Entering Data
This section explains how to record your data in Diabetes Pilot for Mac. Diabetes Pilot can track your glucose, food, medication, exercise, and nearly any other type of information that you'd like to record.
Recording and Editing Data in the Details Window
Creating a new entry
To enter new data, go the the My Records page by clicking the My Records icon in the toolbar.
To record a new data item, click on one of the buttons at the bottom of the main screen:
- Click the "Glucose" button to record a new glucose (blood sugar) measurement
- Click the "Food" button to record a new food or meal
- Click the "Medication" button to enter a medication or insulin dose.
- Click the "Exercise" button to enter a new exercise activity.
- Click the "BP" button to enter a blood pressure and pulse reading.
- Click the "Note" button to record any other type of data. You can use this type of entry to record nearly anything. You might use it to record HbA1C measurements, blood pressure, other test results, notes about how you're feeling, or anything else you'd like.
For more information on entering the details of these items see Recording and Editing Data below.
To edit an existing item, click on the record. Clicking on the record will take you to the Details window for the record (see Recording and Editing Data below)
When you enter a new item change an existing one, it may or may not be immediately visible in the list on the main screen. The display in the My Records section depends on the filter settings that you have set - see Displaying Your Data for more information.
Your data is automatically saved when you exit Diabetes Pilot Desktop - there's no need to tell Diabetes Pilot to save your data.
Recording and Editing Data in the Details Window
Diabetes Pilot allows you to record information in as much or as little detail as you would like - it provides for both quick data entry as well as the ability to record additional details when needed.
When you create a new record, a detail window will appear. The date and time will be set to the current time. You can change the date and time if necessary by typing over the values or using the arrow controls located next to each entry. Then, enter the values for the item:
- For glucose records, enter your blood sugar reading. You can choose to use either mg/dL units (typically used in the United States) or mmol/L units (typically used throughout the world) by setting the desired units in from the preferences menu - see Setting Preferences for more information.
- For medication records, enter the amount of insulin or medication, and select the type from the drop-down list next to the value. The list remembers the medications that you commonly use. Try to select an item from the list first - if the item you want isn't in the list, simply type it in the box and it will be added to the list for next time.
- For food records, enter the details of the meal using the food database and allow Diabetes Pilot to add up the contents of the meal for you. See Food Records below for details.
- For exercise records, enter the amount of exercise and select the type of exercise from the drop-down list next to the value. Use the "amount" to record whatever units are most useful to you - you might, for example, choose to record "minutes of exercise", "miles walked", "number of situps" or any other measure that you find convenient. As with the medication list, the exercise list remembers the exercises that you commonly enter. Try to select an item from the list first - if the item you want isn't in the list, simply type it in the box and it will be added to the list for next time.
- For blood pressure records, enter your blood pressure and pulse reading.
- For note records, just enter the note that you'd like to make. Use this to record events in the day, A1C and other test results, or whatever you'd like.
You can enter notes in the space provided. These notes will appear in the "My Records" list.
A category for each record can be also be selected. This category can be use to categorize records in any manner that is useful to you. You may want to use the category to identify records by time of day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc). The category list can be customized however you would like. To customize the category list, finish entering your record. Then, click on the small "Edit" button below the category list on the "My Records" window.
Click "OK" when you are done making your entry. The details window will close and your record will be added. Clicking on "Cancel" returns you to the previous screen without saving your changes.
Food Records
When you add a food record, you can use the food database in Diabetes Pilot to record your meal details and add up the contents of the meal.
There are several ways to add foods to your meal record. To start, find a food that you'd like to add to the meal by using the food database on the right side of the window. See Using the Food Database for more information about the food database, finding foods, and adding new foods. After you've found the food that you want, add it to the meal record by dragging it to the "foods in this meal" grid.
After you've added to food to the Meal Details, edit the entry as necessary. Change the "Qty" column to reflect how many servings of that item you've eaten. The nutrition values shown in the grid reflect the "per serving" values (just like on a food label) - they are multiplied by the quantity you've entered and the meal totals are calculated accordingly. Double-click on the values to change them. When you're editing an item in the grid, you can also use the "tab" key to move through the grid. As you make changes to the Meal Details, the totals will be updated.
If you want to add a food that's not in the database, click the "Quick Add" button. A new item will be added to the grid. You can then edit it as necessary. If you'd like to save the new item in the database for future use, just drag it from the grid to the food database window.
If you want to quickly enter your own self-calculated carb total without bothering with entering individual foods, just click the "Quick Add" button to add a single item to the grid. Then, adjust the carb total as necessary.
You can also save and recall entire meals, so that you don't need to re-enter details for meals that you frequently eat.
To save a meal for future use:
- Add foods to the meal listing, as described above.
- Click the "Save list as a saved meal.." button.
- Enter a name for the meal, then tap the "OK" button.
To recall a previously saved meal:
- Click on the "Saved Meals" tab in the food database.
- Drag the meal from the food database and drop it on the "Foods in this meal" grid. The foods in the saved meal will be added to the record.
Many of the food descriptions are abbreviated. This helps Diabetes Pilot Desktop work with the handheld version of Diabetes Pilot and allows the food descriptions to fit in the available screen space. You can get a list of the abbreviations here.
Deleting Records
You can delete your records if necessary.
To delete an individual record:
- Select a record by clicking on it. The record window will appear.
- Click on the delete ("-") button.
To delete a group of records by date:
- From the "File" menu, select "Purge Old Records..."
- In the window that appears, select the range of dates you'd like to delete. Be careful - once you delete the records, they cannot be retrieved.
- Click the "OK" button.