copy field data from parent to child

[Allen Krause]

I am building a set which will produce invoices. I have built a one-to-many set. One of the fields(Payment_Method) in the parent set records the method of payment from my customers (ch=charge, cc=credit card, pp=prepaid). The "Payment_method" field is a character field with two places. Whatever is in the "Payment_Method" field determines how data in the child table will be manipulated. What I would like to do is automatically copy the data in the "Payment_Method" field which is in the parent table to a field named "Payment_Status" in the child table. Both tables will use the field "Invoice_Number" as the linking field. I have tried posting, lookups, and a whole variety of formulas. Nothing seems to work.

The Parent table is called "Invoice Header" and contains the "Payment_Method" field. The child table is called "Invoice Items" (pretty creative names, eh!) and contains the "Payment_Status" field.

I could copy and paste but it needs to be done automatically so that my employees can enter orders quickly and without thinking too much.

Can somebody out there help me?

Allen Krause

[Keith Hubert]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Allen,

Have a look in AlphaSports Customer Information Form. See how the Billing address is copied to the shipping address with the press of a button.

You can do the same thing as calculated field.

I am interested as to what changes you will make to each line item depending on the method of payment.

RegardsKeith HubertGuild MemberLondon.KHDB Management Systems

[Allen Krause]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Thanks, Keith:

That isn't what I had in mind. All I need to do is have the data (two characters)from the "Payment_Method" field in the invoice header table automatically copy to the "Payment_status" field in the Invoice items table as I am taking or entering orders.

Those items which are pre-paid by my customer and temporarily unavailable (backordered) are put in a separate field from those that are backordered and charged. This allows the invoice for both types of orders to look the same as far as the customer is concerned but carry diffent data for my purposes.

Thanks

Allen Krause
Oshkosh Church Supply, Inc.

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Allen,

To me the key to your problem is understanding how the new child table record is begun. If you use a button push the button's onPush event script can read the field value right off the field object in your form.

Tell us how you begin a new record in the child table using your form.

-- tom

[Allen Krause]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Thanks Tom:

I am beginning the entry in the child table just like Alpha Sports does in the invoice form. Once I have filled out the data in the parent table known as invoice header (I fill in the Payment_Method field as a user entered field) I then move the cursor down to the child table known as invoice items. I would like the Payment_Status field to fill in as the cursor moves through the record, either as it enters the record or leaves it. If it is necessary for the cursor to pass through the Payment_Status field to accomplish this, I can set the form up accordingly.

Thank,

Allen Krause
Oshkosh Church Supply-

[Allen Krause]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Tom: Please keep it in simple terms. I got into Alpha 5 because I didn't need to know a lot of programming language.

Thanks. Allen

[Dan Blank]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Hi Allen,

I do this sort of thing all the time.

For the child table, in Field Rules go to the field you want the header information. Make the field a calculated field (in field rules - the first tab), and use a look up formula. The lookup formula will be based on the Parent table using the linking information as the key.

Something like Lookupc("F",invoice_no,"Payment_Type","Parent.dbf","Index")

Hope this helps.

Dan


Dan Blank Databases, Inc.

[Allen Krause]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Thanks Dan:

I'm building the database on my home computer. I'll try this after work tonight. I'll let you know how things go tomorrow.

Allen Krause
Oshkosh Church Supply

[Allen Krause]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Hi Dan:

I was eager to try the line of programming you advised me on. When I got home from work tonight I tried it even before saying hello to my family. It worked! This was one of the major hurdles in designing the database.

I'd like to learn more about programming language in Alpha Five. Any suggestions?

Allen Krause
Oshkosh Church Supply

[Al Buchholz]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Allen

Have you tried these at the top of the page?

Other resources:
WebHelp,
Tutorials,
Applications,
Frequently Asked Questions
and
Newsletter Archive

There is nothing that I know of at UW_Oshkosh or at the technical college, but you could ask them.....

There's the conference in May, the books on the Alpha web site....

[Dan Blank]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Hi Allen,

Glad it worked. (knew it would) I use this method to place customer id's in child records so I can see a history of things done for a particular customer. [like purchasing inventory, or see work done on a piece of equipment, etc]. In Auot Repair Apps I also place the auto id in child records.

Al gave you some great links to get started along with some great ideas. One other site is Dr. Wayne's Learn Alpha.

Also spend some time with Alpha Sports. There is a lot of useful expamples in Alpha Sports.

Enjoy A5, although you have been warned with every success it starts to become addicting!

Take Care,

Dan

Dan Blank Databases, Inc.

[Allen Krause]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Hi Dan:

Suddenly the formula doesn't work! Everything worked fine for a while. Now it stopped working. The formula was still in the expression builder but when I clicked OK it said that "expression does not evaluate to a character value."

The formula that I used (which worked until today) was:

lookupc("f",invoice_number,"payment_method","invoice_header.dbf","invoice_number")

The child table is called "invoice items"
The field in the "invoice items" table that I was trying to place a lookup in is "payment_status" it is in the field rules for this field that I had the expression built.

The parent table that I was looking up in is called "invoice_header". The field in the invoice_header that I was trying to copy to the child table is "payment_method".

What's going on? I haven't changed anything. It just wouldn't look up any more.

Allen Krause

[Allen Krause]

RE: copy field data from parent to child

Hello Dan:

I hope that I'm posting this in the correct place in the string. I lost my dial-up just a moment ago so my first post might not have gone through. I just called Roadrunner to see what they offer.

In any case, I used the Norton GoBack to reset my system to where it was 2 days ago. The expression is the same but now it's working. I must have made some changes elswhere in the program that caused some conflict, or there was a virus, or whatever.

If you have any thoughts on this I'd appreciate your passing them on to me.

Thanks again,
Allen Krause