2017 R2: option to retain form dropdown selections

I am trying to help the programmer from one of our sister plants. Currently, there is a form (CS2) that they fill out at the beginning of each run (see image above). I used dropdown lists for the critical fields to prevent typos that would break transferring the measurements to a database. The problem using a dropdown list has created is that while the non-critical fields can be retained for the next run (by answering "Yes" to C1), I could not find a way to retain the dropdown list selections.

I have previously tried using ASSIGN to set them, but the form still defaulted to a blank selection. Does anyone know if it possible to retain all selections and inputs for a follow-up run?

GRP_START  =GROUP/SHOWALLPARAMS=YES
C1           =COMMENT/YESNO,NO,FULL SCREEN=YES,AUTO-CONTINUE=NO,
              Is this the same order as the previous part?
              IF_GOTO/C1.INPUT=="YES",GOTO = CS2
              ASSIGN/CUSTOMER=""
              ASSIGN/SIZE="LG"
              ASSIGN/THICKNESS=3
              ASSIGN/CUT=""
              ASSIGN/MATERIAL=""
              ASSIGN/JOBNUMBER=""
              ASSIGN/SERIALNUMBER=""
              ASSIGN/FIRINGNUMBER=""
CS2          =FORM/FILENAME= C:\USERS\PUBLIC\DOCUMENTS\HEXAGON\PC-DMIS\2017 R2\DO NOT DELETE\LEXINGTONTORSOFORM.FORM
              PARAM/CUSTOMERLIST.TEXTVALUE=CUSTOMER
              PARAM/THICKNESSBOX.TEXT=THICKNESS
              PARAM/MATERIALLIST.TEXTVALUE=MATERIAL
              PARAM/CUTLIST.TEXTVALUE=CUT
              PARAM/SERIALBOX.TEXT=SERIALNUMBER
              PARAM/FIRINGBOX.TEXT=FIRINGNUMBER
              PARAM/JOBBOX.TEXT=JOBNUMBER
              PARAM/=
              ENDFORM/
              ASSIGN/PN=CUSTOMER+CUT+SIZE+THICKNESS+MATERIAL
              COMMENT/REPT,
              "Part Number: "+PN
              COMMENT/REPT,
              "Serial Number: "+SERIALNUMBER
              COMMENT/REPT,
              "Firing Number: "+FIRINGNUMBER
            ENDGROUP/ID=GRP_START

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0 cptn_slow 4 months ago

Hello Henniger123, thanks for your reply. Below are the form fields and the names of their objects. I am familiar with "EventInitialize" and "EventTerminate," but I could not figure out how to get them working. I appreciate your help with this.

FIELD	OBJECT NAME
Customer	customerlist
Thickness	thicknessbox
Material	materiallist
Plate Cut Style	cutlist
Job Number	jobbox
Serial Number	serialbox
Firing Number	firingbox

0 Henniger123 4 months ago in reply to cptn_slow

Hello, please make a backup beforehand

you can edit the form events by double-clicking on the empty field to the right of the event name in the properties window

insert the following code into the "EventInitialize" event of your Form(View):

  On Error Resume Next

  ' Dim Something
    Dim sPath As String
    Dim strLine As String

  ' path
    sPath = "C:\Users\Public\Documents\" & "pcDMIS_LastFormEntrys.txt"

  ' open file
    Open sPath For Input As #1
    
  ' read line(s)
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    customerlist.Selection = CDbl(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    thicknessbox.Text = CStr(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    materiallist.Selection = CDbl(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    cutlist.Selection = CDbl(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    jobbox.Text = CStr(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    serialbox.Text = CStr(strLine)

    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    firingbox.Text = CStr(strLine)
    
  ' close file
    Close #1

insert the following code into the "EventTerminate" event of your Form(View):

  On Error Resume Next
  
  ' Dim Something
    Dim sPath As String
    Dim strLine As String

  ' path
    sPath = "C:\Users\Public\Documents\" & "pcDMIS_LastFormEntrys.txt"

  ' open file
    Open sPath For Output As #2
    
  ' write line(s)
    Print #2, Str(customerlist.Selection)
    Print #2, thicknessbox.Text
    Print #2, Str(materiallist.Selection)
    Print #2, Str(cutlist.Selection)
    Print #2, jobbox.Text
    Print #2, serialbox.Text
    Print #2, firingbox.Text

  ' close file
    Close #2

Everything worked in my test.
(the path specified in the code must have write permissions)

you can also create the path dynamically based on the current measurement program, then the form always has the last entry for each program, but that also creates tons of txt files

Reply

0 Henniger123 4 months ago in reply to cptn_slow

Hello, please make a backup beforehand

  On Error Resume Next

  ' Dim Something
    Dim sPath As String
    Dim strLine As String

  ' path
    sPath = "C:\Users\Public\Documents\" & "pcDMIS_LastFormEntrys.txt"

