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Screen Layout Designer - V2.01 ------------------------------- Chapter 1. ========== INTRODUCTION ------------ The Screen Layout Designer (SLD) has been designed to create data entry screens for database applications, such as dBase or Clipper. Initially it was developed for in house use to assist in the design of database systems, but it has proved so useful that it has been enhanced further into a development tool in its own right. The Screen Layout Designer will take the drudgery out of designing data entry screens. It displays the data fields and field headings on your screen so that you can use the cursor keys or a mouse to position them wherever you want. Additionally you may add framed boxes and titles to smarten up your data entry screen. Colors for the background, data entry fields, headings, titles, menus and frames are selectable. SLD can read data field types directly from the header of dBase or Clipper ".DBF" files. These fields are then displayed on the screen for you to manoeuvre into the desired position. Alternatively SLD can read the fields from a text file, either created by you manually, or by dumping the database field definitions into the file by running a database field listing program, an example of which is given further in the text. SLD can also retrieve previously designed screens from a Screen Layout Definition File, with a ".SLF" extension. SLD can generate two types of output file. The first type is a text file containing dBase type "@ SAY" and "@ GET" statements, which may be directly pasted into your dBase or Clipper programs. The second type is a Screen Layout Definition File, mentioned above, which stores full information about fields, boxes, titles and colors, etc. You may use almost any programming language to read these files and extract the information contained in them to produce data entry screens for almost any database development language. Details of these files are given later. SLD supports multiple data entry screens. That is to say if there are more fields in your database file than can be accommodated on one screen then you may place them on several screens. SLD allows you to move freely between screens and even to move fields from one screen to another. You may also change the text of field headings. Screen Layout Designer version 2.01 has been developed by Neville T. Palmer of PDM Associates. This product is available for you to copy and pass on to other people, but the copyright remains the property of PDM Associates and Neville T. Palmer. You may use this software initially without charge, but if you intend to continue using it you should register the product for your use. This product is being developed further and there will be features of later versions which are not yet available in this one. Upon registration we will send you the latest version of this software. You will also be entitled to generous discounts on our other programs and future software. Please see appendix E for information on planned future enhancements, and the section on registration for information on how to register and to obtain your free software updates. SLD V2 System Capacities: ------------------------- Max. no. of screens available in one session: 20 Max. no. of DBFs from which fields may be read: 20 Max. no. of data fields per session: 512 Max. no. of titles and/or menu options: 254 Max. no. of framed boxes: 254 Max. no. of menus in one session: 80 Platform: --------- IBM PC compatible 8088, 286, 386, 486 etc. Operating system: DOS 3 and above Minimum free memory: 512Kb Display types supported: HGA, CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA, etc. Chapter 2. ========== INSTALLING SCREEN LAYOUT DESIGNER --------------------------------- SLD may be installed in any directory of your choice. You should copy the files supplied on floppy disk into this directory. If they are archived then you will need to unarchive them into the directory. Here is a full list of files you should have to use SLD: SLD.EXE (the main executable program) SLD.OVR (the overlay file) DBFACC.EXE (the .DBF access program) SCREDIT.EXE (a simple text file editor) SETCONV1.EXE (converts old .SET files to version 2 .SET) SLFCONV1.EXE (converts old .SLF files to versuion 2 SLFs) SETNAME.NAM (a file containing the name of the setup file initial default: SETUP.SET) SETUP.SET (a file containing the initial default settings) SCRHELP.EXE (the help program) SCRHELP.HLP (the help file) SLD.DOC (the user manual ... this file) *SLD.WP5 (the user manual in Wordperfect format) README (a list of these files and initial info) TUTOR.DOC (a tutorial ... also found in the manual) REGISTER.DOC (the software registration form for SLD) HISTORY.DOC (history of modifications, etc.) and sample files as follows: INPUT.TXT (a sample input text file) COMPANY.DBF (a sample .DBF file) CONTACT.DBF (ditto) OUTPUT.PRG (a sample screen output file in Clipper 5) DBASE3.PRG (a sample screen output file in dBase III) SCREEN.SLF (a sample screen layout file) miscellaneous files: CLIPTEST.PRG (a test program generated by SLD each time a Clipper program is generated) DBTEST.PRG (a test program generated by SLD each time a dBase program is generated) CLIPMAKE.BAT (a batch file which may be used to compile the generated code and test program in Clipper) *SLD.WP5 may not be included on BBS or Compuserve STARTING SCREEN LAYOUT DESIGNER ------------------------------- Before running SLD it is best to ensure that no other programs are running on your system. To start SLD type 'SLD' at the DOS prompt. A pull down menu will be displayed. You will need to enter systems settings before you can use SLD. Dependant on the way you will use SLD you will also have to create certain files before you can use SLD to build data entry screens (please see further information below). The most important settings which you should set from the pull down menu are as follows: SETUP - select this option from the main menu to enter ==== system settings. This will take you to a second pulldown menu bar called the "System Setup Menu". The most important choices you should make from here are: INPUTTYPE: -menu option. --------- You have three choices, "TEXT", "DIRECT" or "SLF". If you want to read the data fields direct from a ".DBF" database file then you should select "DIRECT". If you want to read the fields from a text file then you should select "TEXT". Input text files can be created by you either using a text editor or by running a program from Clipper or dBase which dumps the fields to a text file. They are also created as an intermediate part of the process of reading fields from a .DBF file if you select "DIRECT". You may also read the screen layout which you have generated from a previous session. In this case you should select "SLF". LANGUAGE - menu option --------- There are slight differences between the dialects of dBase generic languages. SLD is equipped to allow for these differences in the output screen source code that it generates. You may select Clipper V.5, Clipper Summer '87, dBaseIII or dBaseIV. SLD will choose the most suitable commands for the language that you choose. However if you select dBaseIII, certain features of SLD are not available, these are: 1) only three box frame types are available instead of five (No Frame, Single or Double lined), 2) the 43/50 row by 80 column display mode is not supported. OTHER - menu option ----- SETFILE: This is the name of the file which will be used to store the system information. You need not worry about this option to begin with , as a default file, "SETUP.SET" will already be entered here for you. EDITOR: You may edit or create the input text file or edit the generated screen code file, in which case you will require an editor. You may use an editor from within SLD, so you should enter the executable name of your editor here. The default is the simple built in editor "SCREDIT". If you want something more sophisticated then your editor should either exist in the SLD directory, or in a directory in the DOS path. Do not use a wordprocessor, as it is likely to use too much memory and may add unwanted control characters to your files. SPEED: This setting determines the speed at which messages are displayed on the screen. You may select "SLOW", "MEDIUM", "FAST" or "FLASH" here, which determines the speed at which messages are displayed. MOUSESPEED: This setting determines the speed of movement of the mouse cursor across the screen. You may select one of: "VERY SLOW", "SLOW", "MEDIUM", "FAST" and "VERY FAST". The optimum setting depends on the mouse you are using, the mouse driver software, the speed of your computer, as well as personal preference. If the mouse cursor moves too fast across the screen as you move the mouse, choose a slower setting, and vice versa if the cursor moves too slowly. MAXFIELDS: If you are reading input data fields direct from a database .DBF file, or from a text file, the fields will be placed on the screen automatically. You will need to limit the number of fields placed on any one screen to prevent cluttering. When you select this option you will be prompted for the number, between 1 and 50. Save it by pressing the Enter key or Esc to quit. Note that if the screenheight is less than the number you enter here this value will be temporarily overridden and reduced to the value of the height, in number of rows, of the current screen. Also if you have entered #SCREEN commands in the input text file, these will temporarily override the value. REGISTER: This option allows you to register this program or check your existing registration. If you intend to continue using this software you should register this program. If you do so the first screen you see when entering SLD will contain your registered name and there will be no time delay before the program runs; also the exit screen when you leave SLD will no longer appear. See the section on Registration for full information on how to use this option to register this program. AUTHOR: When you generate the screen code a header will be written to the top of the file. This will contain the output source code file name and date. It will also contain the registration name if you have registered SLD. You may wish to add an Author name, and selecting this option will allow you to do this. SPLITFILE: You may select "NoSplit" or "Split". If you select NoSplit: when you generate the output screen code file (usually with a "PRG" file extension) all the code will be saved to one file, regardless of how many screens you have containing data fields or menus. In the case of an FMT file only the screen code for the currently active screen number will be saved to the FMT file. Note: the NoSplit option is best suited to Clipper programs where multiple screens can be accomodated in one program file. If you select Split: when you generate the screen code, each screen will be saved to a different file with a "Pxx" extension, where "xx" is the screen number, eg. screen one may be saved to a file called "OUTPUT.P1". In the case of FMT files each screen would be saved to a file with an "Fxx" extension, where "xx" again is the screen number. eg. screen ten may be saved to "OUTPUT.F10". When these files have been generated you will probably need to rename them to a suitable .PRG or .FMT filename. Notes: i) The Split option is better suited to dBase programs, especially since dBaseIII may find a single file too long to work with. ii) The filenames that are used to save the code for each screen to will be the name of the Code file or FMT file you selected from "File" and "Output" on the Main Menu with the new "Pxx" or "Fxx" extension added in place of the "PRG" or "FMT" extension. FILESPERSCREEN: you may select OneOnly or Multiple When SLD reads data fields from an input file or files you may allow it to display the fields from only one data file on each screen or the fields from more than one file per screen. If you select OneOnly: If you have setup SLD to read data fields from more than one data file those fields will be placed on the screen according to the "MaxFields" option, which is described above, unless you have set OneOnly here, in which case fields from different data files are placed on different screens. If you select Multiple: In this case fields from different data files may be placed on the same screen, and the number of fields displayed on one screen will only be determined by the "MaxFields" setting. Note: this setting depends on the intended use of the generated code and also which language you are using. If you are generating a dBase III/IV screen format (FMT) file, normally only fields from one data file need be included in one format file. DISPLAY - menu option ------- You may select "COLOR" for a color display and "MONO" for a monochrome monitor. In "MONO" mode the display colors are clarified for monochrome display. Normally you should opt for "COLOR", even on a monochrome display, but if your display does not work well in color select MONO. From here you may also select "TYPE" so that you can select the display adapter type to which your monitor is attached. This should be one of "VGA", "EGA", "CGA" or "MDA". See below for a further discussion on this. MODE - menu option ---- This option determines the size of your data entry screens either 80 columns by 25 rows, 80 columns by 43 rows, or 80 columns by 50 rows (dependant on your monitor type). The default is "80x25". See below for further discussion. PRINTER - menu option. ------- In order to print files and system setting information you will need to enter settings relating printer. The printer may have a serial or a parallel interface. If it is parallel it may be connected to port LPT1, 2 or 3 on your computer. If it is serial it may be connected to port COM1, 2 or 3, and you may need to enter settings relating to the communications speed and the size of data bits which for characters which will be sent to your printer. The setup information may be entered as follows: PORT: this is the port on your computer to which the printer will be attached and should be one of LPT1,LPT2,LPT3 for parallel, or COM1, COM2 or COM3 for serial printer interfaces. COMMS: if you are using a printer with a serial interface having selected one of COM1-3, you may need to change the port communication speed and data bits to match the printer. The options from this submenu are: Speed - one of 9600, 4800, 2400 or 1200 bauds. This is the rate of data transfer to your printer. Data - this is the number of data bits for each character sent to the printer, either 7 or 8. Parity- this may be Even, Odd or None, depending on the type of data parity error checking your printer requires. Stop - this is the number of stop bits that are added to the end of each character sent to the printer, either one or two. For information on which printer settings to select you should consult your printer manual. If your printer has a parallel interface you do not need to change any of the settings available from the "COMMS" option, but if it has a serial interface you may need to. You should ensure that you have the correct cable attached to your printer, especially in the case of serial communications where you will need to ensure that correct handshaking takes place between the computer and printer. There are no facilities for changing handshaking modes from SLD at the moment, so ensure that you have a cable capable of dealing with hardware or software handshaking. SAVE - menu option. ---- Once you have entered the settings you should save them by selecting this option. Now return to the Main Menu by selecting "MAINMENU" or pressing "ESC". FROM THE MAIN MENU: ------------------- FILE - menu option. Select this option from the Main Menu. ---- INPUT: If you have selected "DIRECT" from the INPUTTYPE option of the System Setup Menu, then you will need to enter the name of the .DBF file that SLD will read data fields from, and the name of an intermediate text file into which the fields will be held for use by SLD. In this case enter the name of the text file by selecting "TEXT" and then the name of the .DBF file by selecting "DBASE". If you have selected "TEXT" from the INPUT option on the System Setup Menu then you only need to enter the name of the text file here, in the same way. Remember, if you elect to do this the text file must already exist, having been created manually or by dumping fields from a .DBF file into the text file. If you have selected "SLF" from the INPUTTYPE option you must enter the name of a previously generated Screen Layout File, with an ".SLF" extension, created by you during a previous SLD session. OUTPUT: You must select "CODE" to enter the name of the file which will contain your dBase generic language screen source code. You must select "SLF" to enter the name of a Screen Layout File which will be used to store the screen layout and settings from the current SLD session. Using MonoChrome Monitors with SLD. ----------------------------------- Ideally Screen Layout Designer is used to best effect on a color monitor, however you may be using a monochrome monitor, or simply wish to generate source code for mono monitors. To select monochrome display mode you may either select Setup/Display/Mono from the menu bar after starting SLD, or you may start SLD with the "/M" switch, ie. type the following at the DOS prompt: SLD /M. This will override the default colors. If you then change the colors when in SLD you should save them. If you do this you will not need to use the /M switch, which overrides all color settings, when you next run the program. The color palette is available for you to change colors in Mono mode, but they are translated into the gray scale tones automatically so that what you see is actually what you get when code is generated. Some mono monitors have been found to display well in Color display mode, but others display better in Mono mode. Selecting a Display Adapter Type: -------------------------------- When you initially setup SLD you should select SETUP from the Main Menu. This will take you to the Setup Menu. Enter the other settings as normal. To change the display adapter type, select MODE followed by TYPE. You may select MDA for Monochrome and Hercules display adapters, CGA for the original Color Graphics Adapter, EGA for the Enhanced Graphics Adapter, or VGA for Video Graphics Array adapter (including SVGA, etc.). Selecting the correct display adapter will ensure that you do not select an incorrect display mode. Selecting Text Mode. -------------------- The display mode that you select will determine the appearance of your data entry screen in the finished dBase/Clipper program. The display modes are: 25 rows x 80 columns, 43 x 80, and 50 x 80. There are a number of factors which determine valid display modes as follows: 1) your display adapter and monitor type, 2) which output language you will use (dBaseIII or IV, or Clipper V5 or S87). 3) the version of DOS on the program development PC. SLD attempts to be as flexible as possible in the above issues. Here is a breakdown of valid display modes: 1) The CGA display adapter generally only allows 25 x 80 display mode. MDA and Hercules monochrome, and EGA color adapters generally allow only 25 x 80, and 43 x 80 display modes. VGA adapters generally allow 25 x80, 43 x 80 and 50 x 80 modes, however SLD only supports 43 x 80 mode on a VGA adapter with DOS version 4 and above. 2) dBaseIII and Clipper 87 only support 25 x 80 mode. dBaseIV supports 25 x 80 and 43 x 80 modes. Clipper V5 supports 25 x 80, 43 x 80 and 50 x 80 modes. To select a text mode select SETUP from the Main Menu to display the Setup Menu. From this menu select MODE. You may then select one of the three modes, dependant on the adapter type you have entered in the TYPE option on this menu. If you change mode the contents of the screen will be cleared and regenerated in the new mode. NOTES: ------ You should change the display mode before you have allowed SLD to read data fields from a file and display them on the screen (by selecting SHOW from the Main Menu). If you do not the screen you were editing could be truncated, particularly if you switch from 50 x 80 to 25 x 80 mode, and some fields may not be displayed. Should this happen, switch back to the previous mode and move the fields to within the bounds of the new screen mode, or, alternatively, move the fields to another screen. eg. if you wish to switch from 50 x 80 to 25 x 80, then move the relevant field's position on the screen above the 25 row boundary, or move it onto the next screen. Select the best screen mode for the output language you are using. For instance, don't select 50 x 80 mode when your target language is dBaseIII. SLD is flexible; you might say that it gives the user enough rope to hang themselves with! Chapter 3. ========== USING SCREEN LAYOUT DESIGNER. ----------------------------- Having setup the important initial settings in SETUP and FILE from the pulldown menu you are ready to view and edit the data fields on screen. To do this select "SHOW" from the main pull down menu. The pull down menu will disappear and the fields will be displayed with their headings. A second menu will appear superimposed on the fields; this is the Screen Edit Menu. If you are reading from a .DBF or text file the data fields and default headings will be displayed starting from top left. To start editing the screen select EDITSCREEN from the pulldown menu or just press "Esc". You are in Screen Edit Mode. NOTE: to get back to the pull down menu from within your editing session press "Esc" again. To move the cursor you may use the cursor (arrow) keys or a mouse. Note: if to return to the main menu from the Screen Edit Menu, select "QUIT" (or "Alt Q"). Manoeuvring the Fields and Headings. ------------------------------------- You may use the cursor keys or mouse to manoeuvre the fields and headings around the screen. To move a field or heading, move the cursor onto it with the mouse or cursor keys and press the Enter key or press the left mouse button. If you are using a mouse, keep the left button pressed and move the field to the new position, then release the button. If you are using the cursor keys, move the field to the new position and press enter again to place it. Other Cursor Movement Keys. --------------------------- In addition to the mouse and cursor keys (arrow keys) you may use other keyboard keys to move the cursor around the screen as follows: HOME - to move the cursor to the far left of the screen. END - to move the cursor to the far right of the screen. PAGE_UP - to move the cursor to the top of the screen. PAGE_DOWN -to move the cursor to the bottom of the screen. Changing Headings & the Screen On Which a Field/Heading Appears. --------------------------------------------------------------- If you move the cursor onto a field or heading with the mouse or cursor keys and, either press function key F2, or double click the mouse, a window will appear containing the following information on that field: Field Name: the name of the data field as it appears in the .DBF file. Type: the type of the field (C=character, N=numeric, D=date, M=memo, L=logical) Width: the width of the data field Decimal Places: the number of decimal places for numeric fields. From here you can change the heading text which corresponds to the data field on the screen, and the screen on which the field and its heading are displayed. In version 2.01 of SLD you will only be able to change these two items. To change the heading, simply type in the new text. If you do not want any heading for this field (eg. for ADDRESS2,3,4 fields) delete the heading, leaving the text blank, and the heading will not appear on the screen when you save the information. If you want the field and its heading to be displayed on another screen, enter the new screen number here, and when you save the information the field and heading will disappear from the current screen. The field and heading will reappear when you select the new screen from the menu bar. To save and exit the window, press Ctrl and Enter. To exit without saving the changes, press Esc. Or you may delete a field and its heading completely by pressing the F4 key. If you do so the field and heading will disappear from all screens. You should consider very carefully whether you need the field you are about to delete before actually deleting it. If you delete it then your program will not be able to update information in this field for each record in your data file, with the code generated in this session. Moving to Another Screen. ------------------------ If you press "Esc" whilst in Screen Edit Mode the pulldown Screen Edit Menu will reappear. To change to another screen