Client Usage

This document is the reference about the concepts of the graphical user interface (also known as Tryton client ) of the Tryton application framework.

Name

tryton - Graphical user client of the Tryton application framework

Synopsis

tryton [options] [url]

After startup, there raises the `login dialog`__ and optionally a `tips dialog`__.

Options

--version	Show program version number and exit
-h, --help	Show help message and exit
-c FILE, --config=FILE
	Specify alternate configuration file
-d, --dev	Enable development mode, which deactivates client side caching
-v, --verbose	Enable basic debugging
-l LOG_LEVEL, --log-level=LOG_LEVEL
	Specify the log level: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL
-u LOGIN, --user=LOGIN
	Specify the login user
-p PORT, --port=PORT
	Specify the server port
-s SERVER, --server=SERVER
	Specify the server hostname

Environment

GTKOSXAPPLICATION Activate with native Mac desktop

URL

When an url is passed, the client will try to find already running client that could handle it and send to this one to open the url. If it doesn’t find one then it will start the GUI and open the url itself.

The url schemes are:

tryton://<hostname>[:<port>]/<database>/model/<model name>[/<id>][;parameters]

tryton://<hostname>[:<port>]/<database>/wizard/<wizard name>[;parameters]

tryton://<hostname>[:<port>]/<database>/report/<report name>[;parameters]

where parameters are the corresponding fields of actions encoded in JSON.

Note

model is for act_window

Note

report must have at least a data parameter with ids, id and model name

Overview

The following schematic illustration of the Tryton client shows the names of all important visual parts.

Figure: Tryton client application:

Client Window       ________________________________________________________________
                   |                      Tryton                               _ o x|
                   |----------------------------------------------------------------|
Menu bar           | Connection User Options Favorites Help                         |
                   |________________________________________________________________|
                   |             |          ______                                  |
Tabs               | Menu        |  [Tab1] |[Tab2]| [Tab3]...                       |
                   |-------------| +-------+      +--------------------------------+|
                   | +           | | Menu Tab2                                     ||
                   | |-+         | |-----------------------------------------------||
Tool bar           | | |-        | | New Save Switch Reload | Prev Next | Attach v ||
                   | | |-        | |-----------------------------------------------||
                   | +           | |        _______________________                ||
Search widget      | |-+         | | Filter |                    *| Bookmark <- -> ||
                   | | |-        | |-----------------------------------------------||
                   | | |-        | |                                               ||
                   | +           | |                                               ||
View               | |-+         | |                                               ||
                   |   |-        | |                                               ||
                   |   |-        | |                                               ||
                   |             | |                                               ||
                   |             | |                                               ||
                   |             | |                                               ||
                   |             | |                                               ||
                   |             | |______________________________________________ ||
URL                |_____________| |tryton://______________________________________||
                   |________________________________________________________________|

Menu Bar

The menu bar is the main control unit. It provides most of the functionalities of the client application. The menu bar is grouped into categories. It is controlled with mouse or keyboard. The menu bar items are explained later.

Mouse and Keyboard Use

Most functions of the Tryton client can be accessed with mouse or keyboard. `Key bindings`__ for all menu items are preset. Furthermore all key bindings are manually configurable. To change the binding of a menu item the user needs to put the cursor onto it and simply press the user defined key combination. For this purpose it is needed to activate the configuration of the key bindings with Options > Menubar > Change Accelerators. After the configuration it is preferable to disable Change Accelerators, to avoid accidental changes of key bindings while navigating the Menu bar with the keyboard.

To remove a key binding simply press the delete button while pointing the cursor on the menu item to change.

Note

Usually key bindings are composed with modifier keys.

Additionally the menu bar items are accessible with the Alt or Option key. The user needs to hold the Alt or Option key followed by the underlined character of the menu bar item to choose. To dive into deeper menu levels, he needs to release the Alt or Option key and to simply press the underlined letter of the sub menu item. If there exist several menu items with the same shortcut, repeated activation of the shortcut key will jump to the next one.

The second mouse button (usually right mouse button) provides an additional contextual menu for some views and fields. In this context menu the user finds actions to copy and paste contents or selections for several fields.

Tabbed Main Frame

This part of the client contains all the related contents and functions provided by the Tryton server modules. All aspects inside the main frame depend at least on the individual set of installed modules.

The main frame provides a `tabbed document interface`__ to arrange different views side by side. New tabs are opened by special actions, like choosing a menu item or clicking some action buttons. All tabs include titles which show the name of the provided view.

Tabs can be arranged by Drag and Drop.

Note

Inside views there can be tabs, too.

Menu

The menu does not contain fixed menu items. All of them are dynamically provided by the actual set of the installed modules depending on the access rules of the current user. If a menu item is clicked, the appropriate action will open in a new tab.

Home

A tab opens during the startup of the Tryton client: the home. It is usually an item of the Menu opening when the user calls his `Home`__ action defined in the `preferences`__.

Menu Bar Items

The following section describes the function of each menu bar entry in detail. A rule of thumb: All items of the menu bar that are suffixed by three dots (…) will open an intermediate dialog for setting up the provided menu action. Most dialogs provide a Cancel button, used to stop the complete dialog process.

Connection

The connection menu level provides functions about Tryton server login, logout and closing the client application.

Connect…

By choosing this menu entry the client will be connected to an available Tryton server. A dialog opens to request credentials:

• `Server`__
• Database: Database to connect server side
• User name: Tryton user name to login
• Password: Tryton password to login
• Actions:
  • Connect: Connects to the server with the given credentials.
  • Cancel

Note

Depending on server configuration for session timeout, the actual user may be logged out of the current session, and need to login again. Default timeout for inactivity logout is six minutes.

Disconnect…

Disconnects the client from an active server connection. In case of unsaved changes in an open tab, the Tryton client will request for saving the changes.

Server (connection) dialog:

This dialog is widely used to setup a Tryton server connection. This dialog shows the actual state of the client/server communication. It also shows when there is no connection to a Tryton server at all. The Change button opens a dialog for connection details:

• Server: Network address or IP number of the Tryton server (protocols are not supported)
• Port: Port where the Tryton server listens.

Note

If there is no connection to a Tryton server, many items in menu bar and tool bar are deactivated.

User

This menu bar item controls the preferences of the actual user.

Preferences…

A preference dialog opens, where the actual user can show and edit his personal settings. All user preferences are stored server side. I.e. logging in with the same credentials from different computers always restores the same preferences.

• Name: Real name of the Tryton user.
• Password: Password of the Tryton user.
• Email: Email address of the Tryton user.
• Signature: Signature block for the Tryton user.
• Menu Action: Defines the action which is called as the Menu.
• Home Action: Defines the action which is called as `Home`__.
• Language: Language of the client interface.
• Timezone: The local timezone where the user/client resides.
• Groups: Displays the users membership to access groups.

Menu Reload:

Reload the menu.

Menu Toggle:

Toggle the menu visibility

Home:

Opens a new `Home`__ tab.

Options

The Options menu sets up several visual and context depending preferences.

Toolbar

Default:

Shows labels and icons as defaulted in the GTK configuration.

Text and Icons:

Shows labels and icons in the tool bar.

Icons:

Shows icons only in the tool bar.

Text:

Shows labels only in the tool bar.

Menubar

Change Accelerators:

If checked, keyboard shortcuts can be defined. S. a. mouse and keyboard use

Mode

Normal:

Shows the client in full feature mode.

PDA:

Shows the client in a condensed mode.

Form

Toolbar:

Checkbox to disable/enable the tool bar.

Save Width/Height:

Check box to enable saving of manually adjusted widths of columns in lists and trees. Additionally saving of manually adjusted widths and heights of dialog and popup windows.

Save Tree Expanded State:

Check box to enable saving of expanded and selected nodes in trees/lists.

Fast Tabbing:

Check box to enable fast tabbing navigation by skipping readonly entries.

Spell Checking:

Check box to enable spell checking in fields.

Email…:

Open a dialog to set up an email reader.

