Shortcuts and Reference Attributes

technopak

Hi,

Is it possible to use a shortcut path from one BO to another ?

For example, if two objects exist, Client and Event, and also a Memo object for the event is required - is it possible to use a shortcut in the Memo object which refers to attributes of the Client associated with the Event ? The Client contains an attribute of type Event and there is a corresponding peer attribute in Event. The Memo object has a similar relation to Event.

A tag something like <<Memo.EventRef.ClientRef.FirstName>> should theoretically work in forms, reports etc. The system allows you create such paths, but .....

I've tried this and the path seems to fail when trying to access the attribute of the second referenced object (the ClientRef.FirstName in the example above). The system appears to 'see' the first refernced object but not the second.

Has anyone tried this ?

Peter

bartthefish

This second reference shortcut used to work on forms in previous builds, though not all reports. but I've also noticed that it is no longer functioning.

In order to overcome this, you could implement the following workaround:

In Memo create a ref Attribute to Client that is calculated. (Don't display on any forms)

Add a rule to Memo:

IF Event WAS ADDED TO Memo.EventRef
THEN
FIND Client WHERE Client=AddedEvent.ClientRef
INSERT Client IN Memo.ClientRef

make the rule dynamic (advanced Tab)

and create a shortcut in Memo to this Ref eg: <<Memo.ClientRef.FirstName>>

technopak

Thanks for the post - and the workaround.

I ended up creating two reference attributes - one to each of the Client and Event objects, and then creating shortcuts in the Memo object to the attributes of the Client and Event objects which I was interested in showing on the main form of the Memo.

A problem I encountered was when I tried to implement a custom button on the Event's main form to create a Memo for that Event, the process triggered by the button didn't 'see' the Event or Client objects which had been in context moments earlier.

So I had to create a new SystemSettings attribute to store references to both the Client and the Event objects. Then my CreateMemo process could happily go create a memo for the Event and could cross reference it to the Client too.

Not a tidy way of doing it, and not what I expected would be needed, but it works.

Maybe support can tell us if a shortcut to a reference attribute's reference attribute's attribute should work ....... I think I got that right 🙂

tford

I wonder if my notes in this post would help you: