The Edit List Box dialog can be displayed by either double clicking anywhere within a list box form field object or selecting the list box field and clicking on the "attribute edit" icon in the tool bar. This dialog presents the current attributes of the list box. The dialog consists of three sections: identification, appearance, and properties.
This section displays naming and other identifying information for the list box form field object.
| Field Name | This field contains the name of the list box. The Screen Painter automatically generates a unique name for it. This name can be maintained or changed, as long as the new name conforms to the Zim Object Naming Rules. |
| Form Name | This field contains the name of the form in which the list box was created. The field can be viewed by selecting it and scrolling left and right, but its value cannot be changed. |
| Directory | This field contains the name of the Zim directory that owns the form in which the list box was created. The field can be viewed by selecting it and scrolling left and right, but its value cannot be changed. |
| Field Number | This field contains an automatically generated identifying number for the list box. The value in this field can be used to identify the list box if it triggers a callback event. Refer to Form Fields and Callback Events for more detailed information about associating form fields with callback events. The value in this field can be changed and need not be unique. |
| Field Tag | This field contains an identifying text string for the list box. The value in this field can be used to identify the list box if it triggers a callback event. Refer to Form Fields and Callback Events for more detailed information about associating form fields with callback events. The value in this field can be changed and need not be unique. If left blank (the default), the value contained in Field Name is used for Field Tag. |
| Help Message | This field contains the text to display in an field of type "message" (if one exists in the form) when the list box receives the input focus. The message which appears at the bottom left of this dialog is itself a "message" field, and the help message associated with each field in the dialog is automatically displayed there when the field receives the input focus. If you intend to have a "message" field in your forms, then enter an appropriate help message text in this Help Message field. |
This section presents the display or appearance attributes of the list box form field object.
| Visible | This check box determines if the list box is visible by default. The visibility attribute of all form fields other than labels can be dynamically modified under Zim program control. |
| Pointer Style | This field can be used to select the pointer (or cursor) style to use when the pointer is over or in the list box, and the entry field is available. By default, the value is "default", which for a list box, is the "Arrow" pointer style. |
| List / Style | This field contains the list box style. The values are "Manual Drop", "Automatic Drop", "Always Dropped", Dynamic Multicolumn, "Drive List", "Directory List" and "File List". Refer to List Box Form Field for a more detailed description of the characteristics of these different style values. |
| List / Visible Lines | This field contains the number of visible lines for the list box and therefore determines its physical dimensions vertically. The value in this field does not limit the actual number of lines which can be displayed in the list box as vertical scroll bars automatically become active if the number of lines in the value list assigned to the list box exceeds the number of visible lines. Dynamic list boxes contain two fewer visible lines than the number indicated here; if a horizontal scrollbar is required, even fewer lines are visible; changing the initial font also alters the number of visible lines in the list box. |
| List / Initial Items | This field contains the initial (or default) list of items for the list box. Each item in the list must be separated by a semi-colon character (;), with no semi-colon at the end of the list. The data value field length is automatically increased to the appropriate value if any member of the list exceeds the current value of the field length. This field is immediately followed by a push button containing the ellipsis (ยทยทยท) notation. This push button presents a multi-line entry field for easier editing of long lists of items. |
This section presents the behavioral attributes of the list box form field object.
| Availability | This field determines the "availability" attribute of the list box. The values are "Available", "Unavailable", "Guarded" and "Protected". Refer to Form Field Availability Attributes for a more detailed description of the characteristics of these different availability values. |
| Tab Stop | This check box field determines if the list box is included in the tab order for the form. If cleared, the end-user is not able to access this field by using the tab keys. The list box is still directly accessible by accelerator keys and the mouse. |
| Tab Index | This field contains a number that represents the relative position of the field in the tab sequence order. A value of zero (0) means use the tab sequence order as defined by the relative position of the field in the structure chart. |
| Data Value / Type | This field contains the data type for the list box. The available values are "alphanumeric", "non-digit", "numeric" and "date". Refer to Form Field Data Types for a more detailed description of the characteristics of the supported data type values. The painter assigns default (or required) values into the Data Value / Length field as different data types are selected. |
| Data Value / Length | This field contains the length of the list box field in displayed characters. The painter initializes specific default values in this field as different data types are selected. For some data types, there are restrictions on the value contained in this field. For example, fields of type "numeric" cannot have a length greater than 12. Fields of type "date" must have a length of either 8 or 10. In addition, the value in this field is adjusted upwards if any default value entered in Data Value / Default, or any item in List / Initial Items requires a larger field length in order to accommodate it. Refer to Form Field Data Types for a more detailed description of the characteristics of the supported data type values. |
| Data Value / Default | If required, this field contains the default value for the list box. In layout mode, if the default value is a member of List / Initial Items, that list item is highlighted by the Windows highlight color. |
| Customize | The Customize push button displays the Customize List Box Value dialog. This dialog presents additional attributes which may be assigned to list boxes such as validation rules, error messages etc. |
| OK | This push button performs any required data validation, commits any changes that were made in this dialog, and returns to the Screen Painter's layout mode. |
| Cancel | This push button discards any changes that were made in this dialog and returns to the Screen Painter's layout mode. |
| Help | This push button invokes the Zim Help facility, initially displaying the section entitled Edit List Box dialog (this section). |
| Options | This push button displays the List Box Options dialog that enables additional attributes of the list box to be viewed and modified. |