The Main Banner Menu
When you first enter Banner 7, the following screen will display.
The Banner menu is made up of many components; and they are:
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Title Bar |
The “Title Bar” tells us that we are running SCT Banner, the form or menu name we are viewing (General Menu GUAGMNU), the version number of the form or menu (7.1), and what database instance we are connected to (PROD). Version numbers ending with the letter “M” (eg: 7.1 M) indicate those programs modified by Hamline University and version numbers ending with the letter “H” (eg: 7.1 H) indicate those programs created from scratch by Hamline University. |
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Menu Bar |
The “Menu Bar” contains the standard Windows options such as File, Edit, Options, Window, and Help, as well as options specific to the Oracle database functions such as Block,Item, Record, Query, and Tools. Menu options will be inactivated and activated depending on whether you are in a form or menu. |
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Direct Access |
In Banner Menus, or in the “Go To Form option in a Form”, you can enter the seven character name for a Banner form, report, quickflow, or menu and you can access that Banner object directly without having to use the Banner menu system. Additionally, searches and scrolling through your direct access is available.
To scroll through the direct access history, press the NextRecord key to scroll forward through your accessed forms, or press PreviousRecord to reversely scroll through your accessed forms.
To search for Banner objects, you can enter the portion of the seven character object name, or the object title that you would like to search for. While searching, you need to enter wild card characters, such as the percent sign (%), or the underscore key (_). The search from the direct access field is not case sensitive. |
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UserID |
The Banner UserID of the person who is currently logged into Banner |
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My Banner |
Personal folder to store commonly access items for quick access You have the ability to add or remove any Banner object that you have access to within your personal My Banner menu |
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SCT Banner |
List of all installed products organized in folders |
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Products List |
The List box with the label Products: is a special list box that gives you a list of the installed products and will navigate to the product menu upon selection. Your mouse button must be held down while accessing the products menu and choices. |
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Menu |
Return from “Site Map” view back to the regular “Menu” view. |
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Site Map |
View a single-page display of the main menu structure of Banner |
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Help Center |
The Help Center link can be used to access the on-line help center. At this time, a master help page is not available through the help center link. To access the on-line help, use the Online Help icon. |
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On-Line Help |
On-line help can be accessed from any menu or form by pressing the Online Help icon which is the second icon from the right on the icon toolbar. Help information will be specific to the form you are in. The help system for Banner7 is now a web based menu help system. |
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Broadcast Messages |
Banner Broadcast Messages are displayed at the bottom of the screen. These messages are sent by the Banner system administrator/DBA. |
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Online Help |
The “Help Line”, along the bottom, is an area where hints or other messages are displayed, depending on the Banner form you are in and the actions you take. It also displays any error messages that may come up and confirmation of information being saved to the database. |
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My Links |
The options located on the right hand side of the menu under the title My Links are available as shortcuts to change your Banner password, access Banner messages, or configure up to six Web pages or Banner objects. The My Links options are configured in the GUAUPRF form.
- Change Banner Password – This link accesses the form GUAPSWD used to change your Banner password.
- Change Banner Password – This link accesses the form GUAPSWD used to change your Banner password.
- Check Banner Message – This link accesses the form GUAMESG used to either send or review messages in Banner.
- Personal Links 1-6 – Configurable links to either Banner objects or Web pages.
- My Institution – This link accesses the Hamline home page.
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Navigation Using Menus
To access information using menus, click the plus box to expand and the minus box to compress a given menu. A vertical scroll bar on the right side of the screen allows you to scroll up and down the frame to see expanded menus that may display off the bottom or top of the page. The menu tree expands down and to the right, indicating the hierarchy of how objects are grouped in Banner. Most people find the items within the product menu of their area (Student, Alumni, Financial Aid, etc) the most useful menu to begin. (The personal menu “My Banner” is actually more useful - see “Creating a Personal Menu” below).
Once you have found the object (form or report) you want to access, double-click that object in the menu. The object type of the requested item determines what appears:
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Object Type |
What Appears |
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Form |
Requested form |
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Job |
Process Submission Control Form (GJAPCTL) with the selected job name in the key information area |
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Menu |
List of forms, jobs, menus, and QuickFlows |
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QuickFlow |
First form in the QuickFlow |
Navigation Using Direct Access
You can also directly access forms, jobs, menus, and QuickFlows by name. Direct Access can be used from a menu or form. To access an object from a menu, enter the object name in the “Direct Access” field which is located next to the “Go To ...” label
From a non-menu form, you can directly access another form, job, or QuickFlow. The calling form is not closed. When you exit the called object, you return to the calling form. (NOTE: You cannot use Direct Access to access a menu from a form. Menus can only be accessed from another menu.)
