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Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

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    Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

    Hi. I don't know if it's possible, but I've created a UX with a 2-field Main Section and a multi-field "Repeating Section". I don't need to save/submit either of the fields in the main section, but I want to save all of the lines that are created in the Repeating Section.

    Sounds easy enough, but I don't know if that's even doable. The repeating section keeps wanting to link to the main section (even though I've marked both of the fields to "unbound").

    If anyone has any thoughts on this, I'd appreciate it.

    Phil

    #2
    Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

    Hi Phil,

    The Repeating section is designed by Alpha to easily represent Parent - children relationships. What I mean is that you can't save children information without saving the parent data associated to those children tables.

    I don't think it's possible to only save the repeating section fields without saving the main section ones. You have to save at least the primary key field in main section. You could set the fields in the main section to label and set their default values on onDialogInitialize event. Bind & save everything together (bound)

    Hope this helps!

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

      You can populate an unbound repeating section with Xbasic and a bit of javascript. Use the Search here for keywords like "Xbasic Repeating populate". See also the prototype code in the dialog component's onDialogInitialize event.

      That said, I'm not missing any opportunity to encourage repeating section users to use the ViewBox control instead.
      -Steve
      sigpic

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

        Hmm... Thanks, Steve. That's very interesting. I am unfamiliar with the ViewBox control... Maybe I was doing it all wrong. I'm going to look into that and learn something new. I'll have some comments by tomorrow.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

          Really I can't understand why anyone starting out would use repeating sections these days when the List and Viewbox Controls are so powerful and flexible. I have not used a repeating section for several years now.. try the new controls.
          Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
          Albert Einstein, (attributed)
          US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

            Please help me understand about how a viewbox is better than a repeating section. Is that for certain tasks or everything?

            for example can this be better done with a viewbox? Because I don't get it.

            2017-02-10_7-11-18.png
            Win 10 64 Development, Win 7 64 WAS 11-1, 2, Win 10 64 AA-1,2, MySql, dbForge Studio The Best MySQL GUI Tool IMHO. http://www.devart.com/dbforge/mysql/studio/

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

              Frank - if that's desktop browser only, and it's doing the job for you, you're fine right there.

              But, if you try to put something like this on a mobile device, it's just full of problems. The alternative for what you show here would most likely be a List control with a detail view.
              -Steve
              sigpic

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

                Originally posted by psamuels56 View Post
                Hi. I don't know if it's possible, but I've created a UX with a 2-field Main Section and a multi-field "Repeating Section". I don't need to save/submit either of the fields in the main section, but I want to save all of the lines that are created in the Repeating Section.

                Sounds easy enough, but I don't know if that's even doable. The repeating section keeps wanting to link to the main section (even though I've marked both of the fields to "unbound").

                If anyone has any thoughts on this, I'd appreciate it.

                Phil
                Hi Phil,

                This can be done, but you have to bind the Parent table to controls in the UX. Bind the controls and set the "Updateable" property in the data binding information to No. Updates to the repeating section will be able to be saved, but the parent record will remain unchanged. You can bind the parent fields to Labels or read only text controls. There's a "toggle updateable" link the data binding dialog you can use to toggle updateable from yes to no. This property can also be changed in the UX Controls pane by selecting the control and scrolling to the data binding information at the bottom of the control's properties pane. The primary key(s) for the parent table (at a minimum) needs to be bound to a control in the UX if you want to use the repeating section.
                Sarah Mitchell
                Director of Customer Success | [URL="https://www.alphasoftware.com"]Alpha Software Corporation[/URL]
                [B]Get in the know! [/B] Join us for our Weekly Webinars: [URL="https://www.alphasoftware.com/weekly-transform-tuesday-webinar"]TransForm Tuesday[/URL] and [URL="https://www.alphasoftware.com/weekly-alpha-anywhere-overview-webinar"]Wednesday's Alpha Anywhere Demo and Q&A[/URL]
                Connect with us: [URL="https://www.instagram.com/alpha_software_corp/"]Instagram[/URL] | [URL="https://twitter.com/AlphaSoftware"]Twitter[/URL] | [URL="https://www.facebook.com/AlphaSoftware/"]Facebook[/URL] | [URL="https://www.linkedin.com/company/alpha-software"]LinkedIn[/URL] | [URL="https://www.youtube.com/user/AlphaSoftwareInc"]YouTube[/URL]

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

                  Thanks for clarifying. When two people for whom I have a great deal of respect say don't use repeating sections any more I think I am doing something wrong.
                  Win 10 64 Development, Win 7 64 WAS 11-1, 2, Win 10 64 AA-1,2, MySql, dbForge Studio The Best MySQL GUI Tool IMHO. http://www.devart.com/dbforge/mysql/studio/

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

                    I agree with Steve on this. Mobile and Browsers these days with the many devices available .. The news tools are the way to go.
                    But hey - nice response Sarah..
                    Last edited by peteconway; 02-11-2017, 05:26 AM.
                    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
                    Albert Einstein, (attributed)
                    US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

                      Thank you, all of you, for taking your valuable time to respond. I always appreciate how generous the Alpha Community is on this message board.

