Progress
AppBuilder
Developer’s Guide
Selecting Database Fields for Browsing
When you create a query associated with a Browse, Query Builder makes an additional dialog box available to you: the Column Editor. Using the Column Editor, you can choose fields to be displayed by the browser object, impose an ordering, and define other display characteristics such as colors, formats, and so forth.
Query Builder provides access to the Column Editor through the Fields button. This button appears at the right of the Database combo-box field, as shown in Figure 4–12.
Figure 4–12: Column Editor Button in Query Builder
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Because columns are defined only in relationship to a table, this option is disabled until you have selected at least one table in Query Builder. When you choose this button, the Column Editor dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 4–13.
Figure 4–13: Column Editor Dialog Box
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Initially, the Fields list is empty apart from the notice reassuring you that the empty state is normal.
To select fields (columns) and define the conditions for their display, follow these steps:
- Choose the Add button. The Multi-Field Selector dialog box opens:
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Choose the fields you wish to display and move them to the Selected list. You can move them by double-clicking, or by selecting them and choosing Add. Hold down the CTRL key to select more than one field at a time. Use the Move Up/Move Down buttons to reorder the list. When finished, choose OK.
- If you wish to create and display calculated fields, choose the Calculated Field button. The Calculated Field Editor dialog box opens:
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Calculated fields are fields whose content does not come directly from the database. The content of a calculated field represents the result of some transforming expression applied to the content of one or more other fields, which can themselves be calculated fields. For information about how to use this dialog box to create calculated fields, see "Creating Calculated Fields" in this chapter.
- Set the Enable check box for each updatable field. If you wish to enable or disable all fields at once, choose the appropriate button. When you select a field that is enabled for update, you can set additional characteristics:
- Disable Autozap — By default, a field is cleared when the user begins typing into it. This characteristic is called autozapping. Set this check box to disable such automatic clearing of the current field.
- Column Read-only — Set this check box to temporarily disable update on the field (column). Fields must be enabled at design time if they are to be enabled at all; you cannot first enable them under program control.
- Auto-Return — Automatically moves the input focus to the next field when this field is full. If this field is the last field, having Auto-Return set causes a GO event to be generated.
- Clear the Visible check box for any field that is not to be seen at initialization. Fields are Visible by default.
- Set the Auto-Resize check box if you want the field to be able to change its size to agree with changes in certain run-time conditions, such as font size or text format.
- Set the font, colors, and string attributes for the data to be displayed in the column.
- Set the string value, font, and colors for the label that will appear at the top of the column.
- Set the format for the data to be displayed in the column. Choose the Format Help button to see the Format dialog box:
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- Set the Column Help string. If the parent window of the Browse has a status area defined, this string will appear there whenever a field in this column has the input focus. If the parent window has no status area defined, this string does not appear. If this field is left blank, the Browse displays a generic prompt.
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