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SIS 2000+ Preference Editor 

The Preference Editor provides access to all application preference editing forms (for all applications having at least one preference defined) created with the standard preference editing tools and form naming conventions. Preferences are essentially configuration options that users and developers may set to customize SIS 2000+'s visual interface and behavior.

Examples are Timeout durations, and the locations of Help files. Each preference is defined as having an association with, and is applied within the context of, specific SIS 2000+ applications (although, some may have system-wide effect). A preference's type, or level, determines what categories of users may set that preference's value, type and notes. User categories (in order of precedence) are State, District, School, and Faculty/User. A user having the necessary permissions (access to a given application, and effective user level of State, District, or School) may edit preferences. Each preference setting is associated with the specific entity (example: district or school) that is represented by the user who creates the setting. In addition to setting preference values, qualified users may edit a preference definition's notes, and type/level.

To support preferences used by, for example, 'Point of Sale' or 'Workstation', where the hierarchical District/School, etc. scheme is inappropriate, the preference's definition will have an attribute (flag) that indicates that the preference is singular. However, singular preferences do support, like hierarchical preferences, State level settings, which may be treated as defaults. If a preference's type, or level, is District - only a user representing District may set it's value. And, a setting may only be established for the District level. If the current user is School level (or below), District setting applies. If a preference is typed as School - District and School Level (DBAdmin) users may set it, each establishing a distinct value for their respective district or school. If the current user is School level, and a setting is defined for that School, it is applied, otherwise, the District setting (if present) for that School's district is used, otherwise, the default.

When editing a preference's type/level, the allowed settings are restricted to the current user's level, or below - ex. State may change any preference's type to District, School or State; District may change a District or School type preference to School or District. When a preference's type is changed to one 'higher' level, any existing settings below the new level are deleted (with user confirmation). Preference definitions must be created, existing application code modified, and preference editing forms must be created to support this new paradigm.
 

1. Open Preference Editor
From SIS 2000+'s Main Menu, open the System Menu. From the System Menu click on the preferences icon button. The opening screen of the Preference Editor will display a list of current preference editing forms that have been programmed for the system (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 - sample opening screen
 

2. Select a level for editing
Select a user level for editing from the drop-down list in the Edit for field (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2
 

3. Select a form to edit
Highlight the target preference form to edit in the Application field. The full descriptive name of the SIS 2000+ application that uses the form will be displayed in the field at the bottom of the screen (Fig. 1).
 

4. Edit form
Click on the Edit command button (or Done to close the Preference Editor) to open the selected preference form (Fig. 3). Set preferences in the form. Set Advanced Preferences, if applicable. For information on the significance of the fields in a preference form, refer to the documentation on the application that uses the preferences.

Fig. 3 - sample preference form for the Address Validation Table Editor application

Fig. 4 - sample 'Advanced Preferences' dialog for the 'HOUSEHOLD' preference group.
 

5. Save Preferences
Click on the Done command button to save the preferences and return to the Preference Editor main screen (or Cancel to abort the edit mode without saving).
 

6. Close Preference Editor
Click on the Done command button to close the program.

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