If you are not sure if your "Query-Search" field will be NULL or not you can use ( $Query-Search$ LIKE "___%" ) AND (EXTERNAL( $Query-Search$ )) This will make sure it is at least 3 characters long.
Fred -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arsl...@arslist.org] On Behalf Of Shellman, David Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 12:50 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: EXTERNAL Keyword ** Eric, We'll take a look at using this one. Thanks for the tip. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arsl...@arslist.org] On Behalf Of Roys, Eric D Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 11:33 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: EXTERNAL Keyword ** I say just skip the set field action altogether and just change the table qual to : (EXTERNAL( $Query-Search$)) AND ( $Query-Search$ != " " ) This was a tip provided years back when v5 was released and EXTERNAL() was a new concept. I don't recall who provided the tip, however, but it works and cuts down on superfluous code. -E -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arsl...@arslist.org] On Behalf Of Shellman, David Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 10:17 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: EXTERNAL Keyword ** One needs to be careful using something like 1=0. As others have noted this can cause a full table scan. On one of our forms we had 5 table fields that used the External function so that we could trigger when the tables displayed data or did not. There were Active Links that set fields to 1=0 for the use of External with the Table fields. We were seeing delays with displaying a record when the system was being used heavily. Some times, these delays were fairly lengthy. Recently I changed these Active Links to use a more realistic search against an indexed field. I replaced with some thing like 'Ticket ID' = "0". After the change the delays with displaying a record have virtually disappeared. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arsl...@arslist.org] On Behalf Of Remedy Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 7:25 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: EXTERNAL Keyword ** There is no way around the database query happening. I believe there was some discussion earlier in the week about the (1=2) submitting a wiry to the db. For your table problem, What i have done is for any of my forms that use the external(), I have an active link that fires on open window and does a set field of "(1=2)". We do this for all table fields where required. We use this a lot in our system, for both the UserTool and mid-tier and have seen no issues or performance problems. Brent... Sent from my iPhone -----Original Message----- On Jul 30, 2010, at 4:11 PM, Jason Miller <jason.mil...@gmail.com> wrote: ** Hi Lisa, It would take a little extra workflow but you could have the $Query-Search$ field default to something that will not return results. Then when the time is right replace that with your real search. You could use 1=2. I just tried it out on a test form. I also logged it client-side and it looks like it is going to query the db (maybe it is late enough on Friday where most people are not looking at the List and the 1=2 reference won't start a riot :) ************************************ Fri Jul 30 2010 15:50:30.5980 */SELECT TOP 1001 T773.C1,C536870915,C536870964,C536870965,C536871324 FROM T773 WHERE (1 = 2) ORDER BY C536870915 ASC, 1 ASC Jason -----Original Message----- On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 12:07 PM, Kemes, Lisa <lisa.ke...@tycoelectronics.com> wrote: ** I have a table that gets populated by a field that I build my query/search on. So my table qualification is: EXTERNAL( $Query-Search$) (Query-Search being the name of my field). If there is nothing in this field and someone clicks on the table, then ALL the data on that form gets pulled into that table! I was hoping that if nothing is in my query-search field then nothing would be populated into that table. :( Lisa Kemes AR System Developer Tyco Electronics 717-810-2408 tel 717-602-9460 cell lisa.ke...@te.com _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org attend wwrug10 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"