Automatic action views

Action views can be rendered automatically in some form elements.

Form toolbars and topmenu elements can define specific items, to get automatic rendering of action views, for actions that exist for the current dialog.

With this feature, actions views can appear at the same time in the topmenu, toolbar and in the action panel. In a typical use case of automatic action views, you want to hide the action panel with the actionPanelPosition=none / ringMenuPosition=none style attributes for windows.

In a TOOLBAR definition, add an AUTOITEMS (CONTENT=ACTIONS) element in the definition:

TOOLBAR
  ...
  AUTOITEMS (CONTENT=ACTIONS)
  ...
END

In a TOPMENU definition, add an AUTOCOMMANDS (CONTENT=ACTIONS) element in the definition:

TOPMENU
  ...
  GROUP actions (TEXT="Actions")
      AUTOCOMMANDS (CONTENT=ACTIONS)
  END
  ...
END

Additionally, CONTENT=WINDOWS or CONTENT=PROGRAMS options can be used, to respectively get the list of current available windows, or the current running applications. The end user can then switch between windows and applications from these options:

TOPMENU
  ...
  GROUP windows (TEXT="Windows")
    AUTOCOMMANDS (CONTENT=WINDOWS)
  END
  GROUP programs (TEXT="Programs")
    AUTOCOMMANDS (CONTENT=PROGRAMS)
  END
  ...
END

For more details about managing applications and windows, see also Containers for program windows.

The following screenshot shows the rendering of a TOOLBAR with the three kind of AUTOITEMS elements:

TOPMENU
  ITEM open ( IMAGE="open", TEXT="Open" )
  SEPARATOR
  AUTOITEMS ( CONTENT=ACTIONS )
  SEPARATOR
  AUTOITEMS ( CONTENT=PROGRAMS )
  SEPARATOR
  AUTOITEMS ( CONTENT=WINDOWS )
  SEPARATOR
  ITEM help ( IMAGE="help", TEXT="Help" )
END

TOOLBAR with AUTOITEMS rendering on desktop — Figure: TOOLBAR with AUTOITEMS

The following screenshot shows the rendering of a TOPMENU with the three kind of AUTOITEMS elements:

TOPMENU
GROUP file (TEXT="File")
  COMMAND startapp ( TEXT="App Starter" )
  COMMAND open ( IMAGE="open", TEXT="Open" )
  SEPARATOR
  AUTOCOMMANDS ( CONTENT=ACTIONS )
  SEPARATOR
  AUTOCOMMANDS ( CONTENT=PROGRAMS )
  SEPARATOR
  AUTOCOMMANDS ( CONTENT=WINDOWS )
END
GROUP gz (TEXT="Help")
  COMMAND about ( TEXT="About" )
END
END

TOPMENU with AUTOITEMS rendering on desktop — Figure: TOPMENU with AUTOCOMMANDS