VSX development update

James Bott · Post by **James Bott** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:42 am

Tim,

>) The tab order is decided by the order of the controls in the .RC file. I was able to make sure all dialogs now have proper tab order which will be quite pleasing to my clients.

True, but Workshop has a button that allows you to specify the order of the controls by just clicking each one in the tab order that you want. Simple!

The button is labeld, "1,2"

James

TimStone · Post by **TimStone** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:08 am

True ...

But I ran into issues with Workshop and stopped using it ...on my Vista 'puter

Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:01 am

James Bott wrote:True, but Workshop has a button that allows you to specify the order of the controls by just clicking each one in the tab order that you want. Simple!

I find it not so simple if you want to change the tab order of just one control on a dialog with many controls. You have to start from the first one each time.

EMG

James Bott · Post by **James Bott** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:59 pm

Enrico,

>I find it not so simple if you want to change the tab order of just one control on a dialog with many controls. You have to start from the first one each time.

Well it is tedious, but I don't know how you could change the order of just one control--normally you have to change all the controls after the one. Perhaps you are thinking that it would be nice if you could insert a new control and have all the others automatically moved back one place. That would be nice.

James

TimStone · Post by **TimStone** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:06 pm

Thats the point. Yesterday I looked at a dialog with about 50 controls. Only one is out of order. I went to the .RC file, took the 1 out of order and simply placed it where it should be. Took about 10 seconds to find, highlight, drag and drop ... using MultiEdit on the source file.

I also decided to change some button sizes and positions. So using he editor I could quickly change the numbers and because it was a repetitive task over about 50 controls, using the overwrite capability, I simply used arrows and buttons to do it very quickly. In a resource editor, that would have taken a long time changing the Properties on each control.

I use this for fine tuning dialogs. For a new dialog, I create it in Pelles, then copy the source into my primary .rc file. All further adjustments are then done with the text editor.

James Bott · Post by **James Bott** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:21 pm

Tim,

>I also decided to change some button sizes and positions. ... In a resource editor, that would have taken a long time changing the Properties on each control.

I almost always use standard button sizes, so I rarely would change them. Since buttons usually occur in colomns or rows, you can move the location of the entire column or row in one step in Workshop.

I can see how it would be easier to insert one control in a tab sequence using an editor.

There is no doubt some things are easier in a visual designer and some are easier in code.

James

Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:24 pm

TimStone wrote:Thats the point. Yesterday I looked at a dialog with about 50 controls. Only one is out of order. I went to the .RC file, took the 1 out of order and simply placed it where it should be. Took about 10 seconds to find, highlight, drag and drop ... using MultiEdit on the source file.

Great! I was not aware of that way. I will surely use it next time. :-)

Thank you!

EMG

Otto · Post by **Otto** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:18 pm

Only a little hint. Sometimes I use EXCEL to open the rc and also the VRD files.
So the columns are displayed very well.
Regards,
Otto

Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:27 pm

Good to know.

EMG

TimStone · Post by **TimStone** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:14 pm

James,

I'm not against the resource editors. I do use them for layout and design work.

I used buttons because BTNBMP can be used for some interesting features, and there is no "standard size".

Tim

James Bott · Post by **James Bott** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:16 am

Tim,

>...and there is no "standard size".

Well it is not cast in stone, but Workshop creates the same size buttons by default as are used in most Microsoft applications. Microsoft pretty much dictates the standards, intentionally or not.

It is also easier not to change the default size.

James

Post by **Antonio Linares** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:29 am

Well, FYI I have been two full days working on VSX.

But no luck yet for what we are looking for,

If someone is interested in getting some guidance for testing, just say it :-)

Rick Lipkin · Post by **Rick Lipkin** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:10 am

Antonio

I applaud you for your tenacity !! I think VSX may be a viable answer but needs to mature a bit more .. The concept is commendable and it may still work as more and more people ( like yourself ) start sending Microsoft their feedback.

Rick Lipkin

Post by **Antonio Linares** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:42 am

Rick,

I got it :-)

Please see my new post

FiveTech Software tech support forums

VSX development update

Tab Order

Order of controls

Re: Order of controls

Editing controls