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.
oIt 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 unselected, 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, 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.
oAlign Left aligns a group of controls with the "left-most" control's position.
oAlign Middle centers a group of controls based on the "horizontal center" of the control group.
oAlign Right aligns a group of controls with the "right-most" control's position.
oAlign Top aligns a group of controls with the "top-most" control's position.
oAlign Center aligns a group of controls based on the "vertical center" of the control group.
oAlign Bottom aligns a group of controls based with the "bottom-most" control's position.
oSpace Horizontally spaces a set of controls based on the "left-most" control's position and the "right-most" control's position.
oSpace Vertically spaces a set of controls based on the "top-most" control's position and the "bottom-most" control's position.
oCenter Horizontally in Window centers a control "horizontally" within a parent control.
oCenter Vertically in Window centers a control "vertically" within a parent control.
oStack Left arranges a set of controls in a pile to the "left-most" control, or to the control that was selected first.
oStack Right arranges a set of controls in a pile to the "right-most" control, or to the control that was selected first.
oStack Up arranges a set of controls in a pile to the "top-most" control, or to the control that was selected first.
oStack Down arranges a set of controls in a pile to the "bottom-most" control, or to the control that was selected first.
•Use the "Size" toolbar options to adjust width and height of controls.
oShrink Width to Smallest determines the "minimum width" of all the selected controls, and then sets the "width" of the controls to that value.
oGrow Width to Largest determines the "maximum width" of all selected controls, and then sets the "width" of the controls to that value.
oShrink Height to Smallest determines the "minimum height" of all the selected controls, and then sets the "height" of the controls to that value.
oGrow Height to Largest determines the "maximum height" of all selected controls, and then sets the "height" of the controls to that value.
oGrow to Parent Width determines the width of the parent control, and then sets the "width" of the control(s) to that value.
oGrow to Parent Height determines the height of the parent control, and then sets the "height" of the control(s) to that value.
•Use the "Nudge" toolbar options to move the controls pixel by pixel.
oNudge Up moves all selected components one pixel "up".
oNudge Down moves all selected components one pixel "down".
oNudge Left moves all selected components one pixel "left".
oNudge Right moves all selected components one pixel "right".
•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.
