Web Application Generator

Different edit forms can be used depending on the field values of a record. For example, the Customers table has a Postal Code column.

Customers in the United States refer to the Postal Code as a “ZIP Code”. Let’s create another edit form for customers from USA that uses the “ZIP Code” label for Postal Code, and is rendered in two columns.

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

Give this view the following settings:

Press OK to save the view. In the Project Explorer, right-click on Customers / Views / editFormUSA view node, and select New Category.

Assign the following settings:

Press OK to save the category. In the Project Explorer, right-click on Customers / Views / editFormUSA / c100 – Customer Information category node, and select New Data Field.

Assign the data field these properties:

Save the data field. Create several more data fields with the following settings:

Right-click on Customers / Views / EditFormUSA view node, and select New Category.

Give the category these settings:

Press OK to save. Add the following data fields to this category:

Now that the new edit form has been configured, let’s change the action state machine to direct USA  customers to the correct form.

In the Project Explorer, right-click on Customers / Actions / ag1 (Grid) action group node, and select New Action.

Give this action the following settings:

Press OK to save the action. In the Project Explorer, move the action into second place, after ag1 – Select.

Double-click on Customers / Actions / ag1 (Grid) / a1 – Select action node.

Change the When Client Script property:

Press OK to save the action. On the toolbar, press Browse to generate the web application.

Navigate to the Customers page. Select a customer that is not from the United States. The standard edit form will be displayed.

Select a different customer with Country of “USA”. The new two-column edit form will be displayed. “Postal Code” is replaced by “ZIP Code”.

Many applications require that the name and identity of the user be captured when a record is modified. Let’s create a ModifiedByID and ModifiedByName field in the Orders table that will be updated by an SQL Business Rule whenever an order is modified.

First, let’s add the columns to the table. Start SQL Server Management Studio. In the Object Explorer, right-click on Databases / Northwind / Tables / dbo.Orders table node, and select Design.

Configure two new columns:

Save the table modifications. Switch to the web application generator, and refresh the Orders controller.

Regenerate the web application. Next, let’s remove the ModifiedBy fields from the presentation, and create a business rule to update these fields.

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, switch to the Controllers tab. Right-click on Orders / Views / editForm1 / c1 – Orders / ModifiedByUserID data field node, and select Delete option.

Confirm the operation. Right-click on Orders / Views / editForm1 / c1 – Orders / ModifiedByUserName data field node, and delete this data field as well.

Right-click on Orders / Business Rules node, and select New Business Rule.

Assign this business rule the following properties:

update Orders 
set ModifiedByUserID = @BusinessRules_UserId, 
    ModifiedByUserName = @BusinessRules_UserName
where OrderID = @OrderID

Press OK to save the business rule.

Make sure to spell the business rule properties correctly – for example, if the “@BusinessRules_UserId” function was capitalized as “@BusinessRules_UserID”, the function will not be found and an exception will be thrown.

On the toolbar, press Browse to regenerate the web application.

Navigate to the Orders page, edit a record, and save.

View the record in SQL Server Management Studio. The relevant UserId and Name have been saved.