines specific text values allowed in column cells
time
- Used for time values (
hh:mm:ss
)
time
datatype optionsunique - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have a unique value, i.e. no duplicate entries
- required
- if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
allow entering time
- time from
- defines earliest allowed time that can be entered into cell
- time to
- defines latest allowed time that can be entered into cell
- preset time
- defines time value which is entered by default when editing cell
- the time is not editable
- if this option is ticked, the value defined as preset time cannot be changed
video
- Used for storing video files
video
datatype optionsFor this datatype no settings options exist
weekday
- Used for days of the week (i.e. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
weekday
datatype optionsrequired - if this option is ticked, each cell in table column must have some value, i.e. no empty entries
Changing the size of portlets
Both the vertical separating line and the horizontal separating line between the portlets can be moved with the mouse.
In this way you can adapt the size of the portlets to the relevant content:
General portlet features
Each portlet shows the following icons in top-right corner:
Filtering tables
Each table in each portlet allows you to filter the content to be displayed.
The filter settings can be accessed using the icon in the top right-hand corner of the portlet.
Depending on the data types used in the relevant table, different filter options are displayed in the window that opens once you click on the filter icon:
For tables containing date
& dateTime
datatypes, there will be two calendars in the relevant section of the filter dialog window can be used to define a custom date range.
By entering the earlier date in the left calendar and the later date in the right calendar, the table will be filtered to only show records with a date value between the two specified dates.
There are also the following shortcut options below the calendars which set the calendars to pre-defined date ranges.
- today
- yesterday
- from today
- from tomorrow
- until (and including) today
- until (and including) tomorrow
- last week (Mo-Su) (or Su-Sa depending on applied settings)
- this week (Mo-Su) (or Su-Sa depending on applied settings)
- next week (Mo-Su) (or Su-Sa depending on applied settings)
- last complete month
- current month
- next complete month
- previous quarter (starts on Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1)
- this quarter (starts on Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1)
- next quarter (starts on Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1)
- previous year (Jan-Dec)
- this year (Jan-Dec)
- next year (Jan-Dec)
With the following buttons in the top right-hand corner of the filter window you can adopt the filter settings or clear all of the filters:
- reset to default
- allows resetting the filters to predefined default filter settings; it is not possible to define such default values individually
- clear filters
- clicking on the clear filtersbutton clears all filters including the default filter settings
- clicking on the
- apply
- clicking on the applybutton filters the data sets in the current table by the specifications you defined in the filters
- clicking on the
×
- clicking on the
×
button closes the filter settings popup menu and discards modified but not yet applied filter settings; at any time you can re-open the filter settings popup screen for continuing to edit / apply / discard filter settings
- clicking on the
- clear
- for each individual filter a clearbutton exists which allows you to comfortably remove an individual filter setting
- for each individual filter a
Note:
- If you would like to export only the filtered records from a table with the download data feature, please select the visible rows option to ensure that only the records currently shown on the screen (as a result of the applied filter settings) will be downloaded.
Swap the content of two portlets
The content of two portlets can be swapped with the button.
To swap the content, click on this symbol, press and hold the left mouse button and drag the mouse over the portlet with the content you want to swap with the current portlet content.
Close portlet
In the right-hand corner of the top-most row of a portlet, you can close the current portlet content by clicking on the button to then be able to select new content to be displayed in this portlet.
No data is deleted by closing the portlet’s content. However, the settings for this portlet (column order, reports, etc.) will be lost.
Online help
Clicking on the button brings up a help text that describes frequently used features:
Calendar portlet
The calendar portlet allows the user to view selected records of active (or pinned) ginstr table that has one or multiple columns of datatype date
or dateTime
in predefined ranges.
- A
date
column describes a particular day, e.g.December 24, 2017
- A
dateTime
columns stores a timestamp in addition to the date, e.g.December 24, 2017 23:48:59
Events
Each selected data record will be presented as an event in the calendar portlet.
Each event (selected record) has two fields - Start and End.
The following buttons exist in this calendar widget:
- Month - show events in one-month range
- Week - show events in one-week range
- Day - show events in one-day range
- Work Week - show records in working week range (dependent upon first weekday defined in ginstr web settings)
- Today - switch to current local date (as per user's browser date settings)
- Back - switch to previous Month/Week/Day/Work Week (depending on currently selected view)
- Next - switch to next Month/Week/Day/Work Week (depending on currently selected view)
- Pin this portlet to table - when this option is activated, clicking on a record of another table will NOT show the data of this other table. Instead, the calendar will continue showing the data of the table it is pinned to.
