Modifying Label Fields

Included in this section:

Database Label Fields

Non-Database Label Fields

Database Label Fields

In the Explorer Tree, locate the field that you wish to modify.

Expand the Template Information object, locate the desired template and expand it. Locate the block on which the field exists and expand it. Select the field that you wish to modify and display the Property Sheet for it.
Expand the Group Information object and any sub-groups until you can select the desired entity and expand it. Locate the block on which the field exists and expand it. Select the field that you wish to modify and display the Property Sheet for it.

Modify the block properties. These will either be displayed in Alphabetical or Logically, depending on the setting of the [Sort Alphabetically/Logically] button. The following instructions are assuming that the properties are sorted logically.
In the Name property, the name assigned to the field when it was created will be displayed. It can be changed, if desired.

For fields on parameter forms, the value entered in the Name property will be the name of the global variable set when the button that runs the entity is pressed. For example, if the name of the field is CUST_NO, the name of the global variable set will be CUST_NO. Globals are only set for a field when the Target Column property is not defined.
In the Description property, enter a user-defined description for this field.
In the Type pop-list, select the desired field type. Choices are:

Currency
Date (Only)
Date and Time
Numeric
Text

In the From Database pop-list, select true if the field value will be taken from the database. Select false if the field value will be user-defined.

See the Non-Database Label Fields section if this property is set to false.
In the Size property, enter the database character size for this field.
In the Key Field pop-list, select true if this field is a primary key for the table/view. Select false if the field is not a primary key for the table/view.
In the From Query pop-list, verify that the correct query block is displayed in this field. This is the block in which the query includes the column from which the data for this field will be obtained. It is used in conjunction with the From Column pop-list.
In the From Column pop-list, verify that the correct column is displayed in this field. This is the column in the query defined in the From Query property from which the data for this field will be obtained. The value in this field can be changed to another column from the same query.

When the query for the field is defined as Simple Query, this property is displayed as a pop-list with values based off of the select statement assigned to the query block.
When the query for the field is defined as a Complex Query, this property is displayed as a pop-list with values based off of the columns defined in the select statement property for the query. In order to add columns to this pop-list, you must add columns to the select statement for the field's query block.

In the Default Value property, if this field will have a default value on New and QBE screens, enter the value here. See the Default Values for Fields section for more information.

Set the Required pop-list to true if an entry must be made in this field before the entity can be updated. Select false if an entry is not required in the field.
Set the Visible pop-list to true if the field will be displayed on the entity. Select false if the field will be included on the entity, but not displayed.

Data in invisible database fields will update to the database during runtime, as long as the field is included on the block (i.e. the On Edit flag is set to true and the update is occurring in edit mode.
In the Display As property, select Label for this field.
In the Target Column property, for fields on parameter forms, select the block and field on the report that will be restricted by the value entered in this field on the parameter form. For more information, see the Parameter Forms section.

If the block is a QBE block from which a spreadsheet will be generated for the list results, select the block and field on the spreadsheet that will be restricted by the value entered in this field on the QBE block. For more information, see the Spreadsheet Generation for Query Results section.
If the field is on the database block for a list, and a column selector has been added to the query block, in the Suppress on CSO property, select true or false to indicate whether the field will be included in the column selector. When set to true, the field will not be included in the column selector for selection and will be displayed or hidden on the list block according to its property settings. When set to false, the field will be included in the column selector and will be displayed or hidden on the list block according to whether it is selected during the query process. For more information, see the QBE Column Selector section.
In the Hyperlink To property, enter the linking information for the field.

This is also where Database Function Calls and Links between Entities should be entered. When possible, relative URL's should be entered (/xephr/show/entity) rather than absolute URL's (http://test1.ndsasp.com/xephr/show/entity).

