Components
The
Components page
of the System Tree lists the components that are installed on your
PC. There are several categories:
- ActiveX
Controls The registered components are self-categorizing. The categories
you see depend on what is installed on your system. The categories
of greatest interest are:- Web design-time control
(DTC) - Controls that are safely scriptable
If a control does not identify itself as safely scriptable,
it does not mean that it is unsafe. - Controls (all registered controls)
- Web design-time control
- Plugins The plug-ins
installed in the Netscape and Internet Explorer Plugins directories. - Java Applets and Java Beans The applets
and JavaBeans that are in the class path. - EAServer Servers Lists the
servers for which you have defined EAServer profiles. You can see
the packages, components, and component methods available on accessible
servers. You can insert the components on 4GL pages only. - Custom Tag Libraries Lists
the custom tag libraries in the paths you specify on the JSP page
of the System Options dialog box. To use the custom tag libraries,
you must make sure that the classes of the libraries are available
to the server where you deploy your JSP target. You can insert custom
tag libraries on JSP target pages only.
Right-clicking anywhere in the Components page produces a
pop-up menu with access to the System Options and the EAServer Profiles
dialog box.
In Page view, components display as they would appear on the
page, but they do not execute. To interact with components for testing,
use Preview view or open a browser window.
Viewing available components
To use the tools
for inserting components, you must have the components installed
and available on your system. If they are not, you have to know
how to fill in the OBJECT, EMBED, and APPLET property dialogs with
the correct values.
To view the components available on your system:
-
In the System Tree, select the Components
tab. -
Expand the branches for the different types of
components.The Java branches might be slow to expand because every Java
file in the path must be examined to determine its type.
Inserting a component
You can insert an ActiveX control, applet, plug-in, JavaBean,
EAServer component, or custom tag library by dragging it from the
System Tree to the current page in the HTML editor.
For information on inserting EAServer components, see “Integrating with EAServer” and “Accessing EAServer components”
If
an ActiveX component has not identified itself as safely scriptable,
the editor displays a warning. To interact with the component and
view its custom property pages, you must allow it to initialize
and run scripts.
Disabling the warning To disable the warning (which comes from Internet Explorer),
start the Internet control panel from your Windows Start menu. Then,
using Custom, change the settings for Initialize And Script ActiveX
Controls Not Marked As Safe.
If you make this change, be aware that your system is more vulnerable
when you browse the Web with Internet Explorer.
To insert a component into a Web page:
-
Drag
the component from the System Tree to the current page.or
Set the insertion point in the current page and select Insert>Component>Component
Type from the menu bar.You can drag and drop EAServer components to a 4GL Web page
and you can drag and drop custom tag libraries to JSPs, but you
cannot use the Insert menu to add EAServer components or custom
tag libraries to your page. -
If a warning about initializing and scripts displays,
click Yes.PowerBuilder displays the properties dialog box for the OBJECT, EMBED,
or APPLET element.An applet inserted from the Insert menu or toolbar may not
display immediately on exiting the properties dialog box. You can
force it to display by making any small change to the file in Source
view. -
Set properties as needed, especially the Name
(For Forms Or Scripting) at the bottom of the ComponentType Properties
dialog box.It is important to
supply valid values for parameters on the component’s custom
property dialog. Parameters can have invalid values because:- A value was not specified on the component’s
property sheet and the component did not supply a valid default
value - An invalid value was specified on the property sheet
and the component did not do appropriate error checking - The component expected a value but the property
sheet had not yet been displayed
These problems occur most often with applets but can occur
with other components too. - A value was not specified on the component’s
-
For an ActiveX control, click the Control Properties
button to display and edit the control’s custom property
dialog box. Control Properties button This button is enabled only when you are working in Page view.After you close the property dialog boxes, an OBJECT element
is inserted in the document and the control displays in Page view.
Design-time controls
Design-time
controls (DTCs) are ActiveX controls that write HTML into your document
while you edit. They provide custom property pages where you can specify
options that affect the HTML.
For information on using the Sybase Web DataWindow DTC, see Chapter 10, “About the Web DataWindow Design-Time
Control”.
Viewing and editing DTC properties
In the editor, you can view the control’s custom
property pages and make changes. When you click OK, the HTML for
the control is regenerated.
To view or make changes in the control’s
custom property dialog box:
-
- In Source view, right-click
the DTC’s METADATA tag, the subsequent OBJECT tag, or generated
code, then select Properties from the pop-up menu. - In Page view, right-click the object and select
the custom menu item for the control’s properties.
- In Source view, right-click
Working with the generated HTML
Normally you should
not modify any of the HTML generated for a DTC because the changes
you make will be lost the next time you modify the control properties
and regenerate the output.
It is possible to insert the DTC-generated HTML without the
control itself. If you choose Insert>Component>ActiveX
from the HTML editor’s menu bar and check the Generate
Static Output property (on the Design-time tab), you get the HTML
produced by the DTC but not the METADATA comments or OBJECT element.
You can then modify this static output as you like without any worry
of accidentally re-executing the DTC and overwriting your modifications.