Code On Time: Database Lookups

Wednesday, June 6, 2012Print Subscribe

Lookup fields, when activated, display a view to allow the users to select an item. By default, the first grid view in the controller is used. Let’s create and use an alternate view for the CustomerID lookup field in the Orders controller.

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, switch to the Controllers tab. Right-click on Customers / Views and select New View option.

Configure the new view with the following values:

Property	Value
Id	grid2
Type	Grid
Command	command1
Label	Customers from USA
Header Text	This is a list of customers from the United States.
Filter Expression	Country='USA'

Press OK to save the view.

Next, add all data fields that exist in grid1 except Country. In the Project Explorer, right-click on Customers / Views / grid2 node, and select New Data Field option.

Specify the field name for the data field:

Property	Value
FieldName	CustomerID

Press OK to save the data field. Create the rest of the data fields:

Field Name

CompanyName

ContactName

ContactTitle

Address

City

Region

PostalCode

Phone

On the toolbar, press Browse. When the application starts in the web browser, navigate to Orders page. Edit a record, and activate the lookup for Customer Company Name.

The lookup window will display Customers (grid1) view. Click on the View dropdown on the right side of the action bar and select Customers from USA. The view grid2 will be displayed, showing only customers from USA. There will not be a Country column.

Let’s configure Orders.CustomerID lookup field to use grid2 by default. Switch back to the Project Designer. Double-click on Orders / Fields / CustomerID field node.

Change the Items Data View property:

Property	New Value
Items Data View	grid2

Press OK to save the field. To prevent users from selecting Customers from USA view on other pages, let’s remove the view from the view selector.

In the Project Explorer, double-click on Customers / Views / grid2 view node.

Prevent the view from showing up in the view selector:

Property	New Value
Show in View Selector	False

Press OK to save the view. On the toolbar, select Browse. Navigate to the Orders page, and edit a record. Activate the Customer Company Name lookup. The grid2 view will be displayed.

Labels: Database Lookups, Designer, Web Application Generator

Monday, June 4, 2012Print Subscribe

Data Field Search Modes

The Advanced Search Bar allows end users to combine specific search parameters to find the data they need.

When the user first opens the search bar, three search fields will be present, matching the first three data fields in the grid.

The web app can be customized to require users to use a search field, suggest a field, or restrict users from searching by a specific field.

For example, the customized search bar below has one required field (Product Name) and three suggested fields (Unit Price, Units In Stock, Units On Order) that appear when the user opens the search bar for the first time. The required Product Name field cannot be changed.

If a search is performed without entering a parameter in the required field, the user will be notified that the field is required.

The Discontinued field was marked as “Forbidden”, and does not show up on the list of searchable fields.

Labels: Database Lookups, User Interface, Web Application Generator

Monday, June 4, 2012Print Subscribe

Data Field Search Options

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:

Property	New Value
Search Mode	Required
Search Options	$between,=,$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:

Property	New Value
Search Mode	Suggested
Search Options	$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.

Labels: Database Lookups, User Interface, Web Application Generator