Setting up the custom control
The PowerBuilder custom control container has properties that
apply to any ActiveX control. The ActiveX control itself has its own
properties. This section describes the purpose of each type of property
and how to set them.
PowerBuilder properties
For OLE custom controls, PowerBuilder properties have two
purposes:
-
To specify appearance and behavior of the container, as you do
for any controlYou can specify position, pointer, and drag-and-drop settings,
as well as the standard settings on the General property page
(Visible, Enabled, and so on). -
To provide default information that the ActiveX control can
useFont information and the display name are called ambient
properties in OLE terminology. PowerBuilder does not display text
for the ActiveX control, so it does not use these properties
directly. If the ActiveX control is programmed to recognize ambient
properties, it can use the values PowerBuilder provides when it
displays text or needs a name to display in a title bar.
To modify the PowerBuilder properties for the custom
control:
-
Double-click the control, or select Properties from the
control’s pop-up menu.The OLE Custom Control property sheet displays.
-
Give the control a name that is relevant to your application.
You will use this name in scripts. The default name is ole_ followed
by a number. -
Specify values for other properties on the General property
page and other pages as appropriate. -
Click OK when you are done.
Documenting the control
Put information about the ActiveX control you are using in a
comment for the window or in the control’s Tag property. Later, if
another developer works with your window and does not have the ActiveX
control installed, that developer can easily find out what ActiveX
control the window was designed to use.
ActiveX control properties
An ActiveX control usually has its own properties and its own
property sheet for setting property values. These properties control the
appearance and behavior of the ActiveX control, not the PowerBuilder
container.
To set property values for the ActiveX control in the
control:
-
Select OLE Control Properties from the control’s pop-up menu
or from the General property page. -
Specify values for the properties and click OK when
done.
The OLE control property sheet might present only a subset of the
properties of the ActiveX control. You can set other properties in a
script.
For more information about the ActiveX control’s properties, see
the documentation for the ActiveX control.