The RotaDoc Editor

The RotaDoc editor enables you to edit the rota entries for a section. The editor loads all the data for a section into your browser and enables you to display part or all of the data on the page.

The reason for displaying part of the data is that it can take a long time to generate the display for all of large section (i.e. lots of shifts and a large date range). You can change how much of a section is displayed to suit the performance of your computer (see "Changing the Displayed part of the Section" below). You can get a faster overview of the whole section by clicking the View button. You can click on names in the view to go to that entry in the main editor window.

You can simply make selections using the drop down lists for each entry. These show the worker and/or role currently assigned to that shift on that day. The letters in square brackets indicate Absences.

The data is not stored on the server until you click the "Save" or "Save & Exit" buttons.

You can undo and redo any number of operations until you click the Save or Quit buttons or close the browser window. Do not use the back button on your browser (or the equivalent Alt+left arrow key combination) while in the editor. If you do this the display will not always reflect the current state of your data.

You can perform more sophisticated operations by selecting a range of items: see "Making a Selection" below.

You can save time by using the keyboard shortcuts described below.

Changing the Displayed part of the Section

You can change the displayed part of the section by using the Go button or the arrow buttons (<< and >>). The Go button changes the display to match the setting in the three preceding drop down selection lists: number of weeks to display, start date and whether to display roles, workers or both. The arrow buttons also change the display as the Go button, but the start date is set by moving it relative to the current date.

Changing the displayed part of the section does not save your data to the server or limit your ability to undo or redo operations.

Making a Selection

To make a selection you use the check boxes next to each entry. To select a range, you click the first and the last items that of the range that you want selected.

The days within the range which are selected depend on the selection mode. You can set this to "All days", "Mon-Fri" or "Sat-Sun". You can change the selection mode after making the selection.

The selection mode also affects the repeat and paste functions.

Copy

Copy will copy entries to an internal clipboard (this is not the same as the operating system clipboard use by other applications).

1. Select a range by clicking the checkboes next to the first and last items of the range.
2. Click the Copy button to copy the selected entries to the clipboard.

Paste

Paste will set a sequence of entries to whatever you have copied onto the clipboard.

1. First select a range and Copy it (see Copy above).
2. Select the first item where you want the entries to be set using the checkbox next to the entry.
3. Click the Paste button.

Swap

Swap enables you to easily swap two sequences of entries.

1. First select a range and Copy it (see Copy above).
2. Find the sequence with which you want to swap the copied entries.
3. Select the first item of the sequence using the checkbox next to the entry.
4. Click the Swap button.

Repeat

Repeat will make a repeating pattern of entries. To use repeat:

1. Check the selection mode ("All days", "Mon-Fri" or "Sat-Sun") refers to the days you want filled with the repeating pattern.
2. Setup a sequence of entries which is continuous within the days referred to by the selection mode.
3. Select the range containing the sequence you have set up by clicking the check boxes next to the first and last entries of your sequence.
4. Select the number of times you want the sequence to repeat, counting the sequence that you set up as one. This is done using the drop down list to the right of the Rept button.
5. Click the Rept button.

Find

Find enables you to find all shifts in a section allocated to a particular worker or role.

1. Click the Find button. The Find Window appears.
2. Select a role or worker in the Find Window.
3. Click either the Find Role or Find Worker button as appropriate.

View

Clicking the View button will display a window containing a compact view of the whole section. This display is generally much faster than displaying the whole section in the editor. You can click on the entries to go to that entry in the main editor window.

The View window is not updated automatically as you edit the rota. It is updated (if necessary) whenever you click the View button.

Stats

Clicking the Stats button will open a window displaying statistics for the whole section. You can choose between role statistics and worker statistics. RotaDoc will display worker statistics by default unless you are displaying roles only in the editor, in which case it will display role statistics.

The statistics shown are the number of times each worker or role does a particular shift in the current section. The "All" column shows the total number of allocations to a shift. The subsequent four columns break this down into number of allocations on days from Monday to Thursday inclusive, on Fridays, on Saturdays and on Sundays.

The Stats window is not updated automatically as you edit the rota. It is updated (if necessary) whenever you click the Stats button.

Absence Indications

Absences in the editor are indicated by letters in square brackets after the role or worker names. We use a single letter to conserve space across the screen. The meaning of the letters are as follows:

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use the tab key to move forward to the next rota entry. You can use Shift+tab to move back. You can use the keyboard to select from the drop down lists by typing the first letter of the relevant entry. If you choose Role and Worker short names so that the first characters are unique within a group you can speed up your editing considerably by using the keyboard.

You can use access keys to get quick access to various editor functions. On Windows these are used by holding down the Alt key while pressing another key. The following access keys are available: