KimG
Qrew Cadet
Joined 6 years ago
User Profile
User Widgets
Contributions
Re: Pipelines not running due to Mixed Encoding issues
I don't really have any good answers for you, but feel your pain. We also have run into this issue with pipelines. Also we have old notes that are now filled with diamond question marks where a curvy apostrophe or quote, or a micron symbol once was. Sometimes I'm not quite sure what the character originally was. We also have thousands of these so it's not possible to fix them all. I was able to fix issues in a couple of tables that only had a few instances, but not in all the tables. One thing I would check is to see if you have any of these characters in the field names of the tables, because I think removing them from field names can make a difference even if the data itself holds these "special" characters. ------------------------------ Kim G ------------------------------New forms - alignment of checkboxes doesn't match other fields
Anyone found it annoying that using different fields in a row in the new forms doesn't align well - particularly regarding the checkboxes? I have a form which has three fields in a row. Left field - is for data entry and needs a label Middle field produces a warning message depending on the data entered - doesn't need a label Right field is a checkbox, which needs a label This is how it shows up, which looks funny. For the middle field, I could select Custom label and type a space so that it would align better with the left field, but I can't do anything about the checkbox field. I have several rows of data entry, which makes the offset checkbox for not applicable is hard to tell which line it applies to. I have put this in the QB feedback. I'm sharing here to ask if anyone has a better workaround, and to get you to like my feedback request. You'll find it under the heading "New forms - fix alignment for checkboxes with other fields" This seems like a pretty basic need so I'm surprised it made it through beta like this. I can't imagine I'm the only one who noticed this. All of our forms currently use the labels to the left rather than above the field. I didn't see a way to have the field to the left using the new forms. If that's possible, then it would fix this and I'll just feel a bit stupid for not figuring that out. Thanks for reading! ------------------------------ Kim G ------------------------------Re: Formula statement with time and time zone
Thanks Mark! That works great! Since I realized we don't always have the opening hours listed I added a second statement to capture the actual close time. Then I adjusted so it actually shows the local time too so on those accounts without an open/close time listed (particularly overseas vendors) we can have an idea if it might be the right time of day to call. Instead of "Open" it's now "Open. The local time is " &$AdjustedTime Thanks for taking time out of your vacation to help me out. My fellow QB users and I really appreciate it. Kim ------------------------------ Kim G ------------------------------Formula statement with time and time zone
My database is vendor contacts who may be in different time zones and work different hours. I'm trying to find a way to make it obvious to the person looking at the record to know if if the contact is reachable at a given moment. We are on Pacific Time. If I have a vendor on Eastern Time who is open from 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST, how can I make it obvious to my QB user looking at the record at 3:00 PM PST, that this vendor is closed. I created these fields: TimeZone - multiselect Time Open - Time Time Closed - Time Time Warning - Formula Rich Text I'm trying to write something like this: If ([TimeZone]="Pacific" AND NOW>[Time Open] AND NOW<[Time Closed]), then "Open"), If ([TimeZone]="Eastern" AND (NOW-3)>[Time Open] and Now-3<[Time Closed], then Open), else "They're closed right now." I know this formula syntax is wrong. Does anyone know what it would take to make it work? Or alternatively if there are better suggestions, I'm not locked into this setup. We do have vendors overseas so a different type of message that includes some clue to when would be the right time to call would also be helpful. I just don't want them to have to think about what time it is somewhere else. Thanks, Kim ------------------------------ Kim G ------------------------------Re: Can a button contain an if/case statement to open a specific form?
Hi Mark, The button is only clicked for data entry, creating a child record. If the button has the case in it, why would it lead to the wrong form? I tried using Sections, which I think would work if I could make the field show up twice on the form such that it only appears once because sections are hidden based on a form rule. But although you can add some fields twice to the form, you can't add all types of fields multiple times to the form. Even then, I still might run out of form rules. There are 19 types of Juice and about 50 fields for data entry. There are just too many combinations with just enough overlap in fields to make it super complicated. I really wish I could just add some more form rules. ------------------------------ Kim G ------------------------------Can a button contain an if/case statement to open a specific form?