HREF links and Javascript should always use single quotes ( ' ) instead of double quotes ( " ).
During runtime, the status bar of the browser shows the actual HREF of the link being accessed. This HREF may not be what you wrote here in the property sheet, as this value will go through several transformations to handle "live" data. Most notably, $$BLOCK.FIELD$$ will be translated to what the browser is expecting to see in order to access the requested data. For Internet Explorer 6, this will be something like'"document.forms["BLOCK1"].elements["FIELD"].value '; for another system it could be something completely different.

If the Hyperlink To property contains an entry, in the Hyperlink Scripted pop-list, select true or false.

When this pop-list is set to true, it indicates that the entry in the Hyperlink To property is a script. If you entered a Database Function Calls or a Link between Entities, this pop-list should be set to true.

When this pop-list is set to false, it indicates that the entry in the Hyperlink To property is a direct link and not a script.
If the Hyperlink To property contains an entry and the Hyperlink Scripted property is set to false, in the Use New Window property, if the link in the Hyperlink To field needs to open in a new window, set this pop-list to true. Otherwise, set the pop-list to false.
In the Link Style pop-list, select the style to be applied to links for this field. If set to (from parent), the style used will be the Link Style from the block properties.
In the Field Style pop-list, select the style to be used for this field on this block on this screen. If set to (from parent), the default field style for the block will be used.
In the Display Only pop-list, select true if the data for this field will only be displayed as text on the screen and cannot be modified. Select false if the data in this field should be displayed as a field.
In the Editability property, select the setting that determines whether the data in the field will be editable.

Always Editable: the data in this field will be displayed in a form field, and can be modified.

Editable on New Only: the data in this field will be displayed in a form field and can be modified in New mode only.

Never Editable: the data in this field will be displayed in a form field, but cannot be modified.
In the Format Mask property, select the format mask for this field from the list of pre-defined format masks.

Date and Date/Time fields must have a format mask entered. Format masks can only be applied to date, date/time, and numeric type fields.
Xephr expects dates returned from the datasource to be in the format defined in the datasource. The format mask is then applied to the date returned from the datasource.

For more information, see the Format Masks section.
In the Requests Focus pop-list, if this field is the field in which the cursor should start when the screen opens, select true. Otherwise, select false.

Only one field on the block should have this pop-list set to true. If multiple fields are set to true, the entity generator determines at random the field that is selected first. .
In the Auto Value Type pop-list, select the desired setting for generating the value for this field. Auto value generation is only available for key fields on new records with no other default values defined. Choices are:
Auto-Number
Function Generated
Not automatic
Sequence Generated
If the Auto Value Type pop-list is set to Function Generated or Sequence Generated, in the Auto Value From field, enter the function or sequence from which the value is generated.
In the On QBE pop-list, select true to include this field on the screen in QBE mode. Select false to prevent the field from being displayed in QBE mode.

When this pop-list is grayed out, it indicates that the On QBE pop-list has been set to false at the block level. It must be set to true at the block level to be able to be changed here.
In the On New pop-list, select true to include this field on the screen in New mode. Select false to prevent the field from being displayed in New mode.

When this pop-list is grayed out, it indicates that the On New pop-list has been set to false at the block level. It must be set to true at the block level to be able to be changed here.
In the On List pop-list, select true to include this field one the screen in List mode. Select false to prevent the field from being displayed in List mode.

When this pop-list is grayed out, it indicates that the On List pop-list has been set to false at the block level. It must be set to true at the block level to be able to be changed here.
In the On Edit pop-list, select true to include this field on the screen in Edit mode. Select false to prevent the field from being displayed in Edit mode.

When this pop-list is grayed out, it indicates that the On Edit pop-list has been set to false at the block level. It must be set to true at the block level to be able to be changed here.
In the X property, enter the location in pixels of the top left corner of this field on the X-axis (horizontal) of the layout screen. You can change this here, or it will be changed when you move the field with the Designer Tool.
In the Y property, enter the location in pixels of the top left corner of this field on the Y-axis (vertical) of the layout screen. This value is used in conjunction with the Y Anchor Type setting. You can change this number manually, or it will be changed when you are altering the layout with the Designer Tool.
In the Y Anchor Type pop-list, select the container for this field. Choices are Fixed and Relative to Field.

