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How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

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  • Tanman
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Thank you very much Bill. That code worked. I should have realised that i need to prefix it with ptr as thats what we defined!


    Many thanks Bill for this. I have learnt a tremendous amount from this exercise and am eager to start learning how this works.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bill Parker
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    It looks like there must have been some other code, as this would not work. "ptr" is a pointer to properties that are returned by the order builder function. So to reference those properties they must be prefixed by "ptr.". Try this.

    Code:
    ptr = a5_order_builder("","temptable2")
    if ptr.lastbutton="OK" then
        preview_report("General_Report","",ptr.order_expression)
    
    else  'for any other condition that might occur
        end
    end if
    Bill.

    Leave a comment:


  • Tanman
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Thank you Bill I followed as you said and understood what you mean by passing parameters in this manner.

    After looking at the code that alpha 5 presented me with in the interactive mode. I found out that the parameter it creates is indeed order_expression and I added it in to the report syntax and it bingo it worked! So thank you very much for persisting with me on that.

    I thought about it and I wanted it to take a step further.

    After having looked at the code, i can see that if I choose cancel the order expression switches to "cancel"

    Code:
    ptr = a5_order_builder("","temptable2")
    = lastbutton = "cancel"
    order_expression = ""
    So I figured that following the same process I would be able to define some events and came up with this code

    Code:
    DIM lastbutton as C
    
    ptr = a5_order_builder("","temptable2")
    
    if lastbutton="OK" then
        
    preview_report("General_Report","",ptr.order_expression)
    
    elseif lastbutton="cancel"then
    cancel()
    end if
    Basically what I want is "If OK is pressed, it goes ahead with the program, if i click Cancel it stops."
    I added in a DIM to declare the variable because when I didn't A5 started to complain about a variable not being defined.

    What actually happens is that if I click cancel. . . it does cancel, but if I click "OK" it does cancel again...is there any way i can debug it properly or find out what I am doing wrong?

    Once this is done, I think I am happy with this and I am very grateful for your support Bill. I have learnt a lot.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bill Parker
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Do something like this in the interactive window to test.
    Code:
    ptr = a5_order_builder("","contact")
    ?ptr
    = lastbutton = "OK"
    order_expression = "Id_number"
    
    preview_report("Phone List","",ptr.order_expression)
    Bill.

    Leave a comment:


  • Tanman
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Update:

    I have added in the variable...the order builder appears But what I set in the order builder is not passing through to the report.

    So say I put in the first section of the order builder, sort by Company. When I click on ok, the report still sorts on Record. Any ideas?

    >>Then you can pass order criteria to report as a parameter.
    This part is what I am having problems with
    TIA

    Leave a comment:


  • Tanman
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Yes something like that..

    I would like the parameters from the order builder passed through to the report.

    So the process goes user clicks on button to produce report--->order builder comes up--->user selects sorting order-->this gets parsed through to the report as order criteria.

    UPDATE: I have come back and revisited this idea and readded this as a single line of code:
    pointer = a5_order_builder("",temptable2)

    and it comes up with an error saying that the Script:TEMPLATE line:1
    Variable "table_set_name" not found

    I suppose I have to define variables but again I am new to this...

    Thanks for any help.
    Last edited by Tanman; 11-06-2010, 04:02 PM.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bill Parker
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    You mean like this?
    http://wiki.alphasoftware.com/PRINT_REPORT+Function

    Bill.

    Leave a comment:


  • Tanman
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Hi there!

    Did some experimenting and the dialog box does come up. I was wondering however, how do we pass the parameters created to the report?

    Leave a comment:


  • Tanman
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Ok thanks bill. Is there anything extra that I need to do to parse the fields through to the order builder? Is it a matter of creating an action script that will invoke the order builder and then it uses the field from that source? Many thanks. As you can see I am still green with alpha five. I am learning Superfast though!

    Leave a comment:


  • Bill Parker
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    You would need to build your own xdialog from scratch.

    Well, as I think of it, you might try creating a View of the table and use that in Alpha's dialog. The View will let you change the field names.

    Bill.

    Leave a comment:


  • Tanman
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Thanks Bill for the reply. The window pops up so it works!
    I will do some experimenting to make sure that the choices that the user makes in the order builder are properly moved across.

    Many thanks. This has helped a lot.

    Just of curiosity, the order builder shows the fields within a set or table. Is it possible to change the formatting of them to show something more meaningful to the user?

    For example if we have a field in the table called fld_category, the order builder will present that. Is it possible to apply formatting just like field rules?

    Many thanks.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bill Parker
    replied
    Re: How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Alpha does not document these functions (so use at your own risk). I have used them for many years.
    vFilter = a5_filter_builder("",table_set_name)
    pointer = a5_order_builder("",table_set_name)

    The order builder returns a couple properties, so use it first in the interactive window to see what you get.

    Then you can pass order criteria to report as a parameter.

    Bill.

    Leave a comment:


  • How to invoke Order Builder XDialog in sorting fields in my reports?

    Hi there,

    I am reworking a database and one of the improvements that we have decided upon is to give the users the ability to choose to sort by fields in a generated report.

    I saw the order builder and was wondering if I was able to use it to allow users to choose fields to sort by?

    So the workflow I am intending is when the user clicks on the button to generate a report...is to get a xdialog box (order builder?) to come up---> User chooses what fields to sort by--> sorting settings gets applied to the report --->Report is generated.

    Is this possible and how would that be done?

    Many thanks to any help...I am most grateful to any advice given.
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