Responding to user actions

Clicking a form button or pressing a key triggers actions that can invoke the execution of program of code called action handlers. Form elements that can trigger actions are called action views.

Action handlers are defined in interactive statements with the ON ACTION clause. The code defined in action handler blocks is executed when an action is fired. Action objects are created and linked to action views when such ON ACTION handlers are seen by the runtime system. Common action handlers, such as accept (dialog validation) and cancel (dialog cancellation), are created automatically in accordance with the interactive instruction.

By configuring action defaults, you define the default decoration attributes (text, image) and functional attributes (accelerator keys, context menu display) for the action views associated with actions.