Pre-populating fields with users previous entries

I built a Travel Requests database for the company I work for. In doing the research and analysis I discovered that most people do the same return flights at varying intervals, i.e. from Office A to Office B then Office B back to Office A.

To make life easier for the users I set the Travel form to self populate the From to To fields based on the details of their last flight.

You can use this method for any application where people are repeating previous requests. Here's how to do it.

Note: Unsorted columns are in ascending creation date order

The Fields on the form:

Both fields work in exactly the same way so here is a explanantion of formula in the Home field.

Given that most users do the same return flights, you can also use the same formulas for the return flights.

Using this method, when a user creates a Travel Request the retrun flights are already filled in along with the name of their manager in

Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us

RELATED CONTENT Formula View hidden fields on Lotus Notes/Domino forms Case-insensitive @Unique version combines fields on Lotus Notes forms Provide rich-text formatting via the Profile document and Formula Using Formula language code to sort Lotus Notes messages by subject How to create dynamic JavaScript in Notes Domino without formulas Formula language button manages Deny Access list searches Retrieve Lotus Notes names from a nested group using @DBLookup Create a computed Lotus Notes field to list Personal Address Book names Show multiple Lotus Notes document fields in a single view column How to send a document as a link in a Lotus Notes email Lotus Notes Domino Formula Language View hidden fields on Lotus Notes/Domino forms Case-insensitive @Unique version combines fields on Lotus Notes forms Do I use Formula or LotusScript to include a doclink to a Notes view? Top 10 Lotus Notes/Domino coding and development tips of 2008 Provide rich-text formatting via the Profile document and Formula Top 10 Formula language tips Using Formula language code to sort Lotus Notes messages by subject How to create dynamic JavaScript in Notes Domino without formulas Stop response documents from showing in a Lotus Notes form Formula language button manages Deny Access list searches

RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary

the approver field. They love it.

What can go wrong? The lookup will return all the column values that it finds in the column for that user, if user Elvis Brown has made 6,000 flights the lookup will return a text list that 6,000 items long, at least it would if this did not blow out the limit of what a DBLookup will return. If you have that many documents then you need to be doing some archiving.

Another Tip:

Have a field called ArchiveDate, date/time - computed with this formula: @Adjust(<return-flight-date>;0;3;0;0;0;0) where <return-flight-date> is the name of th field with the date of the last flight in the journey. This formula sets the ArchiveDate to 3 months in the future from the last flight date. Once you have that you can build a simple script agent that users a date/time function called DaysBetweenThenAndNow which I posted in this Script Tip here: http://searchdomino.techtarget.com/tip/1,289483,sid4_gci899579,00.html?FromTaxonomy%2Fpr%2F283841

Rate this Tip To rate tips, you must be a member of SearchDomino.com. Register now to start rating these tips. Log in if you are already a member. DISCLAIMER: Our Tips Exchange is a forum for you to share technical advice and expertise with your peers and to learn from other enterprise IT professionals. TechTarget provides the infrastructure to facilitate this sharing of information. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or validity of the material submitted. You agree that your use of the Ask The Expert services and your reliance on any questions, answers, information or other materials received through this Web site is at your own risk.