m-Power Manual

m-Painter Manual Introduction m-Painter Toolbar File Menu View Menu Edit Menu Help Menu Insert Tab Inputs Tab Formatting Tab Context Menu Supported Browsers Introduction After building an application, you have the opportunity to open m-Painter and modify the look and the feel of your HTML presentation layer. In addition, you will be able to edit […]

Using m-Painter Versions to Restore Files m-Painter is a popular component of m-Power for many of our developers. Developers love how easy it is for them to make changes to the HTML source without a deep understanding of the HTML language. During my conversations with customers regarding m-Painter, one question comes up time and time […]

Key Pairs in m-Painter This document explains how to implement the Key Pair feature within m-Painter. Key Pairs are useful for looking up and returning a value for display purposes based on a field substitution value. This grants the flexibility to customize how to display fields to runtime users. Key pairs may be used in […]

Quick Lists in m-Painter The Quick Lists feature in m-Painter can be used for quickly generated dropdown lists, AJAX features, application lookups, and key pairs. This can be very handy and efficient when customizing your applications within m-Painter, as quick lists allow you to create a list within the current application, rather than creating additional […]

Controlling HTML Layout with Grid Mode Controlling the layout of elements on an HTML page has a tendency to be a clunky and time-expensive task. The Grid Layout feature allows developers to have much easier control with adding new elements to the page as well as having pinpoint control of where they are located. This […]

m-Painter Frequently Asked Questions   How do I use m-Painter to… Apply a smartlink to a field? Open a link in a new window? Change the text on a submit button? Stop a column/row/table from printing at runtime? Make an input field required? Increase the number of records allowed in a report? Compiling When to […]

Application Properties Overview While m-Painter allows you to change the look of your applications, Application Properties allows you to control the behavior of your applications. You can access Application Properties two different ways: From the Manage Applications screen, click the gear next to your application and choose Edit Properties. From the "Build & Compile" screen, […]

Case Sensitivity within Applications Occasionally, searching in m-Power may result in returning no matching records, despite matching records existing. For example, the value ‘Chicago’ clearly exists within the CITY field in this retrieval. Now, I’ll search for ‘Chicago’. Despite the value ‘Chicago’ existing, matching records are not found. However, if I search for a numeric […]

Working With Links   Basic Links Link Info Tab Target Tab Advanced Tab Hover Window Popup Window Popup Dialog After highlighting text or clicking on a field substitution, you have the option of inserting a link. While there are many options for inserting links into your applications, this document will cover the Insert/Edit Link window […]

  Import Panel   mrc is proud to announce the latest m-Painter enhancement: An Improved Painter Importing Panel. Now calling multiple applications (creating dashboards) on one page is easier than ever. Some of the recent improvements include: Preview — You can now see a preview of what you are importing, directly via m-Painter. Auto-Parameters — […]

Widget Panel   Jump to: Grid Widget Tabbed Widget Accordion Widget Release Notes The m-Painter Widget panel allows developers to add additional structure to their application by adding layouts that better organize the output. Available options are: Grid Widget — The most popular dashboard layout. Users can see all sections at one time. Tabbed Widget […]

One of the best features about m-Painter is that it works very well for both less technical users as well as the more advanced users. For instance, those who are not very familiar with web languages, can choose to stay in m-Painter’s design, or WYSIWYG mode for “What You See Is What You Get”. This […]

m-Painter AJAX Helpers AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) is often used for interacting with a data server through a browser page without needing to refresh. You have already seen AJAX in use with Multiple Record Inquiries. As you enter text into an Advanced Search input box, the page begins to suggest valid data for you! […]

Runtime Calculations Runtime Calculations are ideal for customers who wish to perform calculations like averages at the Subtotal Level, or finding a percent of a of Grand Total. For instance, let's say that we would like to pull up a list of Products and see their Month to Date units sold. I would also like […]