When set to Fixed, the upper left corner of this field will be placed a fixed number of pixels in relation to the upper left corner of the field's parent. The number of pixels is defined in the Y field for the block.

When set to Relative to Field, the upper left corner of this field will be placed a fixed number of pixels from the bottom edge of the specified field defined in the Y Anchor field.
In the Y Anchor property, select the field that will be used to determine the location of the field on the Y-axis. The property is only displayed when the Y Anchor Type pop-list is set to Relative to Field.
In the Width property, enter the width of the field in pixels.
In the Height property, enter the height of the field in pixels.
In the Expand Type pop-list, select the option that best defines how the field will be sized. Choices are Expandable and Fixed No Scroll Bars.

When set to Expandable,the field will be at least the size of the Width and Height values, but it can be larger.
When set to Fixed No Scroll Bars, the field will be the exact size defined using the Width and Height values.
Example: an address block on a report may be fixed size, while the block for the line items on an invoice will be expandable so that all line items will be visible when the report is generated.

In the Hide If property, enter the conditions under which this field will be hidden. The field will be hidden on the block when the conditions are met. When an entry is made in this property, the Show If property will be hidden.

Expressions are entered in this field using formulas and are evaluated on the server side.
When the expression entered in this field evaluates to true, the field will be hidden. The evaluation of the expression occurs when the entity is generated, and not when the user is making modifications to fields on the block. (i.e. This does not "watch" user input in a field and dynamically show a field; everything is locked in when the entity is first output).
Example: $$VENDOR.ACTIVE$$ = 'Y'
Hide the field if the value of the active field on the vendor block is set to Y when the entity is generated.
Example: starts-with( $$CUST_NO$$, 'NDS')
Hide the field only if the customer number starts with NDS.
The code entered in this field can also include and/or expressions:
And is indicated by two ampersands &&
Or is indicated by two vertical lines ||

Example: ($$XEPHR_ENTITY_NAME$$='MENU')&&($$NEXTMENU$$='MM')
Hide this field if the current entity is the MENU entity and the NEXTMENU global value is set to MM.

Example: ($$CUST_NO$$='NDS')||($$CUST_NO$$='')
Hide this field is the customer number global is set to NDS, or the customer number global is null or doesn't exist.

In the Show If property, enter the conditions under which this field will be displayed. The field will be displayed when the conditions are met. When an entry is made in this property, the Hide If property will be hidden.

Expressions are entered in this field using formulas and are evaluated on the server side.
When the expression entered in this field evaluates to true, the field will be displayed. The evaluation of the expression occurs when the entity is generated, and not when the user is making modifications to fields on the block. (i.e. This does not "watch" user input in a field and dynamically hide a field; everything is locked in when the entity is first output).
Example: $$VENDOR.ACTIVE$$ = 'N'
The field will be displayed when the value of the active field on the vendor block is N when the entity is generated.
Example: number( $$ORDER.TOTAL$$) = 0
Displays the field if the value of the total field on the order block is zero.
The code entered in this field can also include and/or expressions:
And is indicated by two ampersands &&
Or is indicated by two vertical lines ||

Example: ($$XEPHR_ENTITY_NAME$$='MENU')&&($$NEXTMENU$$='MM')
Show this field if the current entity is the MENU entity and the NEXTMENU global value is set to MM.

Example: ($$CUST_NO$$='NDS')||($$CUST_NO$$='')
Show this field is the customer number global is set to NDS, or the customer number global is null or doesn't exist.

In the Z Order property, enter the order in which the field will be displayed in comparison with the other fields on the block.

Z order affects fields when they overlap one another. For example, if you had 2 fields of the same size in the same location on the block, one with a Z order of 10, and the other with a Z order of 20, the one with the Z order of 20 will be displayed because it was generated last.

