Adding a control to a window

If required, you can add all of the available controls to a window at one time using the Auto populate Window action.

You can delete a control by selecting it, then pressing Delete. If you delete a related control or a group box, all of the controls that are part of that related control, or are positioned in the group box are also removed from the window.

To add a control to a window:
  1. Open the required window, and expand the Attributes tree.
  2. Select the required attribute, then click the Window Editor.
    The control appears on the window.

You can also double-click an attribute to add it to the Window Editor.

  1. Resize the control as required.
  2. In the Properties grid, specify the relevant information.

Not all of the available properties are detailed here, and not all of the listed properties are available for all controls. For an explanation of additional properties, you can select the property and view its help at the bottom of the property grid. Different types of controls have different properties, depending on the type of control you are adding to the window.

Is Mandatory – Indicates whether the control must be completed before the user can progress through to the next stage of the process. Select True to make the control mandatory, and False to make it optional. The default value is set to False.

Show on Window – Indicates whether the control is visible or hidden. Select True to display the control. Select False to hide the control.

Tab Index – Determines the tabbing order of the controls on the window. You may need to correct the tabbing order so that the cursor follows a logical path when you press Tab to move among the controls on the window. By default, the tabbing order is set to the order in which you add the controls to the window. For more information about setting the tabbing order, see Reordering controls.

Protection Level – Indicates whether the control is read-only, read/write or write once. The default is ReadWrite. If the control is a related control, then the control access by default is ReadOnly.

Is Tab Stop – Indicates whether the user can use the Tab key to give focus to the control.

Is Text Multiline – Indicates whether this control is a single line control or a multiline control for strings. Use Multiline controls for descriptive areas of text, notes and so on which can contain a large amount of data, rather than for controls which require only small amounts of data. The default value is set to False. To enable the multiline control, select True.

Minimum Lines (Web Access) – The number of lines that are displayed for a multi-line text box in Web Access. If you do not set a value, two lines are displayed.

End of word – Indicates that the background search is started when you reach the end of a word.

Punctuation Character – Indicates that the background search is started when you add a punctuation character.

Lose Focus – Indicates that the background search is started when your cursor moves away from this control. This is the recommended setting, and the only setting that works in Web Desk.

Whitespace Character – Indicates that the background search is started when you add a space in your text.

  1. Each label for a control has its own properties, including Text Alignment. You can choose from the horizontal values of Top, Middle and Bottom and the vertical values of Left, Centre and Right. The default is Middle Right.

The default Text Alignment is set in the System Settings. For more information, see Designer Settings.

  1. Click .