Applies to QEST Web App

Contents

Overview

Lists have been part of QESTLab for a long time and provide many benefits for the user.

• Lists of reference data allow for a controlled vocabulary and permit users to complete the data entry for tests and results in a consistent and efficient manner. These can be project-specific items like approved mix designs or more general items like descriptions of the weather.

• Drop-down menus across different data entry screens and products are populated by reference data from these lists. Lists can have local or global scope, meaning the items contained in a list can be available to either all laboratories or just one laboratory.

When the QEST Platform transitioned from QESTLab to the QEST Web App (QWA), lists were updated, as necessary, and added into the QWA.

User Access to Lists

The list functionality available to a user is linked to the permissions allowed for the role, or roles, assigned to the user.

• List permissions are controlled through the Roles node in QESTLab.

• It is possible to grant read, edit, add and delete permissions to users.

• The ways that a user can change a list depends on which of these list permissions have been assigned to them, through their role or roles.

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Accessibility

A list can be accessed by a user if:

1. The list is (Global Only or Local and Global) in scope AND

2. The user has permissions to the global laboratory AND

3. At least one of the user’s mapped roles has at least Read permission to the list at the (Global) laboratory.

OR

1. The list is (Local Only or Local and Global) in scope AND

2. At least one of the user’s mapped roles has at least Read permission to the list at one of the non-global laboratories AND

3. The user has permissions to at least one of the same non-global laboratories

Appearance

Lists will appear differently, and/or have different behaviors, depending on what list permissions the users have.

Finding a List

Lists are found in the Reference menu, along with Specifications on the QEST Web App home page.

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• The lists are grouped by Sample Type, or as General Data Entry functionality.

• Individual lists are found under each heading.

• Clicking on the list name will open the list.

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Structure of a List

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Lists have a generic format which consists of two main parts:

1. Header

2. Body.

Header

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The Header generally consists of four sub-sections:

1. A “bread crumb trail” to allow backwards navigation.

2. The list name.

3. A filter sub-section to assist in finding the required list entries.

4. An Add Entry button.

Filter Sub-section

Add Entry Button

Clicking on this button allows a new entry to be added to the list. Full details are described below.

Body

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• The body of the list consists of a grid displaying the list entries.

• The header row of the grid displays the names of the fields contained by the list entries. The fields will differ in type and number, depending on the actual list requirements, but lists of the same type, for example Materials Supplier lists, will usually have the same, or similar, layouts.

• Each row of the grid contains one list entry with its value for each of the fields.

• Various icons can also be associated with each entry.

• There is also a degree of variability in appearance and editability of the list entries. The editing of list entries is discussed below in more detail.

Appearance

As mentioned above, lists can be expected to have different appearances and/or behaviors depending on what list rights the users have.

Icons

The following list contains icons that may be used as part of list entries.

Icon	Description
Open	Scope of list entry is local.
Open	Scope of list entry is global.
Open	The key fields of the list entry can be edited by clicking on this icon.
Open	Link to all of the editable contents of the list entry.
Open	Deactivate/Reactivate list entry button
Open	Delete list entry button

Not all of the icons are present on entries in all lists..

List Entry Scope

The availability of list items can vary between individual laboratories and is controlled by the scope of the individual list items. There are two types of list item scope available:

Icon	Description

Icon	Description
Open	Local - list item is available only to the laboratory where it is created.
Open	Global - list item is available to all laboratories.

Any list entry created while the selected laboratory name is “Global” will have global scope.

Any list entry created while the selected laboratory name is not “Global” will have local scope.

Lists may contain:

• Global list entries only;

• Local list entries only;

• A mix of local and global list entries.

Include Global Checkbox

This checkbox is only visible when both global and local items are allowed in the list.

Selection	Action/Description

Selection	Action/Description
Open	Both global and local list items can be displayed in the list of the available list items for the selected laboratory.
Open	Only local list items are displayed in the list of the available list items for the selected laboratory.

Finding a List Entry

When lists are so small that their entire contents can be seen easily, this functionality is not really required and can be ignored. However, when lists have so many entries that their contents need to be scrolled through to find a particular entry, finding that entry can be speeded up by using the Search functionality to produce smaller lists.

