Progress
AppBuilder
Developer’s Guide


Configuring SmartDataViewer Properties

SmartDataViewers have properties associated both with their Fill–in components and with their nature as a procedure-based object. You can make a number of changes to those settings, if the default values do not meet your needs.

To open the property sheet associated with a Fill–in component, follow these steps:

  1. Choose File Open, select the master you wish to configure, and choose OK. The SmartDataViewer master object appears in its own workspace:
  2. Click on the Fill–in to select it, and choose Tools Property Sheet. The Property Sheet dialog box opens:
Minimal Configuration

Although you can accept many of the default settings, you might wish to make three changes:

Rearranging the Layout

The way a Viewer’s fields are laid out is also a property that can be changed, though only at the level of the master. All instances created from a given master share the same physical layout. To have different layouts for different applications, you must either create extra copies of the master and lay out each one differently—effectively creating separate masters—or use the alternate-layouts feature. See "Multiple Layouts" for information about that feature.

To create a custom layout, follow these steps:

  1. Open the master object by choosing File Open. The object opens in a design window workspace:
  2. Save the master under the name you will use for the new arrangement. Do this before you actually make any changes, so that you will not risk getting confused later and overwriting the original arrangement.
  3. Resize the workspace appropriately, drag the individual Fill–ins into the new arrangement, and save again:
  4. Note that you should make the workspace no larger than needed, since the amount of space taken up by an instance is always the same as the master’s workspace.

Other Property Changes

By default, AppBuilder predefines certain properties of each Fill–in that is used by a SmartDataViewer, and makes some of the properties read-only:

AppBuilder creates and assigns a unique identifier, and sets the other properties to conform to the field definition from the data stream. You cannot assign a different identifier or change the basic data type, but should you wish to make changes to the label, field specifications, or help string, you can do so by following these steps:

  1. Click the Database Field button, and when the dialog box opens, clear the check boxes for the properties you wish to set by hand. Choose OK to dismiss the dialog box. If you clear all three, the properties dialog box appears as shown here:
  2. You can now enter new values for the label and the format specification. If you wish to pick the format specifier from a list, choose the Format button to open that dialog box:

You can more directly change other properties:

CAUTION: Making this Fill–in Movable or Resizable (Advanced Properties) prevents this Fill–in from gaining input focus using the mouse. So if you also set this property, you effectively prevent the widget from ever gaining input focus.
Advanced Properties

A Fill–in has only the minimum Advanced Properties, but you can change those that do not meet your needs.

CAUTION: If you make this Fill–in Movable or Resizable, and you also set the No Tab Stop option in the base property sheet, you effectively prevent this object from ever gaining input focus.

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