  On the m-Power hotline, we sometimes field calls from developers who are trying to compute values based on subtotal or grand total values within their Reports. As you already know, m-Power Report templates, by default, will always add values vertically to compute sub-total and grand total values. As you can see here, m-Power is […]

Create Calendar Helper in m-Painter   To implement the Calendar Helper functionality in your application, open m-Painter. Click on the input field to which you would like the calendar functionality applied. Either select the "Calendar" button from the m-Painter toolbar or right-click on your input field, and select "Insert/Edit Calendar". If you see the below […]

Create Lookup Window in m-Painter   The Lookup Window is popular because: Lookup Windows are a viable alternative to dropdown lists. mrc recommends using dropdown lists when there are less than 100 options to select. Lookup Windows have no size limitation. Lookup Windows allow your user to filter and paginate through records easily. Lookup Windows […]

Create Dropdowns in m-Painter   Jump to: Creating Drop-Down Lists from the Current Application Creating Drop-Down Lists from an External Table Creating Combobox Drop-Down Lists Creating Drop-Down Lists in the Interactive Report Template Release Notes This document explains the two ways to implement drop-down lists: From the current application (applies to Retrievals & Reports templates) […]

Override Default SQL Statements   m-Power applications allow you to have the ability to manually override the default SQL statement. Some customers wish to do this to be able to fully customize which data is extracted from the database. To do this, build your application as you normally would. In the illustration provided below, we […]

  Add Google Maps to your Applications   Some common purposes of the Google Maps are: Map a list of available products and where your customer base may find them Visualize the location of your nationwide fleet Embed closed order addresses to determine shipping logistics Map a list of current clients to see what geographical […]

Customize Error Messages in your Web Applications   Many developers want flexibility. Appropriately, they deserve it! One way to get flexibility within your m-Power applications is to customize your error messages. While m-Power generates generic terms such as "Invalid User" or "This record already exists" automatically, you can override these messages to something much more […]

Copy an Application (including m-Painter changes)   The m-Power web interface includes a very useful tool that allows you to copy an application. You have a variety of copying choices: Copy an Application of any type to the Same Data Dictionary Copy an Application of any type to another Data Dictionary Promote a Retrieval to […]

Use "Page Name" to show different outputs for one application   Perhaps one of the greatest, little known features of m-Power is the use of the Pagename function. The Pagename function allows you to create any number of output pages, then be able to specify which output is displayed to the user. This could be […]

Use Field Substitutions within HTML Attributes and Inline Styles   m-Painter allows field substitution parameters within HTML attributes and CSS styles. This document will help to explain how m-Painter can be used with field substitutions. Some HTML attributes accept any character data as valid; for example, title, alt, and class can be set to any […]

Troubleshooting m-Power Applications Debug SQL Statement Occasionally, m-Power developers need to better understand why their m-Power applications are not working as expected. At our technical support hotline, we’ve noticed that two issues come up frequently: Generated applications are not returning the anticipated record set and Dashboard applications do not render as anticipated. To help with […]

Advanced Selection Dialogs   This feature allows users will have the option of utilizing advanced selection dialogs within their m-Power applications. These selection dialogs will replace the current filter row within the application’s main data table, maximizing your end user's screen real estate as well as giving users an easier to use top-down searching list. […]

Advanced Search Options m-Power offers two Advanced Search options, an Advanced Search Row and an Advanced Search Dialog. When the Advanced Search Row is enabled, end-users can select a relationship from a dropdown within the header and enter a value to search. Note that the relationship is abbreviated within the dropdown. Also, end-users can specify […]

AJAX Form Submission   This feature allows users have the option to submit all forms via an advanced web technique called AJAX. AJAX stands for Asynchronous Javascript And Xml. This technique submits and returns data asynchronously so the page does not require a reload. Your users will like this feature as it means their interaction […]

Color Coding via m-Painter To help highlight data patterns, developers often employ the use of conditional styles to color code their data. For example, when a percentage is greater than 80%, you may wish to make that data cell green, whereas otherwise you would want to continue to leave it as a white background with […]