XFormDBF Help

Fields Page

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The Fields page describes the detailed "mappings" for each output field to be generated when the transformation is run.  This page is divided into an upper, middle, and lower section, with adjustable splitter bars between them.  The upper section contains a list of output fields and mapping information with some pushbuttons along the top.  Below the splitter is a scrollable text editing box displaying the full mapping expression for the currently selected output field.  The bottom section contains a grid for viewing and navigating the input table.  Descriptions of all the controls on the Fields page follow:

List of Output Fields
The scrollable list above the splitter bar displays a row for each output table field that either exists, or for which there is a non-empty mapping defined in the current configuration.  If an output field exists, its sequence number and attributes (type, width, and decimal precision) are displayed in the columns after the field name.  When an output field's attributes are blank, it means that this is a "place-holder" mapping, which has no effect on the running of this transformation.  The mapping expression is displayed in the rightmost column.  If you double-click on a row of the field list, an expression builder dialog allows you to specify the mapping expression for this output field.  Alternatively, you can view or edit the mapping by using the mapping editbox below the splitter.  When automatic field-level output display is enabled, the output value is shown as you move from row to row in the output field list

Splitter Bars
You can reapportion the space between the different sections of this page by dragging the splitters bar between them.  Each form configuration keeps track of its own setting of these splitter positions, i.e.they are not a global settings.  (This feature is based on the generic SplitCon classes.)

Mapping Editbox
Below the upper splitter, a scrollable text editing box displays the complete mapping for the currently selected output field in the list above.

Input Grid
Below the lower splitter bar, there is a grid in the bottom section of the Fields page, by which you can see the input records and navigate through the input table.  When you run a single-record Test and when output values are displayed automatically, these operations reflect the results of applying mapping expressions to the current input record.  When automatic field-level output display is enabled, the output value is shown as you move from record to record in the input grid.

Command Buttons

Across the top of the Fields page is a series of small pushbuttons for sorting the output field list and resetting the mappings.  Note that the order in which fields are initially listed is not a property of the saved configuration of XFormDBF, so you must explicitly sort the list to be certain of its current ordering.

Field Name
sorts the list by output field name.

Seq
sorts the list by output field sequence number, i.e. the field number in the output table structure.  Note that place-holder mappings have no sequence number, because these fields are absent from the current output file.

Quick Mappings
automatically supplies trivial mappings for any output fields that currently have blank mappings, and for which there exists a correspondingly named input field.  I.e. this assigns input fields to output fields with the same name, but only if no mapping has already been assigned to those output fields.

Delete Mapping
clears the mapping expression for only the currently selected output field.  Note that you can't clear a mapping by double-clicking on its row in the list and using the expression builder, because a blank expression is interpreted as "no change" (like Escaping or Cancelling the dialog).

Delete All
clears all of the mapping expressions in the current configuration.  When a "place-holder" mapping (i.e. one for which there exists no field in the current output table) is cleared, its row is deleted from the output field list.

Remember that you can always undo any changes you have made to the mappings (or any other aspect of the form configuration) by using the Restore pushbutton, which returns the configuration to its last Saved state.


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