Thursday, November 10, 2022
Tip of the Day: Form Designer Productivity Tips
Product.......: R:BASE X.5 and R:BASE X.5 Enterprise (Version 10.5)
Build.........: 10.5.5.11013 or higher
Sections......: Forms
Below are valuable tips to help get the most productivity out of the
R:BASE Form Designer:
. When the Form Designer is launched the main menu bar includes
options specific to the designer: Form, Edit, View, Layout, Table, and
Variables.
. When initially designing the form, you should create and place the
objects within a form so that is suitable for users with various screen
resolutions, preferable starting at 1024x768, as you never know the end
users' preferences.
. After objects are placed, and then is selected, small blue circles
appear around the four corners and four sides; called handlebars. When
more than one object is selected, red square handlebars are displayed.
The handlebars are extremely useful for editing the properties of more
than one object or moving more than one object. Hovering your cursor
over the handlebars for an individual object changes the pointer to a
double arrow. Holding down the left mouse button with the double arrow
lets you stretch or shrink the object.
. Multiple objects can be selected with the mouse cursor by lassoing
objects. The lasso appears as a dotted line while you drag the mouse
cursor. It works by starting in one corner of the work space, holding
down the left mouse button, and dragging the cursor to the opposite
corner. The lasso only needs to be touching the object in order to
select it for editing. When lassoing multiple objects that are contained
within a parent object, such as a panel, press and hold the [Ctrl] key
to lasso the objects.
. Right clicking on an object will display the context menu options.
The context menu will vary based upon the selected object.
. The properties for all field objects can be edited by right clicking
on the object and selecting "Object Property" from the context menu, or
by selecting the object and pressing the [F11] key on the keyboard. Each
object's properties vary depending on the type of control.
. Use the [Shift+Right Arrow], [Shift+Left Arrow],[Shift+Up Arrow] or
[Shift+Down Arrow] key combinations to increase width, decrease width,
increase height or decrease height of any individual control or group of
selected controls.
. Use the [Ctrl+Right Arrow], [Ctrl+Left Arrow],[Ctrl+Up Arrow] or
[Ctrl+Down Arrow] key combinations to accurately move any individual
control or group of selected controls.
. You can cut, copy and paste one or more form controls at a time,
either in the same form or between different forms. It is important to
note that when using copy and paste for form objects, the control being
copied will retain the Top, Left, Height and Width coordinates. This
logic is in place by design for the purpose of moving a control from one
form to another, where the control will appear in the same location with
the same size. This means when you copy an object that is is defined
with 800 pixels as the Left value, and paste it into a small Panel with
a 400 pixel width, the newly pasted object is another 400 pixels beyond
the panel's border, and not visible. Pressing the [Ctrl+Left Arrow] keys
will place the object where it is visible.
. You can paste external content (text, rich text, images) directly
into the Form Designer from the Windows clipboard.
. When adding several of the same type of object, select the "Sticky
Control" on the "Settings" toolbar. This will allow you to add the same
type of control until the "Sticky Control" is un-selected, preventing
several mouse click steps.
. Tables can be added and removed from forms by selecting "Tables:
Add/Remove Tables" from the main menu bar. Table relationships and
settings may be altered in the area as well.
. You can test how your form will look by running it right from the
designer. From the menu bar, choose "Form: Run Form". Press the [Esc]
key to return to the designer, as long [Esc] is not disabled within the
form's properties.
. The order in which you place objects on a form is the tab order in
which the focus moves when pressing [Tab]/[Enter] when running the form.
After making design changes to a form, check the tab order by choosing
"Layout: Change Tab Order" on the menu bar. The "Tab Order Settings"
dialog will appear with the objects on the form listed by "Control Type"
and the field properties.
. The Display Format window allows users to customize the Display
Format Mask for Database (DB) Controls. To add/modify an object's
display format, choose "Tables: Display Format..." from the menu bar.
. The Default Values window allows users to specify a default value
for the field when the form is used in the enter mode for Database (DB)
Controls. The value #DUP can also be placed in the Current Default Value
field to duplicate the value when entering multiple rows of data through
the form. To add/modify a column default value, choose "Tables: Default
Values..." from the menu bar.
. After a section of the form is finished, you can lock the objects to
prevent accidentally adjusting them with the "Lock" feature. With any
number of controls selected, choose "Layout: Lock Control". Then, when
the controls are selected, the handlebars will be grayed out.
. The status bar, across the bottom on the designer window, provides
information about the selected object such as the name, type, Component
ID, coordinates, and/or table, column and variable details.