• Command Line: The command line calling the email reader.
• Placeholders:
  • ${to}: the destination email address
  • ${cc}: the carbon copy email address
  • ${subject}: the subject of the email
  • ${body}: the body of the email
  • ${attachment}: the attachment of the email
• Examples:
  • Thunderbird 2 on Linux: thunderbird -compose "to='${to}',cc='${cc}',subject='${subject}',body='${body}',attachment='file://${attachment}'"
  • Thunderbird 2 on Windows XP SP3: "C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla Thunderbird\\thunderbird.exe" -compose to="${to}",cc="${cc}",subject="${subject}",body="${body}",attachment="${attachment}"

Note

The path of Program Files may vary dependent on the localization of your Windows version.

Save Options:

Saves all the options.

Favorites

A collection of user defined menu favorites.

Help

Tips…:

Opens the tips dialog.

• Display a new tip next time: If checked, the tips dialog will appear on start.
• Previous: Shows last tip.
• Next: Shows next tip.

Keyboard Shortcuts…:

Shows the information dialog of the predefined keyboard shortcut map.

• Edition Widgets: Shows shortcuts working on text entries, relation entries and date/time entries.

About…:

License, Contributors, Authors of Tryton

Tool Bar

The tool bar contains the functionalities linked to the current tab. Some operations are working with one record or with a selection of records. In form view the actual record is selected for operations. In tree view all selected records are used for operations.

New:

Creates a new record.

Save:

Saves the actual record.

Switch View:

Switches the actual view aspect to:

• Form view
• Tree view
• Graph view

Not all views provide all aspects.

Reload/Undo:

Reloads the content of the actual tab. Undoes changes, if save request for the current record is denied.

Duplicate:

Duplicates the content of the actual record in a newly created record.

Delete:

Deletes the selected or actual record.

Previous:

Goes to the last record in a list (sequence).

Next:

Goes to the next record in a list (sequence).

Search:

Goes to the search widget.

View Logs…:

Shows generic information of the current record.

Show revisions…:

Reload the current view/record at a specific revision.

Close Tab:

Closes the current tab. A Request Dialog opens in case of unsaved changes.

Attachment:

The attachment item handles the document management system of Tryton which is able to attach files to any arbitrary model. On click it opens the attachments dialog. The default dialog shows a list view of the attached files and links.

Actions…:

Shows all actions for the actual view, model and record.

Relate…:

Shows all relate view for the actual view, model and record.

Report…:

Shows all reports for the actual view, model and record.

E-Mail…:

Shows all email reports for the actual view, model and record.

Print…:

Shows all print actions for the actual view, model and record.

Export Data…:

Export of current/selected records into CSV-file or open it in Excel.

• Predefined exports
  • Choose preferences of already saved exports.
• All Fields: Fields available from the model.
• Fields to export: Defines the specific fields to export.
• Options:
  • Save: Save export as a CSV file.
  • Open: Open export in spread sheet application.
• Add field names: Add a header row with field names to the export data.
• Actions:
  • Add: Adds selected fields to Fields to export.
  • Remove: Removes selected fields from Fields to export.
  • Clear: Removes all fields from Fields to export.
  • Save Export: Saves field mapping to a Predefined export with a name.
  • Delete Export: Deletes a selected Predefined export.
  • OK: Exports the data (action depending on Options).
  • Cancel

Import Data…:

Import records from CSV-file.

• All Fields: Fields available in the model (required fields are marked up).
• Fields to Import: Exact sequence of all columns in the CSV file.
• File to Import: File dialog for choosing a CSV file to import.
• CSV Parameters: Setup specific parameters for chosen CSV file.
  • Field Separator: Character which separates CSV fields.
  • Text Delimiter: Character which encloses text in CSV.
  • Encoding: Character encoding of CSV file.
  • Lines to Skip: Count of lines to skip a headline or another offset.
• Actions:
  • Add: Adds fields to Fields to Import.
  • Remove: Deletes fields from Fields to Import.
  • Clear: Removes all fields from Fields to Import.
  • Auto-Detect: Tries to auto detect fields in the CSV File to Import.
  • OK: Proceeds the data import.
  • Cancel

Widgets

There are a several widgets used on Tryton in client side. The follow sections will explains some of them.

