Much of the information you can access and manage in SmartAdvocate is presented in the form of a table. There are slight differences among the various tables in SmartAdvocate, but most share the same fundamental interface. This section describes the general structure of SmartAdvocate tables and lists the most common features.

General Structure

In most cases, SmartAdvocate uses rows to represent the individual objects whose information is being stored (e.g. plaintiffs, deadlines, etc.), and columns to represent the various pieces of information about those objects (e.g. the name of the plaintiff, the date of the deadline, etc.). Tables are divided into pages, each of which includes up to a certain number of rows (this number varies depending on the table). Only one page of a table is visible at a time. (See the pagination tool below for navigating between pages of a table.) Even a single page of a table may be larger than what can fit on a screen. If so, the vertical scroll bar at the right side of the table will be active, for use in scrolling through the results on a given page. This scroll bar only affects the table, not the entire screen or panel; a few screens and panels have both a scroll bar and a table with its own scroll bar. A few tables also have horizontal scroll bars because they have too many columns to all appear on the screen at one time.

Many tables have one or more non-data columns. There are two main types of non-data columns: actions and check boxes. Action columns consist of an icon or set of icons, usually the same in every row, that can be clicked to perform some action on that row. The name of an action column is usually "Action" or "Actions," but can vary. Common icons in action columns include the Edit icon, which brings up the edit panel; the Right-click icon, which brings up a menu of options that can also be accessed by right-clicking anywhere on the row; and the Delete icon, which deletes the row (there is a confirmation message first to avoid accidental deletion). Many of the other icons that may appear in certain tables in SmartAdvocate are described in the Icons chapter of this manual. Checkbox columns consist of a checkbox in every row, and the column heading may also be a checkbox. These columns are used to select multiple rows in tables that allow various types of mass actions.

Adding Rows

Some tables have a button for new record creation. This button will be to the upper left of the table and is labeled "Add [the type of item in the table]" or "New [the type of item in the table]". Clicking this button will bring up the same panel as the pencil icon, but with all of the fields blank or set to their defaults. Saving changes made in this panel will create a new row in the table (whereas saving changes made in the panel brought up by the pencil icon will only change an existing row of the table).

Export Icons

Some tables have icons at the upper right of the table, next to the word Export. These icons allow you to export the table to various file formats. The Adobe icon  exports to a PDF file, the Excel icon  exports to an XLS file, and the Word icon  exports to an RTF file (usable in Word and other popular Word processors). Since it is not possible to change the page layout in the PDF once it has been created, and the standard page layout is not well suited to displaying large data tables, it is not recommended to export to that format unless you are only displaying relatively few results and relatively few columns.

Sub Tables and the Open/Closed Column

Some tables have an open/closed column as their leftmost column. The open/closed column has no heading, cannot be resized, moved, or hidden, and the only thing in the column is an open/close icon (generally a plus sign if the column is closed, or a negative sign if the table is open) in each row. The plus sign indicates that each row of the table contains one or more sub tables. A sub table is a table that is specifically related to the row containing it. For instance, each row in a table of medical providers will have sub tables listing Medical Visits, Medical Bills, and Amount Paid for that particular medical provider. The sub tables appear immediately below the row containing them (i.e. between the row containing it and the next row of that table), indented slightly to the right. To view the sub tables belonging to a particular row in the table that contains them, click the open/close icon (the plus sign) in that row, which will cause it to change to a negative sign (indicating that the sub table is open) instead of the plus sign (indicating that it is closed). If a different row in the same table was previously open and displaying sub tables, it will automatically close; at most one sub table in a given table is ever open at a time.

Pagination

Some tables, if there are sufficient rows, divide the results into pages. These tables will have a pagination tool to the lower left of the table. It will tell you what page of the results you are on, how many pages of results there are in total, and how many individual results there are in total. It also allows navigation between pages. You can either click the Page Left ("<") or Page Right (">") buttons, which will respectively move back or forward one page of results, or click one of the numbers between those two buttons to move directly to that page. (If there are many pages of results, only a few page numbers will be visible to click on, so this shortcut will only be useful for skipping to the end or beginning of the results.)

Filtering Tools

Some tables have the Create Filter link, which is at the very bottom of the screen, below the pagination tool (if the pagination tool is present). Clicking either the Create Filter text or the pin icon immediately to its left will bring up the Filter Builder panel. If there is already an active filter, the Create Filter text will be replaced by the text of the filtering condition (you can click to edit that condition in the Filter Builder panel). Additionally, there will be a checkbox to the left of that text that can be used to temporarily deactivate the filter, and all the way on the right will be the Clear button, which will eliminate the filter entirely. In some cases, if there is no active filter, the Create Filter tool will not appear in the table, but if there is an active filter, the text of the filtering condition will appear.

