Desktop Layout Controls
Description
An Alpha Anywhere User Guide to the Desktop.
- Name
- Description
- Creating a Tabbed Control
Tabbed controls provide a familiar, tabbed interface that you can use on a form to organize fields, controls, and other objects. For example, you have a form in which you enter invoice information. By creating a tabbed control, you can have one tabbed page on which you fill in customer information, one page on which you enter billing information, and a third page on which you enter individual line-items.
- Creating Flyover Effects
Button1, Button2 and Button3 demonstrates the effect of OnFlyover and OnFlyoverLeave events on a button. If you sketch a new button on the CustQueryReport form, you will see that the OnFlyover and OnFlyoverLeave events are already defined to turn the underline attribute of the button's label on and off. This demonstrates the power of stylesheets and the effect of a form's default stylesheet (more about this below).
- Disabling the Maximize and Minimize Buttons
Disabling the maximize, minimize, and other window menu functions prevents the user from closing or resizing it. The following procedure disables the functions circled in red.
- Dynamically Changing the Bitmap on a Button
In order to understand how to dynamically change the bitmap on a button, you will first have to understand more about owner-draw strings by reading the next lesson. The next lesson includes an example on this topic.
- Placing ActiveX Controls
You may place ActiveX controls developed by other companies onto Alpha Anywhere forms. To place an ActiveX control:
- Placing Check boxes, Radio Buttons, and Lists
A check box, radio button, list, or edit combo box is a variation of a type-in control that is bound to a table field. In each case the user has the option of selecting from two or more pre-defined values. In the case of an edit combo box, the user can also enter a new value.
- Placing Text Controls
Text controls consist of frames which contain text. You can use them to create any labels, explanations, or titles you need on a layout. Field captions are text controls. To create a text control:
- Placing Type-In Controls
Type-In controls allow you to input and edit the values of data fields and variables. You can place a type-in control in two ways.
- Setting Choices for Check boxes
A data field displayed as a check box sets only two predefined values.
- Setting Choices for Two State Buttons
A data field displayed as a two state button sets only two predefined values.
- Setting Control Properties
Some topics include: setting the field type, record list - list box, enabling allow shrinking, enabling always modeless, setting the display font, enabling and disabling miscellaneous properties, etc...
- Specifying User Defined Choices
This topic describes how to enter user defined choices for the following form control types:
- Using the Button Genie
The Button Genie lets you easily create buttons that perform single or multiple steps. For example, you can use the Action Scripting Editor to create a custom script that executes the following actions when a user clicks a button:
- Using the Drag and Drop List
The Drag-and-Drop List provides an easy way to place data fields, system fields, calculated fields, and variables on a layout. The Drag-and-Drop List window will list all the available data fields for your layout.
- Using the Toolbox Panel
The Toolbox panel contains a collection of layout tools. Each tool is used either to create new objects, such as the Bitmap Tool which lets you insert pictures, or move objects, such as the Horizontal Shift Tool which lets you move multiple objects left or right. You can place a data field on a form by selecting one of the field data controls on the Toolbox panel and sketching its outline on the form.