Overview

User preferences allow you to specify what you want with respect to certain actions that Formulate2 performs.

You can access User Preferences from either the ration or feed record forms by clicking on the Other menu and selecting and clicking on the Maintenance & Registration menu option.

From the Maintenance Utilities form, click on the System menu and select and click on the User Preferences menu option.

Auto Back Up Options

The Auto Back Up Options allow to specify whether you want Formulate2 to execute an automatic back up of your formulation data when you exit the program. Selecting Automatic to HDD will cause the back up data to be written to the root directory of the drive on which Formulate2 is installed. Selecting the Prompt option will give you the option of selecting the location for the back data before the back up operation is executed.

Before executing any back up operation, Formulate2 will check for existing back up data at the location you've specified. If previous back up data is found you will be notified.

Table Compaction Options

Compacting tables removes disk space that is allocated to the table but is not being used allowing you to maintain optimal program performance by minimizing the size of Formulate2's tables.

The compaction process completely rewrites all tables based on the entries in the table index. Because the process can affect all of your formulation data, we strongly recommend that you back up your data before compacting tables. If you've also selected an auto back up at exit time, the back up operation will be performed prior to executing any of the compaction process. If auto back up is disabled, and the Check at exit time option is selected, Formulate2 will display an advisory message and give you the opportunity to back up you data before executing the compaction option.

If the Check at exit time option is selected, Formulate2 will check its tables to determine if any disk space can be recovered by compacting the tables and report its findings.

Clicking on the OK button will display an option form where you can confirm or cancel the compaction operation.

Units of Measure

The units of measure options permits you to select the units of measure you would like to work with. You may select English or Metric units. Prices and any item that is defined as units per unit of DMI will be converted to the selected system.

Items such as amino acids and others defined simply as grams will remain as grams regardless of the system of measurement selected. This protocol has been adopted since discussions of protein and amino acids are almost universally expressed in terms of grams. However, the use of load sheets by those actually implementing a ration at the bunk level demands the use of units of measure with which feeding equipment is calibrated and with which the feeder is familiar.

Formulate2 implements both conventions side by side.

Maximum Error Log Size

Formulate2 logs all of the error messages it generates internally. While you can set the size of the log as you wish, leaving it set where it is doesn't cost you anything is terms of disk space.

Printer Centering

The Make Adjustment button displays the Adjust Printer Centering form. This form allows you to adjust printer horizontal and vertical centering. The adjustment you make is global and is automatically applied to all Formulate2 reports at print time. If your printer is not correctly aligned, this capability allows you to adjust positioning of the print area within the page. This adjustment does not correct the misalignment of the printer. A printer that is not correctly centering documents must be serviced by a qualified technician to function properly. However within limits, you can use this capability to make adjustments.

Reports

The report options allow you to assigned specific reports to the formulation options found in the Formulate menu of the ration record form. Each of the first three items in the Reports group corresponds to its respective option in the Formulate menu. The last three report options are a sub-group that specifies reports by ration type.

If the formulation option results in an infeasibility, the report you designate as the default infeasibility report will be generated.