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100 CHAPTER 3 CREATING AN APPLICATION S USER INTERFACE Figure 3-50. The Timer control provides the RBClock application with much needed functionality. Changing Window and Control Properties The next step in creating the RBClock application is to modify properties associated with Window1 and the controls you placed on it. Table 3-2 provides a list of property changes you need to make. Table 3-2. Property Modifications for the RBClock Application Object Property Value Window1 Title RBClock Frame Rounded CloseButton Disabled MinimizeButton Enabled PushButton1 Caption Close StaticText1 Text REALbasic Clock EditField1 TextFont Courier TextSize 36 Alignment Center ReadOnly Enabled By disabling the CloseButton, you force the user to use the PushButton control you added to the window. By enabling the MinimizeButton, you let the user minimize the application and, later, restore it, without having to close, and then reopen the application. Also, note, the ReadOnly property of the EditField1 control is enabled. This enables the user to view the current time, but it prevents the user from entering any text into this field. Note, too, you may have to resize the EditField1 control a bit once you change the TextSize property to make sure the control is big enough to display everything.
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CHAPTER 3 CREATING AN APPLICATION S USER INTERFACE Figure 3-49. A look at the RBClock application running on Mac OS X Designing the User Interface The first step in creating the RBClock application is to assemble its user interface. Begin by double-clicking the Window1 item on the Projects screen to open the Windows Editor. Next, click the Window1 window and, using its resizing handles, reduce the size of the window. Figure 3-49 shows the appearance and size of the window in the completed application. As you can see, the RBClock application has a simple interface. To build it, start by dragging-and-dropping an instance of the EditField control onto Window1. Note, by default, the name assigned to this control is EditField1. This control is used to display the current time. Next, add a PushButton control to the form and place it just under the EditField control. To help make the RBClock application a little more user-friendly, add a StaticText control just above the EditField. Finally, open the Project Editor, and then select and remove MenuBar1. This simple desktop application does not need a MenuBar. Note Removing the MenuBar control may not seem to have much of an impact on the Macintosh version of this application, because of the manner in which the Macintosh separates the display of the MenuBar from the application itself. However, it does have a much greater visual effect on Windows and Linux. At this point, the basic design of the user interface for the RBClock application is complete and should resemble the example you see in Figure 3-49. Even though the design of the appearance of the user interface is complete, you still must complete one more step before you move on. For the clock to operate as expected, your application needs the capability to update the display of the time every second. To provide your application with this capability, you must add an instance of the Timer control. When you add an instance of the Timer control to the window, you can see a small icon, as Figure 3-50 shows, representing the control. By default, the Timer control is set up to automatically execute every second once the window that contains it is opened. While visible in REALbasic s IDE, this icon is invisible to the user when your application is running.
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CHAPTER 3 CREATING AN APPLICATION S USER INTERFACE Table 3-1. Continued Control Macintosh Windows Linux ListBox Yes Yes Yes PopupMenu No Yes Yes CheckBox No Yes Yes Slider No Yes Yes By default, the order in which the focus is transferred between controls depends on the order in which the controls were added to the window. The first control added to the window gets the initial focus and, when Tab is pressed, focus is passed off to the control that was added second, and so on. You can change the default Tab order using the icons found on the Windows Editor tool- bar. The first step is to get REALbasic to display a visual indication of each control s Tab order by clicking the Show Control Order button on the Windows Editor toolbar. The result is a number displayed in the button s right-hand corner of each control showing its Tab order. The control with the lowest number gets focus first. You can change a given control s order by selecting it, and then clicking one of the following Windows Editor toolbar buttons: Forward. Moves the selected control ahead one position in the Tab order. Front. Moves the selected control to the end of the Tab order. Backward. Moves the selected control backward one position in the Tab order. Back. Moves the selected control to the beginning of the Tab order. Tip You can also change the default Tab order by changing the value of each control s ControlOrder property. Building a Desktop Clock In keeping with this book s promise to show you how to create a new application in every chapter, the rest of this chapter is dedicated to guiding you through the creation of the RBClock desktop clock application. For this example, REALbasic for Macintosh is used. However, you should be able to cross-compile this application into a Windows or Linux application with minimal tweaking to the user interface. The RBClock application, shown in Figure 3-49, is designed to provide the user with a small desktop clock that can easily be tucked away in the corner of the screen.