There are usually simpler ways of filtering the results than using the Filter Builder. Immediately below the column headings in the table is a row of empty input fields (except in non-data columns), into which you can enter text to filter the table on that column.

Each empty input field also has a pin icon next to it. Clicking this pin icon after you have entered text into the associated field allows you to change the way that text is used to match the data in the table. For textual columns, you can choose to find data that "Begins with" the text, "Contains" the text (which is the default), "Doesn't contain" the text, "Ends with" the text, "Equals" the text, or "Doesn't equal" the text. For numeric columns, you can choose to find data that "Equals" the number, "Doesn't equal" the number, "Is less than" the number, "Is less than or equal to" the number, "Is greater than" the number, or "Is greater than or equal to" the number. For date columns, you must enter a date (using a Date-widget dropdown), and its pin icon presents the same options as numeric columns, except that "less than" and "greater than" mean "before" and "after," respectively. You may enter text into multiple columns, which will only retrieve data that matches every column with text in it (i.e. it will create an AND filter). Filtering the table using the input fields may automatically create a filter in the Filter Builder and apply it to the table. The created filter will replace the Create Filter tool (just as a filter created in the Filter Builder does) and will be accessible (and editable) in the Filter Builder panel by clicking it.

There is one even simpler way of filtering the results. Some column headings themselves have pin icons next to the name of the column. Clicking the pin icon in a column heading will bring up a list of all the distinct contents of the cells in that column.

In some cases, there will be a checkbox next to each item in the list. If there is no checkbox, you may simply select one of the options in the list, and the table will only show results matching the option you selected. If there are check boxes, you may select any number of the check boxes to only show results matching one of the items you selected. After selecting whichever check boxes you wish, press the OK button below the list to save your selections and create the filter. You can press the Cancel button instead to undo your selections and close the list. If none of the check boxes are selected (which is the default), or if the "(Select All)" box is selected, none of the results will be excluded based on that column. (Technically, if the Select All box is selected, it will create a filter, but that filter will have no effect on which results appear.) Selecting every box except the "(Select All)" box will automatically also select the "(Select All)" box. You may use this list filter on multiple columns, much like using the text-entry filter on multiple columns.  Indeed, you may also use the list filter on some columns and the text-entry filter on others. (You may not, however, use the list filter and the text-entry filter on the same column. Using either will override the other.)

As an example, in the screen shot below, you can enter filter terms in the input fields (red arrows). If you only want to see the medical providers for one of the plaintiffs, enter a unique portion of that person's name into the input field (in this case, perhaps "Smeryna") to limit the results to only that person.

Column Display Configuration

Some tables have a Show/Hide Columns button to the lower right of the table. Clicking this button brings up the Column Chooser panel (which in many, but not all, tables is empty by default, meaning that all columns are currently visible). You can drag any of the column headings into the Column Chooser panel, which will hide that column from appearing in the table of results. You can also drag any column heading out of the Column Chooser panel to a spot among the headings in the table of results, which will make that column visible again in the spot to which you dragged it. Even if a column is hidden, you can still sort the table based on that column by clicking its heading in the Column Chooser panel. To hide the Column Chooser panel itself, click the white X in the upper right corner of the panel. You can also move the Column Chooser panel by dragging its top bar (containing the text "Column Chooser") wherever you choose. This can be particularly helpful if the Column Chooser panel is hiding a portion of the table you want to view.

In many tables, you may rearrange the columns in any order you choose by dragging their headings to the positions you prefer. You can only drag the headings to other parts of the heading area; if a heading is dragged anywhere else, it will have no effect. (The exception is if a heading is dragged into the Column Chooser panel; see above.)  In some tables, you may also change the width of columns by clicking the line separating the column whose width you want to change from the column to its right, then dragging it as desired.

Sorting

You can sort most tables based on any data column by clicking the heading of that column; a small triangular icon will appear on the right side of the column heading. Clicking the same heading again will reverse the order of the sort. You can only sort by one column at a time. Note: columns that appear to be numeric may in fact be considered generic text by the SmartAdvocate system, in which case it will be sorted alphabetically. This would mean, for example, that "7" would be treated as later than "605."