Construct Fields and Variables Overwriting

If I have an existing form and utilize the Construct menu and the Fields and Variables and there are fields and variables on the form and I later want to add additional Fields or edit and change the size of some Field If I go through the brief ritual and want to add additional fields, etc. my existing form gets overwritten.

So I loose all the Fields I had previously constructed.

Sure there are ways to get around it but is this normal or is there a way of retaining the exiting Fields and Variables and just add Fields to an existing form?

I took the liberty of redoing the Panorama preferences but nothing changed.

I also did this in a new database created from scratch on Panorama X.

I continue to have some issues on Pan 6 database forms brought into Pan X.

Let me add that if I do the Construct again and it wipes out my initial form design if I then Do UNDO it wipes out the new Fields and Variables but does not replace the previous Fields and Variables that were originally there. I end up with a blank Form.

Panorama X has multiple Undo’s so you only needed to hit it one more time and the original objects would have been recreated.

Not unless you move them to another form temporarily and bring them back after creating a new batch. The easiest way to add to an existing group (if the new ones will be the same as the existing but only linked to a different field or variable) is to select a group of the existing objects and choose Duplicate from the tool bar. Drag the newly created objects to the new position and then reset their links to the new field or variable.

Thanks Gary. I was anticipating that.

Pan 6 did not do it that way but no big deal.

I like the duplicate trick. I had not thought about that. I was more into creating a dummy form and then copying the items and pasting them into the form I wanted to edit.

There are many ways to skin a cat. But they are all messy!

I do not get Multiple Undos. I had tried that initially and I just tried again to confirm.

When I undo the “new fields” disappear and I have no option for a second undo.

The Menu “Undo” is not active and Apple Z does not do any thing either.

When you use the Construct, it expects that there is nothing on the form that is needed. It creates based on the modifications that you make in the Construct dialog. If you do no manual modifications, you can then go back into the construct and continue to make additional modifications. If you make any manual modifications to the form, do not use the Construct again or they will get overwriten or removed or replaced.

If you wish to use the Construct for a 2nd form in the window, do it in a 2nd window, then copy the items from the 2nd window to the first window.

In general, do not use the Construct a 2nd time unless you have a single form and you have not make any modifications to the items on the form.

Thanks Robert. Another “Problem” addressed!

I am not sure why UNDO does not work so well but not a big deal. I rarely make mistakes! LOL

In general your comments are exactly what I was going to write, so thank you for saving me the time. However, I’m not sure what you mean by “unless you have a single form”. The constructor feature is independent for each form.

To clarify this a bit further, do not use Construct again if you have modified the objects created by the constructor. If you’ve added other, additional objects to the form, that’s ok, those will not be affected by running the Constructor again.

Also, the different constructors are independent. So you can Construct a Text List, and then if you construct fields and variables the Text List won’t be touched.