. You should pre-define all global variables used in a form. You may
access R> Prompt window to define global variables or use [Global]
button while defining your Form Expressions. Variable may also be
pre-defined within a form's "On Before Design" action. Select "Layout:
On Before Design Action" from the menu bar to defined variables as such.
. Use the "Format" toolbar options (Font Name, Font Size, Font Style,
and Justification) to set the font, size, style, colors, and
justification of objects. Use True Type fonts (indicated by "T" icon)
when possible as these render well to the screen.
. To use the Format Toolbar's displayed font color or font background
values, simply click on the actual "Font" or "Background" text on the
toolbar.
. The "Format" toolbar contains the "Bring to Front" and "Send to
Back" buttons which are used when layering form objects on top of one
another. Use the "Existing" tab of the Object List toolbar to see the
layer order of the controls.
. The "Existing" tab of the Object List toolbar is very helpful in
finding form objects, and the properties of the objects, especially in
forms where a great number of objects are placed. The controls can be
filtered by type and parent control. Columns provide information on the
class, description, Component ID, EEPs, and Pop-up Menus. The EEPs
column displays a gold star image if a Custom EEP exists. A blue star is
displayed for external EEP files. A green star is displayed within the
Pop-up Menu column, if exists. Locked controls are listed with bold text
and a gray background color applied.
. The status bar, across the bottom on the designer window, provides
information about the selected object such as the name, type, Component
ID, coordinates, and/or table, column and variable details.
. To hide the rulers, right click on the ruler and select 'Hide' from
the speed menu options. The ruler may be displayed again by selecting
"View: Show Rulers" from the menu bar.
. The Code tab allows users to easily review and modify the command
syntax in Form Actions and for Custom EEPs. The EEP contents of the Code
tab is intentionally read only, and supports the ability to double click
the mouse or press the [Enter] key to launch the R:BASE Editor for code
modifications.
. The History tab displays created form backups, every time changes
are made to the form and then saved. A revision number and date/time are
used to track changes over time. An option is available within the
"Settings: Form Designer" to disable the History feature, if desired.
. The designer includes the option to utilize Custom Form Actions,
which allow you to build a library of your commonly used command actions
and launch them on demand. Custom Form Actions may be called upon using
the PROPERTY command or by pressing a defined shortcut key. To access
the Action Designer, select "Layout: Custom Form Actions..." from the
form menu bar.
. Use the EEP Map utility to displays all defined EEPs for a form in a
single layout, arranging EEPs by location. Any Custom EEP may be
launched in the R:BASE Editor by double clicking on the listed item, or
by selecting the "Edit..." button. The EEP Map can be launched by
selecting "Form: Document Custom EEPs: EEP Map" from the menu bar or
using the [Shift+Ctrl+M] key combination.
. To prevent unauthorized viewing of a form, assign a "Runtime
Password". To do so, choose "Form: Passwords: Set Runtime Password" from
the menu bar. A design password may also be specified.
. Use the Scrapbook utility as a repository for commonly used objects.
The "Add to Scrapbook..." menu option is available when any object is
right clicked. With the Scrapbook filled with content, those objects may
be added to a report by launching the Scrapbook and double clicking on
the desired item. The Scrapbook can be launched by selecting "View: Open
Scrapbook" from the menu bar or using the [Ctrl+Alt+B] key combination.
. The Favorites Toolbar allows users to customize their favorite
objects onto a single toolbar which stores their commonly used items.
Select "View: Favorites" from the menu bar to open the "Favorite
Controls" dialog, where desired objects may be gathered from Standard,
Database, Variables, Additional, etc. controls. The controls can be
arranged in a desired order as well. After populating a list of
favorites, the customized toolbar is displayed at the top of the Object
List toolbar.
. Use the Magnifying Glass utility to display a zoomed area of the
R:BASE environment and monitor, which is useful when editing objects
very close to each other. The Magnifying Glass can be launched by
selecting the "Utilities: Magnifying Glass" menu bar option or using the
[Ctrl+Alt+M] key combination.
. Use the "Align or Space" toolbar options to position controls
relative to one another and relative to the parent control in which they
appear.
. Use the "Size" toolbar options to adjust width and height of controls.
. Use the "Nudge" toolbar options to move the controls pixel by pixel.
. Save your work frequently to avoid losing changes should your
computer unexpectedly lose power, or fail to respond.
. Save the form and close the designer window prior to closing or
exiting R:BASE, or disconnecting from the database.
Very Best R:egards,
Razzak.
R:BASE Technologies, Inc.
https://www.rbase.com
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