Exercise 7.5: Creating groups from existing records

Before you begin, you must complete Exercise 7.4: Designing the DDS screen.

If you are working with existing DDS, you will want to create groups that will correspond to how the records are being used. In this example you will create a group for the next screen, where the user selects which employee in the payroll database to maintain. The screen is made up of the record format EMPSEL.

To create a new group:

  1. Scroll to the bottom of the DDS tree and expand the MAIN_MENU group.

    The SELECT record appears as the only record in this group.
    Main Menu

  2. Right-click the MAIN-MENU group.
  3. Click Insert group on the pop-up menu.

    A Group Properties notebook opens and a blank Design page for the group SCREEN1 also opens.
    Group properties and Design page

    The Properties notebook lets you view and update the properties of the currently selected DDS object. You can open this notebook from any view, pop-up menu, or menu of the CODE Designer. The Properties notebook is modeless. When you change an object's properties, the selected object changes immediately.

  4. In the Group Properties notebook, select the EMPSEL record from the Available list and click the arrow button button.

    For simplicity this is the only record you will add for now. The Design page now shows you what the record EMPSEL looks like.
    Design page

  5. In the group field, type EMPL_SELCT over SCREEN1 to rename the group.
    Group properties
  6. Close the Group properties notebook. Click the X in the top right corner of the Group properties notebook.

    You have finished creating a group. You could now work in the Design page with the record formats contained in this group. Instead you'll create a new record format.

    It appears that this is one of those unusable applications where you have to know the employee number ahead of time instead of being able to browse what is in the database. What we really need is a subfile. But aren't those difficult to code, you ask? Not with CODE Designer.

You have inserted a new group using the existing record EMPSEL and you are ready to begin Exercise 7.6: Creating new screens.