Alpha Software Mobile Development Tools:   Alpha Anywhere    |   Alpha TransForm subscribe to our YouTube Channel  Follow Us on LinkedIn  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Facebook

Announcement

Collapse

The Alpha Software Forum Participation Guidelines

The Alpha Software Forum is a free forum created for Alpha Software Developer Community to ask for help, exchange ideas, and share solutions. Alpha Software strives to create an environment where all members of the community can feel safe to participate. In order to ensure the Alpha Software Forum is a place where all feel welcome, forum participants are expected to behave as follows:
  • Be professional in your conduct
  • Be kind to others
  • Be constructive when giving feedback
  • Be open to new ideas and suggestions
  • Stay on topic


Be sure all comments and threads you post are respectful. Posts that contain any of the following content will be considered a violation of your agreement as a member of the Alpha Software Forum Community and will be moderated:
  • Spam.
  • Vulgar language.
  • Quotes from private conversations without permission, including pricing and other sales related discussions.
  • Personal attacks, insults, or subtle put-downs.
  • Harassment, bullying, threatening, mocking, shaming, or deriding anyone.
  • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
  • Sexually explicit or violent material, links, or language.
  • Pirated, hacked, or copyright-infringing material.
  • Encouraging of others to engage in the above behaviors.


If a thread or post is found to contain any of the content outlined above, a moderator may choose to take one of the following actions:
  • Remove the Post or Thread - the content is removed from the forum.
  • Place the User in Moderation - all posts and new threads must be approved by a moderator before they are posted.
  • Temporarily Ban the User - user is banned from forum for a period of time.
  • Permanently Ban the User - user is permanently banned from the forum.


Moderators may also rename posts and threads if they are too generic or do not property reflect the content.

Moderators may move threads if they have been posted in the incorrect forum.

Threads/Posts questioning specific moderator decisions or actions (such as "why was a user banned?") are not allowed and will be removed.

The owners of Alpha Software Corporation (Forum Owner) reserve the right to remove, edit, move, or close any thread for any reason; or ban any forum member without notice, reason, or explanation.

Community members are encouraged to click the "Report Post" icon in the lower left of a given post if they feel the post is in violation of the rules. This will alert the Moderators to take a look.

Alpha Software Corporation may amend the guidelines from time to time and may also vary the procedures it sets out where appropriate in a particular case. Your agreement to comply with the guidelines will be deemed agreement to any changes to it.



Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.

When you do post
First, make sure you are posting your question in the correct forum. For example, if you post an issue regarding Desktop applications on the Mobile & Browser Applications board , not only will your question not be seen by the appropriate audience, it may also be removed or relocated.

The more detail you provide about your problem or question, the more likely someone is to understand your request and be able to help. A sample database with a minimum of records (and its support files, zipped together) will make it much easier to diagnose issues with your application. Screen shots of error messages are especially helpful.

When explaining how to reproduce your problem, please be as detailed as possible. Describe every step, click-by-click and keypress-by-keypress. Otherwise when others try to duplicate your problem, they may do something slightly different and end up with different results.

A note about attachments
You may only attach one file to each message. Attachment file size is limited to 2MB. If you need to include several files, you may do so by zipping them into a single archive.

If you forgot to attach your files to your post, please do NOT create a new thread. Instead, reply to your original message and attach the file there.

When attaching screen shots, it is best to attach an image file (.BMP, .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, etc.) or a zip file of several images, as opposed to a Word document containing the screen shots. Because Word documents are prone to viruses, many message board users will not open your Word file, therefore limiting their ability to help you.

Similarly, if you are uploading a zipped archive, you should simply create a .ZIP file and not a self-extracting .EXE as many users will not run your EXE file.
See more
See less

tabbed objects

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    tabbed objects

    Hello
    I just need to know what would be the
    best alternative to using tabbed objects or
    subforms would be. I know there are some people
    who program with Alpha 5 for a living. So
    I am sure there are some who have experience
    in this area.

    Thanks for any help.
    Glen

    #2
    RE: tabbed objects

    I despise tabbed objects, mostly from a design perspective. In cases where it is possible, I use buttons to re-index a form as long as the form design itself doesn't need to change from one click to the next. If I need a different form I most likely will open another form on top of the current form, usually using the Popup mode so that it stays on top nicely.

    If your primarily concerned with filtering a keyfield, then these methods should give you the speed you need

    Tom Lyon

    Comment


      #3
      RE: tabbed objects

      CO's (conditional objects) repaint flicker free, appear to be 100% stable, and offer unlimited flexibility in form design.

