Optional Drill Down Button controls may be used in CATSWeb forms for the following purposes:
- Provide a convenient location for Drill Down Links that perform functions independent of a particular control or field.
- Provide an arbitrary graphic image or textual phrase in the read-only version of a form.
Many of the field definition parameters are disabled for drill down buttons. Drill down buttons use the following parameters in slightly different ways as compared to other control types:
- Caption - The caption determines how the drill down button is listed in the field definitions list, but it is not actually used in the control on a form.
- Link Text - The link text appears as a link to the left of the drill down button on a form. Or, it can replace the button entirely if the Graphics Image parameter is blank. This allows drill down buttons to implement simple text links if desired.
- Alternate Text - This text is displayed when the user pauses their mouse over the button image. It is also displayed while the browser loads the button on the page.
- Graphics File - The graphics image field specifies the source image for the drill down button. Any browser-compatible image (GIF, JPG, etc.) may be used. If the filename of the image is specified by itself, CATSWeb will look for the image in the CATSWeb directory on the web server. To load an image from a CATSWeb subdirectory, such as the LinkGraphics subdirectory, specify the image like this: "LinkGraphics/Customer.gif".
The Graphics Image parameter may also be left blank. When this is done, the drill down button becomes a simple text link, using text from the Link Text field.
Once a drill down button is installed into a form by giving it a non-zero order parameter, drill down links can be added to it, just like any other control. One notable difference is that the URL or Stored Procedure data links associated with the drill down link cannot use the "Field Value" parameter, since the drill down button has no associated field, and therefore no value. The "Field Name" parameter can be used however, and the name of the drill down button control is provided.
ActiveX DLL Data Links are not affected by the drill down link originating from a drill down button. The reason is that the entire record is passed to the ActiveX DLL, rather than individual field names or values.
|
