I've been recruited to work on a form for tracking specimens. Each specimen is associated with a subject; each specimen also has a particular slot in a 9 x 9 storage box. For ease of data entry, I think it would be best if the Access form mirrored the box itself (and the paper forms that will be used to enter data into Access): nine columns by nine rows, with each element consisting basically of a text box for the specimen ID. This is basically how I'd like it to look:
So the data entry person would essentially type in the box number and specimen IDs, then click "Create Records" to pop all of those records into existence (you can see some other stuff going on here, but that's not really important right now). I'm not really sure about the best way to code this, however. Right now, the best process I can think of is to: 1) run an insert query to create the box if it doesn't exist, 2) run an insert query to create the subject (person), if it doesn't exist, and 3) run an insert query for each specimen, hard-coding in its row and column (e.g. box_col = 'A', box_row = '1').
Note: the subject ID and specimen ID would both be parsed out of the ID field - it's goofy, not my idea, but that's how it's set up. I can handle that, though.
This is a certainly a kludge, but I'm not sure what else to do and most of what I've googled up hasn't been pertinent to multiple-record creation from a single form. Is there a better way to do this? Should I simply abandon the idea and go with a more traditional bound subform approach?
This could be all done in a sub form - however, I assume for simplicity (less clicks, easier user experience, and intuition) you've designed it so that the end user sees everything he /she need to enter. There is nothing wrong with doing it this way. Once the data is all entered just have a button on the form that does the multiple inserts at once.
Start at 1 and include 9 iterations each time issuing a new INSERT statement.
Once the statement has been completed I would personally put a little check mark next to each row so that if an insert succeded it would check it true, else false. You could be nifty and use a green image / red image. After it has completed the process all fields should be cleared allowing additional entry.
I don't see an issue with what you have.
FRIG. I just lost ten minutes of typing. This is why I don't care for web based forms. Although to be fair this is the first time this has happened on StackOverflow.
Do you really need to view the data later in the same format as it's entered. If they can just view regular subforms that's at least half the work as you no longer need to do updates of this form.
Also note that there is a lifetime amaximum of 768, if I recall correctly, controls per form. 9 x 9 x 2 is 162 so you'll be ok there. However if you decide to delete and recreate lots of cotrols you could be in trouble. If you do hit that limit I think saving the form under a separate name should reset the counter.
Note you can use the following construct to refer to controls and make life easier.
Me.Controls("abc" & Row & column)
For example in the After Update of the type control you could use
call InsertRecords(3, "B")
sub InsertRecords(row as integer, Column as string)
....
cboTypeValue = Me.Controls("cboTypeID" & Row & Column)
....
This could be used as some kind of native access controls only grid.
If someone would post an example of how to create custom unbound subform with row for each unbound record and a code to loop and save it to the tables would be just great.
There wouldn't be as much controls and it wouldn't have any limits by the numbers of fields on form.
Related
I have designed a simple database to keep track of company contacts. Now, I am building a form to allow employees to add contacts to the database.
On the form itself, I have all the columns except the primary key (contactID) tied to a text box. I would like the contactID value to be (the total number of entered contacts + 1) when the Add button is clicked. Basically, the first contact entered will have a contactID of 1 (0 + 1 = 1). Maybe the COUNT command factors in?
So, I am looking for assistance with what code I should place in the .Click event. Perhaps it would help to know how similar FoxPro is to SQL.
Thanks
The method you recommend for assigning ContactIDs is not a good idea. If two people are using the application at the same time, they could each create a record with the same ContactID.
My recommendation is that you use VFP's AutoIncrementing Integer capability. That is, set the relevant column to be Integer (AutoInc) in the Table Designer. Then, each new row gets the next available value, but you don't have to do any work to make it happen.
There are various ways to do this. Probably the simplest is to attempt to lock the table with flock() when saving, and if successful do:
calc max id_field to lnMax
Then when inserting your new record use lnMax+1 as the id_field value. Don't forget to
unlock all
... after saving. You'll want to ensure that 'id_field' has an index tag on it, and that you handle the case where someone else might have the table locked.
You can also do it more 'automagically' with a stored procedure.
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 have question about Lotus Note. I have form: http://i.stack.imgur.com/YWii6.jpg
In this form I need create bottom. With this buttom user can add new row with input field in this row to existing table. I find that kind of lotusscript from:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSVRGU_9.0.1/com.ibm.designer.domino.main.doc/H_EXAMPLES_ADDROW_METHOD_RTTABLE.html
But when I this script copied to this form, I get error "Object variable no set"
Then I tried this solotion:
LotusNotes 8.5 - Adding a row to a table with a button
And I again get the same error.
Can anybody tell me please, how I can create new row and input field in this row, when I pressed buttom "Add row"?
You can't make a table with a dynamic amount of rows in a Lotus Notes Form. There are two common ways to solve this:
Use child-documents; one document for each row; and show these documents using an embedded view. This is the most elegant imho.
Create a large, fixed-elements table, and hide the rows that are not needed (for instance, by checking the presence of an input in the preceding row. This is OK for small amounts of row, but performance starts getting bad if you have too many rows.
It seems you are a bit confused as to the difference between a form (your picture) and a document (the code you link). Also, you definitely need to understand the meaning of "Object variable not set", which is the most common error when you use Lotusscript.
Anyhow, where to go from here depends on how you plan using the data once it is input. Will it be edited ? Will each row need to be handled as a separate record ?
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.
I have a FileMaker script which calculates a value. I have 1 record from table A from which a relation points to n records of table B. What is the best way to set B::Field to this value for each of these n related records?
Doing Set Field [B::Field; $Value] will only set the value of the first of the n related records. What works however is the following:
Go to Related Record [Show only related records; From table: "B"; Using layout: "B_layout" (B)]
Loop
Set Field [B::Field; $Value]
Go To Record/Request/Page [Next; Exit after last]
End Loop
Go to Layout [original layout]
Is there a better way to accomplish this? I dislike the fact that in order to set some value (model) programmatically (controller), I have to create a layout (view) and switch to it, even though the user is not supposed to notice anything like a changing view.
FileMaker always was primarily an end-user tool, so all its scripts are more like macros that repeat user actions. It nowhere near as flexible as programmer-oriented environments. To go to another layout is, actually, a standard method to manipulate related values. You would have to do this anyway if you, say, want to duplicate a related record or print a report.
So:
Your script is quite good, except that you can use the Replace Field Contents script step. Also add Freeze Window script step in the beginning; it will prevent the screen from updating.
If you have a portal to the related table, you may loop over portal rows.
FileMaker plug-in API can execute SQL and there are some plug-ins that expose this functionality. So if you really want, this is also an option.
I myself would prefer the first variant.
Loop through a Portal of Related Records
Looping through a portal that has the related records and setting the field has a couple of advantages over either Replace or Go To Record, Set Field Loop.
You don't have to leave the layout. The portal can be hidden or place off screen if it isn't already on the layout.
You can do it transactionally. IE you can make sure that either all the records get edited or none of them do. This is important since in a multi-user networked solution, records may not always be editable. Neither replace or looping through the records without a portal is transaction safe.
Here is some info on FileMaker transactions.
You can loop through a portal using Go To Portal Row. Like so:
Go To Portal Row [First]
Loop
Set Field [B::Field; $Value]
Go To Portal Row [Next; Exit after last]
End Loop
It depends on what you're using the value for. If you need to hard wire a certain field, then it doesn't sound like you've got a very normalised data structure. The simplest way would be a calculation in TableB instead of a stored field, or if this is something that is stored, could it be a lookup field instead that is set on record creation?
What is the field in TableB being used for and how?