Radio Buttons and Checkboxes are available only for Flag Type Data. After clicking the Format button, a dialogue opens so that label options can be selected. The labels can be either standard (Yes/No; Y/N; True/False; T/F; or 1/0 ) or ‘Custom’ in which the designer designates label names.
When “Enter custom labels only” is selected, the database designer allows the user to select a Radio Button or Checkbox by typing the first letter of the label.
When the option is not selected, the user can type a Y, T, 1, or the first letter of the positive Custom label, or N, F, 0, or the first letter of the negative Custom label.
The Custom labels option for Checkboxes is for True only.
A Radio Button or Checkbox can always be selected with the mouse.
When the Checkbox option is selected, the data value entered depends upon the state of the Checkbox. A Checkbox is always undefined when a clear form is displayed unless the Field is defaulted. After a Checkbox is selected, it can be changed to “Undefined” by backspacing in the Data rectangle.
• Selected=Yes
• Deselected=No
• Grayed=Undefined
• Is there any way I can change the format of a Field from form to form?
Absolutely. The display and/or entry formats of a Field can be defined or overridden from the Data rectangle on the Template. This ability allows the freedom to display and enter data in different ways from form to form. This does not change the actual format(s) of the Field. The formats remain as originally defined, or not defined, when the Icon was opened in the Relation window.
For example: A Flag Field is formatted as Standard entry when the Field icon was opened in the Relation window. When placed on the Entry Form Template, the Data rectangle was opened and the entry format changed to Radio Buttons. When this same Flag field is placed on a second Template, the entry format will default to the Icon format, “Standard” in this case, unless it is changed again.
• What’s the difference between a Static Popup and a Dynamic Popup?
With a Static Popup, the database designer creates a list of acceptable input choices. He may allow data to be typed into the Field rather than selecting from the Popup, but the list never changes unless the designer goes into Full Mode and adds or deletes items.
Dynamic Popups allow the designer to create menus whose contents are based upon up to five criteria: Relation, Query, Index, Menu Value, and Data Value; or as few as two: Relation and Data Value. This is similar to selecting queries and indices to control the data and order on lists. Because these menus are based upon actual data within the database, their items are potentially, and probably, changing.
• If I have different formats for the Field, Abacus, and Data rectangle, what takes precedence?
The priority for this is as follows:
1) If a format is defined for the Data rectangle, that format takes precedence. If no format is specified for the Data rectangle,
2) the format defined for any Abacus in the Data rectangle takes precedence. If no format is specified for the Abacus or Data rectangle,
3) the format defined for any Field in the Data rectangle takes precedence. If no format is specified for the Field in the Data rectangle,
