ERP Connect
View and interact with enterprise resource planners [Dolibarr, additional coming soon]
ERP Connect for iOS
ERP Connect for iPhone is an intuitive and simple way to view and interact with the enterprise resource planners [Dolibarr, additional coming soon]
Guide to ERP Connect for iPhone
These screen grabs have been taken of the alpha version of Dolibarr Connect and may differ from later versions.
Main Menu
Main menu is the first page loaded and can press “<” back button to return here from other screens.
The main menu displays the modules for Dolibarr that are accessible via the app.
A counter next to each row indicates the number of items updated for this module, a horizontal arrow indicates the number of items, if items have changed in count since the last update a vertical arrow is displayed with the difference.
Items can be rearranged via dragging the menu item interaction bar to the right.
App Information and Notification
Click the title at the top of most screens to show information about the current screen.
From the main menu click the title to show app information including version number and also information about the menu screen.
Click the “Additional Details” link to show information about the URL that was contacted by the screen and the raw return of information from the server if present.
To leave this screen press “OK”.
Edit Main Menu
Select the “Edit” menu button at top right of main menu to access this screen.
In edit mode the main menu items can be deleted.
To restore the default menu click “Restore Default Menu” in the edit menu.
Main Menu Settings
Click the “Settings” icon at the top right of the main menu to access this screen.
From this menu you can select:
Editing – delete menu items to customise the menu.
Load default menu – Reset user changes to menu order and menu items.
Settings – View the app general settings.
Settings
Settings screen can be found from the main menu “Settings” icon in the top right and then click the “Settings” link.
Settings includes:
Dolibarr REST server URL address and API Key – These important settings must be set for the app to attempt to download data from the REST API server.
General settings – many app general settings can be changed to change how the app operates including if the data is refreshed with each page change and whether to display the object counts or not.
User settings – including colour of text and icons and sizes for font and icons to customise the user experience can be changed here.
REST Server address
Click the first link in the Settings menu to change the rest server address.
This setting must be set to locate the Dolibarr REST server location.
If the field is blank or empty the app will not start until this setting has been set.
If the field contains incorrect information the app will not function and attempt to find data will notify the user to check this address is correct.
All the app functions require this to be set correctly, please troubleshoot problems starting here then check the API Key is correct.
If set correctly the app will give feedback from the server for successful 200 connections.
Reset User Defaults
This setting is found in the “Settings” screen.
User defaults includes the following:
Module specific settings made in the “Module Settings” screen such as module address and additional URL parameters for each module as well as app information keys.
Customisation parameters including font and text sizes and colours and background colour.
Click the “Confirm Reset” button to reset these user parameters to default settings.
If you have changed the module settings or customised the app and the app no longer functions according to your first impressions you can reset this data to troubleshoot the issue.
For more serious app issues that have occurred after making extensive user changes it is recommended to reinstall the app.
Background Color Setting
You must press the “color” button in the “background color setting” which can be found from “Menu” to access this screen.
Select a colour from the colour selector to set this as your new background colour.
After selecting a colour you must press “Confirm” to see the changes, if the changes are not seen or only partially seen please exit and restart the application.
It is recommended to select background and font colours that have high contrast with each other to see the information clearly and avoid eye strain.
Font Title Size Selector
Find this menu item from “Settings”.
Enter a number for the font size for the title font to make the app customised to how you want.
Be careful not to set a font size that is too small or too large.
If excessive sizes are selected customisation choices can be reset in “Reset User Defaults” – though this will reset all user settings.
List Items Screen
Click most module items in the “Main Menu” to view a list of items downloaded from the server.
Note – The app must have correct REST address information setup in “Settings” to view this information.
If this information is not shown firstly troubleshoot the issue by setting the correct REST server address and secondly by looking at the “Notification Item” by clicking the list screen “Title” and looking at the server response information.
The latest modified or newest item at the top can be toggled on or off and changed how it is calculated (newest or latest modified) via the “Module Settings” screen.
Information shown can be changed by selecting what key is consulted for title and subtitle and if Unicode icons are shown by using the “Module Settings” screen.
