Best way to change visuals in Query Designer/Wizard RB7.02 D6 EndUser

rbuser

Hi,

I need to do some visual changes to the Query Designer, Query Wizard
and the Dataview dialog. Specifically, for most users I want to
remove the SQL tab (an hence also the option in the dataview dialog)
and I want to rename and sometimes hide some of the columns in the
Table tab, Fields tab etc. I am not changing any behaviour (aside
from hiding some options/tabs/buttons).

What is the best (least intrusive) method to do this? I would like to
add some stand alone code that perhaps gets invoked on some specific
events to modify the forms once they have been created (setting
visibility and column headings there).

Is this possible or do I have to make a custom copy all of these
modules?

Thanks,
Rick Matthews
Dartek Systems Inc.

digitalmetaphors

Use the Data Dictionary to reduce the tables and fields that are available
to certain users. You can define multiple data dictionaries on a database
and then filter the datasets that feed the TppDataDictionary component at
runtime based on a "UserAccess" field in the Data Dictionary tables which
you define.

To hide tabs in the query designer, such as the SQL tab, then you can create
a custom dataview class. Here is an example:

http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/HideQDesignerTab.zip

Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

Thanks Jim,

Your sample works great in hiding the SQL button on the dataview when
the user is creating a new one via the File|New menu option. However
it is not invoked for a saved report (report explorer) and it also
doesn't hide the actual tab in the query designer.

For the dataview itself, once created and saved the next time the
buttons are back!

So, any hints on overriding the buttons on a dataview when an existing
dataview is instantiated, and for handling the query designer tabs?

Thanks

rbuser

OK sorry to be too quick off the mark. I see that older saved reports
have references to TdaADOQueryDataView and new ones will have
TmyADOQueryDataView. So I guess I need to convert the strings before
instantiation.

So, that only leaves the best method to optionally hide the SQL tab in
the query designer and to optionally hide or rename some columns in
the detail tabs.

Thanks

digitalmetaphors

If you have older reports, then you can change the class names in the
template before you load it into a report. Here is an example of loading a
binary template as ascii text so you can do this query dataview class name
string conversion at runtime.
http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/ConvertBinaryTemplateToASCII.zip


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

Thanks Jim that works great and I have use the language support tool
to update the default language to the prompts and column headings I
want.

Now, how do I optionally at run time hide some of the columns in the
top and bottom lists in the Query Designer?

I already have had to make a local copy of the Query Designer for
earlier items. So how do I best approach this?

Thanks,

digitalmetaphors

The top and bottom lists in the query designer are set in the different
TdaDualListPage descendents in daQueryDesigner.pas. See the TdaFieldPage in
particular where it overrides the CreateControls method. That is the top
list view which creates the different columns for Field Alias, Field SQL
Alias, etc...


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors