Submitting a parent grid from a child

[newtothe5]

I need to submit the information entered into a parent grid from a child grid. From the documentation I entered into the inline javascript for a button on the child:


GRID1_GridObj.submitdetailview();


I am receiving the error "Object doesn't support this property."

Help please.

[workaholic06]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

Just a thought, but - is your parent grid really named GRID1?

Thanks,

Robert

[newtothe5]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

Great question. I actually have thought that was part of the problem. I tried using the grid name instead of GRID1 with no success. I see that I am supposed to use the grid alias. Is there an easy way to determine what a linked grid's alias is - and potentially change it to something simple? (BTW, I did test this by changing the name to GRID2 and got a different error message "GRID2_gridobject not recognized." So, I do think GRID1 is somehow the default alias. How am I doing?)

[workaholic06]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

I never figured out how to determine the parent grid name using Xbasic, however, if you publish the webpage, and view the source, you'll be able to see what it is.

I think you're doing good for a new user :-)

Thanks,

Robert

[newtothe5]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

Thanks Robert,

Great suggestion on the view source. Sure enough, the alias was set by A5 as GRID1. But the GRID1_GridObj.submitdetailview(); Still won't psot the data entered into that child grid.

I never figured out how to determine the parent grid name using Xbasic, however, if you publish the webpage, and view the source, you'll be able to see what it is.

I think you're doing good for a new user :-)

Thanks,

Robert

[Selwyn Rabins]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

I need to submit the information entered into a parent grid from a child grid. From the documentation I entered into the inline javascript for a button on the child:


GRID1_GridObj.submitdetailview();


I am receiving the error "Object doesn't support this property."

Help please.

you never want to use a hard coded alias name in your javascript because the grid alias might not be 'GRID1'.

if you want to cause the parent grid to submit when a button in a child grid is pressed then you need javascript like this:

var po = {grid.Object}.getParentObject();
po.submitDetailView();

the {grid.object} placeholder will get replaced at runtime with the actual grid object name. so if the grid alias at runtime is GRIDX then {grid.object}, will be replaced with 'GRIDX_GridObj' which would be the correct object name of the child grid.

the first line of code gets a pointer to the child grid's parent object.

then, once you have a pointer to the child grid's parent object, you can call that grid's .submitDetailView() method.

note that javascript is case sensitive. so the method MUST be spelled as '.submitDetailView()' (in your example, you had the case wrong).

[bob9145]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

Can't you just pass the value back to the parent grid in a variable?

[newtothe5]

Now, in reverse

Excellent Selwyn, Thanks for the great suggestions. That will work for some situations I have. Already has. However, I need to also execute from a master grid with multiple childs. How do I capture an alias or variable that uniquely identifies each child grid like the "var po" for the one parent object?

you never want to use a hard coded alias name in your javascript because the grid alias might not be 'GRID1'.

if you want to cause the parent grid to submit when a button in a child grid is pressed then you need javascript like this:

var po = {grid.Object}.getParentObject();
po.submitDetailView();

the {grid.object} placeholder will get replaced at runtime with the actual grid object name. so if the grid alias at runtime is GRIDX then {grid.object}, will be replaced with 'GRIDX_GridObj' which would be the correct object name of the child grid.

the first line of code gets a pointer to the child grid's parent object.

then, once you have a pointer to the child grid's parent object, you can call that grid's .submitDetailView() method.

note that javascript is case sensitive. so the method MUST be spelled as '.submitDetailView()' (in your example, you had the case wrong).

[Selwyn Rabins]

Re: Now, in reverse

Excellent Selwyn, Thanks for the great suggestions. That will work for some situations I have. Already has. However, I need to also execute from a master grid with multiple childs. How do I capture an alias or variable that uniquely identifies each child grid like the "var po" for the one parent object?

that's a good question. unfortunately, there is no property in the Grid object that tells you the aliases of all of its child grid objects.

so you have to come up with your own solution.

here is an example.

say you have a grid called 'parent1' and it has two child grids 'child1' and 'child2'.

inside the onGridRender system event for 'child1' you could add this javascript:

window['childgrid1'] = '{grid.object}';

then for 'child2', add this code in the onGridRender event:

window['childgrid2'] = '{grid.object}';

now, in the parent Grid you have the name of its child grids in the two javascript variables, 'childgrid1' and 'childrid2'.

if you want to execute a method of childgrid1, you would do something like this

var cmd = window['childgrid1'] + '.refresh();'
eval(cmd)

[newtothe5]

Re: Now, in reverse

Thanks again Selwyn, except your wrong that I have to come with my own solution. You came up with it for me! Works flawlessly on the first child. One last question on this(probably). What variables are available for multiple child grid assignments? I know I saw something on alphapedia that would help with this including declaring variables. But, that site is down now and I am just too excited about finishing off this project to wait.

