Hi there!
My application is a custom inventory management system. I want any transaction done against an inventory item to be deliberate. For example, I wanted to create a table of contents where users can alter information about an inventory item, but only that specific area. If someone wants to perform an adjustment of quantity on hand, they can see all of the information about the item, but only the necessary fields to perform the adjustment will be editable. Similarly, if someone wants to edit supplier info, they can see everything about the item, but only the supplier info will be editable. I want to know if it’s possible to do this by using subforms and making some editable, but others read-only depending on the option chosen in the table of contents.
Any ideas?
Subject: Multiple subforms on one form. Can some be editable while others are read-only?
If I understand you correctly, you could use a combonation of Computed fields and editable fields, and when the user has selected, for instance, to edit supplier information, the editable fields that represent the supplier information will display; though the computed fields for all the other information will display as well, restricting editablity for the fields. And, the same will go with all other options the user has from the table of contents.
To ensure all the fields are the same, have the computed fields’ default value be the name of the editable fields so when one is edited, the unediable version will be updated as well.
Subject: Multiple subforms on one form. Can some be editable while others are read-only?
One possibility is use subforms for input, but use computed text for display.
So when the item record is first created, all the subforms are loaded so all the information can be input the first time. But when the record is viewed in read mode, the info is displayed via computed text, not fields. (You could also create 2 sets of fields, an editable one for input and a computed one for display, but then you have all those fields in your field index.)
When someone requests to update the quantity on hand, conditions are set so that the form opens in Edit Mode and the Quantity subform is loaded, with the updatable information presented in fields, while the rest is still displayed via computed text.
Note that for much of the supplier info, you’d probably want to use separate records with their own view, and have the inventory forms look them up, rather than reinput it on every inventory item every time.
Subject: *Edit Controlled Sections might work for you!