Form Properties

Forms are Windows dialogs created within Manifold that provide customized user interfaces to scripts, queries, tables and other items. Forms are themselves programming objects that have properties and methods and can react to events. See the Programming Manifold topic for an introduction to programming and the Forms topic for a brief introduction to forms.

Form Properties

Right click onto a form (except directly onto a control) and choose Properties from the context menu to see and set the form's properties:

Caption	The text string for the title bar.
Tag	A string available for free use by the programmer. Often used for comments.
Control Box	Check the Control Box to create the X "close" box in the upper right corner of the form and to enable creation of Minimize and Maximize boxes. If checked, will add to the title bar a standard Windows right mouse context menu with Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize and Close (ALT+F4) choices. Note: if you create a form with no Control Box there is no obvious way to close it with the mouse when it is being tested. Use ALT F4 to close it.
Maximize Box	Create a maximize box control in the title bar along with the control box.
Minimize Box	Create a minimize box control in the title bar along with the control box.
Center on Screen	Display the form in the center of the main Manifold window.
Left	Left margin position of the form, if Center on Screen is not checked.
Top	Top margin position of the form, if Center on Screen is not checked.
Width	Width of the form.
Height	Height of the form.

Very Important: If you uncheck the Control Box and then use Form - Test there will be no way to close the form except by doing an ALT-F4. Even if controls (such as a "Close" command button) are added to the form to close it without having to use the X control box in the upper right corner, those controls will not be functional in "test" mode. They will only work if the form is run using the Run button from the project pane.

The form property sheet also has standard Color and Font property pages used to customize colors and font used in the form.

Form Properties Set Programmatically

Forms are created with the most frequently used defaults for properties. In addition to the above properties that are changed through the Properties dialog, several more properties may be set programmatically within the form's script.

Border	FixedSingle (default) or None. None results in an uncaptioned rectangle of background color and will also cause minimize, maximize and system menu settings to be turned off. Note: if you create a form with no border there is no obvious way to close it with the mouse when it is being tested. Use ALT F4 to close it.
Pointer	The type of mouse pointer displayed when over the form. Choose from 16 different types plus a custom pointer
Visible	Make this form visible or invisible.
Enabled	True or False. True means the form can respond to user-generated events, false prevents it from responding. We can disable a form if we wish it to display information in a read-only way.

Form Properties for Controls

Right click onto a control in a form and choose Properties from the context menu to see and set properties for the control.

Manifold adds an extra tab, the Control tab, to the usual tabs that appear in the design time properties dialog for controls. This tab provides access to the properties for this control maintained by the form. This extra tab will appear at design time for all controls. Although strictly speaking these are properties of the form that is the container for the control and not of the control, they are easiest to specify at design time if they appear within each control's properties dialog.

Name	The name used by the form to identify this control.
Tag	A string available for free use by the programmer. Often used for comments.
Visible	Make this control visible or invisible.
Left	Left margin position of the control.
Top	Top margin position of the control.
Width	Width of the control.
Height	Height of the control.