select the "SCREEN" option from here. You are given three choices: "NEXT" to move to the next screen, "PREV" to move to the previous screen, and "NUMBER" which will prompt you to enter a screen number to move to. If the screen you select is out of range you will be warned accordingly. You may also select a screen by number from the main menu SCREEN option.Adding a Blank Screen. ---------------------- You may add a blank screen to the current editing session from the Main Menu bar or from the Screen Edit Menu by selecting "SCREEN", followed by "ADD". If are in Screen Edit Mode you should press "Alt" and "S" (or press "Esc" to return to the Screen Edit Menu and select "SCREEN") so that you can select "ADD" to append a new screen to your session. Adding Boxes and Titles to your Screens. --------------------------------------- To improve the presentation of your data entry screens you can add framed boxes and additional titles to them. To Add a Box: ------------- You may add a box from the Screen Edit Menu by selecting "BOX". From here you may add a NEW box, EDIT or DELETE an existing one. If you are in Screen Edit Mode you may press "Alt" and "B" which will take you straight to the new box menu option on the Screen Edit Menu (you may also do this by pressing "Esc" and then selecting "BOX" from the menu). Before adding your box you may wish to change the type of frame you want for the box, in which case select "FRAME" first. The frame type you select will override the default frame setting. Having selected the frame you should then select "NEW". The pulldown menu will disappear and you will enter Screen Edit Mode and then Box Edit Mode. Move the cursor, using the cursor keys or mouse, to the position where you want the top left corner of the box to start, then press Enter, or click with the mouse. Now when you move the cursor the box will expand or contract from its origin. When the box is at its correct size you may move it around the screen by pressing F3. F3 can be used to toggle between moving the box or expanding/contracting it. When you are happy with the size and position of the box, click with the mouse or press Enter to save it, or to abandon the box press Esc. To edit or delete a box select "EDIT" or "DELETE" from the BOX option on the menu. Move the cursor to the box to edit or delete and either click on it with the mouse or press Enter. If you are deleting the box you will be asked whether you wish to go ahead with the deletion. If you answer "Y" the box will disappear. If are editing the box you will enter Box Edit mode and you should progress as mentioned previously when adding a box. Hotkey to Add a Box. -------------------- If you are in Screen Edit Mode you may add a box without resorting to the pulldown menu bar. If you press F3 you will enter Box Edit Mode, from where you can place a box on the screen. Note however that you cannot use F3 to edit or delete an existing box. To Add a Title: -------------- You may add a box from the Screen Edit Menu by selecting "TITLE". From here you may add a NEW title, EDIT or DELETE an existing one. If you are in Screen Edit Mode you may press "Alt" and "T" which will take you straight to the new title menu option on the Screen Edit Menu (you may also do this by pressing "Esc" and then selecting "TITLE" from the menu). The pulldown menu will disappear and a window will appear prompting you to enter the title text. The title text can be up to 78 characters in length. Leading spaces will may be used to left pad the title. To save the title text press Enter (to exit without saving press Esc). You will enter Screen Edit Mode and then Title Edit Mode. Move the cursor, using the cursor keys or mouse, to the position where you want the left side of the title to start, then press Enter, or click with the mouse. Now when you move the cursor the title will expand or contract from its origin. When the title is at its correct size you may move it around the screen by pressing F3. F3 can be used to toggle between moving the title or expanding/contracting it. When you are happy with the size and position of the title, click with the mouse or press Enter to save, or press Esc to abandon it. To edit or delete a box select "EDIT" or "DELETE" from the TITLE option on the menu. Move the cursor to the title to edit or delete and either click on it with the mouse or press Enter. If you are deleting the title you will be asked whether you wish to go ahead with the deletion. If you answer "Y" the title will disappear. If are editing the title a window will appear enabling you to edit the title text as previously. When you have changed the text save it with Enter, or press Esc to abandon the edit. You will then enter Title Edit mode and you should progress as mentioned previously when adding a Title. Hotkey to Add a Title. ---------------------- If you are in Screen Edit Mode you may add a title without resorting to the pulldown menu bar. If you press F4 you will enter Title Edit Mode, from where you can place a title on the screen. Note however that you cannot use F4 to edit or delete an existing title. Adding Menu Systems and Options your Screens. --------------------------------------------- To improve the functionality of your data entry screens you can add menu sytems to them. To each menu system you may can add a number of menu options. To Add a Menu System: --------------------- From the Screen Edit Menu select "MENU" and then "ADD" . From here you can add a new menu system. The menu system will be added to the current screen on view. You should plan your menus and remember not to clutter your screens with too many menus. dBase II and IV Menus: ---------------------- If the language you are using is dBase III or IV then you may use one of 3 slightly different menu types. When adding a new menu you will first of all be prompted: "Use Conventional dBase Menu style (Y/N)?". If you answer "NO" to this the menu generated will be a bounce bar type, and if you answer "YES" the menu will be of the conventional dBase type. If you do answer "YES" you will be prompted: "Use an @GET to Select menu options (Y/N)?". If you select "NO" to this the user's menu choice will be input by an INKEY() statement, but if you answer "YES" the user's choice will be input by an @GET and you will be prompted for the row and column where you wish the @GET prompt to be initially placed on the screen. If you answer "YES" you should save the row and column that you have entered by pressing the "Ctrl" and "Enter" keys. If you press the "Esc" key you will be returned the the previous "(Y?N)?" prompt. Remember that if you are adding more than one menu to the screen the @GET prompt should be placed in a different position for each menu. In any case you may move the prompt later by entering Menu Edit Mode. Note: if you add a conventional dBase menu system without an @GET to select options on this menu then you may only add a maximum of nine selectable options to this menu. This type of menu is available for efficient small menus for dBase applications.Adding Options to Menus: ------------------------ Once you have created your menu system it will be of no use until you have added menu options to it. To add an option select "MENU", then "OPTION", followed by "NEW" from the Screen Edit Menu. NOTE: If you are in Screen Edit Mode you may get straight to here by pressing "Alt" and "M". You will be prompted to enter the heading text for the menu option you are adding and the number of the menu system on which it will appear. The heading may be up to 40 characters, for example you may have a heading of "EDIT" on your menu. If you are unsure of which menus are active on the screen in view, press the F3 key and you will be presented with a list box of available menu numbers active on this screen. You should use the up or down arrow keys to highlight a menu number and select it using the Enter key. To save the heading and menu number information press "Ctrl" and "Enter", or "Esc" to abandon the whole operation. If you save the menu heading information you will enter Screen Edit Mode and then Menu Edit Mode. Move the cursor, using the cursor keys or mouse, to the position where you want the left side of the menu option to start, then press Enter, or click with the mouse. When you move the cursor keys or mouse the menu option will expand or contract it from its origin. When the menu option is at its correct size you may move it around the screen by pressing F3. F3 can be used to toggle between moving the option or expanding/contracting it. When you are happy with the size and position of the menu option, click with the mouse or press Enter to save it. To edit or delete a menu option select "EDIT" or "DELETE" from MENU/OPTION on the menu. Move the cursor to the menu option to edit or delete and either click on it with the mouse or press Enter. If you are deleting the option you will be asked whether you wish to go ahead with the deletion. If you answer "Y" the menu option will disappear. If are editing the option a window will appear enabling you to edit the menu option text as previously. You may also attach the menu option to another menu system. When you have changed the text save it with Enter, or press Esc to abandon the edit. You will then enter Menu Edit mode and you should progress as mentionedpreviously when adding a menu option. Hotkey to Add a Menu Option. --------------------------- If you are in Screen Edit Mode you may add a menu option without resorting to the pulldown menu bar. If you press F5 you will enter Menu Edit Mode, from where you can place a menu option on the screen. Note however that you cannot use F5 to edit or delete an existing menu option. Adding a Standard Menu System. ----------------------------- To save you the time taken in creating a standard menu system, you may select a Standard menu from the Screen Edit Menu. This standard menu has seven options already created for you, these are: "ADD", "EDIT", "DELETE", "NEXT", "PREV", "FIND" and "QUIT". These menu options are drawn on the second to last row of the current screen when you select "MENU", followed by "STANDARD", from the Screen Edit Menu. You may only add one standard menu to each screen. These menu options may be edited in the same way as previosuly described. Letter Selection of dBase Menus. -------------------------------- To improve your dBaseIII/IV menus you may wish to select a menu option by pressing a letter, rather than using the cursor/tab key to highlight it and then pressing the enter key. For example: if you have amenu option called "EDIT" you may wish to select it by simply pressing the letter "E". To enable letter selection then, when you edit the menu option heading, insert a ^ (hat) symbol before the selection letter (normally the first letter). The ^ symbol will not appear on the finished menu system, but the letter selection code will be generated. (So then in our example we would enter the option title as "^EDIT" ). Note that when you select the standard menu system the ^ symbol is added before the first character of each option automatically. Notes: 1) in the case of Clipper menus it is not necessary to include the ^ symbol in option headings because Clipper automatically allows first letter selection in menus. 