Can any one have document of advantage of using GUI interface compared to ascii interface

I don't have a document on the subject, but I can tell you from my experience that the windows interface of Baan IV (if that is what you are talking about) has its advantages and disadvantages.

Pro:
- you can open mutiple sessions in mutiple windows and put them next to each other on your screen
- you can maximise session windows, it will show more records in forms of type 2 (provided the form of that session supports it)
- windows client supports client2server/server2client file transfer, easy to setup a print device that opens report output in Word/Excel
Con:
- especially for staff that does a lot of data-entry, lets say warehouse staff, it's easier to everything with shortcuts, so that your hands can stay at the keyboard, instead of having to switch between the mouse and the keyboard all the time: takes more time and more likely to cause RSI.
- when we started to use the windows interface, I was sometimes outraged when I found that strange errors were occuring, caused by not properly programmed session, e.g. program scripts were depending on variables set or initialized in before.input/after.input or the check.input sections of the script.
You will find that users will use a 'windowed' sessions completely different then a session in the ascii interface: in the windows interface they will use the mouse to click in one of the ten selection fields, fill something in and click on 'Continue' (and thus skipping all those 'before.input' and 'after.input' checks. In the ascii interface they need to go through all fields before they can continue. Try to explain a user that he/she has to <tab> trough all fields in a windowed session.

For sure there are mor advantages and disadvantages.
Maybe others can add to this.

regards,
Robert

GUI
- users will learn more easily this one since the controls are windows look&feel
- much slower
- work for NT and UNIX servers

ASCII
- you need to learn the key combinations to use it fast and it's a text mode only (within a graphical world)
- way faster than GUI
- limitation of display certain fields duw to screen restrictions
- users must do a telnet access to the UNIX box (even if you can build a menu to start certain programs or start ba6.1 straight away)
- UNIX world only

I would say that Baan sys. admin. tasks are done thru ASCII (if you also mantian the OS, etc.) and application users use the GUI.

A Few More ....

There are few more options available even with the GUI mode which most of us didnt yet explore so I think its a good idea to present them here.

Its called the Message Mode.

Being a BAAN IV guy... What is Message Mode?

This is from the documentation-


iBaan ERP Tools
Release Notes for iBaan ERP 5.2a

Message mode
Your message mode determines how and when:
You validate data in a field.
iBaan ERP displays any text feedback prompted by the validation of a field’s
data.
You can select your message mode by means of the User Data (ttams1100s100)
session’s Message Mode field. You can start the User Data (ttams1100s100)
session from any overview session by selecting Tools ► Options.
In addition to Interactive Mode and Page Mode, iBaan ERP 5.2a includes the
new Non-interrupting Mode. In Non-interrupting Mode, a field’s data
automatically validates when you move to a new field. Any messages prompted
by the field’s validation display in a separate non-interrupting Messages
window.
Auto complete
In iBaan ERP 5.2a, string fields, and multibyte string fields that have a direct
reference to another iBaan ERP table, can support Auto Complete functionality.


If you are in a page mode, then there is no field level validation during data entry and all the checks are fired after the continue or save button is pressed, it acts like a HTML page.
This will save a lot of network bandwidth, as it reduces communication between the client and the bshell engine.

I will try to find more info and post it up here.

One problem with Page Mode is that the messages were written to be called from the field section they are in. So..sometimes you will get a message and not be able to figure out which field it came from. Especially true of date message when there are numerous date fields on a table. The generic 'Date not allowed' type of error will be harder to track down.

Here is more info for reference -

GUI vs ASCII

I "grew up" with Baan Gui (Baan IVa was my first Baan version). I really don't like if I have to switch back to ASCII (in some remote access configurations I have to). The main advantges of GUI I notice then are:

1. You can make more use of your computer screen space, since - as it was said above - you can open multiple sessions and put them one beside the other.

2. Visullay GUI is far more ergonomic. However it's really a bad design mistake that one can't select records in multi-occurence forms without using
the mouse.


3. The most important thing I notice is, that in Gui it's far more easier to work with the different types of sessions and especially with reports printed to the display device: Let's say you want to dome some research why a certain invoice has been booked on the wrong ledger accounts. You will probably open some sessions in parallel: You print the invoice again to screen, open the integration record table, open some sessions the integration settings. You can leave them all open and put them on a way to the screen, that the references you need (like transaction number, order number...) are visible all the time.
Within ASCII, switching between the open sessions (F6, or was it F10?) means you always see the information of ONE session or report. You will start taking notes, writing order numbers down, and you need to switch back far more often because you want to make sure that you really noted have the right information.
In short: I believe using the Gui in such an environment is far more productive.

4. If I have to do programming, and if anyone tells me I will have to use this terrible vi instead of a Windows based editor, I will scream. Honestly.

Uli

2. Visullay GUI is far more ergonomic. However it's really a bad design mistake that one can't select records in multi-occurence forms without using
the mouse


I have to clarify that evening GUI you can use the keyboard to select multiple records. Use "space bar" to mark the current record then use up or down arrows with "space bar" down to select multiple sequential records.


4. If I have to do programming, and if anyone tells me I will have to use this terrible vi instead of a Windows based editor, I will scream. Honestly.


Seems you are not a VI lover as me... ;)