Properties of dialog box controls
Dialog box controls are objects you add to a custom dialog box. For example, you can add buttons, color controls, check boxes, and radio buttons. Dialog box controls have specific properties which, when configured in different ways, cause the control to perform a specific action.
Bitmap button control |  |
A bitmap button has a graphic image on its face instead of text. It can imitate the behavior of a check box, radio button, or push button. Bitmap buttons have the value of whatever button they are imitating. To specify how the button behaves, set the bitmap button’s Button type property.
There are two different ways to specify the bitmap image that appears on a bitmap button’s face. First, you can right-click the control, choose the Bitmap button properties command, and choose Bitmap. You will see a list of predefined images. Select a bitmap image from the list (it then appears under Preview) and click OK. In turn, if the Clipboard contains a bitmap image, select the bitmap button and choose Edit 
Paste to paste the image onto the button’s face. The bitmap image will be saved with the active notebook.
For more information about creating bitmap button controls, see “To add a bitmap button to a dialog box.”
Check box control | |
Check boxes present a Yes/No option to the user. The text that appears in this button is stored in its Label text property. The value of a check box is Yes when it is enabled, No when it is disabled.
For more information about creating check boxes on a dialog box, see “To add a check box to a dialog box.”
Color control | |
A color control lets the user change a color setting. When you click a color control, you can select from 42 standard colors or click More to create a custom color.
The value of a color is in the format Red, Green, Blue (RBG) where Red is the amount of red in the color, Green the amount of green, etc. Each amount is a number from 0 to 255. Each part of a color control’s value is a number between 0 and 255. For example, black is 0,0,0; white is 255, 255, 255; and red is 255, 0, 0.
In addition to the Red, Green, Blue color model, you can use the Hue/Saturation/Luminosity (HLS) or CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) to create custom colors. However, the control value is always in Red, Green, Blue format with the number range going from 0 to 255.
For more information about creating a color control on a dialog box, see “To add a color control to a dialog box.”
Combo box control | |
Combo boxes are a special type of list box that lets the user add items to the list. The control consists of an edit field, a down arrow button, and a list box (which only appears when the user clicks the down arrow or presses the down arrow key on the keyboard). You can make a combo box store a history list of the entries that have been typed into its edit field. This history displays as the combo box’s list and is set through the History property.
The value of the combo box is the value of its edit field. There are several ways users can change a combo box’s value. First, they can choose the edit field and enter the value (you can disable this by setting the Edit disabled property to Yes). Second, they can press the down key to move through the list, and press ENTER on the desired choice (pressing ENTER also clicks the dialog box’s default button, which typically closes the dialog box. To disable this, set the Terminate dialog property to No). Finally, they can click the down arrow button next to the edit field to display the list, and click the desired choice (to remove a combo box’s down arrow button, set the Add down button property to No).
There are two ways you can specify the items that appear in a list box. You can copy a block to the Clipboard, then select the list box and click Edit Paste. Each row of the block becomes one item in the list. Or, if your list is already in a block in the notebook, right-click the list box, choose the Properties command, then choose List, type or point to the block coordinates, and click OK.
For more information about creating combo box controls, see “To add a combo box to a dialog box.”
Edit field control | |
An edit field is where a user types specific information. You can use the Field type property to restrict the type of information an edit field accepts.
|
•
|
|
String — accepts any text a user enters (including numbers); this is the default edit field type.
|
|
•
|
|
Real — accepts any number or formula.
|
|
•
|
|
Block — accepts only cell addresses or block coordinates.
|
|
•
|
|
Hidden — accepts any text, but displays a pound sign (#) for each character instead of the actual character. This is handy when users are entering passwords.
|
For more information about creating edit fields on dialog boxes, see “To add an edit box to a dialog box”.
Edit integer control | |
The Edit Integer control is an edit field that only accepts integers. You create this control by placing an edit field in your dialog box, and setting the Field type property to Integer.
File control | |
A file control consists of an edit field for entering filenames and a button that displays a list of files on disk. From this list, the user can choose a filename, directory, and drive. The value of a file control determines the directory, drive letter, and filename that appears. For example, the value c:\files\qtrrep.qpw means the drive is set to c:, directory is set to c:\files\, filename is set to qtrrep.qpw, and file type is set to *.qpw (if a wildcard is specified; otherwise file types is not affected by the value). Whenever a user chooses a different directory to view, or a different filename to use, the change is reflected in the file control’s value.
For more information about creating a file control to a dialog box, see “To add a file control to a dialog box.”
Group box control | |
A group box usually contains other controls such as radio buttons or check boxes. It looks like a rectangle with a title at the top. When a group box contains radio buttons, its value is the title of the radio button chosen; otherwise, it does not have a value.
