2. TACTIC Start up

2.1. Setting Up Your Web Browser

Web Browser

To access the TACTIC interface, a supported version a web browser is required.

To connect to the TACTIC server, type a URL in your web browser similar to the example below (the IP address will vary depending on the network setup of your organization). An example is shown below:

http://192.168.14.198/

When you are connected to the server, you are presented with the TACTIC login screen:

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Note

If you cannot see this TACTIC login, please contact your TACTIC Administrator.

Java Support

For certain transactions to occur between TACTIC and the client computer, Java will need to be installed. Currently TACTIC supports: Java JRE 1.6.0+

To download the Java Runtime application, please visit:

http://www.java.com

2.2. Interface Map

When you log in to TACTIC from your browser, you will see a window similar to the following image. This section describes some of the important parts of this window.

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1 - Header

1a

Project Homepage Link

The project bar shows the TACTIC logo and release. This link will also direct you back to the project selection page.

1b

Project Thumbnail

This area shows the name of the project and thumbnail.

1c

Project Selection Menu

A drop down list to switch between projects.

1d

Main Action Menu

Main TACTIC Actions menu.

1e

User Menu

Allows for editing of basic user settings

1f

Main Help Link

Loads the Built in TACTIC Help (documentation, links etc)

2 - Sidebar

2a

Project Views

Project Views contains links to different views with information about the project as well as workflow.

2b

My Views

My views is a collection of views that are custom created by the login user for personal use.

2c

My Admin

My Admin displays the Tactic system, as well as the project and adminstration schema. Access to this part of the sidebar is generally reserved for admin level users.

3 - Main View Panel

3a

Tabs

Tactic supports loading multiple tabs, similar to how web browsers handle tabs. Views can be loaded into tabs either automatically or through right-clicking on a link.

3b

Simple Search

In some views, a simple search will be included. The Simple Search option provides a quick and easy way to search specifically within the current view in use.

3c

View Toolbar

In some views, there will be tools which are specific to the view. For example, the "Table" view provides an array of tools for interaction with that table.

3d

Main Panel

The Main Panel is where the actual results of the view are displayed. This can be a table, tile layout, dashboard etc.

2.3. TACTIC Gear Menus

Top Gear Menu

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Add

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Add New sType

Add a new sType to the schema.

Add New <…existing sType from schema…>

Open a new tab and pop-up a window to insert a new item of the existing sType from the schema.

Edit

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Undo Last Server Transaction

Undo the last transaction.

Redo Last Server Transaction

Redo the last transaction.

Show Server Transaction Log

Display the Transaction Log in a pop-up. The log holds all the transactions since the creation of the project.

Tools

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Web Client Output Log

Load the Web Client Output Log. This log details TACTIC output as well output from statements in scripts.

TACTIC Script Editor

Load the TACTIC Script Editor pop-up.

Help

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Documentation

Open a new page to TACTIC’s Documentation.

TACTIC Support Community

Open a new page to TACTIC’s Support Site.

Gear Menu for the View

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Edit

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Retire Selected Items

Retire the selected items. Retired items are hidden from the view, but not removed from the database.

Delete Selected Items

Delete the selected items. Deleted items are removed from the database and are no longer available.

Undo Last Server Transaction

Undo the last transaction

Redo Last Server Transaction

Redo the last transaction

Show Server Transaction Log

Load the TACTIC Transaction Log. The Transaction Log holds all the transactions since creation of project.

Add Tasks to Selected

Add tasks to the selected items.

Add Tasks to Matched

Add tasks to the matched items.

File

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Export All …

Export all of the item in the view.

Export Selected …

Export all of the selected items in the view.

Export Matched …

Export all of the Matched items in the view.

Export Displayed …

Export all of the displayed items in the view.

Import CSV …

Import a CSV file.

Clipboard

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Copy Selected

Copy the item that is selected in the view (indicated with a check mark) to the clipboard.

Add Selected

Add the item that is selected in the view to the list of items already on the clipboard.

Paste Clipboard

Paste the items from the clipboard to the current view.

Show Clipboard Contents

Display the contents of the clipboard in a pop-up window.

View

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Column Manager

Pop-open the Column Manager.

Create New Column

Pop-open the Create New Column Window

Edit Current View

Edit the current view.

Save Current View

Save over the existing view with the current configuration.