2) If you select Clipper for the Language setting, then generate a Standard Menu, and you then change the language to dBase, remember that the Standard Menu will have no ^ symbols for first letter selection. The Expand/Contract or Move HotKey - F3 ---------------------------------------- It is worth emphasising that when editing Boxes, Titles or Menu options and moving them around the screen the F3 key toggles between movement of the object and expanding/contracting the size of the object. CHANGING DEFAULT COLORS FOR GENERATED SCREENS. ---------------------------------------------- If you select "SCREENCOLORS" from Main Menu, at any time, you will be able to change the colors, etc, of the data entry screen you will generate (NOTE: this should not be confused with the system colors for SLD system menus and windows available from the Setup Menu). The settings you can change from SCREENCOLORS are as follows: BACKFILL: this option allows you to change the character that will be used to fill the background of your data entry screen. It may be a space character, or ASCII code. BACKGROUND: this allows you to change the background color of the data entry screen. The actual color and appearance of the background will depend on the combination of this setting and the BACKFILL character you selected. FIELD: this determines the color of text and background of unselected data entry fields. To assist you in choosing the color of the field text, an asterisk is displayed in the blank field. SELECTED: this determines the text and background color in which the currently selected data entry field will appear. HEADING: this allows you to select the text and background color for headings which correspond to a data entry field. TITLE: this option allows you to select the text and background color for additional titles on your data entry screen. MENU: this option allows you to select the text and background color for selected user created menu options. These menus should not be confused with the main SLD pulldown menu bar. UNSELMENU: this allows you to select the text and background color for unselected user created menu options. BOX: this determines the frame background and foreground color of boxes you add to your data entry screen. FRAME: you can select the default frame characters which boxes will use by default. This setting can be overridden temporarily when you add a new box. The frame you may select can be one of: No Frame, Single Lined Frame, Double Lined Frame, Double Lined Top and Single Lined Side, or Single Lined Top and Double Lined side. SETFRAMES: if you change the default frame type this change will not be reflected in the previously defined boxes already displayed on the screen, unless you change each box individually. However by selecting this option all boxes will be updated with the new default frame type at the same time. Note: if you are using the monochrome display mode the color palette colors will be translated to gray scale tones. Some colors in the palette will be displayed with an underline. These colors will be displayed with underlining in the system colors, and on completed data entry screens if you have selected Clipper for the language type. However the underlining will not be displayed if you select dBase for the language type, so bear this in mind when selecting colors. CHANGING DEFAULT SLD SYSTEM COLORS. ----------------------------------- If you select "SETUP" from Main Menu, the System Setup Menu will appear. You may change the default system settings for Screen Layout Designer from here. By selecting "COLORS" you may change the colors for the pulldown menus, information windows/dialog boxes, data entry, and listboxes, etc. The settings you can change from COLORS are as follows: MENUBAR - this option allows the setting of pulldown menu colors ------- UNSELECTED: this option allows you to change the color of currently unselected options on the pulldown menus. HIGHLIGHT: unselected menu options have a highlighted character. If you select "Alt" and this character, or just this character on its own you will select this option on the menu. You may change the highlight color here. SELECTED: this option allows you to change the color of the currently selected menu option. DISABLED: some menu options will not be valid for the state of the current menu. These options will disabled and should appear in a dimmer color than normal selected or unselected options. Change this color here. FRAME: this option allows you to change the frame and heading text color of pulldown menus. HELP: this option allows the setting of the single help line positioned at the bottom of the screen. WINDOWS - this option allows the setting of windows/dialog box - ------- colors. TEXT: this option allows you to change the color of the text of information and dialog boxes,as well as the background on which it is displayed. FRAME: this allows you to change the frame color for info. windows and dialog boxes. SBUTTON: some dialog boxes will present you with options presented as buttons responding to operator response (eg. 'Y' or 'N'). You to change the color of the currently selected push button. UBUTTON: this allows you to change the color of currently unselected push buttons. ENTRY - this option allows the setting of data entry box colors ----- WINDOW: this option allows you to change the frame, heading and background colors for data entry windows requiring user input (eg. the name of a file for SLD to process). PROMPT: this option allows you to change the text and background color for the text prompting the user for data entry. (eg. Filename: ). SELECTED: this allows you to change the color of the currently selected item in in a data entry window. UNSELECTED: if there is more than one item in a data entry window the currently unselected items will be presented in a different color to the selected item. You may change this color here. LISTBOX - this option allows the setting of listbox colors. -------- Listboxes will present the user with multiple lines of information and may also allow the user to select a line for input into a data entry screen. FRAME: this allows you to change the color of the frame surrounding a list box. HIGHLIGHT: this allows you to change the color of the currently highlighted line in a list box. NORMAL: this allows you to change the color of all other non-highlighted items in a list box. HELP - this option allows you to change the help window ------ and index colors. FRAME: this allows you to change the color of the frame and heading colors of the help window and help index. NORMAL: this allows you to change the background and text color for of the help window and index. HIGHLIGHT: this allows you to change the color of higlighted words within the help window (ie. for important titles and points). INDEX: the index window highlights the currently selected index topic. This allows you to change the the color of the highlighted item. GENERATING SCREEN OUTPUT SOURCE CODE. ------------------------------------- Once you have laid out your data entry screen(s), complete with any necessary boxes and titles, you are ready to generate source code so that the screen can be incorporated into the database program under development. The built in code generator will generate code in dBase or Clipper generic code. To generate the code you should ensure that you have entered a file name in the FILE/OUTPUT/CODE option from the pulldown menu bar, then you should select "GEN" from the menu bar, followed by "CODE". The source code for the screen(s) will be placed in the selected file. You should then paste the code into your program and compile it with your dBase generic compiler. The code will be in the form of a procedure. If your program will incorporate multiple data entry screens then one procedure will be generated for each screen. Please see Appendix C for information on the code generated by SLD. The default filename extension for generated Screen Code Files is ".PRG". GENERATING A SCREEN LAYOUT FILE. -------------------------------- In addition to source code, you can store the contents and settings of a data entry screen you have laid out in a type of file unique to SLD. This file contains a header record and a record for each screen you have assigned in the current session. The Screen Layout Files have a ".SLF" extension name. Once you have laid out your screen(s) you can generatean SLF, first ensuring that you have entered a file name with the correct extension in the FILE/OUTPUT/SLF option from the pulldown menu bar. To generate the SLF select "GEN", followed by "SLF" from the menu bar. The full information and settings relating to the current screen(s) will be stored in the selected Screen Layout File. At any time in the future you can read from this SLF by selecting SETUP/INPUT/SLF from the menu bar and entering its file name when you select FILE/INPUT/SLF. Then when you select VIEW the previously stored screen will be redisplayed. This type of file is probably the most powerful feature of SLD because any third party program can be written to read its contents to generate screen code in almost any language. This feature is one being developed further. For information on the fields in the records of a Screen Layout File please see Appendix A. AUTOMATIC BACKUP ---------------- When you change screens, exit from the Screen Edit Menu, or perform certain critical screen editing operations, the contents of the screens currently being edited are automatically saved to a temporary file called "BACKUP.SLF" in the current directory so that your data is backed up. BACKUP.SLF" can be read just the same as any other Screen Layout File. When SLD is backing up a message "Saving to BACKUP.SLF" appears briefly. UPDATING THE INPUT TEXT FILE. ----------------------------- If you are reading the data fields direct from a .DBF file then an intermediate input text file will be created. You may also create your own text file containing the data fields, either manually with an editor (see Chapter 4), or by dumping the fields from a .DBF file into a text file (a program example, written in Clipper is given in Chapter 4). Screen Layout Designer will read the data fields from this text file. You may update the contents of this file, in a limited way, by selecting "UPDATE", followed by "TEXT", from the menu bar. The data fields listed in the text file will be saved in the order in which they appear on the screen you have laid out, and according to them screen number on which they appear. The update operation may make use of the #SCREEN command, unique to SLD. NOTE: beware that if you have updated the text file and you are reading direct from a database .DBF file, the text file will be overwritten when you re-run SLD or select NEW from the menu bar, unless you select a new text file name for input. EDITING A FILE. ---------------- You may edit an input text file (default extension .TXT), an output Screen Code File (default extension .PRG), or a dBase FMT file (default extension .FMT), but you should not attempt to edit any other type of file used by SLD. Before you can edit a file you must ensure that a valid editor has been selected. The executable file name of your editor should be entered by selecting SETUP, then EDITOR from the menu bar. The default editor is SCREDIT.EXE, however you may want to use a more sophisticated editor. Do not use a wordprocessor from within SLD, as it is likely to use too much memory and may add unwanted control characters to the file being edited. If you have to use a wordprocessor use it outside of the SLD program and save your files as ASCII text, without control characters. To edit the input text file select "EDIT", followed by "INPUT" from the pulldown menu bar, then enter the name of the input text file you wish to edit. The default file extension for input text files is ".TXT". To edit the output Screen Code File select "EDIT", followed by "OUTPUT" from the menu bar, then enter the output Screen Code File name that you wish to edit. The default file extension for Screen Code files is ".PRG". To edit a dBase FMT file select "EDIT", followed by "FMT". The default extension for these files is ".FMT". PRINTING A FILE. ---------------- You may print an input text file (default extension .TXT), an output Screen Code File (default extension .PRG), or a dBase FMT file (default extension .FMT), but you should not attempt to print any other type of file used by SLD. You may additionally print information about the current system settings. The information is sent to the printer in normal ASCII text form. Before printing you must ensure that you have selected the correct printer port for your printer. This should be LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, COM1, COM2 or COM3, depending on whether your printer interface is parallel or serial, and on how many ports your system has free and available. To setup the printer, run the Setup Menu, by selecting "SETUP" from the Main Menu, and then select "PRINTER". You should enter the printer port and other information here (see Setup). To print the input text file select "PRINT", followed by "INPUT" from the Main Menu bar. The file to be printed will be the input text file name that you have entered by selecting "File", "Input" and "Text" from the Main Menu. To print the output Screen Code File select "PRINT", followed by "OUTPUT" from the Main Menu. The file to be printed will be the output program file name that you have entered by selecting "File", "Output" and "Code" from the