Directly editing a5wcmp files

[Howard G. Cornett]

Is there any way to directly edit a5wcmp files (web components) AFTER publishing them? I am trying to have some programatically dynamic linkage to multiple data sources and A5 won't seem to let me do it. It seems that I have to have as many copies of my app as there are different tables, then publish each app separately and one at a time. Worse still, if I need to make a change, I will then have to copy it to every other version to keep all the apps in sync. Uggh! If I have to do this, can I at least use Xbasic to built a publishing routine and/or a routine to copy the app multiple times? If so, how?

Why can't I simply build a web database project with multiple copies of the same tables in separate directories and then point the user to the correct data directory based on their login?? Seems like a pretty straightforward programming concept. I just can't seem to figure out how to implement it with the WAS. Any one have any thoughts on this issue???

Howard

[Howard G. Cornett]

Bump

Lots of views but no replies. Anyone at Alpha willing to reply to this one? There seems to be a lot we can't do due to restrictions on the way the component builder reads and checks validity of code entered. It sure would be helpful if we could go in after publishing and hack the components in the areas where Alpha Five won't let us do what we want, particularly with regard to pointing at tables based on a path with a variable as part of the path. In any case, here's hoping for a reply!

Howard

[Lenny Forziati]

The components are in a binary format and cannot be directly edited.

Lots of views but no replies. Anyone at Alpha willing to reply to this one? There seems to be a lot we can't do due to restrictions on the way the component builder reads and checks validity of code entered. It sure would be helpful if we could go in after publishing and hack the components in the areas where Alpha Five won't let us do what we want, particularly with regard to pointing at tables based on a path with a variable as part of the path. In any case, here's hoping for a reply!

Howard

[Howard G. Cornett]

What do we do?

Lenny,

So is there any way to bypass the validating of the Calculated Fields that we create on the Query section of a component? Or is there some other way to use a variable to help define a path for a table? Using aliases doesn't work because they are resolved at publishing. I need something that will stay a reference and be evaluated at the time it is run on the server. Is there some way to do this without handcoding?

Howard

[Lenny Forziati]

It sounds like you want to set tmpl.DBF.table_name in the override section of your A5W pages

Lenny,

So is there any way to bypass the validating of the Calculated Fields that we create on the Query section of a component? Or is there some other way to use a variable to help define a path for a table? Using aliases doesn't work because they are resolved at publishing. I need something that will stay a reference and be evaluated at the time it is run on the server. Is there some way to do this without handcoding?

Howard

[Howard G. Cornett]

It won't work for calculated fields

I can't seem to figure out how to override the values for the calculated fields I define. I can override the database just fine. It is the calculated fields that are driving me crazy. There just doesn't seem to be any way to dynamically define them.

Here is an example.

Bill = iif(exist(Patient_Id,"treatments","Patient_Id"),"Bill Patient","")

or

Bill = iif(exist(Patient_Id,"[PathAlias.ADB_Path]\treatments","Patient_Id"),"Bill Patient","")

I would like to dynamically point at the appropriate folder for the treatments table depending on who logs in. Ideally I would like to define it using a session variable like this.

Bill = iif(exist(Patient_Id,session.datadir+"\treatments","Patient_Id"),"Bill Patient","")

Unforatunately, it checks my code for me and because there is no such variable yet, it won't save it for me. Why can't I just store the variable reference and have it evaluate when it runs the component? And barring that, how can I define an override that will accomplish this?

Most importantly, thank you for your time, Lenny. I sincerely appreciate your help.

Howard

[Pat Bremkamp]

Howard,

Have you tried putting the directory path in the patient table, then when you are verifying the logon, you can read the path into the session variable. don't put the session variable in a calculated field. You just have to dim the session variable in any script that needs it. Then, you can use that variable to lookup the file.

Pat

[Howard G. Cornett]

No can do

Won't work because I don't know which patient table I will be looking at. It definitely needs to be a variable, not hard coded into the table itself.

Howard