About form styles

InfoMaker comes with built-in form styles with which users
can build sophisticated forms. You can create your own form styles
in PowerBuilder and provide them to InfoMaker users. With these custom
form styles, you can enforce certain standards in your forms and
provide extra functionality to your InfoMaker users. For example,
you might want to:

• Include
  your organization’s logo in each form. You can do this
  by creating custom form styles that have the logo in place.
• Reconfigure the toolbar that is provided with the
  built-in form styles. You can do this by modifying a built-in form
  style and saving it as a custom form style.
• Use drag and drop in forms.
• Include picture buttons, edit controls, and other
  controls in forms.

Almost anything you can do in a PowerBuilder window you can
do in a custom form style.

What a form style is

InfoMaker users use forms to maintain data. Users can view,
add, delete, and update data in a form. Each form is based on a
form style, which specifies:

• The way the data is
  presented (for example, in a freeform, grid, or master/detail
  presentation)
• The menu and toolbar that are available when users
  run a form
• Actions that users can attach to command buttons
  in the form

How form styles are constructed

You build form styles in PowerBuilder. A form style consists
of:

• A window
• A menu

About the window The window serves as the foundation of the form. It contains
one or more DataWindow controls with special names. It is these DataWindow
controls that are the heart of the form style. The user views and changes
data in the form through the special DataWindow controls.

This chapter refers to the special DataWindow controls as
the central DataWindow controls.
You must name the central DataWindow controls using one of a set
of supported names.

In addition to the central DataWindow controls, the window
can contain any other controls that you can place in a window in PowerBuilder (such
as CommandButtons, RadioButtons, user objects, and pictures).

About the menu When users run forms, they can pick items off a menu. You build
that menu in the Menu painter and associate it with the window that
the form style is based on.

When building the menu, you can specify which menu items should
display in a toolbar when a form is run. The toolbar works like
all PowerBuilder toolbars.

About actions Form styles contain actions that users can attach to command buttons
in the form and that you can call in scripts.

Each public window function you define in the window for the
form style is available as an action to users of the form style.

Looking at an example

For example, the built-in form style Freeform consists of:

• A window named w_pbstyle_freeform
• A menu named m_pbstyle_freeform

About w_pbstyle_freeform The window w_pbstyle_freeform contains a DataWindow
control named dw_freeform (w_pbstyle_freeform
contains no other controls–just the DataWindow control).

The PowerBuilder window defines many window-level functions:

Each of these window functions is available as an action in InfoMaker to
users of the Freeform form style:

About m_pbstyle_freeform The menu named m_pbstyle_freeform provides the
menu items and toolbar items available to users when they run forms
based on the Freeform style.

For example, m_pbstyle_freeform contains
the item Specify Criteria on the Rows menu; the item also displays
on the toolbar:

When InfoMaker users run the form they can select Specify
Criteria to enter selection criteria that are used in retrieving
rows in the form:

Naming the DataWindow controlsin a form style

Each form style you define will contain one or more central
DataWindow controls that are based on DataWindow controls in one
of the built-in InfoMaker form styles.

The best way to understand the behavior of these DataWindow
controls is to build forms in InfoMaker using each of the built-in
styles. Then when you want to build a form style, choose the DataWindow
controls from the built-in style that matches the type of presentation
you want in your form style.

For example, to create a basic freeform data entry form, you
would base it on dw_freeform, the DataWindow control found
in w_pbstyle_freeform.

When building your form style, you must assign the central
DataWindow controls one of the following names:

• dw_freeform
• dw_grid
• dw_master_12many
• dw_detail_12many
• dw_master_many21
• dw_detail_many21

Valid combinations You must use one of the following four combinations of DataWindow
controls in a form style:

Building and using a form style

To build and use a form style:

1. Do one of the following:
   • Copy the window and
     menu from an existing form style to act as your starting point.
   • Begin from scratch by creating a new window and
     placing in it one or two DataWindow controls having the supported
     names.
2. Save the window with a special comment that indicates
   that the window serves as the basis for a form style.

3. Enhance the form style by adding controls to the
   window, modifying the menu, defining window functions to serve as
   actions, and so on.

4. Copy all objects used in the form style (such
   as windows, user objects, and menus) to a library that will be defined
   as a style library for InfoMaker users.

5. Add the style library to the search path for InfoMaker users.

   When InfoMaker users create a new form, the form style you
   defined displays in the New Form dialog box. Users can select the
   style to build a form based on the style you built.

The rest of this chapter describes these steps.

Modifying an existingstyle

The easiest way to get started building form styles is to
copy an existing form style and work with it. By examining its structure
and making small changes, you will quickly understand how form styles
work.

To begin by modifying an existing form style:

1. Open the Library painter in PowerBuilder.

2. Copy the window and menu that serve as the foundation
   for a form style to a library that is on your application’s
   library search path.

   Starting from a built-in form style The windows and menus that serve as the basis for the built-in
   form styles are in IMSTYLE7.PBL, which is shipped with InfoMaker and
   installed in the InfoMaker 7.0 directory. You can make
   a copy of this PBL and use it as the basis of your own form styles.

