Field is not recognised

[dunbarx]

CAsba.

Try this. Make a new field, and name it "12345". Now in the message box:

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put "XYZ" into fld 12345

There is no such field, even though the name of that new field is indeed "12345".

LC will not take such a description and use it as a name. It will first try to use it as a field number, and you do not have twelve thousand-odd fields, so LC cannot find that field and tells you so.

Stop, just stop using numbers unless you really know what you are doing. There are definitely reasons to use numbers, but not as names, You might loop through all the fields in the card by:

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repeat with y = 1 to the number of fields
  put y into fld y
end repeat

But that is NOT using numbers as names.

Craig

[CAsba]

Still not got this working...
Firstly, and this works, a field populated with data (taken from a datagrid) is put into the field arraydata.
The field arraydata is used to populate fields in a document, and then is put into a field that is created and named with the number of the document; this field is for the making of a duplicate of the document should it be ever needed. So far, so good.

Secondly, and this doesn't work, I test if the retrieval of the archived field can be used to make a duplicate copy of the document.
The user inputs the required document number, in this case, 500041. The system should put the data in the field 500041 into the field arraydata for populating the fields of the duplicate document.
The code is

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ask " Enter the work order number to be re-called (numerals only))"titled (fld "fieldboxtitle" of cd "template1")
   put it into tAnswer
   put the text of fld "text of tAnswer" into fld "arraydata"

tAnswer is 500041.
There is a field named 500041.
There is a field named arraydata.
The order number entered is 500041.
I have tried both suffixing and prefixing the number to avoid LC problems, but neither strategy worked.
I also suffered an unexpected and immediate shut down whilst experimenting with possible options (??!!??)

[Klaus]

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ask " Enter the work order number to be re-called (numerals only))"titled (fld "fieldboxtitle" of cd "template1")
put it into tAnswer
## in tAnswer is the text that the user entered into the ASK dialog

## So this does not really make sense -> fld "text of tAnswer"?
put the text of fld "text of tAnswer" into fld "arraydata"

That is why I suggested -> put tAnswer into fld "arraydata"

What exactly did you try with "have tried both suffixing and prefixing the number to avoid LC problems, but neither strategy worked."?
At least you should now know that using a NUMBER as the name of an LC object is asking for trouble, right?

[dunbarx]

CAsba.

You should have caught me out on not putting quotes around the field name (12345 should have been "12345").

It would not have mattered, though.

Craig

[dunbarx]

CAsba,

There comes a time when we all have to sit back and rethink the way we are building our little gadgets.

put the text of fld "text of tAnswer" into fld "arraydata"

This would have rung warning bells even in my thick head the instant I saw it, and I mean that I was the one who wrote it. That reads, to me, as if I need a "do" construction to make sense of it.

I suspect that there are bad references, that is, overly complicated and involuted ones, built into your code, and I really suggest you redo them from scratch. You might find that your thinking was sound, and the variable names and references are the culprits.

Craig

[CAsba]

I guess I'm going to have to store the data for each numbered document, not in a field, but in a designated datagrid. Hopefully there's a solution there.

[dunbarx]

CAsba,

OK, your documents are simply numbered. Just make a way to store them in fields. The sample stack allows you to enter a document number (here limited to "123, 124 and 125". It then puts a random number into the field you choose. This is just to show it works. You of course will place your data into that field.

To get stuff out, enter the document number, and the "data" appears.

It is just a dodge to allow you to "number" your fields strictly according to the document number.

Now make everything fancier, and you are done.

Craig

UsingNUmberedFields.livecode.zip

(1.16 KiB) Downloaded 80 times

[dunbarx]

CAsba.

Look at the script of the buttons. See how the simple idea of prepending an "F" to the number, in either direction, and which is the only part you care about, dodges the issue of referencing a field BY number.

The "F" is an integral part of the process, but never appears anywhere.

Craig

[dunbarx]

CAsba.

Rereading your very first post, it occurs to me I may have no idea what you are really trying to do.

Is it that, ideally, you want to take a document that is identified by an integer, and store the information on that document in a field that has that integer as its name? The little stack I posted does just that. But then, why that particular methodology?

Craig

[CAsba]

Hi Craig,
Many thanks for your continued interest. I am sorry to say that, having downloaded your stack, I couldn't run it - there is a problem with my Windows setup, it keeps asking me what app I should use to run it, and refers to LC v.9.6.9 which caused me a problem and which I removed, but windows still makes reference to it, even though it's removed entirely and I'm using LV v 10. So, sorry I couldn't make use of it, any chance you could put the code in a reply ?
Your last missive has got my intention 100% correct. My methodology is as it is because there are potentially 130 fields to retain for each document, but in reality, around 30 - 40 will be used. Alternate methodology would be a datagrid, which I am considering, but the field method would be simpler (if I could get it to work !)
What other method were you thinking of ?

[CAsba]

Klaus,
Your suggestion

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put the text of fld tAnswer into fld "arraydata"

with a bit of juggling to gety there, now WORKS !
That's great,
Many thanks.
(Phew....!!)

[dunbarx]

CAsba.

Couldn't upload a zipped standalone, file too large.

If you want to recreate the stack a screenshot is attached. There are only two handlers. This is for the upper button:

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on mouseUp
   ask "Enter document number"
   if it is not in "123124125" then exit to top
   
   put random(99999) into fld ("F" & it)
end mouseUp

and this for the lower:

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on mouseUp
   ask "Enter document number"
   if it is not in "123124125" then exit to top
   
   answer fld ("F" & it)
end mouseUp

Craig

Screenshot 2023-05-11 at 9.31.50 AM.png.zip

(79.22 KiB) Downloaded 70 times

[Klaus]

Hi CAsba,

Hi Craig,
Many thanks for your continued interest. I am sorry to say that, having downloaded your stack, I couldn't run it - there is a problem with my Windows setup, it keeps asking me what app I should use to run it, and refers to LC v.9.6.9 which caused me a problem and which I removed, but windows still makes reference to it, even though it's removed entirely and I'm using LV v 10...

???

Open LC 10, then use the menu -> File -> Open stack... and navigate to the stack in question!
Doubleclicking a stack file is NOT the only way to open a stack, although many Windows users may think so...

Best

Klaus