xlWorkbench Home
Guide: Contents | FAQ | Glossary |
What's New | Contact
xlWorkbench Online Guide
Section 3: Getting
Started
| ID: | Type: -- | Roles: All | Revised: 08/18/04 |
| Activating xlWorkbench | |||
Toggling the System 1.1 Activating the Program 1.1.1 The Difference Between Loading and Activating When you open the AWB add-in, you load the AWB program. After the loading process is completed, the AWB program sits passively in the Excel “background” and waits for you to summon, or activate, it. You can’t use AWB’s features until you activate the AWB program. In Figure 3.1 , the AWB program is loaded but not active.
When you activate the AWB program, you call it from the background into the foreground, kicking Excel up into Workbench Mode and making Excel ready to work with an AWB model. In other words, when you activate the AWB program, you turn Excel into the Anthem Tax Workbench, an extended and enhanced version of Excel which can manipulate AWB models.
When the AWB program is active, you can deactivate it at any time. When you deactivate AWB, you kick Excel down from Workbench Mode to it’s normal operating state, and you send the AWB program into the Excel background again.
1.1.2 How To Activate the AWB Program To activate the AWB program, select Activate on the System Menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut: CTRL+T. See Figure 3.1. Note: You can activate the AWB program at any time.
You can also set an option to activate the AWB program automatically as soon as the AWB program has been loaded. See “Customizing the Workbench” of this guide.
To de-activate the AWB program, select Deactivate on the System Menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut: CTRL+T. Note: You can deactivate the AWB program at any time.
1.1.3 What Happens When You Activate Anthem Tax Workbench
When you activate AWB, two things always happen: (1) the standard Excel caption is changed to “Anthem Tax Workbench” and (2) the primary AWB toolbars are displayed. See Figure 3.2.
You can also set several options to control what happens when AWB is activated. (See “Customizing the Workbench” in this guide.) For example, you can set an option to hide the standard Excel toolbars, reducing on-screen “clutter.” Figure 3.2 shows that the Excel toolbars were hidden when AWB was activated. Contrast Figure 3.2 with Figure 3.1. Also, note in Figure 3.2 that the AWB system menu remains available at all times.
1.1.1 Frequently Asked Questions Q. When should I activate the AWB program?
A. You should activate the AWB program whenever you want to work with an AWB model. Until you activate the AWB program, shifting Excel into Workbench Mode, an AWB model will appear as a standard Excel workbook, and AWB’s advanced navigation and printing capabilities will not be available to you. That is, Workbench Mode and an AWB model go together as hand in glove; you need both of them to get the most out of the AWB system. Typically, you will activate the AWB program and then open the AWB model, but the order does not matter. You can open the model first, and you can activate AWB at any time, regardless of the number or type of workbooks which happen to be open.
Q. When should I deactivate the AWB program?
A. You should deactivate the AWB program whenever you want to work in standard Excel mode. You can activate and deactivate the AWB program at any time, regardless of the number or type of workbooks which happen to be open. That is, as you work with standard Excel workbooks, AWB models, or a mixture of the two, you can activate and deactivate the AWB program at will, choosing between standard Excel and Workbench Mode.
Q. What do you mean by Workbench Mode?
A. Workbench Mode is another way of saying the AWB program is active. When you activate the AWB program, you shift Excel into Workbench Mode so it can work with an AWB model. When it shifts to Workbench Mode, Excel becomes the Anthem Tax Workbench, an enhanced version of Excel that recognizes and can manipulate AWB models.
Q. How can I tell when I am in Workbench Mode?
A. No matter what activation options you set, there will always be two visible indicators of Workbench Mode: The window caption will say “Anthem Tax Workbench” and the primary AWB toolbars will be displayed. See Figure 3.2 .
Q. Wouldn’t it be better to make AWB active at all times? Then the user would never need to press the activation switch?
A. I put the activation switch in for flexibility. With the activation switch, a user can switch AWB on and off at will and thus toggle between standard Excel mode and enhanced Workbench mode. If you want AWB active at all times, you can do this: (1) Set up a shortcut to the AWB add-in, and (2) set the automatic activation option. (See “Customizing the Workbench.”) Now when you double-click on the shortcut, Excel will load, the AWB add-in will load, and AWB will activate automatically.
Q. Are there any limitations on when I can activate and deactivate AWB?
A. No. You can activate and deactivate AWB at any time, regardless of the number or type of workbooks which happen to be open. The System Menu and CTRL+T are always available to you. See Figure 3.2 .
1.1.2 Things To Try 1. Use the activation switch to toggle AWB “on” and “off.” That is, press CTRL+T repeatedly to activate and deactivate the AWB program. Note how the Window caption and the toolbars change.
2. Experiment with activation options. Select activation options, as explained in “Customizing the Workbench,” and toggle AWB on and off. Note how the options affect the toolbars that are displayed when AWB is activated.
You can instruct the xlWorkbench system to activate itself automatically immediately after the xlWorkbench addin has been loaded by Microsoft Excel:
You can select which System toolbars are displayed when the System is activated:
Copyright © 2004 Robert S. Buckles. All rights reserved.
