Leaving tables open with a dialog

[David Mason]

I have a form that calls another form in dialog mode like this:

DIM numbers as P
numbers = :Form.load("DealNumbs","dialog")
numbers:tables:NAMES.filter_expression="ACCT = '" + acct.TEXT + "'"
'numbers:tables:NAMES.order_expression=""
numbers:tables:NAMES.query()
'numbers.show()
numbers.activate()

As you can see, I have tried several different methods to close this form without success. If i go to check the indexes after this form is opend and data maniplated. Alpha informs me the table is still open. I can then close alpha and restart to go again.

If I open and close this or other forms set up the same way, I get a message that something is wrong and I have to close alpha and restart the machine to continue.

I have win2000 professional, amd 1.4ghz, 256meg mem, 40gig HD with 25 gig free. I have shut all else off and there is no network to cause issues.

Any help would be appreciated.

Dave Mason

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

As mentioned in the other thread,

Check the sections on form.load(), form.dialog(), and form.open() in the Xbasic Ref. Manual.

-- tom

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

David,

I apologize. I've been been pointing you a section of the reference materials that's only slightly useful. Try Ch. 22 in the Xbasic Ref. Manual. The section on 'Closing a Dialog Box' explains things in detail. -- tom

[David Mason]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

Tom,

I think you are not understanding this problem, so please do not direct me to those pages anymore. I read all of them in detail before I voiced my problem here and I hope someone else may have a better idea of this problem.

I will add that when I open 7 dialog forms and close them, the eigth one causes a problem. Is there a deep problem in A5 that leaves the forms hidden in some way rather than closing them???

I generally get this kind of response when the problem is unsolvable. I will find my own solution as I generally do , if necesary.

Thanks any ways.
Dave

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

David,

Sorry my ideas were not more helpful.

If you want to post a working example that illustrates the problem, with step by step instructions on how to trigger it, I'll be glad to look at it. Perhaps others will as well.

-- tom

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

David,

At the risk of irritating you further, I offer the following.

If I were writing your script I would add one more line :

DIM numbers as P
numbers = :Form.load("DealNumbs","dialog")
numbers:tables:NAMES.filter_expression="ACCT = '" + acct.TEXT + "'"
'numbers:tables:NAMES.order_expression=""
numbers:tables:NAMES.query()
'numbers.show()
numbers.activate()

:DealNumbs.close()   'or numbers.close()

_
For the reasons explained in the various passages I've
referred to before. If this last line is missing from your
scripts, that may explain why your forms, opened in dialog
mode, are remaining open.

-- tom

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

David

Your opening script seems fine. However, As Tom points out you must explicitly close a dialog opened with form.load(). This has caught many programmers. To quote from page 177 of the xbasic manual

"Contrast this behavior with the Form.view() and Form.load() methods when the �Dialog� parameter is specified. In this case the user action of closing the dialog actually only hides the window so that the Xbasic program can read any of the variables that the user filled in on the dialog box. It is the responsibility of the Xbasic programmer to use the close() method to actually close the window."

The last sentence is the key. You must have a close() statement in the script that called the dialog after the dialog runs to close the dialog.

Using your code, which seems correct, make this change

DIM numbers as P
numbers = :Form.load("DealNumbs","dialog")
numbers:tables:NAMES.filter_expression="ACCT = '" + acct.TEXT + "'"
numbers:tables:NAMES.order_expression=""
numbers:tables:NAMES.query()
numbers.show()
numbers.activate()

'-- At this point the script pauses until the user "closes" the dialog, which only hides it. Add this to actually close the dialog.

numbers.close()

'-- This actually closes the dialog.

By the way, if this code is in the dialog events or button, it won't work. It MUST be in the calling script or a script on the form that called the dialog. The dialog has to be "closed" (hidden) by the user before this will work.

Even this could fail if the dialog can't close for some reason. An example would be if the dialog is left in enter or change mode. You can add some xbasic to check and place it in the CanExit event for the dialog.

Now I do see a problem if you are opening a dialog, then opening another dialog from that one, and then opening another dialog form the second dialog, etc. You will end up with a bunch of forms open, even though they may be hidden. This could eventually cause a crash if the same table is opened each time.

I have one application that does this to a limited extent, and I found a couple problems. Since dialogs are modal, you shouldn't be able to do anything on any other form until the dialog is "closed". That is true of the first dialog opened. However, if a second dialog is opened from the first, it isn't completely modal. You can still access the first dialog, which isn't what you want. I also found that I could only have a maximum of 3 dialogs open before I started having problems. It took a number of workarounds to get around the problems. If I could have gotten the effect the user wanted any other way, I would not have used multiple dialogs.

Jerry

[David Mason]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

Thanks to both of you. I might also add that the show and activate are not BOTH needed. In fact, when using both, they cause the forms to open up on the screen 2 times.

Thanks again

I will try this

Dave

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

Dave,

You are correct about the show() and activate(). Actually, the main issue is the order in which they run. The activate() should come before the show(), since the show() statement opens the dialog. If the activate() command is after the show(), the activate will try to display the form again. I usually include the activate() line, even though the code seems to work fine without it.

Jerry

[David Mason]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

Jerry,

Thanks!!! It seems to work like this:

DIM layout_ptrR as P
layout_ptrR = :Form.load("DealRebates","dialog")
layout_ptrR:tables:NAMES.filter_expression="ACCT = '" + acct.TEXT + "'"
layout_ptrR:tables:NAMES.order_expression=""
layout_ptrR:tables:NAMES.query()
layout_ptrR.show()
'layout_ptrR.activate()


:DealRebates.close()

I am not sure that I need the activate at all. I am leaving it out as I learned many years ago to not include anything not needed.

I had tried the last line before, but must have done something wrong. It now works and it does not lock the table so far.

Dave

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Leaving tables open with a dialog

Dave

I see you got it working. One thing that may have happened is that a previous instance of the form may have still been open when you ran this code. If the form is open, and you try to open it again, Alpha assignes an alias to the new instance. For example, if "DealRebates" was already open, your code would open a form with the alias name "DealRebates1". Your close statement tries to close the original instance called "DealRebates". However, if that form is locked, it won't close and now you have 2 versions open. Each time you opened a new dialog, it left all previous versions open. If that is the case, I am surprised you got to 8 times before it locked!

You already have some of what you need to get around this. You created a table pointer for this instance with

layout_ptrR = :Form.load("DealRebates","dialog")

Layout_ptrR is the pointer that "points" to this instance. Now instead of using the form name in the close statement, use the pointer.

layout_ptrR.close()

This WILL close this instance.