                      Sarah, your response is outstanding... Exactly what I needed! I appreciate the suggestion and will put it into production immediately.

                      One final thought: I absolutely don't get how I could have used either a ViewBox control or Listbox to accomplish what my "repeating section" does (which, except for the "saving" part, works beautifully for me). In fact, I'm concurrently working on two completely different applications for customers and I have a use for the repeating sections in both. The first is a "Quote/Order" system where users enter information for a customer (see image below). One customer will likely have many orders/quotes and the repeating section works great for adding items to a quote.
                      The second use is a little more creative. This is an application for a Training Department of a company and on one screen, users have to tell the Trainer which activities need training and when they'll be available for the trainer to come to the store to do the training. It, too, works great (see image below).
                      I just watched a dozen videos on ViewBox Controls and Listbox controls and don't have any idea how I could get these functions to be: 1) More user-friendly; 2) Easier to program; or 3) Perform these functions in the same way as the Repeating Section does. I ABSOLUTELY can see many uses for these controls and will certainly use them in my applications (I'm currently developing 4 applications simultaneously - Ouch! AND, while most of the applications will have a small "mobile" component, they're all browser-based, applications that will be used with a desktop or laptop PC), but I don't see how they could ever replace the Repeating Section. Obviously, I just don't know what I'm doing.

                      Anyway, I loved and appreciate all of your thoughts and comments. THANK YOU so much.

                      Phil

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

                        As with most things... you have to pick the right tool for the job. If you're using touch-enabled devices then repeating sections won't work well for you... they've not been designed for this. If you're not using touch devices then a Repeating Section is excellent to represent a one-to-many process. They're powerful... easy to manage... easy to program... and just work. They are data-bound and set up for edit-in-place. Your samples are perfect examples. You spent far more time making them pretty than you did making them work... because they worked out of the box.

                        The FormView and ViewBox controls are brilliant and I enjoy working with them. They're smart and flexible. I haven't tried, but I believe it would be tough to get them to mimic a Repeating Section duplicating the look and interaction of what you currently have. You'd have to have a good reason to try. If someone could provide a data-bound sample of a FormView/ViewBox based UX simulating Parent/Child, edit-in-place, add row, delete row and other Repeating Section functionality I'd love to see it. It would be a much lighter UX and would be ideal for mobile devices.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

                          Originally posted by frankbicknell View Post
                          Thanks for clarifying. When two people for whom I have a great deal of respect say don't use repeating sections any more I think I am doing something wrong.
                          It depends on your application. If you're building a Web application that will only be used on desktop computers, then the repeating section is fine. However, in that case, it may be easier to use a Grid component embedded in the UX.

                          If you're building an app that will be accessed by mobile devices, then the list control is a much better solution. The List loads much faster.

                          The Repeating Section renders a control for each feild, which can make a UX very large very quickly if you have a lot of fields with a lot of rows. It certainly has its uses, but if you can build your application using the List control, FormView, or ViewBox controls, that is a much better direction to go.
                          Sarah Mitchell
                          Director of Customer Success | [URL="https://www.alphasoftware.com"]Alpha Software Corporation[/URL]
                          [B]Get in the know! [/B] Join us for our Weekly Webinars: [URL="https://www.alphasoftware.com/weekly-transform-tuesday-webinar"]TransForm Tuesday[/URL] and [URL="https://www.alphasoftware.com/weekly-alpha-anywhere-overview-webinar"]Wednesday's Alpha Anywhere Demo and Q&A[/URL]
                          Connect with us: [URL="https://www.instagram.com/alpha_software_corp/"]Instagram[/URL] | [URL="https://twitter.com/AlphaSoftware"]Twitter[/URL] | [URL="https://www.facebook.com/AlphaSoftware/"]Facebook[/URL] | [URL="https://www.linkedin.com/company/alpha-software"]LinkedIn[/URL] | [URL="https://www.youtube.com/user/AlphaSoftwareInc"]YouTube[/URL]

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

                            Hey Sarah... is there an example available that would mimic a Parent/Child Repeating Section for look and in-control editing utilizing List or FormView or ViewBox controls?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Bind ONLY the Repeating Section of a UX

                              The Repeating Section renders a control for each feild, which can make a UX very large very quickly
                              Thanks for pointing that out. I never looked at them that way. Wouldn't grids use the same amount of resources? Anyhow I am all in with uxes. I just can't go back to grids.
                              Win 10 64 Development, Win 7 64 WAS 11-1, 2, Win 10 64 AA-1,2, MySql, dbForge Studio The Best MySQL GUI Tool IMHO. http://www.devart.com/dbforge/mysql/studio/

                              Comment

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