Display Controls (Magic xpa 3.x)
Display controls can be used to make programs easier to understand and use. They provide a clear and easy user interface, and can also be used to organize large amounts of data in a way that is easy to understand.
Magic xpa provides a rich selection of powerful Display controls that are easy to use. You can put together a complex GUI window in a matter of minutes. The WYSIWYG interface allows you to design your form intuitively and quickly, but you can still control size and location using hard-coded numbers, or change the parameters at runtime.
The options in the Toolbox are described in the table below.
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Control
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Name
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Description
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The selection tool in the Toolbox. Use this tool to select or unselect a control. You must select a control in order to move, resize or delete it, or to zoom to the Control Properties sheet.
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.NET
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You can upgrade the look and feel of your application by directly placing new .NET controls as part of your user interface.
See .NET Integration.
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Browser
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Inserts a Browser control that enables the display of HTML files.
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Check Box
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Inserts a check box that the user can toggle on/off. Use this type of control to represent logical variables or expressions.
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Combo Box
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Inserts a combo box containing two default items.
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Edit
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Inserts an Edit control. You can attach this type of control to a variable or an expression in the Data property of the Control Properties sheet.
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Group
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Draws a static rectangular box to group a number of controls together visually. You can include a label to describe the group.
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Image
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Inserts a graphic Image control.
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Label (Text)
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Inserts a static Label (Text) control.
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Line
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Draws a graphic line. To define the line’s color, set the Color property in the Control Properties sheet.
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List Box
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Inserts a list box control containing two default items.
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Push Button
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Inserts a push button that the user clicks to launch an event in the project.
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Radio Button
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Inserts a box for radio buttons.
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Rich Edit
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Inserts a Rich Edit control that contains a variable or expression. This control is implemented as a Rich Text control when the text originates from a BLOB variable or expression.
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Rich Text
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Inserts a Rich Text control containing static text that can be formatted during development. The formatting of a Rich Text control is not implemented on the control as a whole, but only during the editing of the selected text of the control.
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Subform
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Displays another form within the current form.
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Tab
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Inserts a Tab control containing two default tabs. You can place other control types such as Edit controls and Push Button controls on a Tab control.
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Table
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Inserts a Table control into the form. You can place other control types, such as Edit controls, and push buttons on a Table control.
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Tree
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Inserts a Tree control that displays a selected task data view in a tree style with parent and child nodes.
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You can access the controls from the Toolbox.
After you have entered a control into a form, you can assign properties to the control. Select the control with the mouse and press F5 or double-click to zoom to the Control Properties sheet.
The Control Properties sheet lets you assign variables as Data Source properties for controls, and to define properties for their format. It is important to note that the tab order in which Magic xpa accesses the variables at runtime is specified by the sequence of controls on the form.
If a variable is chosen as a Data property in more than one control in the window layout, only the last selection is updated at runtime. If it is necessary to show a variable more than once within a window layout, you must create a virtual variable for each extra occurrence of that variable, and then display the virtual variable.
When you are creating a text-based form (Class > 0), control properties that are not supported in text-based forms are disabled. This is true also for Java forms and HTML forms.
Control properties are organized into separate categories, varying with each type of control. The properties in each list also vary as appropriate to the control.
Platform specific:
The Rich Text, Rich Edit, Tree, List Box and .NET controls are not supported on mobile devices.
How Do I Automatically Drop Form Controls Using a Specific Control Model?
