One of the limitations of HTML (or is it OI) is that EditTable (and GroupBoxes) do not convert from OI to HTML. I have been told that the future jRev will support EditTables but for now: "No can do."

Unfortunately my application is an on-line timecard for the client user to fill out. So the user very much has to edit the data. The timecard for job costing is very much multivalued and the input form is a natural for EditTable. For any given day the user may charge to a number of different jobs. The data structure used by both the my Windows (OI) and DOS (RevG) products is multivalued with each

project "line" of the timecard on a different line of the EditTable. The job id, hours, etc. are all related back to this line.

I need to move this functionality to the Web and need an equivalent to EditTable there. I see three possiblities:

1) Use a collection of EditBoxes.

I have been playing with this suggestion but it is very clumsy. I have been trying to stack them vertically andhorizontally to create an illusion of an EditBox. The Events for such a construction would be very involved since each separate EditBox needs to be tied to its horizontal neighbor for inserting and deleting lines, etc.

2)Display the information in a report for viewing the previously entered data and link a record to another form where the data is inserted into EditBoxs, where it could then be edited.

The trick here is to somehow address particular rows in a report and have a separate data entry window with each of the column cells as data EditBoxes. Perhaps the individual row EditBoxes could even be set side by side with the same width as the report cell and overlaid on top of the same "report row" that has focus? This would be nice looking interface.

3) I recall seeing a Web enabled application presented by Mike Ruane of WinWin (and Mike if you are listening you might want to comment on this) which looked like a report but he could edit individual cells. In other words it looked and acted just like a real EditTable so there may be some help here.

Any and all suggestions are solicited and welcomed.

Your feedback is appreciated.

Tom

This is a limitation in HTML. Don't forget, HTML is a mark-up language, actually, a HyperText Mark-up Language. HTML only has the basic set of controls allowable by most GUI applications, edit boxes, lines, radio buttons and push buttons. Things like edittables are add on, even in OpenInsight.

Basically, you have three options. One is to create a giant table filled with all sorts of edit controls to simulate a table. The next is to use a edittable type java bean for your data entry.

What we've found for most of our customers is that they prefer the 3rd option. That's creating a table view with all the text loaded as real text. Then, to edit each line, either have a button at the start of the row or make each text box a link. The link then either brings up the edittable window or a new frame for the editing. Basically, we found the users liked the look of this sort of interface better, Having all those editboxes jammed all through huge edittable, while functional, can look clunky. It can also be a lot of data to send back through the CGI engine.

[email protected]

Sprezzatura Group

Damn fat fingers …

Take a look at XML data sources in IE5.

Netscape 5 will support similar.

You can create data-bound controls on a form, with event scripting, bound to an XML data source.

Using a notation like

You can create what microsoft calls a data island, that behaves like an ODBC recordset, with

movenext, prevrec, etc.

The xml object model will let you get the data out and send just data back on a submit event.

If you use OI to just get and put data, with the HTML formatting occuring via stylesheets and such,

then as you implement JRev your OI investment remain valuable as an application server, extended but not necessarily replaced by JRev.

check out:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/default.asp

Note:

Aaron's comments on user interface are well made.

Having the ablility make huge tables doesn't mean you have the ability to use huge tables.

Hope this helps.

Bob

Actually, I've used this on some apps, but it isn't always practical. It's fine for smaller tables, but while I'm sure OICGI has a much larger limit, the Basic+ script sending back the data still has that pesky habit of dropping to the debugger at 64K. There's 52 chars just up to the=alone in this statement After a few lines and columns, all this stuff starts to add up. Been playing with the idea of sending it all back in blocks, and connecting, but that's a lot of work for a single page. You end up with the problem of presenting too much data to be usable. Just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.

[email protected]

Sprezzatura Group

Thank you Aaron and Bob. Now I just have to do some studing to get smart enough to figure out what you just told me!

The import thing is you gave me hope that indeed I can create an elegant interface for my Web enable application instead of the clutsy collection of EditBoxes that I have been playing with.

Your comments are very much appreciated

Tom Savell

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