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The LA Fox Developer Newsletter
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April 1997
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I’ve been doing a lot of work with grids lately, so I’ll devote this month’s column to talking about using grids in VFP 5.0. When Visual FoxPro was introduced, the grid was in my opinion the most significant new control. It was a quantum jump from the old 2.x Browse. In VFP 5
it
has been further refined. Like most complex tools, using the grid effectively takes a little practice and experience.
Grid
Basics
101
The Grid is a container object that can display multiple rows of a view, cursor, or table. The Grid object allows you to present and manipulate rows and columns of data in a form or page. It is commonly used to display the many side of a one-to many relationship. A grid can contain columns and the columns contain headers and controls, each with their own sets of properties, events, and methods, giving you a great deal of control over the elements of the grid. Controls can be textbox, combobox, Iistbox, checkbox, spinner, command button, or another grid but can’t be a timer.
To begin working with grids, you need to bind data to your grid. Set the Record Source property (Data tab) to the name of the alias or table that will be used with the grid. Then set the RecordSourceType property. Use 0-Table, if you want Visual FoxPro to open the table for you, or 1
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Alias if you want the grid to be populated with the fields in a table or view that is already open.
The default control in a column is a textbox. To use a different control, drag it from the controls toolbar into the column. Check the order by checking the controls in the drop down list at the top of your Properties form. The new control should appear under a column below the header and the default Texti control. Make the new control active by setting the column’s CurrentControl property in the Data tab.
If you leave the ColumnCount property (Layout tab) set to -1, all columns in the bound table will be included in your grid. To gain a little more control, set the ColumnCount to a value appropriate for your data and set the DataSource for each column to display particular fields in particular columns. You should then size each column for the data it will contain.
I always set DeleteMarks to False since these are dangerous and confusing to end users. I also turn off (set to False) AllowHeaderSizing, AllowRowSizing and SplitBar to prevent users from creating variations of grids that I never intended. Want to prevent users from moving or resizing columns? Set the ColumnX.Movable and ColumnX.Resizable properties to False. Depending on your requirements, the ScrollBars property can be set to 0 (None), I (Horizontal), 2 (Vertical), or 3 (Both).
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Just In Case You Forgot
Membership Dues
It’s time to start thinking about membership dues again. Last year, we implemented a new payment policy that brought everyon current in a matter of months. Here’s how it works:
Look at your mailing label on the back of the newsletter. If your membership expired in the first three months (January thru March) of 1996, your name will be eliminated from the newsletter mailing list in January, 1997; if your membership expired in the second three months (April thru June) of 1996, your name will be eliminated from the newsletter mailing list in February, 1997; if your membership expired in the third three months (July thru September) of 1996, your name will be eliminated from the mailing list in March, 1997; and if your membership expires in the last three months (October thru December) of 1996, your name will be eliminated from the mailing list in April, 1997.
Last year, using this type of methodology and an “amnesty” program, we were able to bring memberships current that had expired back in 1993. So virtually everyone that is now a member of LA Fox has an expiration date of 1996 or 1997. This helps us out a lot since we are a totally self-supported group and membership helps defray the costs of newsletters, the meeting room, guest speakers, etc.
There are several advantages to membership the cominaraderie and networking capabilities of me group, the chance to see and hear speakers that you would have to spend hundreds of dollars to see elsewhere, a monthly ten-page newsletter, the LA FoxCast, etc.
So everyone make sure you look at your mailing label for your membership expiration date and please respond accordingly. Membership dues are $45, payable to LA Fox, and can be mailed to Twila Miller, 1601 North Sepulveda Blvd.
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#191, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, or brought to the next meeting.
If you’re the slightest bit “local” to the Southern California area and plan on attending the conference, please
do not plan on
“pre-registering” the first
day of the conference at least
if you want to receive the conference materials or eat (something that’s still important). We need to commit actual numbers to the hotel
two
weeks prior to the conference so that food for conference meals can be allocated, as well as the collateral materials that will be handed to you as you register. So if you’re local, don’t put it off
register now.
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Conference Announcement
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