Using BARS
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In order to most easily find your way around BARS, we encourage users to review the Section BARS User Interface, below,  to understand the general concepts and approaches which are used in BARS.  We have strived for consistency and understanding the general concepts will greatly facilitate the day to day use of the application.

Concepts and User Interface

The Frame Set Concept

Each view within BARS contains several frames.  Where appropriate, each frame has its own scroll bar

Navigation Frame -  The top frame which contains the Navigation menus. 

Search Frame - This is the left frame in which all searches are done.  Searches may be in the form of Quick Lists or actual searches appropriate to the pages being viewed.  See Searches below for the concepts behind the search mechanism.

Focus Frame -  The center frame is the focus frame.  Records can only be edited when in the focus frame.  At the bottom of the focus frame is summary information about related records.  An underlined link indicates that clicking on this data will generally cause the related window page to appear in the related windows frame.  See Edit and Insert below.

Related Records Frame -  The right frame contains related records.  Clicking on a summary record located at the bottom of the Focus frame causes that record to appear in the related records frame.

Clicking on the “Focus” button in a related record will cause that record to appear in the Focus frame.

Navigation

Navigation through BARS transpires in a number of ways.  

Navigation Menus

There are navigation menus located at the top of each page.  These are grouped according to subject matter – client, bonds/powers, administration, and support.  Choosing one of these takes the user to a frame where the primary record set chosen appears.  Choosing an item from one of the drop down lists loads the pages to start working with the type of information chosen.  See the section on Searching for an explanation of that concept a further explanation of finding records.  (links to each of these areas from here)  

Navigation Frame

Searches  

Quick Lists

Quick Lists can be accessed from the Home Frame Set search frame or may be chosen by clicking on the Quick List button in the Navigation Menu.  

Search Frame

The left frame is the Search Frame.  While specifics may vary slightly depending on the subject, generally search works as follows:

Start Search - Enters the search mode.  Once this mode has been activated, it is necessary to enter the appropriate search criteria information in the field below.

Finish Search - Clicking this button creates a search on the established criteria and presents the user with the results of the search.

Select a search from the Start Search drop down list.
Click the Start Search button.
Fill in any required information.
Click the Finish Search button.
The records that were found will be displayed at the bottom of the frame.
Clicking on the link in one of the records will load that record into the Focus Frame for viewing.

Standard Buttons

Edit and Insert New Record

Records may only be edited or inserted  in the Focus Frame.  Click the Focus button on any record to move it to that frame.  

After choosing Insert New Record or Edit, enter the necessary information and click Save to accept the changes or insertions or Cancel if you do not want to accept the changes.

Print Page

    Prints the currently selected page.  

Focus

    Moves the record in the currently selected frame to open in the Focus frame.

? (Help)

Help is available in BARS either through using the User Help Index or through clicking the ? of the page you are on

Resizing Frames

Frames are sized so that they open with a reasonable amount of space for each window.  Summary information is displayed within the standard size.  From time to time, when inserting or editing records for example, it may be desirable to have a wider frame.  Just as there are scroll bars for each frame, each frame may be sized independently by placing the cursor on the vertical bar and dragging while holding down the mouse key.

Color

Buttons. actions and links are in red or blue.   Clicking one of these will either take you to the related record, print a document, or change where in the frame set a record appears.

Fields are sometimes in bold.  This indicates that these fields are more commonly looked at by the user.

Control Fields

There are four control fields on every record.  They are:

• Date Created
• Created By
• Last Edited Date
• Last Edited By

The data in these fields is generated by the BARS application based on the name of the signed on user and the time and date the transaction transpired.  They are not editable.

Linked Files

Linked data files are underlined and shown in blue.  Clicking on a linked data field opens the related record in the Related Records frame on the right.  For instance, clicking on the Bond ID in the collateral record opens that Bond record in the Related Records frame.