Check boxes, radio groups, and List items have predefined values that are associated with specific selection states or List elements. For example, when a check box labeled Security Clearance is checked, its actual stored value might be the string "TOP_SECRET."
When you define a check box, radio group, or List item, you specify whether it accepts fetched or assigned "other values." An "other value" is a value that does not match any of the values associated with a specific selection state (checked or unchecked), radio button in a group, or List element in a List.
To specify how Oracle Forms handles other values, set the appropriate item property: For a check box, set the Checkbox Mapping of Other Values property; for radio groups and List items, set the Mapping of Other Values property. For example, for a check box, you might set the Checkbox Mapping of Other Values property to Checked to specify that any other value that is fetched into the check box should be interpreted as the Checked value.
If you set the Mapping of Other Values property of a check box, radio group, or List item to specify that the item should not accept other values, operators will not be able to retrieve records that contain other values in the corresponding database column.
For example, when a block contains a check box that does not accept other values, operators can retrieve only records with column values that exactly match either the Value When Checked or the Value When Unchecked values. Any row containing an other value in that column would not match the block's query criteria, and so would not be displayed in the block.
When creating a data item check box, radio group, or List item, consider how that item's value is interpreted in the example record when the operator uses query-by-example in Enter Query mode. Consider a check box called Security Clearance that corresponds to a database column called CLEARANCE, and that is defined as follows:
Property |
Setting |
---|---|
Checked Value |
TOP_SECRET |
Unchecked Value |
NONE |
Check Box Mapping of Other Values |
Not Allowed |
If a form operator includes this check box in a query, the WHERE clause predicate for the block's default SELECT statement will be constructed as follows:
Check Box State |
Resulting WHERE Clause |
---|---|
Checked |
(CLEARANCE = TOP_SECRET) |
Unchecked |
(CLEARANCE = NONE) |
Oracle Forms could alternatively set the Check Box Mapping of Other Values property to Checked, so that the item accepts other values (displaying them as checked) as shown here:
Property |
Setting |
---|---|
Checked Value |
TOP_SECRET |
Unchecked Value |
NONE |
Check Box Other Values |
Checked (Other Values OK) |
Then, if the form operator elects to include this check box in a query, the WHERE clause predicate for the block's default SELECT statement will be constructed as follows:
Check Box State |
Resulting WHERE Clause |
---|---|
Checked |
(CLEARANCE <> NONE) |
Unchecked |
(CLEARANCE = NONE) |
Check Box Mapping of Other Values property