5.1 Configuring Individual Fields

   To configure a particular field, position the mouse over the field's label and then <Control-3> click the mouse. That is, press and hold the control key and then click the third mouse button. When you <Control-3> click on a field label, a field configuration window will be displayed as shown in figure 5.1.

  
Figure 5.1: Field Configuration Window

5.1.1 Setting the add mode options

From this window you can set the following Add Mode options:

 

Mandatory

If checked, the field must contain text before adding or modifying a record.

 

Read-only

If checked, the user will not be able to add or modify the field's value.

 

Unique

If checked, nxqddb will prevent you from entering a value that has already been saved in the database. For example, suppose you made the first name field a

  
Figure 5.2: Unique Value Dialog Box

unique field, and had previously saved a person named ``Gilbert''. The next time you try to add someone named ``Gilbert'', nxqddb will display a dialog box as shown in figure 5.2. You will not be allowed to leave the field until you enter a non-unique name.

5.1.2 Setting the searching options

  The ``Searching'' options include:

Regexp

Turns on/off regular expression searching capability.

Numeric

Turns on/off numeric searching capability.

Date

Turns on/off date searching capability.

Ranges

Turns on/off range searching.

For more details on nxqddb searching capability, please reference chapter 4.

5.1.3 Setting the type of widget

You can also decide to change the type of widget from this configuration window. From the configuration window(see 5.1), you have the option of making the field one of:  

Entry

If you choose entry, you can also set the width of the entry.

Text

In addition to specifying a width, you can also set the height of the text area. For example, if you specify a height of five(5), then nxqddb will display a text area that will visibly display five rows of data. Of course, you can use the scrollbars to view text that is beyond the view area.

Radiobutton

Like the text widget, you can specify the width and height. Additionally, you specify the radiobuttons for the user to select from. You enter these radiobutton values in the ``Values'' entry. For example, let's suppose you want to change the ``Sex'' field from an entry to a radiobutton, you would do these steps:

1. Click the ``Radiobutton'' radiobutton.
2. Enter Male Female in the Values entry.
3. Click the Ok button.

 You must specify a valid width. That is, you must enter a valid number. If you do not specify a valid width upon leaving the configuration window,

  
Figure 5.3: No width warning dialog box

nxqddb will display the dialog shown in figure 5.3.