Product
Vanessa Talbot
Illustration of developers building a dynamic interface on a large screen, representing 4D 20 R10’s new formula-based data source support for form objects.

Building Forms on the fly with New Data Source Commands

In application development, it is often necessary to build forms dynamically. For example, you might want to generate a search form on the fly, tailored to the user’s needs. In 4D, there are two main approaches for building dynamic forms: either constructing the entire form programmatically or adding objects to an existing form layout. For the second option, until now, it was possible to duplicate objects with OBJECT DUPLICATE, and modify the data source with OBJECT SET DATA SOURCE, all using a classic pointer-based approach.

With 4D 20 R10, new and powerful commands, OBJECT SET DATA SOURCE FORMULA and OBJECT Get data source formula, allow developers to bind a formula as the data source of form objects. Moreover, you can dynamically assign formulas to key listbox properties with the LISTBOX SET PROPERTY command such as Current item, Current item position, and Selected items.

This opens the way to a more modern, flexible and readable approach, thanks in particular to expressions such as Form.xx or the classes.

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Product
Roland Lannuzel
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LIST BOXES – Say Goodbye to Alt Key!

The drag and drop action is a standard action in computer interfaces. In the case of list boxes, pressing the “Alt” key is necessary to move several items simultaneously. Or rather “was” because, starting with 4D v19 R7, this is no longer a requirement at all!

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Product
Roland Lannuzel
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LIST BOXES: More Control. More Beauty!

List boxes are powerful and very customizable form objects. And their power is extended with 4D v19 R6 thanks to two new properties: horizontal and vertical padding (the inner margins or the space between an element’s content and its border). They will give new presentation possibilities to your list boxes, and an even more professional appearance to your interface, 

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Product
Roland Lannuzel
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List Boxes: Time Columns and Footer Calculation!

List boxes are great, powerful tools to display data in the interface. They can display fields from records, items from arrays, and since recently, entity selections and collections. 

While the new list boxes using collections or entity selections are more powerful in many ways, they did not allow time display and automatic calculations in their footers, unlike list boxes displaying arrays or records.

From now on, and as long as you use project mode, all types of list boxes can display hours in their columns, but also have the possibility to display calculations on their footers.

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Product
Roland Lannuzel
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List boxes: Manage clicks in edited cells

As a developer, you’re used to handling events inside form objects. The most common is the on clicked form event which can be used in most objects, including list boxes. In this particular object, clicks can be managed either at the list box level itself or within the column methods.

And starting with 4D v18 R6, the on clicked form event is triggered whether a cell is being edited or not, giving you increased control and improving the interface.

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Product
Roland Lannuzel
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Type ahead made easy

If you’re interested in the user interface, you may have already used the On before keystroke and On after keystroke events. You’ll certainly be happy to know that the handling of these events has been greatly enhanced with 4D v18 R5. In addition, a new command has been created to determine if there is ongoing input when the On before keystroke event is generated. Let’s find out more!

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