Creating join forms

When creating entries through a join,  does not initiate a database operation. Because creating an entry in a join is not a determinate action, the system cannot automatically perform it. However, all filter operations defined for a join are performed, which requires you to define workflow that appropriately creates or modifies entries in the primary and secondary forms. For example, if you create a join between a customer and an item purchased, creating an entry through the join can be defined through workflow. With push fields filter actions, the workflow can create an entry for an item purchased or an entry for a customer.

The following procedure guides you through the process of creating a join form.

To create a join between forms

1. In AR System Navigator, expand serverName> All Objects.
2. Right-click Forms, and select New Join Form.
    The New Join Form wizard appears.
   
3. Select a primary form, and click Next.
4. Select a secondary form, and click Next.
5. In the Join Properties screen, select the options you want for your join form:
   • Join Type
     • Inner—Selects entries (or rows) only when corresponding values exist in both forms.
     • Outer—Includes all of the entries from the form that you select as primary, even entries for which no matching entries are in the secondary form.
   • Field Positioning
     • Horizontal—Arranges the fields of the primary form on the left side of secondary form fields.
     • Vertical (the default)—Arranges the fields of the primary form above the fields of the secondary form.
   • Inheritance
     • Inherit Help Text for All Fields—Takes the help text from the fields in both forms and uses it in the join form.
     • Inherit Help Text for Selected Forms—Takes the help text from fields in the forms you select and uses it in the join form.

6. Enter a qualification in the Join Criteria section.
    To use the Expression Editor to build the qualification, click the ellipsis button.
    For example, the following qualification join forms from requests with the same part numbers, you might use the following qualification:

   $Part Number$ = 'Part Number'

   Use dollar signs ($) around field names from the primary form, and use single quotation marks (') around field names from the secondary form.

   For optimal performance, use indexed fields in the join criteria. For information about indexing fields, see Defining-indexes.

7. Click Next.

8. On the Primary Form Field Selection screen, move the fields you want included in the join form from Available Fields column to Selected Fields column.

   You can join fields only if they have Input Length of 4000 or less.

9. Click Next.
10. On the Secondary Form Field Selection screen, move the fields you want included in the join form from Available Fields column to Selected Fields column.
11. Click Finish.
     The new join form appears.
12. Arrange the fields as you want them to appear in the join form. For example:
    • Add trim, buttons, panel fields, or table fields.
    • Create views for the join form.
       For information about fields in join forms, see Working-with-fields-in-join-forms. For information about arranging fields on a form, see Arranging-fields-in-a-form-view.
13. Save the form.

To modify join form properties

After you create a join form, you can modify properties that determine the characteristics of how that join form looks and performs during operations performed in a browser.

You can "swap" which form is primary and which is secondary. You can also change the type of join—inner or outer. Depending on whether you are working with an inner join or outer join, swapping forms can result in completely different criteria. For example, if the primary form (A) has three fields (1, 2, 3) and the secondary form (B) has three fields (3, 4, 5), an inner join retrieves the field that the two forms have in common (field 3), and an outer join retrieves this field and the remaining primary form fields, that is, fields 1, 2, and 3. If you swap forms so that form B becomes the primary form and form A becomes the secondary form, an inner join yields the same results (field 3), but an outer join now retrieves the fields 3, 4, and 5. For more information about inner and outer joins, see Join-forms.

The Join Information panel in the Definitions tab of  allows you to modify options specific to join forms.

Definitions tab—Join Information panel