      Comment


        #4
        RE: tabbed objects

        Everyone's need and preferences are different, some for personal preference and some because of the task at hand. I use a tabbed object quite extensively, especially for read only data where you have many fields that won't fit comfortably on a screen. My clients love it. I don't use it very much for data entry however.

        Just my thoughts.

        kenn
        TYVM :) kenn

        Knowing what you can achieve will not become reality until you imagine and explore.

        Comment


          #5
          RE: tabbed objects

          Why wouldn't you recommend a tab for data entry Ken? I have to develop a large application that will have more fields than can be on the form and was wondering the same thing.

          Alex Levy
          Alex Levy
          Tampa, FL

          Comment


            #6
            RE: tabbed objects

            I do have a tabbed object where I do some data entry intoi a browse with only 4 columns. I also do data entry on 5 other tabs where each tab represents a different table. However, this is a 1:1 relationship so ther will only be one record on each tab.

            If you have to do data entry into many fields I think it's better to have a separate form for that. The problem comes with clutter, too many fields on one tab; shall we say things can get a bit toooooo cozy?

            My personal preference is to use a separate form and create a button to advance to the bottom half of the form to bring it into view.

            No doubt some wil disagree with me. I certainly don't claim to be an expert but I'm taking my que from others more knowledgeable than I.

            kenn
            TYVM :) kenn

            Knowing what you can achieve will not become reality until you imagine and explore.

            Comment


              #7
              RE: tabbed objects

              Depending on the size of the table (small is better) and the
              number of records, switching to another form is sometimes
              a little easier for people to deal with. The switch has
              to occur almost instantly.

              Comment


                #8
                RE: tabbed objects

                Alex,

                Ken is right. Everyone's needs and preferences are different.

                As a beginning Alpha Five developer I found I had a lot of trouble controlling the data entry processes I needed using embedded browses and tabbed objects. It was much much easier for me to work with the field events available on forms. They give me more options as the user moves through the form from field to field, and I can more easily control when a record is saved or cancelled. As you know changes pending in a row of a browse object are automatically saved if the user changes rows. Well, for me, I didn't want incomplete records saved, and I didn't want to have to build a bunch of record validation field rules to block that from happening. Didn't want to have to figure out how to reposition the browse to the right row if required fields were omitted, when the user jumped to a different row. (there's more but you get the point)

                I also encountered some of the problems which Dr. Wayne describes in his article on Simplifying Your Application because I initially tried to use a tabbed object in a set that contained lots of different child tables, putting each child's fields on separate tab pages. Seemed like a neat orderly way to do it, right? Wrong!

                Now that I've had more experience with Alpha Five I'm a bit less concerned about tabbed objects, but still don't do data entry using embedded browses. Will display data with them, but if the user wants to change a row, I use a separate form, such as Ken describes.

                -- tom

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: tabbed objects

                  So would you say that a tab is a good "launching point" for other forms, browses etc. ? Whereas, a series of buttons could be placed on each tab thus opening different forms as needed.

                  Alex
                  Alex Levy
                  Tampa, FL

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: tabbed objects

                    Alex,

                    Yes, depending on the particulars of the application and the user's training. Since they would have to go to the right tab page to see certain options, some would get lost.

                    -- tom

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: tabbed objects

                      Tom kind of echoes the same sediments as I do.
                      Tabbed objects seem to be OK as long as there
                      are not a lot of fields involved. However when I start
                      putting lots items on them I have had experiences where
                      they just become an unstable mess. So don't know if
                      I will totally abandon them but I definitely need alternatives.

                      Glen

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: tabbed objects

                        Tabbed objects can work well. A good trick to use if you have lots of fields is: create one subform for each tabbed page. Fields won't get messed up, there is no performance loss, and everything remains very organized. Have used this method with great success for a number of years.
                        Peter
                        AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

                        [email protected]
                        https://www.alphabasesolutions.com


                        Comment


                          #13
                          RE: tabbed objects

                          Hi folks,

                          I'm with Peter on this. One further point. An assumption implicit in the discussion so far is that users must run through all fields whenever they enter a record. However this may not be the case.

                          In my scheduling application there is a field for a message which might need to be printed in the timetable (e.g. "Prerequisite is Math 101"). I don't want users to cycle through this field when they enter the majority of courses which don't need a message so I take the field out of the tab order and stick it on a tab underneath another tab which contains one or more required fields.

                          That way the location of the message field is always obvious and people don't call me up and ask where the blazes do you put in messages on the rare occasions when they need one.

                          Bill
                          Bill Hanigsberg

                          Comment


                            #14
                            RE: tabbed objects

                            Hi All

                            Just a quick question in this regard. Is the the use of a browse for data entry also frowned apon?

                            Keith Hubert
                            London.
                            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

                            Working...
                            X