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Watch the Autocomplete values change as you enter data

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Here is some code to demonstrate the AutoComplete property Its behavior is very similar to Outlook 2003 or the Internet Explorer Address URL entry control. It prompts the user with possible entries in a drop down like Intellisense.

The code creates a form with 2 textboxes, a grid and a listbox from which you can change the Autocomplete behavior of the other controls. It also shows the Autocomplete table, so as you enter values into the textboxes or the grid, you can see the autocomplete table contents being updated. If you enter a new value, a new record is added. If you use an existing value, the count increments and the datetime stamp is updated for that value.

Tab around the form (Ctrl-Tab to get out of the grid) and type in various values. Hit the Delete key when an Autocomplete entry is highlighted, and it will be removed. (The same behavior can be seen in Outlook 2003.) Experiment with changing the listbox to Most Recently Used or Most Frequently Used.

Of course, because it’s a normal Visual Foxpro table, you can modify the table contents from your own code. For example, it can be prepoplulated with any desired values, perhaps depending on the day of week or other values.

The sorting of the menu is either alphabetical or based on an integer nSortWeight determined by the mode. The Most Frequently Used value is simple: it just sets nSortWeight to the negative value of the Count field. The Custom mode is similar: it sets nSortWeight to the negative value of the Weight field.

The MRU field is a little more complicated: it subtracts the current DateTime from the Updated field’s DateTime value and multiplies by 86400 (the number of seconds in a day) to get an integer. Can you figure out under what conditions this value will overflow? Hint: a 4 byte integer needs to accommodate positive and negative values. The integer part of a DateTime value represents a single day. The fractional part is the number of seconds since midnight divided by 86400. What is the resolution of the MRU mode for a fast typist?

CLEAR ALL

SET REFRESH TO 2 &&Refresh the BROWSE every 2 seconds

CREATE Table AutoComp (Source c(20), Data C(254), Count I, Weight I, Created T, Updated T, User M)

INDEX ON source +UPPER(LEFT(data,30))+padl(count,8) FOR !DELETED() tag data

_screen.AutoCompTable="autocomp.dbf"

USE (HOME()+"samples\data\customer") && use table to get sample data

SCAN NEXT 10

      INSERT into autocomp values ("TXTNAME",Customer.contact,1,0,DATETIME()-1*86400*RECNO(),DATETIME()-2*86400*RECNO(),"")

      INSERT into autocomp values ("TXTCITY",Customer.city,1,0,DATETIME()-3*86400*RECNO(),DATETIME()-4*86400*RECNO(),"")

ENDSCAN

PUBLIC ox,oBrowse

SELECT 2

USE autocomp order 1

BROWSE NOWAIT NAME oBrowse && show the autocomp table

SELECT 1

CREATE CURSOR temp (name c(30),city c(30)) && temp table for grid

APPEND blank && add 3 records

APPEND blank

APPEND blank

GO TOP && go to the first record

PUBLIC oAutoComp as form

oAutoComp=NEWOBJECT("form")

WITH oAutoComp as Form

      .AllowOutput=.f.

      .Height=400

      .AddObject("lblName" ,"label")

      WITH .lblName

            .Top=10

            .Left=40

            .Caption="Name"

      ENDWITH

      .addobject("txtname","textbox")

      WITH .txtName as TextBox

            .top=10

            .left=90

            .width=200

      ENDWITH

      .AddObject("lblCity" ,"label")

      WITH .lblCity

            .Top=40

            .Left=40

            .Caption="City"

      ENDWITH

      .AddObject("txtcity","textbox")

      WITH .txtCity as textbox

            .top=40

            .left=90

      ENDWITH

      .AddObject("grid1","grid")

      WITH .grid1 as Grid

            .top=80

            .left=30

            .height=100

      ENDWITH

      WITH .grid1.column1

            .AddObject("txtName","textbox")

            .currentcontrol="txtName"

            .width=130

      ENDWITH

      WITH .grid1.column2

            .AddObject("txtCity","textbox")

            .currentcontrol="txtCity"

            .width=130

      ENDWITH

      .AddObject("lst","mylistbox")

      WITH .lst

            .top=210

            .left=20

      ENDWITH

      .SetAll("visible",.t.)

      .Visible=.t.

ENDWITH

WITH oBrowse as Grid && position the browse

      .left=oAutoComp.Left+oAutoComp.Width

      .width=650

      .Height=oAutoComp.Height*2

      .FontSize=10

      .AutoFit

ENDWITH

DEFINE CLASS MyListBox as ListBox

      PROCEDURE init

            WITH this as ListBox

                  .AddItem("None")

                  .AddItem("Alphabetical")

                  .AddItem("Most Frequently")

                  .AddItem("Most Recently")

                  .AddItem("Custom")

            ENDWITH

            this.ListIndex=2 && initialize to Alphabetical

            this.click

      PROCEDURE click

            * change all controls that have Autocomplete property

            thisform.setall("autocomplete",this.ListIndex-1)

ENDDEFINE

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    August 05, 2005
    Calvin,

    I love VFP 9's autocomplete implementation except for how the dropdown list is rendered. Do you have any ideas on how one might use VFP 9's new Win32 bindevent() capabilities to position and size the autocomplete dropdown so that it left aligns to its parent control and uses a width identical to its parent?

    Thank you,

    Malcolm

  • Anonymous
    December 31, 2005
    This code not work because there is no use of autocomplete commands

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2007
    thoughts from a professional developer I do not agree. Go to http://www.easytaskz.info/diocese_Germany/erupt_Baden-W%C3%83%C2%BCrttemberg/entrancing_Mannheim_1.html

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2007
    thoughts from a professional developer I do not agree. Go to http://www.intrades.info/owl_Poland/wham_East%20Poland/irreparably_Krakow_1.html

  • Anonymous
    May 17, 2007
    Is there a problem with autocomplete when the textbox is in a toolbar?  I've altered your code to show you that it only accepts one character... CLEAR ALL SET REFRESH TO 2  &&Refresh the BROWSE every 2 seconds CREATE Table AutoComp (Source c(20), Data C(254), Count I, Weight I, Created T, Updated T, User M) INDEX ON source +UPPER(LEFT(data,30))+padl(count,8) FOR !DELETED() tag data _screen.AutoCompTable="autocomp.dbf" USE (HOME()+"samplesdatacustomer")      && use table to get sample data SCAN NEXT 10      INSERT into autocomp values ("TXTNAME",Customer.contact,1,0,DATETIME()-186400RECNO(),DATETIME()-286400RECNO(),"")      INSERT into autocomp values ("TXTCITY",Customer.city,1,0,DATETIME()-386400RECNO(),DATETIME()-486400RECNO(),"") ENDSCAN PUBLIC ox,oBrowse SELECT 2 USE autocomp order 1 BROWSE NOWAIT NAME oBrowse    && show the autocomp table SELECT 1 CREATE CURSOR temp (name c(30),city c(30))      && temp table for grid APPEND blank      && add 3 records APPEND blank APPEND blank GO TOP            && go to the first record PUBLIC oTool as Toolbar m.oTool = CREATEOBJECT('toolbar') m.oTool.Show() m.oTool.AddObject('txtName','Textbox') m.oTool.txtName.visible = .T. m.oTool.txtName.AutoCompTable = _SCREEN.AutoCompTable m.oTool.txtName.AutoComplete = 1 PUBLIC oAutoComp as form oAutoComp=NEWOBJECT("form") WITH oAutoComp as Form      .AllowOutput=.f.      .Height=400      .AddObject("lblName" ,"label")      WITH .lblName            .Top=10            .Left=40            .Caption="Name"      ENDWITH      .addobject("txtname","textbox")      WITH .txtName as TextBox            .top=10            .left=90            .width=200      ENDWITH      .AddObject("lblCity" ,"label")      WITH .lblCity            .Top=40            .Left=40            .Caption="City"      ENDWITH      .AddObject("txtcity","textbox")      WITH .txtCity as textbox            .top=40            .left=90      ENDWITH      .AddObject("grid1","grid")      WITH .grid1 as Grid            .top=80            .left=30            .height=100      ENDWITH      WITH .grid1.column1            .AddObject("txtName","textbox")            .currentcontrol="txtName"            .width=130      ENDWITH      WITH .grid1.column2            .AddObject("txtCity","textbox")            .currentcontrol="txtCity"            .width=130      ENDWITH      .AddObject("lst","mylistbox")      WITH .lst            .top=210            .left=20      ENDWITH      .SetAll("visible",.t.)      .Visible=.t. ENDWITH WITH oBrowse as Grid    && position the browse      .left=oAutoComp.Left+oAutoComp.Width      .width=650      .Height=oAutoComp.Height*2      .FontSize=10      .AutoFit ENDWITH DEFINE CLASS MyListBox as ListBox      PROCEDURE init            WITH this as ListBox                  .AddItem("None")                  .AddItem("Alphabetical")                  .AddItem("Most Frequently")                  .AddItem("Most Recently")                  .AddItem("Custom")            ENDWITH            this.ListIndex=2  && initialize to Alphabetical            this.click            PROCEDURE click            * change all controls that have Autocomplete property            thisform.setall("autocomplete",this.ListIndex-1)     ENDDEFINE

  • Anonymous
    January 22, 2009
    PingBack from http://www.hilpers.fr/832830-reproduire-autocomplete

  • Anonymous
    June 09, 2009
    PingBack from http://greenteafatburner.info/story.php?id=5270