3. Open the window in the Window painter and select
   File>Save As from the menu bar to save it with a new name.

4. Give the window a new name.

   You can use any name you want, except that names of windows
   that define form styles must be unique across all style libraries
   that are used by an InfoMaker user.

5. Define a special comment for the window (for how,
   see “Identifying the window as
   the basis of a style”).

6. Click OK to save the window.

7. Open the menu in the Menu painter and select File>Save
   As from the menu bar to save it with a new name.

8. Provide a new name and an optional comment, then
   click OK to save the menu.

   You don’t need to provide a comment for the menu,
   but it is a good idea to identify it as being used in the form style
   you are building.

9. Enhance the form style (for how, see “Completing the style “).

Identifying the window asthe basis of a style

In order for InfoMaker to recognize that a window in a library
serves as the basis for a form style, you must specify a comment
for the window that starts with the text Style:

The text that follows Style: is the text
that displays below the icon for the form style in the New Form
dialog box in InfoMaker.

For example, if you save a w_pbstyle_freeform
window with the comment Style: Maintain corporate
data in a style library, InfoMaker users see
this when they create a new form:

You can specify the comment either when first saving the window
or in the Library painter.

For more information about designing windows,
see the PowerBuilder User’s Guide
.

Building a style fromscratch

Once you understand how form styles work, you can build one
from scratch.

To build a form style from scratch:

1. Open the Window painter and create a new
   window.

2. Place a DataWindow control in the window.

3. In the Properties view for the control, name the
   control using one of the special names.

   For the list of special names, see “Naming the DataWindow controls
   in a form style”.

4. Change properties for the control as desired.

   For example, you can add vertical and horizontal scrollbars.

   Do not associate the control with a DataWindow object InfoMaker users specify the data for the control when they
   create a new form.

5. If the form style you are building uses two DataWindow
   controls, place another DataWindow control in the window and name
   it to conform with the valid combinations.

   For the list of valid combinations, see “Naming the DataWindow controls
   in a form style”.

6. Save the window and specify a comment for it.

   For how, see “Identifying the window as
   the basis of a style”.

Completing the style

To complete your form style, enhance the window and menu to
provide the processing you want. For example, you can:

• Work with the central
  DataWindow control
• Add controls to the window
• Define actions (functions that appear as actions
  in your form style)
• Modify the menu and its associated toolbar
• Write scripts for the window, its controls, and
  menu items
• Add other capabilities, such as drag and drop, to
  the window

Working with the central DataWindow controls

The DataWindow controls with special names are the heart of
a form. It is in these controls that users manipulate the data in
the form.

You need to understand:

• How the freeform DataWindow
  is sized in the form
• How to retrieve data into the control in the form

How the freeform DataWindow is sized

All form styles you build contain a freeform DataWindow (as
do all the built-in styles). Regardless of what size you specify
for the freeform DataWindow control in the Window painter in PowerBuilder,
the freeform DataWindow fills the entire form in the Form painter
in InfoMaker. InfoMaker enlarges the freeform DataWindow so users
can place data (such as computed fields) anywhere in the form.

This means that a window background color that you specify
in PowerBuilder is ignored in the form.

Retrieving rows into the central DataWindow control

When an InfoMaker user runs a form, InfoMaker automatically
populates the SQLCA Transaction object with the correct values,
so you don’t have to do that in a script. To retrieve rows
into the central DataWindow control, all you have to do is set the
Transaction object for the control and then retrieve rows.

For example, to retrieve data into the control named dw_freeform,
code:

You would code this in the window’s Open event to
present the data to the user when the form opens.

For more information about Transaction objects,
see Chapter 12, “Using Transaction Objects”.

Adding controls

All windows serving as the basis for a form style have at
least one DataWindow control. In addition, you can add any other
controls that you can add to standard PowerBuilder windows, such as
command buttons, user objects, text, edit boxes, pictures, and drawing
objects.

Users of the form can move the controls you place in the window,
but they cannot delete them.

Users can also add controls to the form in the Form painter.
They make CommandButtons and PictureButtons work by associating
actions with them. Actions are described next.

Defining actions

Often users will want to add buttons (CommandButtons or PictureButtons)
to a form created using a custom form style. You specify what the
added buttons can do by defining actions for the form style. When
users place a button, they select the desired action from a list:

Actions are implemented as public window-level functions.

To define an action:

1. In the Script view in the Window painter,
   select Insert>Function from the menu bar.

2. Define the window-level function (for how, see
   the PowerBuilder User’s
   Guide
   ).

   If you want the window function to be available to a form
   user as an action, be sure to define the function as public. Function
   arguments you define will be used as parameters of the action. Each
   public window function you define will be listed as an action in
   the Select Action dialog box in the Form painter.

   Defining functions not available as actions If you want to define and use window functions that are not
   available as actions in forms, define them as private.

Using menus

You specify the menu and toolbar that display when users run
a form by defining a menu in the Menu painter and associating it
with the window serving as the basis for your form style.

Each menu item in the menu you define displays when a form
is run. In addition, InfoMaker adds Window and Help menus to allow
users to manipulate windows and get online Help when running a form
in the InfoMaker environment.