that's a good question. unfortunately, there is no property in the Grid object that tells you the aliases of all of its child grid objects.

so you have to come up with your own solution.

here is an example.

say you have a grid called 'parent1' and it has two child grids 'child1' and 'child2'.

inside the onGridRender system event for 'child1' you could add this javascript:

window['childgrid1'] = '{grid.object}';

then for 'child2', add this code in the onGridRender event:

window['childgrid2'] = '{grid.object}';

now, in the parent Grid you have the name of its child grids in the two javascript variables, 'childgrid1' and 'childrid2'.

if you want to execute a method of childgrid1, you would do something like this

var cmd = window['childgrid1'] + '.refresh();'
eval(cmd)

[Selwyn Rabins]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

I don't think I understand your question.

The technique I describe here can be used for multiple child grids.
Each child grid just creates a unique variable name to hold its object name.

So, if you have two child grids and you want a button on the parent that is going to refresh both child grids, you would write:

var cmd = '';
cmd = cmd + window['childgrid1'] + '.refresh();';
cmd = cmd + window['childgrid2'] + '.refresh();';
eval(cmd)

[newtothe5]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

Selwyn,

I ended up solving the problem a little differently then you suggested and its working great. I write it here so 1) you can tell me if its a bad idea for stability and 2) because it might help others with a similar situation.

I needed the button on the master grid to perform several fuctions on multiple childs with the order of the function executions being crucial. So,

1) I used your code and placed it in one action javascript event.

var cmd = window['childgrid1'] + '.refresh();'
eval(cmd)

2)I then repeated that code for the next function

var cmd = window['childgrid2'] + '.submitDetailView();'
eval(cmd)

and so on for several other functions.

This has made development, and future changes, much easier because now I can just move the action script events up or down to change the firing order rather then trying to get a long complicated string of functions entered correctly for each trial and error firing order test.

Anyway, thanks for the help, tell me if you think this structure is solid long term and I think we can put this one squarely in the resolved column.

I don't think I understand your question.

The technique I describe here can be used for multiple child grids.
Each child grid just creates a unique variable name to hold its object name.

So, if you have two child grids and you want a button on the parent that is going to refresh both child grids, you would write:

var cmd = '';
cmd = cmd + window['childgrid1'] + '.refresh();';
cmd = cmd + window['childgrid2'] + '.refresh();';
eval(cmd)

[Selwyn Rabins]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

what you have done sounds fine, but one thing you need to be aware of (you probably are already aware of this, but i'll mention it anyway). ajax callbacks are asynchronous.

that means that if you call two commands that both do a callback (and the .refresh() and .submitDetailView() are definitely examples of commands that do callbacks), then the second command you call will execute before the first command has actually completed.

for example if you first call the .refresh() method, then the .sbumitDetailView() method, then what happens is this:

1. javascript fires off an ajax callback to do a refresh()
2. the javascript then continues executing and immediately does a .submitDetailView(), which fires off a second ajax callback.
at this point the first ajax callback (the .refresh() has likely NOT yet completed). eventually, it will complete and it will send back its response (in the form of some javascript for the browser to execute).

but keep in mind that it is quite possible that the .submitDetailView() command will send back its response to the browser before the .refresh() method does, even though it was called second.

[newtothe5]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

Interesting. I'm glad I asked the stability question. If one string is uised with one eval(cmd) for the functions, is the result different with the second callback waiting for the first to complete? If so, is there a way to pause the execution between callbacks?

what you have done sounds fine, but one thing you need to be aware of (you probably are already aware of this, but i'll mention it anyway). ajax callbacks are asynchronous.

that means that if you call two commands that both do a callback (and the .refresh() and .submitDetailView() are definitely examples of commands that do callbacks), then the second command you call will execute before the first command has actually completed.

for example if you first call the .refresh() method, then the .sbumitDetailView() method, then what happens is this:

1. javascript fires off an ajax callback to do a refresh()
2. the javascript then continues executing and immediately does a .submitDetailView(), which fires off a second ajax callback.
at this point the first ajax callback (the .refresh() has likely NOT yet completed). eventually, it will complete and it will send back its response (in the form of some javascript for the browser to execute).

but keep in mind that it is quite possible that the .submitDetailView() command will send back its response to the browser before the .refresh() method does, even though it was called second.

[Selwyn Rabins]

Re: Submitting a parent grid from a child

Interesting. I'm glad I asked the stability question. If one string is uised with one eval(cmd) for the functions, is the result different with the second callback waiting for the first to complete? If so, is there a way to pause the execution between callbacks?

no, you can't pause execution between callbacks. you have to think differently when coding asynchronous events.

if the first event you do is a detailViewSubmit, then you have to go to the afterDetailViewSubmit client side system event and define an event handler here that invokes the next action in your chain of events.