> while you're on the subject: do you have anything like a
> cross reference on *what* TIB_StringLists can/must contain
> *which* syntax (or a link where to find it)? something
> like this:
>
> FieldsAlignment ::= [tablename.]fieldname=[L|C|R]
> FieldsDisplayLabel ::= [tablename.]fieldname=<text>
> FieldsIndex ::= [tablename.]fieldname
> etc.

I dont really have anything more than you already have access to, but
following is the best I can do on short notice :-)


In Connection and Datasets Fields* and ColumnAttributes properties the
entries take the form

<Name>=<value>

where <value> is according to the actual property
and where <Name> can be one of...

tablename.fieldname
fieldname
domainname
sqltype


Where domainname and sqltype will only be used by IBO if the matching
flags in the TIB_Connection.FieldEntryTypes are true.

Also where the above list is provided in the order of distinction.
That is; if "tablename.fieldname" exists it will be matched first,
otherwise a search for just "fieldname" will matched, otherwise
domainname etc.


ColumnAttributes:

The only really confusing property is ColumnAttributes, and it is
particularly confusing because I had Jason add the "DefaultNoCase" and
"DefaultNoTrailing" attributes to TIB_Connection (see the online help
for explanations of these).

To look at columnattributes a bit more closely, it takes the form:

name=attrib[=value][;attrib[=value]]...

(or something like that, I have never been very good at syntax
diagrams :-)


The available attributes that can be assigned to "name=" (where name
is one of the values explained above) are (from IB_Contants.pas)...

BINARY Flag a CHAR or VARCHAR column as binary.

BLANKISNULL Used by TIB_Column class when assigning a
blank string to a Fields member.

BOOLEAN Used to tell what values are used to make
this a boolean column.

COMPUTED It tells that the column is actually a
COMPUTED BY derived column.

CURRENCY Flag to indicate a column contains currency.

NOCASE Flag to set a case insensitive search field
can take the form "NOCASE=fielda" to indicate
that "fielda" contains the case insensitive
duplication of the "name" field.

NODATE Indicates DATE field contains only time info

NOSOUNDEX Disable soundex processing in a dataset
(if it was enabled at the connection level)

NOTIME Indicates DATE field contains only date info

NOTRAILING Flag to use STARTING on literal strings

NOTREQUIRED Field is not required, whatever the attributes
may otherwise indicate. (Perhaps it is set
in a trigger at the server.)

REQUIRED Field is required.

SOUNDEX Flag to set a SoundEx search field
can take the form "SOUNDEX=fielda" to indicate
that "fielda" contains the soundex value
of the "name" field.

YESCASE Flag to override connection.DefaultNoCase

YESLIKE Flag to use LIKE on literal strings

YESTRAILING Flag to override connection.DefaultNoTrailing

NOROUNDERR These are used with IBOs ability to interpret
CURR double fields as 53bit integers. This is probably
COMP redundant now that IB6 has 64bit integers.



You will also find that some of the other properties use attribute
style definition - such as FieldsReadOnly. Mostly these are explained
in the online help.

One stringlist that been missed documentation is
TIB_Dataset.OrderingLinks that can take the form of either...

[tablename.]fieldname=n
OR
[tablename.]fieldname=ITEM=n[;POS=m]

It cannot use domainname/sqltype because it refers to particular
fields. The first form describes which item number in the
OrderingItems the link refers to (and so ITEM=n is the same
indication). POS=m is used to indicate how many characters should be
typed before starting an incremental search.


I hope this is of some help.

Geoff Worboys
Telesis Computing