Observations from a new designer

[jfield]

I just bought OrbForms Designer and I plan to play with it and document my findings. Maybe this will help future designers.

I will also be looking for guidance from the old designers.

My test results are based on <b>OrbForms Designer v2.0.3 Build 136 </b>(19 Dec 2002) and a Palm IIIc Emulator.

[jfield]

Observation #1 (<b>Label Objects</b>):

a. For the Font property, what you see (WYS) during design time is not always what you get (WYG) during runtime.
b. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Width, Height, and Visible).
c. The width and height are automatically adjusted at design time based on the Font property setting.
d. It would be nice if the Label object had an onselect handler.

[jfield]

Observation #2 (<b>Field Objects</b>):

a. The Font property for the Field Object has the same issue as the Label Object (i.e. WYS is not always WYG).
b. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Height, Visible, Text, etc.).
c. The height is automatically adjusted at design time based on the Font property setting.
d. Some of the properties are not explained in the Help Topics (i.e. Left Anchor, Dirty, etc.).
e. Setting the Left Anchor property to FALSE causes the text in the Field Object to be right justified.
f. The Field Object text is not automatically preserved when the form is closed.
g. Setting the Multiple Lines property to TRUE adds an item to the Properties list (Number of Lines).
h. The Number of Lines determines how many lines of text can be displayed in the Field object.
i. Some escape sequences can be used with the insert method (\n, \t, \\, \', \" & \xhh).

[jfield]

Observation #3 (<b>Form Objects</b>):
a. The MenuBar property for the Form Object is called Menu in the Help Topics.
b. Setting the Modal property to TRUE adds an item to the Properties list (Default Button).
c. The Default Button determines which button on the Form object will ???
d. The Help Topics does not explain how to turn OFF the Timer method.
e. It turns out that the timer function triggers only once and should be restarted in the ontimer method.
f. What makes the ondraw method execute ?
g. cao says "ondraw handler is called when the form wants to draw the items on the screen.".

[jfield]

Observation #4 (<b>Button Objects</b>):

a. The Font property for the Button Object has the same issue as the Label Object (i.e. WYS is not always WYG).
b. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Visible and BMP ID).
c. Some of the properties are not explained in the Help Topics (i.e. Left Anchor, Graphic, and Frame Type).
d. Setting the Left Anchor property to FALSE has not effect on the button text position.
e. Setting the Graphic property to TRUE adds two items to the Properties list (Normal and Selected Bitmap).
f. The Normal Bitmap is displayed before the button is pressed and the Selected Bitmap is displayed when pressed.
g. Setting the Frame Type to NONE results in a borderless button. This is useful when Graphic is TRUE.
h. I cannot get the Timer method to work when added to the Onselect method of a Button object.
i. OOPS, I forgot to re-issue the Timer method again in the Ontimer method of the Form object.
j. To use a Button object as a counter try: button1.text = format((lparse(button1.text) + 1),0);:)

[jfield]

Observation #5 (<b>Checkbox Objects</b>):

a. The bottom of the Checkbox is missing until you increase the Checkout's default height.
b. The Font property for the Checkbox Object has the same issue as the Label Object (i.e. WYS is not always WYG).
c. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Visible and Checked).
d. The width and height of the text are automatically adjusted at design time based on the Font property setting.
e. The W and H property values are not affected by the font selection.
f. One of the properties is not explained in the Help Topics (i.e. Left Anchor).
g. Setting the Left Anchor property to FALSE has not effect on the Checkbox text position.
h. The Checkbox Object state (checked or not) is not automatically preserved when the form is closed.

[jfield]

Observation #6 (<b>Pushbutton Objects</b>):

a. The Font property for the Pushbutton Object has the same issue as the Label Object (i.e. WYS is not always WYG).
b. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Visible, BMP ID, and Checked).
c. Some of the properties are not explained in the Help Topics (i.e. Left Anchor, Graphic and Group).
d. Setting the Left Anchor property to FALSE has not effect on the pushbutton text position.
e. Setting the Graphic property to TRUE adds two items to the Properties list (Normal and Selected Bitmap).
f. The Normal Bitmap is displayed before the pushbutton is pressed and the Selected Bitmap is displayed when pressed.
g. If Group is set to 0, then the pushbutton operates independent of the other pushbuttons.
h. If Group is not equal to 0, then all the pushbuttons with the same Group number operate as a set.
i. Please add a Frame Type property for borderless pushbuttons. This would be useful when Graphic is TRUE.

