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Instructions for Using Notes

9 min read

  1. Select the required level of Note by working with a Project, Test Case or Test run.
  2. If this is a new Note, the display will go immediately into edit mode allowing text to be keyed in.
  3. If this is an existing Note, the current text is shown and a paragraph can be selected for amendment by moving the cursor and pressing F4.
  4. The space on the Screen is the maximum space allowed for a paragraph, although as many paragraphs as required can be created in a Note.
  5. Text can be inserted or deleted using the insert or delete keys.
  6. Line endings should be ignored, any words straddling a line end will be reformatted when the text is displayed or printed.
  7. Pressing enter stores the text in the paragraph, and either provides a new input area for the next paragraph or returns to the display of the Note.
  8. The formatting options can be set for any new text about to be entered or amended.
  9. Press F13 to amend the text style for new text.
  10. To amend the style of text already entered either place the cursor next to the paragraph to be edited, press F4 to edit the text and then F13 to amend the style, or select the text with F7 (the text is highlighted) and press F13.
  11. Text can be deleted, moved or copied by first selecting it. Move the cursor to the text to be selected and press F7. Pressing F7 again at the same place will deselect the text. Multiple paragraphs can be selected and are shown highlighted (reverse image). F12 cancels all selections.
  12. Once text has been selected, additional function keys are shown at the bottom of the Screen.
  13. To move or copy text after selecting it, move the cursor to the target area and when the appropriate function key is pressed (F8 Copy, F9 Move), the paragraph(s) are moved or copied to the space after the paragraph where the cursor was placed.
  14. After a move or copy, the original text remains selected, so it can immediately be moved, copied, deleted or reformatted without re-selection. F12 cancels all text selections. F7 against a line already selected will deselect it.
  15. F3 will exit the Note Editor at which time the changes made can be saved or abandoned.

Note Editor Display

The above screen is the display which shows the content of a Note from which text can be selected and paragraphs selected for editing.

Function Keys:

F3 – Exit Exit the Note editor and return to the previous display. A window will appear asking whether the changes made should be saved or the changes abandoned.

F4 – Edit Edit text for a paragraph. Move the cursor with the arrow keys or a mouse to a line in an existing paragraph, and then press F4 to go into edit mode for that paragraph.

F6 – Add Add a new paragraph at the next paragraph end after the current position of the cursor. Move the cursor with the arrow keys or a mouse to a line in an existing paragraph, and then press F6 to go into edit mode. In edit mode, the last line of the previous paragraph is shown at the top of the Screen to confirm the insertion point and aid continuity.

F7 – Select Paragraphs of text can be selected so that they can be reformatted (F13), deleted (F23), copied (F8) or moved (F9). Single or multiple paragraphs can be selected by moving the cursor to the paragraph and pressing F7. If the cursor remains in the same paragraph, pressing F7 again will turn off the selection. If the cursor is moved to a different paragraph, additional text can be selected by pressing F7. Selected text is highlighted (reverse image). Pressing F12 cancels all current text selections. After a paragraph has been reformatted, moved or copied, the selection remains so that multiple actions can be performed. If the actions on the text are complete, press F12 to cancel the current text selection.

F8 – Copy This function is only available once text has been selected (F7). Select the paragraph(s) to be copied, move the cursor to the paragraph before the position where the copy is to be inserted and press F8 to make the copy. After a copy, the original text selection is still active and so the same text can be copied to multiple locations without re-selection.

F9 – Move This function is only available once text has been selected (F7). Select the paragraph(s) to be moved, move the cursor to the paragraph before the position where the text is to be moved to and press F8 to move it. After a move, the moved text is still selected and so the same text can be moved again, re-formatted or copied to another location without re-selection.

F12 – Cancel This function is only available once text has been selected (F7). F12 cancels the selection for all paragraphs that are currently selected. Selected text is highlighted. F12 turns off the highlight/selection.

