Adding a Form to Display Data From a Data Source

Procedure: How to Add a New Form to Your Project

Right-click the Forms folder in the Start procedure, and in the shortcut menu, click New form.
WebFOCUS Maintain opens the form in the Form Editor.
Change the name of the form from Form2 to ShowFan by right-clicking Form2 in the Project Explorer and clicking Rename.
Change the title of the form from Untitled to Show Fan Club Members.
(Change the value for the Title property in the property sheet.)

Extracting Data From a Data Source Into a Stack

How to:

Extract Data From the Fannames Data Source Into a Stack

Your next step is to create a function named GetFans, which extracts all the information in the fannames data source and places it into a stack named GetFanStack. Try this yourself or see the next section for instructions.

Tip: Create the function and then use the Language Wizard to generate the code.

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Procedure: How to Extract Data From the Fannames Data Source Into a Stack

In the Project Explorer, right-click the Start procedure, click New, and then click Function (Case).
In the New Function dialog box, name your function GetFans and click OK.
In the Project Explorer, double-click your new function to open it in the Procedure Editor.
Make sure your insertion point is placed after the statement
```
Case GetFans
```
but before
```
EndCase
```
Open the Language Wizard (right-click in the Procedure Editor window and, from the shortcut menu, click Language Wizard).
Select Retrieve records from a data source and click Next.
When WebFOCUS Maintain asks you how you would like to retrieve records from the data source, select Starting from the current record position (Next) and click Next.
The Maintain language contains two commands to retrieve data from a data source. This window determines which one you want.
When WebFOCUS Maintain asks you to select the data source segments or fields whose records you want to retrieve, in the Available fields box, expand the fannames data source, expand the CUSTOMER segment, and move the SSN field to the Fields to retrieve box. Then, click Next.
This window is where the Language Wizard determines from which data source you are reading the data. Remember that if you select a field in one segment, the rest of the fields in that segment are also extracted. See Stacks and Implied Columns for more information.
When WebFOCUS Maintain asks you how many records you want to retrieve, select All the records in the selected segment. Also, make sure Change the current data source position to the top is selected, ensuring that WebFOCUS Maintain starts from the beginning of the data source when retrieving records. Then, click Next.
When WebFOCUS Maintain asks you to specify a stack, type GetFanStack in the text box to create one, and make sure that Clear the stack first is selected. You can leave the default value 1 in the Place the records into the stack field. Then, click Next.
When WebFOCUS Maintain asks you to supply any conditions, you can leave this window blank because you want to retrieve all records from the data source. Simply click Finish.
The Language Wizard should generate the following code:
```
Reposition fannames.CUSTOMER.SSN;
Stack clear GetFanStack;
For all next fannames.CUSTOMER.SSN into GetFanStack;
```

Adding an HTML Table to Your Form

How to:

Add an HTML Table to Your Form

You are going to display the fans from the fannames data source using an HTML table. An HTML table displays the contents of a data source stack in a read-only grid.

Another option for displaying the fans from the fannames data source is to create a report procedure in WebFOCUS Developer Studio and execute this code whenever you open this form.

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Procedure: How to Add an HTML Table to Your Form

Double-click on the form ShowFan in the Project Explorer to display the form.
On the Controls palette, click the HTML Table button.
Draw a rectangle on the form representing roughly where you want your HTML table to go on your new ShowFan form.
WebFOCUS Maintain opens the Control Columns dialog box, where you define the contents of your HTML table.
Select GetFanStack from the Stack list.
Note: Make sure you did not select AddFanStack.

The Control Columns dialog box now displays the columns in the stack GetFanStack.
Copy the fields LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME, COMPANY, EMAIL, and TITLE into the Table Columns list.
Use the Move up and Move down buttons to rearrange these fields so that they are in the following order: TITLE, FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME, COMPANY, and EMAIL.

You can change the appearance of any of these columns by opening the Table Column dialog box. For example, suppose you want to change the header titles for the FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME fields so that they read First and Last.
Double-click Firstname.
In the Table Column dialog box, change the Header title to First.

You can also change the width, justification, font, and color.
Click OK.
Repeat the process to change Lastname to Last.
Click OK to leave the HTML Table Columns dialog box.
Your form resembles the following:

Creating a Link From One Form to Another

How to:

Link From One Form to Another

Your final step in creating your new form ShowFan is providing a way to open it from Form1. Do this by adding a button to Form1 that runs the GetFans function and opens the ShowFan form.

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Procedure: How to Link From One Form to Another

Make Form1 the active window (you can select it from the Window menu or double-click it in the Project Explorer).
On the Control palette, click the Button control.
Draw a rectangle to the right of the Add button on Form1.
Change the text in this button to Show Fans.
Change the name of this button to ShowFanButton.
Double-click the button to open the Event Handler editor.
Select Click from the list of events. (ShowFanButton should already be selected in the list of form components.)
WebFOCUS Maintain adds the following code:
```
Case OnShowFanButton_Click
EndCase
```
Drag the GetFans function from the Project Explorer into the Event Handler editor between these two lines of code.
Drag the ShowFan form from the Project Explorer into the Event Handler editor after GetFans.
You see the following pop-up window.
Select Show a Form.
Comment text appears with the Winform Show command that explains how to show a non-persistent form. Because you want a persistent connection for this form, leave the comment text as is.
Close the Event Handler editor.
Click Yes to save your procedure.
Deploy and run your application to see how it looks.
Close the application before continuing the tutorial.