Antonio: Requested xBrowse enhancement

[Colin Wisbey]

Antonio,

When editing a cell in xBrowse, I need the ability for UP and DOWN keys to complete the edit and move in the direction indicated. (i.e. instead of having to press RETURN first).

I've been using LKM's TCBrowse for many years and love his version but I'm looking at the benefits of "modernising" to xBrowse. Some years ago I made some fairly complicated changes to LKM's TCBrowse to provide the above UP / DOWN facility, including a "No follow" action if the edit was on a field in the current cdx tag.

e.g. Assume the data (indexed by Product) is:

PRODUCT PRICE
Blue Cap 5
Blue Coat 42
Blue Dress 33
Blue Trousers 70

- If you changed the Coat price then pressed DOWN, you would be on the Dress record.
- However, if instead you wanted to change all the "Blue"s to "Red" in all product descriptions, then after changing "Blue Cap" to "Red Cap" and then pressing DOWN (without pressing RETURN), you would want to be on the "Blue Coat" record, not the record following "Red Cap". (i.e. You have changed the index order but now want to change the price of the next product you were up to).

As mentioned, my changes to LKM's TCBrowse already handle this but took me quite a while to work out back then and the code is "messy" and it would seem to be a big job for me to make equivalent changes in xBrowse.

This facility is extremely useful. (For me, vital).

Are you able to implement this feature in xBrowse, Antonio?

I'm also interested in how many other FiveWinners are interested in you adding such an enhancement. (I would have thought many people would have the need).

Thanks,
Colin

[Antonio Linares]

Colin,

Yes, we can implement it

[James Bott]

Colin and Antonio,

I worked on this same problem about 10 years ago. First I reviewed spreadsheet behavior so I could recreate it in a browse. Here is the old specification I wrote for spreadsheet style editing. This may be of some help.

James

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Specification for Spreadsheet Style Editing

1) A single cell is highlighted at a time, preferably with an heavy outline rather than the entire cell being in reverse video.

2) Spreadsheets have two modes, edit and replace. The replace-mode is triggered when you start typing any key and this key initiates data entry with the previous data cleared and the new keystroke in the cell. Any of the four arrow keys ends the replace-mode and moves to the ajacent cell. The Enter key also ends the replace-mode except the cursor remains on the same cell. The Tab key terminates the replace-mode and moves to the cell to the right. The Shift-Tab terminates and moves to the cell to the left.

3) A double-click or F2 triggers the edit-mode for the currently highlighted cell. [Note that Clipper users are used to using the Enter key for this--ideally we'd like to optionally use the Enter Key too.] This places the cell into a standard edit-mode with the existing data still in the cell. Use of the right and left arrow keys now just moves the cursor within the cell. Use of the up or down arrow keys ends the edit-mode and moves to the next cell. The Tab key ends the edit and moves to the cell to the right. The Shift-Tab ends the edit and moves to the cell to the left.

4) A single click on a new cell while in the edit-mode ends the edit and moves to the new cell. A double click places it in the edit-mode too.

[Colin Wisbey]

Many thanks, Antonio. I eagerly await such enhancement.

On a side note, I must applaud you on your extremely prompt and pro-active customer service as your standard modus operandi. Frequent enhancements / fixes, ultra quick helpful responses to queries. We can't ask for better service.

Kind regards,
Colin

[nageswaragunupudi]

It would be nice to improve xBrowse to behave like excel, the way Mr James Bott suggested. Even new users feel the browse to be familiar.

Having gone through xBrowse source code manytimes, I observed that the original intention appeard to make the grid behave like excel. Better continue further development in the directions advised by Mr James

[luisduque]

hello test to see if this example serves you can use directional keys without pressing enter and stay in shape RELEASED



http://www.accasoft.net/Ejemplo xBrowse Estilo Excel.zip

[luisduque]

is
http://www.accasoft.net/Ejemplo%20xBrow ... 0Excel.zip

[ShumingWang]

LuisDuque,
The ability for UP and DOWN keys to complete the edit and move in the direction indicated. (i.e. instead of having to press RETURN first).
By modify static function EditGetkeyDown().
Great !
Thank you !
Shuming Wang