Viewing & Editing Datafiles

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iData Mobile stores your datafiles in its private Documents folder. When you start iData Mobile, and when you close a datafile or some other window, you will see the Datafiles window, with its list of your datafiles.



To view and/or edit a datafile, just tap its name in the list.

While the datafile is opening, you will see a brief message, like this:


The Record View Toolbars

The toolbar shown in the two images above includes four buttons for moving among records, as follows:

Go to the first record.

Go to the previous record. If you are already at the first record, this will take you to the last record.

Go to the next record. If you are already at the last record, this will take you to the first record.

Go to the last record.

Because there is not enough room for all the buttons iData Mobile needs, there is also a button for showing a second toolbar.

Show the second tool bar, which looks like this:



Here are the buttons in this toolbar:

Add a new record following the current record.

Delete the current record. When you tap this button, you will see a confirmation dialog saying, "Are you sure you want to delete this record." At this point, you can tap either Cancel or Delete Current Record.

Because searching can take you to non-adjacent records, iData Mobile provides a way to navigate forward and backward among previously viewed records.

Go back through the viewed record list. If you are at the first record in the list, this button will be disabled.

Go forward through the viewed record list. If you are at the last record in the list, this button will be disabled.

Show the first toolbar.

Searching for Text in a Datafile

At the top of the record view is a search field. To search for text, tap in the search field and type in the text that you want to find. (Searches are case insensitive.) Then, tap the Search button on the keyboard.



If you decide not to perform the search, tap the Cancel button next to the search field to dismiss the keyboard.

If the search is successful, the record in which the target text was found will be displayed.

After each search, if the target text is not in view, the view will be scrolled to show it.

Unfortunately, there is no way to highlight text in fields and text areas, so you may have to do some further looking to locate the target.

If the search fails, the iPhone will vibrate briefly, unless this feature is turned off in your iPhone Settings.

Repeating a Search

Once you have performed a search, the search field will display a  button. You can repeat the search by tapping that  button.

Viewing Large Field Content

Since there is limited horizontal room for showing large field content, iData Mobile provide a way to view and edit field content in a larger area. This feature also provides a way to treat field content as Web links, email addresses, and phone numbers.

To view field content in a larger area, tap the  button in a field.

You can tap in the text area and edit the text.

If you make changes and decide not to save them, you can tap the Cancel button in the upper right. Otherwise, tap the OK button to return to the normal record view.

Special Actions in the Field Content View

Here is what the field content view might look like if it contained a Web address.



If you tap the button, iData Mobile will attempt to treat the content of the field as a URL and open it in Safari. When you close Safari and reopen iData Mobile, it will return to the record that you were viewing, but not to this window. NOTE: URLs must begin with http:// or https:// for them to open. The next version of iData Mobile will correct this problem.

Similarly, if you tap the button, iData Mobile will attempt to treat the field content as an email address and send it to Mail.

Finally, if you tap the button, iData Mobile will attempt to treat the field content as a telephone number and will have the iPhone dial it.

Needless to say, if you tap a button that is not appropriate to the field content, the button action will not succeed.

Viewing in Landscape Mode

If you have long lines of text that you want to view without having them wrap to the next line, you may be able to do this in landscape (horizontal) orientation.

While holding the iPhone vertically, rotate it 90° to the left or right. The result will be something like the following two images.






Of course, the result depends in part on your having set an appropriate font and point size in Preferences.

Note that, in order to maximize the available space, the Search bar, toolbar and record number bar have been omitted in this orientation. Therefore, editing, searching, and moving between records must be done in portrait orientation.

Editing Text in Existing Records

Once the datafile is open, the window will look like this if it has no fields:



The text area can hold multiple lines of text. To edit a record in a fieldless datafile, just tap in the text area and type.

Or, if it has some fields, it will look something like this:



The Notes area can contain multiple lines of text, like the text area of a fieldless datafile.

Tap in the Notes area, or in any field to edit it.

The keyboard for the multiple-line text area has a return key on the keyboard, and a Done button in the upper right corner of the screen.

The keyboard for fields has a Done button on the keyboard, since you cannot type returns in fields.

If there is more data than can be shown in the window, just swipe vertically to scroll it.

Saving Changes to a Datafile

You can save changes to a datafile at any time by tapping the Save button in the record view.

Also, if you do not have the Auto-Save Changes setting turned on, when you close a datafile to which changes have been made, you will be given options to Save Changes, Discard Changes, or Cancel.
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