Providing online Help You can define a Help item in the menu bar, then define menu
items that display in the Help dropdown menu. The Help items do
not display when users run a form within InfoMaker, but they do
display when a form is run from an executable.

For more information about InfoMaker executables,
see the InfoMaker User’s Guide
.

Item in a toolbar

As with MDI applications, you can specify that a menu item
displays as an item in a toolbar when the form is run.

Scripting

You use the same scripting techniques for menus used in forms
as you do for menus used in standard windows. Typically you communicate
between a window and its menu by defining user events for the window,
then triggering them from the menu using the menu object’s
ParentWindow property to refer to the form window; this technique
is used in the built-in form styles.

For more information

For more information about using menus and
user events, see the PowerBuilder User’s Guide
.

For more information about associating toolbars
with menus, see Chapter 5, “Building an MDI Application “.

Writing scripts

You write scripts for the window, its controls, and Menu objects
the same way you write them for standard windows and menus. When
working with DataWindow controls, remember that you do not have
to set the properties of the SQLCA Transaction object–InfoMaker does
that automatically when users run a form.

You can define global user-defined functions and structures
to support the scripts you code. But note that since InfoMaker does
not have an application object, form styles cannot use global variables
or global external function declarations.

Adding other capabilities

You can make forms as sophisticated as you want. For example,
you can implement drag and drop features, and mail-enable your form.

For complete information about the features
you can build into a window, see the PowerBuilder User’s
Guide
.

Using the style

Once you complete a form style (or at least have a version
that you want to test), you will put it to use.

To make a style available to InfoMaker users:

1. Make sure the window and menu that define
   the form style are in a library that is accessible to InfoMaker users
   (the style library).

2. Add any other PowerBuilder objects that you use
   in the form style (such as windows, user objects, global user-defined
   functions, and global structures) to the same library.

3. Add the style library to the path for an InfoMaker user.

   For more information, see the InfoMaker User’s
   Guide
   .

Building a form with the custom form style

When an InfoMaker user using the style library creates a
new form, all custom form styles display in the Form Style box in
the New Form dialog box:

Custom styles display with a generic icon.

InfoMaker users simply select a data source and a custom
style to start building a form based on your form style. You should
provide documentation to users of your form styles.

Understanding inheritance

When users build a form, they are working with a window that
is a descendant of the window that you built for the form style
.
That is, the form style window you built in PowerBuilder is the ancestor,
and the form window used in InfoMaker is the descendant. This means
that if you change the form style, the changes are picked up the
next time users work with a form using that style.

For example, you can add controls to the form style and have
the controls display automatically when users later open existing
forms using the style.

Caution Be careful: don’t make changes that invalidate forms
already built using the style.

Managing the use of form styles

You can store style libraries on the network to easily make
them available to all InfoMaker users. You do this with a shared
initialization file on a network: you place an InfoMaker initialization
file out on the network that references the shared style libraries,
then set up InfoMaker users so they access the initialization file.

To make style libraries available throughout your
organization:

1. Place the style libraries on the network
   in a directory accessible to InfoMaker users.

2. Open InfoMaker, go to the Library painter, and
   make sure all styles libraries are listed in the search path.

3. Close InfoMaker.

4. Copy your InfoMaker initialization file to a
   directory on the network that is accessible to all InfoMaker users.

   This is the shared initialization file. It records all the
   style libraries in the StyleLib variable in the [Application] section.

5. Set up InfoMaker users so they access the shared
   initialization file.

   Each InfoMaker user needs to specify the location of the
   shared initialization file in InfoMaker.

   For more information, see “Specifying the
   location of the shared InfoMaker initialization file in InfoMaker”.

Specifying the
location of the shared InfoMaker initialization file in InfoMaker

Once the shared initialization file has been defined in a
user’s InfoMaker initialization file, the user’s
style library search path consists of the style libraries defined
in their local InfoMaker initialization file plus all style libraries
defined in the shared initialization file. When the user creates
a new form, the form styles defined in all the style libraries display
in the New Form dialog box.

Each InfoMaker user needs to tell InfoMaker where to find
the shared initialization file.

To specify the location of a shared InfoMaker initialization
file:

1. Select Window>System Options from
   the InfoMaker menu bar.

2. On the General property page, enter the path for
   the shared InfoMaker initialization file.

3. Click OK.

   InfoMaker saves the path for InfoMaker initialization in
   the registry.

Preventing the use of built-in styles

You might not want the built-in form styles to be available
to InfoMaker users. That is, you might want all forms to be based
on one of your organization’s user-defined styles. You
do this by suppressing the display of the built-in styles in the
New Form dialog box.

To suppress the display of built-in styles:

1. Set up a shared initialization file on
   the network as described in the preceding section.

2. Add this line to the [Window] section
   of the shared initialization file:
   PowerBuilder

   ShowStandardStyles = 0

   1	ShowStandardStyles = 0

With that line specified in the shared initialization file,
users can choose only from user-defined form styles when creating
a new form. (Note that a ShowStandardStyles line in a user’s
local InfoMaker initialization file is ignored by InfoMaker.)

This part describes how to package your application
for deployment and how to deploy on each platform.

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