Conditional Look Up

[SvbHvman]

I am building a small app that keeps track of all my equipment on my home network including the IP Address. I want to assign the IP by Octet so I have a lookup table that lists all values from 0 to 255 and a Boolean column for each of the allowable home network ranges 10.#.#.#, 172.#.#.#, and 192.168.#.#. OK I first select the first octet and then based on that value only certain values are allowed for the second octet if 10 then all values from 0 to 255, if 172 the only 16 to 31 and if 192 then only 168 is allowed. Once I have selected all four of the octets I want the last field in the table to be generated/calculated by concatenating each of the octet fields to one string resulting in the assigned IP. eg: 10.25.34.3. Now my question. Can I do this (concatenation) with field rules? If so then how? I always end up with the same value in each record. Not the value that would be generated from that record.

SvbHvman

[Ton Spies]

Re: Conditional Look Up

Hi Larrin,

Welcome to Alpha and sorry until now noone has replied on your request but I think the reason is that we do not know how to help you.
You are creating an application and you want to save data.
Not clear how you import that data. Entering (by hand) or do you need an importscript?
Not clear in which format you have all that data now. Already in Alpha?
Also what table / fields you want it in.
What has to be checked/adepted/processed before? What do you mean with 'selected'? Yes you can concatenate misc fields in another field but is that what you want? or do you want to filter it to another table?

When entering records you can use fieldrules to prevent entering unwanted data or guide users with entering their data correct.

If you can tell what you want step by step we all can and will help you. As you can see there are more questions then answers.

I invite you to make a new thread for each specific question if you have searched the messageboard because a lot of items have been discussed and are there illustrated with examples and explications. So be welcome.

Ton

[SvbHvman]

Re: Conditional Look Up

I guess I put too much information in the first post so let me narrow it down. I have two boxes to enter information --> [ 1 ].[ 2 ]. The first box can only have one of three values, 10, 172 or 192. Simple enough with a field rule. However, the second box data is limited by what the value in the first box is. For example:

1. If box 1 contains 10 then the permissible values for box 2 are 0 to 255
2. If box 1 contains 172 then the permissible values for box 2 are 16 to 31
3. If box 1 contains 192 then the permissible value for box 2 is only 168

How do I make a rule for box 2?

[Ton Spies]

Re: Conditional Look Up

Is your box a field in a record or an object on a form?

1) You can make a 'simple list' with all possible combinations.
or
2) Take a look at the Alphasports example in the directory 'sample'.
The fieldrules for table invoice_header use a conditional lookup.
See attachment.
Run the example to see or this is what you want.

Ton

[Keith Hubert]

Re: Conditional Look Up

Hi Larrin,

Ask three Alpha developers how to do this and you will have five different suggestions.

My suggestion for what it is worth, is to use OnDepart event for box 2, you can then pop up a message if the value is out of range. You can at the same time prevent the record from being saved with field rules Validation.

[SvbHvman]

Re: Conditional Look Up

Thanks for the replies but neither is really what I am looking for, although the Alpha Sports example is close. Referring to the picture below:



I want a drop down for each Octet with all permissible values. Now for Octet 1 this is simple because there only three choices and they always are the same. However, all of the others are dynamic and change based on the preceding octet and this chart.



1. If box 1 contains 10 then the permissible values for box 2 are 0 to 255
2. If box 1 contains 172 then the permissible values for box 2 are 16 to 31
3. If box 1 contains 192 then the permissible value for box 2 is only 168


Can this be done using Alpha 5 and drop downs? Ultimately I want to filter out the previously used values from Octet 4 and only show the available values (can't reuse values on the same network).

I just need shown how to build a simple drop down list based on a previous selection and I'm sure I can run with it from there.

[Keith Hubert]

Re: Conditional Look Up

Hi Larrin,

I can see better now what you are trying to do.

You are on the right path with Conditional Lookup. So the lookup to each table will depend on the value in oct1.

You will need three extra tables with a simple structure that has all the numbers in the ranges specified. The quickest way to fill these extra tables is do it on a spreadsheet first then import.

To concatenate, you will need a calculated field in field rules like this. oct1+"."+oct2+"."+oct3+"."+oct4

Have fun.

[EJR]

Re: Conditional Look Up

Larrin, Attached is a small database that helps solve your problem. There are still some issues for you to work out, but the field rules get you there. In my solution I create just one lookup table (I started with a three-table solution like Keith suggested, but then figured one was easier). There is a filter that determines which values are valid.

When you load the database, go to the 'Code' tab and run the script 'Create IP Tables-n' which creates the 'IP_Choices' table.

[SvbHvman]

Re: Conditional Look Up

Thanks! I was close to this a while back but the mistake I made was that I had a separate column for each Octet_1 value in my look-up table and using a Boolean bit if was valid. This was causing all sorts of headaches. So now I see the error of my ways.

Larrin