F13 – Format This accesses the options for text formatting. If no text has been selected with F7, the style will apply to the next new paragraph keyed in. If text has been selected with F7, the style changes apply only to that paragraph and when enter is pressed, the style changes will be applied and will show on the Note Editor display.

F15 – Top Go to the first line of the Note. * Top of Note * appears at the top of the display.

F16 – Bottom Go to the last line of the Note. * End of Note * appears at the bottom of the display.


Note Editor – Paragraph Edit Screen

The above Screen is displayed when a paragraph of text is chosen to be edited (F4) or a new paragraph is to be added (F6) from the Note Editor display Screen. If starting a new Note, this screen will automatically be displayed ready for the new text to be keyed in.

At the top of the Screen the last line of the previous paragraph (if any) is shown.

The text shown in the editor is not formatted and may appear differently when viewed or printed. After entering text, press F3 to return to the Note view to see how the text is laid out. When keying text, do not worry about line endings, just key the text with spaces and TestBench will automatically format the line endings or hyphenate long words according to the parameters that are set up under the Style option.

The Screen shows the maximum amount of text that can be entered for a single paragraph. A Note can contain a virtually unlimited number of paragraphs. So that it is easy to move and re-format text. It is recommended that paragraphs are kept small so that they are easily moved or copied.

If bullet points are used (see Format options), each bullet should be stored as a separate paragraph.
To end entry of text into a paragraph press enter. If you are adding paragraphs, TestBench will remain in add mode ready for additional paragraphs. If an individual paragraph has been amended, TestBench will return to the Note view Screen.

In edit mode, the field on the Screen for the text is a single contiguous field so that the insert and delete keys can be used to amend text and any text following the point of insertion or deletion will be moved accordingly.

The status line shows the following information after the function keys:-

Left margin-right margin Eg 05-78
New page? Eg 
Alignment Left (<<) Right (>>) or Centre (><)
Blank lines after Eg +1
Text style Eg  abcde (Bullets and underline)

Function Keys:

F3 – Exit Save the changes to the paragraph and return to the Note view Screen.

F12 – Cancel Return to the Note view Screen without saving the changes made to the paragraph.

F13 – Format Access the Format (text layout) window. See below.


Text Format

The text style and layout window can be called up at different times and will have different effects depending on this.

Whilst editing a paragraph. Pressing F13 while editing the text in a paragraph (see above Screen example) will display a window of style layout options. Because this has been called up while editing a paragraph, the choices you see are those for the paragraph, and if changed will apply to that paragraph.

If selecting a paragraph from the Notes view Screen. The same rules as above apply although if multiple paragraphs have been selected, the style layout options shown are those for the first paragraph in the Note selected. Any changes made will be applied to all the paragraphs selected.

F13 from the notes view Screen, without selecting a paragraph. The style layout options shown are those that will be used for any new paragraphs added.

F13 while adding new paragraphs. The style layout options shown are those that will be used for any new paragraphs added, including the current paragraph being added.

Screen Fields:

Left margin The start position (in character spaces) for the left hand edge of the text. Can be used to indent paragraphs. Must be in the range 1-25 characters.

Right Margin The last character position for the right hand edge of the text block. Must be in the range 60-78 characters.

New page Y means force this paragraph onto a new page. This applies to the text as seen in the Notes view and when printed.

Lines after The number of blank lines to be inserted after the end of the paragraph. Use for spacing the paragraphs. Must be in the range 0-5 lines.

Underline Y to underline all the words in the paragraph with a single continuous line.

Emphasise Y to make the text appear in bold, or highlighted when displayed. Highlighted text appears as white when displayed on a colour display.

All capitals Y to convert all the text to capital letters when printed or displayed. In the Note editor, the appearance of the text will not alter.

Bullet Y to format the paragraph with a single leading bullet (•). For multiple bullet points, make each point a separate paragraph by pressing enter after keying the text for each point.

Alignment L = Left. The text on each line in the paragraph will start in the left most position allowed by the margin settings.
C = Centre. The text on each line will be centered within the margin settings.
R = Right. The text on each line will be adjusted to the right margin setting.