Method Community

This question is more out of curiousity than anything, though it would also have some aesthetic applications. I found a similar question being asked by jnoneiliv1 here, but no explanation was given as to the 'hidden' actions performed by the grid update/save. 

Specifically, I've noticed that when updating or saving screens with lineitems, like a Sales Order, there aren't any visible actions related to determining the "amount" field, which is a simple multiplication of 'qty' and 'rate'. "Qty" and "rate" are also set to 1 and 0.00 by default, presumably so the hidden function that calculates the "amount" doesn't get screwed up. 

I also notice the TotalAmount doesn't have any visible actions to calculate it, it just retrieves itself from the parent table upon saving. Where does the sum of line item amounts and total salestax take place?

These could all be handled by standard Method actions, but they don't seem to be. Is there a way for me to customize those actions? What if I wanted to put in a conditional telling the lineitem grid to not put automatic values into 'qty' and 'rate' if there is no item selected for a line?

Smohyee,

Some of these calculations like the Subtotal, Tax Item, Total, Payment Applied and Balance Due fields are going on behind the scenes to make sure the data entered here does not conflict with QB.  You do have the option of adding you own fields on the screen to display the these calculations, however, you will not be able to alter the calculated fields that are sent over to QuickBooks.  It's a necessary evil to ensure data is sent to QuickBooks properly.

~C

Thanks for the response Chad.

Is the same true of the Quantity and Rate fields in the line item grids? By default, if an item isn't selected the Quantity is set to 1 and the Rate is set to $0.00.

I'm thinking that I could remove those fields from the grid display, add new "Qty2" and "Rate2" fields to the line item table and to the grid display, and make it so the new fields synch with the original fields in all cases except for when Qty = 1 and Rate = 0, in which case I would have them stay blank. A complex workaround for a minor aesthetic improvement!

The same is not true for the Quantity and Rate fields (there's no background processing) in the line item grids but you shouldn't remove those fields.  If anything you should hide those columns instead of removing them.

Also keep in mind that if you have a user working inside QB, and they change values for those fields, it would only synch to the original Quantity / Rate fields.  Something to keep in mind for backwards compatibility.

~C