Visual Programming User Guide : Overview
Overview
This book covers the parts, tools, and features used to build visual application: that is, VA Smalltalk applications using the visual paradigm. It covers these materials in five parts:
• "Introduction to Visual Programming" shows you how to develop applications using visual programming tools introduced in Getting Started.
• “Using Common Parts” presents several commonly used User Interface parts.
• "Advanced Visual Programming" covers more advanced topics, such as packaging applications, and suggests ways to enhance your visual applications.
• "Building parts" covers how to make customized parts that can be added to the Composition Editor palette and distribute those parts.
• "Using external functions” covers how to use programs built with C, COBOL, or OLE in a visual application.
• "Appendixes" contains useful examples and provides other information that can help you in developing applications.
If you are new to VA Smalltalk, we suggest that you read through the first part completely and read the remainder of the book as needed. If you have used VA Smalltalk before, you can skim this book and refer to the online Visual Parts Reference, which provides detailed information on the catalog of VA Smalltalk parts available to you.
Examples to try for immediate use of VA Smalltalk
This book provides numerous examples to help you create different types of applications, fine tune them, and package them. For immediate hands-on use of VA Smalltalk, read the first the part of this book and then try some of the examples provided:
Fun with script connections
Retrieves and displays ASCII files in multiline edit fields using scripts. See Using the Script Editor.
Customer information
Builds upon InvestmentApp, introduced in Getting Started, by placing parts onto reusable forms, Adding Notebooks and Adding Help.
Road Race
Built in RoadRaceApp, it displays times and entry numbers for entrants in a road race. Creating reusable parts shows how to make reusable parts and use the Public Interface Editor to define attributes, events, and actions. Using nonvisual parts shows how to extend the Road Race example using scripts, an ordered collection, an object factory, variables, and a view wrapper. Extending the parts palette covers how to make resource DLLs for the example and add the example to the parts palette. Take the race on the road! Extracting your application from the development image takes you step by step through the process of packaging the Road race code into a reduced runtime image and identifying files needed to run the Road Race in a run time environment.
Enter an address
This AddressApplication uses a Form Checker part and scripts to validate information entered into text fields. See Validating user input. Adding messages shows how to define messages for the application. National language support explains how to translate text displayed in its user interface and messages.
Black Jack
Built in CardGameApp , Black Jack lets you play cards and look like you're working. Adding list parts describes how to design the card game's basic parts and use lists. Adding portable container parts describes how to change text in the lists to icons. And Adding drag and drop support lets you drag and drop the icons.
Timer
Custom part that signals the end of an interval of time. This part is used to explore all the steps of customizing a part for ease of use. See “Building your first part.”
Toolbar
Custom part that organizes a strip of buttons which can be clicked to perform functons. This part is used to explore all the steps of customizing a part for ease of use.See “Building visual parts.”
Shapes
Allows you to add circle, rectangle, and triangle shapes to an application simply by dropping the parts you build onto a window or form. This part is used to explore all the steps of customizing a part for ease of use.See Building primitive visual parts.
ATM example
Retrieves customer records using the C External Function or COBOL External Function parts. See Accessing external functions.
Shopping list
Uses Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) with Smalltalk objects to share information between client and server windows. See Dynamic Data Exchange.
Customer records
Uses OLE Client parts to access and display files through Windows server applications. See Using OLE Support.
Progress bar
Wrappers an OCX control for a progress bar and adds the wrapped control to a VA Smalltalk window. See Adding OLE controls.
 
Last modified date: 07/23/2020