Hide fields in form with recordref

jpjesus
jpjesus Member Posts: 45
edited 2006-02-02 in NAV/Navision Classic Client
I know that this topic has been discussed here before and I am almost sure about the answer I'm gonna get. Still....here it goes.

Does anyone know how to replace/change the following code

CurrForm."VAT Registration No.".VISIBLE(NOT VisibleFields(23,FIELDNO("VAT Registration No.")));

into something like

CurrForm.FieldRef.VISIBLE(NOT VisibleFields(RecordRef,FIELDNO(FieldRef)));

The purpose is quite simple:
How to get a user configurable form without having to create severall forms just to hide some fields from some users. Plus, give the Customer the possibility to decide who and when to change these options, instead of having to wait for someone to come in and change or create new forms.

I am sure we all know that maintaining severall forms by user or role is not the best solution.

I create a table were the end-user define by USERID or by ROLEID to which TABLES and FIELDS we want to deny access to the user by hiding or disabling the certain fields on the form.

Although I manage to give a certain amount of control to the end-user to configure certain fields, all must be coded on the form.
So I am looking for a cleaner, easier way to achieve the same result with minor changes to the form. Ence my idea to use of RecordRef and FieldRef to call an outside routine that would return a boolean result, although I'm almost sure it's not possible to do.

Another way I've seen mentioned here is to use a similar approach to the Change Log. Although this might avoid certain users from changing some fields it won't prevent them from seing them and it's contents.

All ideas or suggestions to solve this issue are welcome.
Joao Jesus
jpjesus@netcabo.pt

Comments

  • ara3n
    ara3n Member Posts: 9,258
    I don't think you can use Form controls the way you want. I hope with version 5, navision will be more flexible, and the new visual object type they are creating to replace forms would allow this. For right now you have to write a function and write every control to be visible or not.
    Ahmed Rashed Amini
    Independent Consultant/Developer


    blog: https://dynamicsuser.net/nav/b/ara3n
  • kine
    kine Member Posts: 12,562
    Do not expect too much from new version, you can be disappointed. Expect nothing, you will be amazed...
    Kamil Sacek
    MVP - Dynamics NAV
    My BLOG
    NAVERTICA a.s.
  • ara3n
    ara3n Member Posts: 9,258
    Yeah I agree kine, seeing the difference from 3.x to 4.x, I guess I shouldn't expect anything. Just marketing bs.
    Ahmed Rashed Amini
    Independent Consultant/Developer


    blog: https://dynamicsuser.net/nav/b/ara3n
  • jpjesus
    jpjesus Member Posts: 45
    OK. Thanks guys. I was hopping that someone might have found a way to achieve this... :whistle:

    So far I did it the hard way ](*,) ... coded all fields on each form, commented all fields not present on the form, created a table were the users can define the enabled and/or visible fields and it seems to work. 8)

    The major anoyance of this solution is that whenever a field is added to one of the tables and to the form, I'll have to go in and code it. :|

    And there are severall minor anoyances:

    1. Either in card or tabular forms, if you place the same field more than once in the form, the enabled/visible properties will only affect the first instance of the field. :-k

    2. In tabular forms, it is still possible for the user to unhide the hiden fields. And if they are smart (and they are) they can select all and cut & paste to excel. So it appears that the only way to avoid this is to removed the fields from the form. Hiding them isn't enough. :-k

    3. Since this 'security' feature is based on the table fields, all form variables are not available for the users to setup the enabled/visible properties. :-k


    Does anyone has a suggestion? :idea: :?:

    Like it was said here before, if we are waiting for Microsoft to introduce new features to solve this... well....

    Cheers,
    Joao Jesus
    jpjesus@netcabo.pt
  • jpjesus
    jpjesus Member Posts: 45
    Minor anoyances solved:

    1. Either in card or tabular forms, if you place the same field more than once in the form, the enabled/visible properties will only affect the first instance of the field. - Easy. I gave diferent names to each control and this way it's easy to manage them. :wink:


    3. Since this 'security' feature is based on the table fields, all form variables are not available for the users to setup the enabled/visible properties. - For this one I manage to find a work around: Most times these form variables are somewhat connected with other field. So I made it dependent on the property set by the user to the field I connected the variable. :whistle:
    Joao Jesus
    jpjesus@netcabo.pt

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