Main Menu. To edit a dBase FMT file select "PRINT", followed by "FMT". The file to be printed will be the input text file name that you have entered by selecting "File", "Output" and "FMT" from the Main Menu. To print information about the current system setup select "PRINT" followed by "SETTINGS". SELECTING A NEW INPUT FILE. --------------------------- You do not need to exit Screen Layout Designer to clear the screen and read data fields from a new file. If you select "NEW" from the menu bar you will be able to clear the current fields from the screen and either re-read the current input file, or read a new input file. If you have not saved the current screen and settings you will be prompted to save them before reading of the new input file commences. USING ONLINE HELP. ------------------ A HELP option is available from the pulldown menu. This is effectively an online manual with an index of topics. If you are stuck at any point then pressing "Esc" will get you out of trouble and take you back to the menu bar, where you can select online help which will be of assistance to you in the task you are trying to perform. LEAVING THE PROGRAM. -------------------- To Exit SLD from Screen Edit Mode, press "Esc" until the menu bar appears. From the main pulldown menu bar press "Esc" again to quit the program. If you have not saved your screen and settings you will be prompted to do so. Chapter 4. ========== CREATING AN INPUT TEXT FILE. ---------------------------- If you opt to read data fields onto your screen by directlyreading from a database .DBF file then Screen Layout Designer will automatically create an intermediate text file for you. You can use the file thus created in future screen editing sessions without having to re-read the database file. If you do not want to read fields directly from the database file then you can create the text file in two ways: 1) by running a program which lists the fields from your database file and dumps them into the text file. 2) by using an editor to create the file manually yourself. Method 1: --------- Here is a sample program, written in Clipper, which can be used to read the structure of a database file, in this case MEDIA.DBF, and copy the field information into a text file, in this case INPUT.TXT: use MEDIA COPY STRUCTURE EXTENDED TO newlist USE newlist LIST field_name,field_type,field_len,field_dec TO FILE input.txt The above program is all you need to create the input text file. You might call this program "STRUC.PRG" and then compile it using the Clipper compiler. When you run the executable, STRUC.EXE, you will create the text file. (Note that newlist is an intermediate file). Method 2: --------- You can get an initial idea of how to create a text file manually by looking at the sample file INPUT.TXT supplied on the distribution disks. The text file must contain, for each field, the field name, field type, field length and decimal places (for numeric types). The field types can be one of: C (character), D (date), N (numeric) or M (memo). Here is an example: SHORTCODE C 10 0 ACCNO C 10 0 COMPANY C 30 0 ADDRESS1 C 30 0 ADDRESS2 C 30 0 ADDRESS3 C 30 0 ADDRESS4 C 30 0 POSTCODE C 15 0 Each line corresponding to each field can optionally be prefixed by a number for compatibility reasons, although SLD ignores the number. For example: 1 SHORTCODE C 10 0 2 ACCNO C 10 0 3 COMPANY C 30 0 4 ADDRESS1 C 30 0 5 ADDRESS2 C 30 0 6 ADDRESS3 C 30 0 7 ADDRESS4 C 30 0 8 POSTCODE C 15 0 In addition the file can contain a "#SCREEN" command, unique to SLD, which splits a number of fields into screens. This command is the only "hash" command currently supported by SLD. The syntax is: #SCREEN <number> where "number" is the screen number. All data fields after the #SCREEN command will be placed onto the screen with the specified number, until another #SCREEN command is encountered. Note: When you do not include a #SCREEN command in the input text file SLD automatically splits the screens for you, but if you include #SCREEN commands SLD allows these to split the screens, so be careful that you do not try to push too many fields onto one screen. Example: #SCREEN 1 SHORTCODE C 10 0 ACCNO C 10 0 COMPANY C 30 0 #SCREEN 2 ADDRESS1 C 30 0 ADDRESS2 C 30 0 ADDRESS3 C 30 0 ADDRESS4 C 30 0 POSTCODE C 15 0 In the above example, SHORTCODE, ACCNO and COMPANY will appear on screen number 1 and ADDRESS1,2,3,4 and POSTCODE will appear on screen 2. Multiple Database Files. ------------------------ You may enter fields from more than one databse file on you data entry screens. This features allows SLD to produce relational applications. The layout is as follows: COMPANY->SHORTCODE C 10 0 COMPANY->ACCNO C 10 0 COMPANY->COMPANY C 30 0 COMPANY->ADDRESS1 C 30 0 COMNPNY->ADDRESS2 C 30 0 COMPANY->ADDRESS3 C 30 0 COMPANY->ADDRESS4 C 30 0 COMPANY->POSTCODE C 15 0 CONTACTS->SHORTNAME C 10 0 CONTACTS->FIRSTNAME C 30 0 CONTACTS->SURNAME C 30 0 Two data files are used in the example above, COMPANY and CONTACTS, so that fields from both files will appear on the same screen. As previously mentioned SLD will automatically generate an intermediate text file for you if you opt to read the database fields directly from database .DBF files. However you may wish to edit the input text file to suit your needs. APPENDIX A. =========== THE FORMAT OF SCREEN LAYOUT FILES. ---------------------------------- The format of SLF files have changed. The older format is however still supported by the later releases of SLD. However SLD version 2 does not directly support version 1 files. If you want to read version 1 files from version 2 you must convert your old version 1 .SLF files to version 2 to by running the SLFCONV1.EXE program. The syntax is: SLFCONV1 <old SLF> <new SLF> or: SLFCONV1 ALL (this converts all SLF V1 files to V2 in the current directory) Screen Layout Files (SLF) contain full information about screens that you have built, plus other settings, including colors. The only difference between version 1 and version 2 SLFs is in the header record. The differences are shown below. STRUCTURE OF VERSION 1 SLFs ---------------------------- Each SLF version 1 file has a 222 byte header record, followed by a 109 byte record for each field, box or title on all active screens. The information about version 1 files is only shown for reference. The file looks like this: byte pos'n ----- 1 _______________ | Header | 223 |---------------| | Field Info. | 332 |---------------| | Field Info. | 441 |---------------| | Field Info. | 550 |---------------| etc... The Header Record will be as follows: Byte Data Pos'n Type Purpose of Data ----- ------ ----------------------- 1 byte Color used for background of data entry screen 2 byte Color used for unselected data entry fields 3 byte Color used for selected data entry fields 4 byte Color used for data entry field headings 5 byte Color used for additional titles 6 byte Color used for boxes 7 byte Color used for selected menu options 8 byte Color used for unselected menu options 9 char ASCII character used for background 10 Boolean Text mode (true=80x25, false=80x50) 11 byte Language type (1=Cl5, 2=Cl87, 3=DB3, 4=DB4) 12 Boolean Use a space after field headings. 13-102 array of 10 strings of length 8 bytes, containing .DBF filenames 103 Boolean Monochrome colors (true=mono, false=color) 104 byte Default frame type (see table) 105 byte Number of active data fields on the screen(s) 106 byte Number of boxes on the data entry screen(s) 107 byte Number of titles on the data entry screen(s) 108 byte Maximum number of screens active in this session 109 byte Number of menus on the data entry screen(s) 110-149 array of bytes (1 to max. menu number) one byte for each active menu containing the screen on which it appears. 150 byte Display type (1=MDA, 2=CGA, 3=EGA, 4=VGA) 151 byte Display rows (25, 43 or 50) 152 byte Dos version no. 153-168 array of bytes - Each bit of 16 bytes representing a screen, if the bit is set it has a standard menu on it. 169-208 array of bytes (1 to max menu no.) one byte for each active menu containing menu type. 209-216 byte reserved 217-220 byte Representing ASCII characters giving 'END$' 221 byte byte value for SLD file type (4 = 1.04) 222 byte reserved STRUCTURE OF VERSION 2 SLFs ---------------------------- NOTE: Screen Layout Designer Version 2+ can only save and read the SLF file structures shown below: Each SLF version 2 file has a 502 byte header record, followed by a 109 byte record for each field (the field info. field is the same as version 1), box or title on all active screens. The file looks like this: byte pos'n ----- 1 _______________ | Header | 503 |---------------| | Field Info. | 612 |---------------| | Field Info. | 721 |---------------| | Field Info. | 830 |---------------| etc... The Header Record will be as follows: Byte Data Pos'n Type Purpose of Data ----- ------ ----------------------- 1-2 byte File identification (version 2 = FFEE hex) 3-4 byte SLD version no. (2.01 = 201) 5 byte Color used for background of data entry screen 6 byte Color used for unselected data entry fields 7 byte Color used for selected data entry fields 8 byte Color used for data entry field headings 9 byte Color used for additional titles 10 byte Color used for boxes 11 byte Color used for selected menu options 12 byte Color used for unselected menu options 13 char ASCII character used for background 14 Boolean Text mode (true=80x25, false=80x50) 15 byte Language type (1=Cl5, 2=Cl87, 3=DB3, 4=DB4) 16 Boolean Use a space after field headings. 17-196 array of 20 strings of length 8 bytes (+1), containing .DBF filenames 197 Boolean Monochrome colors (true=mono, false=color) 198 byte Default frame type (see table) 199-200 byte Number of active data fields on the screen(s) 201 byte Number of boxes on the data entry screen(s) 202 byte Number of titles on the data entry screen(s) 203 byte Maximum number of screens active in this session 204 byte Number of menus on the data entry screen(s)205-284 array of bytes (1 to max. menu number) one byte for each active menu containing the screen on which it appears. 285 byte Display type (1=MDA, 2=CGA, 3=EGA, 4=VGA) 286 byte Display rows (25, 43 or 50) 287 byte Dos version no. 288-303 array of bytes - Each bit of 16 bytes representing a screen, if the bit is set it has a standard menu on it. 304-383 array of bytes (1 to max menu no.) one byte for each active menu containing menu type. (80 bytes) 384-433 string Contains the default working directory 434-497 byte reserved (64 bytes) 498-501 byte Representing ASCII characters giving 'END$' 502 byte reserved Version 1 and 2 SLF files both have the same field info. structure as shown below: The frame types are numbered. This number represents frame types as follows: 0 = No Frame 1 = Single Frame (ASCII codes 218,192,191,217,196,179) 2 = Double Frame (ASCII codes 201,200,187,188,205,186) 3 = Single Top Double Sided (ASCII 214,211,183,189,196,186) 4 = Double Top Single Sided (ASCII 213,212,184,190,205,179) Following the header, information relating to each active data field for the session being recorded is stored in the form of one record field, including its heading, as follows: Byte Pos'n From Data Start Type Purpose of Data ----- ------ --------------------------- 1 double byte Field reference number 3 byte DBF file number (this number corresponds to an index in the array of DBF files in the header) 4 string[10] Field name in the database file 15 string[78] Heading as it appears on screen for this field 94 character The data type of this field (C,N,D, or M) 95 byte The length of the field 96 byte The number of decimal places (numeric fields) 97 byte Left column of start of data entry field on screen 98 byte Top row of start of data entry field 99 byte Right column of data entry field 100 byte Bottom row of data entry field (same as top) 101 byte Left column of start of field heading on screen 102 byte Top row of field heading 103 byte Right column of field heading 104 byte Bottom row of field heading (same as top)105 byte The screen number on which this field appears 106 byte (reserved for boxes,titles and menus... see below) 107 byte Color attribute of unselected data entry fields 108 byte Color attribute of field headings 109 byte Color attribute of selected data entry fields Note: the color attributes for individual fields are not currently supported. After the fields have been stored, information on titles and menu options will be stored in the same manner, with one record per title or per menu option. The record format is identical to that used for the data entry fields, however the record fields are re-used. The only differences between titles and menu options are: (a) the title type is 'T', whereas this will be 'Y' or 'Z' for menus, (b) a byte is used to store the menu system number in the case of menu options, and this will be 0 for titles. The information will be stored as follows: Data Byte Type Purpose of Data ---- ------ ----------------------------------- 1 double byte Reference number 3 byte unused 4 string[10] unused 15 string[78] This contains the text for this title 94 character The data type of this field = 'T' for a title, but 'Y' or 'Z' for menu options. 95 byte unused 96 byte unused 97 byte Left column of start of title/menu option on screen 98 byte Row of title 99 byte Right column of title/menu option 100 byte unused 101 byte unused 102 byte unused 103 byte unused 104 byte unused 105 byte The screen number on which this title/menu option appears. 106 byte must always be set to 0 for titles, but in the case of menu options this must be the menu system number on which this menu option appears. 107 byte Color attribute for this title or menu option. 108 byte unused 109 byte unused Note: the color attributes for individual titles or menu options are not currently supported. After the title and menu records, information relating to Boxes on the screen(s) will be stored in a similarly. The record fields are re-used as follows: Data Byte Type Purpose of Data ---- ------ ----------------------------------- 1 double byte Reference number 3 byte unused 4 string[10] unused 15 string[78] unused 94 character The data type of this field = 'X' for boxes 95 byte unused 96 byte unused 97 byte Left column of start of box on screen 98 byte Top row of box 99 byte Right column of box 100 byte Bottom row of box 101 byte unused 102 byte unused 103 byte unused 104 byte unused 105 byte The screen number on which this box appears 106 byte The frame type number for this box (see above) 107 byte Color attribute for this box 108 byte unused 109 byte unused Note: the color attribute for individual boxes is not currently supported. Appendix B. =========== NEW FILES FOR OLD. ------------------ Version 2 setup files, with the extension .SET, and version 2 Screen Layout Files, with the extension .SLF, differ from their version 1 counterparts. Version 2 of Screen Layout Designer does not directly support the earlier setup and SLF files. However two programs are included to convert the old files to the new format, SETCONV1.EXE and SLFCONV1.EXE. How to convert an old setup file to the new format: SETCONV1 <old filename> <new filename> eg. SETCONV1 SETUPS.SET NEWONE.SET or -- SETCONV1 ALL (This converts all setup files in the current directory to the new format) To convert an old SLF to the new format: SLFCONV1 <old filename> <new filename> eg. SLFCONV1 SCREEN.SLF NEWONE.SLF or -- SLFCONV1 ALL Notes: - For both utilities, if the second (new) filename is omitted the first filename is converted to the new format. A backup of the old file is made to the same name with a .BAK extension. - If you try to run SLD V2 with an old setup file or read an old SLF an error message will appear. Appendix C. =========== THE GENERATED SCREEN CODE. -------------------------- The Screen Layout Designer is capable of producing dBase generic source code directly. The source code representing the screens that you have laid out will be stored in a text file which may bepasted directly into your dBase generic program source code. You can then compile this code, using your dBase generic compiler, into an executable ".EXE" file. The default extension for files containing generated screen code is ".PRG". When you select dBase language generation a "MAIN.PRG" file will be generated for you to enable you to test the code in the generated .PRG file. This file may form the basis for your application, though you should obviously rename it if you make changes to it. FMT FILES --------- SLD version 2.01 is also capable of producing dBaseIII "FMT" files. These FMT files contain only @SAY and @GET statements corresponding to data entry fields and headings. Any menus, boxes or titles you have laid out on the screen will not be included. The default extension for these files is ".FMT". The source code will be generated as follows: Start and End of a Screen. -------------------------- The contents of each screen will be placed in a procedure, beginning with: PROC SCREEN# ,where # is the screen number, and ending with: RETURN Colors for Screens. ------------------ Colors for each screen as a whole, boxes or titles will be set by the following command: SET COLOR TO <expC1>,<expC2>,<expC3>,<expC4>,<expC5> where expC1 = standard color, expC2 = enhanced color, expC3 = border color, expC4 is left blank, expC5 = unselected color. For example: SET COLOR TO "GR+/R,BG+/R,W+/G,,N/W" In the case of Clipper V5 this will take the form of: SETCOLOR("GR+/R,BG+/R,W+/G,,N/W") Drawing Boxes. --------------- Boxes are drawn with the following command syntax for Clipper: @ <toprow>,<leftcol>,<botrow>,<rightcol> BOX <frame> COLOR <color> For example: @ 13,32,17,62 BOX "┌─┐│┘─" COLOR "W+/G" In the case of dBaseIII the box drawing is different: Firstly the colors are set, then the box may have a double or single lined frame: @ <toprow>,<leftcol> TO <botrow>,<rightcol> [DOUBLE] Note: "DOUBLE" is omitted in the case of single lined frames. Example: SET COLOR TO "W+/G" @ 8,36 TO 13,54 DOUBLE SET COLOR TO "GR+/RB,N/BG,,,N/W" For dBaseIV the code will be similar to this example: SET COLOR TO "W+/G" @ 8,36 TO 13,55 "┌─┐│┘─└│" SET COLOR TO "GR+/RB,N/BG,,,N/W" Titles. ------- The command syntax for titles will be a simple @SAY statement, preceded by coloring information: @ <row>,<col> SAY "<text>" For example: @ 1,12 SAY " Sales Database " Data Entry Fields. ------------------ The colors for unselected and selected data entry fields will be taken from the SET COLOR command immediately preceding the @GET commands. The data entry field code will be as follows: @ <row>,<col> GET <field_name> For example: @ 3,17 GET company Data Field Headings. -------------------- The headings corresponding to data entry fields will be generated using @SAY statements as follows: @ <row>,<col> SAY <heading> For example: @ 3,5 SAY "Company Name" Reading Data Fields. -------------------- The @GET statements in a procedure are terminated with a READ command. Menu Systems ------------ The way in which menus are implemented in Clipper differs from dBase. In Clipper @PROMPT commands are used to build the menu and the selected menu option stored using a MENU TO MKey command. In the case of dBase menus the process of menu building is more complicated, and an example is more suitable to illustrate this. Each menu system is formed by a separate procedure in which the menu is defined and laid out on the screen. This procedure is called: PROCEDURE MENU# ,where # is the menu number. Another procedure contains CASE statements where appropriate action is taken in accordance with the selected menu option. This is called: PROCEDURE MENUCASE# ,where # is the menu number. Clipper menu syntax: ------------------- The menu is defined within the MENU# procedure: To define a menu option: @ <row>,<col> PROMPT <heading> MESSAGE <message> Foe example: @ 14,20 PROMPT "QUIT" MESSAGE " " Note that the message is blank, but you may add your own help text. Storing the menu to a variable: MENU TO <key> For example: MENU TO MKey dBaseIII/IV Menus ----------------- This is rather more complicated. Please study the sample program DBASE3.PRG. The last statement before RETURN in the MENU# procedure should be a call to the procedure containing CASE statements: DO MENUCASE# Clipper example: PROCEDURE MENU1 LOCAL MKey @ 1,1 PROMPT "SAVE" MESSAGE " " @ 3,1 PROMPT "QUIT" MESSAGE " " MENU TO MKey DO MENUCASE1 WITH MKey RETURN To Define the Menu Case Statements: ---------------------------------- As mentioned previously the final stage of the menu process is a separate procedure in which CASE statements perform appropriate action according to the selected key from the menu. The syntax for this procedure is as follows: PROCEDURE MENUCASE# PARAMETER <key> DO CASE CASE <key> = 1 DO <procedure> CASE <key> = 2 DO <procedure> .... .... ENDCASE RETURN For example: PROCEDURE MENUCASE1 PARAMETER MKey DO CASE CASE MKey = 1 DO SaveIt CASE MKey = 2 RETURN ENDCASE RETURN Note: SLD directs the case statements to a dummy procedure with DO DUMMY. You should enter your own user defined procedure in each case statement. The DUMMY procedure is defined as: PROCEDURE DUMMY RETURN Selecting Menu Options at Runtime. --------------------------------- When you have generated the code for your menus you may, in addition to first letter selection, select menu options when you run the program as follows: dBaseIII/IV: using the tab key, or the up or down arrow keys. Clipper: using the cursor keys (arrow keys). How the Generated Source Code is Constructed. -------------------------------------------- The source code is formed of several modules. Each screen has its own associated set of procedures, which are as follows: Procedure 1: Displays titles and framed boxes, @SAY and @GETs for the data field memory variables. Procedure 2: Declares data field memory variables corresponding to the open database fields. They are declared as PUBLIC. Procedure 3: Initialises the memory variables so that they do not contain garbage. Procedure 4: sets the memory variables to the contents of the database fields, so that editing procedures can make use of this. Procedure 5: replaces the database field values with the values of the corresponding memory variables. Procedure 6: this is a dummy procedure used by case statements in menus for testing purposes only. Procedure 7: this defines menus and the menu options, and passes a menu selection to the next procedure. Procedure 8: this is a series of case statements which act on the appropriate menu selection in procedure 7. The case statements call the dummy procedure at the moment -you should replace this with your own procedures. An Example of Generated Screen Source Code. -------------------------------------------- There are sample programs supplied with .PRG file extensions. These will undoubtedly give you more insight into how SLD generates its screen code. Howeever here is a simple single screen example of the typical output of the Screen Layout Designer. It includes, boxes, a title, and data fields, with appropriate headings: PROCEDURE SCREEN1 LOCAL WinStr,iRow SETMODE(25,80) WinStr="" SETCOLOR("B+/B") FOR iRow = 0 TO 25 @ iRow,0 SAY PADC(WinStr,80,"░") NEXT SETCOLOR("W+/BG") @ 0,0,24,79 BOX "┌─┐│┘─└│" SETCOLOR("GR+/R,W/R,,,N/W") @ 2,25 SAY " ACME Sales Database " SETCOLOR("GR+/RB,N/BG,,,N/W") @ 4,8 SAY "Short Name " @ 6,11 SAY "Company " @ 8,11 SAY "Address " @ 9,20 SAY aADDRESS2 PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 10,20 SAY aADDRESS3 PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 11,14 SAY "City " @ 13,5 SAY "Zip/Post Code " @ 15,15 SAY "Tel " @ 16,15 SAY "Fax " @ 18,9 SAY "Sales Area " @ 20,9 SAY "Sales Rep. " @ 18,44 SAY "Credit Limit " @ 14,43 SAY "Business Type " @ 4,39 SAY "Account No. " @ 16,48 SAY "Turnover " @ 20,46 SAY "Last Order " DO GETSCR1 DO MENU2 RETURN PROCEDURE SCREEN2 LOCAL WinStr,iRow SETMODE(25,80) WinStr="" SETCOLOR("B+/B") FOR iRow = 0 TO 25 @ iRow,0 SAY PADC(WinStr,80,"░") NEXT SETCOLOR("W+/BG") @ 0,0,24,79 BOX "┌─┐│┘─└│" SETCOLOR("GR+/R,W/R,,,N/W") @ 2,25 SAY " Customer Contacts " @ 16,8 SAY "Received: " SETCOLOR("GR+/RB,N/BG,,,N/W") @ 9,49 SAY "Importance " @ 5,15 SAY "Short ID " @ 7,14 SAY "Firstname " @ 8,16 SAY "Surname " @ 10,18 SAY "Title " @ 12,14 SAY "Call Rate " @ 14,14 SAY "Interests " @ 16,21 SAY "Xmas Card? " @ 16,37 SAY "XMas Gift? " @ 16,53 SAY "Golf Day Invite? " @ 19,12 SAY "Note: " DO GETSCR2 DO MENU2 RETURN PROCEDURE GETSCR1 @ 4,20 GET aSHORTNAM PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 6,20 GET aCOMPANY PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 8,20 GET aADDRESS1 PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 9,20 GET aADDRESS2 PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 10,20 GET aADDRESS3 PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 