Problems with closeField

[JonathanC at ag.nsw.gov.au]

In response to my message of 07/09/2004 07:41:17 PM, which went, in part:

> The "Auto-complete" field contains a closeField handler, which checks 
its 
> contents against another field ("Auto-complete list") and offers to add 
a 
> new line, if required.
> However, the closeField handler seems to only be triggered when the 
field 
> is EMPTIED.
> Expected behaviour (i.e. closeField triggered when new text is entered 
... 
> or the field is emptied) returns when the keydown handler is removed 
from 
> the script of field "auto-complete" (or commented out).
> Then a NEW problem occurs: If you enter a word/phrase that doesn't 
appear 
> in the "Auto-complete list" field and then click out of the field, an 
> answer dialog appears:
>     Add <new text> to auto-complete list?
> If you click "Cancel", the focus returns to the "Auto-complete" field. 
> Then, if you click out of the field again, the whole thing starts again! 

> And so on, until you click "OK". 
> This is weird: Why does closeField not get triggered when (I think) it 
> should, but then get triggered when (I think) it shouldn't?
> Passing or not passing "closeField" makes no difference.

... Sarah Reichelt wrote on 08/09/2004 08:25:19 AM:

> It sounds like the field doesn't think it has changed unless you pass 
> the key messages. Perhaps you could trap openField and record the 
> original contents of the field, then on exitField or focusOut, check if 
> it has changed and offer to save that way.

Ken Ray also suggested the problem might be because I don't (normally) 
pass keyDown. Trouble is: if I add a "pass keydown" at the end, 
Eevveerryytthhiinngg  ccoommeess  oouutt  ddoouubbllee :-) (not 
surprisingly, since the script already takes care of putting or removing 
any typed characters).

Yes, I have thought of bypassing closeField altogether (1. record original 
contents of field in a global. 2. on EXITfield, compare with new contents) 
and I "sort of" got it to work (see below*), but I would like to know - 
what is it about Revolution that makes the behaviour of closeField so 
different to HyperCard?

* Here's where the 'exitField workaround' almost came unstuck for me:
If I entered a new word or phrase and then exited the field, the dialog 
"Add <new text> to auto-complete list?" popped up. If I clicked "Cancel", 
the insertion point got placed back in the field, just as if I had never 
left. I know this because, if I then clicked out of the field, the dialog 
would pop up again (so obviously the global was still its original value).
Time for _another_ workaround (!): This time, I had to add a line to 
change the global variable to the new text and then "select empty".
So, my openField & closeField handlers were now like this (new lines 
marked with "-- <<"):

on openField
  global gOrigFldContent -- <<
  put me into gOrigFldContent -- <<
  put empty into fld "Message" -- (test line only)
  pass openField
end openField

on exitField
  global autoCompleteList
  global gOrigFldContent -- <<
  if me = gOrigFldContent then pass exitField -- <<
  put "Field changed." into fld "Message" -- (test line only)
  put me into temp
  if temp <> "" and not (temp is among the lines of autoCompleteList) then
    answer "Add" && quote & temp & quote && "to auto-complete list?" \
        with "Cancel" or "OK"
    if it = "OK" then
      if last char of autoCompleteList <> return and the length of \
         autoCompleteList > 0 then put return before temp
      put temp after autoCompleteList
      put autoCompleteList into fld "Auto-complete list"
    else put me into gOrigFldContent -- <<
    select empty -- <<
  end if
  pass exitField
end exitField

Regards,
Jonathan

P.S. Sorry to anyone who tried to download my little stack (as 
"closeField_problem.zip") but failed. There were problems with our domain 
name, which have been sorted now.
I have uploaded a NEW stack that has both the old, closeField, version and 
the new, exitField, version:
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/sub/filechute/closeField_problem2.zip

Jonathan Cooper
Manager of Information / Website
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au



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