VISUAL QUICKPRO GUIDE FileMaker Pro 7 Advanced FOR WINDOWS AND MACINTOSH [Electronic resources]

Cynthia L. Baron, Daniel Peck

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Moving Through Fields

Making a database easy to use involves many elements. On the one hand, you want to let users move through layouts with ease. One way you can do that is to allow users several keyboard options for navigating a layout.

On the other hand, you want to protect the data integrity. For example, many layouts contain serial numbers that not only identify the record uniquely, but are used as key fields to link tables. These fields should almost never be changed. Yet, as users move through a layout, they can inadvertently access these fields.

You can help users move through a layout more efficiently by allowing them to use different keyboard keys, while blocking them from fields they shouldn't enter. And you can modify these actions in both Browse and Find modes.

To block field entry

1 .Make sure you're in Layout mode (Control+L/Command+L).

2 .Select Layouts > Layout Setup. In the General tab, make sure that "Show field frames when record is active" is checked (Figure 3.25). Click OK to close the dialog box.

Figure 3.25. This setting allows users to see the outlines of fields, even when they are empty.

3. Select the data entry field that you want to block.

4. Select Format > Field Behavior (Control+Alt+K/Shift+Command+K) (Figure 3.26).

Figure 3.26. Field Behaviors let you control how users access fields in a layout.

5 .When the Field Behavior dialog box appears (Figure 3.27), uncheck the In Browse mode check box. Click OK.

Figure 3.27. Unchecking Browse mode prevents anyone from entering the field and changing a record.

When a user enters Browse mode and attempts to click inside the key serial field, available field frames are shown but the key serial field is unavailable (Figure 3.28). The user will still be able to input data in Find mode.

Figure 3.28. When you click on the Key Serial field in Browse mode, the field is locked.

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To choose a keystroke to go to the next field

1 .Make sure you're in Layout mode (Control+L/Command+L). Select the fields you'd like to change or add a keystroke option to (Figure 3.29).

Figure 3.29. Select the fields that can be exited with additional keyboard keys.

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2. Select Format > Field Behavior (Shift+Control+K/ Command+Option+K).

3. When the Field Behavior dialog box appears, check or uncheck the keystroke options you want to make available for those fields (Figure 3.30). Click OK when done.

Figure 3.30. The selected fields will respond to the Tab, Return, and Enter keys.

When a user navigates through the fields in the address section of this layout, the Return and Enter keys will also work to navigate through the fields.

Tip

When a field is formatted to use the Return key to move to the next field, the user cannot enter a carriage return in the text within the field. Since fields with long blocks of text will likely require returns, you shouldn't use the Return key option for these fields. But this option is perfect to prevent a user from inadvertently adding an unnecessary carriage return to a short field.