ComboBox plugin functionality.

[longedge]

I'm sure the answer will be yes - but just confirm please that the ComboBox plugin allows you to restrict input to items in the list.

Secondly, is there a limit to the number of entries on the list that you can use. I'm doing a data collection app and have approx 115 discreet values in one field that I want users to choose from. I want to prevent free text input completely.

[Georges]

Hi,

I only just ordered the combobox as it clearly allows a more compact data presentation then a simple listbox. As far as seen from browsing the documentation You can set its properties to list (read only) or to edit (allows user data entry. There are some nice tips and tricks published on this forum (read worm's trick to keep the last selection of a combobox when reentering a page). cfr also a detailed survey by Desmond in his spotlight series

http://www.indigorose.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6770

Sincerely,

Georges

[longedge]

Thanks for that Georges - looks like it won't fit the bill for my purposes being limited to 100 lines :(

- oh well never mind I'll stick with my MSAccess solution (not nearly as pretty as I'd planned).

[Ted Sullivan]

The ComboBox object isn't limited to 100 lines. I believe Windows imposes a a 32000 item limit...

[longedge]

The ComboBox object isn't limited to 100 lines. I believe Windows imposes a a 32000 item limit...

I was looking at the online help Ted -

Lines to Display in Dropdown:
The maximum number of lines to display in the combobox dropdown. The dropdown will only expand to the number of current entries up to this maximum. This value must be a number between 0 and 100 (inclusive).

Is this incorrect? I have a specific need to display a drop down list which at the last count had 115 items in it.

Is it the case that whilst it expands to a max of 100, you can then scroll on past that limit?

[Ted Sullivan]

Exactly. That value is simply how many items you see in the drop-down at one time. Normally, this value is something like 5 or 10, depending on how many items you have in your combobox. It'll let them scroll after that. It's 100% the same as any standard Windows ComboBox control you've seen. It'll definitely do what you described.

[longedge]

Thanks for that Ted - Now purchased and installed

[Georges]

This is indeed a great forum. Two days ago I never even had heard of LUA and was struggling with listboxes and yesterday (after some help and tips on this forum) I wrote my first functions and found back the joy of programming. I first bought AMS because of its multimedia power and without writing a simple line of code was able to realise a CD project that looked so professional (a flash screen opens as splash screen and all that Jazz) that a pharma compagny has recently offered to by it ! (I am in medical software field).
Then I switched to a form generator program for a scientific application because that had strongly inbuild database features wich (I thought) would ease the analysis work. QUASKI. Nice tool. It worked well but as the project grew bigger (multi page stage and more controls and scripts) it became so "sloooow" (especially on our older corporate and clinic pentium II and even Pentium III) PC's that user's (including myself) found it unacceptable. Back to AMS only to discover a very powerfull language engine and really good power and speed. Moreover, the interfacing to a servertype database SQLLIte solves that "backstage" datacollection problem. I had previous experience with Acces and VB.Net but alll in all I do consider that the AMS is superior (certainly as to GUI), more professional and even so powerfull. I am confident that AMS will be the only tool I will need in the future and plan to delve deeper in LUA

And with a little help of these fine forum friends I am confident that rewriting my apllication will even be fun. ( I even fear addiction because I feel a strange urge to spend more and more time trying out functions, tables and being on this forum ..:-). Hope it will work for You to.

Sincerely,

Georges

[Corey]

Sweet. Yes, the sky's the limit in the Medical Software field using AMS for sure. For someone who comes up with lots of good ideas I would think that space would be very lucrative.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Georges]

A quick question.

I ordered the CD's to learn more about LUA and AMS but in the mean time have started writing already. Q: what is the best place or way of doing things about placing the functions. Place them all together ? Where would be the best place to keep them and add or edit them ?

Sincerely,

georges

[JimS]

A quick question.

Q: what is the best place or way of doing things about placing the functions. Place them all together ? Where would be the best place to keep them and add or edit them ?

Sincerely,

georges

If I understand your question correctly, you might want to use the Global Functions editor. Find it: Project > Global Functions

On a side note, check out this example of truely beautiful formatting of functions, this comes from one of the LUA scripts that is distributed with Setup Factory 7 beta.

--[[
************************************************** ********************************
Function: g_ConfirmFreeSpaceOverride
Purpose: Warns the user that there isn't enough space on the selected drive and
asks if they really want to continue with the installation.
Arguments: None.
Returns: (boolean) true if the user wants to continue or false if not
************************************************** ********************************
--]]
function g_ConfirmFreeSpaceOverride()
local strTitle = SetupData.GetLocalizedString("MSG_WARNING");
local strPrompt = SetupData.GetLocalizedString("MSG_NOT_ENOUGH_FREE_ SPACE")


end


(I shortened the actual program lines in the function)

Using those block comments (everything between --[[ and --]] ) is to my brain, a fantastic idea. The comments include everything you need to remember about how and why to use that particular function. This is so important when you are trying to keep several functions straight. It’s also handy if you have to come back to it after a long time, or if someone else needs to use or edit that particular function code.

Looks like I learned a new ‘best practice’ for AMS by checking out Setup Factory 7 beta.

Hope that helps.

[Georges]

If I understand your question correctly, you might want to use the Global Functions editor. Find it: Project > Global Functions

Using those block comments (everything between --[[ and --]] ) is to my brain, a fantastic idea. The comments include everything you need to remember about how and why to use that particular function. This is so important when you are trying to keep several functions straight. It’s also handy if you have to come back to it after a long time, or if someone else needs to use or edit that particular function code.

Looks like I learned a new ‘best practice’ for AMS by checking out Setup Factory 7 beta.

Hope that helps.

Jim,

Thanx for the good tips. Documentation of code is indeed vital. In a former life I was an assembly programmer using a lot of selfmodifying code (Eproms were still expensive). When not throughly documented the time span that one had to start head scratching about figuring out what your own code was really doing and how .., was between 3-6 month ! The documentation in LUA is great. Thans for pointing that out.

Sincerely,

Georges

[Intrigued]

(I am in medical software field).

Careful now... you may end up creating an application to replace MediSoft! Talk about bragging rights if/when that would take off for you! (grin)

Sincerely,

[longedge]

Just an additional thought here after installing the plug in.

Would it be feasible as part of the plugin installation to amend the ams helpfiles to also include the help for the plugin. I've saved the 'online help' html out into my program docs but it would be nice to have it in the main help section.