How to Create Validation Rules on Views (141441)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows 3.0
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows 3.0b

This article was previously published under Q141441

SUMMARY

You can easily create field and row level validation rules for Visual FoxPro Tables by using the Table Designer. For local and remote views, however, the View Designers do not give you a way to visually create validation rules. For views, validation rules must be created programmatically by using dbsetprop().

MORE INFORMATION

Step-by-Step Example

  1. Create an Updatable Local View:
    1. Open the TestData database in Samples\Data under the main Visual FoxPro directory.
    2. On the File menu, click New. Select View as the file type, and then click New File.
    3. Select EMPLOYEE from the Add Table or View list.
    4. In the Fields tab of the View Designer, click Add All to move all fields to selected output.
    5. In the Update Criteria tab, ensure that EMP_ID is marked as the key field and all other fields are marked as Updatable (they should have a check mark in the pencil column). click the Send SQL Updates button.
    6. Under the SQL WHERE clause options, select Key Fields only, and then save the view as EMP_VIEW.
  2. Create a row-level Validation Rule to ensure that the Hire_date is later than the Birth_date:
    1. Type the following in the Command window:
            =dbSetProp("Emp_view","View","RuleExpression",;
                "Hire_date >Birth_date")
            =dbSetProp("Emp_view","View","RuleText",";
                'Hire date must be after birth date' ")
            USE Emp_view
            BROWSE
      								
    2. Change the value of hire_date to be earlier than birth_date, and then move off the record. The validation rule fires and the error message is displayed.
  3. Create a field level Validation Rule to ensure that the Last_name is not empty by typing the following in the Command window:
       =dbSetProp("emp_view.last_name","field","RuleExpression",;
          "not empty(last_name)")
       =dbSetProp("emp_view.last_name","field","RuleText",;
           " 'Last name cannot be blank' ")
       USE Emp_view
       BROWSE
    							
Deleting the contents of the last name field and moving to the next field causes the validation rule to fire.

(c) Microsoft Corporation 2000, All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Kevin Zollman, Microsoft Corporation.


Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/30/2003
Keywords:kbcode KB141441