You want to control the number of lines that appear on a dialog that displays in “Spreadsheet” style. Quite often, the default number of lines visible on a spreadsheet style dialog are aesthetically offensive. We need to control this for two reasons: 1) its ugly; and 2) screen real estate is quite often at a premium.
Article Content
Basha Systems use a CNT prefix for specific purpose number variables, to differentiate between a “true” number variable used in document assembly templates, and those number variables used for tracking, counting & limiting. Lets presume we are dealing with a spreadsheet to enter in children’s names and DOB’s. In the dialog PRIOR to the spreadsheet dialog relating to children, create a variable something similar to Var_CNT. The prompt should be something like “How many children do you wish to enter?” In the script of the spreadsheet dialog, place the following:
LIMIT Var_CNT
This will ensure that the spreadsheet is LIMITed to the number of lines that the user has indicated are required. You may wish to REQUIRE the Var_CNT variable, so the user must enter a number to gain access.
If the spreadsheet dialog is actually “Spreadsheet on Parent”, you should script the dialog so that it doesn’t even appear until such time as the Var_CNT variable has been answered. Using this approach, the REQUIRE option is redundant.