Events presentation
Events can be displayed in two ways:
- 'Month' view:
- Events are shown according to start and end date (timestamp information is ignored if present)
- In 'Month' view, events can be displayed in two ways:
-
- Filled block with colour of selected record (or ginstr blue by default if record has no assigned colour)
- Underlined transparent block with bullet - colour taken from selected record (or ginstr blue by default if record has no assigned colour)
-
- 'Week' / 'Day' / 'Work Week' view:
dateTime
datatype:
- events are placed according to its Start and End date and times
date
datatype:
- events are shown in 'all day' section of the calendar portlet
dateTime
datatype with only 1 column:
- events are shown according to start date and time with minimum height (one line of text)
- events that are longer than one day are shown in the ‘all day’ section of the calendar portlet
Depending on the number and sequence of ‘date’ and/or ‘date & time’ columns, events are presented in different ways. This order can be changed by dragging & dropping column headers in the table into the desired order.
- Examples:
- 1 column with
date
datatype containingDecember 24, 2017
:
- in this case the event lasts from
December 24, 2017 00:00:00
untilDecember 24, 2017 23:59:59
- 1 column with
dateTime
datatype containingDecember 24, 2017, 10:20:30
:
- in this case the event does not have a duration, so the column value is taken from the start time and the event occupying the least height (one line of text) for Week/Day/Work Week views. For Month view the event lasts from
December 24, 2017 00:00:00
untilDecember 24, 2017 23:59:59
- The timestamp is ignored because otherwise this event would have no duration
- 2 columns with
date
datatype containingDecember 24, 2017
&December 26, 2017
:
- in this case the event lasts from
December 24, 2017 00:00:00
untilDecember 26, 2017 23:59:59
- 2 column with
dateTime
datatype containingDecember 24, 2017, 10:10:10
&December 26, 2017, 20:20:20
:
- in this case the event lasts from
December 24, 2017 10:10:10
untilDecember 24, 2017 20:20:20
- 1 column with
If the date
or dateTime
of the left-hand column is later than the date
or dateTime
of the right-hand column then both columns will be swapped.
If there is a mix of multiple date
& dateTime
cells in one record, then the leftmost cell with a date
or dateTime
datatype determines the datatype used for the event.
- Examples:
-
- The next column to the right with
date
ordateTime
datatype (date 2) has datatypedate
- The next column to the right with
date
ordateTime
datatype (date 3) has datatypedateTime
- In this case, the event will be between (date 1) & (date 2)
- Leftmost column with
date
ordateTime
datatype has datatypedateTime
and valueDecember 24, 2017, 10:20:30
- The next column to the right with
-
Interactions of the calendar portlet with a ginstr table
- Clicking on one record:
- The event contained in this record will be automatically shown in the calendar portlet.
- Selecting multiple records (e.g. with
⇧ Shift
or⇧ Ctrl
keys):- If the user selects multiple records in a table with
date
ordateTime
columns that cover a total timeframe longer than the timeframe currently covered by the calendar widget (e.g. several months in case 'Work Week' view is selected), then the end of the time frame covered by the selected events will be shown.
- If the user selects multiple records in a table with
If the user selects records that have no columns with date
or dateTime
datatype, then there will be no events displayed in the calendar portlet.
Event labels configuration
Clicking on the icon with the three horizontal bars in the top right corner of the calendar portlet allows for the following configuration:
- column(s) to be displayed
- allows the user to select which columns should be used as labels for events.
- This setting supports selection of a single column or of multiple columns.
- Options in the dropdown menu are shown in the same order as the corresponding columns in the table.
- Columns with one of the following datatypes cannot be selected:
date
time
dateTime
dateTimeDiff
audio
documents
listOfDates
listOfDateTimes
listOfTimes
pictures
signature
video
- All other columns are available for selection.
View events overflow
If the number of selected events exceeds the available space, the calendar portlet will respond as follows:
- Month
- if the number of events is greater than the available space in the day slot, extra events will be hidden
- The last row in the day slot will display a link with the label “+n more”. In this case 'n' is the number of hidden events in the current day slot link.
- The user can view hidden events by clicking this link.
- All views
- each event has a tooltip with all data, which the user can see by hovering over any event.
Timeline slider
The timeline slider at the top of the calendar portlet allows the user to easily access data of different time frames in a selected table. The active range is shown above the slider.
Increasing the zoom magnification with the zoom in button narrows the focus of the slider to a shorter period of time, whereas the zoom out button widens the view to display longer periods of time. When zoomed out to less than 1x magnification, the timeline slider switches to Years view.
The left and right arrows can be used to move the slider view back (left) & forward (right) in time, or the same function can be achieved by clicking and dragging the timeline left or right.
Reports
Data saved in ginstr web tables can be grouped and formatted in a variety of ways to create user-friendly reports.
- Up to 20 different Basic Reports can be configured for each individual ginstr web table.
- Table data can be grouped by column values and basic calculations such as subtotals, sum totals, mean values, percentage values and checkbox counts can be performed on each data set.
- Basic Reports can be scheduled to be automatically generated and sent as an e-mail attachment to predefined recipients at predefined intervals (daily, weekly, monthly etc.) See here for more information.
- Basic Reports can be exported in CSV or Excel format.
- Advanced Reports can contain graphs & charts, photo attachments, company logos, text formatting, advanced data calculation and complex aggregation & examination of multiple tables.
- Advanced Reports require ginstr report templates which are customised by ginstr to the customer's specification so that the information is presented in the style best suited to the reader.
- Advanced Reports can be scheduled to be automatically generated and sent as an e-mail attachment to predefined recipients at predefined intervals (daily, weekly, monthly etc.) See here for more information.
- Advanced Reports can be exported in CSV, Excel, PDF or RTF format.
Basic Reports
Each table displayed in a portlet can be configured to show up to 20 different basic reports.
Above each table you will see a ‘default’ tab on the left-hand side. In this tab you are shown the table’s raw data without any calculations.
Clicking on the +
symbol to the right of the default tab creates a new report of the table.
You can configure basic reports in any number of ways, for example group the data in the current table, create subtotals and sum totals, calculate mean values, count data sets and instances of particular data, etc.
You can edit existing reports at any time by clicking on the pencil symbol.
The order of the report tabs can be changed at any time by clicking on the tab and dragging it to the left or right. The tab with the original data always remains pinned to the far left.
Once you have clicked on the +
or pencil symbol, you will see a list of all the columns in the current table.
Right at the top, you can enter and/or edit the name of the report:
The report name can consist of several words.
This report name will later be shown on the report tabs above the table:
Below the report name entry field, the screen is split into two key chapters:
- Specifications for grouping data sets
- Specifications for calculations
The screen content depends on the table’s columns.
All changes are immediately applied to the report after changes have been saved.
Each line in the ‘Grouped columns’ and ‘Ungrouped columns’ chapters represents a column in the report.
Individual rows can be dragged with the mouse from the ‘Grouped columns’ to the ‘Ungrouped columns’ chapters and vice versa.
It is also possible to move a row up or down within a chapter. This enables you to specify the order of columns in the report.
Grouping data sets
‘Grouped columns’ chapter
The columns in the ‘Grouped columns’ chapter are displayed on the left half of the report in the defined order from left to right.
The report is arranged according to all the columns that are part of the ‘Grouped columns’ chapter. The sorting order is defined by the order of the columns from left to right.
Clicking on a black triangle in the chapter reverses the column sorting order.
For every column within the ‘Grouped columns’ chapter in the report, a row with sub-totals is displayed for each different content.
‘Ungrouped columns’ chapter
This chapter defines the order of ungrouped columns. These are displayed in the right half of the report in the defined order from left to right.
Clicking on a black triangle in the chapter reverses the column sorting order.
The set sort order of the ‘Grouped columns’ chapter has priority over the sorting settings of the ‘Ungrouped columns’ chapter.
Calculations
In the lower part of the screen, the following settings can be defined separated for
- a) display on the screen (defined in the ‘web’ column) and for
- b) data export in .csv files or .xlsx Excel files (defined in the ‘export’ column):
- Display interim results for each grouping
- Display overall results at the end of the report
- Display percentages / averages for each grouping
- Display percentage / averages at the end of the report
- Count miscellaneous content
- Count checkboxes
Each option can be activated/deactivated by clicking on the relevant icon.
The settings made here then generate the following report in our sample table.
Grouped by the values from the ‘room’ column with subtotals, totals, average values and count values for all columns:
Buttons
At the top of the screen, there are the following buttons:
- apply
- saves all settings and immediately applies them to the report concerned; the report will be created if it has not already
- cancel
- discards all changes and reverts to previous settings
- delete
- deletes the selected report; deleting a report does not delete data, nor does it affect other reports; this button is only displayed if the report already exists
Automated Reports
Both Basic and Advanced Reports can be scheduled to be automatically generated and sent as an e-mail attachment to predefined recipients at predefined intervals (daily, weekly, monthly etc.).
Automated reports are generated based on a snapshot of the currently applied filter settings, with the exception of the date
and dateTime
attributes which are replaced depending on the selected frequency.
- Note:
- The filter settings can be accessed using the icon in the top right-hand corner of the portlet.
- To remove filter options applied previously, click the clear filtersbutton at the top of the filter settings window to clear all applied filter options.
- To remove filter options applied previously, click the
- There is also a clearbutton at the top right of each section to remove all filter settings related to that section only.
- The filter settings can be accessed using the icon in the top right-hand corner of the portlet.
