Tivoli Service Desk 6.0 Developer's Toolkit Interface Designer Guide
This chapter introduces the basic information you need to use the Interface Designer. The chapter also describes the procedures you follow to create basic forms.
The complexity of the forms you build depends on your environment and the applications you develop at your site. For more information about using controls, enhancing form designs, and creating notebooks, please consult the chapters that follow this one.
To create a form:
To open an existing form:
To close a form:
Note: You cannot delete a form that is used as a subform in a notebook.
To delete a form:
Testing forms is an easy way to preview the appearance of controls. Besides typing in text boxes or selecting items from a list you can also review the following:
Though you can test a form any time, it is more valuable to test forms that have controls, otherwise you see an empty form.
To test a form:
For each form, you can set properties that determine how the form looks and behaves. Properties are set for each form, and do not have to be identical with other forms in the same file.
The following table describes the properties on the Base tab. Note: Position and size coordinates only apply to forms, not subforms. Also, they do not apply to subforms in notebooks.
Property | Description |
Form ID | A meaningful form name which appears on the Form ID column and is used by Developer's Toolkit to load the form |
Left | Determines the position of the object you create relative to the absolute top and left positions in the form. This property is used in combination with the Top control and is active only when the Specify coordinate in the Form Geometry group box is selected. |
Top | Determines the position of the object you create relative to the absolute top and left positions in the form. This property is used in combination with the Left control and is active only when the Specify coordinate in the Form Geometry group box is selected. |
Width | Determines the width of the form. |
Height | Determines the height of the form. |
Form Geometry | The coordinates used for geometry management in a form. The options available in this
group box are:
Note: Position and size coordinates only apply to forms, not subforms. Also, they do not apply to subforms in notebooks. |
Description | A description of the form that you want to appear in the form list |
From the Help tab, you can set properties for:
For more information on adding help to your application, see "Building Additional Features."
The following table describes the properties on the Form tab.
Property | Description |
Title | The text of the title that appears on the dialog box form title bar. If you choose to have a title, the Title check box should also be selected. |
Icon file | An icon file for use with the form. |
Title | Determines if a title bar appears on the form. |
Resize | Determines if the form can be resized. |
Minimize Button | Determines if the form has a minimize button. |
MinMax Button | Determines if the form has both a minimize and maximize button. |
System Menu | Determines if the form has a system menu icon. If you select this, select the Title and MinMax buttons as well. |
Toolbar | Determines whether space is allocated for a tool bar on the window. |
Menu | Determines whether space is allocated for a menu bar on the window. If a menu has the same file name as the form, the menu is automatically loaded when the form is loaded. |
Task List | Indicates that space is allocated for a task list showing active files or documents. |
Start on Blank Field | Determines if the insertion point appears in the first empty text box as defined in the tab order, when the form opens. |
Synchronize Form Coords | Allows you to set the initial form size and location across multiple platforms. |
Synchronize Control Coords | Allows you to set the control locations in a form across multiple platforms. |
Dialog border | Allows you to adjust the thickness of a dialog box border. |
From the Tab Order tab, you can set the sequence used to progress through form controls using the TAB key. Use the Move Up or Move Down buttons to set the tab order.
Note: If you set your preferences to show property sheets automatically when a new form or notebook is created you can skip steps 3 and 4.
To set form properties:
Tivoli Service Desk 6.0 Developer's Toolkit Interface Designer Guide