Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Development:
Progress Dynamics Basic Development

Creating and editing browsers

The Object Generator creates the first dynamic browser for each SDO. To edit this browser, or to create additional browsers, use the browser property sheet. You can bring this up for an existing browser using the Open Object button or menu item in the AppBuilder. Because the dynamic browser is not a procedural object, you cannot access it via the Open File dialog box.

To create a new dynamic browser:

Choose the New button in the toolbar or select File New from the menu.
Select Dynamic SmartDataBrowser (DynBrow) from the list of object types.

When you create a new browser or open an existing one, it displays with a nonvisual design window of its own, as shown:



The AppBuilder provides a design-time visualization of the dynamic browser, so you can now edit it using its property sheet.

Double-click on the design window outside the icon to bring up the property sheet, as shown:



If you create a new browser, the product module is initialized to the currently selected module in the AppBuilder.

Change the Product Module, if necessary.
Enter a unique object name for the browser and a meaningful description.
Type in the name of the SDO from which this browser should be derived. (The fill-in field is a Progress Dynamics lookup, which automatically completes the name for you if you enter a unique substring of an existing SDO name.) Choose the Lookup button to select an SDO from the Repository.

When you choose an SDO, the Available Fields list is populated with all the names of the fields in the SDO.

If the browser needs custom 4GL code to extend its behavior, you can write it in a separate procedure and attach it to the browser instance at run time as a custom super procedure.

If your browser needs code of this kind, enter the name of the Custom ADD-SUPER-PROC. The procedure does not need to exist yet, but you will get an error if you put your dynamic browser into a window and try to run it before the custom super procedure is created. Be sure to include a relative (not absolute) pathname as part of the procedure name, so that Progress Dynamics can find the procedure at run time relative to your application Propath.
You can also configure your browser to display a separate data maintenance window when:
The user double-clicks on a row.
If the browser contains a toolbar, the user chooses an update button (as described in Chapter 8 "Using the Progress Dynamics Container Builder").

The Launch Container field lets you specify a default name for the dynamic container to launch when a row is selected.

Note: At some point you might design an interface with two browsers in a parent-child relationship. When the child browser is open in update mode, Progress Dynamics prevents user changes from occurring in the parent browser. Certain features like the pop-up menu won’t be available on the parent browser.