To create an automated report from a Basic Report, right-click on any record in a report and select the automated reports option from the context menu which appears. This will open the create automated report window consisting of the following fields:
- report name
- defines the name of the report (obligatory)
- to
- defines the primary recipient(s) of the report (obligatory)
- cc
- defines the 'carbon copy' recipient(s) of the report (optional)
- bcc
- defines the 'blind carbon copy' recipient(s) of the report (optional)
- subject
- defines the email subject (obligatory)
usable variables $reportType
$dateFrom
$dateTo
$requestingUserAccount
- body
- defines the content of the email body (optional)
usable variables $reportType
$dateFrom
$dateTo
$requestingUserAccount
- frequency
- this is a dropdown which is used to define at which regular interval the report should be generated
frequency interval for report creation daily yesterday weekly last week (Monday-Sunday) monthly last month weekend last weekend (Saturday-Sunday)
- If daily frequency is selected, only records created on the previous day will be included in the daily automated report.
- Similarly, if weekly frequency is selected, only records created in the previous week between Monday & Sunday will be included in the weekly automated report.
- status
- defines whether an automated report job is active or inactive.
- If an automated report is created with inactive status ( checkbox not checked), the report will not be generated nor sent until the status is changed to active.
- scheduled date
- defines the date of the first desired instance of report generation
- type
- defines the output type or file format of the automated report
type Description CSV creates Comma-separated value files with .csv extension. EXCEL creates Microsoft Excel 2007+ format files with .xlsx file extension. XML creates Extensible Markup Language files with .xml file extension.
- language
- defines in which language the report should be displayed.
- date format
- defines in which date format the data should be displayed.
- time format
- defines in which time format the data should be displayed.
- time zone
- defines which time zone data should be adopted.
- show thousands delimiters
- defines whether the thousands delimiter should be displayed for numbers.
- international call prefix
- defines whether the + delimiter should be displayed for phone numbers.
- include attachments
- If the yes option is selected here, the report will be attached to the email as a .zip file which contains:
- the .csv, .xlsx or .xml report file depending on the export format selected as type.
- all media files (e.g. .png image files, .wav sound files etc.)
- include dependencies
- If the yes option is selected here, the report will also include records from tables connected through
pointer
and/orassignment
datatype. - column filter
- selecting the all columns option generates the report using all records of a table independent of currently applied column visibility settings.
- In case you have hidden some columns to be shown on your screen and you choose the visible columns option, then only the columns currently shown on the screen will be included in the automated report.
- A snapshot of actual visible column setting is saved in the report setting.
- If you later change the visible columns for the table this does not affect the automated report.
Advanced Reports
In addition to the basic reports feature in ginstr web, the advanced reports feature offers advanced options for presenting information contained in ginstr web tables in a report format which can be easily exported in CSV, Excel, PDF or RTF format.
As with Excel or Powerpoint, advanced reports bring your data to life with graphs & charts, photo attachments, company logos, text formatting, data calculation and complex aggregation & examination of multiple tables.
ginstr report templates are customised by ginstr to the customer's specification so that the information is presented in the style best suited to the reader.
Please contact ginstr if you are interested in setting up a bespoke report template to use the advanced reports feature with your ginstr web account.
Viewing advanced reports within a portlet
A workspace with multiple portlets should be used in order to select between different records to be displayed in the advanced reports portlet.
Individual ginstr report templates set up for your ginstr web account appear under the reports and statistics heading when specifying the content of individual portlets.
The advanced reports portlet displays a preview of the report populated with information from a record selected in another portlet.
If more than one record is selected, the advanced reports portlet will contain multiple reports - scroll down below the first report to view all reports generated from the selected records.
The following buttons appear at the top of the advanced reports portlet:
- refresh report(s)
- Reloads information from selected record(s) and refreshes the reports displayed in the advanced reports portlet.
- CSV export
- Exports the report(s) displayed in the advanced reports portlet to a .csv file (Comma-separated values).
- Depending on your system settings, the exported file will either be downloaded by your browser's download folder automatically, or you will be asked to select a location in which to save the exported file.
- XLS export
- Exports the report(s) displayed in the advanced reports portlet to an .xlsx file (Microsoft Excel 2007+ format).
- Depending on your system settings, the exported file will either be downloaded by your browser's download folder automatically, or you will be asked to select a location in which to save the exported file.
- PDF export
- Exports the report(s) displayed in the advanced reports portlet to a .pdf file (Portable Document Format).
- Depending on your system settings, the exported file will either be downloaded by your browser's download folder automatically, or you will be asked to select a location in which to save the exported file.
- Word export
- Exports the report(s) displayed in the advanced reports portlet to an .rtf file (Rich Text Format).
- Depending on your system settings, the exported file will either be downloaded by your browser's download folder automatically, or you will be asked to select a location in which to save the exported file.
