Close form / table stays open

[davidv43]

Whenever I open a form and then close it, using the x at the top right hand of the window or even using a script "close Form", the form closes but I can't backup the database, compact it or pack a table. The file is still "in use".

Is this supposed to work like this??? Is there a unviersal "close everything that is open" command i can use?

Dave

[Bob Arbuthnot]

Re: Close form / table stays open

Hi David,

I haven't dabbled yet in V9, but in V8 you can use the following:

a5_forceclosetables() will close all open tables

A5_CLOSE_ALL_WINDOWS() will close all open windows

There is no way to close all open dialog boxes that I know of. Hope this helps.

Bob Arbuthnot

[MikeC]

Re: Close form / table stays open

Hi David,

Curious...are you opening the forms in question as a dialog forms? If so then makes sense as to why they are still open after "closing" them as you are.

[Davidk]

Re: Close form / table stays open

It doesn't make sense to me that opening a form based on a table and then closing the form "normally" regardless of Frame Stype would leave a table open. A5 should be closing the table. Do you have code opening the table as well?

I just created a form - Dialog - based on a table, opened it, closed it using the X and then packed the table the form was based on. I also tried opening the form and then packing the table and I got the table open message - which makes sense.

I don't think you should be looking for a "close all" solution - but rather why the table is left open. There have been a few updates released this week - are they all in?

David

[jaryder]

Re: Close form / table stays open

David,

If you open a form in non dialog mode then yes the tables close on exit. If you open a form as a dialog the closing the form only hides the form and allows you to still access objects from that dialog form before you close the form yourself. Below is from the help file on form.load.

Jeff

Using the Dialog Style to Prepare a Form with Default Values
This technique allows you to prepare the form with default values before showing it to the user.

Note : You must end with the <FORM>.CLOSE() method or you will eventually run out of sessions.

dim frm as P
frm = form.load("DialogForm1","dialog")
' create a new record and set default values
frm.New_Record()
frm:Lastname.text = "Rabins"
frm:Firstname.text = "Selwyn"
' now show the form
frm.show()
' the user inputs values into the fields
' the user closes the form, but actually just hides it
'now, really close the form
frm.close()

[Davidk]

Re: Close form / table stays open

Hey Jeff,

That doesn't seem to be what's happening though.

I copied the code from your post into a button on a form, but I commented out the frm.close(). The button push opens the form, the data I "pre-loaded" is displayed and I click the red x to close the form - I get a confirmation message asking if I want to save the record and I reply yes. The form closes (hides?).

Now I can go to my tables, select the table used in the "dialog" form and pack that table. It packs.

Does that make sense?

[jaryder]

Re: Close form / table stays open

David,

Check out my zipped sample. Load form 1 and follow the directions on the screen. It shows the expected behavior for a form loaded as a dialog.

Jeff

[Davidk]

Re: Close form / table stays open

Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together.

I didn't have my Window Toolbar on, so I turned that on... now I can see the window tabs.

Now I start form1, then click to open form2. I enter data and close the window. form2 does stay on the tab... opened.

But, here's the odd stuff. The original problem was that he couldn't pack a table after closing the dialog form. Well I'm starting this process from the Control Panel.

I close form2, go to the Control Panel, right click on table2 and pack it - it packs. Without the Window tab I couldn't see what was happening.

As you say, form2 does stay open when you close it. But, clicking on the Control Panel closes all open dialog forms. That's why I can go to my table and pack it. I added a 3rd form and opened it from form2 as a dialog. So, now I have 2 dialog forms open in the window tab, closed on screen, but when I click on the control panel, both forms close.

It gets a bit stranger still. The Close Form button you put on form1 works, once. Click it a second time and an error will result. Close a dialog form, then click the control panel - the dialog form will close. Now, form1 is still open... click the close form button... no error.

Overall, in an app, you would not be going to the control panel, so closing the form specifically is still necessary. You'd be packing the table in code or from another form - and the table would be locked. I'm just happy I can see the behaviour now.

Does all this sound like it works the way it should? If going to the control panel closes the form, should it close the form's table?

[jaryder]

Re: Close form / table stays open

David,

I took the test and added a third button called show form 2. The on push event was frm.show(). What this proves is that when you click on the control panel tab, it is not closing the forms, but just updating the tabs to not show forms that are hidden. This is because if I click on the new show button, form 2 re-displays and this could not happen if the form was actually closed.

The reason the button only works once is that "frm" is a pointer to the open form and once the form is closed the pointer is no longer valid because the form does not exist when closing a second time. You could test for that condition and not do the close a second time but that is not was I was trying to test.

As far as the packing of a table goes I I do not have an answer as I am still learning and developing my first application. I do have a dialog form that I pop up in my order entry and struggled through the form staying open as I originally missed the part of help that said I needed to close the form.

Jeff

[Davidk]

Re: Close form / table stays open

Makes sense Jeff... all very interesting working through A5 and it's behaviours. Concepts not new, but how to get things done takes a while to find.

David

[Selwyn Rabins]

Re: Close form / table stays open

Whenever I open a form and then close it, using the x at the top right hand of the window or even using a script "close Form", the form closes but I can't backup the database, compact it or pack a table. The file is still "in use".

Is this supposed to work like this??? Is there a unviersal "close everything that is open" command i can use?

Dave

if the form is a regular, modeless form, then and clicking the x is not actually closing the table, then we would be very interested in getting a copy of you application so that we can see this behavior for ourselved.

it is clearly not what's supposed to be happening, and it is not happening when I test any of the forms in (say) alphasports.

if you test forms in alphasorts, do you have the same problem.
(you can see if a table has been left open after you close all forms by selecting File, Database Information when the control panel has focus. if a table is still open, it will have a red icon next to it).

[Davidk]

Re: Close form / table stays open

Selwyn,

The forms are being loaded differently in AlphaSports.

In the test.zip attached, the forms are being loaded as dialog using frm.load... maybe that's the difference.

The the form is loaded as...

frm = form.load("Form2","dialog")
frm.show()

and the the form is closed using the red x... Database Properties shows the Form2 table - test2 - as being open.

Is this correct?

Thanks Selwyn,

David

[Selwyn Rabins]

Re: Close form / table stays open

Selwyn,

The forms are being loaded differently in AlphaSports.

In the test.zip attached, the forms are being loaded as dialog using frm.load... maybe that's the difference.

The the form is loaded as...

frm = form.load("Form2","dialog")
frm.show()

and the the form is closed using the red x... Database Properties shows the Form2 table - test2 - as being open.

Is this correct?

Thanks Selwyn,

David

thanks.

you have identified the problem. you are using the 'dialog' option. you should refer to the documentation on form.load().

here is what happens (see comments in code)

'form is loaded into memory but is not visible - xbasic script is NOT paused
frm = form.load("Form2","dialog")

'form is made visible and since is it a modal window, the xbasic script pauses until the user 'closes' the form
frm.show()

'any code after this point will only execute after the user 'closes' the form by clicking the X or doing an xbasic command, such as topparent.close().

'the form is no longer visible, but it is still open (i.e. the user action of closing the form has really only hidden it)
'here we will read a value from a control on the form as a demonstration that the form is still in memory.
txt = frm:lastname.text


'now we no longer need the form so lets really close it
frm.close()

'at this point, any tables that the form was based on will be closed

[Davidk]

Re: Close form / table stays open

Thanks Selwyn... that's what Jeff pointed out above as well. I was just a bit confused because the form is removed from the Window tab when I click on the Control Panel.

Cheers,

David