Binding tables to arrays in dialogs

Program arrays act as data model that are bound to form tables, when implementing list dialogs.

Identifying list views in program dialogs

In list dialogs such as the INPUT ARRAY or DISPLAY ARRAY, the screen array identifies the record list element in the current form to be bound to the program array used by the dialog.

In this example, the INPUT ARRAY uses the custlist screen array of the form, and binds the custarr program ARRAY with:

INPUT ARRAY custarr FROM custlist.*

The screen array members are associated to the program array record members by position. The order and number of the screen array elements matter as they are bound by position to the members the program array. The position of the TABLE columns, however, can differ from the members of the screen array and program array.

To omit columns in the TABLE layout, yet include them in the definition of the screen array, and define the columns as PHANTOM fields in the form definition file. The program array can then be defined from the database table definition with the DEFINE LIKE instruction:

DEFINE custarr DYNAMIC ARRAY OF RECORD LIKE customer.*

Note that the array is usually defined with a flat list of members with

ARRAY OF RECORD /
END RECORD

. However, the array can be structured with sub-records and still be used with a list dialog. This is especially useful when you need to define arrays from database tables, and additional information needs to be managed at runtime (for example to hold image resource for each row, to be displayed with the IMAGECOLUMN attribute):

SCHEMA shop
DEFINE a_items DYNAMIC ARRAY OF RECORD
                   item_data RECORD LIKE items.*,
                   it_image STRING,
                   it_count INTEGER
               END RECORD
...
DISPLAY ARRAY a_items TO sr.*
   ...

Defining screen arrays in grid-based layout TABLES

When using a grid-based layout, the TABLE container is bound to a screen array defined in the INSTRUCTION section, by the name of the form fields used in the screen array definition.

The column data type and additional column properties are defined in the ATTRIBUTES section as form fields:

LAYOUT
...
TABLE
{
[c1    |c2     |c3              ]
[c1    |c2     |c3              ]
[c1    |c2     |c3              ]
[c1    |c2     |c3              ]
}
END
...

ATTRIBUTES
EDIT c1 = customer.cust_num;
EDIT c2 = customer.cust_name, 
EDIT c3 = customer.cust_cdate;
...

Each form field of the table must be grouped in the INSTRUCTIONS section in a

SCREEN
                RECORD

definition.

SCREEN RECORD custlist( cust_num, cust_name, cust_cdate );

Defining screen arrays in stack-based layout TABLES

When using a stack-based layout, the TABLE stack item gets an identifier, which defines the screen array to be used in programs:

LAYOUT
  STACK
    TABLE custlist (STYLE="regular")
       EDIT customer.cust_num;
       EDIT customer.cust_name, 
       EDIT customer.cust_cdate;
    END 
  END
END

This identifier is mandatory for TABLE stack items.