The Edit Option Box dialog can be displayed by either double clicking anywhere within an option box form field object or selecting the option box field and clicking on the "attribute edit" icon in the tool bar. This dialog presents the current attributes of the option box field. The dialog consists of three sections: identification, appearance, and properties.
This section displays naming and other identifying information for the option box form field object.
| Field Name | This field contains the name of the option 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 option 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 which owns the form in which the option 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 option box. The value in this field can be used to identify the option box if one of the option buttons which it owns 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 option box. The value in this field can be used to identify the option box if one of the options buttons which it owns 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 option 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 form, then enter an appropriate help message text in this Help Message field. |
This section presents the display or appearance attributes of the option box form field object.
| Visible | This field determines if the option 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 option box, and the option box is available. By default, the value is "default", which for an option box, is the "Arrow" pointer style. |
| Label | This field contains the label text which appears towards the left of the top border of the option box. An ampersand (&) character within the text results in the following character being underlined. The label text can be blank. |
This section presents the behavioral attributes of the option box form field object.
| Availability | This field determines the "availability" attribute of the option 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 field determines if the option 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 option 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 determines the data type of the data associated with the option 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 data associated with the option box in characters. The painter initializes specific default values in this field as different data types are selected. For some data types, there are restrictions of 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 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 option box. The option box assumes the default value if there is no other assignment to the option box field. |
| OK | This push button performs any required data validation, commits any changes that were made to the entry field's attributes, 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 Option Box dialog (this section). |
| Options | This push button displays the Option Box Options dialog that enables additional attributes of the option box to be viewed and modified. |