ui.Dialog.nextField

Registers the next field to go to.

Syntax

nextField(
   name STRING )

name is the form field name, see Identifying fields in ui.Dialog methods, or "+NEXT","+PREV", "+CURR", to specify respectively the next, previous and current field.

Usage

The nextField() method registers the name of the next field that must get the focus when control goes back to the dialog.

Like NEXT FIELD, the nextField() method is typically used in an editable dialog (INPUT, CONSTRUCT, INPUT ARRAY).

In a DISPLAY ARRAY using the FOCUSONFIELD attribute, nextField() can be used in conjunction with DIALOG.setCurrentRow(), to set the focus to a specific cell in the list.

The nextField() method is similar to the NEXT FIELD instruction, except that it does not implicitly break the program flow. To get the same behavior as NEXT FIELD, the method call must be followed by a CONTINUE DIALOG instruction, or an equivalent instruction such as CONTINUE INPUT, in case of singular dialog.

Since this method takes an expression as parameter, you can write generic code, when the name of the target field is not known at compile time. In the next example, the check_value() function returns a field name where the value does not satisfy the validation rules.

DEFINE fn STRING
...
ON ACTION save 
  IF ( fn:= check_values() ) IS NOT NULL THEN
    CALL DIALOG.nextField(fn)
    CONTINUE DIALOG
  END IF
  CALL save_data()
  ...

When specifying "+NEXT" as parameter, the dialog will register the field next to the current field (like NEXT FIELD NEXT). When passing "+PREV", the dialog will register the previous field (like NEXT FIELD PREVIOUS). When passing "+CURR", it is equivalent to a NEXT FIELD CURRENT instruction:

...
ON ACTION save 
  IF NOT valid_input() THEN
    CALL DIALOG.nextField("+CURR")
    CONTINUE DIALOG
  END IF
  CALL save_data()
  ...