First, thanks to everyone for the information provided so far! I have spent many hours the last couple of days wandering around the FA code, and your pointing me in the right direction has been very helpful.
Unfortunately, while I can get the general idea of how the code is working, I just don't have sufficient PHP coding skills to truly understand what's going on. FA is a very complex application, with many nested functions (i.e. functions calling other functions), and it's just too over my head and mind boggling.
So, let me explain what I'm trying to accomplish and then, maybe, someone with more skill that I can do it if they have the desire and time to do so.
Currently, in the purchasing module, when I'm using Purchase Order Entry, Direct GRN, or Direct Invoice I can hit F2 to pop-up the purchasing/manage/suppliers.php screen, create a new supplier and then click the "Select" button at the bottom of the screen. When I do this, the purchasing/manage/supplier.php screen closes and fields on the purchasing screen (PO Entry, Direct GRN, or Direct Invoice) are populated with the data for the new supplier. This is very handy as I don't have to leave the purchasing screen to create a new supplier.
Now, let's go to another scenario. I'm entering items on the PO Entry, Direct GRN, or Direct Invoice screen. I suddenly realize that the item I want to enter isn't in the database. So, I now have to go over to the inventory module, create the item, and come back to the purchasing screen to finish entering my PO, GRN, or invoice However, before I can continue, I must refresh the purchasing screen so that it will pick-up the new item in the database. When I do this, I lose all previously entered items and have to start all over!
This isn't a big deal if it happens at the beginning of entering items, but if I have entered a lot of items it can be really frustrating! And it's even more frustrating if it happens multiple times while trying to enter the same PO, Direct GRN, or Direct Invoice! So, what I do now is before I go into the purchasing module to create a PO, Direct GRN, or Direct Invoice, I use inventory/manage/items.php to check each item to make sure it's in the database. This is a lot of extra work for me, but is better than getting half-way through a PO, Direct GRN, or Direct Invoice and having to start over again because one or more items isn't in the database.
So, what I'm looking for is where I can hit another function key when I'm entering items into a PO, Direct GRN, or Direct Invoice which will pop-up the inventory/manage/items.php screen so that I can create a new item. When I'm finished doing that, I click on the "Select" button at the bottom of the inventory/manage/items.php screen. It then closes and the fields on the line in the items section of the PO, Direct GRN, or Direct Invoice screen are updated with the data for the new item. I can then save that line and carry on with entering the rest of my PO, Direct GRN, or Direct Invoice. No more having to refresh the screen and start entering items all over again!
I hope the above explanation is clear? If not, let me know and I'll try explaining again. If this is easily do-able, I think it would greatly improve FA's functionality in the purchasing module. If it's not easily do-able, I guess I'll just have to keep checking items using inventory/manage/items.php and creating new items before I go into purchasing and use the PO, GRN, or invoice screens.
Thanks, again, for all your help! I really do wish I were knowledgeable enough to figure this out on my own. Maybe I will be someday, but not today.
Regards,
Chris