[kevin]

Thanks Andreas

Yes, I already figured out or knew much of what you are talking about.

For instance I am using object references that I pass from instance to instance as needed.

In a nutshell, you confine all web stuff to a single browser pane and substitute the target remote forms as needed. In this case, we will obviously need a home button on all remoted forms to allow the user to return to the main home page and thus navigate to other modules and/or forms. Logical.

Once again, thank you for your sage advice. You really do go above and beyond …

Cheers

[kevin]

Hi Andreas

Once again thank you for your prompt and insightful response.

I was fully prepared to have to change my coding methodology once I started working with JS forms. My problem is that I don’t know what I don’t know and I am having to experiment and feel my way forward and in doing so I am afraid that I will end up in a dead-end because of a lack of understanding at the outset.

Ideally, I would love to adopt an existing framework or to spend time with an expert in this to accelerate the development time – especially at the outset. The Omnis Conferences are timed badly right now and even then the conference is probably not the right place for my queries.

One of my experiments is to have a ‘static’ navigation tab in the browser and then , when the user clicks on a button in the navigation pane, a separate ‘working’ pane is opened (in the browser) and all necessary remote form/subform opening associated with the selected button would then be performed in that working pane. This, COULD permit the user to have multiple records open simultaneously?? Of course, the user would be prevented from editing any record that is currently being edited by another user (which could be them in a different session). In this scenario I am looking at populating a row in the Navigation pane with some necessary ‘static’ data (e.g. user ID) and then passing this data to the 2nd tab in the browser. However, this may not be practical/permissible or simply be too unwieldy. I saw a reference to $userinfo somewhere and I suspect I may have to use this in my scenario because I can’t see how to reference a different pane in the browser.

The other (simpler?) approach would be to confine all activities to a single browser pane.
Any advice O wise one?

[kevin]

Hi Andreas,

Thank you so much for your insight and quick response (as always).

So, to summarise, Omnis Studio: –

* Does not cater for more than one active or current subform at anytime

* Does not permit you to change the current subform

* constructs subforms AFTER the main form has been instantiated (the reverse of desktop equivalents).

I was hoping to approximate the behaviour/appearance of equivalent desktop windows and subwindows.

I use subwindows and subforms where there is a need to display the same data in different situations – without having to duplicate the window/remote form in each case. Standard stuff I believe.

I ran some tests by creating a tabpane on a simple remote form and placing a (different) subwindow on each and tried to set a reference to each subform using $subint. I discovered that I could set a reference to the subform on the 1st pane by default. However, I could not get a valid reference to the pane until after the 2nd pane had been opened.

Once the 2nd pane had been opened I could then set a valid reference to the subwindow (using $subinst). Furthermore, the reference to the 1st subform seems to persist. This is what I was looking for. I will have to run some more tests to check the downstream results.

This then leads to how to use $loadfinished. It is not clear how or when you use this method. Do we have to call this method repeatedly until we get an answer? Do we over-ride it and set a flag of our own? For instance, after opening the 2nd pane (and thereby instantiating the subform on that pane) how do I invoke $loadfinished to know when it is OK to set a reference to the subform?

I know this is not in line with your suggestion but I would like to explore this methodology to see if it is viable – unless you have already been down that road and discovered a dead-end.

Once again thanks for your valuable advice.

Kevin