Forms and tables

[jundesanjose]

Is there an easy way to change the table reference where a form is based upon, short of creating a new form?

Let's say I created a form that was based on table A. Suppose that I created a new table or set B and want the form to refer to that instead.

Thanks

[Steve Workings]

Right-click on the form and choose Copy To..., then complete the dialog. Read the info in the dialog too.

[jundesanjose]

It worked!!!!

Thanks...

[pk9]

Steve,
That works as noted, but it creates 2 forms with the same name each bound to different tables. I have 4 tables whose structure is the same and do not want to have 4 diff forms. Is there a way to select say formA and associate it with a particular table ie. table1 or table2 etc, with having 4 forms.
Thanks in advance.
Peter

[CALocklin]

Peter, I hesitate to say anything is impossible but A5 wasn't designed to work with one form that could be switched to different tables depending on when/where you wanted to use it.

What happens if someone wants to have it open for two tables at once?? Maybe your app isn't designed to do that but (a) someone else's might and (b) it's amazing what things users will do because they don't know any better. In fact, I've known people who just try things to see what they can accomplish. What happens if one of these people finds a way?

I recommend renaming the other forms and just adding a suffix.

Or, from the Help file for Form.View():

In the case where there are duplicate form names in the database, you can qualify the form name with the table name using this syntax: Form Name@Table Name. For example, if a database has a form called Customers for the Current_Customers and the Past_Customers tables, you can specify the form as: Customers@Current_Customers, or Customers@Past_Customers.

Although you can call another form with the same name but attached to a different table, it takes a lot more typing to get Customers@Past_Customers than it does to get CustomersB and the results are the same either way.

[Cheryl Lemire]

Peter,

When you right click on the form and copy to another table, you have the option to rename the form itself so that the form names are different for each table.

I have several tables/forms that are similar, but I do have a separate form for each table.

You could go through the time and trouble of creating a set with all your tables in it, then create one form with a series of conditional objects for each table and that tables fields. That would give you just one form, but a ton of a lot more work, which does not make sense to me.

Not sure what the major issue is with having more than one form?

[Tim Kiebert]

Possibly using shadow tables

Is there a way to select say formA and associate it with a particular table ie. table1 or table2 etc, with having 4 forms.
Thanks in advance.
Peter

Peter,

Check out the tutorial page on the Alpha site. Use the 'Resources' item at the top of the forum page and choose 'Tutorials'. Then expand the 'Using Aplha Five' item. About half way down the list of tutorials are two that show how to link multiple tables to one form or report using shadow tables. I have never done this and don't know if it is overkill for what you want to do. I just remember viewing them (the tutorials) quite a while ago and it didn't seem too difficult.

Have fun.

Edit: Two links to newsletter archive re the tutorials Tut1 and Tut2 and one to the sample databases in the code archive

[pk9]

Tim,Cal, Cheryl -Thanks all.
I will use a Copy To which will work OK. Just some additional typing.
Peter