Call other programs from Alpha 5 V7

[wgoldwasser]

Using a button on a form, I want call and view a PDF file defined by the sum of a character field and a numeric field from the record viewed on the form. A second button should open a window to view files stored in a sub-directory defined by the sum of a character and a numeric field. I should be able to do both, but I can't. Help please.

Here is what I tried. Added a buttol, chose to open "Other non-Alpha 5 file" used option of "Specify an expression that evaluates of the name of the file to open" Then used (or tried to use) this expression where "Last_Name" is the client's last name and "Po", a constant, is the name of the Pdf file I want to read.

Willie

[Al Buchholz]

Re: Call other programs from Alpha 5 V7

Willie

Please post what you have done, so we can look at it and help you to get it working.

tks

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Call other programs from Alpha 5 V7

Using a button on a form, I want call and view a PDF file defined by the sum of a character field and a numeric field from the record viewed on the form. A second button should open a window to view files stored in a sub-directory defined by the sum of a character and a numeric field. I should be able to do both, but I can't. Help please.
Willie

Al's advice is always sound. The best way to get help is to provide a sample of your database or at least the relevant tables/sets.

Just to hazard a guess, when you are concatenating the character and numeric fields, are you trimming the character field, converting the numeric field to character, and trimming it? If not you could have extra spaces in the file specification like

"c:\somedirectory\mycharfield     mynumericfield  .pdf"

[wgoldwasser]

Re: Call other programs from Alpha 5 V7

Here is what I tried. Added a buttol, chose to open "Other non-Alpha 5 file" used option of "Specify an expression that evaluates of the name of the file to open" Then used (or tried to use) this expression where "Last_Name" is the client's last name and "Po", a constant, is the name of the Pdf file I want to read. I also tried with Trim.

[DaveM]

Re: Call other programs from Alpha 5 V7

Willie,

Please post that code exactly as you wrote it and you will get better help.

"c:\folder\(alltrim(namefield)+alltrim(str(numberfield,10,0))+".pdf")"

Just guessing like Stan until we see what you have done.

Dave

[wgoldwasser]

Re: Call other programs from Alpha 5 V7

When I place the following in Expression Builder, I get <Ivalid or Incomplete Expression>.

"c:\scanned\willie\(alltrim(Po)+".pdf")"

and Po here is a character.

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Call other programs from Alpha 5 V7

When I place the following in Expression Builder, I get <Ivalid or Incomplete Expression>.

"c:\scanned\willie\(alltrim(Po)+".pdf")"

and Po here is a character.

"c:\scanned\willie\\"+alltrim(Po)+".pdf"

Writing Expressions (includes using the backslash character)

[Al Buchholz]

Re: Call other programs from Alpha 5 V7

When I place the following in Expression Builder, I get <Invalid or Incomplete Expression>.

"c:\scanned\willie\(alltrim(Po)+".pdf")"

and Po here is a character.

Willie

Thanks for posting your expression.

When I'm building an expression like this, I try to build it one step at a time.

Usually, I'll put the field in - PO, then add the suffix ".pdf"

I watch the results on the expression builder and work at it until I get the desired result. Even though I've been doing this for years...(don't ask how long ;) ) I still work through it in small steps.


Next, I'd add the alltrim() and finally the prefix to get the final result.

Stan gave you a good working expression. I'll offer a variation that I like to use.

"c:\scanned\willie"+chr(92)+alltrim(Po)+".pdf"

I tend to use chr(92) for \
and chr(47) for /

I hope that helps.