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Conditional Object on a Report

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    Conditional Object on a Report

    Sorry! I'm really, really confused about the use of Conditional Objects on a report. I've never had to use them in the past and now it seems that there is no way to avoid it in this very simple problem.

    Essentially what I have is a report showing various names of products. In a report list for a particular consumer, there is a field showing the budget for each item. Depending on the product, the budget amount needs to be shown in dollars or just the number itself.

    I first thought I could do this by using the color conditions in the budget object itself by setting the font color to white on white to blank it out, etc. However, that did not work out too well as the object was obscured somewhat. So, I turned my attention to the conditional object. However, try as I might I just can't seem to get this beast to work! I have read the WIKI and multiple posts, but I still can't get a clear summation of how this object works. I truly wish the WIKI would contain working examples of this.

    Here is what I did. I selected the conditional object from the object list and placed it on the report form. I then dragged and dropped the budget object into the CO square. I then right-clicked the CO and made up a filter like substr(contracts->waivername,1,4)="ACTI" which, when true, should show the object in dollar format. But from there, I'm stumped! Do I need to create another object? If so, where does that object get placed? On top of the first object? Or do I need to create another CO with a different budget item in it? Also confusing is the name of the label, etc.

    Any info on this would be of great help!

    Thanks

    #2
    Re: Conditional Object on a Report

    Hi Charles,

    You are half way there. All you need now is another condition that is not the same as the first one. If you right click on the CO and select Properties you could then add the new condition there. You might even be able to use the Default. The label of the condition can be the expression itself or some other name that means something to you, for when you might want to go back and edit it.

    One other thing you can always do to change the display in a CO, is use a calculated field.
    Regards
    Keith Hubert
    Alpha Guild Member
    London.
    KHDB Management Systems
    Skype = keith.hubert


    For your day-to-day Needs, you Need an Alpha Database!

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Conditional Object on a Report

      The AlphaSports sample invoice form has the credit card number and expiration date in a conditional object. You might study that.

      A conditional object performs the same on a report as it does on a form.
      There can be only one.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Conditional Object on a Report

        OK. Looking over the suggestions! Thanks.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Conditional Object on a Report

          OK. Thanks Keith and Stan.

          I looked over the AlphaSports invoice. I see that it works to either show or hide the field based on the conditional properties.

          In order to get what I want, i.e. dollar formatting for the field as opposed to regular formatting, do I create two CO's and then put one over the other, or can I do it with just one? I've experimented with both ideas and can't get it to work.

          Thanks.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Conditional Object on a Report

            The AS example uses a single CO with multiple layers. That's typical. That's probably all you need.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Conditional Object on a Report

              Charles,

              Here's a link to the help file topic.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Conditional Object on a Report

                Thanks Tom. I read this over again and again. However I don't think it applies to my situation. I need the CO on a report, not on a form like in the A5 example. I need the CO to determine the information in the detail line and then show the required formatted object. When I try this, all I get is a blank. If I am mistaken or don't understand, just tell me. In the meantime, I'll try and work up and example of what I am trying to do.

                Thanks.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Conditional Object on a Report

                  Hello!

                  OK. I made up a quick sample. Please look at the report "Mgr_Contract_Report". You will see the CO in the middle of the report. Again, all I am trying to accomplish here is displaying the object "AllowanceUnits" formatted in dollars when the waivername = "Activity". Other than that, it should display as a regular number.

                  Thanks.
                  Attached Files

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Conditional Object on a Report

                    TomsReport

                    - duplicated your report
                    - stripped out the filter and ordering properties of the report
                    - deleted your CO
                    - created a new CO with two layers: IsActivity and NotActivity
                    - changed the condition expressions you were using.
                    notice that the expressions differ, your's did not
                    - dropped the AllowanceUnits field into the NotActivity layer of
                    the CO
                    - discovered that could not use the numeric formatting satisfactorily
                    for the IsActivity layer, so created a new calc field in the report
                    to show the trimmed string equivalent of the numeric field, formatted
                    as dollars.

                    Hope this helps.
                    Attached Files

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Conditional Object on a Report

                      Thanks Tom. I'll download this and look it over.

                      Question: Am I wrong for thinking that this should be a bit simpler?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Conditional Object on a Report

                        Yes, I think so. When you get more experience with the conditional object you'll see that it's very powerful and flexible.

                        You call this a simple thing, but here's what has to happen to produce the result you want:

                        - the AllowanceUnits field in your table is NUMERIC data
                        - to display the field value as dollars Alpha must convert it to character data and then format it appropriately (commas, dollar signs etc). Dollar signs are not numeric data. Neither are commas.
                        - in one object in your report you sometimes want a simple string of characters, without dollar formatting. But sometimes for the same object you want Alpha to use the dollar formatting.
                        - what you want is "simple" if you use two objects in the report, but you want to use a single object.
                        - the CO fills the bill by permitting you to define two "layers" either of which will appear on condition

                        If you didn't use the CO you'd have to preprocess the records in the report, putting the desired string of formatted (or unformatted) characters in a different field, and then use that field in the one object you have in your report. That wastes disk space and is a clumsy workaround in my opinion, but if it floats your boat, add another field to your contracts table and create a table level field rule to define a calculated expression that stores the unformatted string in the new field if not activity, and stores the formatted string in the new field if its activity. Then change the report to drop the CO and replace it with the new field. Make sense?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Conditional Object on a Report

                          Thank Tom. I got it to work. However, what I noticed was that if you play with the objects inside the CO, they will sometimes disappear. If I lengthen them, then they will re-appear. Are you noticing this?

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Conditional Object on a Report

                            Originally posted by Charles Hoens View Post
                            Question: Am I wrong for thinking that this should be a bit simpler?
                            It can be.

                            How about a calc fieldstr = if(waivername = "Activity","$","")+AllowanceUnits
                            can right justify with padl()
                            Conditional objects, while quite correctly useful and powerful may be overkill for a simple situation.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Conditional Object on a Report

                              Ray,

                              You have a good idea. In the context of his report the expression for the calc field you propose would be:

                              if(alltrim(contracts->waivername)="Activity","$"+str(contracts->AllowanceUnits,8,2,","),str(contracts->allowanceUnits,8,2,","))
                              Thanks.

                              -- tom

                              Comment

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