Grids are readOnly. How do I put text in them?

Grids are readOnly. How do I put text in them?

• gabriewo

  Hey Alex I should have said this before:)
  You can get better (if not the best) help at www.universalthread.com VFP forum (I hope MS doesn't get angry with me for I'm giving you that link - should not be because it's already in the product: Tools\Task Pane and select "Community" - and MS wants you to get help anyway). You'd be surprised seeing a large community that would 'die' to help you:)
  
  Your questions are flying really:) OK let's start with TextBox first. It has many properties but the ones you'd use often are few:
  
  .Controlsource  - If it's bound to data then this one is filled. ie: Employee.First_Name 
  ( If you do this in code then:
  .ControlSource = "Employee.First_Name"
  in other words in code don't forget the quotes).
  
  .Value - this is control's value at anytime. Yes you can write something there and read it back. However if it's bound to data and data is updated/refreshed what you've written would be overwritten. In other words:
  *Desing time you fill:
  ControlSource: employee.First_Name
  Value = Dummy
  When you run the form it grabs actual value from employee and writes it there. If instead:
  *Desing time you fill:
  ControlSource: nothing here, left empty
  Value = Dummy
  
  Your "Dummy" is its value till you change:) Being able to write there you can specify the datatype of a Textbox when it has no controlsource assigned. ie:
  *Desing time you fill:
  ControlSource: nothing here, left empty
  Value: {}
  Causes textbox to accept date. This is like:
  
  @ 1,1 get m.SomeVar ...
  
  but you don't need m.SomeVar since you have something like thisform.Text1 instead.
  
  Grids:) I love them. Grids like to snap to a source and if you don't specify one it'd build itself with the cursor it finds first. There is something special about grids and that's hierachy. Grid-Column-Textbox (and header). If you assign controlsource at column level (or readonly, enabled ...) then those properties propagate to its textbox. In other words set them at column level. Setting at textbox level needs Bound= .f. and IMHO is an advanced management. You might go nuts easily at first.
  
  Well why can't you enter anything. Check grid's hierachy:
  Is Grid.ReadOnly = .t.
  Is Column.ReadOnly .t.
  Both are likely not ReadOnly if you didn't explcitly set.
  Is table itself readonly
  Is it a table or a cursor Select SQL cursors are readonly by default (unless you didn't include readwrite clause).
  Is it a wizard generated form that put controls in disabled mode
  
  Anyway if you have a single working form with a grid, I think you could go faster:
  
  -Create a new form
  -Set datasession to 2 && Private - you'll like that you did in future
  -Right click and open dataenvironment
  -Add a table (for example customer from testdata.dbc)
  -RightClick on top of table you have in dataenvironment and drag it on to form surface (I prefer rightclick for the menu it shows when you drop)
  -Drop and select create a grid here.
  -Run the form
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• MyLady

  Thank you very much, Cetin.
  
  "To show the idea" is precisely what I need at this point!
  
  I will have to work with the code. At this moment it does not find the alias "myParent" so I will have to take care of it. It is very helpful.
  
  

• M.D.luffy

  We're getting somewhere:)
  They're newly created tables and have no rows. Well VFP doesn't automatically insert one for you. You need to do it yourself. In code you can do this:
  
  * Grid.when
  if eof(this.recordsource) && No records yet
   append blank
  endif
  
  But probably you wouldn't wnat to do it that way and use a simple insert instead.
  You might Set allowaddnew to .t. to enable downarrow (on last row) adding a new row.
  
  From within browse things are easier and Ctrl+Y adds new record.   
  
  
  

• Joshua_Ethan

  Wow! Ctrl+Y worked! it is a monumental step forward for me. A sign of life!
  
  Anyway, AllowAddNew did not do a thing, when the table was empty. Apparently it works only after you've added at least ONE record to the table because it involves the downward arrow.
  
  What it did when I used it on my first record, it duplicated the record # 1 and generated record # 2 as an exact copy of the first record. It did not append the table with an empty record.
  
  Well. It is a breakthrough and I will go from here.
  
  Many many thanks.
  
  

• Ken Wilson

  Cetin hi,
  
  Thank you for a comprehensive answer. I have to break it down to manageable parts.
  
  (1) Both grid.readOnly and column.readonly properties are at .F. which is default. I haven't touched them.
  
  (2) Tables: I created them not with the wizard since I needed my own fields. Honestly I do not understand how the readonly property can be set either way for tables. I reviewed table designer again and could not find an opportunity to tinker with it. It does not seem to be there.
  
  My tables are empty though. There are no records in them. In dBASE you have to append a table in a query if it is empty and then you can enter something in the fields but this is true for working out of a program only. If you have a UI like a grid it will do it for you automatically. If you try to enter something into a grid it will do the append and the textbox becomes accessible once you clicked on it.
  
  I will change the value property into Dummy. It makes sense.
  
  I will have to study the rest of your message a bit closer to implement it. Especially the part concerning the way you bind the source to the controls. I did drop my tables onto the form but they did not seem to stay there and they appeared in a separate container which I did not quite understand.
  
  I have to think about it more.
  
  Thank you very much.
  
  

• JStalnaker

  Alex,
  If it doesn't work then probably there is a parent-child relationship (my second might be pointing to it). In that case you need some more code:
  
  ----------------------------
  * Grid.when
  If reccount('myParent')=0
   Insert into myParent (PrimaryKey) VALUES (1) && assuming PrimaryKey is integer
  EndIf
  If !Seek(myParent.PrimaryKey,'mySecond','ForeignKeyTag')
   Insert into mySecond ('ForeignKey') values (myParent.PrimaryKey)
   thisform.refresh
  EndIf
  -------------------------------
  Code is there to only show the idea. In real life you wouldn't write such a hardcoded thing (on the long run check Grid's LinkMaster, ChildOrder, RelationalExpr properties). For the time being this works.
  For primarykey it'd be a surrogate key created by 'default' of the field and I wouldn't suggest to use an integer key. GUID is the way to go IMHO. However majority use integer keys (like SQL server identity) and you might do too. If you have a natural key for sure then use it.
  Who am I talking to, you already come from another xBase language. Anyway I didn't want to misguide you to think I cheer up integer keys usage personally:)
  
  

• catman123

  Sorry for a mistake. It should read: Grid-->column-->text.readOnly is .F.
  
  

• shhameed

  I am doing a further study and questions come up. In the Grid-->Column-->text control there is a value property which I would expect to be a container for the text you entered.
  
  It is surprising that the designer allows a string to be assigned to it at DESIGN time!!! I entered an odd string into the window for "text1.value" and at runtime it is nowhere to be seen. What is the meaning of it I expect it to be the value of the corresponging (nRow, nCol) cell. It has no meaning at design time in my opinion. Am I making sense
  
  

• dodo.net

  I just checked. The table fields are bound to controls at column level in the grids as you suggested: column1.ControlSource = "tcp_ip.abbrev" where "tcp_ip" is the table name in the database and "abbrev" is the first field of the table.
  
  

• Amit Bhave

  Well, they are TABLES, not cursors, it's for sure. When I try to open them separately from the form by rightclicking on them  and choosing browse they are READONLY as well. I cannot put anything in them.
  
  Is there a GLOBAL switch somewhere that is responsible for it I have no problem appending by dBASE tables though every session and I use them daily.
  
  

• Melle Dorel

  * Grid.when
  if eof(this.recordsource) && No records yet
   append blank
  endif
  
  For some reason it does not work. I just implemented this procedure for my second grid. It is still empty. This code did not append any record. At least not the way I could see. The first row is still read only.
  
  
• Grids are readOnly. How do I put text in them?