Form "Dirty" property?

[dodgebros]

Is there a property that indicates if a user has changed something about a record on a form? In Microsoft Access this is the "dirty" property. I searched the forums and it appears A5v6 had such a thing (?) but I can't find it in the Help file for A5v7.

Thanks,
TD

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

TD, if the user changes a field value in the current record the "mode" of the form changes to "CHANGE" (or "ENTER" if it's a new record). Your scripts can retrieve the current mode of the form and branch accordingly.

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

Is there a property that indicates if a user has changed something about a record on a form? In Microsoft Access this is the "dirty" property. I searched the forums and it appears A5v6 had such a thing (?) but I can't find it in the Help file for A5v7.

Thanks,
TD

.set_dirty()

[Cheryl Lemire]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

Hi TD,

I think a little clarification of the following would help:

changed something about a record on a form

The dirty function that Stan has so kindly provided you the link for indicates that the layout has changed and needs to be saved. This will work if you are concerned about others making modifications to your actual forms.

If you are talking about tracking when an actual record is changed, then Tom has the right idea. Unfortunately, in order to give you more in depth assistance with Tom's idea, we would need to know more of what you are trying to do.

Are you looking to track when changes are made to a record? If so, what kind of info do you need (date,time,user,actual data before and after)?

Do you simply want to know when a record is actually in change mode? This would be what Tom is referencing (I think).

Do you want to limit changes that can be made to records somehow?

Please give us more details of exactly what you are trying to accomplish if the link that Stan provided for you does not resolve your issue.

Good luck

[dodgebros]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

Do you simply want to know when a record is actually in change mode? This would be what Tom is referencing (I think).

Hi Cheryl. I just want to know if the user has changed any value in any field on the form so I can throw up my own "Do you want to save changes?" message box if they have and are closing the form or just close the form if they haven't changed anything.. I think Tom's is the correct solution. However, being new to A5v7 I'm not sure how to determine what mode the form is in.

Thanks,
TD

[Cheryl Lemire]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

Hi TD,

What you want to accomplish is doable, but would require programming. I use custom toolbars on my data entry forms and lock them down so that I am controlling the data entry. I learned this from Tom many years ago and have used it ever since.

I have my own add/edit/delete buttons on the form. When the user selects any of those, the buttons are hidden and a save changes and cancel changes buttons appear in their place. I even have a 'text' object on the form letting the users know that they are 'viewing', 'editing', or 'entering' modes.

You could take this a step further if you wanted to and when the user clicks on YOUR edit button, you display a message that asks them if they are sure they want to continue.

Getting the mode of the form: parentform.mode_get()

http://support.alphasoftware.com/alphafivehelpv8/Methods/_OBJECT_.MODE_GET().htm

Good luck

[Jim Chapman]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

Hello TD,

Check out the FieldPointer.initial_value_get() and the FieldPointer.value_get() methods. These would allow you to roll your own. You could use the formPointer.child_enum() method with a flag to loop through all the field objects and check to see if any had been changed. You can also check out the system variable a_field_value, but I wouldn't use it in this context.

I'm not aware of a already built-in function that does this for you. The normal operation of a form in Alpha exibits the behavior you are describing so the functionality you desire is already there, but maybe Alpha has not exposed it to us because it is default behavior. But pretty simple to build your own.

Good luck,
Jim

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

Hello, Jim.

The help file topic "Determining if a Record Has Been Changed" illustrates another (easier?) way to roll your own using the "property_to_string()" function. If you pass a table pointer to the function it will create a string equivalent for the current record. Do this when the form fetches a record, and then again before the form closes, then compare the two strings. If they match no change was made by the user.

Your point about this already being "built-in" is a good one. Alpha will warn you if you're closing the form and unsaved changes are pending.

[dodgebros]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll check these out and let you know what I decided to do.

TD

[Steve Andrews]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

TD,

As a last resort, there is one other alternative. When you attempt to customize the system "Form view" toolbar and look at what enables the Save icon, you will find the expression:

'E'$topparent.command('?RECORD_COMMIT')

That expression is .T. or .F. depending on whether the record has been changed. Apparently, this topparent.command() has a value of "E" or "D" depending on whether the current record has been changed. Again, there are other alternatives and this should maybe be considered a last resort since it uses an internal command.

Steve

[DaveM]

Re: Form "Dirty" property?

TD,

I was asked and complied for a log file by a customer.

This log file is a dbf and with a little code, it now gets filled when a user signs in and out, when he enters or leaves a form and soon it will log if he changes certain fields that are necessary to keep correct.

Acct Numeric 8 0
Date Date 8 0
Timing Character 20 0
Action Character 50 0
User Character 50 0

the action goes something like this.
this is run on the onsave event at form level.

' i have an action script that reads teh proper fields into vars before this.  You could make the tables better for yo and include more fields.
 
tbl=table.open("logs",FILE_RW_SHARED)
tbl.enter_begin()
tbl.date = date()
tbl.acct = var->theacct
tbl.Timing = time("0h:0m:sA")
tbl.user = var->scode
tbl.action = "Saved Record "
tbl.enter_end(.t.)
table.close()

Hope it helps in some way.

dave