- separate file per report
- If multiple reports are displayed in the advanced reports portlet, setting this option on () will ensure that each report is saved to a separate file when either of the exportbuttons are clicked.
- The exported file will therefore be a .zip file containing multiple files (one for each report) in the specified format.
- If multiple reports are displayed in the advanced reports portlet, setting this option on () will ensure that each report is saved to a separate file when either of the
- pin this portlet to table
- This option ensures that the advanced reports portlet is pinned to the currently selected table.
- automated reports
- This button opens the formatted automatic report window which can be used to create automated reports which are generated and sent as an e-mail attachment to predefined recipients at predefined intervals (daily, weekly, monthly etc.)
Formatted Automatic Reports
The formatted automatic report window which appears upon clicking the
button at the top of the advanced reports portlet consists of the following fields:
- report name
- defines the name of the report (obligatory)
- to
- defines the primary recipient(s) of the report (obligatory)
- cc
- defines the 'carbon copy' recipient(s) of the report (optional)
- bcc
- defines the 'blind carbon copy' recipient(s) of the report (optional)
- subject
- defines the email subject (obligatory)
usable variables $reportType
$dateFrom
$dateTo
$requestingUserAccount
- body
- defines the content of the email body (optional)
usable variables $reportType
$dateFrom
$dateTo
$requestingUserAccount
- frequency
- this is a dropdown which is used to define at which regular interval the report should be generated
frequency interval for report creation daily yesterday weekly last week monthly last month weekend last weekend
- status
- defines whether an automated report job is active or inactive.
- If an automated report is created with inactive status ( checkbox not checked), the report will not be generated nor sent until the status is changed to active.
- scheduled date
- defines the date of the first desired instance of report generation
- type
- defines the output type or file format of the automated report
type Description RTF creates Rich Text Format files with .rtf file extension. EXCEL creates Microsoft Excel 2007+ format files with .xlsx file extension. PDF creates Portable Document Format files with .pdf file extension. CSV creates Comma-separated value files with .csv extension.
- language
- defines in which language the report should be displayed.
- date format
- defines in which date format the data should be displayed.
- time format
- defines in which time format the data should be displayed.
- time zone
- defines which time zone data should be adopted.
- show thousands delimiters
- defines whether the thousands delimiter should be displayed for numbers.
- international call prefix
- defines whether the + delimiter should be displayed for phone numbers.
Filtering advanced reports
As with other portlets, clicking the filter icon in the top right-hand corner of the advanced reports portlet opens the filter settings window. Different filter options can be combined as necessary, giving you full control over which records are included in the report(s) for display/export.
When you have finished defining the desired filters, click the
button at the top right corner of the filter settings window to filter the displayed reports accordingly.
- Note:
- Filter settings applied to the advanced reports portlet are retained between sessions on ginstr web.
- To remove filter options applied previously, click the clear filtersbutton at the top of the filter settings window to clear all applied filter options.
- To remove filter options applied previously, click the
- There is also a clearbutton at the top right of each section to remove all filter settings related to that section only.
- Filter settings applied to the advanced reports portlet are retained between sessions on ginstr web.
Editing features for tables
The following chapter provides a description of the features for adapting the tables in ginstr web is provided. These features can be used on all tables as long as the user has appropriate user rights.
Creating a new data set
To create a new data set in a table, please click on the
button above the table. A new row automatically appears in the current table.
If you would like to create new data sets which are to be allocated to a data set in an existing table, you can automate the allocation process by selecting the existing data set in advance.
If you select a property in the ‘Properties’ table, for example, and then click on the
button in the ‘Zones’ table, the link to the ‘Property name’ column is then automatically set to that zone.
Editing a data set
If you would like to edit data in an existing data set, then double-click in the cell to be edited. Depending on the data type of the current cell, the appropriate window opens to allow you to edit the cell content.
Stop the entry of new data by confirming with the Enter
button or by clicking in an empty area of one of the workspaces. In both cases, the entered data is automatically saved and immediately transmitted to other users, other portlets and all the users of the associated ginstr app.
If you have edited the content of a cell and would like to edit other cells in this row, you can jump directly to the next cell to the right by pressing the Tab ↹
button on your keyboard and to the next cell to the left by pressing ⇧ Shift
+ Tab ↹
together.
Alternatively, you can also move between the individual cells in a row using the arrow keys on your keyboard ( ←
/ →
) and edit the content of the activated cell by pressing the Enter
button.
To delete an incomplete record (as indicated whereby any required cells left empty are shown red), first select the incomplete record with the cursor or arrow keys and press the Delete
button on your keyboard to remove the highlighted record.
Actions
In the first column of each table, you can delete the relevant data set by clicking on the icon in case you have the appropriate user rights. Once deleted, data sets cannot be restored.