Date/DateTime/Time Widgets

Those widgets has several key shortucts to quickly modify the value. Each key increases if lower case or decreases if upper case:

• y: by one year
• m: by one month
• w: by one week
• d: by one day
• h: by one hour
• i: by one minute
• s: by one second

Search Widget

The search widget adds the ability to easily search for records on the current tab. This widget is visible only on tree view.

The Syntax

A query is composed of search clauses. A clause is composed of a field name (with : at the end), an operator and a value. The field name is optional and defaults to the record name. The operator is also optional and defaults to like or equal depending on the type of the field. The default operator is = except for fields of type char, text and many2one which is ilike.

Field Names

All field names shown in the tree view can be searched. Field names must be followed by a :

For example: Name:

If the field name contains spaces, it is possible to escape it using double quotes.

For example: "Receivable Today":

Operators

The following operators can be used:

• =: equal to
• <: less then
• <=: less then or equal to
• >: greater then
• >=: greater then or equal to
• !=: not equal
• !: not equal or not like (depending of the type of field)

For example: Name: != Dwight

Note

The ilike operator is never explicit and % is appended to the value to make it behaves like starts with

Values

The format of the value depends on the type of the field. A list of values can be set using ; as separator.

For example: Name: Michael; Pam

It will find all records having the Name starting with Michael or Pam.

A range of number values can be set using ...

For example: Amount: 100..500

It will find all records with Amount between 100 and 500 included.

There are two wildcards:

• %: matches any string of zero or more characters.
• _: matches any single character.

It is possible to escape special characters in values by using double quotes.

For example: Name: "Michael:Scott"

Here it will search with the value Michael:Scott.

Clause composition

The clauses can be composed using the two boolean operators and and or. By default, there is an implicit and between each clause if no operator is specified.

For example: Name: Michael Amount: 100

is the same as Name: Michael and Amount: 100

The and operator has a highest precedence than or but you can change it by using parenthesis.

For example: (Name: Michael or Name: Pam) and Amount: 100

is different than Name: Michael or Name: Pam and Amount: 100

which is evaluated as Name: Michael or (Name: Pam and Amount: 100)

RichText Editor

This feature create a rich text editor with various features that allow for text formatting. The features are:

• Bold: On/off style of bold text
• Italic: On/off style of italic text
• Underline: On/off style of underline text
• Choose font family: Choice from a combo box the desired font family
• Choose font size: Choice from a combo box the desired size font
• Text justify: Choice between four options for alignment of the line (left, right, center, fill)
• Background color: Choose the background color of text from a color palette
• Foreground color: Choose the foreground color of text from a color palette

Besides these features, it can change and edit text markup. The text markup feature has a similar HTML tags and is used to describe the format specified by the user and is a way of storing this format for future opening of a correct formatted text. The tags are explain follows:

• Bold: Tag b is used, i.e. <b>text</b>
• Italic: Tag i is used, i.e. <i>text</i>
• Underline: Tag u is used, i.e. <u>text</u>
• Font family: It is a attrbute font-family for span tag, i.e. <span font-family=”Arial”>text</span>
• Font size: It is a attrbute size for span tag, i.e. <span size=”12”> text</span>
• Text Justify: For justification text is used paragraph tag p. The paragraph tag is used to create new lines and the alignment is applied across the board. Example: <p align=’center’>some text</p>
• Background color: It is a attrbute background for span tag, i.e. <span background=’#7f7f7f’>text</span>
• Foreground color: It is a attrbute foreground for span tag, i.e. <span foreground=’#00f’>text</span>

Appendix

Configuration File

~/.config/tryton/x.y/tryton.conf      # General configuration
~/.config/tryton/x.y/accel.map        # Accelerators configuration
~/.config/tryton/x.y/known_hosts      # Fingerprints
~/.config/tryton/x.y/ca_certs         # Certification Authority (http://docs.python.org/library/ssl.html#ssl-certificates)
~/.config/tryton/x.y/profiles.cfg     # Profile configuration
~/.config/tryton/x.y/plugins          # Local user plugins directory

Note

~ means the home directory of the user. But on Windows system it is the APPDATA directory.