Using the Painter

This section provides an overview of how to communicate with the Winform Painter, how to begin and end a Painter session, how to save your work, and which files are produced by the Painter.

To select any item in the Winform Painter, or in a Winform at run time—for example, to select a menu option, an item in a list box, a radio button, or to click a button—position the cursor on that item and then press the Enter key. (Pressing a function key has the same effect as pressing Enter, but will also perform whatever action is associated with that function key.)

Because the Winform Painter runs in a mainframe environment, the host computer does not become aware of what you (or an end user) do on the screen until you press the Enter key or a function key.

Using Dialog Boxes

A dialog box is used to request information about a task you are performing, or to supply needed information.

For example, a dialog box is displayed if you choose Field from the Objects menu. In the Create Field dialog box, you specify the field name, its input (or source), its output (or destination), and other information about displaying the field.

Most dialog boxes contain options you can select. After you specify options, you can choose a command button to carry out a command.

Often you need to move within a dialog box to select one or more options. When you enter the dialog box, the cursor is on the first option. To move to another option, you can press the Tab key to move forward through the options or you can press the Tab and the Shift key to move backward through the options. Inside a dialog box, PF3 is always Cancel or No and PF4 is always OK or Yes. When a dialog box offering several options has a default option, Enter always selects the default.

The kinds of controls that you may see in a dialog box are described in the following sections.

Using Entry Fields

You type information into an entry field.

When you move into an empty entry field, the cursor appears on the left side of the box. Whatever is typed into the entry field is started where the cursor is. You can enter more text than will fit in the box by scrolling the text. This is done by positioning the cursor at the end of the editable area and pressing PF11. PF10 scrolls left and PF11 scrolls right.

Using List Boxes

A list box displays a list of choices. If there are more choices than can fit in the box, scroll bars are provided so you can move through the list. The selected item is displayed in a different color than the rest of the list on terminals that support color. The following shows a list box (with scroll bar annotations) displaying a list of all of the Master Files available.

In list boxes and anywhere else scroll bars might appear on the screen, scroll bars can be used as follows:

To scroll ...	Move the cursor to ...
One line up or down.	The up or down arrow on the vertical scroll bar and press the Enter key.
One screen up or down.	Just above or below the arrow on the vertical scroll bar and press the Enter key.
One position left or right.	The right or left arrow on the horizontal scroll bar and press the Enter key.
One screen left or right.	Just to the right or left of the arrow on the horizontal scroll bar and press the Enter key.

When you scroll through a list, the scroll box moves up, down, left or right to indicate where you are in the list.

To select an item from a list box, move through the list as specified above. When the item you want is displayed, move the cursor to that entry and press the Enter key.

Using Check Boxes

A check box indicates that you can select or clear (that is, deselect) the indicated option. You can select an option by typing any character in the middle of the check box; after you press the Enter key or a function key, the check box is shown with an X in the middle. You can clear an option by removing the X from the check box.

Check boxes are displayed using square brackets or angle brackets, depending on your hardware. If strange characters appear instead of brackets, select the Terminal option from Preferences in the File menu to get something more appropriate to display. For more details see Preferences.

Using the Control Box

The Control box is used to alter the size of, or move a Winform. The Control box is in the upper left-hand part of the Winform. It is a dash framed by two parallel lines. If you position the cursor between the two parallel lines and press the Enter key, the Control box menu is displayed:

At run time the control box allows you to move or close the Winform but not size or zoom it. For details about Move, Size and Zoom, see Size, Zoom and Move.

Using Radio Buttons

Radio buttons represent mutually exclusive options. You can select only one radio button at a time. A radio button is indicated by parentheses, and the selected button displays an asterisk.

To select a radio button, move the cursor to the button—to the middle position between the button's parentheses—and type any character. When you then press the Enter key or a function key, that button is selected, and it displays an asterisk.

If more than one option is selected, only the last option is considered selected and all other options are left blank. If the keyboard locks after you type a key, it probably means that the cursor was not in the middle of the radio button. If this happens, press the Reset key and try again.

Using Command Buttons

You click a command button to initiate an immediate action, such as carrying out or canceling a command. The OK and Cancel buttons are common command buttons. They usually are located along the bottom or on the right side of the dialog box. To click a command button, move the cursor to the button and then press the Enter key. Or, if the button has a shortcut key, you can click the button even faster simply by pressing its key. (A shortcut key is a function key assigned to a button. When a button has a shortcut key, the key name is usually displayed next to the button name.) In the sample screen, the Cancel button's shortcut key is F3: you can click the button either by pressing F3, or by moving the cursor to the Cancel button and pressing Enter.

In some dialog boxes, one command button is the default. In addition to the standard ways to click a button described previously, you can always click the default button by pressing Enter. On terminals that support color, the default button is the color of the terminal's unprotected high intensity field attribute.

The following shows the command buttons at the bottom of the Listbox dialog box:

Using Combo Boxes

When an entry field appears together with a list box, the combination is known as a combo box. You can place a value into the entry field by selecting it from the list box or by typing it directly into the entry field.

The following shows the combo box in the Create Field dialog box:

Note that combo boxes that you create in a Winform are similar to drop-down list boxes.

Using Drop Boxes

A drop box is an entry field with a down-arrow (v) button. When you click the button, the Painter displays a list box directly adjacent to the display field (as if the list had dropped down from the field). When you select a value from the list box, the Painter copies it to the display field and removes the list box.

The following shows the initial display field in the Create Field dialog box:

After clicking the button, the drop box is displayed:

Supporting Colors

The ability to display colors depends upon your terminal, or if you are using a PC, your terminal emulation software, and on describing it correctly to Maintain. This is discussed in Preferences.

Supporting Borders

Winforms can have borders around them. The physical look of these borders is determined by your terminal or your terminal emulation software. If your terminal is not capable of generating solid lines, your work may not match some of the examples in this document. The only difference is in appearance, not functionality. You can adjust the settings for borders. This is discussed in Preferences.