Using the icon, you can allocate a colour to the relevant data set.
Data sets marked in colour can be filtered at any time by clicking on the relevant colour above the table.
Moving columns
If you would like to rearrange the sequence of individual columns in a table, left-click on the column heading, press and hold the left mouse button, and drag the column to any place you like in the table.
Once you release the mouse button, the column is moved to the desired location.
These settings only affect the table in the relevant portlet. The same table in another portlet is not affected. This allows for the display of various views of the same table, which can be very useful, particularly for tables with many columns.
This option is not available for reports. The column order in reports is determined by the settings of the respective report (see here)
Adjusting the column width
Column widths can be adjusted continuously by clicking on the separating line between two column headings, pressing and holding the left mouse button, and moving the mouse to the left or right.
Once you release the mouse button, the column width is adjusted automatically.
Automatically adjusting the column width
The columns widths of a table can be adjusted automatically. To do this, right-click anywhere you like in the table. Now you have the following options:
- force fit
- automatically adjusts the column widths to the size of the portlet in which the table is displayed.
- Adapt columns widths to match column titles
- ensures that all headers are displayed in full, however, the content of the individual table cells will be cut off if necessary.
- Adapt columns widths to match column contents
- ensures that all headers and all table contents are displayed in full. If necessary, a horizontal scroll bar will be shown if there is not enough space in the portlet to show all the data.
Automatically adjust columns when changing portlet size
By default, column widths are not changed when editing the portlet width by dragging the vertical line between the portlets. If you wish to activate the automatic adjustment of a table to the portlet width, right-click anywhere in the table and activate the ‘Resize columns while dragging’ option. Now the column width will automatically adjust when you change the width of a portlet.
Hiding columns
You can hide individual columns in a table by right-clicking anywhere you like in the table.
Using the ‘hide/show columns’ menu item, you can now select which column(s) you would like to show / hide in the current table.
Searching in tables
You will find the search field in the top left-hand corner of each table.
As soon as you enter something here, the current table is immediately shortened to those rows containing the character string entered in the search field anywhere in any column.
This search refers to all the columns in the current table.
The string you are searching for does not have to be at the start of a string. In the example below, the search string 'mit' returns both 'Smith' and 'Mitchell'.
Detailed filter settings are possible in the filter settings (see here for more details)
Sorting tables
You can activate table sorting by column content by left-clicking on the heading of the column by which you would like to sort the table.
The small triangle next to the column name represents the direction in which and the column by which the current table is sorted. You can reverse the sorting order by clicking again on the same column heading.
You can find more information on complex sorting features in the online help chapter by clicking on the button in the upper left corner of the portlet.
Linking tables
In ginstr web you can link individual tables with one another. So, for example, tables with columns which refer to other tables are automatically filtered as soon as you select one or more data sets in the table referred to by another table.
- Example
- Unfiltered tables: The table with the ‘Public Holidays’ (right) refers to the table with the ‘Public Holidays Categories’ (left):
- Now select a Public Holidays Category in the left-hand table by clicking on a row. This causes the right-hand table with the Public Holidays to automatically shorten and to show only those Public Holidays which belong to the selected category.
If you would like to filter the second table by several values, you can select the data sets to filter by as follows:
- Multiple selection of individual data sets:
- by holding the
Ctrl
key and clicking on any data sets in any order one after the other in the left table
- by holding the
- Selection of several consecutive data sets:
- by holding the
⇧ Shift
key and, at the same time, clicking on two data sets in any order in the left table
- by holding the
You can combine the two methods for selecting data sets in whatever way you like.
Please note that, due to the links between the tables, under certain circumstances you may no longer be able to see a newly created data set in the ‘Public Holidays’ table once it has been saved. This may be because you clicked on one or more Public Holidays Categories and the ‘Public Holidays’ table was therefore automatically filtered by the category or categories selected; on the other side, the newly entered Public Holiday does not correspond to these filter criteria and therefore the newly added record is saved but not shown on the screen. You can clear this filter by clicking on the
button in the ‘Public Holidays Categories’ table.
If data sets disappear after being entered, they have not been deleted; rather, they have indeed been saved but are not visible at the present time.
Export data
In some cases, it is desirable to further process data generated using ginstr apps in other programs or Excel. The ‘download data’ feature allows downloading data stored in ginstr tables to your local PC.
To download data from a table or ginstr app, right-click anywhere in the table then select the ‘download data’ option to display the following pop-up window:
The following options are available to configure the data download:
export format
- CSV
- Files with .csv file extension (Comma-separated values) are commonly used to exchange data between different applications; so in case you would like for example to further process your data in a dispatching or book-keeping software then you can export the data to a .csv file and then import this .csv file into your other software.
- Excel
- This option creates Microsoft Excel compatible files with .xlsx file extension.