Is it possible to use an IF/CASE statement within a Button to select a specific Form to open? I've been using 3 different forms for data entry, each with a lot of form rules, but I've run out of form rules so I think I need to create more forms to get around this limitation. My issue is how can I get from the previous data entry record/form to the right form. Right now, you get to those forms by clicking a button on another form from a different table that is the parent of the record created on my complicated table. I'm guessing instead of 3 forms with complicated dynamic rules, I really to use a lot more forms for data entry. However, I don't want to create more buttons. The data entered on the form before clicking the button should be sufficient to dictate the next step. Right now, one of my buttons that looks like this: URLRoot() & "db/" & [_DBID_SIZE_ANALYSIS_INSPECTIONS] & "?a=API_GenAddRecordForm&_fid_9=" & URLEncode ([Record ID#]) &"&dfid=14" & "&_fid_37=" & URLEncode([Juice - Record ID# of Current Vendor Inspection]) & "&z=" & Rurl() How would I add an If/case statement to this? Is that possible? What would the syntax look like? I would somehow need to reference the field selected [Related Juice] Field ID 18 that is selected on the form so that instead of: &"&dfid=14" I would need it to be something like: If case [Related Juice]="ST9004", then &"&dfid=15", If[Related Juice]="ST9003", then &"&dfid=16" etc. To give you an idea of what's going on here, let me try to give you a little background into the app. I've changed it a little in my attempts to make it easier to understand. It's a QA testing application: The story: We are supplied with juice that is tested and data recorded for quality assurance. When a batch of juice arrives: 1. It comes with some data we need to enter (call this: Vendor data) 2. We take a few test samples and enter this data (call this: Initial data) 3. We process it and take a few more tests and enter this data (call this: In-process data) All of this test data is entered in the same table, but the three types of data entered (Vendor, Initial and In-process) have some of the same fields like the sugar content, but others are different. It also is different for each Juice (for example we may only test the % pulp content for orange and peach juice, but not for apple or grape). (This is why I have a lot of form rules. The three buttons I have now are for "Vendor," "Initial" and "In-process" data entry) The Tables: · Juice Table: Records include: apple, grape, orange, peach, etc · Incoming Inspection Table: Record for each time we receive a delivery of juice; date of delivery, supplier, accept/reject, etc. · Size Analysis Inspections Table: Record for each time enter test data such as sugar content, pulp content, color, etc. o This is where the "Vendor data," "Initial Data" and "In-process data are all recorded currently using 3 separate forms for data entry o This is where I'm out of form rules because I have about 20 types of Juice and 50 data fields. Many data fields are used for several or all juices, others are used for just one type of juice or one type of inspection (vendor, initial or in-process). · Requirements Table: This table relates to both the Juice and Size Analysis table. It tells us which fields we need to record for each juice type and inspection type (vendor, initial, in-process). It also tells us when we enter data in the Size Analysis Table if is in the correct range or not. (For example, if we receive Apple juice and enter the Vendor data sugar content of 10% in the Size inspections table, but the Requirement record for that type of juice is 12-15% it will warn us that it's not sweet enough.) The Workflow: Example 1: We get a batch of Apple juice: 1. Click the button to enter a new "Incoming Inspection" record on the Incoming inspection table. 2. Fill out some data (e.g. date received, weight, # of gallons) 3. Relate it to "Apple" from the Juice Table. 4. Click a button to enter a record on the Size Analysis Inspections table to record the Vendor data or the Initial data. Example 2: We process a batch of Apple juice previously received and already recorded 1. Open the Record for the Apple Juice received that has just been processed 2. Click the button to enter a new "In-process Inspection" record 3. Fill out the data Also, to note on my real system, I have about 20 types of "Juice." There are about 50 data fields in total, but most only have data recorded for about 5 of them. There are a couple of field that are used on almost all the forms, but others that may only be used exclusively for one type of "Juice." Finally, if I simply can't use an if/case statement in button, are there other suggestions for how to improve this workflow? I'm guessing from the recent announcements about new forms coming, that this might be something I need to wait a bit to see if the new forms might be a solution. ------------------------------ Kim G ------------------------------Re: Delete parent record... ???
Hi Marcelo, I think it's an interesting question, though actually in my usage I'm kind of glad that it doesn't work that way. In my database we have a trio of tables: grandparent A, parent B, and child C, which are: A=Companies B=Contacts C=Notes. We record Notes record that show on both the Contact and the Company record. When a Contact leaves a company, they get deleted because well, too many contacts clutter the search, etc. However we want to preserve the Notes from our interactions with that person on the Company record because they may be relevant to ongoing business activities. So for us it is a good thing that we can delete that parent record (Contact) without deleting the child (Notes) which still appear on the grandparent (Company) record. I do understand however that in other situations it can be annoying because you would end up with orphan children. (That does also happen in our system in other areas which I need to do a better job of keeping track of, though it's less common.) ------------------------------ Kim G ------------------------------Re: Preparing for Automations End of Support on June 30, 2022
My automations are pretty basic, but after attending several Pipelines courses I still keep running into problems creating a new one from scratch. My cheat method - I build an Automation and immediately migrate it to Pipelines. Since we can't build new automations, I just take an old one previously migrated, rename it, completely change it to whatever I need the automation to do and then migrate it. Automations are so much more intuitive to use for those of us non-IT people who love QB because it allows us to build things we otherwise wouldn't be able to create on our own.
