Filtered lookup

[Jeff, Richards]

I asked this question a few months ago, but I haven't come up with a solution that works.
I have the follwing Tables-

Orders- sysid,VendorID,CustID,po# etc.
Order Details- Order ID,Vendor item,Descriptiion. price etc.
Vendors- Vendor Id, Vendor_name, Address etc.
Products- Vendor ID, Vendor item, Description, cost
I also have a customer table.

Sets-
orders-
|----linked to Customers- (one to one)
|--contacts
|---- Order Details- (one to many)
|-----Vendors (one to one)
|Products( 1 to many)

I have one order entry form- it includes;
Vendor Id lookup,Mfg_name_Customer ID lookup, Customer name etc.Then it has an embedded browse with the order details.

After chosen the Vendor ID which fills in the Vendor information. I want the browse to be filtered with just the products that this vendor makes.

I have tried filtering the lookup. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. It also keeps building many indexes on my table.

What I would like to in the filtered lookup is if Vendor ID = the Vendor ID on the form filter( which is part of the orders table) the list. HOwever, It does not allow me to do this.
Any help would be appreciated.

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Filtered lookup

Jeff,

One thing that does seem to work is to set the filter using a global variable, say "v_vendor". I create the variable in the table structure, define it as global, and set a default value. In this way, it is always available to the table. Somewhere on the form, perhaps on the OnActivate event, set the value of the variable to the current vendor. Then for the filter for the lookup, use

vendor_id=v_vendor

You can also set up a conditional table lookup to show a different lookup for each vendor. I needed this in one app for a different filtered lookup display on different inventory types. Set one condition to

var->v_vendor = "Vendor1"

or whatever. Set another to

var->v_vendor = "Vendor2"

and so on. Be sure to have one for

var->v_vendor = ""

to catch situations where no vendor has been specified or the variable value has not been set.

I have used this on a couple apps and it works well, most of the time. There is a slight bug in version 266 that will cause a problem with any filtered lookup. After about 8 to 10 lookups in succesion without closing the form, a memory error will generate. No cure is currently avaialable. A later beta test build 267 did fix the problem, but it was never released.

Jerry

[forskare]

RE: Filtered lookup

Jeff,

I want the browse to be filtered with just the products that this vendor makes.

Create a set with vendors as the parent and products as the child linked by vendor_id. Create a form based on the set and put the vendor name and vendor_id fields on the form. Then drag a browse from the tool list onto the form and delete all fields except for, say, the produc_id and products fields. Everytime you change the vendor, name you will see that vendors products.

You could also put a browse on the form which show only the vendor names. Then simply click on a vendor and the child records show for that vendor.

I do this frequently and it works great.

kenn

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Filtered lookup

Jeff,

(Or is your first name Richards?)

Take a look at Steve Dentler's contribution to the Code Archive called 'Advanced Forms'. He demonstrates how to build custom, filtered lookups using dialog forms, and not using the table lookup field rule.

Folks have reported trouble using filtered table lookups in field rules.

Steve's approach is to call a second form, which has been designed to emulate the lookup browse list, but which works reliably. When the second form is called his script sets a filter which limits the range of records displayed in the called form to those which meet specific criteria. Sounds like exactly what you are after.

-- tom

[Edward F. Schulz]

RE: Filtered lookup

Hi Jeff,

I do a similar thing in a PO app for a food broker. He has about 13
suppliers and about 160 different products. The PO obviously goes to a
supplier and lists the products to be ordered. What we do is add a
prefix to the suppliers product stock number in the product table that
will relate that product to the supplier. From that point it is easy
to strip the prefix from each line item as they are entered in the
embedded browse.

efs

[Peter.Wayne]

RE: Filtered lookup

look at
http://www.learn alpha.com/filtered/filtered.htm

[Jeff, Richards]

RE: Filtered lookup

Thanks for all reply's. I ltook everyones advice and made it work. It's great to have you guys.
THanks.