Field Rules

[Doug Chanley]

I think that my memory is swaping out to my hard disk in my head!

Does anyone know if you can cause a field rule to evaluate... or
re-evaluate from a fields event for the current record?

I have a tabbed object on a form that seperates fields in a table to
conserve space. There is a field rule that sets a default value
for one of the fields on the 2nd tab. When the form goes into
enter mode the default value was not set. I changed the properties
of the field rule to set the value at the beginning of the data entry.
that worked fine. I guess I am asking if 2 tabs have primary table fields,
when you goto the next tab does the record save & put you into modeless
entry mode. Also was wondering about the option of re-evaluating
field rules for the current record only after the record has been saved?

[Finian Lennon]

RE: Field Rules

Doug:

The default value rules fire only on entering a record. Once the record is saved it's done. You can re-evaluate rules by going into field rules and selecting "Re-evaluate" from the Field Rules drop down but, again, this will have no effect on default rules.

If you need to populate the field with a value you can run an update on that field. If you can do this (i.e. if the field values are constant) you may want to consider using a calculated field rather than a default value.

Finian

[Doug Chanley]

RE: Field Rules

Thanks Finian,

I guess I knew that, just needed to hear it again!

[john carrio]

RE: Field Rules

hi doug,

i am not an expert on a5v4, but with the help of many on this board
have got me thru a lot of xbasic

so with that in mind

my application required a lot of fields to be set up
as default calculations
(pure calculated field rule would not work because user needed to be able to
change the value)

however if the user made a change to field that was a componant
of the default calcualtion, it would , of course, not re-evaluate,

again , with the boards help, someone suggested a little xbasic
script that would do just that (re-evaluate) or i like to call it
"tickle" the re-calc on a change
(i can't remember who it was, but am forever grateful)

if you still need come help on this, i can post a sample of the script
given to me.
it works like a charm

[Doug Chanley]

RE: Field Rules


John,

My problem here was very minor, I was able to work through it
very simply. Sometimes I get tunnel vision when working in
Alpha 5, my focus gets too narrow to see what is actually happening.

Thanks for taking time to respond to this message....I would still
like to see your script for re-evaluating a calc field, it might
come in handy down the road. There may be others who would find it
useful as well....co-operative input is what makes this forum such a
valued resource!

Have a great 4th!!

[john carrio]

RE: Field Rules

hi doug

as i said, someone else made this contribution
and am sure they will recgonise their signature on this code and
should take full credit

the script is attached to the field that the user can change,
"onwrotefield -- event"
which is a
componant of a calculation --

the calc is defined in the field rules
as a "defualt", in the field "amount", price x quantity
(not as a calculated field)
for the field that contains the result of the calc

in this case -- "sol3->amount" is the result of sol3->price x sol3->
quantity

if the quantity is "changed" after an "enter", this will
tickle the re - evaluation of the amount


t=table.current(2)
if t.mode_get()=1 then
if a_field_value=""
sol3->amount=sol3->price*sol3->quantity
end if

hope this helps
i know it saved me

i think i got a little repetative in their
hope it's clear enough