Converting a user interface

Use this utility to globally change user interface characteristics of any Dexterity application. You may want to convert your application’s user interface to accomplish the following objectives:

• Apply system colors to all your application’s window fields.
• Apply a three-dimensional appearance to certain window fields, including text boxes, check boxes, radio buttons and list boxes.
• Apply a visual indicator to zoom fields.
• Apply custom colors to alternating lines in scrolling windows.
• Provide custom color support for all prompts and prompt boxes in your application.
• Reduce the height of drop-down lists and combo boxes in the layout window to standard height.
• Remove graphical buttons, such as lookups, from a tab sequence.
• Specify alignment for text on push buttons.
• Correct several properties used by the Modifier.
• Update palettes to use the new palette style.
• Set the SetChangeFlag property for all scrolling window fields.

To convert a user interface, open an editable dictionary, then choose Convert User Interface from the Utilities menu to display the User Interface Conversion window.

1. Enter a report file name.

Enter the name for the report file that will log the results of the conversion, or accept the default name (CONVERT.TXT). The report lists any errors that occurred during the conversion, as well as any objects that the utility couldn’t convert. Review the report to find which objects you will need to convert manually.

2. Select conversion options.

Choose the options you want the conversion to perform. If you choose not to perform some of the conversion operations now, you can run the conversion again later to perform those operations.

Use System Colors   Mark this option to change the FontColor, BackColor and LineColor properties for application objects to System. Once System becomes the default color, the object will inherit colors as defined using the operating system’s control panel settings for color. This utility will perform the following system color conversions:

Use 3D Effects   Mark this option to set the Appearance property to 3D Border for the following objects that appear in standard windows. Items in scrolling windows are not affected.

• List box
• Multi-select list box
• Text
• Non-native list box
• Radio button
• Check box
• Line – For adjoining lines that are of equal length, the utility will delete the bottommost or rightmost line and set the remaining line’s Appearance property to 3D Border.
• Push buttons – For graphical push buttons, the Border property is also set to true.

Use Visual Indicator for Zooms   Mark this option to add a visual indicator to zoom field prompts. This utility will search for any static text overlapping a zoom push button (a push button whose Zoom property is true) and set the static text item’s Zoom property to true. You can choose to display the following visual indicators for zoom field prompts:

• Display an underline for all zoom field prompts. You can show or hide this underline using the Field_SetZoomFormat() function. If you don’t use this function, the application will attempt to use the defaults file setting that specifies this characteristic. If this defaults file setting doesn’t exist, the prompt will appear underlined.
• Change the color of all zoom field prompts. You can specify color using the Field_SetZoomFormat() function. If you don’t use this function, the application will attempt to use the defaults file setting that specifies the zoom prompt color. If this defaults file setting doesn’t exist, the prompt color will be black.

The underline and font color serve as visual cues, indicating the presence of a zoom field. The following illustration shows how a converted zoom field’s prompt will look:

Use Custom Colors for Prompts   Mark this option to use custom prompt colors for all cyan prompts (rectangles or single-line entry fields with their BackColor property set to Cyan) that are 18 pixels high. The following actions are performed for each cyan prompt box or single-line entry field:

• Sets the prompt’s Size-Height and Size-Width properties to the same values as the Size-Height and Size-Width properties of the cyan rectangle.
• Sets the prompt’s Position-Left and Position-Top properties to the same values as the Position-Left and Position-Top properties of the cyan rectangle.
• Sets the prompt’s BackColor, FontColor, PatternColor and Pattern properties to Custom. The Custom setting allows you change the color and pattern of prompts using the Field_SetCustomPromptFormat() function.
• Sets the Border property to true.
• Deletes the cyan rectangle.

If you don’t use the Field_SetCustomPromptFormat() function to set custom prompts, your application will attempt to use the defaults file settings that specify the custom prompt characteristics. If these defaults file settings don’t exist, the custom prompts will have the following display characteristics:

These defaults do not apply to static text items for controls such as push buttons, check boxes and radio buttons. Your operating system color settings control the display characteristics for those objects if you convert your application using the Use System Colors option.

Use Custom Colors For Scrolling Windows   Mark this option to globally apply custom color support for scrolling window lines. This utility will change the AltLineColor property for all scrolling windows to true. It also sets the BackColor, FontColor, Pattern and PatternColor properties to Custom. Scrolling windows will then display alternating scrolling window lines in the color you defined using the Field_SetAltLineColor() function.

If you don’t use the Field_SetAltLineColor() function, the application will attempt to use the defaults file settings that specify line characteristics for scrolling windows whose AltLineColor propert is set to true. If these defaults file settings don’t exist, alternating lines in the scrolling window will have the following display characteristics:

Collapse Drop Down Lists and Combo Boxes   Mark this option to set properties for drop-down list and combo box fields. Drop-down lists appearing in the control area will be resized to 20 pixels high. All other drop-down lists will be resized to 18 pixels high. Combo boxes will be resized to 20 pixels high. Both drop-down lists and combo boxes will have the VisibleItems property set to 8.

Converting the drawn appearance of these controls makes the window’s layout appear less cluttered. Modifier users will also benefit from a more accurate representation of controls as they appear at runtime.

Remove Fields from Tab Sequence   Mark this option to remove from the tab sequence any button with a picture as the static item (such as a lookup button or a browse button) by setting its TabStop property to false. This allows for more efficient data entry, since the tab sequence includes only fields used for keyboard entry. This option does not remove from the tab sequence buttons with text as the static item (such as a Save or Delete button).

Adjust Field Alignment   Push buttons with static text values now honor the Alignment property. Mark this option to properly set the alignment of text that appears on push buttons.

Correct Required, Editable, Visible Properties   Mark this option to correct some internal properties for window fields. These properties are used by the Modifier only. They do not affect the appearance of fields.

New Palette Style   Mark this option to update palettes to use the new palette style. The following actions are performed for each palette:

• The positions of the push pin and palette title are exchanged.
• If a separator line exists below the palette title, the Appearance property is set to 3D Border and the line is moved to position (0, 18).
• Graphical push buttons are moved from the window and their Visible property is set to false.
• The visual switch appearing at the bottom of the palette is moved from the window and its Visible property is set to false.
• Prompt push buttons are widened to the width of the palette window.
• The prompt fields are positioned three pixels from the left edge of the palette window.
• The data type used for the prompt button is updated to use native pictures as the static items, rather than text. Then the following properties are set for each prompt button:

• The following properties are set for each prompt string field that displays the prompt text:

Set Change Flag Property For Scrolling Windows   Mark this option to set the SetChangeFlag property to True for all scrolling window fields. In early versions of Dexterity, this property didn’t default to True for scrolling window fields.

3. Run the conversion.

Click Start to begin the conversion process. When complete, the utility saves the conversion report to the same location as your dictionary.

4. Review the conversion report.

The conversion text report shows all the objects the utility successfully converted. If the utility was unable to convert an object on a given form, it will display the form on the report in the following format:

***Exception*** Form: SY_Company_Options

Examine the forms listed to determine if any need additional changes.

5. Make any necessary changes.

There are a number of user interface changes you may need to make before you’ve completely converted your application. The following are the most common issues you will encounter.

Custom prompt colors   If you choose the Use Custom Prompt Colors option, and the utility encounters a prompt that is more than 18 pixels tall, it sets the BackColor property of the item to Custom; however, an exception will still be logged. This situation can occur if you’ve used one prompt for multiple fields.

System colors   If you choose the Use System Colors option, all windows in your application will inherit system colors as the window background color. However, bitmaps that appear in these windows will keep their original background color, and the backgrounds may not match.

To address this problem, you’ll need to use the special background color for the bitmap. The RGB values for this color are Red=192, Green=192 and Blue=192 on a scale of 255. If you use a paint or draw application that specifies RGB colors as percentages, use the following percentages: Red=75.294%, Green=75.294% and Blue=75.294%. Changing the background color of the bitmap to this specific color allows the bitmap’s background color to blend automatically with whatever window background color the user selects.

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