Browse Lookup Message (Scott Walker)

[Kenneth Brody]

On 3/17/2016 1:03 PM, Jose Lerebours via Filepro-list wrote:
> IMNSHO,
>
> The use of the browse lookup is nothing but a lazy developer solution.

I don't know about "lazy", as there are plenty of times a simple browse 
lookup will suffice.  And using the "prc=", "xkey=" and "show=pkeep" options 
you can do plenty with it.

But, you are correct that you can do much more powerful things by 
hand-coding it yourself.  (Of course, that's true of just about anything.)

> Use arrays and routines to populate and solve the browse lookup issues - You
> may write 60 to 100 lines of code once and BANG!, you have the code which
> can be used genetically and universally with no or little change.
>
> Granted, 1 to 5 lines of codes are much easier and faster to write than 60
> to 100 but the added benefits makes it all worth your while.
>
> I have been using this as far back as I can remember and I rarely ever use
> browse lookup where data control, management, editing, sorting, filtering,
> posting ... is needed.  Yeah, "drop" came about after I had written array
> based browse mechanism and yet, I never gave it up.
>
> So, the use of arrays + waitkey is the best solution you can entertain to
> take absolute control of your 'browse' lookups ... Heck, I even had a few
> instances where I allowed left/right scroll which you cannot do in filePro
> lookup (or at least last I checked).
>
> Some of the benefits:
> (a) Depth control - a single line can be as many rows as you want
> (b) Scroll up/down, left/right ...
> (c) Capture function keys or any key "waitkey" can read
> (d) Added control on screen content as user scrolls from row to row
> (e) Ability to fetch info prior to placing bar over row
> (f) In place edit by combining with "input" and "input popup" commands
> (g) Gives user ability to jump a number of pages at once (paging)
> (h) Since all data is in an array, export to excel or pdf is half way done ...
> (i) Since you're using waitkey or inkey, you can run additional process in
> between key strokes
> (j) ... need I say more?
>
> Kind of sticking my neck out here - Now let that guy that usually talks
> smack and knows nothing about programming get involved!

-- 
Kenneth Brody