To directly access another object from a form, select the DirectAccess function from the File pull-down menu. The Direct Access Form (GUAPARM) appears:
To directly access another object from a form, select the Direct Access function from the File pull-down menu. The Direct Access Form (GUAPARM) appears:
Enter the name of the object. If you do not know the correct object name, click the Search button to call the Object Search Form (GUIOBJS) where you can query object names.
Click the Start button or press Enter
Using QuickFlows
A QuickFlow is a group of forms linked into a chain. Activating a QuickFlow opens the first form in the chain. When you exit that form, the next form automatically opens. To create a QuickFlow, you must follow these steps:
- Use the QuickFlow Validation Form (GTVQUIK) to create a QuickFlow ID code and description.
- Press F3 to insert a new record
- Insert a unique code to define the quickflow.
- Tab to the description field and give it a meaningful description
- Press F12 to save the record
- Use the QuickFlow Definition Form (GUAQUIK) to specify a sequence of forms.
- Enter the QuickFlow code that was just created in step 1 or click on the search icon to select from a list of available QuickFlows.
- Press PageDown
- Enter the name of the first form you want to QuickFlow to open. You may do this by typing the form name or selecting from the available forms on the left.
- Press F12 to save the record
- To add another object to the QuickFlow, press F3 or DownArrow to create a new record. Complete steps c and d.
- To use the QuickFlow you just created, Press F10 to go to the main menu and enter the name of the QuickFlow in the Direct Access field.
Enter the name of the QuickFlow or click on the to search for a list of QuickFlow objects.
As an alternate, you may also open the QuickFlow through the File menu. Enter the name of the quickflow or click on the to search for a list of QuickFlows.
Click the Start button or select the NextBlock function. The first form in the QuickFlow appears. When you exit that form, the next form in the QuickFlow appears.
If you want to exit the QuickFlow before all the forms are accessed, select the Exit QuickFlow option on the File pull-down menu.
NOTE: A form in a QuickFlow cannot be bypassed. If you do not have any data to enter on a form, select the Exit function. If the message “DO YOU WANT TO QUIT?” appears, answer “yes”.
QuickFlows work in a loop. After you have passed through all the forms in a QuickFlow, you are returned to the QuickFlow Form (GUAQFLW). At this point, you can either select the Exit function if you are finished, or you can click the Start button or press the NextBlock function key to execute the QuickFlow again.
Creating a Personal Menu
Each Banner user can have a personal menu tied to their Oracle user ID. A personal menu contains forms, jobs, menus, and QuickFlows most important in the workday of the user. The user can access the personal menu by clicking the Organize My Banner link in the Menu under “My Banner”.
The Personal Menu Maintenance Form (GUAPMNU) lets you create and maintain a personal menu at any time:
The left section lets you display existing forms, jobs, menus, or QuickFlows, based on the object type you select. Within each object type, you may also query for particular groups of objects by using the EnterQuery key, a wildcard search (%), and the ExecuteQuery function.
Build your personal menu by double-clicking on one or more items from the list at left (the item will change to a blue color), then clicking on the “Right Arrow” icon in the center, or by typing the object name in directly under the “Name” column header on the right. Once the object name is entered in the right column, you may accept the default description or over-type the standard description with something else.
To add a sub-menu to a personal menu, enter the submenu name “*SUBMENU1”, “*SUBMENU2”, etc. (note the asterisk character followed by the word “SUBMENU” followed by a one digit number. Press NextItem to move to the Description column and name the menu. Press Save to save the submenu name.
Once this new menu item is saved, press the NextBlock key to display a sub-menu entry window. Then place object names in this window area. Use the same procedure to add menu items (see paragraph above). Press Save to save the submenu items.
Press Save to save your personal menu. Press Exit to return to the main Banner menu. Your new personal menu will refresh after clicking on the Menu link on the right side of the Banner menu screen:
NOTE: An alternate way of adding a form to your Personal Menu (My Banner) is to:
- Go to the form you wish to add.
- Right-click the main canvas.
- Select the Add to Personal Menu option.
Need more help? Please contact the Help Desk by email or by phone at 651-523.2220
