Tutorial Chapter 5: Enhancing the Form

Program forms can be displayed in a variety of ways. This chapter illustrates adding a toolbar or a topmenu (pull-down menu) by modifying the form specification file, changing the window's appearance, and disabling/enabling actions. The example programs in this chapter use some of the action defaults defined by Genero BDL to standardize the presentation of common actions to the user.

You can change the way that program options are displayed in a form in a variety of ways. This example program illustrates some of the simple changes that can be made:

• By changing the form specification file, you can provide the user with a valid list of abbreviations for the state field and add a toolbar or pull-down menu (topmenu). The program business logic in the BDL program need not change. Once you recompile the form file, it can be used by the program with no additional changes required.
• You can change the appearance of the application window, adding a custom title and icon.
• You can disable and enable actions dynamically to control the options available to the user.

The program also illustrates some of the Genero BDL action defaults that standardize the presentation of common actions.