Screen Pane — Controls View

Controls tab The Controls view of the Screen pane contains a list of all Canvas controls on your screen or object grouped by Type and displaying a subset of shared properties. You can edit several of these properties on this view and the changes will be reflected in the Properties pane. You can also select multiple controls in the Controls view and edit common properties at the same time.

The Controls view includes the following common properties:

Property Description

Name

The Name property specifies the unique identifier for this control. Valid characters are A-Z, 0-9, and underscore (_). Special characters and spaces are not allowed. Names cannot start with a number; an underscore will be prefixed if the control name starts with a number. The default value is the object name and the numeric instance. The control's Name is also displayed on the Controls view of the Screen pane.

The Name property is read-only, but can be edited in the Properties pane.

Type

The read-only Type property displays the type for the control: Button, Chart, CygNet Grid, Edit Box, Object Container, Search Box, Tag Chooser, etc. … The control's Type is also displayed on the Controls view of the Screen pane.

Style

The Style property defines the style sheet applied to an object on a screen. A style sheet consists of a predetermined list of properties and property values configured for a particular control type.

  • Click Down arrow to reveal a drop-down menu of predetermined styles configured for the selected control.
  • Select a desired style and its properties will be applied to the control.
  • Alternately, you can create a new style based on other property values configured for the control.
  • Or you can select <None> to remove subscription to any style.

Styles are created in two ways:

  • In the control's Properties pane. Click Add a new style (Add a new style based on this control) next to the Style property, after you have configured property values in the Properties pane. See Add a new style based on a control for more information.
  • In the Canvas Settings in the Backstage view. The default style for any control is configured in the Backstage view. See Manage style sheets in the Backstage view for more information.

Tip:
You can also change a control's Style on the Controls view of the Screen pane.

Height

The Height property specifies the height of the control (or screen).

Tip:
You can also change the height of a control using the Settings pane (click on the Settings icon (Settings) to the right of the control in design mode) or on the Controls view of the Screen pane.

Width

The Width property specifies the width of the control (or screen).

Tip:
You can also change the width of a control using the Settings pane (click on the Settings icon (Settings) to the right of the control in design mode) or on the Controls view of the Screen pane.

Z Index

The Z index property is used to determine the order in which controls are layered on top of each other. Controls with higher values will draw on top of those with lower values. The newest control added to a screen will always have the highest value and will be the top layer. Two or more controls can be on the same index (layer).

Tip:
You can also change the Z index of a control using the Settings pane (click on the Settings icon (Settings) to the right of the control in design mode) or on the Controls view of the Screen pane.

Layer

The Layer property specifies the name of the layer to which this object is assigned. Layers can be used to show, hide, and edit multiple controls on one layer without affecting controls on another layer.

  • Type the name of the layer into the Layer field (the name can be a previously created layer or a new layer).
  • All layers are listed on the Layers pane, where you can manage the layers for the screen in design mode and run mode.

Tip:
You can also edit a control's Layer on the Controls view of the Screen pane.

 

Note:
Layer visibility can be controlled at runtime via the AddLayer, HideLayer, SetLayerVisibility, and ShowLayer methods on the Screen object.

Is Visible

The Visible check box indicates whether the control is visible in run mode.

Tip:
You can also change a control's Visible setting on the Controls view of the Screen pane.

In Script

The Include in script check box indicates that the control will appear in the objects collection of the screen (if scripting is enabled). To optimize performance, best practice dictates that you only include the controls you need to manipulate via script. Other controls should be excluded. When you add an event to a control, it will be automatically added to script and the Include in script property (and the In Script check box on the Controls view) will be set to True.

Tip:
You can also change the Include in Script setting on the Controls view of the Screen pane.

Grouping, Sorting, and Filtering Controls

The list of controls can be grouped, sorted, and/or filtered via the following methods:

Group

Drag any column header to the area above the column headers to group rows by that column. You can group by any number of columns.

  • You can collapse or expand the grouped rows by clicking on the small gray arrow next to the column name.
  • To ungroup the rows, click X to the right of the column header.

Sort

Click any column header to sort that column in ascending or descending order.

Filter

Click Filter in the column header to filter the rows as needed. Click here for more information about using the filter tool.