AppMaker 2 Reference

Window Items

To create a window item, you first open the Tools window, choose a tool, then click in a view window where you want the top left corner of the item to be. For some items you then enter additional information into an item-specific dialog. For some items you will have an insertion point so that you can enter the title of the item. The following sections provide additional information about each kind of window item.

Button: Standard; Bevel; Graphic Pair; Invisible; Left Icon; Right Icon; Rect 3D; Titled Picture
Checkbox: Standard; Bevel; Graphic Pair; Triangle
EditText: Small; Large; Styled; Integer; Float; Password; Clock
GroupBox: Text; Checkbox; Popup; User Pane
ImageItem: PICT, ICON, cicn, icl#, etc.
LayerGroup
Line
List: Text; Picture; Panel; Simple Listbox; Stone Table
Palette
Popup
ProgressBar: Standard; Indeterminate; Chasing Arrows; Rectangle; Round Rect; Barber Pole; Round Barber
RadioButton: Standard; Bevel; Graphic Pair; Text
RadioGroup
Scrollbar: Standard; Graphic; Slider; w/ Tick Marks; Non-directional; Little Arrows; Volume Control; Jim's Slider; Spinner
StaticText
TabPanel

Button

To create a button, choose the Button tool, then click where you want the button. AppMaker creates a standard button and puts an insertion point so that you can edit the button's title. After typing a title, click outside the button or press Enter to stop editing.

After creating a button, you can use the Button Info dialog to make it the default button or to change it to a different kind of button:

Standard: A standard button is a round rectangle with a three-dimensional appearance. You can specify that it be the default button.
Bevel: A bevel button is a rectangular control with a three-dimensional appearance. It can contain text and/or a graphic. You can specify the position of the text relative to the graphic. You can also attach a popup menu to a bevel button.
Graphic Pair: A Graphic button is composed of two graphic images: a "MouseUp" image and a "MouseDown" image. The image can be a PICT, cicn, ICON, SICN, ICN#, or an icon family (e.g. icl8). You can omit the MouseDown image; the MouseUp image will be drawn highlighted (darkened) when the mouse is down.
Invisible: An invisible button inverts its rectangle when the mouse is down.
Left Icon
Right Icon: These variants of the standard button draw a color icon to the left of or right of the text.
Rect 3D: A rectangular 3D button is a variant of the standard 3D button.
Titled Picture: A Titled Picture draws both a picture and a title.

Checkbox

To create a checkbox, choose the Checkbox tool, then click where you want the checkbox. AppMaker creates a standard checkbox and puts an insertion point so that you can edit its title. After typing a title, click outside the checkbox or press Enter to stop editing.

After creating a checkbox, you can use the Checkbox Info dialog to change it to a different kind of checkbox:

Standard: A standard checkbox is a square with a text label next to it.
Bevel: A bevel button is a rectangular control with a three-dimensional appearance. It can contain text and/or a graphic. You can specify the position of the text relative to the graphic.
Graphic Pair: A Graphic checkbox is composed of two graphic images: an "Off" image and an "On" image. The image can be a PICT, cicn, ICON, SICN, ICN#, or an icon family (e.g. icl8). You can omit the Off image; the On image will be drawn highlighted (darkened) when the mouse is down.
Triangle: A Finder-like right-pointing / down-pointing triangle.

EditText

AppMaker supports several flavors of editable text:

To add a scrollbar to an edit text item, choose the scrollbar tool, then click near the right or bottom edge of the edit field. To set font, size, style, or text color choose a Text Style.

GroupBox

A GroupBox is used for visual grouping of its contained items. The box can be untitled or it can have a text title, a pop-up menu title, or a checkbox title.

A GroupBox can contain radio buttons but it will be a visual grouping only; it won't provide the functional behavior of a radio group. Use the RadioGroup tool to make radio buttons behave like a group.

You can choose a Drawing Style to create a 3D appearance of a Primary box (grooved), or a Secondary box (inset).

ImageItem

When you click with the ImageItem tool, AppMaker displays an info dialog so that you can choose an image. The image can be any graphic kind. AppMaker will generate the proper code to draw a PICT, cicn, ICN#, etc. You can also specify how to scale the picture if it is larger or smaller than the rectangle of the picture item.

LayerGroup

A Layer Group is a collection of layers such as many drawing programs provide. It behaves like a radio group in that only one layer at a time is visible. The layer group usually is controlled by a separate window item. A Tab Panel is a special case of layer group that includes both a Tab Control and a layer group.

The layer group can be controlled by any window item that produces an integer, e.g. a Radio Group, a Popup, or even a Scrollbar. The LayerGroups example shows layer groups controlled by a Tab Control, a Popup Group Box, a Listbox, and by clicking in Edit Text fields.

