Re: Using Multiple Forms to accomplish a goal --

From: Steve Cosner <stevec_at_zimmer.csufresno.edu>
Date: 1997/06/25
Message-ID: <867277316.15806_at_dejanews.com>#1/1

In article <5op1i8$oub_at_drn.zippo.com>,   Jody Lewis <lewisj2_at_wdni.com> wrote:
> We are in the position of creating a whole new application using Forms 4.5 .
> This application is the responsibility of three programmers who will be taking
> what needs to be written and divide it into pieces. The questions was asked
> what is the best things to do, have several forms and call them as you need
> them (or even call all forms that may be needed) or one form.
>
> It was decided that having one form would be the best if possible but
> logically have each person create a form or several forms for what needs
> to be accomplished would be ideal.
>
> First of all, would this be your recommendation or have youi forseen any
> problems with creating an application this way?
>
> Second of all, can you open call the necessary forms and reference them as you
> need them? Or what needs to be done so the speed of the application is not
> affected by having several forms?

I think a good rule it to keep the forms as simple as possible, dividing up the work wherever possible, but keeping in mind ease of use for the users. In fact, you should really base your decision on what the users need.

We have many forms that are pretty complex: several tables can be updated on one form, and lots of tables are used to display everything on one form. Each form is based on a specific task a user needs to do. All the information they need for that task is presented on the one screen.

When forms are related, that is they use the same key items, we provide several buttons on each form so the users can hop from one to the next easily. These buttons commit the work on the present form, build globals to pass the key data to the next form, and do a new_form to call the next form. The next form then uses the globals to query and display its information for the user, and is ready for updates. All this with one button click, and it happens in a second or so.

Using this new_form method does not affect the speed. This is not to say another approach, like using call_form or something else should not be done.

I would have reservations about your doing it all in one single form. It would be a big problem with three people trying to develop it.

Good luck,
Steve Cosner

---

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Received on Wed Jun 25 1997 - 00:00:00 CEST