Input Fields

Overview

Input fields provide a mechanism for you to enter data into the system. You will commonly find input fields in windows in which you fill in or update data about your facility, including when you apply for a permit or submit an emissions or compliance report. You will also encounter input fields in pop-up windows that appear when you invoke particular operations. Each instance of an input field type looks the same and works the same way throughout the system, no matter where it appears. This topic covers the various input types, illustrating their appearance and describing their operation. These include simple data input field types, such as

Text Fields
Fields with Pick Lists
Date Fields
Check Boxes
Radio Buttons

as well as more complex mechanisms such as

Entries in Lists
Data Shuttles

The input mechanisms are listed above in approximate order of the frequency with which you will encounter them in the system.

Although clearly related to the process of entering and editing data, edit operations buttons and data validation are covered in more detail on other Help topic pages (see Related Help Topics below).

Remember, the fields and data you see in the examples described here are just that, examples. They may or may not represent specific fields you will see, depending upon your facility. For example, you may see something here that you will only see in the system if your facility is a Title V facility. However, the examples all illustrate concepts that you will see, even if you won't see the particular example on this page.

Text Fields

Text input fields provide a label identifying the information the field contains and a short box into which you type the information you want to enter into the system. Text fields may be short, where you will enter just a word or two, such as when you want to add someone as a contact for your facility, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Short Text Input Fields

Or, the field may be longer, and may even provide scrolling if the information you are entering is likely to be long. You might see the example shown in Figure 2 when you enter a Compliance Report, to provide corrective action in response to a deviation you are reporting.

Figure 2: Long Text Input Field (with Scrolling)

In either of these cases, you simply place the cursor in the field, type the information you wish to enter and then select Enter on the keyboard or move to a different field on the screen.

Fields with Pick Lists

Pick Lists are fields for which you may choose a value from a list of options that the system presents to you. If the list has a default value, then that value will appear in the field, otherwise the field is blank until you make a selection. In some cases, for example the contact Type field shown in Figure 3, the choices are pre-defined in the system. In others, the contents of the drop down list depends on the window and the field. Figure 4 shows the latter type.

Figure 3: Pick List Offering Pre-defined Values

Figure 4: Pick List Offering Context-sensitive Values

These four fields are the components of an SCC value for an emissions process. The options for any field (each a component of the SCC) depend on the value you select for the previous field. The options offered in the pick list for SCC Level 2 Description are limited to those that apply for External Combustion Boilers. Whether fixed or variable though, you can see the options available to you by clicking on the small blue arrow at the right of the field ( Drop down arrow ). This will bring up the list of available choices. Select a value by clicking on that entry in the option list.

Date Fields

Some pages ask you to enter a date.

Figure 5: Populated and Un-populated Date Fields

You may, of course, simply type in the date you wish to specify. The system accepts nearly all formats for your date input: one or two digits for month and day; two or four digits for year; '-' or '/' to separate the date components. You cannot, however, mix the separator characters in the same date string. For example, 1-6/07 is not a valid input for a date field!

Alternatively, you may select a date from a calendar. Every date input field shows a calendar icon () to its immediate right whenever the field is available for edit. When you click on this icon, it opens to a calendar that allows you to select a date, as illustrated in Figure 6

Figure 6: Open Calendar from Calendar Icon

The calendar initially comes up with the current date highlighted. You may navigate within the calendar, using the month and year pick lists or the left ( move calendar to
previous month ) and right ( move calendar to
next year ) arrows next to the pick lists to move either date component backward or forward. Once the calendar shows the month you want, then click on the day-of-the-month to select the date.

Check Boxes

The check box field shown in is essentially a Yes/No or True/False indicator, sometimes referred to as a 'flag'. If the box is checked, then the item's value is Yes or True; if it is not checked, as on the left, then the item's value is No or False. When you are entering or modifying data, you can change a check box simply by clicking in the box. The top part of Figure 7 shows a check box field from a Facility Detail page, which indicates the facility is not portable. Below that, it shows the Portable field checked, indicating a portable facility. This operation is sometimes referred to as "setting a flag". When you "set a flag", sometimes other fields open for input that apply only when that box is checked. In this case, Portable Group Type and Portable Group Name may both be specified; each of these fields has a fixed set of options defined within the Air Services system and hence is associated with a pick list as described above.

