Specifying Your Form Preferences

You can specify your form preferences when you first define your application or you can access the Define Application at any time to maintain your application preferences.

To access the Define Application dialog

  1. Perform one of the following actions to open an Application Browser window.

    • Click the Browse Applications button from the Browser toolbar

    • Select the Applications command from the Browse menu

    • Press Ctrl+L

  2. From the Application menu of the Application Browser, select either:

    • The Add command, to add a new application to your current schema

    • The Change command, to maintain the preferences of your current application

    The Define Application dialog is then displayed.

  3. Click the Form tab.

The Form sheet of the Define Application dialog, shown in the following image, is then displayed.

The Form sheet of the Define Application dialog enables you to specify the attributes for your forms. The form margin, control spacing, and control height preferences are specified in Dialog Units, so that you do not need to specify both vertical and horizontal spacing. (Pixel spacing is then a function of the Dialog Units and the application font.)

To specify your form preferences from the Form sheet

  1. In the 3D Controls list box, select the controls to which three‑dimensional effects are added.

  2. Check the Use borderStyle only (ignore show3D) for new controls check box if you want to ignore the default value of the show3D property for new controls and use only the value of the borderStyle property.

  3. Check the Default to MDI check box if you want your forms created as Multiple Document Interface (MDI) forms. By default, forms are not created as MDI forms; that is, this check box is unchecked.

    This is an application default, which you can override for individual forms.

  4. Click the Default Font button if you want to change the default font for the forms in your application. The default font for your forms is Tahoma, regular style, and 8.25 points. (This applies only if you have not set a specific application font.)

    The common Font dialog is then displayed, to enable you to make your font selections. When you have made your font selections, focus is then returned to the Form sheet of the Application dialog.

  5. In the Form Margin text box, specify the number of dialog units that you require as a margin around the edge of forms (windows) in your Jade application.

    Form margins enable you to position controls so that they do not intrude into the margin of the form. The default value is 7 dialog units.

    When the Show Alignment Hairs command from the Painter Options menu is set, a margin of the specified number of dialog units is drawn around the inside of the form. No alignment grid lines are drawn in the margin of a form.

  6. In the Control Spacing text box, specify the number of dialog units that you require between controls on forms in your Jade application.

    The default value is 4 dialog units.

  7. In the Control Height text box, specify the number of dialog units that you require as the uniform height of button, label, and text box controls on forms in your Jade application.

    The default value is 14 dialog units.

  8. If you do not want standard MDI child forms (the default), in the Mdi Style group box, select the:

    • Use MdiWidth Tabs option button if you want MDI child forms in the application displayed in the MDI frame with a tab for each child form. The child forms can be maximized, minimized, and restored.

    • Use Tabs Only option button if you want a tab only for each MDI child form on the MDI frame. Only the top MDI child form is visible and it is always maximized.

    For details, see the Application class mdiStyle property in Volume 1 of the Encyclopaedia of Classes.

  9. If you do not want MDI child forms shown in creation order (the default) in the Window menu list of child forms and in the MDI Tabs down arrow list, in the Mdi Window List Order group box, select the:

    • Alphabetic Order option button if you want the Window list menu and the MDI tabs down arrow to show the list of MDI child forms in alphabetic order of the caption.

    • Last Use Order option button if you want the Window list menu and the MDI tabs down arrow to show the list of MDI child forms in the order in which they were last used.

    For details, see the Application class mdiWindowListOrder property, in Volume 1 of the Encyclopaedia of Classes.

  10. Click the OK button.

    Alternatively, click the Cancel button to abandon your selections.