The target platform for PocketBuilder applications is Windows CE, including its recent Windows Mobile enhancements. The Windows CE API is a subset of the API for traditional Windows platforms. The most obvious difference between Windows CE and desktop WIndows platforms is the screen size (real estate) available to deployed applications. There are also stylistic differences for applications deployed to Windows CE platforms.
PocketBuilder lets you create multiple orientation views for windows, user objects, and DataWindow objects. You can use these orientations for creating layouts that change automatically when users switch screen orientation settings on their hand-held devices. For more information about MOP views in windows, see Chapter 10, “Working with Windows.”
Menus for handheld devices display at the bottom of windows, rather than at the top, as they do for desktop applications. Menus for Smartphones and Windows Mobile devices consist of two top-level buttons that facilitate one-handed selection. For more information about menu styles, see Chapter 13, “Working with Menus.”
The default window object size is smaller in PocketBuilder than in PowerBuilder, since it is tailored to the size of a Pocket PC screen. Main windows in PocketBuilder applications are also automatically resized to fit the device where they are deployed, and are automatically reoriented if the window layout settings on the device are changed. Main and response windows are currently the only window types available for PocketBuilder applications.
In addition to differences between the default values for window properties, some properties exist in one product and not in the other.
The following PowerBuilder window properties do not apply to windows in PocketBuilder applications, and are not selectable from the General tab page of the Properties view for windows, as they are in PowerBuilder:
ContextHelp |
MinBox |
Resizeable |
ControlMenu |
MDIClientColor |
RightToLeft |
MaxBox |
PaletteWindow |
WindowState |
Unlike PowerBuilder, PocketBuilder does not have a Toolbar tab page in the Properties view for windows and menus. The Toolbar page applies only to MDI windows, which are not supported on the Windows CE platform. The PowerBuilder Pointer property on the Other tab page of the window Properties view also does not exist in PocketBuilder.
Table B-4 shows properties for windows in PocketBuilder that do not apply to PowerBuilder windows. (These properties apply to PocketBuilder applications deployed to a Pocket PC device or emulator, not to a Smartphone device or emulator.) You set these properties in the Properties view of the Window painter at design time. You cannot set these properties in a script at runtime.
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
Close |
Adds an OK icon to the title bar of a main or response window that you deploy to a Windows CE platform. By default, when users click OK, user input is confirmed, the window object is destroyed, and the PocketBuilder application is closed. |
SmartMinimize |
Adds an X icon to the title bar of a main window that you deploy to a Windows CE platform. By default, when users click the X, the application is removed from the current navigational stack, but remains in memory for quicker availability and enhanced performance. This property and the Close property are mutually exclusive. Selecting one deselects the other. |
MenuBar |
Selecting this property makes room at the bottom of the current window for insertion of a menu. When you set a value for the MenuName property of a window, the MenuBar property is automatically selected. |
IDE Window Size |
Selects the window size at design time. At runtime windows are automatically configured to match a deployment device’s full screen settings. For more information about the design time size setting, see “Choosing the window's size and position”. |
ShowSIPButton |
Ensures that the SIP button (that is used to open the soft input panel) displays at the bottom of the window when you run the window on a Windows CE platform. This is selected by default. |
Tap_And_Hold_Indicator |
Determines whether the red and green system visual cue displays when a user taps and holds down the stylus on a blank area of the window. |
In addition to window properties that are specific for the Pocket PC platform, platform-specific properties have also been added to different categories of controls. Table B-5 describes these properties.
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
InputEditMode |
Integer property for edit controls and DataWindow columns that specifies an input method edit mode at runtime. You can use this property to set the SIP type on Pocket PC devices or the keypad entry mode on Smartphone devices. |
SIPOnFocus |
Boolean property for all edit controls that lets you display the SIP automatically when a user changes focus to one of these controls. This property is not supported on Smartphone devices or emulators. |
Tap_And_Hold_Indicator |
Boolean property for all draggable controls on a window (and for the window itself) that determines whether the red and green system visual cue displays when a user taps and holds the selected control (or window). This property is not supported on Smartphone devices or emulators. |