Figure 7: Check boxes for Data Display and Data Entry

In addition, check boxes appear in lists, where you may select (that is, check) one or more items to which you wish to apply some operation, normally described by the label on an operations button at the bottom of the list.

You may see check boxes when the system displays information to you in some locations where you do not actually use the check boxes to enter the data that the checkboxes present. For example, when you enter data for a PTI or PTIO permit application, you complete pick list fields that indicate whether your facility is subject to various Federal Rules, as shown in Figure 8. And, for each Federal Rule that applies, you may be asked to supply one or more additional pieces of information, often in an input table or list.

Federal Rule Applicability input for Permit
Application

Figure 8: Federal Rule Applicability Input for a PTI/PTIO Permit Application

However, when you display the Federal Rules associated with your faciility, the system presents them as check boxes, along with any additional information you may have provided. (see Figure 8).

Figure 9: Federal Rule Applicability Presentation

When they occur in groups, as in Figure 9, each check box is independent of any other check boxes that may appear to be displayed in the group. Whether a check box is marked or does not affect whether any other check box is marked.

Radio Buttons

Some data in the Air Services System is represented by one or more radio buttons. Radio buttons are used, for example, for you to select a single In Progress Task that you wish to delete. Radio buttons allow you to select one of a set or group of items or values. A set of radio buttons may have no item selected, or it may have one item selected, but it can never have more than one item selected. Like check boxes, you select a radio button by clicking inside the circle. If you click on another radio button in the set, then the first one you picked will be un-selected.

Figure 10: Radio Buttons for Data Display and Data Entry

The check box field shown in is essentially a Yes/No or True/False indicator. If the box is checked, as on the right, then the item is Yes/True; if it is not checked, as on the left, then the item is No/False. When you are entering or modifying data, you can change a check box simply by clicking in the box.

Entries in Lists

You will encounter lists in which you wish to enter additional entries, or delete entries that the system displays in many location. You can see one example in Figure 8 where you see lists in which you specify one or more subparts that cause a federal rule to apply to your facility. You will also see longer examples of such lists wherever a list of pollutants is displayed for edit. Figure 10 offers an example of a pollutant list taken from the Emissions Report input page where you will enter the emissions for various pollutants for the year on which you are reporting.

Figure 10: Pollutant List for Edit

This figure actually illustrates several user interface concepts. Check boxes are used here for several purposes, including selecting pollutants that you have already added to the table and may now wish to delete, indicating whether a there are charges associated with each pollutant in the table (you may not edit this one; it's only there for your information), and any information in your report that you wish to remain Trade Secret. The Pollutant, Method, and Unit columns illustrate pick lists, while the data used to report or compute emissions are text input fields, where the required text input is numeric.

At the bottom of the list, you will find the Add Emission Button button which gives you the capability to add pollutants to the list of pollutants for which you are reporting emissions. When you select this button, the system opens a new row in the table with a pick list of the possible values for the key field of the row you are adding (in this case, pollutants). Entering items in a list or table is covered in more detail in the discussion of Edit Button Operations.

Data Shuttle

The data shuttle is an element that appears infrequently in the Air Services system. You will use such an element to control which emissions units are included when you enter the data to apply for an air permit.

Figure 11: Data Shuttle for Adding Emissions Units to a Permit Application

You may select one or more EUs on either side of the shuttle. (To select more than one, hold down the CTRL key while you select the EUs.) Then, select the appropriate button to move the selected EUs in the direction you wish to move them. In this example, the user has selected EUs B011, B012 and B013 from among the currently-excluded EUs. Upon clicking on the right arrow (img src="images/right_arrow.jpg") between the two sides of the shuttle, the system will move these EUs from the Excluded EUs list to the IncludedEUs list. Note that, rather than selecting individual EUs, you may Include ALL the EUs in a facility that are eligible to be included in the target application.

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