Progress
Language Tutorial
for Windows


Menus and Menu Options

Most of the tools in the Progress toolset have a menu bar. The menu bar appears at the top of the tool display and provides access to most of the functionality in the tool. Table 2–2 provides a short description of the functionality available on each menu in the Procedure Editor.

Table 2–2: Procedure Editor Menus 
Menu
Description
File
Create new edit buffers; open text files that contain Progress language statements; save the contents of an edit buffer to a text file; print the current buffer; escape to the operating system; exit the Procedure Editor.
Edit
Manipulate blocks of text in edit buffers; insert a text file or a database field into the current edit buffer.
Search
Search and replace text in the current edit buffer; go to a specified line position in the current edit buffer.
Buffer
Navigate among open edit buffers.
Compile
Run, compile, and check the syntax of the Progress code contained in the current buffer.
Tools
Access other tools in the Progress toolset.
Options
Customize the Procedure Editor.
Help
Get information about the current tool, system messages, the 4GL, and the Progress system.

Navigating the Menu Bar and Choosing Menus Options

To choose a menu, point to the menu title on the menu bar with the mouse pointer and click. A pull-down menu with a list of options appears. Choose an option by clicking it. To close a menu, click the menu name or anywhere outside the menu.

Figure 2–3 displays the File pull-down menu of the Procedure Editor.

Figure 2–3: File Pull-down Menu

You can execute menu options using your cursor keys. For example, to exit the Procedure Editor, you can choose the Exit menu command from the File menu. The following information explains how to choose the Exit option with the cursor keys:

  1. Press ENTER-MENUBAR (ALT) to activate the menu bar.
  2. Use the ¨ and keys to navigate through the menus on the menu bar and highlight the File menu.
  3. Press the Ø key to pull down the menu.
  4. Use the Ø and ¦ keys to navigate through the menu options on the File menu and highlight the Exit menu option. Then press RETURN or ENTER to choose the highlighted menu option.

Another way to execute a menu option is to use mnemonics. A mnemonic is a character associated with a menu or menu option. If the menu bar is active, you can type a mnemonic to display a menu or to execute a menu option. All menus and menu options in the Progress toolset have a mnemonic. The mnemonic is the underlined character from the label of the menu option and must be unique within a menu or the menu bar. For example, the mnemonic for the Help menu is the character “H”.

The following steps describe how to choose the Exit option from the File menu using mnemonics:

  1. Press ENTER-MENUBAR (ALT) to activate the menu bar.
  2. Type f to display the File menu.
  3. Type x to choose the Exit menu option from the File menu.

Finally, you can also execute menu options without entering the menu bar by using accelerator keys. Accelerator keys are the quickest way to access a menu option. When a menu option has an accelerator key associated with it, the key is listed next to the option on the menu. For example, F6 is the accelerator key for the Save option. Many of the Progress key functions shown in Table 2–2 are also accelerator keys; that is, they execute menu commands.

The mouse is the best way to explore menus in a tool and find out about available menu options. Once you become familiar with a tool, accelerator keys offer a quicker way to get things done.

Progress Menu Conventions

All menu bars, menus, and menu options in the Progress toolset share several important characteristics:

Table 2–3 introduces Progress menu symbols.

Table 2–3: Progress Menu Symbols 
Menu Symbol
Description
menu option
Indicates that the menu option is a submenu. When the user chooses a submenu from a menu, additional menu options appear next to the original pull-down menu.
menu option . . .
Indicates that the menu option requires additional user input. When the user chooses a menu option with this symbol, a dialog box appears. Progress uses dialog boxes to prompt users for additional input before executing the function.
menu option
Indicates that the menu option is a toggle for a tool setting. When the symbol is present, the setting is active or in the ON state.


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