thinForm - clunky to use, but a form designer none the less :)

[Petr Schreiber]

I remastered the thinForm to new standard, that is:

• it uses Callback mechanism to process messages
• partially eliminated global variables
• project file/save to user chosen file
  
  • project file store thinForm version information
  
  
• form script generation to user chosen file
  
  • also supports Callback event handling
  
  
• it runs with ThinBASIC 1.8.9.0 out of the box

There is space for improvement (splitting to more files, using property control, ...), but it could serve as point zero for further modifications and tweaks.

thinForm 2.0
This script is simple form editor, able to generate script code for you, as well as store form as project for later fine tuning.

The program is organised to 2 windows:

• main window with tools
• second window, which is the one being designed

Quick start
To get the idea on the controls, you might try to design your first dialog with text box and button.

Setting up the dialog

• to change default text for dialog, you might edit the caption property from "myapp" to for example "How old are you?"
• to change the dialog client area, you might fill the width and height property to for example. Try for example 320 and 160.
• hit "Set" button to make the changes appear

Adding the textbox

• now we might want to add textbox
• press "Text" in the lower part of window
• fill cspacing to 5, cwidth to 310 and cheight to 20
• click the "Add new" button
• textbox will appear
• you now might want to change its "txt 2" text to "default". Just change the text in caption and hit "Set"

Adding the button

• now we might want to add OK button
• click on the "Button" button
• fill cspacing to 5, cwidth to 310 and cheight to 40
• click the "Add new" button
• button will appear
• you can now change its default text to OK by editing the caption and pressing "Set"
• if you want to move the button, just use the "up", "dn", "lt", "rt" buttons to move it up, down, left and right

Switching between the controls and form
As you probably noticed, the current control has orange borders. To change active control for editation, just use the "first", "prev", "next", "last" buttons.

To edit the form properties, hit the "form" button.

Saving the project
Just click the "Save" button, and fill in the name you wish.
This option saves the form for later processing.

Generating the script
When you are comfortable with the dialog look, press the "Gen script" button. You will need to enter name for the script. Once done, stand alone GUI script skeleton with your controls is at your service! You can edit it now with thinAir and finish the program...


Petr