Autosearch in Webtier

rbuser

I'd like to control Autosearch parameters in the webteir the same way I'm
able to from a trsClientReport. I need to manipulate both what is displayed
in the autosearch dialog and validate what is entered after the user hits
the search button. I don't need a custom search page, only to be able to
manipulate the stock search page.

In the trsClientReport the events AfterAutoSearchDialogCreate and
OnReceiveAutoSearchFields do a good job of this. What's the best way to
gain access to these events from within the webtier?

Thanks!

Jon Gray

nardmoseley

Its going to work differently on the WebTier. The WebTier custom parameters
demo shows this.

I will try to create an example that is more focused on what you describe.

I am not sure whether it is possible to validate the search parameters
without at least displaying a custom error page.


--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

nardmoseley

This example shows how to initialize autosearch parameters on the
webtier:

http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/rbWebAutoSearchCustom.zip

rbuser

Thanks Nard - This solved the problem. I'm now able to manipluate the
autosearch parameters in the webtier. This code loop allows me to traverse
the autosearchfields just like in a trsClientReport.

{add code to initialize the WebRequest.AutoSearchParameters here}
for i:= 0 to aWebRequest.AutoSearchParameters.Count - 1 do
for j :=0 to aWebRequest.AutosearchParameters[i].FieldCount - 1 do
aWebRequest.AutoSearchParameters[i].Fields[j].


Thanks again Nard - with this functionality in place my "fat-client
trsClientReport" and "thin-client Web based" reporting work similarly. The
fat-client has more bells and whistles like custom coded search dropdowns
etc. While the web tier gets you to the same base report without all the
bells and whistles. rbServer is REALLY the best of both worlds.

Signed - A satisfied customer.

rbuser

Spoke to soon I guess - having some trouble manipulating autosearch...


I'd like to remove an autosearch field but keep it as a search criteria so
it's still in the query but the user can't change the value.

Something like this:

aWebRequest.AutoSearchParameters[i].Fields[j].AutoSearch := false;


Alas, the autosearch field still displays. I can manipulate the
SearchExpression and ShowAll but not prevent the display of it altogether.
Seems like this is a timing or refresh issue?

nardmoseley

Search criteria created via the Data work space of the report designer can
optionally be designated as AutoSearch criteria. By definition AutoSearch
criteria are displayed in the AutoSearch dialog.
I think what you are asking, is "How I can programmatically manipulate
search criteria that is Not AutoSearch." AutoSearch criteria in a SQL Query
creates a linked set of Report.AutoSearchFields[]. However for other search
criteria, there are no such object accessible from the report. Therefore
you will need to access the criteria in the TdaSQL object directly.
Here is an example that shows how to do this.

http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/UseNowDateForSearchCriteria.zip

Note that the above example is for the report on the server. If you want to
pass parameters between the server and webtier, you could define report
parameters and then on the server side use the report parameter value to set
the search criteria value.


--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Not exactly.

What I'm saying is I have a group of autosearch fields, one happens to be
called "County Number". Half the time I want this Autosearch field to work
normally. The other half of the time I want to programmatically set the
searchexpression thus preventing the user from modifying the search for that
field. When to display it or not is detemined at runtime based upon the
value of another field.

I'm kind of doing that now by suppressing the autosearch dialog display
completely and setting all values programmatically when using a
trsClientReport. What I really want is to conditionally stuff and suppress
a single autosearch field (in this case county number) but still display the
remaining autosearch fields.

I would have thought doing this before the autosearch panel is displayed
would have taken it off the autosearch list.


"aWebRequest.AutoSearchParameters[i].Fields[j].AutoSearch := false;"


I will take alook at your example, prehaps that is the only way I can get to
the combination I need...

nardmoseley

If you access the Criteria fields as shown in the example, you can perhaps
set them to AutoSearch true/false, although timing wise I do not know
whether this will work.

--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com