[jfield]

Observation #7 (<b>General Comments and Questions</b>):
a. The order of an object in the Project list determines if the object is in front of other objects on the same form.
b. Under the Tools menu, select Options... and change the Grid Cell Width and Height to 4 so that you can have finer control over object placement on a form.
c. Global variables are not explained in the Help Topics.
d. The Help Topics need to be enhanced to include an example for every keyword.
e. Use "(int)(variable)" to cast (i.e. convert) a floating point variable to an integer (i.e. truncate).
f. If a variable is declared as a "float", then "variable = field1.text" will convert the text string to a float.
g. If a variable is declared as an "int", then "variable = field1.text" will convert the text string to an integer.
h. Does it make a difference where a new function is typed in ?

[jfield]

Observation #8 (<b>Repeatbutton Objects</b>):

a. The Font property for the Repeatbutton Object has the same issue as the Label Object (i.e. WYS is not always WYG).
b. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Visible, BMP ID, and Checked).
c. Some of the properties are not explained in the Help Topics (i.e. Left Anchor and Frame Type).
d. Setting the Left Anchor property to FALSE has not effect on the Repeatbutton text position.
e. Setting the Graphic property to TRUE adds two items to the Properties list (Normal and Selected Bitmap).
f. The Normal Bitmap is displayed before the button is pressed and the Selected Bitmap is displayed when pressed.
g. Setting the Frame Type to NONE results in a borderless Repeatbutton. This is useful when Graphic is TRUE.
h. The design time shape of the Repeatbutton object does not reflect the look of the object at runtime.

[jfield]

Observation #9 (<b>Selector Objects</b>):

a. The Font property for the Selector Object has the same issue as the Label Object (i.e. WYS is not always WYG).
b. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Width and Visible).
c. The width and height of the text is automatically adjusted at design time based on the Font property setting.
d. The H property value is not affected by the font selection.
e. One of the properties is not explained in the Help Topics (i.e. Left Anchor).
f. Setting the Left Anchor property to FALSE has not effect on the Selector text position.

[jfield]

Observation #10 (<b>List Objects</b>):

a. The Font property for the List Object has the same issue as the Label Object (i.e. WYS is not always WYG).
b. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Height and Visible).
c. The height of the list is automatically adjusted at design time based on the Font property setting.
d. The list itself cannot be entered at design time as one of the properties.
e. A list is used by a Popup object that is on the same form.
f. Set the List Trigger Popup property to point to the associated Popup object.

[jfield]

Observation #11 (<b>Popup Objects</b>):

a. The Font property for the Popup Object has the same issue as the Label Object (i.e. WYS is not always WYG).
b. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Width and Visible).
c. The width and height of the popup are automatically adjusted at design time based on the Font property setting.
d. The H property value is not affected by the font selection.
e. One of the properties is not explained in the Help Topics (i.e. Left Anchor).
f. Setting the Left Anchor property to FALSE has not effect on the Popup text position.
g. The popup list itself cannot be entered at design time as one of the properties.

[jfield]

Observation #12 (<b>Scroll Bar Objects</b>):

a. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Width, Visible and Value).
b. The Scroll Bar is always vertical because the Palm OS does not support horizontal scroll bars.
c. The Page property value determines how far the Scroll Bar moves when the gray area is pressed.

[jfield]

Observation #13 (<b>Slider Objects</b>):

a. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Visible and Value).
b. One of the properties is not explained in the Help Topics (i.e. Customize).
c. Setting the Customize property to TRUE adds two items to the Properties list (Selector and Background).
d. The Selector bitmap is displayed for the slider and the Background Bitmap is displayed for the rail ends.
e. The Page property value determines how far the Slider moves when the rail area is pressed.

[jfield]

Observation #14 (<b>Bitmap Objects</b>):

a. Some of the properties are not settable at design time (i.e. Width, Height and Visible).
b. One of the properties is not explained in the Help Topics (i.e. Normal Bitmap).
c. Adding a Bitmap object to a form with Normal Bitmap set to NONE causes the Palm to crash.[:(!]
d. Use the Normal Bitmap property to select a Bitmap under the Bitmaps section of the Project view.
e. If four all of the bitmaps assigned to a Bitmap object are not the same size, then the program will not compile.
f. If you edit the bitmap using an external program, you must reselect the bitmap in the Bitmap list and on the form.