Database - functionality for front end application

[Cubist at aol.com]

sez janschenkel at yahoo.com
>Try the following script instead :
>
>on keyDown pWhichKey
>  if the length of me > 10 then beep
>  else
>    send "Capitalize" to me in 5 milliseconds
>    pass keyDown
>  end if
>end keyDown
>
>on Capitalize
>  put the selectedChunk of me into tChunk
>  put upper(me) into me
>  select tChunk
>end Capitalize
>
>Beware that the above script doens't fix 'pasted'
>text, nor text that gets into your field via
>'drag-and-drop'. There are ways of handling that,
>however.
>Have a look at the Transcript Dictionary entries for
>the 'pasteKey' and 'dragDrop' messages.
   Keep the Capitalize handler simple -- don't bother with exceptions. 
Instead:

on keyDown pWhichKey
  if the length of me > 10 then beep
  else
    send "Capitalize" to me in 5 milliseconds
    pass keyDown
  end if
end keyDown

on Capitalize
  put upper(me) into me
  send "Capitalize" to me in 200 milliseconds
end Capitalize

   Since there's only one field that needs the capitalization and length 
controls, you can get way with putting the "keyDown" and "Capitalize" handlers in 
that specific field. But if you had multiple fields that need to be all-caps, 
you might consider putting those handlers in the card or group or stack 
script, as appropriate; that way, one handler would take care of every field, as 
opposed to one handler *per* field. Of course, you would have to keep track of 
which field you're capitalizing at any given time...

   Okay, here's a thought. Let's say you have your database stuff in a group, 
containing multiple data-entry fields; give each of these fields some custom 
properties, like so...

   CapVal -- allowable values: "UC" for UpperCase, or "LC" for LowerCase, or 
"AT" for As Typed.
   DataLen -- allowable values: Any positive integer.

   ...and put this into the stack script:

on openStack
  -- do the usual setting-up stuff
  send "DataCheck" to me in 1 millisecond
end openStack

on DataCheck
  repeat with K1 = 1 to the number of fields
    if the customKeys of field K1 do not include "CapVal" then next repeat
    -- I've prolly messed up the syntax here, but you get the idea, right?

    put me into Fred

    -- first: take care of capitalization
    if the CalVal of field K1 = "UC" then
      put upper (Fred) into Fred
    else if the CalVal of field K1 = "LC" then
      put lower (Fred) into Fred
    end if

    -- next: take care of length issues
    if the length of Fred > the DataLen of field K1 then
      beep 2 times
      put char 1 to DataLen of Fred into Fred
    end if

    -- if you wanted to perform other data-verification tasks
    -- on multiple fields, put 'em here. note that if some of those
    -- tasks impinge on each other (if, for example, you had
    -- one operation that *increased* the length of a field,
    -- that could impinge on length limits), you may have to be
    -- careful about the order in which you do things

    if Fred <> field K1 then put Fred into field K1
  end repeat

  send "DataCheck" to me in 200 milliseconds
end DataCheck

   The above is a rough draft, strictly off-the-top-of-my-head, but hopefully 
someone may find the concept useful...