Form

Form windows are used to design application dialogs and windows. You can set attributes (background-color, dimensions, title, etc.) using the inspector of a form (see the Inspect dialog) and these attributes will apply to the window created from the form (some, such as dimensions and background-color, will apply to the form as well, but others, such as device, do not make sense applying to a form. (The class attribute of a form, accessed by device, tells the class of the window associated with the form. The class of the form itself is the form class.)

As you modify a form, code for creating a dialog with attributes specified by the form is automatically written and placed in the bil file associated with the current project. When the project is run, that code is used to create the window designed by the form.

Special arrow key behavior in form windows when a control is selected

The arrow keys can be used on form windows to move the selected control(s) by single pixels. In addition to allowing for more precise positioning generally, this is also a quick way to override the stickiness that affects dragging the controls.

Red lines are drawn to show when controls are in alignment. (When the Form | Show Alignment command is chosen, red lines are drawn connecting all aligned controls. When you move using the arrow keys, alignment lines are drawn for the moving controls only.)

If the control key is held down while the arrow keys are pressed, then the control(s) are resized rather than moved, with the right or bottom edges of the control moving in the direction indicated by the arrow key.

If the alt key is held down, then the control(s) are moved by ten pixels rather than by one or resized (when the control key is also held down) by ten pixels rather than by one.

Also, the tab key can now be used on form windows to move the selection to the next control in the tab order (and shift-tab moves to the previous control); this also highlights the alignment for the tabbed-to control.

Enter key displays the Inspector window when control is selected

And the main ENTER key will inspect the selected control and select the inspector window. This is mainly useful for unburying the inspector, since selecting a control on a form inspects it.

Other special keys on a form

The TAB key will select successive widgets and inspect them (or select the first widget when no widget was selected). The Backspace key will unselect the selected widget if any, leaving the form itself selected. The spacebar will show the same shortcut menu that a right click shows.

See Chapter 6 of the IDE User Guide for information on forms. In the description, we provide some general information only.

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This page was not revised from the 8.2 page.
Created 2012.5.30.