WidgetKit/Controls brings a new world of user interface components to the VAST Platform developer. With an emphasis on visual aesthetics and ease of use, the new controls will significantly improve the look and feel of your VAST applications.

WidgetKit/Controls’ components fit transparently into your VAST environment. Each widget conforms to IBM’s user interface architecture, with a straightforward, elegant programming interface. Since source code is included, an all controls are written in Smalltalk, you’ll have the ability to customize and subclass the components to suit your specific needs.

WidgetKit/Controls gives you 16 new parts. You can use these parts to make your application's UI more powerful, more natural, and easier for your users.

You get:

The table widget provides a powerful scrollable grid of editable cells, like the VAST table widget but with many added features. Interfacing with objects enables you to use the powerful features easily because you tell the table widget how to access the data rather than modifying the data to fit the table widget interface. The cells can contain drop-down list boxes, combo boxes, check boxes, editable text, or read-only text. The text for the headings and cells can be left or right justified, or centered. The headings have a 3-D look. You have control of fonts, fore colors and back colors, and read-only text by cell. You can specify single, multiple, or extended select modes. The table widget gives you the choice of letting users reorder and resize columns with the mouse. With power like this, your user interface will represent the underlying data in a natural way and your users will feel right at home.

The columnar list box widget lets you display multiple pieces of information about each object in a listbox. It provides the same control of fonts, color, justification, column width, and so on as the WidgetKit/Controls table widget part. The columnar list box supports single, multiple and extended select modes. It supports reordering and resizing the columns by the user. You can turn this capability off if you like. Like the table widget, you set up the columnar list box for the protocol of your underlying object rather than modify your object to fit the columnar list box protocol.

The hierarchical list box is similar to the usual VAST listbox but it can view a hierarchical group of objects, rather than simply a flat list of strings. In addition, it can display an icon before each item. Show one icon for an expanded item and a different one for a collapsed item. In addition, you get control of foreground color by item. You use the hierarchical list box part just like a list box, but you tell the hierarchical list box how to get the string and possibly the icon from the object.

A image button is like the standard VAST button, but it can display a text title and/or image simultaneously with full control over the foreground and background colors. The image and text label may be oriented vertically or horizontally. The image can be any image format supported by VAST (like BMPs, PCXs, TIFFs, etc.). The toggle button flips between two images when clicked. You also get a customizable check box and radio button widgets. The usage is similar to the standard VAST components except that you get control over orientation and check box color.

WidgetKit/Controls provides vertical and horizontal bar gauges, and circular gauges. The gauges give you additional choices in appearance from the standard VAST gauges.

These specialized editors provide validated data entry of dates, times and numbers.

The notebook provides a Windows 95/98/NT flavor notebook (as compared to the Windows 3.1 look provided by the standard portable Windows-style notebook widget).

The splitbar provides a mechanism for resizing widgets within a window or form.

The value set provides an array of image buttons. You specify the number of rows, number of columns, and specify the image, color and/or text.