  ' open file
    Open sPath For Input As #1
    
  ' read line(s)
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    customerlist.Selection = CDbl(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    thicknessbox.Text = CStr(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    materiallist.Selection = CDbl(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    cutlist.Selection = CDbl(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    jobbox.Text = CStr(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    serialbox.Text = CStr(strLine)

    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Trim(strLine)
    firingbox.Text = CStr(strLine)
    
  ' close file
    Close #1

insert the following code into the "EventTerminate" event of your Form(View):

  On Error Resume Next
  
  ' Dim Something
    Dim sPath As String
    Dim strLine As String

  ' path
    sPath = "C:\Users\Public\Documents\" & "pcDMIS_LastFormEntrys.txt"

  ' open file
    Open sPath For Output As #2
    
  ' write line(s)
    Print #2, Str(customerlist.Selection)
    Print #2, thicknessbox.Text
    Print #2, Str(materiallist.Selection)
    Print #2, Str(cutlist.Selection)
    Print #2, jobbox.Text
    Print #2, serialbox.Text
    Print #2, firingbox.Text

  ' close file
    Close #2

Everything worked in my test.
(the path specified in the code must have write permissions)

you can also create the path dynamically based on the current measurement program, then the form always has the last entry for each program, but that also creates tons of txt files

Children

0 cptn_slow 4 months ago in reply to Henniger123

Thank you so much for putting this together for me. It is successfully outputting and inputting, but it is adding extra returns after every repetition. I cannot see the returns in PC-DMIS. I illustrated them in the TXT output (first image), and it is affecting my CSV outputs (second image).
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0 WilliamL 4 months ago in reply to cptn_slow

I'm trying to read through this and see what jumps out at me for why there is returns, but I can't tell at the moment. Are you adding spaces or returns in your input commands?

I know this is already working for you, and you just have a small hiccup, but could you also use a method similar to this one I shared here?

https://nexus.hexagon.com/community/public/pc-dmis/f/pc-dmis-for-cmms/139275/export-generic-txt-not-showing-all-dimensions-pc-dmis-2022-1/810989
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0 cptn_slow 4 months ago in reply to WilliamL

I am not hitting the enter key while filling out the form. There are no spaces being entered either and I think the Trim commands during the Initialize stage would remove any that were entered.

I would like to avoid touching the exporting of the results section. The program has been successfully exporting and uploading to our database for a couple months and I do not want to risk breaking that as I am not on-site to troubleshoot. Thanks for the suggestion.
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0 WilliamL 4 months ago in reply to cptn_slow

No worries there, I understand where you're coming from. So I was researching this, and I was using Trim, LTrim, and RTrim to see if PC-DMIS would remove spaces in my comment, and it is not. I may have a typo somewhere, but it is keeping all my spaces.
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0 Henniger123 4 months ago in reply to cptn_slow

This comes from the "Line Input" where a line return is automatically added. I think there was another command that doesn't do this. I have to look for it a bit
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0 Henniger123 4 months ago in reply to cptn_slow

Hello,

I couldn't think of anything better than cutting out the line return by hand... do you have time to test it?

  On Error Resume Next

  ' Dim Something
    Dim sPath As String
    Dim strLine As String

  ' path
    sPath = "C:\Users\Public\Documents\" & "pcDMIS_LastFormEntrys.txt"

  ' open file
    Open sPath For Input As #1
    
  ' read line(s)
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Left(Trim(strLine), Len(strLine) - 1)
    customerlist.Selection = CDbl(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Left(Trim(strLine), Len(strLine) - 1)
    thicknessbox.Text = CStr(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Left(Trim(strLine), Len(strLine) - 1)
    materiallist.Selection = CDbl(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Left(Trim(strLine), Len(strLine) - 1)
    cutlist.Selection = CDbl(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Left(Trim(strLine), Len(strLine) - 1)
    jobbox.Text = CStr(strLine)
    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Left(Trim(strLine), Len(strLine) - 1)
    serialbox.Text = CStr(strLine)

    
    Line Input #1, strLine
    strLine = Left(Trim(strLine), Len(strLine) - 1)
    firingbox.Text = CStr(strLine)
    
  ' close file
    Close #1

0 Henniger123 4 months ago in reply to Henniger123

Of course you have to delete the text file once for the test (so that it is freshly created)
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0 Henniger123 4 months ago in reply to cptn_slow

you can also remove the "trim" .. maybe there are blank lines in some entries that you need
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0 cptn_slow 4 months ago in reply to Henniger123

I updated to this code and it is now working run after run. Thank you so much for your help. I never would have figured this out by myself.
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