Getting started : The main form

On loading the program (by running Markbook90.exe, or clicking on the Markbook90 icon) you are presented with a form containing a menu bar and a grid, initially showing no data. There is space to the right of the grid which will be used later to allow data entry.



The menu options at this stage are:

• File | Create New Direct. This allows you to create a new markbook file by entering directly a list of student names and their GCSE (or other) starting scores.
• File | Create New by importing text file from spreadsheet. This allows you to create the list of students with their scores in a spreadsheet, such as MS Excel (R), then import this into Markbook90. This may be more convenient, particularly if you are supplied with class lists in spreadsheet form.
• File | Open. This allows you to open an existing Markbook90 file.
• >A href="FileQuit.htm">File | Quit. This allows you to exit Markbook90 cleanly. If you have worked on a file but forgotten to save it, you will be prompted at this stage.
• Preferences | Edit On Screen Font. This allows you to alter the display characteristics of the data in the grid.
• Preferences | Edit Report Preferences. This allows you to customise the printed reports produced by Markbook90.
• Help. This gives you searchable help on the application.
• About. This gives version details of Markbook90.

The other menu options are greyed out (i.e. disabled), since they refer to operations on data which has yet to be loaded.
After data has been loaded, the following menu options now become available:

• File | Save. (Only enabled if the data has been loaded by File | Open, so that there is an existing file name in use). This saves the data shown in the grid to the current file. It also creates a backup of the previous version of the data file so that you don't lose the original data if you have made a mistake.
• File | Save As. This allows you to specify a file name for the data. If the file already exists, you will be given the option of overwriting the original file, or cancelling the Save As operation, and redoing it with a different file name. Save As is particularly useful for creating backups of your data files, which you should do regularly.
• File | Export as tab delimited text file. This allows you to save a text file which can then be loaded directly into a spreadsheet, e.g. Microsoft Excel (R). You therefore have full compatibility with other spreadsheets.
• Edit | Add New Student. Allows you to add a new student into the Markbook90 file.
• Edit | Delete Student. Allows you to remove a grid row, corresponding to one student, for instance if a student drops your subject or leaves.
• Edit | Edit Student Name. This allows you to alter a student name (for instance if a misspelling was initially made. The column of student names is normally fixed, i.e. uneditable. Actually, this option allows you to edit anything in the grid.
• Edit | Edit Single marks. This allows you to change the entry for any cell in the grid. It is useful for adding marks of work marked late, after the class set has been added.
• Edit | Delete column. This allows you to remove completely one work item, i.e. one column from the grid.
• Add Marks. This allows you to add a class set of marks for one work item. A panel will appear to the right of the grid allowing you to enter details of the work marked; you then enter the individual marks directly into the grid.
• Reports | Produce report. This brings up a new form which allows you to select either the whole class set, or a number of individual students. Reports as shown in the introduction are then added into the Print window for each of the selected students. You can then print off these reports, either maximising the number per page, or one per page, on your standard printer. A preview option is also available.

See the help topics on each menu option for further details.