Windows

The user interface of your USoft online application is built up from a number of windows. There are three main window types:

•Application window (the window in which USoft Developer itself runs).

•Document windows (Info Window, Related Window, Lookup Window, Subtype Window, Secondary Window).

•Dialogs.

Document windows play the most important part because they contain info boxes. Info boxes are used to display, edit, insert and delete data, which is the primary purpose of USoft online applications. Dialogs are used for miscellaneous other purposes, such as access to on-line batch jobs, or interaction with the file system.

The main difference between document windows and dialogs is that document windows have one or more info boxes as their most important interface. Info boxes have underlying queries, which define their data content. A query results in query columns, i.e. columns that display the data queried.

In the Windows Designer, you can design window content by composing windows from info box, dialog and control classes. For each info box class and dialog class you get an initial default window which you can run as a prototype.

Windows have properties that are independent of the info box or dialog class(es) that give them content. These window-level properties are managed by the window manager and determine whether they are resizable, whether the user is forced to respond to it before being able to make another window active, whether the window is always displayed on top, etc. Most window-level properties can be set from within the Windows Designer.