Picklist Help Overview

VPM Enterprise Picklist Help lets users of your application display a list of valid entries for a field on a form. Users can display Picklist Help by placing the focus in a field and pressing the F2 key or by right-clicking on a field and selecting Picklist from a shortcut menu. If a combobox control is used, users can display the Help Picklist by expanding the combo box.

Users can select an entry for a field from the picklist. The selected entry is then entered into the field on the form. Data entry is the basic purpose of Picklist Help. As you read this chapter and the rest of the User’s Guide, you will find that VPM’s Picklist Help provides other useful functionality as well.

To set up Picklist Help for a field:

1.   Field Validation: A list of valid entries must exist. You either:

·       Referential Validation: Create a table, view or CursorAdapter of valid entries for the field and set up Referential validation using the valid entries as the Picklist Cursor, or

·       Set Validation: Use Set validation for the field and enter the valid entries for the field on the Data Builder’s Integrity page.

2.   Picklist Builder: If you use Referential validation, you access the Picklist Builder on the Data Builder’s Integrity page to specify the Picklist Cursor and to define the picklist.

3.   VPME Control: You place the field on a form using a control based on the VPM Enterprise Textbox_ or Combobox_ control class.

Tip – Table Means Table, View or CursorAdapter: A Referential validation Picklist Cursor can be a table, a view or a CursorAdapter. In the remainder of this chapter the term "Picklist table" means a Picklist table, view or CursorAdapter.

Tip – Referential Validation: See Referential Validation. When you set up Referential validation for a field, you have a great deal of control over the field’s Picklist Help and related functionality. You can even set up multiple picklist definitions for a field.

Tip – Set Validation: See Set Validation. With Set validation, VPME creates the Help Picklist when you use a VPME textbox control. If you use a VPME combobox control, you can choose the fields displayed in the combo box.

Textbox Control: If you place the field on a form using the VPME textbox control, the picklist is displayed in a grid on a separate form.

Combobox Control: If you place the field on a form using the VPME combobox control, the picklist is displayed in the combo box drop down list. However, you can still display the picklist grid. The VPME combo box picklist works much like Quicken or Quickbooks picklists.

Auto List: You can set up a field’s Picklist Help so that if the field fails validation, Picklist Help will automatically appear without the user needing to activate it.

Referential Validation Related Functionality

Descriptive Field Display: If a field’s Picklist Cursor has a descriptive field that you would like to display on a form in place of the field’s actual value, VPM Enterprise makes it easy to do that.

Adding or Editing Picklist table Records: You can set up a field’s Picklist Help so that when the field is being edited on a form, users can add to and edit records in the Picklist table.

SQL Find Form with Views and CursorAdapters: If the Picklist is a view or CursorAdapter, you can use the VPME SQL Find Form to limit the records displayed in the Picklist. This is a particularly useful feature when the Picklist table is a remote table in a client-server application.

More:

Picklist Help Textbox_ Example