Accessing Related Forms

Introduction

When an imported column appears in a given form, the user can move from that column to a target form (generally the form which is derived from the join table). In this way, the user can gain easy and rapid access to the target form without having to use the menus.

The Target Form

The target form must meet two conditions:

• it must be a root form (have no upper-level form of its own).
• its base table must include the column from which the user originated.

The move from an imported column to a target form is automatic whenever the target form and its base table share the same name (the form’s title is irrelevant). As only one form in the entire application meets that condition (form names are unique), that form is considered the default target form. However, you may also wish to designate a target form manually. Generally, this is the case when several application forms share the same base table. Obviously, only one of those forms have the same name as that table. Therefore, if you wish the user to access a different form, you have to do one of the following:

• make the form in question the main target (record M in the Zoom/International column of the Form Generator form); it can be reached from any form in the application;
• make it an application target (record Z in the same column); it will only be reached from forms having the same application code; or
• make it a specific target form for a single form column (in the Target Form Name column of the Form Column Extension form); this will only affect the move from the column in question.

All manually designated targets always override the default target form. The target form designated for a specific column overrides all other target forms. The application target always overrides the main target.

Note: To disable automatic access from a given column, specify the NULL form as the target form in the Form Column Extension form.

Sometimes the table column name in the target form differs from the table column name in the current form. In such a case, the names of both columns must be entered into the ZOOMCOLUMNS table, so as to indicate which column in the target form is equivalent to the current one.

Example: The LOADLOCATIONSMIG form includes the SONPARTNAME column, for which the LOGPART form is specified as the target form. In order for the correct record to be retrieved when entering LOGPART, the following is recorded in the Target Zoom Columns (ZOOMCOLUMNS) form: Source Column = SONPARTNAME; Target Column = PARTNAME.

Dynamic Access

Sometimes you want the target form to vary, based on the data displayed in a given record. For example, in the Audit Trail form (LOGFILE), the target form of the LOGDOCNO column (Doc/Invoice Number) is the relevant document (DOCUMENT_D, DOCUMENTS_N, AINVOICES, etc.).

This is achieved by defining a special hidden form column, ZOOM1, as well as specifying ZOOM1 as the target form in the Form Column Extension sub-level form. This hidden form column holds the internal number (in the current example, EXEC) of the relevant form for each record. The DOCTYPES table has a special EXEC column that holds the internal number of the form for that document type. In the PRE-FORM trigger of the LOGFILE form, the variables that hold internal numbers of the relevant forms are initialized. In some cases the target form is the form defined in the DOCTYPES table; in other cases the target form is one of the variables initialized in the PRE-FORM trigger of the LOGFILE form.