Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

[DOntquIT]

Hi all,

in my dialog i have a textbox in free form layout.
how can i acces the value of textbox in form validate events?

tried currentform.controls and textbox name directly.nothing turned up.

Any one knows the syntax to access freeform layout controls value in dialog validate events?

[NoeticCC]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

How is the textbox defined? If it's just in HTML then I don't think you can access them in xbasic in the same way you can access normal dialog controls. However if you have defined the textbox as a control that is hidden, and then used the control with the {controlname} reference in the freeform layout, you should be able to reference it just fine. (e.g. currentform.controls.controlname)

(And you can also set validation rules for the text control without having to write code in the event!)

I have attached a sample of an edited dialog from the web app samples, with a hidden textbox control inside a freeform label control. In the Initialize event I can set the value of the textbox just fine :)

[DOntquIT]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

Thanks andrea,

I have gone through the attachment. really appreciate your effort .
But In my case, its totally different. i have gone through the grid eg (customergridwithradiobutton) demo in web_application_demo . which is similat to your attachment.

My situation is i have a dropdownlist(multiselect) and once the user select customers in DDL, im dynamically creating datetime picker based on their selection.
eg, if i select three customers and click a button , i want to dynamically generate 3 datetime picker along with few more controls.so im using free form layout and dynamically creating HTMl controls based on number of selection..
am succeed until here, now i want to submit the value entered by user in free form layout to database.
am stucked up here.

so i jus wonder is it possible to get free form layout values in form events?

[NoeticCC]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

One thing to try is to put a few hidden controls into the dialog, check what they end up getting called in the HTML, and then add some Javascript to your dynamically generated HTML controls. Either that or just capture the values in the a5w page you submit to, much more flexible than trying to fit everything into a dialog. You should be able to reference page and session variables in the xbasic... However NOT in the validate event as I don't think the form is actually posted (so HTML control values won't be available to the SERVER) until it validates successfully...

Another option would be to put in a button or link so they can add the values for each item selected (e.g. what you currently generate dynamically) in there, then you can use a dialog, grid, whatever you choose, and don't have to try and mix client side values & events (dynamic Javascript & HTML) with server side coding (xbasic).

[DOntquIT]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

One thing to try is to put a few hidden controls into the dialog,

i dont think its possible coz user selection is multiple.so will be difficult to create hidden controls.

may be i have to redesign my form completely in a5w page without using any component.or once the form is filled and saved must redirect and force user to fill grid that have the selected customers.(its wont satisfy the end user)

Redesigning whole form in A5w page is gonna be a hectic job for me.

Thanks again for the support .

Sorry for diverting this qns to another topic.
just curious to know that in grid while using freeformlayout or custom control.how to access the value of the data in their corresponding row.

eg.i have 5 rows with 3 columnS( EMPNAME,DETAILS,FREEFORM(FILEUPLOAD CONTROL)) each row has fileupload option.when i upload file i want to upload the filename with EMPNAME in each row.

but eventhough i use data.empname its taking value of 5th row(lastrow) for all the rows.

can it be avoided?

[NoeticCC]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

i dont think its possible coz user selection is multiple.so will be difficult to create hidden controls.

Just one hidden field would do the trick - as long as it is populated by each dynamic control's value with "|" separating the entries. You can then parse the entries in Xbasic at your comfort, although I am not convinced that the whole setup is anywhere near the most logical or straightforward solution.

E.g. in the onchange event of each dynamic control, you fire Javascript that rattles through all dynamic fields and sets the value of a hidden control in that dialog to "FieldID=Value" for each control it finds, with | separating the entries.

So for 3 fields you might get: "123=Blah1|234=Blah2|345=Blah3" as the value for the hidden field.

Then in aftervalidate, put something like:

Dim ValueList as c
ValueList = stritran(Currentform.Controls.hiddencontrol.value,"|",crlf())

if ValueList <> "" Then
 *for_each(Entry,doHandleEntries(word(Entry,1,"="),word(Entry,2,"=")),ValueList)
End If

function doHandleEntries as c (ID as n, value as c)
 'Update record for ID# 'ID' with value 'value'
 '(Code obviously depends on whether it's SQL, DBF, what field types etc)
end function

[DOntquIT]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

Just one text field would do the trick - as long as it is populated by each dynamic control's value with "|" separating the entries.

how can i get the value of dynamic created textbox eg(txtname)
in my hidden control?

[NoeticCC]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

how can i get the value of dynamic created textbox eg(txtname)
in my hidden control?

Javascript in the onchange event for the dynamic textbox - the same as you would in a plain HTML page...

You can't directly access dynamically created content in Xbasic because the content is generated on the client and Xbasic runs on the server, but with a bit of Javascript you can at least populate a hidden dialog control OR look into AJAX calls...

It does sound though like you should either look into dialog-only solutions, or put all the code and form elements into an a5w page (look at some of the AJAX examples that ship with Alpha5V9 here: http://afas.alphasoftware.com/SamplePagesV9/#whatsnew) if you *must* include such complex non-dialog elements as dynamic HTML areas.

[DOntquIT]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

will go through the examples and come up with some designs

Thanks again andrea

[NoeticCC]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

will go through the examples and come up with some designs

Thanks again andrea

You're welcome, it sounds like you are having similar problems as I had when I first started with alpha5 - I was trying to use dialogs and grids (rather than the more flexible a5w pages) but at the same time I kept reverting to the more elaborate methods of web coding that I had been using in PHP and Javascript/HTML only pages in the past.

Eventually I learnt to gauge better which types of tasks are easier to solve in a5w pages + AJAX and which are easier to sort in dialogs and grids :)

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As for the file upload, have a look at how this is done on this forum - with a popup window, so you don't have to submit the whole form to upload a single file.

[DOntquIT]

Re: Access Freeform layout value in dialog events

You're welcome, it sounds like you are having similar problems as I had when I first started with alpha5 - I was trying to use dialogs and grids (rather than the more flexible a5w pages) but at the same time I kept reverting to the more elaborate methods of web coding that I had been using in PHP and Javascript/HTML only pages in the past.

Eventually I learnt to gauge better which types of tasks are easier to solve in a5w pages + AJAX and which are easier to sort in dialogs and grids :)

-------------

As for the file upload, have a look at how this is done on this forum - with a popup window, so you don't have to submit the whole form to upload a single file.

yes.im more comfortable using a5w page for designs. i designed a form completely on a5w page along with xbasic code for backend activities and java script for validations.that is mere perfect and im very much comfortable with that form.

but for some reason i cant re-design this form in a5w page now.Might as well i break form into two pages and settle this issue.haven't step in to AJAX yet..curious as well to see the features..