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Autofind_ge Field Property

Obsolete

Refer to the Field_Options property in the DataDictionary class.

See Also

Purpose

To execute an automatic find ge (greater than or equal to) on an entry_item command.

Syntax

set field_options field file.field to dd_autofind_ge

or

entry_item file.field {autofind_ge [... option]}

File.field must have a Main Index in the definition of file.

What It Does

Autofind_ge performs a find ge (greater than or equal to) by the Main Index of file.field when an entry_item command line is executed on file.field. If a record is found whose value in the main index of df_filename.field exactly matches the values in the item and any other items whose fields participate in the index, it is displayed on the screen. If no such record is found, the record whose index value next follows that in the item(s) is displayed.

set field_options field vendor.id_code to dd_autofind_ge

When the cursor exits any DEO item attached to Field id_code in File vendor, DataFlex will search the Main Index for id_code in Database File vendor and display the record whose index value matches those in the item(s) for the field(s) that make up the index. If there is no vendor record with a matching id_code index value, the record whose index value next follows that in the item(s) is displayed.

Autofind_ge is useful for finding records on partial entries to items or, in multi-segment indexes, by keys for only the first segment or segments (rather than all of them). All non-unique indexes, for example, are multi-segment (being composed of at least one field plus the record number), and since the record number is not usually a known entered key value, autofind_ge is the only way to automatically find by a non-unique index.

It is not necessary that fields for which entered key values are used be addressed by entry_item commands in the same order as they are in the index. The file definition for file must specify the search index as the Main Index for file.field.

Notes

  • Autofind_ge uses the main index for file.field to search by.

  • You may use autofind_ge with any indexed file.field regardless of whether the index is unique or non-unique.

  • When you are using autofind_ge with a multi-segment index, place the autofind_ge option on the last field or the entry_item command that addresses the last field which participates in the index for which you wish to use an entered key value. If any field that comes before the one with the autofind_ge option on it in the index lacks an entered key value in its item, the value of that field will be considered empty (for ASCII fields) or minus infinity (for other types of fields) for purposes of the find. The found record will be the one whose value for the first such field is the lowest in the index.

  • If you want to execute an automatic find eq (equals) command for an exact match with the item contents, use autofind.

  • If entry_item commands address another file(s) to which file is related as a child, data from related record(s) in the parent file(s) will also be found and displayed.

  • Autofind_ge will always find a record unless the file has no records in it (is empty).