Method to 'see' if new record has been touched

[danh]

When entering a new record, how can I tell if the record has been touched, ie. data entered in fields by the user.

I can use the OnChange event on EACH individual field to change a session or layout variable, but was wondering if there would be a more all inclusive/less laborious way to accomplish this.

For example: if you open any default browse, and click on a new record at the bottom, and then click back off, it just goes away. But if you click on a new record, and then type something in one of the fields, and then click back off of it, alpha saves the record. How does alpha know the difference, and how can I intercept this info in a form?

Thanks for your time. Dan

[Ed Barley]

Re: Method to 'see' if new record has been touched

Dan,

Look at the bottom of this web page. There is a pretty good discussion on this subject. "Similar Threads"

Regards

Ed

[danh]

Re: Method to 'see' if new record has been touched

Ed thanks for the reply! If this is what you mean, its not exactly what I am talking about (although there was some good information there that I used).

What I am trying to figure out is the difference between these two scenarios:

1. If you open up a form (any default form), and click on the 'new record' button, now your curser is blinking in the first field of a brand new blank record - nothing has been entered in any of the fields yet. Now, without doing anything else, you close the form (click the red X), I get no message and nothing is saved.

2. But, if you open the form and enter anything in any field, and then close the form, Alpha will ask if I want to save the record.

How does it know the difference? Obviously, in the second case, Alpha knows the 'new' record has been "touched". I would like to be able to click a button and tell which of the 2 above modes I am currently in without saving the record.

Thanks, Dan

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Method to 'see' if new record has been touched

If you have no default or auto-increment fields or numeric or logical

alltext(table.current(1).name_get())

will be blank for a new record ("") and will hold some character value(s) for a record where entry has begun.

[danh]

Re: Method to 'see' if new record has been touched

Thanks Stan. I do have both default and auto auto-increment fields.

Very interesting idea, though. I would have thought the .name_get() function would have returned the name of the table.
edit: I see now it is the 'alltext' function that is returning the text...

Dan

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Method to 'see' if new record has been touched

Test this on a form as the script for a button.

ui_msg_box("",alltext(table.current(1).name_get()))

and see what is returned after creating a new "blank" record.

Then you can test whether data entry has begun by comparing

alltext(table.current(1).name_get()) to that string.

I would have thought the .name_get() function would have returned the name of the table

It does.

[danh]

Re: Method to 'see' if new record has been touched

I just thought of that too...

I'm thinking of putting the first string into a session or layout variable when the form first goes into enter mode (new record button pressed) and then comparing the value in that variable with the current 'alltext' string. If they match, the record has NOT been touched, and if they do not match, the record HAS been touched.

Will test and let know if I have any more questions.
Thanks, Dan