> > I am talking about the second bullet in > http://web2py.com/books/default/chapter/29/6#Record-representation. > > - To set the db.othertable.person.represent attribute for all fields > referencing this table. This means that SQLTABLE will not show references > by id but will use the format preferred representation instead. > > This talks about SQLTABLE, which works alright. However, when I open a > record in an SQLFORM, it doesn't use the format preferred representation. >
Are you talking about a read-only form or an update form? On an update form, it cannot use the alternative representation because the user must enter the actual field value, not merely a transformed representation of it (web2py has no general way of converting back from representations to original values, and it isn't even guaranteed that each unique representation has a unique original value). The one exception is with select widgets, which can display alternate representations, but that has to be set using the IS_IN_SET or IS_IN_DB validators. Anthony
