Type-Ahead lookup (MAGIC Only)

It is possible to create a lookup field on an NPR report that exploits a “type-ahead” Z program available in MEDITECH MAGIC. The program works in both the 3.x and 4.x versions of the MEDITECH Remote Workstation. You get <OK> and <CANCEL> buttons if you are in the 4.x version.

“Type-ahead” behavior is useful if you want to zero in on the appropriate values rather than enter a partial value and then press the F9 key and hunt down or up the list.

As an example, we will create a report that does a “type-ahead” lookup on user names.

First, create a simple report in the main segment (mis.users) of the MIS.USER dictionary and add two select fields:

Next, write a macro as a program and call the MEDITECH Z.id.type.ahead.lookup program in that macro.

For this report we call the macro “id” so the program is %MIS.USER.zcus.is.type.ahead.lookup.M.id
There are a lot (A – R) of arguments that are documented at the top of the Z.id.type.ahead.lookup program, but here is what we pass:

A = ^/GUN or the “name of” the name index.
B = A (the value that the user entered in the report screen)
C = “Name”:30TL_” Mnemonic” this is the header we want per screenful of lookup entries
D = MN:30TL_”_D(34)_” “_D(34)_CD:41TL” or the line of code that will display each entry MN = the name subscript CD = the mnemonic
E = “AR” the lookup options (A for Active Only R for Reject New Entries)
F = “Users by Name”:50TL our title for the lookup window . Note that the length of the string determines the width of the lookup window. If you make it too narrow your data will wrap.
G = Number of lines “down” to start data listing
H = Q(30,0,0,””) Length of select prompt and start row and column
I = If true, show exact matches only
J = If true the structure is an index (we send 1 here as \GUN[lookup name, mnemonic] is the name index in MIS.USER)
K = If true the structure is a dictionary (we send nil here as \GUN is not a dictionary)

Our macro code (first line is broken here so the entire line is displayed):

When we call the Z.id.type.ahead.lookup program, it returns the mnemonic of the selected entry, and we store that in /SELECT so that the report knows which user to print.
We return both the mnemonic and name, so both display in the free text prompt.

If we enter a partial name and hit the F9 key:

We get a lookup which has type ahead behavior and we can add to the string to narrow down to the value we want to pick:

A copy of this example report, MIS.USER.zcus.is.type.ahead.lookup has been posted to our MAGIC NPR report library.

http://www.iatric.com/Information/NPRReportLibrarySearch.aspx.

P.S.

The Z.id.type.ahead.lookup program has documentation of arguments as comments at the top of the program, as is typical of most NPR procedures. To view them, use the F4 key in a macro and then enter \ and the name of the procedure. A lookup is available of procedures. You can use the same technique to copy the source code of programmer NPR R/W macros, except that (in MAGIC only) you need to type the name of the macro exactly. In Client Server you can use the F5 key then enter the DPM, enter M<space>procedure name and get a lookup of macro names.