If I have removed access to the Status Area (left side control panel) within a database, is there an easy way of giving users access to the Omit checkbox when performing finds? I know alt-o will check or uncheck the option even if the Status Area is toggled off and I could deal with asking users to use a keystroke to turn the Omit option on or off.

But, I'd like to be able to add an global calc to display the status of that option on each find request. I've checked out all the GET options and there doesn't seem to be one for the Omit checkbox status.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

David Wolfe

But, I'd like to be able to add an global calc to display the status of that option on each find request. I've checked out all the GET options and there doesn't seem to be one for the Omit checkbox status.

I have this very same question.

Is there a way to display to the user that a request is "omitted" while the status area is hidden?

Thanks to anyone able to illuminate on this.

If I have removed access to the Status Area (left side control panel) within a database, is there an easy way of giving users access to the Omit checkbox when performing finds? I know alt-o will check or uncheck the option even if the Status Area is toggled off and I could deal with asking users to use a keystroke to turn the Omit option on or off.

If you are looking for an alternative to the keystroke, a button specified to "omit record/request" works.

An extension of the "button" idea. You can use an =1 calculation field ("_c1") to show "omitted" status. First done by Ilyse Kazar.

The trick is that such a calculation is 1 in every record. Hence if you omit a criteria AND _c1 = 1, it's the same as just omitting the criteria; visa versa finding the criteria AND _c1="" is the same as just finding the criteria (an empty field having no relevance to a Find, duh).

_c1 is formatted as a checkbox, with the label "Omit". If you also have a field _c0, =0 (unstored), you can have a relationship, _c0 = _c1. Never a match. Put the omit checkbox and label inside and it won't show in Browse Mode (the Visible trick). But it will show in Find Mode, 'cause the relationship doesn't evaluate.

You have to set and clear the "omit" checkbox with a script. So the field can be non-enterable. The Omit Record step is a "toggle." It Omits the 1st time, the clears the Omit the 2nd.

FindOmit.zip

Here is a sample file that I posted a while ago that replicates all status area functions:

http://www.fmforums.com/threads/download.php?Number=50698

Here is a sample file that I posted a while ago that replicates all status area functions:

http://www.fmforums.com/threads/download.php?Number=50698

Thank you.

I noticed you do not have literal text ("") among the available insert symbols. Is this due to trouble finding a way to put the cursor between the two quotation marks?

There is no trouble to put the cursor between the marks:

Insert Calculated Result [ """" ]

Set Selection [ Start Position: Get ( ActiveSelectionStart ) - 1 ]

The sample file was created before version 7 existed. As I recall, it duplicated all functions available in version 6. I don't think there was an insert literal text item in the symbols menu in that version. I just threw in the symbols menu for the sake of completeness. It worked okay on Macs, but didn't seem to work very well on Windows.

Can anyone suggest how these ideas can be applied with an "omit"/"omitted" label toggle rather than a checkbox.

Thank you very kindly (and remember, you're explaining it to a grade-schooler here)

I setup finds for my users the other way around. For users, I hide the status area and provide navigation tabs to keep the user from ending up on a layout or a mode that could get them lost or confused.

Then for finds, I take them to the find layout and show the status area so they have access to the omit check, along with the other find tools.

As part of my find script I set user abort [off] so the cancel button does not show in the status area. Then put them into Find mode with a pause.

Also part of my find script, I set error capture on and deal with any errors in the find script. If the user gets a zero found set the user gets a message to either try again or cancel find, in which case they are taken back to their original layout and previous found set, hiding the status area again, of course.