Visual Freezers: Part 3
In this continuation of our series on Visual Freezers, we'll look at Aliquots Entry and the new Freezer Graphic you’ll be using when creating and modifying Samples and Aliquots.
Visual Freezers Part 3
In this continuation of our series on Visual Freezers, we'll look at Aliquots Entry and the new Freezer Graphic you’ll be using when creating and modifying Samples and Aliquots.
Video Introduction – 00:00
Hey guys, welcome to the Freezerworks 2019 Learning Series, your visual guide to our sample management software. Today, we're going to continue our series on Visual Freezers by looking at Aliquots Entry and the new Freezer Graphic you'll be using when creating and modifying samples and aliquots.
Sample Entry Form Configuration – 00:34
To begin, ensure that the Freezer Graphic and assignment fields are on your Samples Entry Form. Open Configuration – Data Entry and Display and then select Samples Entry Forms on the mini menu. Whether you're creating a new form or modifying an existing one, you'll want to right-click in the Aliquots Area and select Edit this Aliquots Form, or open the Aliquots Area menu at the top and select Edit Current Form. Now, scroll down through the fields on the palette until you come to Freezer Assignment Fields and Freezer Graphic. The Assignment Fields are the dropdowns to select a Freezer or Alias and the subdivision entry boxes, and the Freezer Graphic is the new fully-interactive Visual Freezers. Add them both to the form to use them in tandem later. Before leaving, you may want to change the size of your Freezer Graphic, as the object is fully resizable in 2019. A good thing too, as freezers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. You may even wish to place the Graphic on its own separate tab, to take full advantage of the space available. And remember that the form itself is resizable by returning to the Samples form and opening Form Properties – Resize Form. Resize it by dragging the corner. There, now our Freezer Graphic can be even bigger than Move Aliquots when adding and modifying records.
Adding Aliquots with the Freezer Graphic – 02:13
Now, let's add some Aliquots and see how Visual Freezers comes into play. Open Inventory Mgmt – Add New Sample. Let’s click Change Form and switch to the form we just created to see what the Freezer Graphic looks like. Here's my giant form, let's click Add Aliquots and add 10. You'll see the Assignment Fields here at the top and a big blue space for the Graphic. To make the picture appear, select a Freezer, Freezer Section, or Alias. Once the picture does appear, you can stop using these fields at the top altogether and instead explore your freezer with the picture to find the perfect spot for your aliquots. The Next Assignable Position (or the NAP) will open automatically once you select a Freezer Section, but you can always use the tabs to backtrack. Freezer Capacity is always turned on so you can see where there's space in your Freezers. The subdivision fields update in real-time as you explore the Freezer and select a location to assign. When you get to the box level and select a blank cell, the number of cells corresponding to the number of aliquots being created will all highlight. Change the number of aliquots, and the picture responds.
You can also change the picture by modifying the subdivision fields. Let's say I actually want to put these aliquots in Shelf 3. I could find Self 3 using the picture, or quickly change the Shelf field to 3. The picture will not redraw immediately, as you may want to edit other fields. When you're ready, click Update Display to see the new location you've entered. And there you go; the location I entered manually is visualized. As you can see, use the assignment fields and picture in tandem to assign your aliquots.
Additional Tips – 04:04
Just a few final things about Visual Freezers in Aliquots Entry. There are two buttons in the top-right corner of the graphic when viewing a box. The first one prints a picture of the current box view, just not with the aliquots you are about to add. The second button changes the graphic to a list of the aliquots in the currently opened box, so you can see more data about every aliquot. Another click returns you to the picture. Finally, if you choose to start assigning twenty or so aliquots at a spot near the end of a box or one with aliquots already in it, like this, an icon will appear in the lower right-hand corner of the form. This tells you the number of aliquots that will be assigned in the next available box. Let's say you don't want that, and you'd rather quickly find a spot where all the aliquots will be stored next to each other. If you check on Find Adjacent Positions right underneath Select Alias, the picture will automatically update with a new box where all the aliquots can be stored next to each other, like so.
Conclusion – 05:00
And that does it for today's look at Visual Freezers in Aliquots Entry. Next time, I'll finally show you how to configure your freezers so that they look and feel like their real-world counterparts. Thanks as always for watching, see you!