form-only lookup

Question

How can I create a form-only look up in Informix 4GL? I am using form painter plus the informix SE. Any help would be appreciated. I tried to create the form but the field is empty while selecting the choice. I think I am missing the relation or something.

Answer 1

Since I4GL doesn't come with a form painter, the only ways to know what you can do with it is by reading the manual for your form painter, or by experimenting.

I'm also not entirely sure what you mean by a FORMONLY lookup? It could be any of a number of items. But the basics are that the field in the form is FORMONLY.fieldname TYPE xyz where xyz is the appropriate type. You use a CONSTRUCT or INPUT to get data into that field; you process the input to do the lookup. INPUT is more appropriate for an exact value lookup; CONSTRUCT will allow more flexible querying.

Since you've not shown what you've tried, nor indicated which form painter you're using, it is going to be hard to help further.

(And I note you've asked this question on the IIUG (International Informix Users Group) mailing list for 'classics' too.)

Answer 2

FORMONLY is the equivalent of DISPLAYONLY in isql perform screens. Why not just define the database columns in the attributes section and use the NOUPDATE attribute for each column, or use BEFORE EDITUPDATE OF tabname, ABORT?