Save a New View

Save the current view as a new view in the sidebar.

Print

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Print Selected

Print all the selected items in the view.

Print Displayed

Print all the displayed items in the view.

Print Matched

Print all the matched items from the search criteria.

Chart

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Chart Items

Create a chart of displayed view.

Chart Selected

Create a chart of the selected items.

Tasks

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Show Tasks

Add the Task Edit column to the view.

Add Tasks to Selected

For the items that are currently selected in the view, add tasks to them.

Add Tasks to Matched

For all the items returned by the search, add tasks to them.

Notes

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Show Notes

Add the Notes column to the view.

Check-ins

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Show Check-in History

Add the Checkin History column to the view.

Show General Check-in Tool

Add the General Check-in Tool as a column to the view.

Pipelines

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Show Pipeline Code

Add the Pipeline Code column to the view.

Edit Pipelines

Open the Workflow Editor in a new tab.

2.4. Internationalization

TACTIC supports international unicode characters for almost all elements in the interface. Mose elements in the interface accept unicode character streams navtively. This makes it possible to customize a project in any native language.

The following show an image of using TACTIC in Japanese:

tasks_japanese.png

The following sections of TACTIC are capable of using unicode characters:

Notes

All notes, including the discussion widget and the notes sheet can accept unicode characters.

<show example here>

Data

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Column Headers

<show example here>

Side Bar

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Pipeline

<show example here>

Limitations

There are certain areas where it is recommended to use Latin-1 characters. These sections may be able to use unicode characters for certain uses, but areas have been found where these sections can cause issues.

  • Project codes: project codes are used to generate the URL of the project and the database of the project. PostgreSQL accepts database unicode database names quite well but URL with unicode characters are not typically accepted or used. It is recommended that project codes stay with alpha_numeric character set with underscores as a delimiter
  • Search Types: search types are used to identify a type of sobject. These search types are often identified in code. It is not typical to see unicode characters in code, although this may be changing as computers and languages support becomes more ubiquitous. However, there are still many areas in computing where unicode characters are not supported and it is possible that limitations will occur. The TACTIC interface and database generally accept unicode strings with issue.
  • View Names: View names are stored in the database as XML. An example of this is as follows:

    <config>
      <xxx>
        <element name="foo"/>
      </xxx>
    </config>

    where "xxx" is the view name. Most XML libraries will accept tags with unicode characters, however, some do not support them completely. This can cause issues when doing searches and xpath through xml documents. For this reason, it is recommended to use alpha_numeric characters with underscore delimiters for view names. The view name does not typically appear in the user interface for users, so this does not usually cause an issue.

2.5. Sidebar

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The TACTIC sidebar is the main menu system for navigating through the views in the TACTIC Project. The access rules applied to a specific account determine the contents of the sidebar as well as which views are displayed when a user is logged in.

The items in the sidebar provide links to existing views within a project. These views are built by your organization’s production manager based on a selection of columns (properties), layouts (order and column width) and a search. If a search view is available, it provides a dynamic report based on the definition of the search.

The sidebar is divided into three different categories, "Project Views", "My Views" and "Admin Views".

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The Project Views provides a way to save project wide views that everyone across the entire project would want to see. It also has a manageable list of custom user views. The Project Views can be defined by the person in the role of the project manager. Views can also be hidden from specific user groups. My View contains a list of links to views that were created by the login user themselves. These usually are created by the user to cater to their own personal work flow.

Admin Views

Admin Views displays the project schema and the TACTIC system and administration schemas. Access to the Admin Views section of the sidebar is generally reserved for admin level users.

My Admin - My Admin holds views that will allow the users to manage My Views and My Preferences.

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Manage My Views

Edits the views saved in the "My Views" section.

My Preference

Preferences include: Debug, Web Client Logging Level, Color Palette, Language, Quick Text for Note Sheet Thumbnail Size

You can add any view to the sidebar very easily. If you have a view open in a tab, you can simply right click on the tab and select “Add to Side Bar”. This will add the link to the sidebar under the Project Views. This will allow you to customize the sidebar and let you quickly open your important views which you use regularly.

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Now, “My Dashboard” will be a link in the sidebar which takes you to this view. You can just as easily remove this link from the sidebar by right clicking on the link and selecting “Remove Link”.

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