Finding a child record on a set's form

[Jeff Fried]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

Blowing my own idea out the water. I just came across something I forgot I used some time back...
This will do it all - ie locate the row in an embedded browse containing text in a column

browse1.fetch_first()
browse1.locate_next(VAR->m_phrase ,"desc")

Ray, I'm not getting the reason for the locate_next. Is this a way to speed up the search for the phrase or a way to cycle through the data to search for each occurrence of the phrase? For the users in this case, they know what they're looking for and would more than likely supply the beginning of the description rather than an embedded word or phrase. Once they arrive at that point of the alphabet, they will then see adjacent descriptions in case something else is more relevant to their needs. This approach beats the paging through a long list of products.

The one thing that would certainly improve this would be to improve the speed when the search item is lower in the alphabet. But I'm sure they can live with the way it is. That's why I was curious to know if the a5_get_records_in_query could also work to find the record on the embedded browse. I see the distinction, however, in that this is working on the table and not the form.

Jeff

[Ray in Capetown]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

Jeff
The locate_next is an almost exact copy of the code you already used, in functionality. No advantage for what you want unless MARGINALLY faster. Just efficient coding is all. It was just a thought excercise for me, and a chance to open an idea discussion on the topic.

While you should use the result of A5_get_records_in_query to inform the user how many matches can be found. It performs no usable query.

[Jeff Fried]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

Jeff
The locate_next is an almost exact copy of the code you already used, in functionality. No advantage for what you want unless MARGINALLY faster. Just efficient coding is all. It was just a thought excercise for me, and a chance to open an idea discussion on the topic.

While you should use the result of A5_get_records_in_query to inform the user how many matches can be found. It performs no usable query.

Ray,

I was playing around with the locate_next you suggested. It doesn't do anything unless it is embedded within a loop, right? Meaning, it will not search for the occurrence of the target phrase unless you tell it to cycle through each line item and perform a match. I assume this is correct since I can't get it to work without a loop.

Jeff

[Ray in Capetown]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

Not right. It needs no loop. (Unless you want to continue to search for the next following occurrence/s)

[Jeff Fried]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

Not right. It needs no loop. (Unless you want to continue to search for the next following occurrence/s)

Is there something more to this code that's needed? Here's the code I modified to test this and it does nothing as written:

'>>>> insert text box to collect search phrase
'Prompt for text and store result in a variable called 'm_phrase'.
dim prmpt_title as c
dim prmpt_prompt as c
dim prmpt_default as c

prmpt_title = "What product?"
prmpt_prompt = a5_eval_expression("=\"What phrase in the product description do you want to find\"",local_variables())
prmpt_default = ""

DIM SHARED m_phrase AS C

m_phrase = trim(upper(ui_get_text(prmpt_title,prmpt_prompt,prmpt_default)))


if a5_get_records_in_query("msprod",s_quote(m_phrase)+" $ desc")>0
m_phrase=upper(m_phrase) 'be sure search fragment is upper case
parentform:browse1.Fetch_First()
browse1.locate_next(VAR->m_phrase ,"desc")


' cnt=parentform.lines.value
' if cnt>0
' for i = 1 to cnt
' current=upper(msprod->desc) 'be sure field to compare is upper case
' if trim(var->m_phrase)$current 'test for presence of phrase in product description
' end ' found match stops on that "record"
' end if
' if i<cnt
' parentform:browse1.Fetch_Next() 'don't overshoot
' end if
' next i
' end if
else
ui_msg_box("NOT FOUND","The search phrase you are using does not find a match. ",64)
end if

[Ray in Capetown]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

It works as published - in a form or browse
I just set up a test with an embedded browse as you are using.
In that it doesn't seem to like the field specified.
Try this, load the only form. You don't need to worry about case.

[Jeff Fried]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

It works as published - in a form or browse
I just set up a test with an embedded browse as you are using.
In that it doesn't seem to like the field specified.
Try this, load the only form. You don't need to worry about case.

I did a quick try and of course your test app works. I'll need to look at this later and compare to mine as to where there is a difference. Thanks.

Jeff

[Mike Wilson]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

[COLOR="#FF0000"]topparent:Browse1:Desc.activate()[/COLOR]
topparent:Browse1.Fetch_First()
topparent:Browse1.locate_next(rslt)

Might it be that yours doesn't put the field to be tested into focus?

[Jeff Fried]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

I did a quick try and of course your test app works. I'll need to look at this later and compare to mine as to where there is a difference. Thanks.

Jeff

Ray,

The reason yours works is you have the following lines:

browse1.fetch_first()
browse1.locate_next(trim(VAR->m_phrase))

Whereas, you originally published:

browse1.fetch_first()
browse1.locate_next(VAR->m_phrase ,"desc")

That second argument for the browse1.locate_next is not needed and, as far as I can see, doesn't allow it to work.

Also, by the way, the speed improvement is significant vs. your original looping approach. So thanks for the extra effort.

Jeff

[Jeff Fried]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

[COLOR="#FF0000"]topparent:Browse1:Desc.activate()[/COLOR]
topparent:Browse1.Fetch_First()
topparent:Browse1.locate_next(rslt)

Might it be that yours doesn't put the field to be tested into focus?

Mike,

Thanks for your input on activating the object. There are a couple things to note. Here is how I ended up, which works properly:

browse1.Fetch_First()
browse1.locate_next(VAR->m_phrase)
browse1:product description.activate()

The "topparent" reference was not necessary. Second, the "activate" comes after the locate_next since you want to finish with the focus on the line item. Third, the object to activate is the title of the column "Product Description" and not a field name such as "desc".

Thanks again.

Jeff

[Jeff Fried]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

To summarize what this does and how it works, for anyone interested:

Objective: click on a button (or use assigned keyboard shortcut) to find an item on an embedded browse that meets the search criteria, in this case containing a word or phrase within a product description that the user indicates. This is in lieu of having the ability to find by an index key in a child object.

Code on the button:

***

dim prmpt_title as c
dim prmpt_prompt as c
dim prmpt_default as c

prmpt_title = "What product?"
prmpt_prompt = a5_eval_expression("=\"What phrase in the product description do you want to find\"",local_variables())
prmpt_default = ""

DIM SHARED m_phrase AS C

m_phrase = trim(upper(ui_get_text(prmpt_title,prmpt_prompt,prmpt_default)))

if a5_get_records_in_query("msprod",s_quote(m_phrase)+" $ desc")>0
m_phrase=upper(m_phrase) 'be sure search fragment is upper case
browse1.Fetch_First()
browse1.locate_next(VAR->m_phrase)
browse1:product description.activate()
else
ui_msg_box("NOT FOUND","The search phrase you are using does not find a match. ",64)
end if

***

I hope the above code indents properly. Sometimes it does not and looks confusing. This works well, and I will have many applications for this approach.

Thanks all who contributed.

[Ray in Capetown]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

[COLOR="#FF0000"]topparent:Browse1:Desc.activate()[/COLOR]

Might it be that yours doesn't put the field to be tested into focus?

wouldn't have occurred to me ever.
Thanks

Tried it - nope thats not it

[G Gabriel]

Re: Finding a child record on a set's form

Quick Sample.
Browse_Search.zip