Folder Class

A folder control is a special container that has one or more sheets. A sheet is the same as a GroupBox control, in that it holds a series of painted controls. One sheet only is visible at any time, but tabs for each sheet are displayed at the top of the folder or at a user-specified edge. These tabs can be clicked to make the selected sheet visible. When the user clicks on a tab, the corresponding sheet of the folder is displayed (that is, both the click and the sheetChg event methods occur). A specific sheet can also be selected by using the keyboard if the caption of the sheet includes an accelerator sequence (for example, keying Alt+C selects the sheet labeled &Customers).

A folder control provides the following standard behavior.

• The Ctrl+Page Down shortcut keys move the focus of a folder to the next enabled visible sheet when that folder or a child of the folder has focus.

• The Ctrl+Page UP shortcut keys move the focus of a folder to the prior enabled visible sheet when that folder or a child of the folder has focus.

• For a user not using accessibility software (for example, Freedom Scientific's JAWS), if the form with the focus is:

  • A Multiple Document Interface (MDI) form, Ctrl+Tab moves to the next MDI child form and Ctrl+Shift+Tab moves to the previous MDI child form.

  • Not an MDI form, Ctrl+Tab moves to the next sheet of the folder containing the focus or to the next folder in the tab order if the focus is not within a folder and Ctrl+Shift+Tab moves to the previous sheet of the folder containing the focus or to the previous folder in the tab order if the focus is not within a folder.

• For a user using accessibility software, regardless of whether the form is an MDI form or not, Ctrl+Tab moves to the next sheet of the folder containing the focus or to the next folder in the tab order if the focus is not within a folder and Ctrl+Shift+Tab moves to the previous sheet of the folder containing the focus or to the previous folder in the tab order if the focus is not within a folder.

• If a child of a Folder control has focus and the current sheet is changed, focus is moved to the folder and the activated sheet is highlighted.

• The left and right arrow keys enable you to cycle forwards and backwards through all sheets in the folder when focus is currently on a folder.

• The up and down arrow keys enable you to cycle up and down rows of sheets in the folder when focus is currently on a folder.

The Folder control uses the same area of the screen for multiple sheets, with the user and developer able to select the sheet that is visible.

For a form defined as a Web page, the folder control does not directly generate HTML, but the sheets of the folder are arranged horizontally and vertically.

The Folder control provides the following features.

• Choice of tab or button style for selecting the active sheet.

• Sheets can be displayed with or without simulated multiple sheet edges.

• Tabs can be displayed in multiple lines or in a single scrollable line.

• Tabs can be variable or fixed in size.

• Tabs can be stretched to fill each tab line or left as a ragged edge.

• The height of the tab area can be controlled or even hidden, if required.

• Icons can be assigned to each sheet and displayed on the appropriate tab. JADE creates a large and a small icon for use with a form if they are present in the icon file when the app.icon and form.icon properties are set.

• The alignment of the icon and the text on the tabs can be controlled.

For a Folder control with the tabsStyle property set to Folder.TabsStyle_Buttons, tabs are drawn using the skin of the Button control if the application has defined a button skin. As the Folder class is a subclass of the Control class, it inherits all of the properties and methods defined in the Control class and the Window class. In the JADE Painter, a folder has two sheets by default. Deleting a sheet also deletes all controls on that sheet.

For details about the support of mouse wheel requests to scroll up, down, or across a folder control, see "Window Class", earlier in this document.

To add more sheets

1. Select the folder.

2. Click the sheet button.

3. Click on the tabs area of the folder.

To display a specific sheet

• Click the tab of the appropriate sheet

Controls can then be painted on that sheet in the normal way.

For a summary of the constants, properties, methods, and events defined in the Folder class, see "Folder Class Constants", "Folder Properties", "Folder Methods", and "Folder Events", in the following subsections.