What's the "best" way to implement buttons & code?

[fsi]

I quoted the "best" because the optimum approach probably depends on the goal.

As I work through my first web app, I'm getting lost in the weeds as I see the vast flexibility of WAS development. I don't know whether to use dialog, page layout, grid freeform, or any other approach - as I can't quite discern which is the "best" approach.

So here's the deal:

I've got an updatable detail view. I want to present five (5) buttons (all in the same horizontal span) to allow the user to select from: Update, Reset, Exit, Reject, and Process.

Update must update the database with the user-modified data. The user is REQUIRED to enter some text as notes. User will stay on the page following Update, ready to click Process.

Reset must undo the user's modifications, but stay on that detail page. He now has a chance to enter his mods correctly.

Exit should undo user mods and return to the previous grid page (separate page, by the way).

Reject must update the database, setting a "reject" flag and posting some other data such as user info, timestamp, etc. We should then be returned to the previous grid page AND manage a refresh of the grid on that page, as the Reject process will eliminate one row of data from the grid.
Process must move the user to a new page for further "stuff".

The Process button should, ideally, be disabled until Update has been clicked (therefore ensuring required notes have been entered).

Any opinions on best approach? And, fyi, I don't know anything about javascript.

[Steve Wood]

Re: What's the "best" way to implement buttons & code?

That's a lot to accomplish and it will take code on the A5W page that knows when the user has pressed Submit so to present additional buttons, and Grid Events to make additional table changes and send the user to the right page based on conditions.

The Update button is just the normal Submit button on the Detail view. You set required fields in Validation for each field.

The Reject button is the normal Submit button plus having checked a box named "reject", if that method works for you. Grid events would take care of processing based on that check mark.

Reset, Process and Exit have to be buttons OUTSIDE of the Grid, in the A5W page. There is no 'undo' or transaction rollback in Alpha web, so you have to do something like capture the primary field value for the record just saved, and then if they click Reject or Exit to use that value to make table changes.

You can hide the Process button initially using the HTML attribute DISABLED and then change the HTML when the user presses Submit. You know when the user presses Submit with:

if eval_valid("submitButton")

If the above is not bad enough, the submit button is not really named submitButton, you have to look at the grid in the browser source to figure out the button name, different for each Grid. And, the Detail View in V9 will automatically close when you press Submit. That is a BUG that I brought up two years ago, fixed apparently only in V10.

So, it's a lot to work through.

[fsi]

Re: What's the "best" way to implement buttons & code?

Thanks, Steve. I'll start to look into things.

btw: as stated, I want all five buttons on the same horizontal line.... so when you say three of my buttons will be outside my grid, that's not quite what I'm after. I would prefer to have all five side by side.... Update - Reset - Exit - Reject - Process

But I'll do some reading to see what I can manage based on the nuggets of wisdom you have offered.

thx!

[Steve Wood]

Re: What's the "best" way to implement buttons & code?

After some thought, I'd probably start with a Grid if you have to search for your records or view several at once, selecting one to work with.

Create a link from that grid to a Dialog, and use the Dialog to present your data and the buttons in a row. Really, you are going to have a problem in the Grid Detail View - it IS going to close when you click submit/update.

The link from the Grid to the dialog would contain the primary key, like mypage.a5w?id=123 and the Dialog's Initilize event would use that value to populate the fields in the dialog. Then create all of your buttons as Custom Field and/or Advanced Buttons to do the processing. They can be in one row. Advanced buttons can have xbasic applied to the button. You have a lot more control in a dialog.

[fsi]

Re: What's the "best" way to implement buttons & code?

Thank you, Steve, for pointing me down the right path. Been working it since your last reply and things are going pretty well.

You saved me many hours of stumbling around!