Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!novavax!hrshcx!hechcx!raym
From: raym@hechcx.HEC.HARRIS.COM (Ray Morin)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: ORACLE SQLFORMS GLOBAL VARIABLES
Keywords: ORACLE SQLFORMS GLOBAL
Message-ID: <635@hechcx.HEC.HARRIS.COM>
Date: 10 Feb 89 01:14:20 GMT
Organization: Harris Computer Systems Fort Lauderdale, FL
Lines: 40




Hello,
      I was wondering if anyone out there may have come across the problem
I'm trying to solve, and has come up with a workable solution. I am currently
using Oracle version 5. I am working on a production tracking/reporting system
and the applications for this project have restaints on the amount of time it
takes to enter data being collected. The users are on the manufacturing floor 
and data collection should not effect their productivity.
                   I have some forms in which data from another form must be
entered before the current form can do it's thing. This data can be entered
via an employee entering the data by calling the form from a menu or
by the current form deciding that data is needed and calling the form that
gathers this data. 
                   I would like to use global variables to get information
from the calling form that are nessessary in the called form........BUT
this would (appearently) make it nessessary to create two separate forms
                   1) to be called from the shell to collect data 
                   2) to be called from another form and make use of
                      global variables.

BECAUSE I can't figure out how to make a form that will sometimes be able
to access global variables and at other times not because they do not exist
W/O a fatal error. I would like to be able to determine if a variable exist
or not and take action ( in a trigger ) based on that information.
                    I know this probably sounds odd but it would make for
a better user interface ( they would not have to make duplicate entries )
and would make maintenance on the software easier because there would only
be one form to maintain.
                     If anyone has any suggestion the help would be greatly
apppreciated. :-)



                                    Thanks,
                                    raym@hechcx.HEC.HARRIS.COM (Ray Morin)