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From: castillo@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Brian Anderson)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: dBASE IV question - field specific replication key
Keywords: dBASE
Message-ID: <3337@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
Date: 10 Sep 90 18:02:34 GMT
Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 50

I've just upgraded to dBASE IV 1.1 and I was wondering if anyone had any
thoughts about how to solve the following problem:

I have a database which is 80-90% hand entered, therefore I've done as
much as possible to automate the process and save keystrokes.  One of
those functions is a replication key which will copy over certain fields
from the current record to a new record, i.e.

        1) display a record
        2) press the replicate key;
	   append a blank record,
           replace several (not all) blank fields with previous record values,
           go into edit mode with this new record

The values of the previous record fields are maintained in a series of
memory variables which are updated each time a new record is displayed.
What I'd like to do is append a blank record and go directly into edit
mode, then have a function key fill in an individual field with the
previous record contents, i.e.

        1) display a record
        2) press the add key ("add a new record")
           append a blank record
           go into edit mode
             upon pressing "F2" replace the current field with the appropriate
             memory variable contents

This would allow the victim doing all the data entry to selectively copy
data over from the previously entered record.  The requirements as to
which fields should be copied vary enough from record to record that I
can't really code it into a series of specific function keys, i.e.

        F2 - append a blank a copy over fields 1, 2, 3 and 7
        F3 - append a blank a copy over fields 1, 2, 4, 5, and 9
        etc.

Is there any way to make use of the @ GET...VALID clause, or some other
scheme to create such a field specific data replication key?  It's not
obvious to me just how to go about this, but in dBASE hardly anything
ever is.

			thanks in advance,

			Brian

-- 
"make lots of money", "enjoy the work", "operate within the law":  pick any 2
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Brian Anderson                    |  "It's hard to work in groups when you're
castillo@media-lab.media.mit.edu  |   omnipotent." - Q, ST-thg  "Deja-Q"