Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

[forskare]

OK, After spending an hour each night for the last 3 nights, it's time to shed my pride.

I know the code to cause a drop down field to drop down every time but I need code to cause it to drop down only if it's a new record or if the field is empty. The field rules drop down conditionally but can't (for the life of me) come up with the correct code. I've tried several version but no go.

I've tried the isblank("fieldname"), etc. What code will cause a drop down field to automatically drop down if the field is empty, even if a record exists and the field is empty.

Thanks,

kenn

[Keith Hubert]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Hi Ken,

I have not tried this but how about a logical field that is hidden and has a default of F. This gets set to T when the record is saved. Now you have got a field to test for a condional lookup. Let us know if this works.

Keith Hubert
London.

[forskare]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Hi Keith,

I don't understand. I want the drop down box to drop down under 2 conditions:

1) upon creating a new record and focus comes to the drop down field and;

2) when editing an existing record, the drop down field is empty, focus comes to the field and the drop down, drops down.

Thanks,

kenn

[Keith Hubert]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Hi Ken,

I dont understand either. Are you saying that an existing record would have a blank drop down lookup field, if that is the case then that field will always be blank, or am I missing something? (Probably am).

Keith Hubert
London.

[forskare]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Keith,

Let me try again, my explanation is not the best.

The field is set up in the field rules as a look up to a table. The Display as drop-down list box is checked. Auto Popup is set to Popup on Entrance. If it's a new record, when focus comes to the field the list box automatically drops down.

It can be set to Popup conditionally on entrance. I want to set the condition to popup upon entrance IF there is no value in the field, either new or existing record. Popup on Entrance will only allow it to dropdown if it's a new record. Once the record is saved, if there is no value in the field, the user must click the down arrow. That's the way it should be if there's a value, but when there's no value or the field is empty, I want it to drop down automatically so the user can select a value.

I have the code to popup all the time but that's a nuisance for the user to reselect the value when simply tabbing to another field and ya have to pass thru this field first.

Thanks,

kenn

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Ken

I don't think you can get what you want directly, in xbasic or otherwise. In A5V1, a lookup set to popup under various conditions would work in both enter and change mode. In later versions, popup only works in enter mode.

It might be nice if drop downs could be set to optionally open in change mode. The problem is when is the form in change mode? When a form opens it is in view mode, even if editing is allowed. It isn't until a change is begun that the mode switches to "Change". If the first field the user tries to change is the one with the lookup, it is in view mode when the field gets focus.

One possibiltiy is to use the OnArrive event to test for some condition. If the condition is met, you could open your own "lookup" window. Frankly, if the user can't figure out to click the arrow, they are pretty dense and I would worry about them being able to enter any data correctly.

Jerry

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Ken

I missed one part of your message. How to conditionally open the lookup in enter mode. Set the lookup to open conditionally with an expression

isblank("fieldname")

Isblank() requires the field name to be in quotes. If the field has a value, the lookup won't open automatically. If it is blank, the lookup will pop up. This will only work in enter mode.

Jerry

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Jerry,

I tend to agree with your last comment. Ken could program a hotkey using the OnKey event if the user doesn't want to use the mouse. I suppose the onKey event would simply shift focus to the field and use sys_send_keys() to pass an Alt-Down key sequence. Right ?

-- tom

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Tom

I always forget about sys_send_keys() since I use it rarely. How about this on the OnArrive event for a field object on a form that has a lookup?

if this.value = "" .and. topparent.mode_get() = "CHANGE"
sys_send_keys("{alt-down}")
end if

this will work if the form is already in change mode. But this will put it into change mose if editing is allowed

if this.value = "" .and. allow_editing() sys_send_keys("{alt-down}")
end if

Gee, I guess it can be done with a little work and more than one head working on it.

Jerry

[forskare]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Hi Jerry,

Yes, I did try isblank("fieldname") but it was if it wasn't there I also tried isblank(sys_send_keys("{%down}"))but that didn't work either.

Although it would be nice, I'm not inclined to get real fancy with this as it's not imperative the field drops the list when in edit mode.

The field rules work when enteriing a new record, so probably just as well to leave it at that.

kenn

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Ken

See my response above to Tom about sys_send_keys() on a form event. It actually works pretty well.

Jerry

[whanigsberg]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Hi Ken,

At the risk of stating the obvious wouldn't popup on mismatch give you most of what you want so long as the lookup source doesn't contain a blank record.

I realize this will not popup on entrance to the field but it will popup the list if the user clicks outside the field or presses enter. The only way a user could avoid the popup would be to type in a correct entry.

Bill

[forskare]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Hi Bill,

I don't know. Popup on mismatch is not an option anymore, at least no on my version. I remember it being there but it's just not there anymore unless it's somewhere else and we're not looking at the same field rule.

Thanks for your reply.

kenn

[forskare]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Hi Jerry,

Tried both suggestions. I had to change the first one to:

if this.value = ""
sys_send_keys("{alt-down}")
end if

I got an error message with the 2nd example, extra character at the end of the expression so I changed it to:

if this.value = "" .and. allow_editing(sys_send_keys("{alt-down}"))
end if

I had to put the sys_send within the allow_editing ().It works, too good, it drops down even when there is a value in the field.

Thank you for figuering this out. Your time is very much appreciated.

kenn

[whanigsberg]

RE: Xbasic to Activate Drop Down

Hi Ken,

You gave me a start as I spent yesterday revising field rules in a A5Ver.4 application. But I just checked in V5 and the option is still there on the lookup tab in field rules under "auto popup".
-popup on mismatch
-popup conditionally
etc.

So the option exists. Whether it does what you need is another matter.

Bill