How do I update a view with a join

Question

I have a module with database block based on a view with joins, so I am not able to perform insert, update & delete directly.
Therefore I created an unbound item that can be changed. The relevant database record is searched and updated.
So, with above work around, insert, update & delete is possible.
This works just fine.
Now, the 'save icon' in the menu (diskette icon), does not get activated automatically when there are changes to be saved. This is because the view is not changed.
So, I enable the 'save icon' manually in the when-validate-item trigger. But now when I navigate to another record, the 'save icon' gets de-activated by QMS/headstart code. This is because the view is not changed.
So, I tried set_record_property (CHANGED_STATUS) to let the application
know there are changes to be saved.
But then, I get an error:
* FRM-40654: Record has been updated by another user. Re-query block to see
change.
What is the proper way to handle this problem?
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Answer 1

Peter,
I think you've gone down the wrong track with your workaround.
You should base your form on the view and allow update and insert to the view just as if it was a table.
If you are using Oracle 8i, create an INSTEAD-OF trigger on the view in the database which redirects the DML to insert or update the appropriate table(s) instead of the view.
If you are pre Oracle 8i, in the form you can create on-insert, on-update, and on-delete triggers to redirect the DML to the appropriate table.
The only other tricky situation comes if you have items in your form that are server-derived (in the TAPI) of the table(s) in question. If so, you must explicitly code the form to retrieve these server-derived values. Also note that with a view, you cannot have a server derived primary key since there would be no way to retrieve it in the form. (Views don't have a rowid.) You must derive primary key columns in the form when the form is based on the view.
Regards,
Lauri