Z order also affects the order in which the fields are selected when tabbing through fields. Generally, tabbing through the fields is ordered according to the order in which the fields were output for standard fields such as checkboxes, text fields, links, and might include images and labels depending on the browser . A Z order of 1 indicates that the cursor should be placed in that field when the page is loaded. Tabbing from that field will take the cursor to the next highest Z order. If two fields are assigned the same Z order, their output order in relationship to each other is in effect random.

Different browsers may use a different tab order. Depending on the browser, some field types may or may not be able to be accessed by tabbing, including links, images, and labels.
The Created on property displays the date and time on which this field was created and cannot be changed.
The Modified on property displays the date and time on which this field was last changed, and cannot be modified.
Press the [Save] button to save the changes.

Non-Database Label Fields

In the Explorer Tree, locate the field that you wish to modify.

Expand the Template Information object, locate the desired template and expand it. Locate the block on which the field exists and expand it. Select the field that you wish to modify and display the Property Sheet for it.
Expand the Group Information object and any sub-groups until you can select the desired entity and expand it. Locate the block on which the field exists and expand it. Select the field that you wish to modify and display the Property Sheet for it.

Modify the block properties. These will either be displayed in Alphabetical or Logically, depending on the setting of the [Sort Alphabetically/Logically] button. The following instructions are assuming that the properties are sorted logically.
In the Name property, the name assigned to the field when it was created will be displayed. It can be changed, if desired.

For fields on parameter forms, the value entered in the Name property will be the name of the global variable set when the button that runs the entity is pressed. For example, if the name of the field is CUST_NO, the name of the global variable set will be CUST_NO. Globals are only set for a field when the Target Column property is not defined.
In the Description property, enter a user-defined description for this field.
In the Type pop-list, select the desired field type. Choices are:

Currency
Date (Only)
Date and Time
Numeric
Text

In the From Database pop-list, select true if the field value will be taken from the database. Select false if the field value will be user-defined.

See the Database Label Fields section if this property is set to true.
In the Size property, enter the character size for this field.
In the Default Value property, if this field will have a default value on New and QBE screens, enter the value here. See the Default Values for Fields section for more information.
Set the Visible pop-list to true if the field will be displayed on the entity. Select false if the field will be included on the entity, but not displayed.
In the Display As property, select Label for this field.
In the Target Column property, for fields on parameter forms, select the block and field on the report that will be restricted by the value entered in this field on the parameter form. For more information, see the Parameter Forms section.

If the block is a QBE block from which a spreadsheet will be generated for the list results, select the block and field on the spreadsheet that will be restricted by the value entered in this field on the QBE block. For more information, see the Spreadsheet Generation for Query Results section.
In the Hyperlink To property, enter the linking information for the field.

This is also where Database Function Calls and Links between Entities should be entered. When possible, relative URL's should be entered (/xephr/show/entity) rather than absolute URL's (http://test1.ndsasp.com/xephr/show/entity).

HREF links and Javascript should always use single quotes ( ' ) instead of double quotes ( " ).
During runtime, the status bar of the browser shows the actual HREF of the link being accessed. This HREF may not be what you wrote here in the property sheet, as this value will go through several transformations to handle "live" data. Most notably, $$BLOCK.FIELD$$ will be translated to what the browser is expecting to see in order to access the requested data. For Internet Explorer 6, this will be something like'"document.forms["BLOCK1"].elements["FIELD"].value '; for another system it could be something completely different.

If the Hyperlink To property contains an entry, in the Hyperlink Scripted pop-list, select true or false.

When this pop-list is set to true, it indicates that the entry in the Hyperlink To property is a script. If you entered a Database Function Calls or a Link between Entities, this pop-list should be set to true.

