GUI ScreenIO for Windows

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Edit Control Properties

Edit control properties are collected on a property sheet and several popups.  You can jump directly to the page of interest using the links below.

The items are arranged in alphabetical order by page.

General

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Item Significance
Bytes Number of bytes for non-numeric and hexadecimal controls.
COBOL field name COBOL name of your control.  All of the fields in the panel copybook for this control will be prefaced with this name.
Numeric Digits:

Decimal

Number of decimal digits for a numeric field.
Numeric Digits:

Integer

Number of integer digits for numeric and symbolic-numeric fields.
Protection:

Output only

You may not enter data in the control, but you may position the caret to the control and use Windows editing commands (click the right mouse button) to copy text displayed in the control.
Protection:

Protected and grayed

The control is protected; text is grayed out and you may not place the caret in the control.
Protection:

Protected NOT grayed

Appears the same as Unprotected - normal, but is protected; content may not be copied or modified.
Protection:

Unprotected - normal

User may activate and enter data in the control.
Runtime behavior:

Autoskip when full

Go to the next field in the tabbing sequence when the user types enough characters to fill the field.
Runtime behavior:

Beep full

Beeps when the field is full.
Runtime behavior:

Tab stops here

Makes it possible to use the Tab key to navigate to this control.
Type of data:

Date/Time

Use for date or time data; displays content according to the locale settings in the end-user's computer.
Type of data:

Hexadecimal

Use for data you want to display as hexadecimal digits.
Type of data:

Non-numeric

Use for any type of character data; may be masked.
Type of data:

Numeric

Use for numeric data which represents quantities.  Content is displayed according to the end-user's locale settings.

Masking is not available (or necessary) because all display formats that apply to quantitative numeric data are addressed through the settings on the Numeric, Signs/Currency, and Custom Symbols tabs.

Type of data:

Symbolic-numeric

Use for numeric data which does not represent quantities; telephone numbers, credit card numbers, UPC codes, ZIP codes, etc.; may be masked.

Do not use this type of data for numbers which represent quantitative data.

VALUE clause:

Custom

Adds a VALUE clause containing the value you specify to the control definition in the panel copybook.
VALUE clause:

LOW-VALUE

Adds a VALUE LOW-VALUE clause to the control definition in the panel copybook.
VALUE clause:

SPACE

Adds a VALUE SPACE clause to the control definition in the panel copybook.
VALUE clause:

ZERO

Adds a VALUE ZERO clause to the control definition in the panel copybook.

Appearance/Behavior

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Item Significance
? Allows you to enter text that will be displayed in a ToolTip when the user pauses the mouse pointer over the control.
Appearance:

Allow horizontal scrolling

Allows the control to accommodate more data than will fit, by scrolling horizontally.
Appearance:

Always on top

Always on top of other controls on the panel, if they overlap.
Appearance:

Has a border

Draws a dark line around the control.
Appearance:

Selection is persistent

If text is selected in the control, preserve the selection when a different control is activated.
Appearance:

Static appearance

Looks like a static text control.
Appearance:

Sunken appearance

Has a border that makes the control appear sunken.
Contents are automatically selected with field receives focus Causes the entire content of the control to be selected when you enter the control.  If you then type a character, it will replace the entire content of the control.
Set Overtype mode ON when field has focus The default for windows controls is Insert Mode, characters typed are inserted at the caret position.  This checkbox makes this field operate in Overtype mode, where characters typed replace the following character.  Either mode may be selected at run time with the Insert key.
Data validated Enables you to specify values that are legitimate for the control.  The control will then force the user to enter valid data in the control.  See data validation.
Position content horizontally:

Center

Data will be centered.
Position content horizontally:

Left justify

Data will be left-justified.
Position content horizontally:

Right justify

Data will be right-justified.
Return to program when:

After each character is typed

Causes GUI ScreenIO to return an event every time the user types a character. 
Return to program when:

Entering field

Causes GUI ScreenIO to return an event when the user activates this control.  See hot fields.
Return to program when:

Field is full

Causes GUI ScreenIO to return an event when the user fills the field with data.  See hot fields.
Return to program when:

Leaving (always)

Causes GUI ScreenIO to return an event when the user activates a different control on the panel.  See hot fields.
Return to program when:

Leaving (if modified)

Causes GUI ScreenIO to return an event when the user activates a different control on the panel, but only if the control's contents were modified.  See hot fields.

Non-numeric

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Properties for Non-numeric data type.

Item Significance
Characters accepted:

Any character

Field will accept any character.
Characters accepted:

Alphabetic only

Field only accepts alphabetic characters.
Characters accepted:

Alphanumeric only

Field only accepts alphanumeric characters.
Characters accepted:

Numeric only

Field only accepts numeric characters.
Miscellaneous:

OEMCONVERT

The text is converted from the Windows character set to the OEM character set and then back to the Windows character set, which assures valid conversion.  Useful primarily for edit controls that contain file names.
Miscellaneous:

Password (displays ***)

Displays asterisk (*) characters instead of the actual value, useful for password fields.
Miscellaneous:

Reads left-to-right

Displays text left-to-right, as in English.
Miscellaneous:

Reads right-to-left

Displays text right-to-left, as in Hebrew.
Upper/Lower case:

Mixed case

Field accepts mixed case alphabetic characters.
Upper/Lower case:

Force lowercase

Field will force all alphabetic characters to lowercase.
Upper/Lower case:

Force UPPERCASE

Field will force all alphabetic characters to UPPERCASE.
Upper/Lower case:

First Char Uppercase

Field will force the first character Uppercase (useful for names).

Numeric

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Properties for Numeric data type.

Note that all numeric items are displayed according to the locale settings, with respect to the symbol used for thousand and decimal separators, and the thousand grouping (usually 3 digits).

Item Significance
Fix/Float decimal:

Fixed

For input fields, if you do not enter a decimal symbol, the decimal separator is aligned according to the number of decimals specified in the PICTURE clause unless you explicitly enter a decimal.

If the item is PICTURE 999V99 and you enter 123 (decimal symbol is absent), it will be treated as 1.23

if you enter 12.3 (decimal symbol is present) it will be treated as 12.30

Fix/Float decimal:

Float

For input fields, decimal separator is aligned with the implied (or actual) decimal symbol. 

If the item is PICTURE 999V99, and you enter 123 in the field, it will be treated as an integer; e.g., 123.00

Thousand separators:

Use in decimal portion

Decimal (right of decimal separator) portion of data will be displayed with thousand separators.

If the item is PICTURE 999V9999 and the value is 1234.1234, it will be displayed as 123.123,4

Thousand separators:

Use in integer portion

Integer (left of decimal separator) portion of data will be displayed with thousand separators.

If the item is PICTURE 999999 and the value is 1234, it will be displayed as 1,234

Zero suppression:

All leading 0

No leading zero suppression..

If the item is PICTURE 9999V99 and the value is 0.12, it will be displayed as 0000.12 (with all leading zeroes).

Zero suppression:

Field is blank if zero

Display nothing if the field is zero.
Zero suppression:

Replace leading 0 by *

Displays an asterisk (*) in place of leading zeroes in the integer portion.

If the item is PICTURE 9999V99 and the value is 0.12, it will be displayed as ****.12

Zero suppression:

Show 0 if < 1

Always displays zero in the integer portion of a number if the number is less than 1.

If the value is 0.12, it will be displayed as 0.12 (with a leading zero).

Zero suppression:

Suppress leading 0

Does not display zero in the integer portion of a number if the number is less than 1.

If the value is 0.12, it will be displayed as .12 (without a leading zero).

Zero suppression:

Suppress trailing 0

Suppresses trailing zeroes.

If the item is PICTURE V99 and the value is .10, it will be displayed as .1 (with the trailing zero suppressed).

Signs/Currency

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Properties for Numeric data type.

Note that all currency items are displayed according to the locale settings, with respect to the symbol used for currency, unless you define Custom Symbols to assign a fixed value to the currency symbol (and signs).

Item Significance
Sign style and use:

Show if negative

Displays the selected negative symbol if the value is negative.
Sign style and use:

Show if positive

Displays the selected positive symbol if the value is positive.
Sign type and location:

Sign is leading

Displays the sign in front of the value.
Sign type and location:

Sign is trailing

Displays the sign following the value.
Sign type and location:

Negative is parens ( )

Displays negative values in parentheses ( ).
Sign style and use:

Sign is separated from value by a space

Inserts a space between the value and the sign symbol.
Currency/Percent:

Currency is prefix

Currency symbol precedes the value.
Currency/Percent:

Currency is suffix

Currency symbol follows the value.
Currency/Percent:

Separate by space

Inserts a space between the value and the currency or percent symbol.
Currency/Percent:

Sign follows

Sign, if present, follows the currency symbol.
Currency/Percent:

Sign precedes

Sign, if present, precedes the currency symbol.
Currency/Percent:

Use Currency Symbol

Displays the currency symbol according to the locale settings.
Currency/Percent:

Use No Symbol

No currency or percent symbol is displayed.
Currency/Percent:

Use Percent Symbol

Displays a percent (%) symbol.

Custom Symbols

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Properties for Numeric data type.  This may be used to override the local settings for the end-user machine.

Item Significance
Use custom symbols Enables use of custom symbols.
Use custom symbols for:

Currency symbol

Check to use a custom symbol for currency symbol, and enter the string that you wish to use (up to 16 characters).
Use custom symbols for:

Decimal separator

Check to use a custom value for decimal separator, and enter the symbol that you wish to use (1 character).
Use custom symbols for:

Negative sign

Check to use a custom symbol for a negative sign, and enter the string that you wish to use (up to 16 characters).
Use custom symbols for:

Positive sign

Check to use a custom symbol for a positive sign, and enter the string that you wish to use (up to 16 characters).
Use custom symbols for:

Thousands separator

Check to use a custom value for thousands separator, and enter the symbol that you wish to use (1 character).
Use locale symbols (standard) Uses locale settings to format data.

Masking

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Properties for Non-numeric and Symbolic-numeric data types. 

Masks are used to format strings such as telephone numbers, credit card numbers, postal codes, or other types of non-quantitative numeric values, as well as alphanumeric values. 

Masking is not available for the Numeric data type because the formatting options you can select in the Signs/Currency and Custom Symbols pages eliminate the need to specify masks for the Numeric data type.

Item Significance
Character in the mask used as a data indicator Specifies a character which will be replaced by one character of your data when the mask is applied to your data. 

The character may not appear as an insertion character in the mask.

For example, you could specify "9" as the value for a numeric mask, or "a" for a character mask.

Mask pattern Defines the mask.  Masks consist of data indicator characters and insertion characters.

For example, a United States telephone number mask would be:

(999) 999-9999

where the parentheses ( ), blank, and - character are insertion characters that will be inserted into your data when the mask is applied.

When the data is formatted, the digits in the data will be substituted for the data indicator characters (9) in the mask, from right-to-left. 

If the symbolic-numeric value 2185551212 is formatted using the mask shown above, it will be displayed like this: 

(218) 555-1212

Suppress Blank/Zeros at left Suppresses leading blanks and zeroes.
Suppress Blank/Zeros at right Suppresses trailing blanks and zeroes.
Suppress leading insertions Suppresses leading insertion characters if no data is present for the leftmost portion of the mask.

For our telephone number example, the value is 0001234567 would be displayed as 123-4567.  The leading three digits and the parentheses would not be displayed.

Suppress trailing insertions Suppresses trailing insertion characters if no data is present for the rightmost portion of the mask.
Test your mask here:

Data

Used to test your mask.  For example, to test a telephone number mask, enter up to 10 numeric digits and press the Test button to see how the data would be displayed.
Test your mask here:

Display

Shows how your data looks after your mask is applied to the data.

Date/Time

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Properties for Date/Time data type. 

Item Significance
Use locale date/time settings Uses locale settings to format dates and times.
Custom date separator Check to use a custom symbol for a date separator, and enter the character that you wish to use.
Custom time separator Check to use a custom symbol for a time separator, and enter the character that you wish to use.
COBOL (internal) format:

Date field:

Specifies the format that GUI ScreenIO is to use when passing dates back to your program. 

For example, if your program uses an 8-digit date field that is formatted century - year - month - date, select CCYYMMDD.

COBOL (internal) format:

Time field:

Specifies the format that GUI ScreenIO is to use when passing times back to your program. 

For example, if your program uses a 6-digit time field that is formatted hour - minute - second, select HHMMSS.

Display (output) format:

Use Date Picker

Displays dates and allows updates using the Date Picker control.
Display (output) format:

Numeric format

Displays dates in numeric format (99/99/99).  The date order is determined by the locale settings, and the number of digits by COBOL (internal) format that you selected.
Display (output) format:

Friday, January 27, 2000

Displays date in the long date format as specified by the locale settings.
Display (output) format:

Date Blank when Zero

Field is blank if date is zero.
Display (output) format:

Use Time Picker

Uses the Windows Time Picker control to set the time.
Display (output) format:

AM/PM

Displays the time in 12 hour AM/PM format instead of 24 hour format.
Display (output) format:

Use Windows settings

Displays the time according to the preferences in the Windows Regional and Language Options.
Display (output) format:

24Hr

Displays the time in 24 hour format.

Related topics:

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