45 window

{ export | reexport } { model } window { <Identifier> }
{
  <standard attributes>
  <plain attributes>
  <geometry attributes>
  <grid attributes>
  <hierarchy attributes>
  <layout attributes>
  <scrollbar attributes>
  <object-specific attributes>
}

45.1 Definition of Child Objects

All other objects supported by the DM are located within a window. Thus they must be declared as children of a window either directly or indirectly. The keyword for this is child. It is followed by a keyword describing the object type, and an optional identifier. This identifier only has to be specified if the object is to be addressed out of the rules or out of the application afterward. It is followed by the object definitions in braces.

For further information, see chapter “Inheritance of Attributes” in manual “Programming Techniques”.

Definition

{export} child  object class  {<Identifier>}
{
  object definition
}

Note

Integrating a menu into the window must be done with the keyword child. The menus integrated with child are located in the menu bar of the window. Their number is unlimited.

Events

activate

close

deactivate

deiconify

extevent

help

hscroll

iconify

key

move

resize

scroll

select

vscroll

Children

canvas

checkbox

document

edittext

groupbox

image

listbox

menubox

menuitem

menusep

notebook

poptext

pushbutton

radiobutton

record

rectangle

scrollbar

spinbox

statictext

tablefield

toolbar

transformer

treeview

window

Parent

dialog

module

window

Menu

Pop-up menu

menuitem

45.2 Attributes

45.3 Specific Attributes

Standard Attributes

The attribute .visible defines whether the window is visible immediately on starting the dialog.

Plain Attributes

In the object window, these attributes always refer to the screen on which the object is to be displayed, i.e. the coordinates are always specified in relation to the screen.

Of course it is possible to specify the coordinates and the dimension of a window in relation to the grid of the affiliated dialog. To do this, the attributes .posraster and .sizeraster have to be set to true.

Geometry Attributes

The additional geometry attributes .minheight, .minwidth, .maxheight, .maxwidth define the borders within which the window size can be changed interactively.

The attributes .vheight and .vwidth define which internal size the window is to have. It may be that only part of the internal size is visible at one time. To make the rest of the window visible you have to scroll the window.

The visible window part is controlled by the attributes .xorigin and .yorigin. They specify the relative shift of the window origin, which is normally located in the top left corner of the window.

The attributes .xraster and .yraster define the unit by which the position and dimension of the children are to be specified. The actual pixel coordinates then result from multiplying the grid factor .xraster or .yraster by the specified coordinate. The attribute .reffont can link the given grid units to the used font; the DM then calculates the values for .xraster and .yraster.

Layout Attributes

.borderstyle

45.3.1 MDI Window

The MS-Windows multi-document interface (MDI) is supported by the Dialog Manager. To use this feature, you have to ensure the following:

To create a MDI frame window:

• define the window as toplevel window
• the window has to have a titlebar
• the window may not have children other than windows

To create a MDI child window:

• define the window as immediate child of a MDI frame window

All other windows are normal windows that can be toplevel windows or child windows. Keep in mind that a normal child window cannot get an active border and does have the same system accelerator as a toplevel window.

Moreover, you have to pay attention to the following:

MDI frame window:

• cannot have children other than windows, therefore adding other children is an error
• setting titlebar to FALSE is an error

MDI child window:

• always has a titlebar
• cannot have a menubar
• can only be a child of a MDI frame window

A normal window:

• cannot be a child of a MDI frame window
• if created as a child, always have a titlebar
• if created as a child, cannot have a menubar

Warning

Child windows not using MDI are not supported by MS Windows! This might cause a non-expected behavior of many attributes and events.

45.3.2 Scrollbar Attributes

The scrollbar attributes .hsb_... and .vsb_... define whether the window is to be provided with scrollbars.

The window can have the complete set of scollbar attributes:

• .hsb_linemotion
• .hsb_optional
• .hsb_pagemotion
• .hsb_visible
• .vsb_linemotion
• .vsb_optional
• .vsb_pagemotion
• .vsb_visible

Operation Mode of Scrollbars in Windows and Groupboxes

The visibility of scrollbars is influenced by the attributes

• .hsb/vsb_optional
• .hsb/vsb_visible

and

• .width/height
• .vwidth/vheight

The following rules are valid:

• A groupbox and a window can have horizontal scrollbars only if the virtual size .vheight is set.
• A groupbox and a window can have vertical scrollbars only if the virtual size .vwidth is set.

If no scrollbars are set, the virtual size will be ignored.

The attributes .hsb/vsb_visible and .hsb/vsb_optional control whether the scrollbars are to be visible at all times or only if necessary.

As mentioned above, scrollbars require the setting of the virtual size, i.e. if no virtual size is set, there are no scrollbars available.

If the scrollbars are visible

• and .hsb/vsb_optional is true,

  then the scrollbar is visible only if necessary.

• and .hsb/vsb_optional is false

  then the scrollbar is always visible.

Note

.hsb/vsb_optional is ignored by the Motif version, i.e. internally .hsb/vsb_optional is always implicitly set at true.

To query or to change the scrollbar slider position, the attributes .xorigin and .yorigin have to be used. These attributes specify the object origin shift.

The attributes .pagemotion and .linemotion define the shift in pixels of object contents during the relevant scrollbar action. The value 0 means that the system default value is to be used; in case of .pagemotion scrolling is then carried out by pages.

45.4 Particularities of the Window on Qt

The window object has four additional options for supporting toolbars and tabbed docks, as well as sizing and positioning a window to be Qt-compliant.

Table 13-3: Options of the window object

As on Motif (and unlike Microsoft Windows), on Qt the .sensitive attribute does not affect the title bar of the window. Even if .sensitive = false (and the window content is no longer operable), the title bar functions (close, move, minimize, maximize…) can still be used.

The attribute .moveablehas no effect on Qt. Windows can always be moved.

In general, the IDM for Qt generates significantly more move and resize events than the other IDM versions, because for each pixel to be increased, decreased, or moved a corresponding event is triggered. There is no reliable way to determine the state and end of the actions.

Some window states can only be changed by internally clobbering, which triggers activate and deactivate events, however.

It may still happen that size specifications in certain constellations are not correctly put into effect (e.g. when changing them in the minimized state). Currently, the behavior may vary depending on the Window Manager (for example, when minimizing).

45.5 Example

Creating a Window

window Window_3

{

  .xleft      10;

  .ytop       10;

  .xauto      1;

  .yauto      1;

  .height     100;

  .width      200;

  .title      "vacation planning";

  .sensitive  true;

  .visible    true;

  .sizeable   true;

  .titlebar   true;

  .closeable  true;

}

Generation of a Window with Scrollbars on the Right and at the Bottom

window Window_3

{

  .title       "vacation planning";

  .xleft       10;

  .ytop        10;

  .xauto       1;

  .yauto       1;

  .height      100;

  .width       200;

  .sensitive   true;

  .visible     true;

  .sizeable    true;

  .titlebar    true;

  .closeable   true;

  .vwidth      400;

  .vheight     300;

  /* horizontal scrollbar */

  .hsb_visible  true;

  /* vertical scrollbar */

  .vsb_visible  true;

}

Result of the preceding example of a window with scrollbars on the right and at the bottom: