Re: Lotus Approach like "find" function (ie CTRL-F) in some libre forms client?

On Saturday 29 August 2009 4:59:14 pm Zenaan Harkness wrote:
> I am charged with migrating a Lotus Approach db + forms.
>
> Approach (97 I think :) has this function where, when viewing a record
> or within a form (or in the spreadsheet view for that matter) one can
> press CTRL-F, for "find records".
>
> The form I am on becomes a blank form (all fields cleared, but all
> fields for that form still present on the form) and I can enter text
> into any field, with wildcards. Primarily * to represent zero or more
> characters is what we use.
>
> We are just learning PG, as our Approach replacement.
>
> Is there a libre db forms client which we can use to get this same
> functionality?
>
> If not, as a last resort backup plan, can anyone recommend a proprietary
> db forms client which can achieve this functionality?
>
>
> Just to be clear on how Approach works:
>
> The "select" that occurs when pressing ENTER is an AND of each field's
> select criteria. This allows us to do a more specific search of records,
> by entering (if we know it) a small portion of extra data (eg part of a
> phone number), or a more general search (enter less of the name field
> for example, perhaps I just misspelt it and that's why I got no search
> results, so I just shorten the name to the part that I know must be
> spelt right, adding wildcards where appropriate.
>
> For example if searching for a Susan Macaby, and I don't know if she has
> a middle name or not, and I'm not sure on the spelling of her last name,
> I might search for "Susan*Ma*b*" (without the quotes) which will be
> pretty well guaranted to bring up her record. But where I know more
> information I put it, with less or no wildcards, to cause a faster
> search to occur.
>
>
> TIA
> Zenaan

I have built similar functionality using Dabo (http://dabodev.com/). Another
option is to use the Base component of OpenOffice. If you have access to a copy
of OO then enter the following search term (data;filtering in forms) in the
Help|Index Search term dialog for a more detailed explanation.

--
Adrian Klaver
aklaver(at)comcast(dot)net