- Excel 2007 version or newer is required to open such files.
- .xlsx files can hold up to 1 million records.
include attachments
- yes
- In case you select this option the data will be downloaded as a .zip file which contains several other files:
- the .csv or .xlsx file depending on the chosen export format
- all media files (e.g. .png image files, .wav sound files etc.)
- Depending on your operating system and version there are different steps how to extract the individual files contained within the .zip file. If you don´t know how to do this please contact your system administrator.
- no
- download of the data of just one table
- In this case just the .csv or .xlsx file will be downloaded depending on the chosen export format
- download of all tables of a ginstr app
- In this case the data of all tables of the selected ginstr app will be downloaded packed into one .zip file.
rows filter
- all rows
- This option allows to download all records of a table independent of currently applied filter options.
- visible rows
- ginstr tables provide a multitude of options to filter and sort the content of tables.
- In case you have filtered some records to be shown on your screen and you choose this option then only the records currently shown on the screen will be downloaded.
- table with dependencies
- This option allows you to download the selected table together with any related tables connected through
pointer
and/orassignment
datatype.
- all tables of this ginstr app
- In case the table you right-clicked belongs to a ginstr app, then this additional option will be available which allows downloading all tables of the ginstr app in one step.
- This feature is sometimes used for local data backup on a customer’s PCs in addition to the automatic backup the ginstr cloud provides by default.
- In case of CSV export format, each table will be represented as a separate .csv file. In case of .xlsx export format, each table will be represented as a separate sheet inside one single .xlsx file.
columns filter
- all columns
- This option allows to download all records of a table independent of currently applied column visibility settings.
- visible columns
- ginstr tables provide a multitude of options to filter and sort the content of tables.
- In case you have hidden some columns to be shown on your screen and you choose this option then only the columns currently shown on the screen will be downloaded.
language
- Most ginstr apps are available in multiple languages. The language selection does not only affect the UI of the apps on the phone but also the table headings. With this option you can select the language in which the headings of the downloaded tables must be stored in the .csv or .xlsx file.
- Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
time format
- ginstr supports multiple time formats. This option allows defining in which time format the data should be downloaded. This might be relevant for you because the software that will be used to further process the data might have some restrictions in this regards.
- Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
date format
- ginstr supports multiple date formats. This option allows defining in which date format the data should be downloaded. This might be relevant for you because the software that will be used to further process the data might have some restrictions in this regards.
- Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
number format
- ginstr supports multiple number formats. This option allows defining in which number format the data should be downloaded. This might be relevant for you because the software that will be used to further processing the data might have some restrictions in this regards.
- Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
time zone
- ginstr internally stores all data in UTC time zone; this is the universal time which is the same worldwide. Before presenting dates and times on the screen, each timestamp is adopted to the time zone selected by the user in his ginstr web preferences.
- This option can be used to override the time zone settings in the ginstr web preferences.
- Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
- Export into Excel of numbers, dates, times and pointers to these datatypes is done supporting Excel cell formats according to the operating system's 'Region and Language' settings. This means that if a date is exported as "1 January 2016" but Excel is opened on a system with 'Region and Language' format set to German, it will be shown as "1. Januar 2016".
Each table is exported with one additional column: "record created on". The value in this column stores the record creation date which is used for filtering in the case of a large data table.
Access to media files (pictures, videos, audio files, documents) after download
- Export without attachments
- In this case the URL of the media files will be stored in the .csv or .xlsx file. In case a table cell contains multiple files, then the URLs will be separated with “
|
” (i.e.http://ginstr.com/image1.jpg|http://ginstr.com/image2.jpg
)
- In this case the URL of the media files will be stored in the .csv or .xlsx file. In case a table cell contains multiple files, then the URLs will be separated with “
- These links will be available until the attachments (or the entire row which contained such attachments) are deleted from the ginstr cloud.
- Note: ginstr credentials are not required to open these links (i.e. anybody with the link can view the attachments).
- Export with attachments
- Tables that do not belong to a ginstr app:
- In this case the .csv / .xlsx file will contain relative links to the appropriate files in the archive folder.
- For example
pictures/image1.jpg
in single table export will mean that this file is placed inside the archive at the following path:/pictures/image1.jpg
.
- Tables belonging to a ginstr app:
- In this case
pictures/image1.jpg
of “customers” table will be stored in the archive at the following path:/customers/pictures/image1.jpg
.
- As per Export without attachments (above), if a table cell contains multiple files, then the URLs will be separated with “
|
” (i.e.pictures/image1.jpg|image2.jpg
)
- As per Export without attachments (above), if a table cell contains multiple files, then the URLs will be separated with “
Import data
In some cases it is desirable to import data generated using third party programs or to upload data that has previously been exported from the ginstr cloud back to the cloud again. The ‘upload data’ feature allows uploading data stored on your local PC to ginstr tables in the ginstr cloud.
To upload data to a ginstr table or ginstr app, right click anywhere in the table then select the ‘upload data’ option to display the following pop-up window:
In order to ensure that the headings of the tables to be uploaded to the ginstr cloud are correct and complete, it is recommended to download the existing table(s), even if they are empty, and to use these downloaded files for editing and subsequent data upload.
The following options are available to configure the data upload:
upload data
- in this table only
- Use this option if you want to upload data for the selected table only.
- all dependent tables
- If you had previously downloaded the selected table together with any related tables connected through
pointer
and/orassignment
datatype and made some changes to these downloaded tables, this option allows you to re-upload all dependent tables in one step.
- in all tables of this ginstr app
- In case the table you right-clicked belongs to a ginstr app which is using multiple tables, then this option will be available; it allows uploading data to all tables of this ginstr app in one step.
include attachments
- yes
- In case you select this option, the data must be uploaded as a .zip file which contains several other files:
- the .csv or .xlsx file
- all media files (e.g. png image files, .wav sound files etc.)
- Depending on your operating system and version there are different steps how to pack individual files into a .zip file. If you don´t know how to do this please contact your system administrator.
- no
- In this case just the .csv or .xlsx file(s) will be uploaded without attachments. These files must be packed as a .zip file in any case if you are going to upload data, which will go into tables belonging to ginstr apps.
language
- Most ginstr apps are available in multiple languages. The language selection not only affects the UI of the apps on the phone but also the headings of the tables in ginstr web.
- With this option, you can select the language in which the headings of the table columns to be uploaded have been stored in the .csv or .xlsx file.
- This is essential to ensure that the upload routine can assign the content of the various columns in the files to the related columns of the ginstr tables.
- Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
time format
- ginstr supports multiple time formats. This option defines in which time format the data should be uploaded. This is essential to ensure that the upload routine treats the timestamps in the various columns correctly.
- Example:
10:00:00 PM
or22:00:00
- one of these two time formats can be used with the values stored as text. - Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
date format
- ginstr supports multiple date formats. This option allows defining in which date format the data is stored. This is essential to ensure that the upload routine treats the dates in the various columns correctly.
- Note that two date formats can look similar:
dd/mm/yyyy
andmm/dd/yyyy
, hence01/02/2016
can be either the 2nd of January 2016 or the 1st of February 2016. This cannot be detected automatically and therefore setting this option carefully is required. - Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
number format
- ginstr supports multiple number formats. This option allows defining in which number format the data should be uploaded. This is essential to ensure that the upload routine treats the numbers in the various columns correctly.
- Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
time zone
- ginstr internally stores all data in UTC time zone; this is the universal time which is the same worldwide. Before presenting dates and times on the screen, each timestamp is adopted to the time zone selected by the user in his ginstr web preferences.
- This option can be used to indicate the time zone in which the data contained in the file to be uploaded has been saved.
- Default value depends on the settings of the user in his ginstr web preferences.
choose file
- This option is used to select the file on the local disk drive which contains the data that should be uploaded to the ginstr cloud.
If the “record created on” column is empty in the file to be uploaded, then the newly uploaded records will have a record creation date from the moment when the data was uploaded. Otherwise the record creation date provided in the imported file will be used.
File names and table names
- Excel files
- For the upload of Excel files the Excel file names and sheet names are not relevant.
- Each Excel sheet must provide in cell A1 the precise name of the table to which the data will be uploaded. This table name must correspond with the language which was selected in the ‘language’ option of the file upload pop-up window.
- .csv files
- .csv file names must have the following format:
table_name_in_language_of_import.csv
(i.e.customers.csv
)- Data with references to other tables in the ginstr cloud (not presenting in Excel file) can only be uploaded if the relevant columns with the references have the ‘unique’ attribute set for them. In case of Excel import and both rows present (row to which reference is created and row which has reference) import can be done to non-unique row in case reference is a correct Excel reference.
Please note that the data upload feature does not update records; it just creates new records.
In case of uploading Excel .xlsx files with dates and numbers columns stored in 'text' cell format, these values should have the format which was previously selected in the data upload pop-up window.
If dates and numbers are stored in an Excel file like a number datatype, then the Excel cell format will be used during the data upload and therefore the format specified in the upload dialog will be ignored.
Data upload is limited to max. 100 MB per file to be uploaded.
Data Recorded by the Hotel Minibar Checklist App
The Hotel Minibar Checklist app records data in one table on the ginstr backend.
To access this data, it must be set as the contents of a portlet in a workspace on ginstr web Instructions
Data recorded by the Hotel Minibar Checklist app are stored in the following one table.
- reports
This data can be edited in ginstr web Instructions