NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #30/NN_1992_30.iso/spool/comp/database/oracle/2525

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-16 | 2.8 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!cleveland.Freenet.Edu!cc312
From: [e-mail] (Jennifer R. Amon)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.oracle
Subject: Re: Forms 3.0 - How do YOU do this?
Date: 16 Dec 1992 14:46:14 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Lines: 54
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Jennifer R. Amon)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, [e-mail] (ME) says:

>I'm once again faced with a forms change which is always a pain:
>
>Project : The users should not be able to modify (without some special
>          action on their part) field_b in block_1 when field_a is
>          non-null.
>
>This boils down to "don't let them do it by default, but give them a way
>around the default."
>
>In the past, I've set some global when they attempt to make the change, and
>then I reset it to something else if they press commit in response to a
>"do you really want to do this?" prompt. Then I reset it again after the
>commit.
>
>It works, but it's always a real trick keeping track of and properly
>resetting the global variable.
>
>Does anybody have a better way to do this?
>
I obviously did not explain the problem well, because I have gotten
several responses about using the set_field('block.field',UPDATEABLE),
etc. I am already using set_field.

My problem is that I must wait until the user tries to make a change,
I must then prompt the user, e.g. "Do you really want to change this?"
Then I must accept a YES/NO answer and act accordingly.

In the past I have set a global variable, prompted the user, and
then used COMMIT to mean YES, and EXIT/CANCEL to mean NO. This works,
but the handling of the COMMIT and EXIT/CANCEL key triggers gets
to be quite complicated when there are several of these "prompt the user"
spots in the form.

The question is, does anybody else do this some other way that is less
messy?

Thanks to all who answered with the set_field information.

[e-mail]
_____________________________________________________________________
Jennifer R. Amon     FREENET: [e-mail]
Oberlin College      FREENET: [e-mail]
Oberlin, OH 44074   *INTERNET: [e-mail]
PH: [phone]   BITNET: [e-mail]
FAX: [phone]  *use the internet address if possible
_____________________________________________________________________
--
Jennifer R. Amon       FREENET: [e-mail]
Analyst/Programmer     FREENET: [e-mail]
Oberlin College       INTERNET: [e-mail]
Oberlin, OH 44074       BITNET: [e-mail]