• A Conditional Object Example
• About Forms and Browses
• Accented Characters
• Adding Users from the Desktop
• Changing Custom Menus and Toolbars at Runtime
• Circular Tabbing on a Form
• Creating a Maximized Application with a Menu
• Creating Alpha Anywhere Help Text
• Creating Alpha Anywhere Help Text - AlphaSports
• Creating and Assigning a Startup Form
• Creating and Using a Conditional Object
• Creating Custom Menus
• Creating Menu Forms
• Creating the InvoiceItemsPie Form
• Creating Wallpaper for Your Application
• Design a Custom Menu
• Designing an Application for Alpha Five Runtime
• Displaying a Form as a Dialog Box
• Displaying the Main Menu
• Dynamic Internationalization for Desktop Application Forms and Reports
• Editing Objects
• Editing System Menus
• Editing System Toolbars
• Filter Builder
• Find by Form
• Find by Key
• Find Text
• Follow Changes and Enters
• Form Editor Control Library
• Form Events
• Form Headers and Footers
• Form Layout - Mouse Cursor Property
• Genies
• Linking to a External Help File Topic
• Managing Style Properties
• Methods for Opening Forms and Browses
• Modal and Modeless Data Entry
• Navigation
• Object Explorer
• OnKey Events on Forms
• Placing a Conditional Object
• Placing a Control on a Form
• Placing Bitmaps on a Form
• Placing Hotspots
• Placing Hyperlinks, Mail-to Links, and FTP Links on a Form
• Placing Lines and Frames
• Placing Subforms
• Prompting for User Input
• Put a Button on a Form to Open Another Form Showing Selected Records
• Put a Button on a Form to Send a Customized Email
• Query
• Querying and Sorting Child Tables on a Form
• Quick Import for a Form or Browse
• Reading From and Writing To the Data Dictionary
• Relative Addresses
• Running a Script with a Function Key
• Sales People Form
• Selecting and Opening a Form
• Selecting the Appropriate View of Your Data
• Setting Form Properties
• Setting Form Restrictions
• Setting the Tab Order
• Specifying a Window
• Startup Form Design Examples
• Synchronizing Form and Embedded Browse Record Navigation
• The Customer Information Form
• The CustQueryReport Form
• The Edit_Customer_Info Form
• The Inventory Form
• The Invoice Form
• The InvoiceItemsPie Form
• The InvoiceReportMenu Form
• The Items Form
• The Main Menu Form
• The Vendors Form
• The Window Bar
• Understanding Levels in a Form
• Using a Dialogasa Search Form
• Using a Form
• Using the Form Editor
• Using the Navigator
• Using the New Form Genie

Creating Wallpaper for Your Application

Description

What is "wallpaper" and creating wallpaper:

What is "Wallpaper"

When you run Alpha Anywhere and you have not maximized the child windows, you see a gray background behind each open window. This gray background is the application "wallpaper". Alpha Anywhere lets you design your own wallpaper by specially configuring a form to be shown as the wallpaper.

Creating Wallpaper

Alpha Anywhere allows you to enhance the presentation of your application. You can create "wallpaper" for your Alpha Anywhere application. The <FORM>.ZORDER() method, in combination with other Alpha Anywhere features, allows you to use a form (as the background for your application) that:

• contains an image (or images)

• contains links to URLs

• contains an ActiveX control, such as an Internet browser

• or any combination of the above

The technique is simple.

1. After designing your "wallpaper" form, make the form fill the MDI client area without maximizing it. Place the following statement in the form's OnActivate event.

   topparent.window_position("fill","fill")

2. To keep the form at the bottom of the stack when you open other windows and click on the wallpaper form, add the following statement to the form's OnDeactivate event.

   topparent.zorder("bottom")

3. Modify the form's properties by right clicking on the form and selecting Properties ...

4. Select the Form tab and check Hide status bar.

5. Select the Window tab and clear all of the Window style options.

6. Set the Frame style to "Dialog". Save your results.