Edit Panel Buttons

The edit panel buttons displayed above the edit panel in the main window are a simple means of changing the displayed edit panel. There are a lot of edit panels each used to display a variety of field types. These include the ten custom panels which are totally user configurable in the Custom Panel Editor.

At any given time an edit panel can be associated with one and only one edit panel button. The initial layout when Yate is first installed is:

Clicking on Info will display the Info edit panel; on Artwork the Artwork edit panel, etc. The lower rightmost edit panel preset is initially associated with the empty panel which ... is empty. There is no reason for this except that various edit panels have links to other panels. When a link is pressed and the associated edit panel is not mapped to a button, the last button will be modified and activated. Typically you will map a non empty edit panel to this button in order to have another edit panel easily accessible.

You can rearrange edit panel buttons by holding down the Shift key and dragging a button and releasing it when the hand pointer is in the new desired location.

You can save button layouts and configure the number and layout of buttons on the preset panel from the Edit Panel Layouts context menu item displayed by right clicking on a button.

There are two methods of changing the edit panel assigned to a particular button and accessing special functionality.

Clicking on the Selected Button

The first is by simply clicking on the button which represents the currently displayed edit panel. For example in the above image, The Info button is highlighted which means the Info edit panel is displayed. If you click on the Info button a menu will be displayed which displays the name of all edit panels which are not currently associated with any other button.

This is a quick means of selecting an edit panel which is not displayed on one of the buttons. When you select an item from the menu, the edit panel will be displayed and the title of the clicked button will be changed. There are two oth≈er types of edit panels which are not displayed in this method: Custom panels which have no defined fields are ignored. Further, edit panels which have been hidden are ignored. More on this later.

The previously selected panel on the same button will be displayed at the top of the list except if the empty edit panel was the previous panel.

To summarize, the single click method is a quick means of activating an edit panel that you consider important which is not currently associated with a button. It also can be used to go back to the previous associated edit panel.

Right Clicking on a Button

The second method is by right clicking on a button. A different menu is displayed which provides configuration and access to all edit panels. The top of the menu provides the following items:

Panel Layouts: Yate allows you to save the current button layout and give it a name. It also allows you to change the configuration of the displayd buttons. One or two rows of two to ten buttons can be displayed. Once you've created a saved layout, you can switch to it easily. This menu item displays a submenu which is described in the Edit Panel Layout Manager topic.
Edit Custom Panels...: This menu item activates the Custom Panel Editor which allows you to create up to ten edit panels containing whatever fields you wish. You can also do this via Edit>Custom Panel Editor.
Manage Hidden Edit Panels...: Yate has lots of built in edit panels. Some of these may not interest you. For example Yate supports multiple ratings. The Info panel has a Ratings field but there is also an edit panel named Ratings which can display multiple ratings. If this panel does not interest you, you can hide it from displaying in menus. When an edit panel is hidden it will never display when you simply click on a button. This menu item opens a configuration window which allows you to specify which edit panels, if any, should be hidden. Various edit panels are initially hidden as they are typically of little interest.
edit panel names: This is a list of all edit panels except those which have been hidden. This includes the edit panel associated with the clicked button and all custom panels, empty or not (unless they are hidden). Note that when using the right click method you do not have to select a button first. You could right click on Artwork in the above image and change it to any edit panel. If you select an edit panel already associated with a different button, it will be moved to the clicked button and the previous location will be set to empty.
Hidden Edit Panels: If you have any edit panels which have been hidden, this menu item will display a submenu containing the names of the items. Selecting an edit panel on this submenu is processed exactly the same as selecting an item as above. It is intended for those rare times when you might want to access a panel that you've hidden.
Empty: If for any reason you wish to clear a button of any edit panel association you can select this item.
Help for Edit Panel: Displays the application help for the currently displayed edit panel.

To summarize the right click method provides access to configuration and all edit panels. There is no restriction requiring you to activate (highlight) a button first in order to modify its association.