11,20 GET aADDRESS4 PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 13,20 GET aPOSTCODE PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 15,20 GET aTELNO PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 16,20 GET aFAXNO PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 18,21 GET aSALEAREA PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 20,21 GET aSALESREP PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 18,58 GET aCREDIT PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 14,58 GET aBUSTYPE PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 4,52 GET aACCNO PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 16,58 GET aTURNTARG PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 20,58 GET aLASTORD PICTURE "@D" RETURN PROCEDURE GETSCR2 @ 9,61 GET aIMPORT PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 5,25 GET bSHORTID PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 7,25 GET bFIRSTNAM PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 8,25 GET bSURNAME PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 10,25 GET bTITLE PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 12,25 GET bCALLRATE PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 14,25 GET bINTEREST PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 16,33 GET bXMASCARD PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 16,49 GET bXMASGIFT PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 16,71 GET bGOLFDAY PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" @ 19,20 GET bNOTE PICTURE "XXXXXXXXXX" RETURN PROCEDURE DECVARS1 PUBLIC aSHORTNAM PUBLIC aCOMPANY PUBLIC aADDRESS1 PUBLIC aADDRESS2 PUBLIC aADDRESS3 PUBLIC aADDRESS4 PUBLIC aPOSTCODE PUBLIC aTELNO PUBLIC aFAXNO PUBLIC aSALEAREA PUBLIC aSALESREP PUBLIC aCREDIT PUBLIC aBUSTYPE PUBLIC aACCNO PUBLIC aTURNTARG PUBLIC aLASTORD RETURN PROCEDURE DECVARS2 PUBLIC aIMPORT PUBLIC bSHORTID PUBLIC bFIRSTNAM PUBLIC bSURNAME PUBLIC bTITLE PUBLIC bCALLRATE PUBLIC bINTEREST PUBLIC bXMASCARD PUBLIC bXMASGIFT PUBLIC bGOLFDAY PUBLIC bNOTE RETURN PROCEDURE INITVARS1 aSHORTNAM = SPACE(10) aCOMPANY = SPACE(30) aADDRESS1 = SPACE(30) aADDRESS2 = SPACE(30) aADDRESS3 = SPACE(30) aADDRESS4 = SPACE(30) aPOSTCODE = SPACE(15) aTELNO = SPACE(15) aFAXNO = SPACE(15) aSALEAREA = SPACE(1) aSALESREP = SPACE(20) aCREDIT = SPACE(9) aBUSTYPE = SPACE(12) aACCNO = SPACE(20) aTURNTARG = SPACE(11) aLASTORD = DATE() RETURN PROCEDURE INITVARS2 aIMPORT = SPACE(1) bSHORTID = SPACE(10) bFIRSTNAM = SPACE(20) bSURNAME = SPACE(20) bTITLE = SPACE(20) bCALLRATE = SPACE(10) bINTEREST = SPACE(40) bXMASCARD = SPACE(1) bXMASGIFT = SPACE(1) bGOLFDAY = SPACE(1) bNOTE = SPACE(50) RETURN PROCEDURE SETVARS1 aSHORTNAM = a->SHORTNAM aCOMPANY = a->COMPANY aADDRESS1 = a->ADDRESS1 aADDRESS2 = a->ADDRESS2 aADDRESS3 = a->ADDRESS3 aADDRESS4 = a->ADDRESS4 aPOSTCODE = a->POSTCODE aTELNO = a->TELNO aFAXNO = a->FAXNO aSALEAREA = a->SALEAREA aSALESREP = a->SALESREP aCREDIT = a->CREDIT aBUSTYPE = a->BUSTYPE aACCNO = a->ACCNO aTURNTARG = a->TURNTARG aLASTORD = a->LASTORD RETURN PROCEDURE SETVARS2 aIMPORT = a->IMPORT bSHORTID = b->SHORTID bFIRSTNAM = b->FIRSTNAM bSURNAME = b->SURNAME bTITLE = b->TITLE bCALLRATE = b->CALLRATE bINTEREST = b->INTEREST bXMASCARD = b->XMASCARD bXMASGIFT = b->XMASGIFT bGOLFDAY = b->GOLFDAY bNOTE = b->NOTE RETURN PROCEDURE REPLVARS1 REPLACE a->SHORTNAM WITH aSHORTNAM REPLACE a->COMPANY WITH aCOMPANY REPLACE a->ADDRESS1 WITH aADDRESS1 REPLACE a->ADDRESS2 WITH aADDRESS2 REPLACE a->ADDRESS3 WITH aADDRESS3 REPLACE a->ADDRESS4 WITH aADDRESS4 REPLACE a->POSTCODE WITH aPOSTCODE REPLACE a->TELNO WITH aTELNO REPLACE a->FAXNO WITH aFAXNO REPLACE a->SALEAREA WITH aSALEAREA REPLACE a->SALESREP WITH aSALESREP REPLACE a->CREDIT WITH aCREDIT REPLACE a->BUSTYPE WITH aBUSTYPE REPLACE a->ACCNO WITH aACCNO REPLACE a->TURNTARG WITH aTURNTARG REPLACE a->LASTORD WITH aLASTORD RETURN PROCEDURE REPLVARS2 REPLACE a->IMPORT WITH aIMPORT REPLACE b->SHORTID WITH bSHORTID REPLACE b->FIRSTNAM WITH bFIRSTNAM REPLACE b->SURNAME WITH bSURNAME REPLACE b->TITLE WITH bTITLE REPLACE b->CALLRATE WITH bCALLRATE REPLACE b->INTEREST WITH bINTEREST REPLACE b->XMASCARD WITH bXMASCARD REPLACE b->XMASGIFT WITH bXMASGIFT REPLACE b->GOLFDAY WITH bGOLFDAY REPLACE b->NOTE WITH bNOTE RETURN PROCEDURE RELVARS1 RELEASE aSHORTNAM RELEASE aCOMPANY RELEASE aADDRESS1 RELEASE aADDRESS2 RELEASE aADDRESS3 RELEASE aADDRESS4 RELEASE aPOSTCODE RELEASE aTELNO RELEASE aFAXNO RELEASE aSALEAREA RELEASE aSALESREP RELEASE aCREDIT RELEASE aBUSTYPE RELEASE aACCNO RELEASE aTURNTARG RELEASE aLASTORD RETURN PROCEDURE RELVARS2 RELEASE aIMPORT RELEASE bSHORTID RELEASE bFIRSTNAM RELEASE bSURNAME RELEASE bTITLE RELEASE bCALLRATE RELEASE bINTEREST RELEASE bXMASCARD RELEASE bXMASGIFT RELEASE bGOLFDAY RELEASE bNOTE RETURN PROCEDURE DUMMY RETURN PROCEDURE MENU1 LOCAL MKey SET ESCAPE OFF SETCOLOR("R/W,W/R,,,N/W") @ 22,5 PROMPT " ADD " MESSAGE " " @ 22,14 PROMPT " EDIT " MESSAGE " " @ 22,23 PROMPT "DELETE" MESSAGE " " @ 22,32 PROMPT " NEXT " MESSAGE " " @ 22,41 PROMPT " PREV " MESSAGE " " @ 22,50 PROMPT " FIND " MESSAGE " " @ 22,69 PROMPT " QUIT " MESSAGE " " @ 22,59 PROMPT "CONTACT" MESSAGE " " MENU TO MKey DO MENUCASE1 WITH MKey RETURN PROCEDURE MENU2 LOCAL MKey SET ESCAPE OFF SETCOLOR("R/W,W/R,,,N/W") @ 22,9 PROMPT " ADD " MESSAGE " " @ 22,18 PROMPT " EDIT " MESSAGE " " @ 22,27 PROMPT "DELETE" MESSAGE " " @ 22,36 PROMPT " NEXT " MESSAGE " " @ 22,45 PROMPT " PREV " MESSAGE " " @ 22,54 PROMPT " FIND " MESSAGE " " @ 22,63 PROMPT "RETURN" MESSAGE " " MENU TO MKey DO MENUCASE2 WITH MKey RETURN PROCEDURE MENUCASE1 PARAMETER MKey DO CASE CASE MKey = 1 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 2 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 3 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 4 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 5 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 6 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 7 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 8 DO Dummy ENDCASE RETURN PROCEDURE MENUCASE2 PARAMETER MKey DO CASE CASE MKey = 1 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 2 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 3 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 4 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 5 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 6 DO Dummy CASE MKey = 7 DO Dummy ENDCASE RETURN Note: you may use this program by adding a few lines of code to it. If you place "DO SCREEN1" before the declaration of procedure SCREEN1 and you add "USE COMPANY" and "USE CONTACT" after the local variable declarations, then compile the program, you will be able to see the data entry screen as it would appear in a Clipper program. You will of course need to add SET RELATION or similar commands to relate the fields in the two database files, and if you intend to use the program on a network you will need to open your files accordingly. You will need to add the code to add, edit and delete records. SLD should greatly reduce the time taken to produce screens and menus. Our further planned releases will do even more for you. Test programs are also generated at the same time as you generate the main code .PRG. These test programs can be used to test the operation of the main code: For Clipper: CLIPTEST.PRG for Clipper code. Compile and link the generated code with the CLIPMAKE.BAT batch file (also generated at the SAME TIME). For dBase: DBTEST.PRG for dBase code. Run this program from the applications generator. How To Complete Your Application. --------------------------------- Whilst Screen Layout Designer takes care of the bulk of the task of generating source code you will need to open your data files, take care of database file relations, record locking and general record operations. SLD was designed to take the hit and miss frustration out of data entry screen layout and menu design, but not to replace the programmer. (Please note: future versions SLD will be able to open data files, take care of relational code and record locking, and more). Appendix D. =========== Two Tutorials. -------------------- Here are two examples of how to read input from two previously created input files. The first example demonstrates how to get SLD to read directly from a database file, COMPANY.DBF, and the second example demonstrates how to read fields from a previously created Screen Layout File, SCREEN.SLF or TUTOR1.SLF. You will be shown how to generate the code in the form of a .PRG file and view it with an editor. Tutorial One: Direct from a .DBF ------------------------------ Action 1: Start SLD. Action 2: select Setup from the Main Menu bar, followed by InputType. Action 3: select Direct (the system is set to read directly from a .DBF) Action 4: press Esc until you return to the Main Menu bar. Action 5: select File, followed by Input. Action 6: select DBase. Action 7: enter "COMPANY" in the box next to the DB File 1 prompt and ensure that all other boxes are empty. Action 8: press Ctrl and Enter. Action 9: select Text. Action 10: enter the name of the intermediate text file, eg. TUTOR1.TXT Action 11: press Esc until you return to the Main Menu bar. Action 12: select SHOW (if the file TUTOR1.TXT exists you will be prompted to overwrite it, so enter "Y" in this case) Action 13: you will now be in the Screen Edit Menu. Select ScreenEdit, or alternatively press the Esc key. Action 14: you will now be in Screen Edit Mode, so, either use a mouse or the arrow keys to move the cursor onto a data field displayed on the screen. Action 15: with the cursor on a data field, or its heading, click with the left mouse button or press the Enter key. Action 16: you may now move the field around the screen. Action 17: when you are satisfied with the position of the field on the screen click with the left mouse button or press Enter. Action 18: to see information about the contents of the field, ensure that the cursor is over the field or its heading and double the left mouse button quickly or press F2. Action 19: you may edit the heading text or change the screen on which it will be displayed. For the moment move down to the Field Description prompt and change the text. Action 20: Press Ctrl and Enter to save the text. The field heading will change accordingly.Adding a box: Action 21: Press Esc to return to the Screen Edit Menu bar. Action 22: select Box. Action 23: select New. You will enter Box Edit Mode. Action 24: move the cursor around the screen to the position where you want the box to start. Action 25: click with the left mouse button or press enter. Action 26: when you move the cursor with the mouse or arrow keys the box will expand or contract from its origin. Action 27: Press F3. Now when you move the cursor the box will remain the same size, but will move around the screen. Action 28: press F3 again. The box will expand or contract when you move the cursor again. Action 29: When you are happy with the size and position of the box press the Enter key or click the left mouse button. You have succeeded in drawing a box! Adding a Title: Action 30: Press Esc to return to the Screen Edit Menu bar. Action 31: Select Title. Action 32: select New. Action 33: you will be prompted to enter some text for your title. Do so and press Enter. You will enter Title Edit Mode. Action 34: Move the cursor to where you want the title to begin, then click with the left mouse button or press Enter. Action 35: when you move the cursor the title will expand or contract. Action 36: press F3. Now when you move the cursor the title will move. Action 37: press F3 again. You will be able to expand/ contract and move the title. Action 38: when you are satisfied with the position and size of your title press Enter, or click the left mouse button. You have drawn a title. Adding a User defined Menu: Action 39: Press Esc to return to the Screen Edit Menu bar. Action 40: Select Menu. Action 41: select Add. You have now added a new menu system to the screen on view. Action 42: select New. This will add a new menu option to the new menu. Action 43: you will be prompted to enter a heading text for your menu option (eg. "EDIT"). Do so and press Enter. You will enter Menu Edit Mode. Action 44: Move the cursor to where you want the menu option to begin, then click with the left mouse button or press Enter.Action 45: when you move the cursor the menu option will expand or contract. Action 46: press F3. Now when you move the cursor the menu option will move. Action 47: press F3 again. You will be able to expand/ contract and move the menu option. Action 48: when you are satisfied with the position and size of your menu option press Enter, or click the left mouse button. You have drawn the first option on your new menu.