V6 : Multi reference presentation in a form

softserv

Hi everyone,

I have a scenario and need your expert advice, if there is any way to do so via config tool...

There are 3 objects.. Object 1, Object 2 and Object 3.

Object 2 and Object 3 are related to each other in 1:many relationship. Object 2 is parent and Object 3 is its child. Object 2 has only one 'Main' form where Object 3 is represented as 'Table of Items' in it.
Object 1 and Object 2 are related to each other in 1:1 relationship. Object 1 is parent and Object 2 is its child. Object 1 has many tabs, one of them is for Object 2. We have a client requirement to represent Object 2 as a 'Form' and not in any other format like 'Table of Items', 'Checklist' etc. We have been able to achieve it. But when we click on 'Object 2' tab within Object 1 'Main' form, the 'Object 3' reference attribute grid (mentioned in point #1 above ) does not display. I mean the grid field is not appearing.

Please let us know if there is a way to display 'Object 3' reference attribute grid as needed above via config tool or any other means.

Thanks in advance!!

pureist

In order to understand where you're at more precisely..

How have you been able to display O2 as a form in the tab of O1? Have you used a 'Custom View' (even though this option is only available with the 1:many relationship option setting, though you could use it and work around/manage the 1:1 requirement)?
I assume you want to display the grid of O3 in the same tab of the O1 form in which O2 is displayed. Correct?
If so you could just have a second attribute in O2 for O3, which will be inherently maintained when the first attribute is updated/the attribute in O3 for O2 is updated.
Then you could add this second attribute in O2 for O3 to the O1 form tab as a grid with expanding rows, which when expanded display the instances of O3 owned by O2.
Another way would be to have an attribute in O1 for O3, and set the Filter for the display options to be equal to O2.

softserv

Hi pureist,

To answer your questions.

How have you been able to display O2 as a form in the tab of O1? Yes, these are in 1:1 relationship.
Have you used a 'Custom View' (even though this option is only available with the 1:many relationship option setting, though you could use it and work around/manage the 1:1 requirement)? No, there is no custom view.
I assume you want to display the grid of O3 in the same tab of the O1 form in which O2 is displayed. Correct? Yes, that is correct. We need O3 also to be displayed within O2 tab appearing in O1 object's form.

I am not able to understand your statement "which will be inherently maintained when the first attribute is updated/the attribute in O3 for O2 is updated. Then you could add this second attribute in O2 for O3 to the O1 form tab as a grid with expanding rows, which when expanded display the instances of O3 owned by O2.".

Please share some more light on this one.

Thanks,
SoftServ team

pureist

I can maybe shed more light, if you answer all my questions,

Question 1. part A was "How have you been able to display O2 as a form in a tab of the form of O1", but your answer does not answer this question.

The only display options if 1:1 relationship are list types, so how have you been able to achieve "We have a client requirement to represent Object 2 as a 'Form' and not in any other format like 'Table of Items', 'Checklist' etc. We have been able to achieve it.".

customaware

Manoj / Jain,

If I understand you correctly...

Imagine you were editing the form of Object 2. Generally you would have the normal text and numeric attributes on the form and then under that you would most likely have a Table Of Items which
showed the Multiple Reference of Object 3.

No what you want to do is basically display that exactly like it is in it's native for, but on a Tab in Object 1. Is that correct.

If so, I have tried many times to do that in V6 and V7. Failed every time.

I have sometimes been able to skirt around it a bit depending on the EXACT circumstance by using a Custom Query in a form in conjunction with shortcuts.

johntalbott

Given the 1:1 relationship between O1 and O2, do you really need two objects?

Meaning .. is there a reason to not have all of the O1 and O2 attributes, merged into O1?

softserv

Firstly, thanks @[deleted], @eagles9999, @[deleted] for your response/queries.

@[deleted] - We have been able to achieve it by doing the following things in config tool. Mind you, that these changes are allowed/working in my bsv/config tool but not in one of my associates'. It is quite strange though, as both of us are on Build 2042.

Steps:-

In O1 object, double click on O2 reference attribute from within 'Attributes' section-->Click on 'Presentation'-->Select Display as = 'Table of items'-->Allow inline editing as 'Yes'-->Select Display method = 'Use Form'-->Click on 'Display' button-->O2 Object and its Main Form/Section should be pre-populated.

When my associate clicks on Display method = Use Form and publishes bsv, he gets an integrity error message saying 'pointing to null object....'

@eagles9999 - Yes your understanding is correct. This is exactly what we are looking for but the O3 reference attribute field itself does not get displayed in O2 tab within O1 Form. Maybe it is due to multiple relationship with O2. Could it be a defect in V6 or is there really a way to do so?

@[deleted] - Your question is valid. There was no need to have separate objects if they are in 1:1 relationship. The only reason that we had to do so was that O1 had close to 200 attributes and their respective rules/processes, which made the application very slow when this object was created/edited.

I hope I am making sense here. Eagerly awaiting for a resolution !!

Thanks,
SoftServ team

pureist

In terms of a work-around I think you can still achieve something acceptable in terms of:

presenting the attributes of O2 as a form type layout in a tab of O1
....(but depending on how "cleanly" you want O2 displayed as a form, you might not be able to edit attribute values of the 'form' directly. you might have to settle for a popup to edit them)
presenting the multiple instances of O3 which belong to O2 as a grid in the same tab as 1. above

The most straight forward work-around seem to be:

make O2 a grid but with no panel heading or column headings, so only the bare-boned O2 instance is shown
and only show one attribute to keep the interface clean (maybe just its ID? or even an attribute which is blank)
enable "Select first record" which will also expand the row of the O2 instance
don't enable "Highlight selected row" (in 'Other settings' via "More" button) so as to keep the interface clean
set the "When row is expanded" option settings to show the results of the operation: Edit Object
the form of O2 (with O3 grid) will be automatically displayed in the grid row

If having the single bare-boned grid row in the tab is unacceptable, then the only other option is to use a Custom Query, though you might have to give up editing attribute values directly.

tford

Not sure if this will work for you, but perhaps a bit of a different paradigm my work.

If you look at your tools when editing each instance of O1 as an entire VP instead of just the forms of O1, you have much more flexibility. Using this paradigm, you can have multiple tabs that all relate to the same instance of O1 but displaying it as needed in each VP tab or VP panel within tab.

Since I don't know how you are selecting your instances of O1 to be edited, it's hard to develop the idea much further. When selecting an instance of O1 to edit, you would likely need to store O1's ID in LoggedInRegularUser, then display or refresh the VP that is designed to edit O1 instances. This approach would likely also require the careful use of Auto Refresh as well.

I use an approach something like this to display a very complicated scheduling screen to users. In this case, it does not involve multiple tabs, but it has multiple forms and some queries without column headings or operations that all appear to be seamlessly related from the users point of view. They are really coming from a variety of places and controlled by LoggedInRegularUser info and auto refresh.

Jaymer

Tom
Thats an interesting paradigm shift... sounds kinda neat. Not trying to hijack this thread, but I just posted a hypothetical about a lot of fields (200+ as well). Using your strategy of multiple VP tabs/panels to look at different sections/views of that large record is interesting. I may have to get with you for more info if I push forward with this large data warehouse project.
Jaymer...

softserv

Thanks again guys...

@[deleted] - Are you talking about V7 here? We are on V6. I see what you mentioned being available in V7 and not in V6.

@[deleted] - We tried that approach too earlier, but it was making the UI heavy as there are multiple other modules like O1.

Thanks,
SoftServ team