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Intermediate Tables Controlling On/Off

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    Intermediate Tables Controlling On/Off

    My thoughts about One to Many linking is leading me into the realm of using a Master On/Off table to control access to all Tables on a Main Form. The mission Goal is to enable one Form to Show all records for all tables, which would be filtered by their linkages as grandchildren. So in essense my Maintenance Program could Show all Equipment by enabling the Equipment Children, while disabling the links to Invoice Tables and Part inventory Tables. Likewise if the user wishes to move onto Parts Inventory type area, enable the Parts Inventory Children, while disabling all other links (to ensure exclusive access). Considering that I haven't attempted to create this structure yet, I wanted to ask if it is wise, and have you done something similar yourself. What I would like is to manipulate all of my database from one form not having to open any others. I envision it as something like an operator switchboard. Turn this on, and these off. Would it work?

    Thanks much,
    Dan

    #2
    Re: Intermediate Tables Controlling On/Off

    Dan, I'm not really sure exactly what you want to accomplish or what benefit you see in it but I don't believe there is any reasonable way of showing all data from all tables in one form.

    That would require one huge set which is not a good idea. Also, the chances of all the links being exactly what you want is not good. For example, if you want to look at an invoice, you need to link each invoice to the customer with invoice as the parent table. But, if you want to review invoices for a specific customer then you need to reverse that and have the customer as the parent.

    Then consider the fact that many of my applications have over 30 tables. I'm not sure how you could possibly put that many in one set and make it usable. In fact, I'm not even sure a set can support that many tables.

    Besides, consider the fact that each view would be showing different fields and would therefore have a slightly different appearance. This being the case, why not just call a different form? It would be much easier and probably much more reliable.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Intermediate Tables Controlling On/Off

      I agreed with you completely on the set being unstable and unreasonable for showing all links together. What I was thinking was a virtual switchboard. So using logical links (True or False) you could hypothetically switch on one branch of the set while all others remain "off". On the other hand you could engage two or three branches while leaving the rest "off". The main focus of my application is the ease of use, which I believe would me never opening secondary forms. Just open the main form at startup, and work from there, swtiching the main "face" using either Multistate Buttons or even, umm, I don't know just setting variables to on or off with buttons. Who knows. But that's what I was thinking about when I posted the question. Could a set hypothetically hold all links to all tables, and using a logical value or the link, switch on or off the branches to children? Think about that for a second. Alpha is so versatile that I would never say that it cannot do something. But I would really like to figure stuff out without spending days working to know that it's futile.

      Thanks Cal.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Intermediate Tables Controlling On/Off

        To the best of my knowledge there is no way to switch a branch of a set on or off. They are just always available. However, they don't always have to be visible.

        You could sort of get what you want with a tabbed form but even that will probably not work in the long run. I suspect that your "simple solution" will turn out to be a lot more work than a "normal solution".

        Think about what "ease of use" means to the user. If that means not opening another form - which simply involves clicking a button - how will they get to the other view?? Probably by clicking a button or tab unless you've found a way to link the computer to their brain waves.:) So, it really won't be any less effort on the part of the user. Possibly it could be a bit faster but none of my customers have complained about the time required to open a form - it's really quite fast unless it requires running a large query first and even that time would be the same (or greater!) if it was linked to one large set.

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          #5
          Re: Intermediate Tables Controlling On/Off

          Cal thank you, someone has finally answered my query with 'the best of their knowledge' about it. I appreciate your honesty. Forms are the method of choice for showing different sets of information, which I have used effectively. Being new to Alpha I'm finding it easy to be fanciful in my approaches to building a program, which people like you greatly help. Thanks again for answering my query.

          Dan Murphy

          Is there an IRC chat that takes place about Alpha 5? If so I'd like to be involved with it. If not, then I'd like to start some kinda of chat room somewhere, because posting questions and getting reliable answers is seeming to be more difficult than people want to admit. This is more apparent when a noob such as myself doesn't represent simple ideas in Alpha language. The pros seem to dislike ignorance, which is the basis of all learning.

          Thanks again.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Intermediate Tables Controlling On/Off

            We were all ignorant when we were born, but learning as we go, we got smarter. Well Y'all did, not sure about me.

            If you are going to press a button to change a variable, why not change the form? I would suggest making several sets in some cases to let the user see what is meeded. History(mine) has taught that the more they see, the more they CAN mess up. I follow KISS.

            One large set can be uncooperative and cause slowness. My own experience.

            I go so far now that some of my lookups of unrelated items are in the same table. There is a form to enter eache of the different types and when doing a lookup, the program only looks in the correct fields. This makes for less tables. If I need to link them, I can make them aliases to unconfuse me.

            Cal gave some really great advice and much more is available on this forum. That is why some of us are so successful at what we do.

            Never stop thinking up new ideas though, You never know when Alpha may see it and get a great idea that fits your desires.

            Dave
            Dave Mason
            [email protected]
            Skype is dave.mason46

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Intermediate Tables Controlling On/Off

              Hey thanks a bunch Dave I like sharing that kind of knowledge about personal experiences. I'll "keep it simple stupid" and move along how I am doing it now. So far so good and some day I'll know Xbasic. Things are definitely getting hairy for me with my program, because I don't have all the skills needed to build my program.

              Anyways, thanks again Dave...

              dan

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