The inventory editor panel.

Displaying Data
The left-most selection box under the header bar controls what inventory group you are working on.  All items stored in the selected group will be displayed in the list whenever a group is selected from the drop-down list.  The order these items are listed in can be sorted by column type if you click on the appropriate column header button. Some columns feature the ability to filter the items based on the selection box under the column header button.  For example, by selecting “Lidu” from the Mfg (manufacturer) column filter, only items made by Lidu will be listed.

Editing Data
Items are selected in the inventory list by clicking anywhere on the row you wish to select.  This will put the row into edit mode, which makes each item in the row editable as well as populates the detail editor below the list with all the settings of the selected item.  The Mfg (manufacturer)  field in the list row is visible for sorting purposes, but the value is actually set in the Purchasing Data section of the detail editor.  Clicking on the Test button for a selected row will actually fire the effect assigned to the inventory item, causing the editor window to disappear momentarily while the effect plays out on the screen.

TIP: Finding the correct effect to assign to each inventory item can be tedious when using only the category and effect lists found on the inventory list.  Finding the right effect may also require test firing several effects to be sure you have the right one. A more efficient way to work when building out your inventory is to open the Effect Browser along side of the Inventory Editor, then use the Effect Browser for finding and testing the effects you are looking for.  Once you find the effect you want, you can use the mouse to drag the effect from the Effect Browser list and drop it onto the inventory list.  Effects that are drag-and-dropped from the Effects list of the Effect Browser and dropped anywhere on the inventory list will be assigned to the currently selected item in the Inventory Editor.

Add- this button is used to add new items to the inventory group, which will be placed at the bottom of the list and populated with default data values.

Delete- this button will delete the currently selected item.  This operation can not be undone, but a warning message gives you the option to cancel the delete if it was clicked unintentionally.

Clone- this button will create an exact copy of the selected item, placing the new clone at the bottom of the list and making it the new selected item.  This can help save a lot of work when entering many items that are similar, rather than having to enter the same data over and over again.

Auto-Fill- this feature can save some typing if the stock numbers you are entering start with the same code for each item you are entering. Whatever you type in this field will be auto-placed into the stock number field of each new item you create using the Add button.  For example, if you had a hundred six inch ball shells to enter into the system, and the stock numbers for each one begins with “BS6-,” then you would enter “BS6-“ into the Auto-Fill box and save yourself from having to type it a hundred times.  However, using the Clone button to create each new effect would save even more work in this case, since many other settings will have common values for shells of the same size.

Metric/English- the units used to represent shell size and weight can be set to either Metric or English using these buttons.  You may switch back and forth between metric and English units at will, and all visible size and weight values will update accordingly.

The Price Wizard utility for batching price and cost changes.

Price Wizard
The price wizard, which is accessed by clicking the dollar sign button, is a utility that is used for modifying the price data for many inventory items at once.  Since many shells of the same size will often have the same price, it helps to be able to change the price or cost of many effects of the same size all at once rather than one at a time.

The Price Wizard allows you to specify a group of shells based on manufacturer and shell size, with additional filtering based on keywords found in the stock number or description fields.  When the Search button is clicked, the list will be filled with all items that meet the search criteria.

Once the list contains the inventory items that need to be updated as a single batch, you can use the Price and Cost fields to set the new values.  Once the Set button next to the appropriate field is clicked, the new value will be transferred to all items in the list.

NOTE: Care must be taken to insure that the items in the list are correct, since once you change the price or cost data there is no way to undo the change.  While this tool can save you a lot of time, it can cost you time as well if you make a mistake!