Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

[Nick Oldfield]

On a candepart event, is there any way of knowing where focus was going to go, if the depart is allowed?
Explanation. I have a form where the manufacturer and model number are selected via dropdowns. But if the user knows he is inputting a manufacturer that does not exist yet in the system, he pushes a button on the form to call another form, to enter all the info for a new manufacturer. The problem is that the user might by accident have blanked the manufacturer field, and this would create an illegal entry, UNLESS the user is moving focus to the button, in which case blank manufacturer and model number fields are OK. So I can't use a candepart event (or a field rule) to check for a blank field.

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Nick, if I understand your question, I think the answer is no. Maybe you can set a variable TRUE if the user is entering a NEW manufacturer? If so, your canDepart script could check that value before throwing up the omitted / required field message. However, I think a better solution would be to prevent the user from entering a record in the current form if a new manufacturer is required. I'd force them to use the other form before coming back to the current one, or I'd find another way to check for blank manufacturer fields (instead of using the canDepart event).

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

I agree with Tom but you do pose an interesting question. The tab order has to be stored somewhere. I can't find anything via the object explorer about tabs other than tabstop yes or no.

[Nick Oldfield]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Thanks for the responses.
Tom, it's not quite that easy. The user may not know until he gets to the form that the manufacturer is in fact "new". I can (and do) check for a blank manufacturer field before saving the record for the new item, but I have had to move all sorts of other code to the "on save" event to make sure I did not do all kinds of processing only to find the manufacturer field had been blanked out by the user. So my code all works OK, just a bit complex.
However, my main interest was the one referred to by Stan. Alpha must know what field was going to be in focus next, because if the candepart allows depart to occur, that's where the cursor goes. Not even a tab, the button might not be in the tab order but have been selected by the cursor. As I remember, there's an xbasic command to tell you what field was in focus last, but nothing to tell you what will be in focus next, even though it's a defined object.

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Alpha must know what field was going to be in focus next, because if the candepart allows depart to occur, that's where the cursor goes.

I would say that Alpha lets you handle the next object to receive focus via the canarrive event. Cumbersome but you could code all the objects' canarrive events to send focus back to the desired object.

[Nick Oldfield]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Yes, I thought of doing that. It would be nice not to have to do that though (I have around a dozen fields or buttons) , since Alpha clearly must know where it is going, because it goes there if the candepart event does not issue a "cancel".

[Ray in Capetown]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Maybe I'm not seeing the problem clearly but maybe I could plant a seed for another, simple approach.
I developed a realtime auction app in Dec, wherein it is quite likely that an item delivered for auction is from a new seller.
In the capture of the item, the seller field has a dropdown combo, and if the seller is not in the list, user enters a new code for the seller immediately (seen to the right in the picture) the seller details creates a new seller record with that code pre-entered.
(I use alphanumeric, user generated linking codes)
If it is desired to keep that new record, then user captures additional details of the seller right there and it will save when SAVE is pressed for the stock.

If it can be of any help, this is what it looks like.
Picture didnt attach I will try again

[Ray in Capetown]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Screenshot?

[Nick Oldfield]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

My form looks very similar, except the "new manufacturer" is a separate form called by a button.
So what prevents the user from blanking the dropdown field?
Mine's a bit more complex because the manufacturer is used to filter a second drop-down for existing model numbers, and then the two fields filter a third dropdown for descriptions (the same model number could be in inventory multiple times with different options and descriptions).
I can detect any errors at the onsave event, (or at the canarrive event for the other fields, as stan suggested), but I was trying to do it earlier to avoid the user having to make data entry which then got backed out. Just more convenient.

[csda1]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Hi Stan,

I agree with Tom but you do pose an interesting question. The tab order has to be stored somewhere. I can't find anything via the object explorer about tabs other than tabstop yes or no.

The Tab order is a layout property.

e.g
dim formpointer as P
formpointer=formname.this
dim tab_order_list as c
tab_order_list=formpointer.tab_order()

' change order, add, delete objects in list, then set back in form
' I have never written the tab order back, but I suspect it would work immediately
' in view mode as well as change or enter
formpointer.tab_order(tab_order_list)

' There is a second flags parameter, but the only useful purpose may be to determine the field types or for a dialog box
'Try this in the interactive window
?formpointer.tab_order("","SI")

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Thanks Ira.

[Nick Oldfield]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

ira - interesting. Would not solve my problem though, because the button is not in the tab order...

[Ted Giles]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Oh yes it is Nick.
taborder.png

[Nick Oldfield]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

You misunderstand me. The button is not in the tab list because I removed it. The tab order contains all the fields the user tabs through to complete the data entry. Buttons are selected with the cursor.

[Ted Giles]

Re: Next item to be in focus on "candepart" event.

Show me a screen shot Nick.