Obviously I have a lot to learn everyone out there is teaching me!  I am trying to program a drop down list of a customer file so that when entering sale memos, po's etc. you can choose the customer name.  What I have so far (that doesn't work is)

populateListElement(cust lookup1,@xuserselect(@fn,"contacts!contacts"))

I thought I would take one step at a time........

Carl Underwood wrote on Nov 30^th, 2011 at 3:17am:


Carl,
Your post makes clear a point I'd like to make. It is often a good idea to use variables even in cases where you could (but probably shouldn't) nest functions. By using a intervening string variable, as you did, you can use writeln to see the value of the variable during development to make sure that each step of the procedure is running the way you want it too.

I don't think that this is going too far:

var vList as String
var vList2 as String
var vList3 as String

// Get all Contacts from Contacts form
vList = @XListValues(@Fn, "Contacts!Contacts")

// Initialize the Combo Box with unique sorted values
vList2 = @SortStringArray(vList, 0)
vList3 = @UniqueStringArray(vList2)
PopulateListElement(TransName, vList3)
 

It adds visual clarity to the code, and also makes it easier to debug. It may run a tiny bit slower, but can be easily optimized after you know that it is working.

And, as I've been saying since Sesame 1.0, never use a field/element when a variable will do. Variables are many times faster and safer than elements. Only use an element to get the value initially, or to write the final result back.

Lots of helpful info in this thread.

Debmckee, from The Cow's post, you might want to try the below code to find out if the 'xListValues command is working...

Quote:


Consider adding another 'write' or 'writeln' command to show what vList3 is doing, too.

The Cow wrote on Nov 30^th, 2011 at 4:53am:

Yes, I know.

Actually, I almost rearrainged it to avoid having you or Erika see it that way.
But, this happens to be the way it appears in one of my apps, so I just cut & pasted it that way.

BTW, I have found that it's 6 times faster to sort first, then run unique, rather than the other way around.

debmckee wrote on Nov 30^th, 2011 at 5:43pm:

By any chance, is "s:\pacific coast fruit products.db" the application you are already in? If so, you can just use @FN - which means 'use the current application' - instead of a full path, which can cause issues if you really want to be using the application you are already in.

When I entered the code to check the xlistvalues it just came up with "my lookup found: my look found.

So I assume that his means the fault lies in the xlistvalues.  I originally had @fn and switch to full path name just in case.  I have tried other fields.  Now, i don't know if this makes a difference, but it is the same application, contacts is the name of another database and the form within the database.  The element name  is le5.  The values in this field are results of a programmed command.  I did check the field and made sure that it has values in it.  Plus I tried other elements in case the fault was with the element itself.  Any other suggestions?

thanks!

1.  None of the fields are static.  LE5 is a field to store the data I want in the lookup which is the company name + their id no.  I checked for data by making sure that the data is in the preview file and the main file.  However, I am waiting for an appt. time for focused support on a few issues, one of which is the main application does not seem to close properly sometimes resulting in me having to unlock or even unload the file frequently.  I was just looking in the error log for a different issue and noticed that everytime I tried to run the above command I got an error msg of @fn failed to open.
Could they be related?

Debmckee,

This may not help solve the problem you are presently dealing with; however since people are talking about walking through your code I figured I would share a few basic sbasic commands the Lanticans have given us that make our lives a bit easier. (Just incase you are not making use of them already)

I like to use these Sbasic commands on a test button to help me identify I am using the correct info.  It gives you some insight when dealing with  Xlookups and stuff like that.

// utility for identifying information
Writeln("app is " + @application)
Writeln("db is " + @database)
Writeln("filename is " + @filename)
Writeln("layout is " + @layout)