Special Features
In comparison with the simpler Address Book example from the previous chapter, the SIMPOL Business application adds a number of new capabilities:
Switching forms and selecting a related record in the target table
Using preventfocusmode in an application to control user access to the data
Using the onsave event to do calculations when saving a record and to hide some buttons and enable others on the form
Using the onchangerecord event to detect entering data-entry mode to disable and show buttons on the form
Using the ondelete event to ensure that all the related detail records in ORDERDTL can be deleted before allowing the record in ORDERMST to be deleted
Adding, editing, and deleting records in a detail block
Using a Graphic Report for an invoice
Using a Quick Report as a sales report
Using a labels definition to output customer mailing labels, includig using a call to the new
choicelistdialog()
for the output destinationIntegrating record view, table view, form view, field selection lists, the filter GUI, and the Quick Report GUI
Getting the user to select a record using the new
drilldown()
functionUsing a serial number table to retrieve a unique serial number for reliability even in a network environment
Showing one value in a combo box list but assigning an alternate
Using the correct public data directory on modern Windows operating systems
All of these features are well-documented in the source code of the SIMPOL Business application. However we will still discuss a few of the more interesting features in the following sections.