Tivoli Service Desk 6.0 Developer's Toolkit Interface Designer Guide

Chapter 2: Designing Forms

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Introduction

Overview

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.

Working with Forms

Creating a new form

To create a form:

  1. Open the Interface Designer.
  2. On the Forms tab, choose Add Form.
    Note: Every form you create appears in the Form ID column with a default name in the format, NEW_FORM1. Notebook form names follow the format, NEW_NOTEBOOK1.

Opening an existing form

To open an existing form:

  1. Open the Interface Designer.
  2. From the File menu, choose Open.
  3. Select the resource file and choose OK.
    Result: The resource file opens. The Forms tab is active, and shows a list of the forms that belong to the resource file.
  4. Double-click the name of the form you want to use.
    Note: To open multiple forms at once, use the SHIFT key to select a block of forms or use the CTRL key to select forms in any order, then choose Update.

Closing a form

To close a form:

  1. Right-click the form.
  2. From the Form menu, choose Close.

Deleting a form

Note: You cannot delete a form that is used as a subform in a notebook.

To delete a form:

  1. On the Forms tab, select the form you want to delete in the Form ID column.
  2. From the Edit menu, choose Cut or use the Delete button.
    Result: The selected form is deleted from the Form ID column. If you decide that you don't want the form deleted, you can choose Paste to return it to the Forms tab.

Testing 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:

  1. Open the Interface Designer.
  2. From the File menu, choose Open.
  3. Select the resource file and choose OK.
    Result: The resource file opens. The Forms tab is active, and shows a list of the forms that belong to the resource file in the Form ID column.
  4. From the Form ID column, double-click the name of the form you want to test.
  5. Click the right mouse button and choose Test or use the Test button on the form page.
  6. To close the test form, click the close menu.

Form Properties

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.

Base properties

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:
  • Specify
  • Auto
  • Center

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

Help properties

From the Help tab, you can set properties for:

For more information on adding help to your application, see "Building Additional Features."

Form properties

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.

Tab order properties

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.

Setting form properties

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:

  1. Open a resource file.
  2. From the Form ID column on the Form tab, double-click the form you want to use.
  3. Double-click or right-click anywhere in the form, except the title bar.
  4. From the pop-up menu, choose Form, then choose Properties.
  5. Set the form properties.
  6. When you are satisfied with the properties you selected for your form, choose Apply or OK.

Tivoli Service Desk 6.0 Developer's Toolkit Interface Designer Guide

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