Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

[MikeC]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

M,
You will be disappointed in how long it will take to process even say a browse of 10 fields by 50 rows worth of data with any calculations including ones for color. I did this in a project and as it took about 2 seconds to scroll between EACH row, I ended up making the calculations "on demand only" via a couple of methods.

I know what you want can be done via xbasic as it can be done manually and the objects you have mentioned all can be "seen" , created, or manipulated with xbasic.....but I, for one, would not want to spend the amount of time explaining or showing you how when the end result would most likely not be something even remotely usable!!! But maybe I have misread also what is wanted or intended.

My take is that you want to:
Create fields and row data dynamically with xbasic and be able to change any "cell" of the browse based on the data within via calculations.....all without user intervention.....AND to have this done on the fly in real time or without a big time delay. My contention is that if what I stated above is true then I do not have a clue as to have this done in a browse at an acceptable speed--truly interested if there is a way!!

If you made exactly what you intended as a use for this, someone may be able to either steer you in a new, faster direction or.....

[G Gabriel]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

You could have every "cell" change color based on expression and you could do that with xbasic, but I am at loss as to where and what is the map? virtual or otherwise? and not sure what do you mean by "virtual"? I did ask you if you meant a "Matrix" rather than a "Map", but I got no answer.

I must admit, I am not getting the big picture here and, as such, can't be of any help. Sorry.

[M.Richard]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

I am not sure what I did not supply in terms of information Al.
What I am trying to do is construct a map of 1.000*1.000 cells.
To do that, I figured, best way to do in Alpha would be to use a browse (because you can slide through a browse and do not need to have all cells on screen at one time).
So, the browse would need to have 1.000 columns, and it would need to have 1.000 records. So far so good, not to difficult to create that with xbasic.

Now, let us assume for a moment that each cell in the browse is a village. There are small villages and big ones. A small village is green, a big one red (or something similar).

Whether a village is small or big is determined by a code that is in the cell. That is a 3 digit numeric code. Like 999.
So, if a cell contains the value 999, the background of the cell should be green. Or the cell should show a certain image that delivers the difference like a green ball or similar.

So, I tried to use the "edit display format" of the embedded browse (the matrix of 1.000*1.000 cells) to make that happen: display format is conditional -> an expression is evaluated to determine which display format is used for each row in the browse. In case value = 999, show image x. Or make background of the cell "green" or whatever.

Point is, that in order to do this, you need to go along all columns of the browse by hand, and programm this, with for each column a different expression because it needs the fieldname (= column heading) in the expression.

What I am looking for is a smart way to avoid me walking through 1.000 columns by hand and probably ending up with a corrupt browse at the end :-)

I am not sure what more information you guys would need to have, just ask me if you are missing something?

The map is not of any existing world. It is a virtual world. So there is no existing map. The codes on the map (999 etc) are necessary because they constantly will change, and every time the form opens, the matrix (embedded browse) will need to show the current situation. I could leave it at the browse showing "999" but that is not "easy on the eye" for the user. He will not be able to see the different values in all that numeric humbo jumbo. So that is why I thought to use colors instead.

I have also thought about using ASCII characters instead. It is not as nice as colors, but if nothing else works, that could also maybe do it. Would that be a possibility?

[Al Buchholz]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

Too many calculated fields will make a form/browse too slow - and the limit is way below what you are looking at.

You may need to pre-process the rows and columns and then display. But you've not given enough information to really allow us to help you.

[G Gabriel]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

I am still trying to understand what you are trying to do. If it is a geographic map, for instance a map of the US, how are you going to put it in the browse?
Or are you simply talking about a "Matrix" not a "Map"?
How you do it depends on what you want to achieve.

[M.Richard]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

Yes, this is a geographic map, but a virtual one, it is not an existing geographic situation. Otherwise the road to Google Maps would have been easy.

How again would you accomplish the automatic showing of the image with help of the calculated field in the field rules? Because I believed that was what you are heading for in terms of solution?
I can not see quite how this could be done?

[G Gabriel]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

Are you talking about a geographic map?

[M.Richard]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

Richard:
I did read your response. Sliding back and forth DOES NOT increase the number of screen pixels.

No, sliding back and forth does not increase the number of screen pixels, but, at the same time, it reduces the number of screen pixels you would need otherwise in other to display the complete matrix.......

If you go to Google Maps, you don't need a screen as wide as 4x4 meters in order to show the whole world either :) you just view a piece of it.... so it is with this matrix.

[G Gabriel]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

Richard:
I did read your response. Sliding back and forth DOES NOT increase the number of screen pixels.

[M.Richard]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

Sorry, Gabriel, but I think you did not read my answer completely..... it contained these sentences:

You go from the assumption that I would need to see all 1.000*1.000 cells in one view..... that, is not the case!

