ASK

Ask is quite a detailed key, which requests information from the user at generation time. The basic syntax is this:

$ASK [DATE | [ALL]ANIMAL | LITTER | SPECIES | LOCATION | TYPE | NUMBER | STRING] [Message]$

Note that if you are substituting any kind of string value (ASK DATE or ASK STRING), you must wrap the ASK key inside string delimiters (`` or ') otherwise you will get SQL errors.

The types are outlined below:

• $ASK DATE message$ - requests a date from the user. A popup is displayed containing the message and the user is given an ASM date control to use to select the date. The value substituted is the date selected by the user in SQL string format appropriate for the database you are using.
• $ASK ANIMAL$ - requests an animal. A popup displays a list of all animals on the shelter. The value substituted is the animal ID.
• $ASK ALLANIMAL$ - requests an animal. A popup displays a list of all animals in the database. The value substituted is the animal ID.
• $ASK LITTER$ - requests a litter identifier. A popup displays a list of the recent, active litters on the system. The value returned is the litter ID as a string.
• $ASK SPECIES$ - requests a species from the user. A popup is displayed containing a dropdown of all species on the system with an additional entry for ``all''. The value substituted is the ID of the selected species, or 0 if ``all'' was selected (use the SQL CASE statement to adapt the WHERE clause for all)
• $ASK LOCATION$ - requests an internal location from the user in the same manner as $ASK SPECIES$
• $ASK VOUCHER$ - requests a voucher from the user in the same manner as $ASK SPECIES$
• $ASK DIET$ - requests a diet from the user in the same manner as $ASK SPECIES$
• $ASK TYPE$ - requests an animal type from the user in the same manner as $ASK SPECIES$
• $ASK NUMBER message$ - requests a numeric value from the user. A box is popped up containing the message and the user is given a standard text box to enter the number in. They will not be allowed to continue until a valid number is entered. The value returned is the number.
• $ASK STRING message$ - requests a string value from the user (eg: Name, Address, etc.). A box is popped up containing the message and the user is given a text box to enter the string in. The value substituted is the string.