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User defineable editing forms

[This topic is migrated from our old forums. The original author name has been removed]

I can see lots of situations where it would be useful to have a form-based one-record-at-a-time view onto a database. This would enable the results of "select * from customers" to be presented one record at a time and formatted in a more congenial way for editing by emulating (somewhat) a paper form. It relies on being to place elements of the present form editing view. Could I accomplish this using the plugin framework?

[This reply is migrated from our old forums.]

Re: User defineable editing forms
Ed, I thought by reading the first part of your post that the current Form view/editing feature would be the solution. But at the end it seem you are looking for something else. Can you please share more details? Regards Roger
[This reply is migrated from our old forums. The original author name has been removed]

Re: User defineable editing forms
Again, it is orienting DbV for use by end users for doing simple database maintenance. There might be a customer database which would be displayed as on a paper form, address details in a block, other contact details to the side of those, recent orders below those etc. The idea is to display editable records in a form-oriented view rather than in a grid or as a simple list as at present. This would enable simple database maintenance without resorting to an extra front-end. On a simple minded view what this requires is (say) defining a 4 or 5 column grid for displaying records. Associate each database field with a (row,col) position and the rest is mere detail :-) Obviously there are complications like scroll bars and having a (row, rowspan, col, colspan) would provide greater freedom but that is now starting to get really complicated. I am aware while writing this that this is severe mission creep for DbV but as a layout addition to the plugin framework might provide flexibility at relatively little cost. Does any of this make sense? Ed
[This reply is migrated from our old forums.]

Re: User defineable editing forms
Ed, It definitely make sense even though what you are asking for is probably more related to a dedicated CRUD tool. It is probably quite easy adding the multi column viewing support but it will soon generate followup requests such as being able to assign SQL to a field in which a list of matching entries should be displayed, the user should then be able to pick one value, if the value is
[This reply is migrated from our old forums. The original author name has been removed]

Re: User defineable editing forms
Oh I agree, BUT, if the API were changed to add a callback of "here is a database row, you display it how you wish" this could be displayed with or without editing, and if edited there is an API routine to accept a row for insertion in the database, thus it becomes an end user problem. Your responsibiltity is limited to handing off the row, providing basic text editing routines and accepting the row back again. Just an idea.