PC Press 1997 July/Sezamfile97_1.iso/msdos/database/pdx_ti2.arj/TI1107.ASC

Text File | 1992-08-17 | 8KB | 331 lines

  PRODUCT  :  Paradox                               NUMBER  :  1107
  VERSION  :  4.0
       OS  :  DOS
     DATE  :  August 17, 1992                          PAGE  :  1/5

    TITLE  :  Manipulating Window Frames in Paradox 4.0




  Intended Audience:
  This Technical Information sheet is intended for someone with a
  moderate level of PAL 4.0 knowledge and an aptitude for
  experimentation.

  Prerequisites:
  A basic understanding of Dynamic Arrays, Events, and the Paradox
  4.0 user interface.

  Purpose:
  The purpose of this Technical Information sheet is to give
  instructions for toggling a window frame on or off and a more
  sophisticated technique which automatically removes the frame of
  new windows as they are opened.

  It is sometimes desirable to remove the window frame which is
  placed around all Paradox objects.  This removal of the frame
  allows the user to see more of the object on the workspace
  without scrolling.  In addition the frame is less useful for
  users who do not have or use a mouse.  The first part of this
  document explains how to use the SetKey command to use a hotkey
  toggle which turns the frame on and off.  The second part
  demonstrates the use of a GetEvent loop which analyzes each
  window as it is created and removes its frame automatically.

  Part I

  Changing a feature or "Attribute" of a window is usually done by
  creating a dynamic array then assigning the attributes defined in
  this array to a window.

  The following is a statement which defines a dynamic array that
  can turn off a frame:

  DYNARRAY WinAttributes[]
  WinAttributes["HASFRAME"] = False

  So far this statement has done nothing more than declare the
  existence of the Dynarray and assign/create a single tag equal to
  the value False.

  To actually modify a window with this tool you must use the
  Window Setattributes command.  This command sets attributes from













  PRODUCT  :  Paradox                               NUMBER  :  1107
  VERSION  :  4.0
       OS  :  DOS
     DATE  :  August 17, 1992                          PAGE  :  2/5

    TITLE  :  Manipulating Window Frames in Paradox 4.0




  a dynamic array to a specific window identifier called a
  "handle".  The following command turns off the frame for a window
  whose handle is stored in a variable called "WinHandle":

  WINDOW SETATTRIBUTES WinHandle FROM WinAttributes

  Note: Many other options may be set using this technique.  A
  useful addition to the code above is the ability to Maximize a
  window.  You can do this by assigning the value True to the
  "Maximized" tag.

  The three lines of code discussed here could easily be placed
  into a script file and played by using the SetKey command.  The
  following command would play a script called "NoFrame", which
  contains the code listed above, by pressing the hotkey
  combination Alt-F:

  SETKEY -33 PLAY "NoFrame"

  Here is the contents of NoFrame.Sc up to this point, including
  the Maximized option:

  DYNARRAY WinAttributes[]
  WinAttributes["HasFrame"] = False
  WinAttributes["Maximized"] = True

  WINDOW SETATTRIBUTES WinHandle FROM WinAttributes

  So far we have a script which always assures that the frame is
  off and the window is maximized.  If we wanted to make this a
  true toggle, we would have to analyze the current window
  attributes and switch the frame on or off depending on it's
  current state.  To read the attributes from use the Window
  GetAttributes command.  This command creates a dynamic array
  which holds values for all of the possible window attributes.
  You can use the PAL "Not" operator to switch the True or False
  value to its opposite.

  The following script gets the attributes from the current window
  (using a PAL function called GETWINDOW()), toggles the frame
  element of the dynamic array, sets the Maximized option to true
  regardless of current setting, then sets the attributes on the
  current window from the modified dynamic array:













  PRODUCT  :  Paradox                               NUMBER  :  1107
  VERSION  :  4.0
       OS  :  DOS
     DATE  :  August 17, 1992                          PAGE  :  3/5

    TITLE  :  Manipulating Window Frames in Paradox 4.0




  WINDOW GETATTRIBUTES GETWINDOW() TO WinAttributes
  WinAttributes["HASFRAME"] = NOT WinAttributes["HasFrame"]
  WinAttributes["MAXIMIZED"] = True
  WINDOW SETATTRIBUTES GETWINDOW() FROM WinAttributes

  You can remove the third line from the script if you do not want
  to expand the window as well as toggle the frame.

  Part II

  A non-mouse user may wish to always run Paradox interactively
  without frames on any windows created by Paradox.  It is possible
  to run a special loop which allows a user to have full access to
  most features in the interactive program but also checks
  constantly for new window creation.  When a new window appears
  the frame is removed.

  A new handle is determined by comparing the last highest value to
  the current window handle.  Paradox assigns incremental numeric
  values to handles as new windows are opened.  The following
  script does just this:

  DYNARRAY NoFrame[]
  NoFrame["HASFRAME"] = False

  NewHandle = 0
  HighHandle = 0
  ECHO NORMAL

  WHILE (True)
    GETEVENT TO NewEvent
    IF NewEvent["TYPE"] = "KEY" AND NewEvent["KEYCODE"] = 17 THEN
        QUITLOOP
      ENDIF
    ENDIF
    EXECEVENT NewEvent
    NewHandle = GETWINDOW()
    IF NewHandle > HighHandle THEN
      WINDOW SETATTRIBUTES NewHandle FROM NoFrame
      HighHandle = NewHandle
    ENDIF
  ENDWHILE














  PRODUCT  :  Paradox                               NUMBER  :  1107
  VERSION  :  4.0
       OS  :  DOS
     DATE  :  August 17, 1992                          PAGE  :  4/5

    TITLE  :  Manipulating Window Frames in Paradox 4.0




  Briefly, this script does the following:

      o  Declares a dynamic array called NoFrame with Frame
         attribute off and Maximized option on.

      o  Initializes HighHandle and NewHandle variables.

      o  Uses Echo Normal to allow the user to see all activity on
         the interactive workspace.

      o  Enters a While loop to recursively perform the processes
         which follow.

      o  Gets the next Event (i.e.  mouse action, key action, menu
         choice, etc.).

      o  Checks to see if the key combination Ctrl-Q (ASCII code
         17) has been pressed to exit the loop.

      o  Executes the event for Paradox processing.

      o  Assigns the window handle of the current window to the
         variable NewHandle.

      o  If the value of NewHandle is higher than the previous high
         handle (HighHandle), then turn the frame off on the new
         window.

      o  Makes the new handle the highest handle for comparison to
         subsequent window handles.

  This process will continue until the user leaves Paradox or
  presses Ctrl-Q.

  Notes:

      o  The Scripts main menu selection will be different while
         running under script control.  If you want to write
         scripts or do instant scripts, you must terminate the
         GetEvent loop with Ctrl-Q.
















  PRODUCT  :  Paradox                               NUMBER  :  1107
  VERSION  :  4.0
       OS  :  DOS
     DATE  :  August 17, 1992                          PAGE  :  5/5

    TITLE  :  Manipulating Window Frames in Paradox 4.0




      o  This script may cause slow performance on machines with
         low memory due to the constant code swapping that would be
         necessary to process events.

      o  See your PAL Reference Guide for full explanations of the
         PAL commands in the above scripts.

  DISCLAIMER: You have the right to use this technical information
  subject to the terms of the No-Nonsense License Statement that
  you received with the Borland product to which this information
  pertains.