Liberty BASIC Workshop Help

ADDING CONTROLS TO THE GUI WINDOW

Adding Controls to a Form

Click the toolbar button that represents the control that is to be added to the window. The mouse pointer will change to a crosshair. Click the left mouse button where the control is to be placed and drag the mouse to "draw" the control. When the mouse button is released, the new control will appear in this location. If the mouse is clicked without being dragged, a control in the default size will appear at the mouse location.

API Controls

There are four controls available that are not native Liberty BASIC controls. The trackbar, tabstrip, listview and treeview controls are created with API calls when code is generated for the GUI. Just as with native Liberty BASIC controls, it is up to the programmer to manage the events for these controls. The code generated for the controls contains comments to explain how to use them.

Grid On/Off

The sizing grid may be toggled on or off using the grid button. If the grid is in force, controls snap to a five pixel grid when they are located or sized. This can be over-ridden by turning off the grid, or by setting the X, Y location and width and height in the control properties dialog.

Locking Controls into Position

Controls can be locked into place so that they cannot be moved or resized accidentally with the mouse. Locked controls can still be moved or resized in the Control Properties dialog. When controls are locked into place, the padlock button shows a locked padlock. When they are not locked, the padlock button shows an open padlock.

Modifying Controls

At any time the lock is not in force, click the control to activate the grab handles on the upper left corner and the lower right corner for sizing, or click on the control and drag it to a new location.

Properties for controls may be changed with the control properties dialog, which is activated by right clicking on the desired control.

X, Y location are displayed on the status bar when a control is moved.

When moving and sizing controls with the mouse, the both X, Y location and width and height snap to a grid that is in 5 pixel increments. This makes it easier to place and size controls to match one another.

There is a visible grid of dots that displays on the GUI window. The grid can be shown or hidden with the grid button on the GUI toolbar. The dots are spaced 10 pixels apart.