Understanding the INPUT ARRAY instruction
The INPUT ARRAY dialog controls a list of records than can be directly
edited.
INPUT ARRAY is designed to browse and modify a list of records, binding a static
or dynamic array model to a screen array
of the current displayed form.
An INPUT ARRAY instruction supports additional features,
built-in sort and search, multi-row selection and list modification triggers.
For a detailed description of these features,
see Table views.
Use the INPUT ARRAY instruction to let the end
user update, delete and create new records in a list,
after fetching a result set from the database. The result
set is produced with a database cursor executing a SELECT statement.
The SELECT SQL statement is usually completed
at runtime with a WHERE clause produced
from a CONSTRUCT dialog.
The INPUT ARRAY instruction associates a program array of records with a
screen-array defined in a form so that the user can update the list of
records. The INPUT ARRAY statement activates the current
form (the form that was most recently displayed or the form in the current
window).
An INPUT ARRAY will start with an empty list of rows, unless the WITHOUT DEFAULTS option is used.
Using WITHOUT DEFAULTS clause instructs the INPUT ARRAY dialog to
use the current data rows of the program array bound to the dialog. However, when creating a new row,
the field validation rules will apply like in a simple INPUT not using the
WITHOUT DEFAULTS option.
During the INPUT ARRAY execution, the user can edit or delete existing rows,
insert new rows, and move inside the list of records. The program controls the behavior of the
instruction with dialog control blocks such as
BEFORE DELETE, BEFORE INSERT, etc.
When the user clicks on an action view (button), or when an asynchronous event occurs, dialog interaction blocks like ON ACTION
are executed.
The code inside an INPUT ARRAY dialog can use control instructions, dialog control functions, and the ui.Dialog class, to implement
the dialog behavior.
To terminate the INPUT ARRAY execution, the user
can validate (or cancel) the dialog to commit (or invalidate)
the modifications made in the list of records.
When the statement completes execution, the program must test the int_flag variable to check if the dialog was validated (or
canceled) and then use INSERT, DELETE, or UPDATE
SQL statements to modify the appropriate database tables. The database can also be updated during
the execution of theINPUT ARRAY statement.