To create a layer group, choose the LayerGroup tool, then click where you want the group. To create a layer in the group, select the group (if not already selected), then choose Create Layer from the Edit menu. In the Layer Info dialog, enter a Name and an ID. The IDs of layers normally will be numbered 1..N but can be whatever values match the item that controls the layer group. For example, within AppMaker there is a layer group controlled by a popup that produce the values (0, 1, 2, 17776, 577, 578). The IDs of the layers within the group match these values instead of a simple 1..6.

To add items inside each layer, use an Outline window to select a layer. In the View editor the selected layer will be visible and other layers will be hidden.

Line

To create a line, choose the Line tool. Click where you want the top left of the line, then resize.

List

When you click with the List tool, AppMaker creates a simple text list with a vertical scrollbar. In the List Info dialog you can change the list to another flavor and you can enter a list of values to appear in the list. You can add a horizontal scrollbar to the list by choosing the scrollbar tool then clicking near the bottom edge of the list.

In the current implementation a picture list is used only internally in AppMaker (for displaying the Tools palette). The Panel flavor makes it very easy to create multi-column lists. You define a Panel which is a collection of window items, then tell the List to use that Panel to display each row of the list. The StoneTable flavor is currently implemented only for plain C. The Hierarchical flavor is not yet implemented.

Palette

A palette is a set of objects represented by a picture which is arranged in rows and columns. You create a palette by choosing the Palette tool, then clicking where you want the palette. AppMaker displays the Palette info dialog so that you can select a picture and set the number of rows and columns. You can also enter a frame thickness for the rectangle which will be drawn around the selected item at runtime (or in AppMaker's simulator). A frame size of 0 indicates that the selected cell will be inverted instead of framed.

Popup

When you create a Popup item, you can specify the values that appear in the popup either by selecting a menu which you have previously created or by entering a list of values for the popup.

ProgressBar

AppMaker supports several flavors of Progress Bars.

RadioButton

To create a radio button, choose the Radio Button tool, then click where you want the radio button. AppMaker creates a standard radio button and puts an insertion point so that you can edit its title. After typing a title, click outside the radio button or press Enter to stop editing.

After creating a radio button, you can use the Radio Button Info dialog to change it to a different kind of radio button:

Standard: The same old radio button but with a 3-D appearance.
Bevel: A bevel button is a rectangular control with a three-dimensional appearance. It can contain text and/or a graphic. You can specify the position of the text relative to the graphic.
Graphic Pair: A Graphic radio button is composed of two graphic images: an "Off" image and an "On" image. The image can be a PICT, cicn, ICON, SICN, ICN#, or an icon family (e.g. icl8). You can omit the Off image; the On image will be drawn highlighted (darkened) when the mouse is down.
Text: A Text radio button draws text with the On button of the group drawn in a different style, e.g. underlined. An example is the Finder's Name, Size, and Kind column headers. The Text flavor is implemented in PowerPlant but not in other languages.

RadioGroup

A Radio Group serves two purposes: It provides visual grouping of its contents; It provides the functional behavior of radio buttons. When you create radio buttons they should always be inside a radio group. To provide visual grouping without radio button behavior, use a GroupBox.

You can choose a Drawing Style to create a 3D appearance of a Primary box (grooved), or a Secondary box (inset).

When you create a Radio Group you can have AppMaker create the radio buttons for you or you can manually create them yourself. If you enter values into the values list AppMaker will create a radio button for each value.

If you leave the group's title empty, AppMaker will create an invisible group that provides the radio function without the visual grouping.

Scrollbar

Scrollbars are used in two different ways. One is to scroll a rectangular area, possibly the entire window or perhaps just an edit text field or a list. The second use for a scrollbar is as a free-standing control for setting a value. The first use might be called a scroller bar, the second a slider.

To create a scroller bar on an item, or on the entire window, click near the right edge or the bottom edge of the item (or window).

To create a slider, click where you want the item (but not too close to an edge). In the Scrollbar Info dialog you can choose from several different flavors of slider.

For a picture slider, you can specify a picture to be used as the background of the slider and a picture to be used as the indicator.

StaticText

What is there to say about Static Text? You can type directly in place or into the Info dialog. You can set a Text Style.

TabPanel

A Tab Panel is a kind of Layer Group that includes a Tab control for selecting layers. Each tab of the tab control corresponds to a layer of the layer group. When you create a tab panel you enter two or more labels. For each label, AppMaker automatically creates a nested layer with a matching Name and with IDs from 1..N.

If you specify a Tab Height greater than 16, AppMaker will create the large size Tab panel; otherwise the small size. "Tabs per row" is obsolete. It was used with a custom CDEF instead of the Appearance Manager.