The Fields tab lists the fields associated with the selected object. The following figure shows the Fields tab.

Figure 1. Dataview dialog box with Fields tab


You can view buffer details, by selecting the buffer in the Variable pane, right-clicking to choose Dataview, and then choosing the Field tab to view all field values in the buffer. You can also add a watch.

Double-clicking on a cell in the value column makes the value editable. You can modify the value of variables, attributes (writable only) or fields by entering a different value and pressing the ENTER key. Pressing the ESC key when editing a value restores the current value and cancels the editing operation.

You can modify a field value in a buffer when the buffer contains a record; however, the modified value is not immediately stored in the database. To store the modified value in the database, you must execute the appropriate statement in your ABL code (such as RELEASE record).

Some attributes are handles to other objects (for example, the PARENT attribute of an object is the handle to the parent of that object). In this case, you can "walk the object tree" by selecting the attribute and choosing the View button. The new attribute appears in the View field (for example, if you are viewing FILL-IN-1 and select the PARENT attribute, the new attribute appears as FILL-IN-1:PARENT). If the new attribute is a valid object handle, choosing the View button refreshes the data view for that attribute. You can access the original object by selecting it from the drop-down list and choosing the View button.

You can chain object references. For example, the following object reference displays the information for a window containing a fill-in (assuming the fill-in is three levels from the window):


FILL-IN-1:PARENT:PARENT:PARENT