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How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

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    #16
    Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

    Hi Robert,

    Have you seen this? From Patch updates.
    Field Rules - Table Lookup Rule - Display as Dropdown Option - If the lookup rule specified the name of a saved Browse Layout, the drop down window was not inheriting many of the display properties of the saved Browse layout. Also, if the lookup rule used a default layout, the lookup window now inherits the font setting from the parent control on the Form or Browse.
    Hows that for service?
    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


      #17
      Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

      Keith,

      I received an email from Selwyn last week letting me know that the bugs I reported concerning the combo box and browse used as a look up-- were being fixed for a patch to be released this week. As you may remember I submitted five separate bug reports. This weekend I'll download the patch and verify that the problems have been corrected.

      I am obviously impressed by two things:
      1. Selwyn's personal monitoring of A5 problems
      2. The speed with which these bugs are being fixed, that is immediately and not having to wait for the next general release.

      Bravo Alpha!

      Bob McGaffic
      Pittsburgh

      Comment


        #18
        Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

        All,

        I want to report very good news:

        Over the course of the last several weeks I identified and reported five different bugs related to the use of a combo box or a browse with a field rule, namely:

        1. Browse title font property fails when used for field rule lookup
        2. Browse line style properties fail when used with field rule lookup
        3. Combo box font fails
        4. Combo box vertical alignment property fails
        5. Object explorer Show title property fails for browse

        Over the weekend I applied the latest patch and tested these problems against it. THEY HAVE ALL BEEN FIXED!!!

        Thanks Alpha Team!

        Bob McGaffic
        Pittsburgh

        Comment


          #19
          Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

          "Field Rules - Table Lookup Rule - Display as Dropdown Option - If the lookup rule specified the name of a saved Browse Layout, the drop down window was not inheriting many of the display properties of the saved Browse layout. Also, if the lookup rule used a default layout, the lookup window now inherits the font setting from the parent control on the Form or Browse."

          I'm curious about this response, because i'm not seeing how this works.. I have V9 Platinum and have all the latest patches, but when i use the lookup rule and use the default layout browse... the lookup browse does not use the fonts from the field it is pulling from on the form - and my clients all complain that the text is too small, but i can't figure out where to make it bigger font, etc...

          I would use the saved layout, but for some reason, when i upgraded to V9 i started getting "cannot create lookup" errors on the fields i had defined a lookup to a table and used a saved layout... several clients were getting several times in a day.. and the day i switched from saved layout browse to the default browse... that error went away immediately.

          But now that i have the default browse, it is in small text and can't be read as well - which is why i liked the saved browses browses because i could control the size and color, etc...

          So, how can i make the font bigger and bolder on a default browse in field rule lookup - any suggestions... the post here says that it should work based on the field i have it based on, but for me it doesn't?

          Also, does anyone know why the saved layout creates this error - "cannot create lookup"... is there something i'm doing wrong in the saved browse i'm using... can you have fields that aren't in the "lookup rule" list in the browse, do they have to be in the same order as the list in the lookup field rule definition? Would love to go back to the saved layout, but can't until i figure out why the error..

          Comment


            #20
            Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

            Lynda,

            You might want to try reinstalling the patches. My screens below show that the font size problem that I earlier reported to Alpha has indeed been fixed.

            Screen 1
            Shows that a default browse will be used to display the values from a lookup table for a field edit rule for field Telephone Type

            Screen 2
            Shows that the font of field Telephone Type is Tahoma 18 point and that the displayed values are also 18 point.

            The problem with this display is that Alpha won't allow you to remove the row selector buttons and their checkmark. I bet you didn't even see the checkmark. It's black on a dark navy background, not the best combination for easy readability.

            Alpha either needs to kill this or permit a browse to have a property ShowRowSelector. Note that the embedded browse had this property, but the browse used for a field lookup does not.

            Also did you note the inconsistency in display between a combo box and a field rule lookup. Both have the same purpose: to display a list of values from which a user may select. But the combo box doesn't force checkmarks and row selector buttons on the display; the field rule lookup both using either a default browse and a custom browse does.

            Bob McGaffic
            Pittsburgh

            Comment


              #21
              Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

              thank you for your response... i can see that you have selected the "display as drop down" - if i change to this, i can see the font pulls to the browse...
              however, i don't use this (I use allow maximized display) because i want a full screen look at the browse... i use this when selecting a company for a new ticket... so when they get to that field, they enter the first part of the company name and hit enter (i have pop on mismatch marked)... then instead of a small list under the company field, it displays the default browse in full screen, and has several fields for them to see like address, city and state so they can choose the correct company (some companies have multiple location, so seeing the address info is vital)...

              You'll see, if you use the allow maximized display, and not a "drop down" the fonts to carry and the text is quite small.... should i report as a bug? or ask to have them address this as well?

              Comment


                #22
                Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

                Lynda,

                Please see the screen prints below. I don't think your problem is an Alpha bug. Try using the Object Explorer to set the font of each individual browse column and the row height.

                Screen 1
                Shows the default browse used as a popup. It is all hardwired.

                Screen 2
                Shows my custom browse named after you: brwLynda.

                Screen 3
                Shows brwLynda used as a popup lookup without maximizing the display

                Screen 4
                Shows brwLynda used as a popup lookup with maximizing the display.

