User's Guide
Introduction
Documentation and Help
The text you are reading – the User’s Guide – will lead you step
by step through Sfairadora key functionalities. If you have some experience with computers,
you may find it useful to take a look at a quick
overview in the next section.
This text is identical to the text of the User’s Guide contained in Sfairadora
(where it is accessible through the menu item Help|User’s Guide
or the keys Ctrl+F1).
When you launch Sfairadora for the first time, the Context Help window
opens in the upper right corner of your screen. This window continuously displays an explanation of the
part of the application that you are currently working with. Usually, you will see multiple topics covering
different options – for example, there will be one topic explaining the currently active item and
another topic explaining the entire active window. When you have closed the Context Help
window, you can always reopen it by the F1
key or from the Help|Context Help menu.
Comprehensive and detailed documentation outlining how Sfairadora works can be found
in the Reference Guide. Both the User’s Guide and the
Context Help also contain links to the Reference
Guide whenever a more detailed explanation is required. You can open the Reference
Guide window from the Help|Reference Guide menu.
Key Features of Sfairadora
Intuitive data model:
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o
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Tables can be grouped and regrouped
with ease. More
…
o
Transparent syntax of expressions
for computed items (unlike in spreadsheets, you can simply write, for example, price * count
instead of E10*F11). More
…
o
o
o
o
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Import and export of data possible
both from/to relational databases, Excel and plain text files.
More…
Interaction of data and text:
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Creation of text output from
data by mouse drag and drop. More…
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Built-in text editor editing
formatted text. More
…
o
Loading and saving texts in the
RTF format.
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Well-arranged presentation of data:
o
Display adjusted to
contents so that you see all you need in a clear layout.
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Transparent error diagnostics.
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For Experts
The following features allow you to use Sfairadora for the quick development of simple
applications:
R-D/C presentation model:
o
Easy creation of presentations
at any level of complexity.
o
Concept of a presentation as
a program.
o
All properties can be specified
by an expression and automatically updated.
o
Enki programming language:
o
A single language for simple
expressions as well as complex programs so that the sophistication of your solution can increase according
to your needs.
o
Handling of errors using the
concept of non-strict value.
o
Easy syntax of data search and
aggregation.
o
Functions for the manipulation
with pictures and formatted texts.
o
Enkidu language templates:
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Easy creation of formatted text
outputs.
o
The initial version of the template
can be created automatically according to the data structure.
o
All properties of a document (data type, presentation definition, etc) can be referenced by programs
through the definition objects. More…
Next:
Quick
Overview
© 2010 Diotima s.r.o., all rights reserved
Přemyslovská 14, 130 00 Praha 3-Vinohrady, The Czech Republic
Tel./fax: +420 222 727 040, e-mail: sfairadora@diotima.eu
Přemyslovská 14, 130 00 Praha 3-Vinohrady, The Czech Republic
Tel./fax: +420 222 727 040, e-mail: sfairadora@diotima.eu