Oracle Forms and formatting with Display Items
Kim Simons
I am a new user to Developer 2000 - Oracle Forms. I am trying to create
a form that just displays data from the database. I would like to use
the Display Item type for the items, but I need to be able to format the
items in a specific way differently than they are stored in the
database. I tried using the Text Item, but I don't like how it makes
the user think he/she can type in that field. Does anyone have any
ideas how I can do this?
Any help would be appreciated.
Kim Simons
Ricardo Patrocínio
If You Use a text Item and put the Insert_Allowed, Update_Allowed and
Delete_Allowed To False You Will get the same results as if it was an
display item (even better, because they stay navigable).
Kim Simons
Ricardo Patrocínio wrote:
>
> If You Use a text Item and put the Insert_Allowed, Update_Allowed and
> Delete_Allowed To False You Will get the same results as if it was an
> display item (even better, because they stay navigable).
Thanks for responding to my first question. I have tried what you said
but I don't want the field to be navigable. I don't want to give the
user the impression that he/she can update it. If you the navigable
field to False, the user can still use the mouse to click into that
area. The other problem is that I may need to intercept the values
coming out of the database and change what is displayed to the user,
like displaying a "blank" instead of a "0". I think when I tried this I
got an error because the field could not be updated. Any more
suggestions? Do you know how to supplement the Select statement to put
in the function TO_CHAR() to do the formatting but to leave the rest of
the "Selecting" up to Oracle Forms?
Thanks,
Kim
Michael Krolewski
Sounds like you want a non-database field. There is a property to determine
if the object is a base table object or not. If marked false, the database
is by definition never updated with this information. You can use a
post-query trigger on a database block as the point in time when you
populate the non-database fields.
Another thing to do is to change the background of the box -- make it the
same as the form background and/or remove any borders from the field. Again,
it makes the field (which obviously is still there) look less there.
If you want to eventually update the database field -- you can use other
triggers (PRE-INSERT, PRE-UPDATE) to retrieve the values from the
non-database fields and populate the cooresponding database field. If you do
not want the database field to be display -- remove the canvas or mark the
field as not displayed.
Mike Krolewski
Manolo's
This is quite easy...
You must set the display width long enough to show the date format you
want.
EA: If you want to show a format like
DD-MM-YYYY
you must set the width to 10 .
Kim Simons <kim.s...@lmco.com> escribió en artículo
<35506B...@lmco.com>...
Ricardo Patrocínio
I Beleave you don't have muth of a choise if you wuant to alter the
field.
Well I'll give you some tips:
1.)I don't know if your filed, as a text item looks diferent from it, if
it was a display item. I think it shoud look diferen, so the user woud
know
what is an insertable field and what isn't.
1.2) If You make the text field just like the if it was a display item,
i.e. you take off the bevel, make it tansparent, etc., put it navigable,
insertable, updatable, deletable, quariable to false, i think it whill
be acetable, of corse you still have the problem with the mouse, but, 1º
The user have to go ther with the mouse, 2º he do not know he can go
ther because the item has the look of an display item, 3º and if he goes
there, it won't matter, because he can't do nothing.
2.) To Change the value of a item it can't be a display item, so forget
it.
2.1.) What you can do is:
2.1.1.) Make the item a text item, and when you want to change the value
of the item you make it updatable, change the value of the item and make
it unupdatable agan (use set_item_property), but this isn't a good idia,
because you actualy are changing the value of the field in the database,
and i think you don't want that, so
2.1.2.) Create to items (one base table, and the other not), it do not
matter if they are text items or display items.
Put Them Both in the same position,
If The Value In The Base Table Item Is != From 0 Then Shou It (make it
visible)
If It is not Show the Other One, that is blank and whill cover the 1º
one.
To Do This Use the
Set_Item_Property(...,Dispalyed,Property_False/Property_True),
About to To_Char() and Select Problem, I Didn't Understand It, Try to Be
more Explicite.
By :-)
R.P.
ste...@zimmer.csufresno.edu
In article <35506B...@lmco.com>,
Kim Simons <kim.s...@lmco.com> wrote:
> I am a new user to Developer 2000 - Oracle Forms. I am trying to
> create a form that just displays data from the database. I would
> like to use the Display Item type for the items, but I need to be
> able to format the items in a specific way differently than they are
> stored in the database. I tried using the Text Item, but I don't
> like how it makes the user think he/she can type in that field.
> Does anyone have any ideas how I can do this?
Because the "Display Item" Item Type does not allow a format mask, and
for other reasons, we do not use them. Instead, we use "Text Item"
everywhere. Just set the following properties to False on the
display-only items: Navigable, Insert Allowed and Update Allowed
You can also change the background color of the display-only items, so
the user doesn't get confused between these and the updateable
items. We use a property class named DISPLAYITEM in our forms to set
this, and all works well.
Users can still click the mouse on the display-only items, placing the
cursor there, but we like this feature. It allows them to "point to"
the field while they are working with the item. It helps them to
focus on the field.
If you want to do more than include a format mask on the display-only
item (as you say later in this thread), you can do this: Make the
base-table item a non-display item, and create a non-base-table item
in a control block that you use to display the contents. In a
post-query trigger (or somewhere else in your display processing),
provide the logic to copy the value from the hidden item to your
displayed item.
Regards,
Steve Cosner
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Javier Rojas
Try this:
-keyboard navigable = FALSE
-create a PRE-TEXT-ITEM trigger with this line of code RAISE
FORM_TRIGGER_FAILURE.
Javier Rojas.
Kim Simons wrote:
> I am a new user to Developer 2000 - Oracle Forms. I am trying to create
> a form that just displays data from the database. I would like to use
> the Display Item type for the items, but I need to be able to format the
> items in a specific way differently than they are stored in the
> database. I tried using the Text Item, but I don't like how it makes
> the user think he/she can type in that field. Does anyone have any
> ideas how I can do this?
>
Steve Cosner
> I am a new user to Developer 2000 - Oracle Forms. I am trying to
> create a form that just displays data from the database. I would
> like to use the Display Item type for the items, but I need to be
> able to format the items in a specific way differently than they are
> stored in the database. I tried using the Text Item, but I don't
> like how it makes the user think he/she can type in that field.
> Does anyone have any ideas how I can do this?
Because the "Display Item" Item Type does not allow a format mask, and