I'm using a dbGrid control to allow the user to select a given record
from a table. Once he has done this, I want to pop up another form
(triggered either by a double-click on the dbGrid or by pressing a
button) which allows the user to view or edit just that record.

I would like the dbEdit controls on the second form to be able to access
the same datasource as the one that I have defined on the parent screen.
But this gives an "Invalid property value" if I set the datasource to
either "DataSrc" or "frmParent.DataSrc" from Object Inspector.

Failing this, I could easily define the same table and datasource on the
child screen, but then I have the problem of making sure that I position
the current record in the "child table" at the same place as in the
table on the parent screen.

In Clipper I'd use the recno() function to identify which record had
been selected on the parent screen and then "go saved_recno" on the
child screen. What's the equivalent way of doing things in Delphi?

Hi Martin,

P.S. I tend put all my TTables & TQueries in ONE DataModule-type form and  
then reference this one form in all my other forms that have data-aware  
components. I also have the DataModule the first form that is created in  
the project so there is no danger of referencing tables that don't exist  
yet.

Hope this helps. :)

You're almost there.  In the OnShow routine for the child form, set the
datasource for the controls to MainForm.Datasource1 or whatever.  Remember this
has to be a datasource, not the table itself. Alternatively, you could put a
TTable and TDatasource on the child form, then link them to the record on the
main table by specifying, again, in OnShow, the MasterSource and linked fields
for the second table.  BTW, in D3 you can do this all at design time.

In article <01bd152d$17938f60$ce44a8c2@mu>, "Martin Underwood"

JefSummers <jefsumm...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19971231153801.KAA04...@ladder02.news.aol.com>...

Steve Koterski (Borland database support) suggested placing a DataSource
on the child form and linking all the dbEdit fields to it (using Object
Inspector), then setting

DataSource1.DataSet := Form1.Table1;    {link child's dataset to parent's
table}

in the child form's OnShow procedure.

This gets me a lot further, but I've still got a problem. The dbEdit
fields are blank and won't accept any input. Having defined the DataSet
for DataSource1, I presume for each dbEdit control I need to define the
corresponding field name DataField. In the OnShow function I've tried
putting statements of the form:

DBEditAddrSurname.DataField := frmSelectAddress.AddrTab.AddrTabSURNAME;

where:  DBEditAddrSurname       is a dbEdit control

                frmSelectAddress        is the parent form (what Steve
                                        called Form1")

                AddrTab         is the table object (what Steve
                                        called "Table1")

                AddrTabSURNAME  is the corresponding field, as
                                        displayed by Object Inspector; in
                                        Fields Editor (and the Paradox table
                                        itself) it's called SURNAME

But this won't compile - it gives "field identifier expected", pointing
at "AddrTab.|AddrTabSURNAME" (cursor denoted by "|").