HOWTO: Use Component Gallery to Build an Application (191502)

MORE INFORMATION

Building an application in Visual FoxPro 6.0 is greatly simplified from prior versions of the product. The process for creating an application follows.

Creating a New Project with the Application Wizard

The wizard generates a new project containing the application framework. The framework is a set of files that constitute the "glue" that ties the various components of your application together. To create a new application, do one of the following:

1. From the Tools menu, point to Wizards, then click Application.
2. From the File menu, choose New. In the New dialog box, select Project and then click the Wizard button.
3. From the Tools menu, choose Component Gallery and double-click the New Application item in the Catalogs folder.

The application framework handles many common framework functions including the following:

• Menu and Toolbar management
• Data handling
• Document management (forms and reports)
• Environment state
• Error handling

In addition, the framework also supports the following built-in features:

• Login password dialog
• Quickstart screen
• Splash screen
• About dialog
• Favorites menu
• Options dialog
• Application style (normal, top-level, module)

Set the Application Framework Options Using the Application Builder

All of the preceding features mentioned can be set using the Builder. The Builder is reentrant and allows you to go back into it later (right- click the Project Manager and select Builder). The Builder also has Credit information to display on the Splash screen and the About dialog box.

Create Data using the Database Wizard

The Application Builder has a Database Wizard button located on the Data tab. You can use this or you can call the Wizard directly from the Tools menu. The Database Wizard contains over 20 common database templates that are ready to use. If you like, you can even populate tables with sample data. If you use the Application Builder to call this Wizard, the data is stored, by default, in the Data subfolder created by the Application Wizard.

Generate New Forms and Reports

Once you have created database(s) and tables for your application, you may want to generate forms and reports for these data sources. The Application Builder allows you to do this from the Data tab. The Data tab automatically generates forms and reports for the tables selected and allows you to select the same visual styles that are available for forms and reports.

NOTE: If you prefer, you can also do this from the Component Gallery. The main catalog has a Templates folder that lets you create wizard Forms and reports programmatically.

Using the Component Gallery to Enhance and Customize the Application

The following ideas are just a few of the things you can do with the Gallery to enhance your application.

• Create a new form: The Component Gallery contains a number of form templates in the Visual FoxPro catalog that let you select certain fields from a data source. The template dialog box includes an option to have the generated form automatically added to your project. If you desire a more complex form such as a 1-to-Many form, choose the appropriate Form Wizard.
• Add a hyperlink to a form: The Visual FoxPro catalog contains a number of hyperlink classes in the Internet folder. You can select a hyperlink label, image or button. When you drag-and-drop the control onto a form, a builder opens prompting you for the caption and target URL. In addition, the Component Gallery includes a World Wide Web (WWW) catalog containing a variety of common Web sites. If you find a Web site that you like and for which you would like to create a hyperlink, drag-and- drop that item to your form (or choose Add to Form from the shortcut menu).
• Add Wallpaper to your form: The Multimedia catalog contains a number of images as well as access to the entire Visual Studio media gallery. With your form already open, create form wallpaper by right-clicking the desired image then selecting Select Form Wallpaper from the shortcut menu. Alternatively, you can drag the image from the gallery and drop it on the form to create an Image control on your form.
• Add an ActiveX control to your form: The ActiveX catalog contains a list of all registered ActiveX controls. If the Installed Controls folder in your catalog is empty, click the Installed Controls item, then from the shortcut menu select Refresh Controls. The Property dialog box for this item provides the option to refresh from all controls in your system, or only those registered in the Visual FoxPro Options dialog box.
• Place a data-bound grid on your form: The Component Gallery allows you to create Data items in any catalog. A form displays a grid when you drag-and-drop one of these tables or views onto the form. You can also try examples from the Testdata database in the Visual FoxPro catalog.
• Add a video image to your report: The Visual Studio media gallery in the Multimedia catalog contains a number of videos you might want to use in your application. You can simply drag-and-drop one of these files onto a form or you might add the Video Player class and select a video of your choosing.
• Add a shortcut menu to your form: The Visual FoxPro catalog contains several shortcut menu classes in the Menus folder. You can use the Navigation Shortcut Menu class on any form to add record navigation functionality. You can use the Shortcut Menu class to create any kind of shortcut menu.
• Incorporate a thermometer to show progress of an activity: The Thermometer form class in the Dialogs folder is similar to the common thermometer used internally by Visual FoxPro. You can use this class to show progress of an operation that takes some time to perform.
• Create a new report: The Component Gallery contains a number of report templates in the Visual FoxPro catalog that let you select certain fields from a data source. The template dialog includes an option to automatically add the generated report to your project. The Report Wizards offer most options including summary and grouping features as well as support for percent-of-total type reports.
• Add highlighting effects to your forms: The MouseOverFx class can provide the raised-control look of Microsoft Office 97 toolbars to any form or toolbar.
• Send e-mail from a form button: The MAPI ActiveX controls let you automate e-mail to your clients. You can also use the Send Mail class in the Buttons catalog to send the current record to an e-mail address.
• Lookup information in the Registry: Use the Registry classes in the Utilities catalog for accessing critical Registry information. For example, you might need to find an ODBC driver or shared tool.
• Output data to Word Mail Merge: The Automation catalog contains a Mail Merge class that is used by the Mail Merge Wizard to output data to Word as a Mail Merge document.
• Create a Web browser for your application: The Web Browser control in the Internet catalog can be the basis for your Visual FoxPro Web Browser form. The control allows you to integrate Visual FoxPro code with browser interaction. For example, you can intercept or log (and optionally redirect) URL sites before navigation. The Webvwr.scx file in the Vfp98\Ffc folder illustrates how to create this type of form.
• Add a data mover to your form: The User Controls catalog contains an assortment of mover classes. A mover is a set of list boxes that enable you to move an item from one list box to another list box. With the data mover classes, you need to drop the class onto a form. These movers are similar to those used in the Visual FoxPro Wizards.
• Output data to Excel Pivot Table: The Automation catalog contains a Pivot Table class that is used in the PivotTable Wizard to output data to Excel as a Pivot Table document.
• Create data-bound charts: Start with the Graph By Record class in the Automation catalog to bind your chart to data, record-by-record. This and the Graph class share the engine used by the Graph Wizard.
• Add Web Publishing to your application: The new Web Publishing Wizard and Genhtml engine provide HTML generation tools for data. The wizard, a friendly layer on Genhtml, lets you select a variety of data layout and visual style options. You can create dynamic output so that the HTML updates as data changes.

You can now build and Run your application. You should build your application frequently to test and debug the application.