choosing a record in subform

[Rob 7 Collins]

Ok, this post has a decent ammount of background before I get to my question.

I wish I could find a more terse way to put this, but ...

I've got a fairly complicated dataBase (for me at least). In it I must keep

track of people such as program directors, primary contacts, consumers, etc.

Each person has similar information, but not always the same -- So I've a

schema that limits data replication, something like:

[telephoneNumbers]+[telephoneNumbers]+[addresses]+[basicPersonsInformation]=>[programDirector]

or:

[telephoneNumbers]+[addresses]+[basicPersonsInformation]=>[comsumer]

All telephone numbers are in the telephone numbers table. To use one as a FAX

number I create a number field "FAX.primk", in the person-type table, that is

related to the primary key for the telephone numbers table. Home/work addresses

work the same way; but data that isn't uniform across all people-types in the

database (like website, for example) reside in the person-type table.

The distinction between directors and consumers is useful in more than just the

ability to fine tune the unique data. Sometimes the same person is in many

tables, each only needing particular details or even contradictory ones.

I've got a layout for editing the program director records, with portals to data

from each relation (as defined in the FAX.primk ... etc). Not all the

information in a portalled record is available for editing from the portal in

the person-type layout. When a user wants to add or edit the data, things can

get a little complex... I need a script to automate the flow of adding and

editing data.

What I've done is made a "add/edit" button for each portal. It guides the user

through populating/editing data in a portal in this one record. I run into a

problem in both the editing and populating branch, where I'm not sure how to

handle multiple records if they are searched for (in the editing branch it is

implied, because it pauses in browse mode but if the user changes mode, the

script's continue button is lost).

Here's one such script:

#If this record is new go to the basic Person page and start a find request,

#otherwise go to this basic Person entry for editing.



If [ IsEmpty( CatalogContact::Person.primk ) ]

    Show Custom Dialog [ Title: "Add a new Catalog Contact"; Message: "You are adding a new catalog contact, or fixing an existing one that is missing an assocaited basicPerson entry.  This entry contains valuable information like their name, gender, primary languge, and date of birth.  <newline> Press Okay and start by checking if the correct person entry is already in the database.  You will be taken to the Persons page, in Find mode.  After you have entered your search terms, press the Continue button on the Status Area.  <newline> Press Cancel to abort this action and return to the Catalog Contact page"; Buttons: "OK", "Cancel" ]



    If [ Get (LastMessageChoice) = 2 ]

        Exit Script

    End If



    Go to Layout [ "Person Entry Page" (UtilityTable.Person) ]

    Enter Find Mode [ ]

      [Pause]

# Without a direct way to see the count of found results, 

# this cludge will have to do:

    Set Error Capture [On]

    Go to Record/Request/Page

      [First]

    If[ If ( Get ( LastError ) = 0; 0; 1 ) ]

#--if there is an error, no first record, enter here:

        Set Error Capture [Off]

        Enter Browse Mode

        Show All Records

        Show Custom Dialog [ Title: "Add a new Person Entry"; MEssage: "I did not find a matching person entry. <newline> If you would like to add an entry, in the following screen add your information, then press the Continue button in the Status area. <newline><newline> Would you like to add a catalog contact?"; Buttons: "Yes", "No (cancel)" ]

        If [ Get ( LastMessageChoice ) = 2 ]

            Go to Layout [ original layout ]

            Exit Script

        End If

# User has searched for a suitable person entry, found none, and now will 

# add a person entry

        New Record/Request

        Pause/Resume Script [ Indefinitely ]

        Copy [utilityTable.Person::primk ]

        Go to Layout [ oringial layout ]

        Paste [CatalogContact::Person.primk ]

          [select]

        Commit Records/Requests

          [ No dialog ]

    Else

# There is at least one found person entry

        Set Error Capture [ Off ]

        Enter Browse Mode

        Copy [ Utility Table.Person::primk ]

          [select]

        Go to Layout [ oringinal layout ]

        Paste [ CatalogContact::Person.primk ]

          [select]

        Commit Records/Requests

          [ No dialog ]

    End If

Else

# The user has clciked the button while the portal was populated, so they

# want to edit the person's entry

    Go to Field [ CatalogContact::Person.primk ]

    Copy [ ]

      [select]

    Go to Layout [ "Person Entry Page" (UtlityTable.Person) ]

    Enter Find Mode [ ]

    Paste [ UtilityTable.Person::primk ]

      [select]

    Perform Find [ ]

    Show Custom Dialog [ Title: "Person Entry Ready for Editing"; Message: "You should now be able to edit theperson entry.  When you are finished, click the Continue button on the status bar"; Buttons: "Ok" ]

    Enter Browse Mode

    Pause/Resume Script [ Indefinitely ]

    Commit Records/Requests

      [ No dialog ]

    Go to Layout [ original layout ]

End If 

[Rob 7 Collins]

What I've done is made a "add/edit" button for each portal. It guides the user

through populating/editing data in a portal in this one record. I run into a

problem in both the editing and populating branch, where I'm not sure how to

handle multiple records if they are searched for (in the editing branch it is

implied, because it pauses in browse mode but if the user changes mode, the

script's continue button is lost).

Just to be clear, my problem is that the method I am using to find a record in case the user wants to use the already existing record, fails to take into account when a search returns more than one record. In that case, the user

should choose the correct record and have to select continue from the status bar

to resume.

A big issue in just returning the user to the search results to select the

appropriate record is the case where so many records matched that they would

want to use another Find. In that case, if the user switches to Find mode it

destroys the "Continue" button, and I would guess exits the script. Example

code is something like:

Loop

    Set Error Capture [On]

    Go to Record/Request [ Next ]

    If [ If ( Get (LastError) = 0; 0; 1 ) ]

#--if there is only one record in the search results

        Set Error Capture [Off]

        ...

        Exit Loop If [ 1 = 1 ]

    Else

#--if there are many records in the search results

        Set Error Capture [Off]

        Show Message Dialog [ Title: "Many Records Found"; Message: "More than one record was found.  Please select the appropriate record and then click the Continue button on the status bar. <newline> Press Okay to continue.  <newline> Press Cancel to return to the Catalog Contact page."; Buttons: "Okay", "Cancel" ]

        Enter Browse Mode [ ]

        Pause/Resume Script [ Indefinite ]

        If [ IsEmpty( UtilityTable.Person::primk ) ]

# the user selected no entry

            ...

        Else

# the current entry is the entry to use

            ...

            Exit Loop If [ 1 = 1 ]

        End If

    End If

End Loop