Re-Populate Dynamic Elements

whysguy

Greetings,

I have a DCT that makes heavy use of FormAPI to dynamically display pick-lists, and CGI server calls (via FormAPI) to populate the pick-lists. My problem is that I don't know how to re-populate those dynamic elements once the DCR has been saved. When I reopened a saved DCT, it did not display the fields that were visible, and in one case only populated the pick list with the numeric value in place of the option label.

Any suggestions on what the best approach is?

Thanks

- Billy

Migrateduser

This is a really big problem. Whatever logic you use to load the options when the DCR is created should be called when an existing DCR is opened, but it has to leave the selected option selected. This code might provide some help:

/**
* getSelectedValues( value, array )
* Returns true if the specified value appears in the specified array.
**/

function isValueInArray( value, array )
{
var result = false;

for( var i = 0 ; i < array.length ; i++ )
{
if ( value == array )
{
result = true;
}
}

return( result );
}

/**
* getSelectedValues( item )
* Returns an array of the values of the options selected in the specified
* item.
**/

function getSelectedValues( item )
{
var indexes = item.getValue();
var results = new Array();

if ( indexes == 0 || ( indexes != undefined && indexes != null && indexes != '' ))
{
var options = item.getOptions();

if ( item.getType() == 'radio' )
{
results[0] = options[indexes].value;
}
else
{
for( var i = 0 ; i < indexes.length ; i++ )
{
results = options[indexes].value;
}
}
}

return( results );
}

/**
* repopulateOptions( item, values, doSort, doRedraw )
* Repopulates the specified item with the value/labels in the values
* hashtable (object). Sorts and redraws depending on the Booleans
* provided.
**/

function repopulateOptions( item, values, doSort, doRedraw )
{
var chosen = getSelectedValues( item );
var options = new Array();

var i = 0;
for( var prop in values )
{
var selected = isValueInArray( prop, chosen );
options[i++] = new Option( values[prop], prop, selected, selected );
}

item.setOptions( options );

if ( doSort )
{
sortOptionsByLabels( item );
}

if ( doRedraw )
{
IWDatacapture.redraw();
}

return( true );
}

function populateSomething( item )
{
var config = new Object();
//could come from database (but callServer is not synchronous!) so better to populate from an XML file.
config['value1'] = 'label1';
config['value2'] = 'label2';
return( repopulateOptions( item, config, true, false ));
}

/**
* sortOptionsByLabels( item )
* Sorts the options in the specified item by their labels. All options
* must have unique labels!
**/

function sortOptionsByLabels( item )
{
var oldOptions = item.getOptions();
var optProps = new Object();
var keys = new Array();
var j = 0;

for( var i = 0 ; i < oldOptions.length ; i++ )
{
keys[j++] = oldOptions.text;
optProps[oldOptions.text] = new Object();
optProps[oldOptions.text].value = oldOptions.value;
optProps[oldOptions.text].defaultSelected = oldOptions.defaultSelected;
optProps[oldOptions.text].selected = oldOptions.selected;
}

keys.sort();
var newOpts = new Array();

for( var i = 0 ; i < keys.length ; i++ )
{
newOpts = new Option( keys, optProps[keys].value, optProps[keys].defaultSelected, optProps[keys].selected );
}

item.setOptions( newOpts );
return( true );
}