Font sizes and icon sizes and colours can also be changed in the “Settings” screen, these changes are app wide.
The shown active/pending/completed order status can be turned on or off and set to different keys via “Module Settings”.
How many items are displayed can be changed as well, the default is “0” which downloads all data from the server, if this is too slow a different setting can be set – but this will require clicking “next page” to view items – the latest modified item and search results will also only be correct for the currently shown results!
List Items Menu
Click the “Menu List” icon (three bars) in the list screen to see this menu.
This menu includes the following:
Title key and subtitle key information – shows what key is used to both show information and determine what information is sorted, can be changed in “Module Settings”.
Module Settings – click this link to see the settings for each module.
Ascending/Descending – Changes the server request for display of information for example if the title key “ref” is selected and “Ascending” order is selected the server returns results for “ref” in ascending order.
Refresh list – send the request to show items again to see any changes or repeat the request again.
Create New Item
Select the “+” icon from the top right of the list screen to create a new item.
The new item will be created for the module which has been selected to display the items.
The create screen features the most needed keys to have values allocated by the user that are needed to create a new item.
Not all keys available for each item are available – just the basic requirements for creating a new product for example, to fully update the new item and ensure all fields are added please use the native interface for the server.
In some cases not all keys need to have values added, for some new items only a single field such as reference or name need to be added – check the server response to see if the create item was successfully created.
After adding the details press the create item “+” boxed square icon the the top right to upload the new item information.
* Even a successful server acknowledgement and 200 success response does not mean a new item has been created – the only way to make sure is to confirm the new item appears in the items view.
Create New Item Response
After filling out the values for a new item and pressing “+” create from the create item screen the app will upload the data to the server.
When a response is received the user is notified by this screen – which can also be activated by pressing the title notification at the top of the screen.
A status code is returned with an explanation of the meaning and further details can be found by clicking the “Additional Details” link at the bottom of the screen.
Close the notification by pressing “OK”.
If the response is successful when pressing “OK” the app will return to the items list screen and automatically update the items, if the response has an error pressing “OK” will dismiss the notification and the create item screen will still be present.
If an error has occurred pressing the “+” icon will send the data again, multiple presses of the + icon can result in multiple new items in some of the modules where as other modules will only allow a single use of the same reference or name for example.
* Please note that server successful 200 response does not guarantee a new item has been created – the items list must be viewed to confirm the new item is present, in some cases the server logic will not allow a new item for various reasons.
Detail Screen
Select an item from “List Items Screen” to view detail information about this item which has been downloaded along with the item.
To find information in the long list of item details use the search bar.
The list can be customised by display order by selecting “Detail Items Settings”.
Refreshing the item from this screen will specifically ask the server to display results for this item that can be used to see if any changes have occurred.
Detail Sort Menu
Access this menu by clicking the Menu icon in the detail screen.
This menu changes how the information for an item is displayed in the following way:
A to Z and Z to A allow alphabetical and referse alphabetical sorting of the information.
Newest and Oldest filter the newest or oldest item information to the top.
Select refresh to load the information again, this action specifically asks the server to refresh the information for this item.
Detail Services Menu
Select the detail “menu” icon at the top right of the detail screen to see this menu.
This menu lists the various actions that can be performed for this detail item which vary according to the module being used and can include:
Make Edit – select “Make Edit” to make an edit to the detail item’s information.
Delete Product – select this to delete the item after confirming via a confirmation box.
Other menu entries either allow the creation of new content via a create screen, viewing nested information via a list screen and some actions directly perform an action via the server.
Detail Item Make Edit
*Note not all values can be successfully changed, though in some cases the value can be sent and the server acknowledges the new value the original value will still remain – for example a closed order will be limited in changes where the accounting information has already been submitted, you must check the server to see what changes can be altered.
After selecting the “Make Edit” menu item in the detail screen menu the view changes in the following ways.
A “checkmark” icon appears that can be selected to confirm changes made.
The icon for this detail item has a small pencil placed next to it to indicate changes can now be made.
Previously un-selectable values can now be selected, text values can be directly changed and date values can be input via a date selector.
Make Edit to Date
After selecting “Make Edit” in the detail item menu you can change values for the information of this item which are submitted after clicking the “checkmark” icon.
Dates can be changed by selecting the value in the date field and using the date selector to input a new date.
The long number is the value of the date sent to the server in the raw form, this is updated when the user selects a date in the date picker or can be manually changed if wished.
*Note as with other values the server decides if a value can be altered even if the value is acknowledged, in some cases a date change cannot be made even if the request can be sent and acknowledged.
Calendar
Accessible from list view, select the “calendar” icon at the bottom of the screen to show this function.
Calendar shows all date information gleaned for each item retrieved in the list view that has been updated when the user enters each module.
Year, month and day can be selected at the top of the screen to narrow the field of search while the user can swipe to top or bottom to move to the next calendar interval for example the next day.
Click on the item box to narrow the date range to separate the item information further, when the calendar shows “day” you can select each calendar item to view the detail information for this item.
Barcode Search
From the list items view select the “barcode” icon to search for a barcode – this option is only available for some modules and is greyed out if unsupported.
The barcode search uses a specific server command to search only the barcode fields for a product or order or item.
You can either use the camera button to activate the camera and read a barcode or enter the barcode manually by pressing the search box and entering text.
Press the “Search Barcode” search to send the data to the server to perform the search, matching items if found will be returned in a list items screen that can be viewed.
Email Search
From the list items screen select the “email” icon at the bottom of the screen.
This function uses a specific server request to search only the email fields of certain modules for example members.
If the function is unavailable it will be greyed out – this is normal.
Enter the e-mail to be searched for and a specific request will be made to the server to search for members or users that have this e-mail and the results are displayed in a list items screen.
Module Settings 1
Access module settings from the list item view then select “settings” icon at the top right then select “Module Settings”.
Module settings screen details the module settings that can be changed specifically for this module.
There are many different settings that can be reset via the “Reset User Defaults” in the main settings screen.
These settings include:
Latest modified and Newest date toggle the display of the latest item at the top of the items list and toggle what is displayed – either the newest item or the latest modified item.
Sort field instruction – The URL instruction before the value for what is sorted, typically this does not need to be altered.
Module Settings 2
Image URL Address – The app will by default display just an informative icon in the detail information screen but if the “url” key field has a link to an image this will instead be displayed.
The most simple use is that the “url” value holds the direct path to an online image but the other settings can be set to build a path for more complex uses.
Module Settings 3
To build a path for an image the app constructs a path in the following way:
URL + URL KEY 1 + URL ADDITIONAL + URL KEY 2
Keys can be used for some of these so that partial paths and values can be found in the item data.
Direct path information can also be entered for example where URL is shown you can directly add a path to a default image – this will effect all items the same.
Module Settings 4
Title icon and subtitle icon settings can be used to prepend a unicode icon to aid recognition in the list items screen or add some text before each item for example a monetary dollar $ sign if an amount value is shown.
Sort order instruction and value should not need to be changed – these values are sent to the server as a URL instruction and determine how the items are sorted.
Module Settings 5
Results item limit is default “0” and is sent to the server as a URL instruction that allows all the items to be sent in one download for each request to view items.
In most cases this should be okay, in cases where there are too many items this can be changed to a smaller amount for example 500 items or 250 items.
Note this changes how items are displayed and renders the latest modified display as only accurate for the items that have been downloaded, it also limits the search function to these items only.
If the results are limited it is recommended to turn off the latest modified item service.
Add Overview Widget
Select the “graph” icon at the bottom of the list items view to see this screen.
This widgets screen shows the currently selected modules widgets and allows creating and deleting widgets.
Widgets show user chosen data using user selected key and a simple comparison selector.
The optional value compare field if completed will restrict comparison of values to only those that match this field;
Amount + Newest + “Optional value 100” would show the newest value of 100 item.
To see all widgets for all modules use the overview widgets screen from the main menu.
Overview Statistics
From the main menu select “Overview” to show all of the widgets from each module that have been added.
There will no no widgets shown on first use until the user has added a widget to the respective module by selecting the “Widget” icon from the list view.