Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of the R:BASE Form Designer:
•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.
•To hide Form Ruler, right click on the ruler and select 'Hide' from the context menu option.
•While working with the Form Designer in its maximized window state, you can display the "Object List" toolbar by selecting View: Toolbars: Object List from the menu bar.
•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.
•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.
•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 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.
•To prevent unauthorized editing of a form, you can assign a "Design-Time Password". To do so, choose Layout: Passwords: Set Design-Time Password
•Use the "Format" toolbar options (Font Name, Font Size, Font Style, and Justification) to set the font, colors and justification of controls. Font Name selects the font name for text controls. Use True Type fonts (indicated by "T" icon) when possible. These render well on the screen.
•The "Format" toolbar also contains the "Bring to Front and "Send to Back" buttons which are used when layering the form objects on top of one another. The controls in the front display last, and the controls in the back display first.
•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 "leftmost" 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 "rightmost" control's position.
oAlign Top aligns a group of controls with the "topmost" 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 "bottommost" control's position.
oSpace Horizontally spaces a set of controls based on the "leftmost" control's position and the "rightmost" control's position.
oSpace Vertically spaces a set of controls based on the "topmost" control's position and the "bottommost" 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 "leftmost" control, or to the control that was selected first.
oStack Right arranges a set of controls in a pile to the "rightmost" control, or to the control that was selected first.
oStack Up arranges a set of controls in a pile to the "topmost" control, or to the control that was selected first.
oStack Down arranges a set of controls in a pile to the "bottommost" 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 Width increases the width of all the selected controls to a specified pixel value.
oGrow to Parent Height determines the height of the parent control, and then sets the "height" of the control(s) to that value.
oGrow to Height increases the height of all the selected controls to a specified pixel value.
•You may 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 "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 crash.
•Save the form and close the designer window prior to closing or exiting R:BASE.
