How do you tell if a find request is omitted?

[Vaughan]

Executive Summary

Is there a way of determining whether a find request has been omitted? Something like a Status(FindRequestOmitted) function?

Long Version:

I have a tightly controlled interface where the Status Area has been hidden and locked off. I've built a find interface and it works well, even to the point of allowing omitted searches. The users want to be able to use the Modify Last Find command, but my system breaks when restoring a find that has omitted requests in it.

An explanation of how the omit feature works in my interface: A script enters find mode, goes to the find layout and pauses; in find mode the user has an "omit" check box that they click to omit the request. This check box doesn't actually omit the request, it enters a value into a field called "FindRequestOmit" (which is *not* global since there can be multiple requests). When the Find script is resumed it processes the requests and performs the "Omit Record" step if the FindRequestOmit field is not empty, then clears the FindRequestOmit field, performs the find and returns to the browse layout.

An artefact of this process is that it's necessary to clear the FindRequestOmit field just before the find is performed otherwise the Find ends up findling all records. And there-in lies my problem. By clearing the FindRequestOmit field I am cannot track which request (if any) was omitted by the user. When they perform a Modify Last Find command the requests come up correctly omitted, but I have no way of telling which is omitted and which isn't. Since the Status Area is hidden the user cannot see the little "omit" check box, and I need a way to see if the request is omitted so I can set the FindRequestOmit field.

Does that make sense? It is Monday....

[BobWeaver]

Have a look at my sample Replicate Status Area in Find Mode

It is similar to what you are doing, but uses a global field to record the omit status. Whenever the user clicks an omit box, the script intercepts it and records it so that it can be set correctly as the user navigates back and forth through the requests. It is saved in a text global in the form "0010..." where 0 means find, and 1 means omit. The 1st character is the omit status of the 1st request; the 2nd character is the omit status of the 2nd request, etc.

If you want the user to be able to restore the last find, it will still be in the global, but being a global, it won't affect the find. If you want to save multiple custom find requests, then you could transfer the contents of the omit status field to a record in a related preferences file.

[Vaughan]

Ahhh, Bob, I think that'll do the trick.

Thanks, as always.