In my template I have a country select box, and province element which changed dynamically based on country. For example, If I select United States, Province will be a selectbox which include US States. If i select other country, Province will be only a text field. I know that I have to do that by Javascript but I want to know the best practice in this case. Any suggestion?
This question arises almost daily on stackoverflow ... How to handle sub-select's like country->state ...?
Best practice for multiple related select field types is only loading the first selectbox from database with a dedicated submit button for adding the subselects - could be "show states" or similar in your case.
Don't fetch all the possible sub-selects when rendering the form the first time. This could easily lead to heavy database queries if you show something like country -> state -> city for example ... but country -> state for all countries is already too much.
If the form was submitted using the "show states" button add the related sub-select to the form together with either a "show cities" button or if no other sub-selects will be loaded .. with the final "save" button.
This way a user without JavaScript can use the double-select without the at first unneeded subselect queries involved. Just hiding the second select with JS is not best practice.
Progressive enhancement through JavaScript would then be AJAX-Loading i.e. a JSON list of the states for a country, removing the "show states" button , rendering the data using JS templating engines like handlebars or mustache and adding the "save" button.
This way you don't have to send too much repetetive data to the client browser ( option,option,option ... ).
Last step would be caching client and server-side to speed up the loading times - maybe even involve some kind of background preloading i.e. the top 5 choices for the client's preferred language.
Related
TblEmployees has Fname, Lname and EmployeeName fields. EmployeeName should be Fname + Lname (i.e. John Doe). I want to enter Fname and Lname in a form FrmEmployeeData, and update TblEmployees with Fname, Lname and EmployeeName.
If FrmEmployeeData has as Data Source TblEmployees, how do I get the concatenated [Fname]&" "&[Lname] into the EmployeeName field of the table?
I also tried changing the DataSource of FrmEmployeeData to a query QryConcatenateFname&Lname where EmployeeName:[Fname]&" "&[Lname]. This gave the correct "John Doe" in the query result but I could not get it to update the TblEmployees.
What am I doing wrong? Thx.
It looks like you are learning access as this question is really too simple for stack overflow. Instead consult an Access book at your library or start finding Youtube vidoes and tutorials on the internet. Having said that here is a start:
Access gives you the ability to add a calculated field to a table in the design tab by treating it as a DataType. You can also add lookups and some data validation. Never do any of that!! Use forms to enter and search the data, and use reports to print the data.
A simple yet quite incomplete explanation is that as your database expands into multiple related tables you will find that entering the data directly into the tables is error prone for the database designer yet alone the clients. Because any observation will be distributed across multiple tables it becomes easier and easier to forget one or make a mistake as you add more and more tables.
Access is designed for quickly making simple forms for the tables in your database. If your relationships are already entered using the Relationships tool Access even generates starter forms that handle 1 to many relationships. Just click on a table and under home then forms group on the ribbon choose either form or form wizard and start playing with your new forms properties:
if you don't see the properties (hit f4 in most cases). Seriously every control has properties you can play with. In particular look at the control sources and for the form itself (hit the top left corner to select the form) check out the default view property.
I happened to include EmployeeName as a string in tblEmployees but there was no need other than having access put the EmployeeName textbox on the form. I would have to go back and delete EmployeeName from the table which is about the same effort as adding the textbox to the form myself. Below I show how to set the control source for EmployeeName to the usual FullName calculation
=[Fname] & " " & [Lname]
Access forms by default have both data entry and search capabilities. Play with the record selector highlighted at the bottom of the beautified form below. You can edit any record you see and the changes will appear in the table. If you go past the last record you can add a new record.
I'm operating in Word 2013 and 2010, so I can use code that works in either. I'm trying to create a word document to keep track of my recipes. At its most basic I want to have a TOC that updates based on headings. I also want it to have any category I want (eg: Appetizers, Drinks, Entrée, etc...) ordered alphabetically. Under each category I have tables. Each recipe gets a table that has it's name, directions, notes, tags, and potentially a picture. The second cell has another two column table inside of it that contains the quantity and name of each ingredient necessary for the recipe.
I have all of that so far and I'd like to automate adding new categories and recipes. Currently, I have to find the category, then scroll down to find where the name goes alphabetically and insert a quick table I made. I then fill in the info.
I'd like to be able to search the document for each category name, then insert the new category wherever it belongs, with a space before and after it. I found that my tables give me trouble if I don't have a space between everything. It tries to pull anything it's touching into the table and merge them.
I wanted to give the backstory, so you'd know where I was going to go eventually and could provide help that fits better with what I need. After I can add a new category, I plan to use vba to organize each table alphabetically by the name in the first cell of each table. It will also help when I start adding sorts to it. Eventually, I'd like to be able to sort it to say, only display recipes from a certain person, or display my frequently used recipes. I'd then have it either hide all the others or create a new doc with just these. So thanks for the help. Below I'll post the code I most recently tried. I tried a few other variations of this same code and keep getting an 'expected end of statement. I've gotten other errors when trying other variations of it, but this is the best I can come up with on my own.
Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
For Each cat In ActiveDocument.Styles = "Heading 1"
lstCat.AddItem (cat)
Next
End Sub
I have a form called frmAddCategory I'm using as a test. I was going to have a listbox lstCat to show every category with the style heading 1. I have a textbox called txtAdd to type new ones and a cmdAdd button to add it to the form.
Edit: I've been playing around with my macro recorder after finding out about outline view mode. I set it to show only 'heading 1' level and selected the ones I wanted, not selecting the appendix or reference. Then I went to the home tab and sorted paragraph by ascending alphabetical order. I got some code I believe I can use to get it to run in VBA. However, it's not a complete fix as I don't want to select the last two with heading 1. It also works if I manually select the tables under each heading 1, but I can't set the spacing before and after. I'd like each heading and the tables under them to have a space or two between each for looks and editing purposes.
Also, if someone is going to give my question a negative rating, then please post a comment explaining. As far as I can tell from the faq about the forum and the other questions I've seen, it is a well posed question. A clear title, a good explanation of the problem, code examples, research. So if I am doing something wrong, please inform me, so that I can correct it.
first thanks for your bit about macro recorder and outline mode, I have been trying for long time to fill a list box with selection.text between two HeadingLevel(1) headings.
now to yours, sorry I can't think of way to do in word. BUT it would be real easy in Access. one table of categories like called tblCategories another for recipes tblRecipes. To make real easy, when the use autoID on ALL tables. But to avoid LOTS of headaches for tblRecipes rename its autoID to RecipesID same for other tables. in table of recipes you can use a memo field to hold large amount of data. the spot for text in Heading would be put in one field of the tblRecipes. once you have tables looking to have a field for each item you want to track. hit save, then use wizard to create a form based on table. repeat for all tables you want to have it real easy to put info into any table.
1.reportTOC based on query of Every Heading you want, can preview or print as want. reportByCategory and so on reports are sorted a to z unless you want to sort by Owner, then recipe all auto sorted a - z.
report wizard to get hard copy. if you want to sort real easy, built in. also if want to be able to pick all recipes for a holiday real easy, one table tblHolidays. one tblHolidayRecipes fields autoId (not used by you anywhere but needed), fldRecipesId (holds RecipesId) , fldHolidayId (holds HolidayId). the wizard will show how to get only what you want. in access 2013 you can include pix of food or.
I'll keep this as clear as I can:
My database has two tables:
Clients
Contacts
They have a relationship: For each client (Which is a company, for your understanding) there can be any number of related contacts.
The database has three relevant forms:
SearchFrm
NavigationFrm
ContactsSubFrm
SearchFrm is a form that reads from the Clients table, and has a combo box that, according to chosen record (name), displays all it's other fields in their respective text boxes.
Inside SearchFrm, ContactsSubFrm appears as a datasheet subform, that displays all contacts related to the chosen record in the form, (using a query of Contacts.[Workplace ID])=[Forms]![SearchFrm]![ID]
NavigationFrm serves as a means of navigation between forms. For now, it's only for SearchFrm, but more will come.
And now, the problem: The query that ContactsSubFrm runs doesn't work inside NavigationFrm, when run, I get an input window for [Forms]![SearchFrm]![ID] every time it's suppose to run. This only happens inside navigation.
I'm pretty sure this is because the SearchFrm form itself is closed, and has a problem working through a navigation form, but I can't think of a solution.
Thank you very much.
I was looking for the answer to the same question, so I thought I'd put my solution here in case anyone else comes looking for it...
As stated above, you have to reference the field within your form within your navigation form in your query (as opposed to just the field within your originally created form.)
The best way to do this is:
Open your navigation form.
Open any other form.
Access the expression builder from the other form.
Find the field in your navigation form that you need to reference. Mine looked something like this:
Forms![NavigationForm]![NavigationSubform].Form![Field]
Copy and paste into your query
Since your form moved location (now inside a navigation form), You could try to modify your query from: [Forms]![SearchFrm]![ID] to: [Forms]![NavigationFrm]![SearchFrm]![ID]
I solved this by changing the reference in the query itself to
[forms]![frmNavigationForm]![NavigationSubform].[Form]![ID]
I have a specific question regarding the utilization of three tables in a database. Table 1 is called Personnel, and lists the names of the staff.
Tables 2 and 3 are identical, just listing two different types of overtime (long and short), along with the hours of the OT, Date of the OT, and Assigned to/Picked fields that are empty.
Here is the idea, I just dont know how to implement it. I would like to create a form for people to enter their OT picks, then automatically move to the next person on the list. So Rich Riphon, as an example, would be up first, would click on the link I would send, and a form would open up, showing his name, populated by the first table, and showing two drop down menus, populated from the Long OT and Short OT tables. He would select one from each (or None, which would be a option) and Submit it.
