Figure 17.20.
Selecting the repeater's
primary panel.

Select the text field tool on the Object Palette, and create a text field by clicking within the primary panel of the repeater. Create a total of six text fields. For each text field, do the following:

• Set the DataSource property to the column name that you want to display in that text field.
• Set the Datatype property to the appropriate value for the column's datatype.
• Set the Name property to the column name.
• Set the FontName property to MS Sans Serif.

As an example, Figure 17.21 displays the property sheet for the Class_ID text field.

Once you have specified the properties for each of the text items in the repeater's primary panel, add a heading to each column by selecting the static text tool on the Object Palette and placing a static text object above the repeater text field. When you have finished, test the form by right-clicking Run Form. Figure 17.22 illustrates what your form should look like when it displays the classes for the psychology department. Exit test mode, and open the Student form for the next exercise.

Figure 17.21.
Property sheet for a
text field within the
repeater's primary
panel.

Figure 17.22.
Testing the Master/
Detail form.

Using Radio Buttons

Let's look at two other objects that you can incorporate in your forms: the radio button frame and the radio button. A radio button frame typically contains two or more radio buttons. For example, suppose you wanted to modify the Student form by incorporating the student's year displayed as a group of radio buttons.

The first step is to add a radio button frame to the form.

1. Select the radio button frame icon on the Object Palette (it's in the right column, fifth from the top).
2. Left-click on the form where you want to place the radio button frame (see Figure 17.23).

Figure 17.23.
Adding a radio button
frame to a form.

3. Once the radio button frame is created, you can resize it by grabbing a corner and dragging it.
4. Align it with the other fields on the form. Right-click Property Sheet to specify the properties for the radio button frame (see Figure 17.24). Specifically, you'll need to set these properties:

Figure 17.24.
Specifying the radio
button frame properties.

5. When you have set all the properties, close the property sheet.

The next step is to add four radio buttons to the radio button frame—Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior. To add a radio button, select the radio button icon from the Object Palette (it's in the left column, third from the top). Position the pointer inside the radio button frame and left-click. Your form should look like the one displayed in Figure 17.25.

You'll need to set the properties for the radio button by left-clicking Properties. For the first radio button, you'll want to set these properties:

Figure 17.25.
Adding a radio button
to the radio button
frame.

Figure 17.26 displays the Property Sheet for the radio button. When you have finished setting the properties, close the Property Sheet. Perform the same steps to add radio buttons for Sophomore, Junior, and Senior. When you are finished, your form should look similar to the one displayed in Figure 17.27.

Figure 17.26.
Setting properties for
the Freshman radio
button.

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Figure 17.27.
Student form with
radio button frame
and four radio
buttons.

Try testing the modified Student form. As you can see in Figure 17.28, the student's year is displayed in the correct radio button.

Figure 17.28.
Testing the form with
the radio button
frame and four radio
buttons.

Displaying a Lookup Field

You will often need to add a lookup field to a form. Power Objects provides a built-in function named SQLLOOKUP that is used to execute a query and return a single column. As an example, let's look at the DepartmentClass form. Suppose that, in addition to the department ID, you also want to display the number of courses that the department offers.

1. Add a text field to the form (see Figure 17.29).

Figure 17.29.
Adding a text field
that will display a
lookup value.

2. Set the properties for the new text field by right-clicking Property Sheet. You should set these properties as shown in Figure 17.30:
   

   DataSource     =sqllookup(flugle,"select count(*) from course where
                  department_id = `" + department_id.value + "`")
   
   Datatype       Long Integer
   
   Name           NumberOfCourses
   
   ReadOnly       True
   

   As you can see, the function SQLLOOKUP contains two arguments. The first argument is the database session, and the second argument is the SELECT statement to be executed via the database session. In this example, the SELECT statement will return the number of courses from the Course table in which the Department_ID column is equal to the value currently displayed in the Department_ID text field.