(You may repeat steps 42 to 48 if you want to continue adding options to your new menu, or continue to 48). Generating the Code: Action 49: Press Esc to return to the Screen Edit Menu bar. Action 50: Select Quit. You will be returned to the Main Menu. Action 51: from the Main Menu select File, followed by Output, then Code. Action 52: enter the name of the source code output file, eg. TUTOR1.PRG Action 53: press Esc until you return to the top level of the Main Menu. Action 54: select Generate, followed by Code. Action 55: if the TUTOR1.PRG or other file exists you will be warned. In this case enter "Y" to overwrite it. The screen code will be generated. Viewing the generated Code: Action 56: select Edit, followed by Output from the Main Menu bar. Action 57: enter the name of your output code file, eg. TUTOR1.PRG (or press Enter if it is shown). Your output source code wil be displayed. Action 58: To exit the editor, press F4. Saving Your Work: Action 59: pres Esc to return to the top level of the Main Menu bar. Action 60: select File, followed by Output, then SLF. Action 61: enter the name of a Screen Layout File, eg. TUTOR1.SLF Action 62: Esc to the Main Menu bar. Action 63: select Generate, followed by SLF. Action 64: if the file TUTOR1.SLF, etc. exists then enter "Y" to the prompt to overwrite it. To exit SLD: Action 65: Select Exit (or just press Esc) from the Main Menu bar. You will be prompted to confirm whether you wish to exit, and whether to save setup and screen information. For the moment respond "Y" to confirm that you want to exit and "N" to save setup/screen information. Well done, you have generated your first application! Tutorial Two: Reading from an SLF: ---------------------------------- Action 1: Start SLD. Action 2: select Setup from the Main Menu, then InputType from the Setup Menu. Action 3: select SLF (the system is set to read from a previously generated Screen Layout File). Action 4: press Esc until you return to the Main Menu bar. Action 5: select File, followed by Input. Action 6: select SLF. Action 7: enter the name of a previously generated SL File in the box, eg. TUTOR1.SLF that you generated in Tutorial One. Action 8: press Enter. Action 9: press Esc until you return to the Main menu bar. Action 10: select SHOW. Action 11: you will now be in the Screen Edit Menu. Select ScreenEdit, or alternatively press the Esc key. Action 12: the data fields from the SLF will be displayed and your screen and you will enter Screen Edit Mode. You may now proceed according to the Actions from 14 onwards in Tutorial 1. Appendix E. =========== FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS OF THE SCREEN LAYOUT DESIGNER. -------------------------------------------------- Development is continuing on this software and related products too. Of course we would appreciate your interest and feedback. By listening to users of this software we can provide you with what you want. In addition to planned enhancements to this program we are developing one related program in particular: A separate program, as part of a suite of software, for creating .DBF files and for defining relational links between files, including definition of primary and foreign keys, which will be used by SLD to generate complete relational database applications, including network record and file locking for multi-user environments. This will reduce greatly the programming work required by the developer. Work on this is in progress at present. This will complement SLD and registered users of SLD will geat a generous discount on this software when available. We also intend to produce further modules for SLD so that it can generate screen source code in other languages. We are investigating the feasibility of a separate program allowing users not developing in dBase generic code to use SLD to generate data entry screen source code in other languages. This would allow users to define their own procedures or functions for generating an object on the screen. SLD would use the defined functions/procedures to generate screen source code. Appendix F. =========== TECHNICAL SUPPORT ================= If you have any technical problems with Screen Layout Designer, or you wish to enquire about other software we are developing, then you should contact us at the address below, or you may telephone 0703-701936 in the UK or 44 703 701936 outside the UK (The best time is after 18:00 hrs UK time). Another number you may call at weekends if you are unable to contact us is 0329 833488 in the UK, or 44 329 833488 outside the UK. Almost certainly the best method of contacting us is via Email, where you can send us full information on your problem or enquiry, this may be via Compuserve or BBS. Our Compuserve id. is 100116,370. This is probably your most efficient means of contacting us. You may send mail via the "Cardboard Box" BBS in the UK on 0962 880278 (44 962 880278 outside UK). Modem settings: 1200 to 9600 baud, 8, 1, no parity. This BBS can also be contacted via Fidonet (the Fidonet address is 2:252/201), or via Chatnet (the Chatnet address is 44:1000/16). Mail should be addressed to "Nev Palmer". Address: Neville T. Palmer PDM Associates 17 Heathlands Shedfield Southampton Hants SO3 2JD England When you have a technical question please let us know the following information: 1) your name 2) your company (if any) 3) your Compuserve id. and/or telephone number 4) your fax number (if available) 5) your country and city 6) your model of PC 7) operating system version 8) display type (if relevant) 9) full details of the problem 10) relevant SLD system settings 11) any other relevant information (eg. free memory) REGISTRATION. ============= If you register your copy of Screen Layout Designer we will send you the latest version of the software, which will include any enhancements. The cost of registration is US $40 or £25 Sterling. To register, please print and fill in the form below, then send it, together with the appropriate payment, made out to Neville T. Palmer, to this address: Neville T. Palmer PDM Associates 17 Heathlands Shedfield Southampton Hants SO3 2JD England Registration Form - Screen Layout Designer V2 Plus ----------------------------------------------------- Name: ____________________________________ Company: ____________________________________ Address: ____________________________________ ____________________________________ City: _____________________ State/County: _______________ Zip/Post Code: _______________ Country: _______________ Telephone: __________________ Fax:__________________ Compuserve: _________________ IMPORTANT!! Please enter the Name that you wish to appear on your registration screen when running the program (14 to 40 alphanumeric characters; see next page for full info): Registered Name: ______________________________________________________ Disk Size for Update(s): 5.25" [ ] 3.25" [ ] If you have a copy of SLD, version number: ___________ Please enclose $40 US or £25 Sterling (or equivalent) HOW TO COMPLETE PROGRAM REGISTRATION: ------------------------------------ To register you should send us the appropriate fee along with the name that you will register this software under. This name must consist of at least 14 alphamumeric characters. Valid characters are capital 'A' to 'Z', lower case 'a' to 'z', number '0' to '9' and figures &',/()- (ampersand, apostrophe, comma, forward slash, left bracket, right bracket and hyphen). Spaces are of course permitted between words, but note that there must be at least 11 non-space characters in the name. No other characters are valid. Case sensitivity is not important. When we receive the registration fee and name we will generate a registration number encoded from the name, so it is important that you send us the exact name you will use for registration. We will send you the latest version of this software. You will also be entitled to full support and discounts on our other programs. We will send you the registration number and confirmation of the name. You should then run SLD and go into the Setup Menu from the main menu, then select "OTHER", followed by "REGISTER" from this menu. From here enter the name and registration number. When you have entered them satisfactorily. Press the F2 function key to to complete registration. You will see a message telling you that registration has been successful. If you see an error message "invalid registration number" then check that you have entered the name and number correctly. The registration number and name are stored in a text file called 'REGISTER.SLD'. This file must be present in the directory from which you run SLD otherwise the registration information will not be picked up by the program. You can generate this file in more than one directory. Keep your registration number and name safe so that if you accidentally delete this file you can re-generate it. When you complete registration the delay on the message at the start and end of the program will be removed. You will only see the opening screen with your rgistered name on it and you may press any key or click a mouse button to continue immediately. RESTRICTIONS ------------ Your registration entitles you to use this software on a single computer and make a copy for backup purposes. If you intend to use this software on more than one computer then you should register each copy. If you are reading this text at registration time then thankyou for your support. METHODS OF PAYMENT ------------------ If you are a Compuserve member you may pay via the Compuserve shareware registration service, where the registration identification number of SLD is 795. To use this service enter GO SWREG. When you register via Compuserve the fee will be deducted from your account and we will be notified of the registration. We will despatch an update disk via airmail as soon as we receive notification from Compuserve. You may also send the payment direct. Suggested methods of payment for registrants outside the United Kingdom are as follows: 1) An International Money Transfer 2) An International Money Order. It is best if the amount is made out in Pounds Sterling. The amount should be 25 Pounds Sterling or $40 U.S., or the equivalent, converted to Sterling at the exchange rate in force at the time of registration, whichever favours you. Registrants in the United Kingdom are advised to pay by cheque or postal order. If you follow the above advice you will avoid delays in processing your registration. However other methods of payment acceptable to United Kingdom banks will be accepted. Payment in U.S. Dollars is fine, though the payment may be in any currency acceptable to U.K. banks as the equivalent of $40 U.S. or £25 Sterling. Your registration includes handling fees, but we reserve the right to refuse registration if your method of payment is not acceptable to U.K. banks, or it incurs unacceptably high bank charges. You are advised not to send cash. WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES --------------------- This product is currently shareware. Your registration fee pays for postage of the update disk to you, support of the program via Compuserve, telephone, fax and surface mail. Your registration fee also enables us to pay for new hardware and software development tools, development of this and other programs, uploads of updates onto Compuserve, postage of updates to shareware libraries, administration, etc. etc. Your registration will enable us to continue providing you with useful tools. Please support shareware. SOFTWARE FOR YOU! ================= This software has been aimed at professional and amateur software developers and dealers with experience ranging from novice to advanced. We always welcome any comments regarding our software so that we can write software that people want. The whole purpose of this software is to make life easier for you! Additionally we may be able to customise this product for your individual requirements. Contact us today. We are also working on other developement/database projects. Details upon request!