spd - screen¶

Application workspace
Toolbar
Object tree window
Property window
Edit window

The View menu contains options to turn the display of component windows on and off.

To save the current size and position of the toolbar and all moveable and resizable windows, select Options->Save windows settings as default.

Application workspace¶

This is the grey area that normally occupies most of the screen. The co-ordinates of a top-level window (X position and Y position) are relative to the top left corner of the application workspace. When the program is compiled and run the co-ordinates are relative to the whole screen.

If an application is being designed for a screen size other than the current one, the application workspace can be resized to the target screen size. See Project Settings.

Object tree window¶

The object tree window is located at the top right of the screen, and has two tabs, Object tree and File tree.

The Object tree displays the objects in the program in tree form, sorted by object type. Click on the plus sign to the left of an object or group to open it up, listing the group’s members, or, if the object is a window, the window’s child windows, groups and top-level controls. Click on the minus sign to close up the listing.

Clicking on an object in the tree selects it and displays the corresponding program code in the Edit window. Where appropriate, the object’s properties are displayed in the Property window, and any windows required for its display are opened if they were not so already.

The File tree displays the main program file at the top, followed by any include files.

The files can be expanded, like objects, by clicking on the plus sign. Objects in the file are listed in the order they appear in the code. In addition to the objects defined in the file, intervening sections of code are included, referenced by line number, and can be selected. This enables the editing of code sections that do not form object or function definitions. The Edit->Set insert point option enables any object or code section to be selected as the point after which newly created items should be placed in the source file.

The following symbols are used in the trees:

	An editable file. File tree only.
	A read-only file. File tree only.

sys	Open to display a list of Sculptor system variables. These are available for use in a program, but cannot be selected.
STMP	A Sculptor system variable.
tmp	Open to display a list of all global temporary variables declared within the program (!temp).
!TMP	A global temporary variable.

WIND	A window. Expand to list child windows, control groups, top-level controls and menus. Except for top-level controls, these have a plus/minus expansion box of their own to open up a list at the next level.
WGRP	A button group or textbox group.
BUTN	A button.
GRAPHIC	A graphic.
LBOX	A listbox.
MENU	A menu.
ITEM	A menu item.
OLE	An ole control.
STXT	A static text item.
TABL	A table.

!FILE, !OFIL	A Sculptor keyed file.
!REC	A temporary record structure declared by !record. Expand the record to list the record fields.
RTMP	A field defined in a temporary record structure with its own field list, or in a temporary record whose structure is copied from a record with its own field list. In the second case, the fields are listed for reference only and cannot be edited. The fields only change if the field list of the record being copied changes.
DD FLD	A field in a temporary record whose structure is copied from a data dictionary field list. These are listed for reference only and cannot be edited. The fields only change if the data dictionary field list itself changes.
!LAYOUT	An alternative record layout for a data dictionary. This feature is obsolescent and should not be used in new programs.
	A user-defined function.
DB	An ODBC database.
!CUR	An ODBC database cursor. See Declaring an ODBC database.
TXT	A configurable text file.

CODE

A section of code. Any non-blank part of a file that is not an object. File tree only.

The object tree window can be resized vertically. Position the cursor over the bottom of the window. A double-headed vertical arrow appears. Click down and drag the window to its new height. The height of the Property window, beneath it, is also resized.

The window can also be resized horizontally by dragging the left border. The Property window, if docked, is automatically resized along with it.

To undock the object tree window, click on the title bar and move it to the new position. The undocked window can be resized independently of other windows. To redock it, drag it to its docked position at the top right of the screen, where it will snap back into position.

To remove the object tree window from display, uncheck the View->Display object tree window menu option.

Property window¶

The Property window is located at the bottom right of the screen. It displays the properties of the selected object. In certain cases, such as when the selected object is a function, the window is empty.

Property values for the selected object may be added, edited or removed. Entering “?” into a property cell often opens a window enabling easy selection of values such as fonts, colours and style flags. Other properties, such as function names, open a listbox containing values from which the user may choose.

If the selected object is an OLE control that has a property file specified, a second tab, Specific, is created in the Property window, containing the specific properties for the OLE control type.

The property tree window can be resized vertically. Position the cursor over the top of the window. A double-headed vertical arrow appears. Click down and drag the window to its new height. The height of the object tree window, above it, is also resized.

The window can also be resized horizontally by dragging the left border. The object tree window, if docked, is automatically resized too.

To undock the Property window, click on the title bar and move it to the new position. The undocked window can be resized independently of other windows. To redock it, drag it to its docked position at the bottom right of the screen, where it will snap back into position.

To remove the Property window from display, uncheck the View->Display property window menu option.

See Editing properties.

Edit window¶

The Edit window displays the Sculptor source code definition of the selected item, and enables it to be edited directly. The window can be freely moved and resized. To maximise it so that it occupies the whole screen, double-click on the title bar. Double-click again to restore the previous size. Right-clicking on the title bar opens a menu which can also be used to perform these functions.

The Edit window has its own menu, with the following options:

Undo	Undo the last edit.
Redo	Redo the last undo.
Cut	Cut highlighted text
Copy	Copy highlighted text
Paste	Paste clipboard text
Find	Opens a standard Find window to search for a text string within the object or code in the Edit window.
Find Next	Finds the next occurrence of the search text.

When the user clicks outside the Edit window, the code is checked for validity, and, if it is found to be invalid, the user is prompted to restore the previous version. The Edit->Restore menu option is available to undo all source code changes made in an editing session, restoring the previous version. This option only restores the currently selected item, so it must be used before a different item is selected by any method.

To remove the Edit window from display, uncheck the View->Display edit window menu option.

RELATED TOPICS

The Sculptor program designer

spd - screen¶

Application workspace¶

Object tree window¶

Property window¶

Edit window¶

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