Tutorial Chapter 10: Multiple Dialogs

This chapter shows how to implement order and items input in a DIALOG statement. The code makes both order and item input fields active at the same time.

The example discussed in this chapter is designed for the input of order information (headers and order lines), illustrating a typical master-detail relationship. The form used by the example contains fields from both the orders and items tables in the custdemo database. In this program the end user can input order and items data simultaneously, because the form is driven by a DIALOG instruction.

The DIALOG instruction body can define INPUT, CONSTRUCT, DISPLAY ARRAY and INPUT ARRAY sub-dialogs blocks. All the form fields controlled by these sub-dialogs will be active at the same time.

When the program starts, the existing rows from the orders and items tables have already been retrieved and are displayed on the form. The user can browse through the orders and items to update or delete them, add new orders or items, and search for specific orders by entering criteria in the form.

Figure: Master-Detail form

This figure is a screenshot of a Master/Detail form showing data from the orders and items tables in the custdemo database.

There are different ways to implement a Master/Detail form with multiple dialogs. This chapter shows one of them. Genero provides the basics bricks, then it's up to you to adapt the programming pattern, according to the ergonomics you want to expose to the end user.

Customer selection and stock item selection are displayed as popup windows:

Figure: Customer list form

This figure is a screenshot of a customer list form showing data from the customer table in the custdemo database.
Figure: Stock list form

This figure is a screenshot of a stock item list form showing data from the stock table in the custdemo database.