Initially, the Process value of a group box is set to Yes, and the Process values of radio buttons within the group box are set to No. In addition to the Value property, the group box has a property called Selected that indicates numerically which of its radio buttons is chosen, starting from the top-left radio button (zero) and proceeding to the bottom-right button.
For more information about creating a group box, see “To add a group box to a dialog box.”
Label control | |
A label is simply descriptive text that you place beside another control to describe the control’s purpose to the user. Labels do not have a value. Resizing a label does not increase the text size; it makes a larger background to display the text on.
To see the background of a label, select it. By default, the label text appears in the upper left corner of its background; to specify a different position for the label text, right-click the label, click the Properties command, and use the Text draw flags property. You can also use Text draw flags to create a multiple-line label and word-wrap the label text so that it fits in the label background.
You can enter special text items in a label to change its appearance. A double backslash (\\) inserts a backslash (\) into the text. You can use this to enter \n or \t into a label as normal text. An ampersand (&) makes the character to the right of it appear underlined in the text (the ampersand does not appear). This is handy for naming controls. Use only one & character; if you use two, the & character appears underlined in the text.
For more information about creating labels, see “To add a label to a dialog box control.”
List box control | |
A list box displays a list of items to choose from. Whichever item the user picks becomes the value of the list box. There are two ways to specify the items that appear in a list box. Use the Clipboard and each row of a cell block becomes one item in the list. Or, use the List property if your list is already in a block in the notebook.
For more information about creating list box controls, see “To add a list box to a dialog box.”
Push button control | |
A push button runs a specified command when the user clicks it. If you want to have a macro run when the user clicks a push button, add a DOMACRO link command to the push button. Push buttons do not have a value. If you want to make a push button close the dialog box, use the Button type property.
For more information about adding a button control to a dialog box, see “To add a push button to a dialog box.” For information about creating link commands, see “Attaching actions to dialog box controls.”
Radio button control | |
Radio buttons, when placed in a group box with other radio buttons, present a list of mutually exclusive choices to the user; only one radio button can be chosen at a time. When the user chooses one of the radio buttons, it darkens to indicate that it is chosen.
By default, a radio button’s Process value property is set to No, and the group box containing it has Process value set to Yes. When its Process value property is set to Yes, a radio button has a value of Yes when chosen, No when not chosen.
For more information about creating radio buttons, see “To add a radio button to a dialog box.”
Rectangle control | |
A rectangle can be used to visually organize controls in a dialog box, similar to the way group boxes are containers for controls. Rectangles do not have a value.
For more information about creating a rectangle control, see “To add a rectangle control to a dialog box.”
Scroll bar control | |
Scroll bars let the user pick a value from a fixed range of values. You can use a vertical scroll bar or a horizontal one. The value of a scroll bar is an integer from a fixed range of integers. Use the Parameters property to restrict the range of values that horizontal and vertical scroll bars accept and to specify how manipulating the scroll bar changes its value.
For more information about creating a vertical scroll bar, see “To add a scroll bar to a dialog box.”
Spin control | |
A spin control is an edit field with two arrows on its edge. The user can either click an arrow to increase or decrease the spin control’s value, or type the value. The value of a spin control is always an integer. (You can use edit fields to enter decimal numbers.)
For more information about creating spin controls on dialog boxes, see “To add a spin control to a dialog box.”
Tab control | |
A tab control lets you organize settings into a notebook of controls. Clicking a tab displays controls associated with that tab. This control behaves like the tab controls found in many dialog boxes in Quattro Pro. The Active page property indicates which tab is active.
The Page list property displays commands for creating, removing, and reordering tabs. Right-click the tab control, and click the Properties option Page list.
For more information about creating tab controls, see “To add a tab control to a dialog box.”
Time control | |
A time control shows the user the current time. You can use time controls to display the current time in a dialog box or toolbar. You can also use a time control to run link commands at regular intervals or at a certain time of day. This is handy for creating toolbar controls that periodically retrieve current values from the active window. There are two ways to configure a time control for generating regular events: as a Timer and as an Alarm. Time controls do not have a value.
As a Timer, it generates the Timer event at regular intervals (for example, every two seconds). As an Alarm, the time control generates the Alarm event at a certain time of day (for example, at 5:00). The toolbar must be open; for example, an alarm set for 3:00 will not generate an Alarm event if the toolbar is not on screen at 3:00.
A time control can have both of these functions enabled simultaneously. For example, you could have a timer generate Timer events every two seconds and send out an alarm event at 5:00 to signal the end of the work day.
For more information on creating and config
uring a time control on a dialog box, see “To add a timer control to a dialog box.”