Database Lookups

The Advanced Search Bar automatically determines multiple search options for each search field, based on the type of the field.

It is possible to limit the amount of options displayed to the user.

Let’s require users to search by the Birth Date field on the Employees grid view, and only permit between, equals, and includes search options.

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, switch to Controllers tab, and double-click on Employees / Views / grid1 / BirthDate data field node.

Make the following changes:

$between,=,$in

Press OK to save the data field. On the toolbar, click Browse to regenerate the web application.

Navigate to the Employees page, and expand the advanced search bar.

The Birth Date search field will appear first, with a limited subset of search options. The first search option will be activated when the search bar is opened for the first time.

For the Last Name field, instead of having the default first search option of equals, let’s change it to begins with, and preserve the rest of the search options.

Go back to the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, double-click on Employees / Views / grid1 / LastName data field node.

Make the following changes:

$beginswith,*

Press OK to save the data field, and click Browse on the toolbar.

Activate the search bar on the Employees page, and you will see that Last Name shows up by default. The begins with search option will show up first, but the user can change it to any other option.

Code On Time web applications offer rich data lookup capabilities.

Fields with an Items Style of Lookup render as link within a textbox. The Eraser icon to the right of the link will clear the field. The New Record icon to the right of the textbox will create a new lookup item.

When the link is clicked on, a lookup window will open. Users can perform Quick Find or use Advanced Search Bar.

A lookup field can be configured as an Auto Complete text box. When a user types in a value, the list of lookup items will be filtered. If an item is selected, it is inserted in the field. If no item is selected, the field value will revert.

Both Lookup and Auto Complete styles do not prefetch data items when the form view is loaded.

A lookup field can also be configured as a Check Box List. The values can come from a static list or a many-to-many table.

Data lookup fields can be rendered as a Radio Button List.

Consult the following list of properties when configuring a lookup field.