When this pop-list is set to false, it indicates that the entry in the Hyperlink To property is a direct link and not a script.
If the Hyperlink To property contains an entry and the Hyperlink Scripted property is set to false, in the Use New Window property, if the link in the Hyperlink To field needs to open in a new window, set this pop-list to true. Otherwise, set the pop-list to false.
In the Link Style pop-list, select the style to be applied to links for this field. If set to (from parent), the style used will be the Link Style from the block properties.
In the Field Style pop-list, select the style to be used for this field on this block on this screen. If set to (from parent), the default field style for the block will be used.
In the Display Only pop-list, select true if the data for this field will only be displayed as text on the screen and cannot be modified. Select false if the data in this field should be displayed as a field.
In the Editability property, select the setting that determines whether the data in the field will be editable.

Always Editable: the data in this field will be displayed in a form field, and can be modified.

Editable on New Only: the data in this field will be displayed in a form field and can be modified in New mode only.

Never Editable: the data in this field will be displayed in a form field, but cannot be modified.
In the Format Mask property, select the format mask for this field from the list of pre-defined format masks.

Date and Date/Time fields must have a format mask entered. Format masks can only be applied to date, date/time, and numeric type fields.
Xephr expects dates returned from the datasource to be in the format defined in the datasource. The format mask is then applied to the date returned from the datasource.

For more information, see the Format Masks section.
In the Is Formula pop-list, select true if the field contains a formula. Select false if the field does not contain a formula.

When set to true, the Formula property will be displayed and the Contents property will be removed.
In the Formula property, enter the formula for this field. This field is only displayed when the Is Formula pop-list is set to true.
In the Contents property, if this field will display a value by default, enter the value here. Only visible non-formula fields have this property. For Labels, this is the value that will be displayed for the label.
In the Requests Focus pop-list, if this field is the field in which the cursor should start when the screen opens, select true. Otherwise, select false.

Only one field on the block should have this pop-list set to true. If multiple fields are set to true, the entity generator determines at random the field that is selected first. .
In the On QBE pop-list, select true to include this field on the screen in QBE mode. Select false to prevent the field from being displayed in QBE mode.

When this pop-list is grayed out, it indicates that the On QBE pop-list has been set to false at the block level. It must be set to true at the block level to be able to be changed here.
In the On New pop-list, select true to include this field on the screen in New mode. Select false to prevent the field from being displayed in New mode.

When this pop-list is grayed out, it indicates that the On New pop-list has been set to false at the block level. It must be set to true at the block level to be able to be changed here.
In the On List pop-list, select true to include this field one the screen in List mode. Select false to prevent the field from being displayed in List mode.

When this pop-list is grayed out, it indicates that the On List pop-list has been set to false at the block level. It must be set to true at the block level to be able to be changed here.
In the On Edit pop-list, select true to include this field on the screen in Edit mode. Select false to prevent the field from being displayed in Edit mode.

When this pop-list is grayed out, it indicates that the On Edit pop-list has been set to false at the block level. It must be set to true at the block level to be able to be changed here.
In the X property, enter the location in pixels of the top left corner of this field on the X-axis (horizontal) of the layout screen. You can change this here, or it will be changed when you move the field with the Designer Tool.
In the Y property, enter the location in pixels of the top left corner of this field on the Y-axis (vertical) of the layout screen. This value is used in conjunction with the Y Anchor Type setting. You can change this number manually, or it will be changed when you are altering the layout with the Designer Tool.
In the Y Anchor Type pop-list, select the container for this field. Choices are Fixed and Relative to Field.

When set to Fixed, the upper left corner of this field will be placed a fixed number of pixels in relation to the upper left corner of the field's parent. The number of pixels is defined in the Y field for the block.

When set to Relative to Field, the upper left corner of this field will be placed a fixed number of pixels from the bottom edge of the specified field defined in the Y Anchor field.
In the Y Anchor property, select the field that will be used to determine the location of the field on the Y-axis. The property is only displayed when the Y Anchor Type pop-list is set to Relative to Field.
In the Width property, enter the width of the field in pixels.
In the Height property, enter the height of the field in pixels.
In the Expand Type pop-list, select the option that best defines how the field will be sized. Choices are Expandable and Fixed No Scroll Bars.

