Alpha Software Mobile Development Tools:   Alpha Anywhere    |   Alpha TransForm subscribe to our YouTube Channel  Follow Us on LinkedIn  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Facebook

Announcement

Collapse

The Alpha Software Forum Participation Guidelines

The Alpha Software Forum is a free forum created for Alpha Software Developer Community to ask for help, exchange ideas, and share solutions. Alpha Software strives to create an environment where all members of the community can feel safe to participate. In order to ensure the Alpha Software Forum is a place where all feel welcome, forum participants are expected to behave as follows:
  • Be professional in your conduct
  • Be kind to others
  • Be constructive when giving feedback
  • Be open to new ideas and suggestions
  • Stay on topic


Be sure all comments and threads you post are respectful. Posts that contain any of the following content will be considered a violation of your agreement as a member of the Alpha Software Forum Community and will be moderated:
  • Spam.
  • Vulgar language.
  • Quotes from private conversations without permission, including pricing and other sales related discussions.
  • Personal attacks, insults, or subtle put-downs.
  • Harassment, bullying, threatening, mocking, shaming, or deriding anyone.
  • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
  • Sexually explicit or violent material, links, or language.
  • Pirated, hacked, or copyright-infringing material.
  • Encouraging of others to engage in the above behaviors.


If a thread or post is found to contain any of the content outlined above, a moderator may choose to take one of the following actions:
  • Remove the Post or Thread - the content is removed from the forum.
  • Place the User in Moderation - all posts and new threads must be approved by a moderator before they are posted.
  • Temporarily Ban the User - user is banned from forum for a period of time.
  • Permanently Ban the User - user is permanently banned from the forum.


Moderators may also rename posts and threads if they are too generic or do not property reflect the content.

Moderators may move threads if they have been posted in the incorrect forum.

Threads/Posts questioning specific moderator decisions or actions (such as "why was a user banned?") are not allowed and will be removed.

The owners of Alpha Software Corporation (Forum Owner) reserve the right to remove, edit, move, or close any thread for any reason; or ban any forum member without notice, reason, or explanation.

Community members are encouraged to click the "Report Post" icon in the lower left of a given post if they feel the post is in violation of the rules. This will alert the Moderators to take a look.

Alpha Software Corporation may amend the guidelines from time to time and may also vary the procedures it sets out where appropriate in a particular case. Your agreement to comply with the guidelines will be deemed agreement to any changes to it.



Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.

When you do post
First, make sure you are posting your question in the correct forum. For example, if you post an issue regarding Desktop applications on the Mobile & Browser Applications board , not only will your question not be seen by the appropriate audience, it may also be removed or relocated.

The more detail you provide about your problem or question, the more likely someone is to understand your request and be able to help. A sample database with a minimum of records (and its support files, zipped together) will make it much easier to diagnose issues with your application. Screen shots of error messages are especially helpful.

When explaining how to reproduce your problem, please be as detailed as possible. Describe every step, click-by-click and keypress-by-keypress. Otherwise when others try to duplicate your problem, they may do something slightly different and end up with different results.

A note about attachments
You may only attach one file to each message. Attachment file size is limited to 2MB. If you need to include several files, you may do so by zipping them into a single archive.

If you forgot to attach your files to your post, please do NOT create a new thread. Instead, reply to your original message and attach the file there.

When attaching screen shots, it is best to attach an image file (.BMP, .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, etc.) or a zip file of several images, as opposed to a Word document containing the screen shots. Because Word documents are prone to viruses, many message board users will not open your Word file, therefore limiting their ability to help you.

Similarly, if you are uploading a zipped archive, you should simply create a .ZIP file and not a self-extracting .EXE as many users will not run your EXE file.
See more
See less

Master Form for Set, Design Problem

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Master Form for Set, Design Problem

    I've been plodding along in my attempt to redesign my contact manager that is currently in an Access 2.0 database. I have made some good progress with Alpha Five v.7. I have designed the new system entirely with standard menus, genies, and Active Scripting. So far. I'm an amateur database developer. My real job is managing a fireplace dealership (selling, installing, servicing fireplaces and stoves).

    I designed some tables and related them in sets. I have a master form attached to the main set where I want everyone to start. The idea is to first go to the customer records and then branch off to other records, such as contact requests, unit specs, estimates, and invoices. It was working fine up to the point of adding and editing request records. Yesterday I added the unit specs form and now I am having some problems. I think it is related to how I have the set arranged but I can't figure out how to solve it. I have a sample of the database zipped up and can post it. Here's the basic layout:

    Customers
    |====>Requests
    ...............|--------Units
    ...............|=====Estimates

    Customers is linked to Requests as One-to-Many, Requests is linked to Units as One-One and Estimates as One-to-Many.
    The customer number field is the linking field.

    On my master form for this set I have the customer data placed directly on the form. The request, unit, and estimate data is on a tabbed form and is accessed through embedded browses. This worked fine for the requests data. I was able to zoom to the child record and edit and start up the form to add a new record. The request browse would automatically be updated. I have attemped to set up the same thing for the unit data but have ran into a problem. When I try to add a new record I get an error saying the "custnum" is required. This error repeats itself every time I move from one field to another.

    I think it is trying to tell me that the requests table requires the customer number field to be filled. That is to be expected since I have field rules set up to require customer numbers on all records in the Requests table and the Units table. What I can't figure out is how to satisfy the requirement to fill in the customer number in the Requests table when entering a new record into the Units table.

