PRB: Form.SaveAs Appears to Change Order of Added Grid Column

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SYMPTOMS

The Form.Grid.AddColumn() method allows you to add a column at run time to the grid, and have that column visually inserted between two existing columns. If the Form.SaveAs method is then used to save the form, and the form is modified by using the Form Designer, the newly inserted column appears at the end of the list of columns.

CAUSE

This is by design. The ColumnOrder property of the new column is set to one more than the current number of grid columns. When the form is saved and reopened, the ColumnOrder property affects the display order of the columns in the grid.

RESOLUTION

After adding a column through the AddColumn() method, set the ColumnOrder property of the new column prior to saving the form. The preexisting columns will have their ColumnOrder property incremented by one so that they are properly displayed when the form is reopened.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Create a new form in the Form Designer. Add the Customer and Orders tables from \VFP\SAMPLES\MAINSAMP\DATA\TASTRADE.DBC database to the data environment of the form.

2. Drag the Cust_id field from the Customer table to the form. Drag the Orders table to the form.

3. Set the following grid properties:

   Grid1.ColumnCount = 2 Grid1.Column1.ControlSource = Orders.Order_id Grid1.Column2.ControlSource = Orders.Order_date

4. Save the form as frmGrid, and run the form.

5. Issue the following commands in the Command window:

   frmGrid.Grid1.AddColumn(2) frmGrid.Grid1.Column3.Header1.Caption = "New" frmGrid.SaveAs("frmNew")

6. Note the position of the column with the header of New." Close the instance of frmGrid and open frmNew in the Form Designer.

7. Notice that the column with the New header, which appeared as the second column when the form was running, now appears as the third column of the grid in the Form Designer.

Example Resolution

To resolve the problem, insert the following line of code prior to the frmGrid.SaveAs() line in step 5:

   frmGrid.Grid1.Column3.ColumnOrder = 2