I have a database with subform where individual subform records represent a document. I print those documents out to make a pdf file as needed. However, I do not always need to printout all the documents in the subform.  It would be nice if I could include a Boolean check mark in the subform but that is not to be in Sesame at the present time. Is there anyway I can select only a few records in the subform to be printed?  Your help is always very much appreciated.

Is there a reason you can't include a field in the database used only for that?  When you select a record, have the code for the main record either set or clear that field in every subrecord or set/clear it based on some algorithm (e.g., "clear the field where the record was created more than 90 days ago and set it on records less than 91 days old).

That's similar to the practice of creating a "temp", "misc" or "junk" field intended as a temporary scratch pad, e.g., when running Mass Update, it stores the original field value in the "temp" field before running the update.  If something goes wrong, you just replace the updated field with the data in the temp field.

Thanks Rick and Steve. Thanks for your input. I am still not sure what way to go. Say if there are 25 records to choose from and five records needs to be selected. Using PromptUserInput ( ) one will have to write the record (line) numbers.  Say I want to print 19 records out of 25, it will be tedious to do that. With PopUpMenu  ) and similar commands, one can only choose a single record.

There has to be an easier way!

You can use an unbound field with a bit of programming in it to detect if the user has selected a particular row, then store that row's number (or ID or such) in a variable - array, string, or string array. If you wish, you can use the on draw event to draw a checkmark or whatever you prefer on that cell to indicate selection/deselection. Remove any elements from the array, if deselected. If you have more actions than print/not print, you can cause a popup selection menu to appear somewhere near the cell, allowing the user to add that row to one array (list) or another. On the parent form, provide command buttons that go through the list, performing the selected action.

If you think using variables instead of fields on a form, the possibilities are nearly endless.

Bharat,

I agree with you and Rick. My procedure works well when only a few sub-records exist, or when 'all' sub-records are usually printed.

Mark's suggestion is very intriguing. Looking forward to learning more about OnDraw events. (Lately, our users have been requesting command buttons on each line. Perhaps this will help to accomplish that.)

Steve

Bharat_Naik wrote on May 23^rd, 2011 at 4:06pm:


Have the unbound simply be used to select the row to print in the one instance. Have any other routines that do the print all call the same subroutine, filling in the list automatically (if user selection is not needed in that instance). That way all of the routines that do this call the same subroutine and you only have to maintain one bit of source.

Bharat_Naik wrote on May 23^rd, 2011 at 4:38pm:


A checkbox is simply a visual representation of a data, it is not the data itself. If you feel that having 1s and 0s or Xs and Os, isn't clear enough, you can use the On Draw event to draw the cell any way you want. Have the on draw event check the array. If that row is included, draw a check, if not - draw a filled blank. It is even possible to set the font for a column and draw an extended ascii (code page) check mark, by setting the font to one that includes a check mark (wingdings, for example). If you wish, you could even use a bound element and set the value to the ascii code.

Acebanner wrote on May 23^rd, 2011 at 8:47pm:


Sorry, no sample, I have Sesame 3 work a-plenty. But, there is no need to use ClientLocalValue unless you want to pass the variable around from form to form, and even then I'd recommend that you only use the ClientLocalValue after the string is complete. A simple string, array, or string array will do the trick.

When the user clicks in the row (maybe in a field for that purpose), run through the string to see if that row's ID is already in the array/string, if not - add it and set the indicator field to true, if so - remove it and set the indicator to false. Provide a button on the parent that runs through the string/array and prints (or whatever) each of the table rows based on the listed IDs. Again, the key to this approach is using variables, since the selection does not need to retained. Unless data has to be retained, variables should be used - not fields or more elaborate storage.