    I want all Unit records to be entered with this form to be entered only when a Request already exists. The Units table should be able to get the custnum field value from the Requests table. The process should be something like this:

    Add customer record to Customers table
    Add request to Requests table, linking together with the Custnum field
    Add units to the Units table, linking from the existing Requests record on the RequestNum field.

    A request cannot be entered without a customer number. A unit cannot be entered without a request number and a customer number.

    Actually, I want to be able to enter Units without a request existing, but not from this form and set. I will have another form for entering units that are not linked to requests.

    I thought of trying to remove the field rule that requires the customer number to see if it will work to ad new records. But I really need to enforce the rule that all requests and units have a customer number entry. Yet, one customer can have several requests. And one customer can have several units. But each request can only have one unit, or no units, linked.

    Where have I strayed from the pure path of database design? Can you give me some guidance on how to structure my sets and forms correctly to get the results I want?

    Thanks,
    Sean Kennedy
    Last edited by seaken64; 04-18-2006, 10:35 AM.

    #2
    I removed the rule requiring the customer number so I could use the form and see what happens.

    When I use the Units entry form to enter a new record the program automatically creates a new request number. This must have something to do with the one-one link and how the data integrity is set. I don't understand all that yet. But, although it creates a new request number, it does not automatically fill in the customer number field. When I enter the customer number in the UNITS->CUSTNUM field I am able to create and save a new record in the Units table but it does not link to the Customer record in the embedded browse, nor does the request record show up in the Request tab browse. If I manually enter the Custnum into the REQUESTS->CUSTNUM field then both record show up in the embedded browse and act the way I want.

    I can't figure out how to make this happen automatically. I can manage to enter the customer number into each record manually and that will give me the views I want in the embedded browses on the Customer Contact Manager main form. But there must be a way to have the program automatically fill in the customer number in all the tables simultaneously. I feel like I am close but am missing something. Is my set structure out of whack? Data inegrity rules wrong?

    I'm sorry I'm so thick. I'm going back to the AlphaSports database to look around again. Maybe my idea of having all the connected information on one master form is not practical?

    Thanks,
    Sean

    Comment


      #3
      Set Design

      Hi Sean,
      When you enter a new request the link field will automatically be generated when you add a new record. To add a new unit for that request, you might want to use a pop up form (using a button to add unit) and pass the custnum & requestnum with variables. Otherwise change your set link to one to many for units. With one to one links you cannot enter a record directly on the set form since it is acting like a lookup.

      Hope that helps,
      Robin
      Robin

      Discernment is not needed in things that differ, but in those things that appear to be the same. - Miles Sanford

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by MoGrace
        Hi Sean,
        When you enter a new request the link field will automatically be generated when you add a new record. To add a new unit for that request, you might want to use a pop up form (using a button to add unit) and pass the custnum & requestnum with variables. Otherwise change your set link to one to many for units. With one to one links you cannot enter a record directly on the set form since it is acting like a lookup.

        Hope that helps,
        Robin
        I think that gives me a clue. But wouldn't changing to a One-to-many be the least favorable solution? I only want one Unit per Request. Each unit must generate it's own request form. If I have a customer with multiple units I want a seperate request for each unit. Thats one-to-one, right?

        So, I think I know I have to use variables to pass the custnum and requestnum values. but I have't figured out how to do that. Is this possible using Active Scripting? I have looked for this in the genies but haven't found out how to open a form for a new record and then automatically populate select fields with the values in the current form (where the button is). I have essentially this pop up form already. I just don't have the custnum and requestnum fields filled in when it pops up. How do I do this?

        Sean

        Comment


          #5
          please explain

          Sean,

          I'm thinking people own units. Units have parts, need installation, maintenance and repair (request). Are not Requests related to the customer through the units? Joe has a fireplace he wants installed.

          Why are you not linking the units to the customers, but instead inserting a request between the customers and their units? Why is your set not:

          Customer
          l====UNIT
          l-----Request


          YOU WROTE: "A request cannot be entered without a customer number. A unit cannot be entered without a request number and a customer number.

          ?? Why must there be a request attached to a unit? That means I cannot 'register' me and my Unit with your company for possible future purchase/service.

          YOU WROTE: Actually, I want to be able to enter Units without a request existing, but not from this form and set. I will have another form for entering units that are not linked to requests".

          I don't think you need more. I think the above might be able to fulfill both needs.

          And a note of caution. You might want to copy your db, evacuate the customer files to only a few, best dummy names, and zip and post that instead of the complete table. Good luck.

          Mike W
          Mike W
          __________________________
          "I rebel in at least small things to express to the world that I have not completely surrendered"

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Mike Wilson
            Sean,

            I'm thinking people own units. Units have parts, need installation, maintenance and repair (request). Are not Requests related to the customer through the units? Joe has a fireplace he wants installed.

            Why are you not linking the units to the customers, but instead inserting a request between the customers and their units? Why is your set not:

            Customer
            l====UNIT
            l-----Request

            Mike W
            I don't know. I'll have to think about it. You might be right. The thing is, to us, a request is not always related to an existing unit. Many times we get a request for a quote or consult for which we need to generate a work order but do not necessarily sell a unit. Sometimes the request is for a service we offer not directly related to a unit. But all units got there by way of a request, or, in the case of a unit we did not sell, it is already in place before we get a request.

            I'll think about your approach.

            I understand about the dummy records. I should have thought about that more before zipping the files. I'll get better at this.

            Thanks for the help.

            Sean

            Comment

            Working...
            X