Any text, letters or numbers, can be typed into the Search field.

When the Enter key is pressed, or the screen is clicked anywhere outside of the text field, the entered text is used to find any list entry where that text exists in any of its fields.

A new list will be displayed containing only the list entries with a match for the search text.

Making Changes to Lists

Lists can be changed by:

• Adding new list entries;

• Editing existing list entries;

• Making existing list entries inactive;

• Deleting list entries.

Adding a List Entry

Clicking the Add Entry button shows the dialog:

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The required information for the new entry is added:

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The new item is added to the list:

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Editing a List Entry

List entries can be edited using a variety of methods, leading to variations in appearance between lists.
Combinations of these methods may be found in a single list entry.

Example	Description

Example	Description
Open	Icon is a link to the editable content of a list entry. This method of editing is available for all list entries.
Open	Icon is a link to a dialog to edit key fields.

Editing Content

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If this icon is clicked, the contents of the list entry are opened for editing. Mostly, editing a list entry item is a simple process of adding or changing text in the required fields.

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Sometimes the list entry’s contents may be slightly more complex.

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In this example, a Change button provides a dialog to edit key fields.

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Clicking this icon, in the list view, also displays the above dialog for editing key values.

Deactivating or Deleting a List Entry

Deactivation

Deactivating a list item is achieved by clicking on the associated Deactivate/Reactivate list entry icon.

A confirmation dialog is provided.

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Once the deactivation is confirmed, the text of the deactivated entry will be shown in italic and a Delete button (icon) will be added.

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A deactivated list item:

• Will no longer appear in lists of the available list items shown on worksheets.

• Can be reactivated by clicking on the Deactivate/Reactivate icon again.

Deletion

Before a list item can be deleted it must be deactivated so that the delete button is shown (see above).

A confirmation dialog is provided before deletion is actually carried out.

Special Cases/Mentions

As discussed previously, a number of lists were changed by the migration process from QESTLab to the QWA. Comments are provided for some of these lists below, and are relevant to pre-QEST Platform v5.7 users.

Concrete Mix List (20168)

This list replaces the QESTLab list Concrete Mixes (20021) and is quite different in appearance, and functionality, from the original.

Despite the changes, the list still shares the common list functionality found in most QWA lists. More information about this list and its contents can be found in the article: Lists for Concrete Samples in QEST Web App | Concrete Mixes List (20168).

Concrete Specimen Set Templates List (20165)

This list replaces the QESTLab list Concrete Test Groups (20011), in the QWA.

Although this list shares the common list functionality found in most QWA lists, the entries used with this list are more complex than most other lists. A detailed description of this list and its contents can be found in the article: Concrete Specimen Set Templates List .

Lists and QESTLab

Background and Context

While a number of lists have been migrated to the QWA, others remain in QESTLab. For this reason, the migrated lists are still accessible in QESTLab.

However, the lists that have been migrated will appear differently when edited. This is because the migrated lists need to be edited using the QWA and not QESTLab. This will ensure ongoing compatibility as list functionality continues to evolve in the QWA.

Lists that have not yet been migrated will continue to behave as normal in QESTLab. Information on lists in QESTLab is provided in the article:Managing Lists in QESTLab.

Migrated Lists

When viewing a migrated list in QESTLab, the user is presented with a web view showing the page for the selected list with the modifications described below,

1. The toolbar options are reduced to remove the ability to add, save or delete records.

2. The Data Filter is not shown.

3. The File → New List Item and File → New Copy List Item menu items have been removed.

List Page Modifications for QESTLab View

Set and Disabled Laboratory Drop Down

The Laboratory drop down is set to the laboratory currently selected in QESTLab, and disabled.

Breadcrumbs Base Level Changed

The breadcrumbs navigation system for lists has been modified to the page of the selected lists, to prevent the user from navigating back to the base Lists page.

Enabled Links

Generally, users are able to follow links in this web view to allow for ported list items to be modified as required.

One exception: The link, for creating a new specification for concrete mixes, has been disabled in the QESTLab view.