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CHAPTER 3 CREATING AN APPLICATION S USER INTERFACE in relation to its distance from the horizontal and vertical edges of the window. This way, the control maintains its distance from the specified window edge when the user increases or decreases the size of the window. You saw each of these properties in use through your development of the RBBookFinder application in Chapter 2. In addition to all these alignment tools, REALbasic also provides you with tools for evenly aligning the space between groups of controls. These tools are represented by six icons located on the Windows Editor toolbar, as Figure 3-48 shows. Figure 3-48. Alignment controls are located on the right-hand side of the Windows Editor toolbar. To align two or more controls, begin by selecting a control that is properly positioned, and then click the Back icon on the Windows Editor toolbar to mark it as an anchor around which the other controls will be aligned. Then, you select it and the other controls you want to align, and then click the appropriate alignment icon. In similar fashion, you can evenly assign the space between selected controls by selecting two or more controls, and then clicking either of the two space alignment icons. Changing Tab Order When your applications run, the user can use Tab to jump from control to control. The currently selected control is the control that has focus. In other words, the currently selected control is the control that will receive any keyboard input. Not all controls can receive focus and the controls that can receive focus vary from OS to OS, as Table 3-1 shows. Table 3-1. REALbasic Controls That Are Capable of Receiving Focus Control Macintosh Windows Linux EditField Yes Yes Yes ComboBox Yes Yes Yes Canvas Yes Yes Yes PushButton Yes Yes Yes Continued
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CHAPTER 3 CREATING AN APPLICATION S USER INTERFACE The following procedure outlines the steps involved in adding ActiveX controls to REALbasic. 1. Open the REALbasic Project Editor screen. 2. Click the Add ActiveX Component button or select Project . ActiveX Components. The COM Components dialog appears, displaying a list of installed ActiveX controls and programmable objects, as Figure 3-47 shows. Figure 3-47. Viewing a list of ActiveX controls installed on a computer running Windows XP 3. Select any controls you want to add to REALbasic, and then click OK. The controls you select are displayed in the Project Editor. Note To work with an ActiveX control, you need some documentation explaining how the control works. The first place to look is http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/. Control Alignment Once placed on a window, you can change any control s size and position by dragging its handles using the mouse. You can also select a control and move it one pixel at a time using the up and down keys. In addition, you can move and resize a control by setting its Top and Left properties, along with the control s Height and Width properties. As you have already seen, when you use the mouse to resize or move controls, REALbasic s Interface Assistant displays temporary vertical and horizontal alignment indicators to help you align them. In addition, REALbasic provides four properties (LockLeft, LockRight, LockTop, and LockBottom) for each control, which you can use to lock the side of each control into place
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CHAPTER 3 CREATING AN APPLICATION S USER INTERFACE Note To effectively use this control, you must have some familiarity with Microsoft VBA, which you can find published in numerous books, including Microsoft Office Programming: A Guide for Experienced Developers (ISBN: 1590591216), published by Apress. Extending REALbasic Functionality by Adding New Controls Sometimes, you may find yourself in need of functionality not provided by REALbasic s built- in collection of controls. In these situations, you have several choices. For starters, you can use REALbasic to create a solution yourself, but chances are good that if you have come up with a need or an idea for a new control, someone has already invented it. You may want to do a little surfing on the Internet to see if you can find a plug-in that provides the required functionality. Some plug-ins are free, while others are for sale. To use these plug-ins, all you have to do is download them and add them to the REALbasic plug-ins folder, which you can find in the same directory where you installed REALbasic. Plug-Ins One source of free plug-ins is the REALbasic website, where you can find database plug-ins in the download area. One way to find other sources of REALbasic plug-ins is to search the Internet for REALbasic Plug-ins. In addition, you might want to check out the REALbasic Plugins Web ring at http://w.webring.com/hub?ring=rbplugins. Other sources of REALbasic plug-ins include Van Hoek Software REALbasic Plugins at http://homepage.mac.com/vanhoek/ and Mile 23 (http://www.mile23.com/plugins.html) and Monkeybread plugins at http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de. ActiveX If you are developing applications specifically for Windows, you can take advantage of Microsoft ActiveX controls, which are available on most users home computers. By adding these controls to REALbasic, you can programmatically work with them just as if they were built-in REALbasic controls. Note ActiveX is a collection of technologies that provide information for sharing between Windows applications.
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CHAPTER 3 CREATING AN APPLICATION S USER INTERFACE The Thread Control The Thread control provides you with the capability to develop applications that run in the background without any user interaction. Threads also run in parallel with one another, enabling you to develop applications that can do a number of things at the same time. While the Thread control does provide your applications with functionality, it is invisible to the user. The Timer Control The Timer control is used to execute program code at specific time intervals. For example, if you develop a REALbasic game, you might use the time control to limit how long a player s turn lasts. While the Timer control does provide your applications with functionality, it is invisible to the user. The ToolbarItem Control The ToolbarItem control is a Macintosh-specific control that provides you with the capability to add toolbars, complete with graphic icons, to Macintosh applications. The UDPSocket Control The UDPSocket control provides you with the capability to create applications that can communicate with other TCP/IP-based programs using the UDP protocol on computer networks and the Internet. While the UDPSocket control does provide your applications with functionality, it is invisible to the user. The UpDownArrows Control The UpDownArrows control, shown in Figure 3-46, is typically used to control interface scrolling. Figure 3-46. An example of the UpDownArrows control, as shown on Windows The WordApplication Control The WordApplication control is one of three REALbasic controls that provide you with the capability to develop applications that incorporate Microsoft Office functionality into your applications, provided Microsoft Office is installed on the computer where the application executes. This control is used to integrate Microsoft Word functionality into REALbasic applications. The WordApplication control is invisible to the user. The WordApplication control works with Microsoft Office 2000 and 2003 on computers running Windows and Office 98, and Office 2001 on Macintosh. Also, Microsoft Office X is supported on Mac OS X. Microsoft Office Applications do not run on Linux, so this control is not supported on that OS.
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