                Note that in both screens 3 and 4 the column fonts were set to 18 point Tahoma and the row height was changed to 36 to permit a readable display.

                But this field rule lookup display in screens 1, 3, and 4 suffers from a number of other weaknesses that might be easily corrected:

                1. Buttons are not left aligned. Note that the Alpha Toolbar does not attempt to evenly space out its icon buttons or the menu options for that matter. Yet Alpha apparently sees no inconsistency with docking its popup buttons left and right. To me, this is nutty. Are they flying in the face of convention just to be different or is this simply an design oversight?

                2. Icons on the Find, Locate, OK, and Cancel buttons are weak.

                I'm not sure if you asked 100 people on the street, what a lightning bolt represents but I have never seen it used to mean OK. The more typical icon is a checkmark and preferably a green checkmark.

                The icons are poorly detailed. What is supposed to be binoculars looks like a moth to me. In general Alpha's icons suffer from being too small and overly ornate, a fatal design combination.

                What do you think Alpha could do to strengthen its lookup browses? Here are my suggestions:

                1. Allow the row selector buttons to be optional. The embedded browse has a property ShowRowSelectors, why not a standalone browse? Don't force row selector buttons on a developer for simple one column browses.

                2. Left align buttons, just like the Alpha toolbar and menu and Microsoft Explorer, etc.

                3. Place the same small space between each button so the appearance is even, again just like their toolbar and menus. How hard can this be?

                4. Drop the icons from the buttons. If the icons are weak, eliminate them altogether and rely only on text. No I don't think its realistic to get Alpha to improve its icons. I am not so much concerned about the appearance of their product as I am the appearance of the solution you are trying to deliver to your client.

                5. Alpha has in numerous places hardwired font and sizes. This is the cost of using defaults. But wouldn't it be nice for a custom browse to use the same font and size as the browse title or column headings in the lookup's buttons instead?

                6. This should be a wish list item: Allow custom icon's to be used across a development project. Allow a developer to define what icon he wanted to use for OK, and then when ever a default browse was used, that user selected icon would appear. If you wanted to use a purple lighting bolt for OK, that would be fine, and I could use a simple green checkmark for OK in my application.
                At the same time allow a developer to specify the font and size for "OK" to appear on the button across all screens in his project.

                If I get sometime over the weekend, I may post a "makeover" of how this lookup browse could be improved. Alpha Five so reminds me of Ugly Betty and I just wish the Alpha team would take the braces off, get contacts, and a new haircut!

                Bob McGaffic
                Pittsburgh, PA
                Last edited by rmcgaffic; 09-04-2008, 08:38 AM.

                Comment


                  #23
                  Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

                  i noticed that your examples use a saved browse instead of the default browse... as you can see from my first post, when i use a saved layout, i continue to get a "cannot create lookup" error. this error occurs randomly, 2-4 times a day.. where the user enters the customer name in the customer field, but instead of going to the layout browse it says it can't find the lookup... if the user waits a few minutes, the error goes away on its own and then the list reappears for them to use. This error is consistent with all my accounts using a saved layout and the day i went back to a default browse - ALL of these errors on all customers stopped.

                  My post was to ask if anyone knew why using a saved layout would cause this error - or simply how to use a default browse, but have control over the font size of the default browse.

                  Any suggestions for these questions? I agree, there are always things that could look better - i think V9 goes a long way in giving better control and design, but what i'd really like to know is if anyone knows how to solve the error first - then i'll worry about aesthetics.

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

                    Lynda,

                    Intermitent, inconsistent behavior sounds like a bug to me, but the problem is whether the problem can be reproduced so that it can be debugged.

                    Bob McGaffic
                    Pittsburgh

                    Comment


                      #25
                      New problems after 09/08/2008 updates

                      All,

                      I was hopeful that the problems with the height of a field rule lookup using a custom browse would have been addressed by the A5V9 update of 09/13/08. They have not. I did not receive an email acknowledgement from Alpha when I submitted this problem on 08/15/08, so I have resubmitted it.

                      Unfortunately, the 09/13/08 patches appear to have broken things that worked. Anyone else note the following problems?

                      (X) Display as drop down list no longer works.
                      The display is a full screen browse

                      Browse layout to brwLookup no longer works
                      My custom browse layout brwLookup is not displayed, and instead the default browse is displayed.

                      I have re-submitted the original bug report just in case it fell through the cracks and an addendum for these two issues encountered after the patch update.

                      Bob McGaffic
                      Pittsburgh

                      Comment


                        #26
                        Re: How to achieve consistent appearance for field rule lookup

                        Just wanted to report some good news.

                        The last remaining bug in this thread has been fixed.

                        Previously, when a stand along browse was used for a field rule lookup display, the height of the browse could not be controlled. Even though the height was set in the browse design mode using Object Explorer, the value was overwritten which added many blank lines to the browse.

                        I just received an email from Alpha that this bug has been fixed and will be included in the next update (post 09/13/08).

                        Here's the score:
                        6 different bugs reported in this thread
                        6 different bugs fixed in a timely manner!!!

                        Thanks Alpha Team!

                        Bob McGaffic
                        Pittsburgh, PA

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