The form action would be to place his name in the Assigned field for the OT he picked, and place a Yes in the Picked field.
When the next person in the list opens the form, it has moved down to number 2 on the Personnel list, Cheryl Peterson, and shows her the remaining OT selections (excluding those that have a Yes in the Picked column).
Any suggestions or comments or better ways to do this would be appreciated.
First, I don't think ms access would be able to (easily) kick off the process based on a hyperlink. You may be able to do something by passing a macro name to a cmd prompt but it would take some mastery to get it working properly. Could you instead create a login form to get the current user? If you do that you don't really need to display the personnel list, just keep track of who has not yet responded to the OT request. Essentially at that point all you would need on your form is a listing of the available OT and a button that creates the assignment. Also it may be easier (and a better design) to only have one table for the OT listings and add a column for the type of overtime (long/short).
What if Cheryl isn't the 2nd person to get the form? Your concept goes out the window.
Instead, I would keep a table of all user names, and their security level. managers can see everything, individual users can only see their record. This would be done by using a query behind the OT Picks form, and either filtering by the current user or not filtering at all. I have done many of these types of "user control" databases and they all have worked well.
As for the actual OT tracking, I agree with Steve's post in that it should be done in one table This would be the preferred method of a concept referred to as "normalizing data". You really want to store as little data as possible to keep the size of your database down. As an example, your Login table would have the following fields:
UserID
FirstName
LastName
SecurityLevel
Address1
Address2
City
State
Phone
Etc... (whatever relevant info pertains to that person)
Your OT table would look like this:
UserID
OTDate
OTHours
OTType
Etc... (whatever else is relevant to OT)
You would then join those 2 tables on the UserID fields in both tables any time you needed to write a query to report OT hours or whatever.
What I really need is a Tabular form that allows me to update multiple rows at a time while being filterable like an Interactive report. Any chance this is even remotely possible?
I would also like to hijack the row checkboxes on a tabular form that appear when the 'delete' functionality is activated and use them to select which rows get assigned a to a group based on a common attribute. (i.e. My table contains parts in my inventory and I need to be able to assign parts with common attributes to a group for processing)
Perhaps a group-by function that creates a new row in a 'Group' table with the group as the PK and the parts assigned to that group as a list or something...?
Thoughts? I am kind of at a loss...
It's really not that hard :) You can easily transform an IR into a pseudo-tabular form. And even though there are always more stylish and elegant solutions, those usually involve lots of javascript and/or plugins. They're nice, but not always what you want or need of course.
So how to manipulate your output? Use the APEX_ITEM api!
Quick example. I have an ir built on emp. I added a checkbox and textbox.
select empno, ename, deptno,
apex_item.checkbox(1, empno) empno_selected,
apex_item.text(2, ename, 10, 10) ename_edit
from emp
Don't forget: in the column attributes, set Display text as to Standard Report Column. If you don't, the output will be in plain text. Since apex_item generates html code, you don't want the plain text of course :)
Now, to be able to perform DML based on the actions you do in those generated fields, you will need a process. Let me start off by pointing out though that the generated items are stored in application variables, namely in arrays in APEX_APPLICATION.
Take note of the behaviour of checkboxes: only ticked boxes will have their value stored in the array!
As an example, i've made this small On Submit process (also adding a SUBMIT button on the form to actually perform the submit...)
for i in 1..apex_application.g_f01.count
loop
insert into empselected(empno, selectiondate, ename_changed)
values(apex_application.g_f01(i), sysdate, apex_application.g_f02(i));
end loop;
This will loop over the records with the checkboxes ticked, and insert them into some table. For example, i ticked the box with KING and edited the textfield. See record nr 2 (1 is from a previous action ;))
It's not all the way there yet though. You still miss out on the functionality of a tabular form and it's processes, and things like optimistic locking. If you want to stay with tabular forms, you can also, for example, check out this link. There have also been some questions here about writing your own mru processes etc, like this one ;)
It is possisble, using the same tabular form.
Create an item (text item) in the tabular form region.
Create a submit button (Create a button displayed among this region's items)
Modify the where clause in the tabular form region source
For Example, you need search by customer name:
WHERE lower(CUSTOMER_NAME) LIKE '%'||lower(nvl(:PXX_SEARCH,CUSOTOMER_NAME))||'%'
If you need to search for other field only add other condition to the where clause
WHERE (
lower(CUSTOMER_NAME) LIKE '%'||lower(nvl(:PXX_SEARCH,CUSOTOMER_NAME))||'%'
or lower(CUSTOMER_address) LIKE '%'||lower(nvl(:PXX_SEARCH,CUSOTOMER_NAME))||'%'
)
Simple and use the same tabular form.