Add columns to grid dynamically

[Rauf]

Is there any way to add columns to a grid using ER. For example, I will define 'n' number of tasks for an employee in a table. So if I take the 'Custom Employee Task Entry', for each employee the defined 'n' number of tasks should come as 'n' number of columns.
This make my application more user friendly.

 

[johndanter]

Yep....well this does rows not columns, but why not flip your display

Use system function Insert Grid Buffer Row

InsertGridBufferRow takes the grid buffer values and inserts a grid row in the specified location. After the grid row is inserted, the row will receive focus on update grid.

Parameters

Parameter
Description
I/O
Required
Notes

Grid
Specify grid to be used

Row
Specify row location for insert

Selectable?
Yes/No - With this line highlighted, does Select work?

Protected?
Yes/No - Can this line be edited?

Updateable?
Yes/No - Should the Update/Add events be executed for this row?

Deletable?
Yes/No - If this row is highlighted, does Delete work?

Clear After?
Yes/No - When the operation is complete, should the GBs be cleared of their values?

 

[Rauf]

Danter,

Thanks for quick reply.
I am aware about this function "Insert Grid Buffer Row". But it will insert rows dynamically, not columns

In my "Tasks" table, the tasks will be entered row by row like

1 Task One
2 Task Two
.
.
.

So the "Custom Employee Task Entry" should come like the following,

EmployeeID Name Time-Task1 Time-Task2 ...

 

[johndanter]

Ok, not that I am aware of

I guess you'd have to add them but then hide/show them as your logic dictates. HideGridColumn / ShowGridColumn

You can override the column to be whatever you want using SetDataDictionaryItemForGridColumn and SetDataDictionaryOverrideForGridColumn

 

[Rauf]

Yea, but the number of tasks is dynamic. Sometimes, it may be 5 tasks, sometimes 7 or sometimes 30 etc.

 

[David Robertson]

Then you would need to cater for the maximum by adding them to the grid, and code the hide/show for that as JD suggested.
You can't insert grid columns dynamically at run time, only hide/show.

 

[Rauf]

Hi David;
Well. It is the way.
And let me know, if we can parametrize the column name. AFAIK, it is also impossible.
For example, I will add 30 columns at design time. And if I have only 7 tasks, I want to show only the 7 tasks.
If I do a fetch to check if the task exist, then it will be 30 fetches. Then hide or show accordingly. I think, there will be horrible performance issues.

My logic is to hide another 23 columns using a loop: but we cannot parametrize the column name, it should be assigned at ER design time

 

[David Robertson]

No, no arrays in ER. Yes, it's painful.

Yes, doing 30 fetches on each grid row is fetched event to condition your columns will give woeful performance.

 

[johndanter]

You don't need 30 fetches
Speed it up by hiding them all and then select/loop and display as many as you find. Have a counter to let you which record you are on.
I can't imagine you'd want to show task 9 if task 8 doesn't exist

Can't really visualise what you are doing

Or....Just show all 30 and left to right, have the found tasks on the left and then on the right default a blank in the columns you're not populating
Bit easier, no?

And yes you can change the name of a column

SetGridColumnHeading sets the grid column heading text.

Parameters

Parameter
Description
I/O
Required
Notes

Grid
Identifies the grid control
I
Y


Column

Identifies the column whose heading is to be changed



I


Y




Return Values

Return Value
Description

None
This does not return a value



See Also

SetControlText

SetFormTitle

SetDataDictionaryItem

SetDataDictionaryItemForGridColumn

SetDataDictionaryOverrides

SetDataDictionaryOverrideForGridColumn

 

[DBohner-(db)]

Rauf,

There is no means to 'dynamically' add columns to a grid. Additionally, there is no means to 'dynamically' move the location of any columns within a grid.... I here you, bad news.

Last year I had a project that required the grid to be dynamic... The client wanted grid columns to display, based on different types of values. Basically - they wanted the grid to be a pivot table. I ended up adding as many columns as the client said they would ever need (plus more, because clients never know how many they need). I did not tie the 'dynamic' columns to a BSVW. As the BSVW was read, I populated the columns based on the sequence/value of the data in field... writing the values across the grid BUFFER, the writing the grid row buffer when the key values changed. Additionally - after the grid was populated, I did the Hide/Show column based on which columns had valid values.

Painful and a lot of repetitive programing that cannot take place in a NER (has to take place in the application due to App ER System Functions).

Regards

(db)

 

[Rauf]

Anyway, I am coding with the said logic. 30 columns
And I will use Power Edit form to show the related tables in the same from (another subject )

 

[johndanter]

Good luck

 

[DBohner-(db)]

Like Johndanter states - no need to do 30 fetches.

Have that 'detail' table attached to your BSVW.
Hide the Grid
As each row read, validate the Table Column and Populate a corresponding variable
When the Keys Change, flush the values of each variable to its corresponding Grid Buffer variable and write the Grid Buffer.

Would this be a good topic for Tips Traps document on the JDE Research site? More and more organizations are wanting to display data in a pivot - instead of table driven.

(db)

 

[Rauf]

Rauf,

There is no means to 'dynamically' add columns to a grid. Additionally, there is no means to 'dynamically' move the location of any columns within a grid.... I here you, bad news.

Last year I had a project that required the grid to be dynamic... The client wanted grid columns to display, based on different types of values. Basically - they wanted the grid to be a pivot table. I ended up adding as many columns as the client said they would ever need (plus more, because clients never know how many they need). I did not tie the 'dynamic' columns to a BSVW. As the BSVW was read, I populated the columns based on the sequence/value of the data in field... writing the values across the grid BUFFER, the writing the grid row buffer when the key values changed. Additionally - after the grid was populated, I did the Hide/Show column based on which columns had valid values.

Painful and a lot of repetitive programing that cannot take place in a NER (has to take place in the application due to App ER System Functions).

Regards

(db)

Can you please explain this idea in detail?

For my last task, I created 30 columns and did 30 fetches

Again, I got the similar task with infinite number of columns .

Please have a look at the attachment.


My idea is to have 30 columns during the grid design. And I will implement paging for columns(same as row paging).
While page loading, I will fetch Month Seq No from 1 to 30, if the user click 'Next Columns', I will load 31 to 60.

So if the Month Seq No is 1, I need to assign the amount to grid column 1. If the Seq No is 2, then grid column 2 etc.
Also, if the Seq No is 31, I will calculate 30 mod 31 ~ 1, and will update the first column...

How is this idea ?

 

[Larry_Jones]

For this type of task consider using power forms.
Main form has grid for the identity / fixed Columns (Employee, etc).
Sub Forms do what John Danter suggested and flip horizontal to vertical - so that original example of Tasks would have 1 task per row with the Task attributes as columns in the row.
User selects a Employee in the Main form grid hich then causes the child form grid to populate with the "tasks" for that employee.