Changing the Table a form is based on

[tarlachmoorhouse]

To created a Form / Browse / Report etc you first select the table or set that the it is based on, is it possible to change this afterwards to another table / set.

A more concrete example would be creating a form based on a specific table and then realising that you need to add an embedded Browse or another linked table. Can you create the set and the attach it to the form.

If this is not the case are would there be any problems with 'future proofing' the form by routinely creating a set based on each table but with no links and creating the form etc based on this "set", rather than on the table directly so I could then add to the set if needed later.

[Scott Emerick]

RE: Changing the Table a form is based on

John,

Yes .. You can right click on the form and select the copy to ...

This will allow you to copy the form and attach it to a new table or set. Just keep in mind if the structure of the new table/ set is different then the fields youhave on the form you will get errors, but you can easily fix them in design mode.

Scott

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Changing the Table a form is based on

John

You can't change the table a form is based on but you can copy the form to another table or set, which has the same effect. Just right click on the form name on the "Form" tab of the control panel and select "Copy To..." Select the table (or set) you want to copy the form to, and the form is copied. If the second table has a different structure, you will have to open it in design mode and change all field references. You can then delete the original form if desired.

Jerry

[tarlachmoorhouse]

RE: Changing the Table a form is based on

Thanks for this,

I have to say the speeeeeeeeeeeeeed of responce by folks on this mailboard is exceptional !!

Thanks

John

[Stan Mathews]

RE: Changing the Table a form is based on

Scott has you pretty well covered here but there is at least one "beware".

Suppose you have a form based on table "one". Table "one" has fields name "this", "that", and "theother". You decide you need to include other inforation on the form and create a set.

The set "three" is composed of a table "two" with many of the same fields as "one" (plus some more) as the parent and table "one" as the child. Table "two" has fields named "this", "that", and "theother", but they are not the same as the fields in "one".

If you copy the form from the table "one" to the set "three" you will receive no errors because Alpha can match up all fields on the form to valid table fields - but any instances of "this", "that", and "theother" on the form will be linked to the fields in "two", not in "one".

That's just the way the process goes in matching form objects to fields. It starts at the top and works down the set "tree".