Grid Only Forms and Grids

The most common form type or part of a form used to display records and collections of records is a grid, which displays a collection of records using a tabular (row-column) format. A grid can constitute the sole content of a form, in which case it is called a grid form. Grids can also be used in other forms, most commonly multiview forms.

Grid-only Forms

A grid-only form is a form in which all data is displayed and modified using a grid, similar to a spreadsheet or table display.

A grid-only form displays IDO collection data using a single grid. Each row in a grid represents one record in the collection.

Grid-only forms are typically used to define and display related groups of values, settings, parameters, or codes. The collections they display are usually small with a limited amount of data.

Some fields (columns) contain display-only data, usually indicated by shaded cells. Other columns can be used to enter and modify related data. Usually, you can enter the values you want directly in editable fields, but some fields require you to select values from a drop-down list.

Grids in Other Forms

Forms that are not purely grid forms can also make use of grids to display and manipulate data.

For grids in multiview forms:

A multiview form uses a grid in one view of the form, usually the view on the left of the splitter bar.
The grid displayed in a mutiview form works similar to a grid form.

For grids in query forms:

Query forms make use of grids to display the records returned from a query using that form. These grids display in the bottom portion of the query form and are labeled Results.
For more information about Results grids in query forms, see About Query Forms.

For grids in report, activity and utility forms:

Some report, activity, and utility forms retrieve records and allow you to preview and select what records will be processed, using a grid.
For specific information about forms that use grids, see the online help for those forms.

Note: Many of these forms include a Select option (check box) for each record that is returned for preview. When you select a record using this option, the system displays a modified indicator in the row label for that record. This indicates that the record has been selected but not yet processed.

On such forms, when you select Commit and click Process, the system processes all (and only) selected records, that is, all records with the Select option selected and the modified indicator in the row label. If all selected records process successfully, then typically the system refreshes the form. Normally, when the form is refreshed, all selected records, having already been processed, no longer display.

In a case where the system is set to process records individually, there might occur an error midway through processing of records. In this case, typically, the records that were processed before the error occurred are already committed in the database. The collection is not refreshed, so they still appear in the grid; yet the modified indicator is now gone. If you then attempt again to process the records, these records are not processed again.

In a case where the system is set to process all records as a batch, and there occurs an error, the system does not complete the processing of any records. In this case, the system returns all records to the status they had before processing was attempted.