Form properties

Abstract

This document describes properties of the DM form.

Activating the properties dialog box

To activate the properties dialog box, you must have a form opened in design mode. Then you have three possibilities:

Form property page

Overview

Form property page follows the general layout of property pages in the DM Interface Builder:

Form property page

"Lock Widgets on the Form" check box disallows dragging widgets and changing their size. This is useful when you want to fix the layout of the form. Note, that the corresponding widget properties are not locked, so you can always select a widget and edit its size and position on the basic property page.

Form properties

Title

Type: string
Dynamic: yes
Static: yes
Description: It is the text appearing in the title bar of the form.

Number

Type: integer
Dynamic: no
Static: yes
Description: This is a very important property of the form. Form number is unique across the project. It is the number that you supply as a parameter for display.

Type

Type: integer, enumeration
Dynamic: yes
Static: yes
Description: Also an important property.
The following form types are supported:
Dialog
A dialog box.
Child window
A window that is contained within other window.
Popup window
A special type of overlapped window typically used for dialog boxes, message boxes, and other temporary windows that appear outside an application's main window.
Overlapped window
A style of window meant to serve as an application's main window.
MDI Frame
A container for MDI children. This window has an inner area where any number of MDI children can reside.
MDI Child
A window which can be hosted by the MDI Frame.
Tab page
A page in the tabbed dialog.

Size and position

Type: integer
Dynamic: yes
Static: yes
Description: A group of properties specifying the position and size of the form on the screen. Position is measured relative to the top left corner of the screen. Measurement unit is pixel.

User menu

Type: boolean
Dynamic: yes
Static: yes
Description: A flag specifying whether the form will have a menu.

Modal

Type: boolean
Dynamic: yes
Static: yes
Description: A flag specifying whether the form will be displayed modal or modeless.

Auto update

Type: boolean
Dynamic: yes
Static: yes
Description: A flag specifying whether to update the form contents and dynamic properties when another form is being updated.

Display once

Type: boolean
Dynamic: yes
Static: yes
Description: A flag specifying that only one instance of the form will be displayed at a time. Trying to invoke display when the form is already shown will result in activation of the form.

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Last updated: 2005/02/02 11:51:10