Some Controls in depth

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Controls make the visual elements of your app.

  • An app will have one or more forms. Each form will have a collection of controls on it, customized by you with different sizes and appearances.
  • In this section, we will see how to add controls and forms to an app.
  • Add controls to your app by dragging and dropping them into place. Then, resize and set the properties.
  • It is good practice to name your controls consistently.
  • A common way is to have three letters for the type, followed by a name for the control.
  • For example, lblName, txtCustomer, butSave, lstSaves

Let's look at some controls.

Label

Controls are defined by their properties. The Label control is a simple control. Most of the properties for a control are set to default values when the control is created, so it is usable right away. Let's look at the options for customizing it.

align left, center, right
alignVertical top, center, bottom (no % or multiline)
backgroundColor colors can be a name, #RRGGBB, rgb(R,G,B) or transparent
borderColor
borderStyle solid, dotted, dashed, etc.
borderWidth pixels
bottom pixels, percent, auto
class grayTitle default. Can be custom css.
color Of the text
fontFamily helvetica is default
fontSize in pixels. 16 is the default.
fontStyle normal, italic or oblique
fontWeight normal, bold or a number
height
hidden true or false
id The name of the control.
left
onclick, etc names of functions to be called when

these events happen.

right
style css style
textContent The content of the label. HTML is OK!
top
width






TextBox

The TextBox has many of the same properties as the label - plus some additional ones:

autocapitalize Automatically capitalize first letter? May not be available on all platforms.
autocomplete Automatically complete words? May not be available on all platforms.
autocorrect Spellcheck as entering? May not be available on all platforms.
inputType Specifies what kind of data will be input. Choices are:
  • color
  • date
  • datetime
  • email
  • file (iOS 6+ and Android 4+ only)
  • hidden
  • month
  • number
  • password
  • range
  • search
  • tel
  • text (default)
  • time
  • url
placeholder Text to be displayed in the field just as a comment – does not change the value.
readonly If set to “True”, the control cannot be edited. At runtime, use readOnly.
size Maximum characters allowed.
text The contents of the TextBox. Same as value.
value The contents of the TextBox. This is always returned as a string. Convert it to a number before doing arithmetic on it.

Button

iWebKit                         jQuery Mobile

There are many different appearances for buttons.

  • Buttons can have an optional icon.
  • Buttons can have optional text.
  • Buttons can be grouped
  • Different frameworks will have different appearances.
ChangeForm The name of the form to go to if this button is clicked.
corners round or square.
groupBegin If you have a group of buttons, set this to Yes on the first one. jQuery Mobile only.
groupEnd If you have a group of buttons, set this to Yes on the last one. jQuery Mobile only.
icon Set to false for no icon. You have a choice of 18 standard icons otherwise. jQuery Mobile only.
iconPos Position of the icon. Can be none, left, right, top, bottom or notext. jQuery Mobile only.
image Path to image to show instead of title on the button. jQuery Mobile only.
mini true/false. For jQuery Mobile, should the text be normal size or mini size?
onclick() The function to be called when this button is clicked.
value The title of the button.

Here is some sample code for when a button is clicked:

Rem Button Example

Function Button1_onclick()
  Msgbox "Hello World"
End Function

HeaderBar

The HeaderBar puts a title at the top of the form.

  • The left and right buttons are optional. They can be with or without text or icons.
  • When a button on it is clicked, the name of that button is passed to the onclick function.
  • You can also use the buttons to go to a new form.
leftChangeForm The name of the form to go to if the left button is clicked.
leftButtonIcon Names of icon for left button. Use false for no icon, or alert, arrow-d, arrow-l ,arrow-r, arrow-u ,back, check, delete, forward, gear, grid, home, info, minus, plus, refresh, search, star. Design time only.
leftButtonName The name of the left icon. Design time only.
rightChangeForm The name of the form to go to if the right button is clicked.
rightButtonIcon Names of icon for right button. Use false for no icon, or alert, arrow-d, arrow-l ,arrow-r, arrow-u ,back, check, delete, forward, gear, grid, home, info, minus, plus, refresh, search, star. Design time only.
rightButtonName The name of the right icon. Design time only.
title The title which appears in the center of the bar. Design time only.

Here is some code showing what happens in its onclick function:

Function HeaderBar1_onclick(button)
  If TypeName(button)="object" Then Exit Function
  MsgBox "Button '" & button & "' clicked."
End Function

List

The List control is used to display a menu list.

  • Each line can have a name, a number and an image.
  • Selecting one will call the onclick function for it, with the line number as a parameter.
  • Lines can be added to deleted at runtime.
  • List can also be made scrollable if there are more items than fit.
ChangeForm A comma separated list of form names to go to if a line is clicked.
dividers Is the item a divider? Comma separated list of Y and N. Design time.
dividerTheme Which theme should all the dividers have? A-z. Design time
images Image file names for each line, comma separated. Design time
imageStyle None, 16x16 or 80x80. Design time
items List of item names, comma separated. Since commas act as separators, use , instead of a comma in the middle of your text. Items can be plain text or HTML. Hard returns are ignored. Design time.

Example: Choose One, Apples, Oranges

showNumbers Show numbers to the left of each item. True/false. Design time
getItem(i) Returns the text of item i.
getItemCount() Returns the number of of items. Runtime.
deleteItem("all") Delete all items. With no argument, just the last item is deleted. Runtime.
addItem(text, img, n, header) Add a new item at postion n with text and img. text can be html. Runtime. If header is true, the line appears as a heading. Only text is required.
replaceItem(n, text, img) Replace item n with new text and optional img. Runtime.
refresh() Redraw list after updating. Runtime.
scroll_options Set display options for scrolling.
Scrolling on or off.
showNumbers true/false
  • Here's how to handle the click event
Function List1_onclick(i)
  If TypeName(i)="object" Then Exit Function
  MsgBox "Menu item chosen: " & i & " " & List1.getItem(i)
End Function
  • Here is how to clear the list and add items at runtime
Function Button1_onclick()
  List1.deleteItem("all")
  List1.addItem("Days of the week","","",True)
  For i=1 To 7
    List1.addItem(WeekdayName(i))
  Next
End Function

Form

Forms act as containers for controls.

  • To add a Form to your app, choose Add Form from the Project menu at the top of the screen.
  • Forms can be deleted in the Project Explorer.
  • Forms can be exported or imported to different projects.
background Specify the background you want. It can be the usual colors , or a fancy gradient:

background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#55aaee), to(#003366));

fullscreen True/False. Should the form fill the entire screen?
height The height of the form in pixels. Default is 460.
left The left position of the form. Use this for forms that are not full screen.
fullscreen The form will automatically be the same size as the device screen. The Design Screen will still use height and width.
language The programming language used in the code for the form. Can be BASIC or JavaScript.
method Get or Post. The method that the http form is sent by.
openMode Should the form be open at startup? Use this for forms which are to remain open. There is no need to set this for the first form of the project: that is set in Project Properties.
script Opens the Code Window for the form.
style The CSS style for the form.
Url The URL to be called when the form is submitted using the submit() function.
width The width of the form in pixels. Default is 320. Percents can be set at runtime.
reset() Clear all fields on the form. Runtime only.
submit() Submit the data on the form to the specified URL. Runtime only. See Location as well.