When set to Expandable,the field will be at least the size of the Width and Height values, but it can be larger.
When set to Fixed No Scroll Bars, the field will be the exact size defined using the Width and Height values.
When set to Fixed with Scroll Bars, the field will be the exact sized defined using the Width and Height values, but there will be a scroll bar that allows you to scroll up or down within the block or field.
Example: an address block on a report may be fixed size, while the block for the line items on an invoice will be expandable so that all line items will be visible when the report is generated.

In the Hide If property, enter the conditions under which this field will be hidden. The field will be hidden on the block when the conditions are met. When an entry is made in this property, the Show If property will be hidden.

Expressions are entered in this field using formulas and are evaluated on the server side.
When the expression entered in this field evaluates to true, the field will be hidden. The evaluation of the expression occurs when the entity is generated, and not when the user is making modifications to fields on the block. (i.e. This does not "watch" user input in a field and dynamically show a field; everything is locked in when the entity is first output).
Example: $$VENDOR.ACTIVE$$ = 'Y'
Hide the field if the value of the active field on the vendor block is set to Y when the entity is generated.
Example: starts-with( $$CUST_NO$$, 'NDS')
Hide the field only if the customer number starts with NDS.
The code entered in this field can also include and/or expressions:
And is indicated by two ampersands &&
Or is indicated by two vertical lines ||

Example: ($$XEPHR_ENTITY_NAME$$='MENU')&&($$NEXTMENU$$='MM')
Show this field if the current entity is the MENU entity and the NEXTMENU global value is set to MM.

Example: ($$CUST_NO$$='NDS')||($$CUST_NO$$='')
Hide this field if the customer number global is set to NDS, or the customer number global is null or doesn't exist.

In the Show If property, enter the conditions under which this field will be displayed. The field will be displayed when the conditions are met. When an entry is made in this property, the Hide If property will be hidden.

Expressions are entered in this field using formulas and are evaluated on the server side.
When the expression entered in this field evaluates to true, the field will be displayed. The evaluation of the expression occurs when the entity is generated, and not when the user is making modifications to fields on the block. (i.e. This does not "watch" user input in a field and dynamically hide a field; everything is locked in when the entity is first output).
Example: $$VENDOR.ACTIVE$$ = 'N'
The field will be displayed when the value of the active field on the vendor block is N when the entity is generated.
Example: number( $$ORDER.TOTAL$$) = 0
Displays the field if the value of the total field on the order block is zero.
The code entered in this field can also include and/or expressions:
And is indicated by two ampersands &&
Or is indicated by two vertical lines ||

Example: ($$XEPHR_ENTITY_NAME$$='MENU')&&($$NEXTMENU$$='MM')
Show this field if the current entity is the MENU entity and the NEXTMENU global value is set to MM.

Example: ($$CUST_NO$$='NDS')||($$CUST_NO$$='')
Show this field if the customer number global is set to NDS, or the customer number global is null or doesn't exist.

In the Z Order property, enter the order in which the field will be displayed in comparison with the other fields on the block.

Z order affects fields when they overlap one another. For example, if you had 2 fields of the same size in the same location on the block, one with a Z order of 10, and the other with a Z order of 20, the one with the Z order of 20 will be displayed because it was generated last.

Z order also affects the order in which the fields are selected when tabbing through fields. Generally, tabbing through the fields is ordered according to the order in which the fields were output for standard fields such as checkboxes, text fields, links, and might include images and labels depending on the browser . A Z order of 1 indicates that the cursor should be placed in that field when the page is loaded. Tabbing from that field will take the cursor to the next highest Z order. If two fields are assigned the same Z order, their output order in relationship to each other is in effect random.

Different browsers may use a different tab order. Depending on the browser, some field types may or may not be able to be accessed by tabbing, including links, images, and labels.
The Created on property displays the date and time on which this field was created and cannot be changed.
The Modified on property displays the date and time on which this field was last changed, and cannot be modified.
Press the [Save] button to save the changes.

Xephr is a registered trademark of NDS Systems, LC.