5.2 Working with Action Links
So far you have written logic for
each event. VisualAge RPG has the ability to allow different events to invoke the same
action subroutine. To illustrate this you will add a menu to the Customer Inquiry window
CUSTINQ with an Exit menu item. When you select the Exit menu item the program terminates
by invoking the code that is run when you click EXIT.
Follow these steps:
- Select the Menu bar
part on the Parts Palette and click on the Customer Inquiry window CUSTINQ
in the Project window.
- Go to the tree view of your
project and locate the Menu bar part just added. Click on the '+'
sign next to it to see the menu items.
- Double-click on the first menu
item to open its Properties notebook.
- Change the label value
to File.
Click OK.
- Add the Exit menu item to the file
menu by selecting the sub-menu item part on the Parts Palette and
clicking on the File menu item in the Project window.
Submenus and menu items must be placed in the
Project window, not the Design window.
- Double-click on the new menu item
you just created to open its Properties notebook. Change the name of this menu
item to MIEXIT and its label to Exit.
Click OK.
Linking Events
Now you can link the MENUSELECT event of the Exit
menu item to the PRESS event of the EXIT push button.
Follow these steps:
- Select Project > Edit
action subroutines from the menu bar. The Action subroutines window displays.
- From the Windows
list box select CUSTINQ by clicking on it with the left mouse button.
- This action fills the Parts
list box with all the parts on the window. Since you are interested in the events for the
MIEXIT window, select it from the Parts list box.
- You now see the Events
list box filled with all events for a menu item. Choose the MENUSELECT
event in the Events list box, then select PSBEXIT+PRESS+CUSTINQ in the
Action subroutines list box. The Create link push button is now enabled.
- Click on the Create link
push button. This links the MENUSELECT event to the PRESS event action subroutine.
- Close this window by clicking Close.
Then close the editor.
- Build your application and test
it. You can now end the application by clicking EXIT or by choosing File
> Exit from the menu bar.
Click on
to indicate that you've done all the steps.