Progress
Programming
Handbook


Understanding Browse Widgets

A browse widget is a representation of a query. A query is the list of database records from one or more tables that match the supplied selection criteria. A browse is an object that displays data from the query in rows and columns. A row represents the data of a single record. A column represents all the values of a particular field. A row and column intersection, called a cell, represents the value of the field (column name) in that particular record. A user can scroll up and down the rows, and left and right through the columns, as shown below:

The browse widget comes with a broad range of functionality and design options that can accommodate many different browse uses. For example, the browse can be a read-only index to database records from which users launch dialog boxes and windows that let them work with the selected record. The browse can also be a large spread-sheet-like application with in-line editing, color and font support, calculated fields, and user input validation.

NOTE: Progress does not support fonts in character interfaces.

Whether a single browse widget is the center of your application or just one component, the browse assumes an important role in event-driven database applications. To use browse widgets effectively, you need to understand default behavior and functionality, as well as how to hook browse widgets into the rest of your code. This chapter presents the fundamental design and programming topics related to browse widgets. For a description of all browse functionality, including attributes and methods not covered here, see the DEFINE BROWSE Statement reference entry and the Browse Widget reference entry, both in the Progress Language Reference .


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