Topic: OpenDCL - couple of newbie questions

[FengK]

hello,

please excuse my newbie questions. probably many more to come.

1. seems controls can only be moved using mouse, and can't be moved by arrow keys?
2. how can i select all controls on a form? Ctrl+A doesn't work. picking one by one?
3. does OpenDCL support sizer? from reading the help file, the answer seems to be no. if so, when you resize a form and like to have other control(s) to be resized, you need calculate / reset the size for control(s)?

thank you.

[Kerry]

Kelie,
1.) Mouse only at the moment.
2.) Pick one by one.
3.) Yes forms are resizable. Controls can be set to 'stick' to edges, or a set distance from an edge. They can also have visibility property changed and their location changed programmatically.

Development goals has been to convert to AC2007/2008 and to re-architect the code to make future {and current} changes more managable. Removing existing anomolies and those that resulted from the update have been the primary focus. The Editor update is fairly high on the wishList, but first we needed a stable platform to build on. 

At the moment the package is pretty stable { takes a bit of effort to break it }
The current download count is about 100 per week. What we need now is for people who are trying it to start to be vocal, preferably in a constructive manner

Have a good look at the Samples, there is some good basic info incorporated into them.

There are several members here who are involved with the beta testing who are long term users {some since inception of the original package}, so any questions should be addressed subject to normal workload limitations.

regards
Kerry
 

[FengK]

Kerry, thanks a lot for your detailed reply. i've been using lisp for years and i knew about ObjectDCL since it first came out. but never really looked into it other than doing couple of "Hello World" kind of examples. but i'm thinking of learning to use it now, so that some of the lisp routines i use can be more user friendly.

regarding only being able to use mouse to move controls, i was thinking of writing something it AutoIt to catch keyboard event and move controls accordingly. also if "selecting" controls can be done through programming, it should not be hard to bind it with a CTRL+A key press event. if the editor update is fairly high on the list, i might just wait.

thanks again and hopefully some of the noises i make will be "constructive".

[Kerry]

Any "noise" is good, really.
... it's just that some tones are easier to listen to than others.

I fell into 'the trap' when I answered your questions. I "assumed" that questions 1 & 2 referred to the editor.

I imagine that we'll get a few working samples posted here in the forseeable future.
.. at least I'd like to think that people choose to share what they learn.

It's a pretty exciting time for OpenDCL actually. Getting a new lease on life for the package is of course terrific.
The recent announcements that VBA will not be functional in the manner we're used to may encourage  customisers back to VLISP ; Visual forms creation made VBA very attractive for a lot of people.
.. at least we'll get a couple more years to get our heads around .NET.
 

[FengK]

It's a pretty exciting time for OpenDCL actually. 

i'm with you on this and that's why i'm taking the plunge late in the game.