The browse gives the opportunity to slide horizontally and vertically so that only discloses a part of the map as you slide along the browse.

There is no need to see all "cells" completely and at once in the one view, hence, your concerns about the resolution are not quite relevant in this case?

[G Gabriel]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

Richard:
Are you saying 1.000 or 1,000?
The most my screen resolution will go to is 1024x768.
I understand there are TV's with 3840�2160 but haven't heard of any monitors that go that high.

My point is, even if this dot is 2x2 Pixels, you will need a minimum of 2000 X 2000 resolution. Obviously, you need a whole lot more since these images are not contiguous. Do you have that much resolution?

Put an image of 2x2 pixels on our monitor and see how it looks.

[M.Richard]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

You do not have a 1000 column.

If I remember correctly, the max number of fields in alpha is 500 or thereabout, but regardless of how many and assuming you have a "lot of fields", what you are trying to do in essence is this:

Make each one of these fields a calculated field to show a certain image based on a certain expression. So, what you are trying to do is, as one option, in the field rules turn each one of these to a calculated field then write the expression for that field.

Sure, it would be quite laborious to do it manually, but you could write a script to do that. You know you can:
1-Enumerate the fields in a table
2-Set field rules with xbasic.

But I wouldn't haste to write the script. Assuming you write one, I am not sure how are you going to:
1-Present that to the user? There is simply no screen wide enough to accommodate that many images, unless you are talking about quantum images.

2-Even if you have a 60-inch screen, they don't have enough pixels

3-And if they have the pixels, I don't have a field of vision wide enough to encompass it

4-And if I do, your hard drive and/or your RAM might struggle very hard with 1,000,000 images (1000X1000)

5-And if your RAM and/or hard drive oblige, alpha won't oblige with a 1,000,000 expressions

What is the application for?

Hi Gabriel!

Well, I hate to contradict you, but the embedded browse on the forum DOES show the 1.000 columns.... so, it CAN (v9) obviously handle 1.000 fields....

What I am trying to do is create a MAP. Where each "cell" represents a place on the map. Look at it as a map of 1.000 villages horizontally and 1.000 villages vertically.
Each village is represented by an image like a green ball if the image has value x and a red ball if the image has value y.

You go from the assumption that I would need to see all 1.000*1.000 cells in one view..... that, is not the case!

The browse gives the opportunity to slide horizontally and vertically so that only discloses a part of the map as you slide along the browse.

I know you can create the fields as calculated, but with what kind of expression would you make an image appear if the value would be lets say 999?

[G Gabriel]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

You do not have a 1000 column.

If I remember correctly, the max number of fields in alpha is 500 or thereabout, but regardless of how many and assuming you have a "lot of fields", what you are trying to do in essence is this:

Make each one of these fields a calculated field to show a certain image based on a certain expression. So, what you are trying to do is, as one option, in the field rules turn each one of these to a calculated field then write the expression for that field.

Sure, it would be quite laborious to do it manually, but you could write a script to do that. You know you can:
1-Enumerate the fields in a table
2-Set field rules with xbasic.

But I wouldn't haste to write the script. Assuming you write one, I am not sure how are you going to:
1-Present that to the user? There is simply no screen wide enough to accommodate that many images, unless you are talking about quantum images.

2-Even if you have a 60-inch screen, they don't have enough pixels

3-And if they have the pixels, I don't have a field of vision wide enough to encompass it

4-And if I do, your hard drive and/or your RAM might struggle very hard with 1,000,000 images (1000X1000)

5-And if your RAM and/or hard drive oblige, alpha won't oblige with a 1,000,000 expressions

What is the application for?

[Peter.Greulich]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

What I was looking for was something like the functionality of Excel when you copy and paste a formula to another cell and it adjusts the properties itself adhering to the new cell coordinates if you know what I mean.

Obviously, you can have a column with a conditional expression showing an image. Since you have only 10-codes, but a 1000 records, it's not too much of a big deal to set up that conditional once. But to dynamically repeat it for additional columns (fields), I don't think Alpha provides a way to do a copy like that. It would be useful to have a copy command for grids too. But there ain't.

[M.Richard]

Re: Browse Cell Image ?? HOW??

Do you mean the same image and the same field value evry time? Or are their dozens of different images for dozens of diff. field values?

I have a browse, which is meant to be a matrix.
So: horizontally, you find columns (col1, col2,col3 etc) which are of course actually fields in the table.
Vertically, you find rows, which are of course records in the table.

Each "cell" can have a couple of values, or is blank.
The values are numeric, and such a value could be: 999 (or 888 or a few others, I guess maximum 10 different codes)

If it is 999, it should show "image 1" instead of 999.
If it is 888, it should show "image 2" instead of 888.

I hope I am making some sense....... (scratches his head)