Re: [libreoffice-users] Base: invisible subform - what to do?

I just tried out the form wizard, and got exactly what I want...so is 
this the only way to get a subform grid onto a main form? I sure hope 
not. Meanwhile, my original form has 5 list boxes on it that I 
painstakingly set up. Since I cannot get a subform grid onto that form, 
I seem to have to abandon it.

I'm hoping there's a better way out there!

Meanwhile, here's the procedure (again - this should be plain and 
obvious, in the documentation, and if it is I haven't seen it):

1. Create main table.
2. Create child (subordinate) table, with field to contain pointer to 
key of main table record to which it's to be linked.
3.Use the main menu Tool > Relationship function to specify the table 
relations.
4. User the form wizard to set up a table with a subform displayed in a 
grid.

So simple. Now...I need to also be able to do this manually, for Pete's 
sake!

t.

On 06/21/2011 10:44 PM, Tom Cloyd wrote:
> It's obvious that when initially creating a form you have the option 
> of adding a subform, but what about later?
>
> Where I come from (MSAcess) a subform is a control that goes on a main 
> form. It is linked to a table that is linked to the main table. There 
> is a subform control icon that can be clicked to cause the subform 
> control to appear on the main form. Some properties twiddling and 
> you're in business. Simple, obvious, and it works. In LO, things are 
> considerably different, it appears.
>
> I have a main form and I now want to add a subform to it. After two 
> hours of frustration, I have managed to create a subform. This whole 
> topic is given a minimal, rather confused treatment in the LO Help 
> document, and none whatsoever in "Getting Started with LibreOffice 
> 3.3". It seems that creating the subform is enough. Regrettably, I 
> actually want to SEE and USE it. I cannot find any help on that part, 
> and it isn't happening automatically.
>
> In the LO Help document (F1), looking in the index under "subforms, 
> description", then clicking Display, takes you to an article on Data 
> (huh?). Well into the article, we're reading about master and slave 
> fields. THEN, we come to "What is a subform?" This is nuts. Why take 
> this up now, after having written about it for paragraphs? I don't see 
> how this mess could have gotten through editing.
>
> Well into this paragraph, I read "The user of your document will not 
> see that a form has subforms. The user only sees a document in which 
> data is entered or where existing data is displayed." This is more 
> than nuts. Why have a subform then make it totally obscure? I can see 
> this happening if your data source is a query which displays a one to 
> one master-slave relationship, but what do we do with one-to-many 
> relationships?
>
> The remainder of this paragraph makes sense only if we are considering 
> a one-to-one master-slave relationship. What do we do with multiple 
> "slaves" (man, this terminology is grating on me... I want to free 
> those slaves)?
>
> What I NEED is a control that looks like a spreadsheet - multiple 
> records (if they exist), with multiple fields. It will be linked to 
> the main table, fields form which are already on my form. I can find 
> NO way to create this, yet it as to has to be possible. This sort of 
> thing is done all the time.
>
> More specifically, since my main form's Form Navigator clearly SHOWS 
> the subform, and I can display its properties (and thus verify that 
> it's properly linked to its source table AND the main table, what I 
> need to know is how to attach it to a control that I can SEE on the 
> main form - and it need to be a "grid" control (capable of showing 
> multiple records, all linked to the current main table record).
>
> I'm absolutely baffled as to why this basic operation is so obscure 
> with LO (or if it's not, why I cannot see how to do it!!). Main table 
> - detail forms are basic, are then not?
>
> Any help offered will be much appreciated.


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