How to use a drop down list without changing its data?

[Rangoon]

I have a field called “ImportString” its a Text field that is Indexed, Can’t Modify Auto. 

 

On the layout I have this field set up with a Value List that looks up in the same field “ImportString”.  I have the field set “ as a Drop Down List and Browse Mode, Find Mode are checked.  When I try to make a selection in browse mode I get a box saying “Not Modifiable”

 

When I tried earlier I did not check “Can’t Modify Auto” in Database mode and when I included the type ahead function it actually changed the text in the “ImportString” field, which was an obvious disaster. 

 

One other thing you should know is that “ImportString” is the field used to import information like “5th Dimension*Aquarius1”. I then have 3 calculation fields that break this information into “Artist, SongName and LoopNumber”.

 

What’s important here is any change made to the “Import String” field immediately changes the information in the three calculation fields.  As you can guess that is not a good thing.

 

How can I use the “Import String” field for selection without the chance of changing the information in the field?

 

Thank you,

 

HJ

[LVie]

Harry,

 

What is the function of the field importString after the import is complete? You have perhaps missed one step in your import process. After you import the records you should use ImportString as a utility field which is not generally accessible to the user or at least not in the user interface in a manner where it is enterable. In your import routine you should instead use a series of set field steps to copy the loop information from that field and paste it into the 3 actual publicly accessible data fields.

 

I would actually change the 3 calc fields into text fields so that they aren't dependent on the ImportString field after the import process is complete. You can then do what you need to those fields.

 

What is the purpose of the dropdown list on the ImportString field?

 

Levi

 

 

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Laura (Levi) Vie | [email protected]  | 573-874-5176 | iChat:  leevie

[Rangoon]

Hi Levi,

 

I ImportString has all the information “5th Dimension*Aquarius1”.  It gives me the Artist, Song Name and Loop Number all in one place.  So it allows me to perform a find in one place instead of having to go into find mode and put "5th Dimension" in the Artist field, "Aquarius" in the Song Name field and putting 1 into the "Song Number" field. So its strictly for find.

 

BTW I tried changing "Artist, Song Name and Song Number" into text fields but I lost all of the text information in the fields.

 

HJ

[LVie]

In that case you have a couple of options. You can create a separate calc field that is a concatenation of the 3 text fields (remember I changed the 3 calcs to text) for searching purposes in which case it won't matter if users try to enter it in browse mode because they can't change the value, but can still do a full search on it in find mode. Or set a 4th field that would be used for searching only and uncheck browse mode so that users don't accidentally change the value. For good form regardless of the way you choose to solve this don't allow entry in browse mode to help train the users. You can even format it differently from other fields on that layout to create a visual indicator. I favor the first option personally.

 

Changing your current calcs will take a 2 or 3 step process so that you don't lose that information or you can create a quick script to repopulate those fields from the ImportString field using the original calcs.

 

Levi

 

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Laura (Levi) Vie | [email protected]  | 573-874-5176 | iChat:  leevie

[Rangoon]

Hi Levi

 

I double checked the calcs and found that Band Name and Song Name are text fields but Song Number is a number field, should I change it to text?  

 

I actually like the calc fields, If I need to make a change I can do it through the ImportString that only I would have access to.  That will keep folks, including me, from making changes I don't want to have made. Do you disagree?

 

So there is not way to use ImportString for a search without the possibility of messing things up right?  It would just be so great to perform a search from a scroll field showing all 3 fields, especially one that offers type ahead. But not at the expense of messing up information that is for sure.

 

HJ

[LVie]

I wouldn't change the number field. That part is fine. My point was that you have better data integrity if those are not calc fields.

 

If keeping ImportString is important for historical reference or for resetting information and you still want to keep the same functionality that you're working on then script the import. In that script you can do all the data parsing that your calcs were doing before and you can set a new data field to = the ImportString and do all of your modifications, searches, etc on that. Like I suggested that field can simply be a calc that displays the contents of ImportString or it can be a text field = ImportString. If your script sets all of that you don't have to do any manual work to get it done.

 

Levi

 

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Laura (Levi) Vie | [email protected]  | 573-874-5176 | iChat:  leevie