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  • Overview
  • Creating a control in a page
  • Creating a control in a page
  • Creating a control from a dictionary control
  • Creating a control from the clipboard content
  • Creating an Image control from an image file by Drag and Drop
  • Binding a control to a data file item
  • How to proceed?
  • Caution
  • Selecting, grouping and deleting the page controls
  • Selecting one or more controls from a page
  • Grouping controls in a page
  • Deleting one or more controls from a page
  • Copying the page controls
  • Overview
  • Copying controls to the same page
  • Copying a page control to another page
  • Copying the control style
  • Moving, locking and aligning the controls in a page
  • Moving one or more page controls
  • Locking controls
  • Aligning page controls
  • Resizing page controls
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Stored procedures
Manipulating controls in a page
Creating a control in a page

Creating a control in a page

To create a control in a page:
  1. Go to the "Creation" tab in the page editor. This tab contains all the types of controls that can be created in a page.
    According to the type of control to create:
    • click its icon.
    • if an arrow is displayed beside the control name, expand the list and select the type of control to create.
  2. Click where you want to create the control in the page.
Remark: To create a new column in a Table control from the page editor:
  1. Select the Table control.
  2. Right-click to open the context menu:
    • select "Add a column".
    • select the type of column to create.

Creating a control from a dictionary control

WEBDEV allows you to create a control from a control found in a dictionary (".DIC" file). A dictionary allows you to store elements (controls, pages, ...) for a future use in the new projects. For more details, see Dictionary.
To create a control from a control found in a dictionary:
  1. Display the "Dictionary" pane.
  2. Open the dictionary if necessary ("Open" in the context menu).
  3. Select the initial control found in the dictionary (in the "Page controls" category).
  4. Perform a Drag and Drop of the control found in the dictionary toward its future position in the page.
  5. Subscribe the created control to the dictionary if necessary. If the created control subscribes to the dictionary, the modifications made to the control found in the dictionary will be automatically applied to the created control. For more details, see Subscribing an element to the dictionary.

Creating a control from the clipboard content

The page editor allows you to create specific types of controls according to the clipboard content:
Clipboard contentType of created control
Text, copied from a text editor for example.Static control
Image file copied from Windows explorer.Image control
Image, copied from an HTML page for example.Image control
Description of a data file, copied from the data model editor of WEBDEV or from the "Analysis" pane.Table based on a data file
Item of a data file, copied from the "Analysis" pane.Control created by RAD according to the type of control specified in the "RAD" tab of item description.

To create a control from the clipboard content:
  1. Copy the element to the clipboard ("Edit .. Copy" or Ctrl + C).
  2. In the page editor, on the "Home" tab, in the "Edit" group, click "Paste" (or Ctrl + V).
Remark: You have the ability to explicitly choose the format in which the clipboard content must be pasted in the page editor: on the "Home" tab, in the "Edit" group, expand "Paste" and select "Special paste". For more details, see Special paste.

Creating an Image control from an image file by Drag and Drop

WEBDEV allows you to create an Image control by dragging an image file from Windows explorer and dropping it onto a WEBDEV page.
To create an Image control from an image file:
  1. Select the desired image file in Windows Explorer.
  2. Hold the left mouse button down and move the image file to a page opened in the WEBDEV editor.
  3. Release the mouse button. An Image control associated with the image file is automatically created.
The following image formats are supported in Windows:
  • Bitmap (*.BMP)
  • Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif)
  • Joint Picture Experts Group (*.jpg ; *.jpeg)
  • Kodak Photo CD (*.pcd)
  • PaintBrush (*.pcx)
  • Adobe Photoshop Format (*.psd)
  • TrueVision TARGA (*.tga)
  • Tagged Image File Format (*.tif ; *.tiff)
    Remark: the "tiled tiff" option of tiff 6.0 standard is not supported. In this case, we advise you to save the image in tiff 5.0 standard.
  • Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
  • Windows MetaFiles (*.emf ; *.wmf)
  • Icons (*.ico ; *.icw)
    Remarks:
    • HQ display (High Quality) available.
    • Management of sheets in transparent BMP format (32 bits).
  • Cursors (*.cur)
  • Portable Document Format (*.pdf)
  • Scalable Vector Graphics (*.svg)
  • WINDEV images (generated by the image editor, *.WDPIC).
Binding a control to a data file item

How to proceed?

To bind an existing control to a data file item:
  1. Select the desired control.
  2. Right-click and select "Description" in the context menu, then go to the "Binding" tab in the control description window.
  3. Enter the information about the bound item.
Remark: You also have the ability to directly create:
  • an edit control from an item of a data file:
    1. In the "Analysis" pane, select the item that will be bound to the control to be created.
    2. Drag and drop the item onto the position where you want to create the bound Edit control.
  • a Table control from a data file:
    1. In the "Analysis" pane, select the data file that will be related to the Table control to be created.
    2. Drag and drop the item onto the position where you want to create the bound Table control. The Table control creation wizard starts automatically.

