0 pts.
 Creating Forms where user can page down to continue
I have a question concerning creating forms. I am trying to create a Purchase Order requisition where the user can fill out a PO that goes through a workflow and eventually is submitted to purchasing. My problem is that the form should allow for multiple items, descriptions etc so it needs to be continued through three pages so the user can add more items on another page if needed. I am not sure how to do this. I created the header as a subform so that I could just put the subform at the beginning of every form but it will not let me because it says that it already exists on the form. How can I create the form and have like a page break and maybe an anchor on the next page that continues the form and allows users to complete? I am not sure if I need to click on a next button and link to a new form but I am afraid all information on the first form will be gone. If I copy and paste the form further down the page I don't know how to make it as if it is another page. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Software/Hardware used:
ASKED: April 28, 2006  11:57 PM
UPDATED: April 30, 2006  5:49 PM

Answer Wiki:
Notes forms are not like Word documents! You don't have page breaks and repeated headers like a Word document. Think of a form as a visual representation of a table row in a data file. To derive a solution to your PO scenario think first in terms of data, then think about the presentation. You should follow this approach anyway for all your developments. Basically on the PO you'll have some data that defines the PO in general terms e.g. PO number, vendor, date, address details etc. Then you've got the item related stuff which is repeated. In a relational database this would equate to probably 2 tables. One for the PO header and another for the PO item detail linked on PO number. You need to apply the same principles to your Notes form and basically arrive at the realisation that you need 2 forms pretty much exactly as per the relational db example. The key to simulating the relational db model in Notes is to make the PO item form a "response" to the PO header form. Set this in the form properties of the PO item form and have a button on the PO header form which creates a new PO item document. To present the data nicely, have a view listing all PO item documents and set the the first column value to @Text($Ref) and make it a sorted, categorised column. Then in the PO header form create an embedded view and set the parameter "Show single category" to @Text(@DocumentUniqueID). This effectively subsets the PO item view by the document id of the PO header document. Response documents store the document id of their parent document in field $Ref. This is a fairly standard technique for handling simple "1 to many" document relationships and a fits the PO problem fairly nicely.
Last Wiki Answer Submitted:  April 30, 2006  5:49 pm  by  Deadleaves   0 pts.
All Answer Wiki Contributors:  Deadleaves   0 pts.
To see all answers submitted to the Answer Wiki: View Answer History.


Discuss This Question:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _