Address Book Description:
This document is designed to describe the purpose and usage of the com.jFormTK Address
Book.
The
‘com.jFormTK’ "Connectivity" Glue…
The com.jFormTK Address Book
is the "Glue" that is used by the Java Form Tool Kit [com.jFormTK] to connect
information about individuals with the application forms. As a minimum, the com.jFormTK
uses a small sub-set of the com.jFormTK Address Book to link people identified within the
com.jFormTK application with the various application specific forms. The fields that are
used in each com.jFormTK application are identified in this document with the "(^)" annotation.
The com.jFormTK Address Book and Redundancy…
When should the com.jFormTK
application end user use the com.jFormTK Address Book? If the application end user already
maintains an Address Book on their computer, then the end user should continue to use the
existing Address Book. The com.jFormTK Address Book has the capability to identify a
"Reference" where the registered user's Address Book is located. If the
application registered user maintains a "physical Address Book, then the location of
that "physical Address Book should be entered into the com.jFormTK Address Book
Reference parameter.
NOTE: For most com.jFormTK
application’s, it is imperative that the application end user maintain and keep
current an Address Book of some kind. For example, for the Professional Computer Solutions
Survivors List PLUS application, an Address Book will be essential to the registered
user's survivors to locate Family members, the designated support team and the registered
user's Heirs.
The com.jFormTK Address Book is a "Data Base"…
The com.jFormTK Address Book is in
essence a "Populace Data Base", i.e. a collection of names based on a specific
criteria. For example, for the Professional Computer Solutions Survivors List PLUS
Application, the com.jFormTK Address Book criteria is the Registered Users Family, Support
Team and Heirs.
Technically, the com.jFormTK Address
Book is a "flat file (tabular) data base. There is one, and only one, entry in the
com.jFormTK Address Book per person. However, each person in the data base contains
"Relational Links" as follows:
to a com.jFormTK JFormForm
to another com.jFormTK Address Book
entry [to eliminate redundancy]
to other com.jFormTK
JFormField’s.
Fields
The following sections describe the
various fields of the com.jFormTK Address Book Object:
- Address Book Parameters…
Each com.jFormTK Address Book entry
contains the usual address book parameter [(^) Name,
address1, Address2, City, State, ZIP, Country, Phone, Fax, Cellular, Pager, Date Of Birth,
Social Security Number, E-Mail Address, Personal Web Page Address].
- Relational References…
The following fields are designed to
provide "connectivity" with the com.jFormTK JFormForm and JFormField Field
objects:
(^) Anchor:
A reference to the com.jFormTK Form [JFormForm] where "this" com.jFormTK Address
Book entry was created. Used by the com.jFormTK Address Book [AddressBook] class to
process the "Go To Form" button and by the com.jFormTK Add to Address Book
automatic post processor feature [see Run-Time References
document].
NOTE: There is an Anchor parameter for each "Type". See the "Type" description below.
(^) SameAs:
Contains a reference to another com.jFormTK Address Book entry to obtain the address
parameters [address1, Address2, City, State, ZIP, Country]. For example, in the
Professional Computer Solutions Survivors List PLUS application the "Child"
Group Data Sets may have a ‘SameAs’ reference to the child’s
‘Father’ or ‘Mother’ com.jFormTK Address Book entry. This field is
used to eliminate "Redundant" data entries.
(^) References:
Consist of multiple fields for each com.jFormTK JFormField that has a
"reference" to "this" com.jFormTK Address Book entry. For example, in
the Professional Computer Solutions Survivors List PLUS Application there is an automatic
com.jFormTK Address Book entry for the "Registered User". This entry is
automatically given an entry "type" of "Spouse". If the
"SameAs" field of a "Children" com.jFormTK Address Book entry
references the "Spouse" com.jFormTK Address Book entry, then a
"Reference" to the "Child" com.jFormTK Address Book entry is appended
to "this" Reference field. This field is used by the Java Form Tool Kit
[com.jFormTK] to manage the com.jFormTK Address Book element connectivity.
-
(^)
Entry Type…
Each com.jFormTK Address Book entry
contains a "Type" Field that is designed to describe how the associated
com.jFormTK Address Book entry is used. There may be multiple "Type" fields for
a single com.jFormTK.JAddressBook entry. For example, the "RegisteredUser" entry
in the Professional Computer Solutions Survivors List PLUS application address book may
have the following "Type" field:
"RegisteredUser, Spouse
Given the above "Type", an com.jFormTK Address Book query with types of
"RegisteredUser", or "Spouse" would return the requested com.jFormTK
Address Book parameters for this same person.
- Formula’s…
The com.jFormTK Address Book may be
provided a set of application Formulas designed to link the specified com.jFormTK Address
Book entry "Type’s" together. A com.jFormTK "Formula" is
generally used to build a list of entries to be presented to the application End User via
the com.jFormTK "Choice" JFormField. For example, in the Professional Computer
Solutions Survivors List PLUS application there is a "Family" Formula designed
to get a list of the current family members in the com.jFormTK Address Book. The
"Family" formula is as follows:
"Family=Spouse+Son+Daughter+SonInLaw+DaughterInLaw+Grandson+Granddaughter"
where the fields separated by "+" are "Type" com.jFormTK Address Book
field references.
The com.jFormTK Address Book TAB usage…
Built into the com.jFormTK Framework is
an "Optional" TAB Panel for the com.jFormTK Address Book. This com.jFormTK
feature enables the end user to view a "Selected Set" of com.jFormTK Address
Book entries. After selecting the Address Book TAB, the "Selection" panel [show
in Figure 1] is displayed. The com.jFormTK application end user may select the com.jFormTK
Address Book entries to be displayed in three methods:
All – Displays all the
com.jFormTK Address Book entries.
Via a Formula. For example, in Figure 1 the available formulas are
"Family", "Support Team" and "Heirs". See
"Formulas" discussion above.
Via a selected set of com.jFormTK
Address Book type’s. See "Types" description above.