Caution

The following controls cannot be bound to an item in a data file:
  • buttons,
  • pagers,
  • cells,
  • horizontal rules,
  • Java Applet controls,
  • Flash controls,
  • Web Camera controls,
  • HTML controls.
Selecting, grouping and deleting the page controls

Selecting one or more controls from a page

WEBDEV allows you to select one or more page controls with the keyboard or with the mouse. For more details, see Selecting one or more controls.
Special case: Grouped controls
  • A click performed on a grouped control selects all grouped controls.
  • Two successive clicks performed on a grouped control selects this control only.

Grouping controls in a page

Several controls can be grouped together. This grouping simplifies the move of several controls for example
Reminder: Two types of groups are available:
  • the grouping of controls in order to handle several controls in the page editor.
  • the groups of controls to manipulate several controls through programming.
To group controls:
  1. Select the controls to group (see Selecting one or more controls).
  2. On the "Modification" tab, in the "Depth and Alignment" group, click "Group selection" (Ctrl + G).
To dissociate grouped controls:
  1. Select a control that belongs to the group. WEBDEV automatically selects all the grouped controls.
  2. On the "Modification" tab, in the "Depth and Alignment" group, click "Group selection" and select "Dissociate selection" (Ctrl + Shift + G).

Deleting one or more controls from a page

To delete one or more controls from a page:
  1. Select the controls to delete (see Selecting one or more controls).
  2. Press the Del key.
Copying the page controls

Overview

One or more controls can be copied in the same page or from one page to another.
The description and the code of copied control will be identical to the ones of initial control.

Copying controls to the same page

To copy a control in the same page:
  • 1st method:
    • Select the control to copy.
    • On the "Home" tab, in the "Editing" group, click "Copy".
      Remark: You can also press Ctrl + C.
    • On the "Home" tab, in the "Editing" group, click "Paste".
      Remark: You can also press Ctrl + V.
    • Position the control with the mouse (the control outline appears in dotted lines and it helps you position the new control).
  • 2nd method:
    • Select the control to copy.
    • Right-click the control to copy and hold the mouse button down.
    • Move the control with the mouse (the control outline appears in dotted lines and it helps you position the control to paste).
    • Release the mouse button.
    • Select "Copy here".
    • A new name is automatically assigned to the copied control. This name can be modified in the description of copied control ("Description" in the context menu of control).

Copying a page control to another page

To copy a page control to another page:
  • 1st method:
    • In the first page, select the control to copy.
    • On the "Home" tab, in the "Editing" group, click "Copy".
      Remark: You can also press Ctrl + C.
    • Display the destination page in the page editor.
    • On the "Home" tab, in the "Editing" group, click "Paste".
      Remark: You can also press Ctrl + V.
    • Position the control with the mouse (the control outline appears in dotted lines and it helps you position the new control).
  • 2nd method: (both pages must be displayed in the editor)
    • In the first page, select the control to copy.
    • Hold the left mouse button down and drag the control to the destination page.
    • Release the mouse button once the control is positioned in the destination page (the outline of the control appears in dotted lines and it helps you position the pasted control).

Copying the control style

Copying the style of a control consists in copying the characteristics of a control style to another control. Only the control style is copied (not its content). For more details, see Copying the control style.
Moving, locking and aligning the controls in a page

Moving one or more page controls

To move one or more page controls:
  1. Select the controls to move.
  2. Keep the left mouse button down and move the controls with the mouse. The real-time interface checker is used to align the controls (see the next paragraph).
Remark: The selected controls can also be moved with the arrow keys found on the keyboard. To speed up the move, press the Ctrl key together with the arrow key.

Locking controls

In some cases, you may want to lock the controls in a fixed position: in this case, the control cannot position be modified and the control is not selected during a selection performed with the lasso. This feature is often useful for the layout controls.
To lock a control:
  1. Select the control.
  2. Use one of the following methods:
    • on the "Display" tab, in the "Current control" group, check "Locked".
    • press Alt + V.

Resizing page controls

To resize a control in a page, you have the ability to use:
  • the mouse (via the sizing handles of the control)
  • the following keyboard shortcuts on the selected control:
    • Alt right arrow: Enlarge the control from the right.
    • Alt left arrow: Enlarge the control from the left.
    • Alt up arrow: Enlarge the control from the top.
    • Alt down arrow: Enlarge the control from the bottom.
Minimum version required
  • Version 9
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Last update: 09/15/2023

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