This document covers the following topics:
A dialog bar control is a general-purpose container control like the one used for the Library Workspace in Natural Studio. It can contain most other types of dialog elements as child controls, such as push buttons, list boxes, table controls and so on. A dialog bar is always "docked" to one of the sides of the frame window which contains it.
A dialog bar can optionally be (re-)dockable. A dockable dialog bar may be dragged to a new position at the one of the edges of the frame window, or floated in a separate window. Dockable dialog bars can optionally be sizeable, meaning that they can be stretched (via a splitter bar) parallel to the side of the window on which they are docked (if non-floating), or arbitrarily re-sized in the case of floating dialog bars. The application becomes notified of a change in the size of a dialog bar via a SIZE event, upon receipt of which it can (if desired) adapt the sizes of the child controls accordingly.
Dialog bars can optionally contain a gripper bar, by means of which the control may be dragged. Unless the control is marked with the "UI transparent" style, dragging is also possible by clicking anywhere on the control's background. The dialog bar may optionally also possess a close button and/or zoom button. The close button hides the control. The zoom button is only enabled and applicable if two or more dialog bars are placed alongside each other, and toggles the dialog bar between its maximized and "restored" state. If a dialog bar is maximized, the other dialog bars on the same row are minimized, such that only their gripper bar and close/hide buttons are visible. Clicking on the zoom button again restores the original sizes of all dialog bars on the row.
| Attribute Name | Query | Set/Modify | In Attr. Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| BACKGROUND-COLOUR-NAME | X | X/X | X |
| BACKGROUND-COLOUR-VALUE | X | X/X | X |
| BAR-ID | X | X/- | X |
| CLIENT-DATA | X | X/X | |
| CLIENT-HANDLE | X | X/X | |
| CLIENT-KEY | X | X/X | |
| CLIENT-VALUE | X | X/X | X |
| CONTEXT-MENU | X | X/X | X |
| DOCKING | X | X/X | X |
| ENABLED | X | X/X | X |
| FIRST-CHILD | X | -/- | |
| FOLLOWS | X | X/X | |
| HELP-ID | X | X/X | X |
| LAST-CHILD | X | -/- | |
| LOCATION | X | X/X | X |
| MARGIN-X | X | X/X | X |
| MARGIN-Y | X | X/X | X |
| MAXIMIZABLE | X | -/- | |
| MAXIMIZED | X | X/X | X |
| MINIMIZED | X | -/- | |
| PARENT | X | X/- | |
| PREDECESSOR | X | -/- | |
| RECTANGLE-H | X | X/X | X |
| RECTANGLE-W | X | X/X | X |
| RECTANGLE-X | X | X/X | X |
| RECTANGLE-Y | X | X/X | X |
| STRING | X | X/X | X |
| STYLE | X | X/- | X |
| SUCCESSOR | X | X/- | |
| SUPPRESS-CLOSE-EVENT | X | X/- | |
| SUPPRESS-SIZE-EVENT | X | X/X | |
| TOOLTIP | X | X/X | |
| TYPE | X | X/- | |
| VISIBLE | X | X/X | X |
| WALLPAPER | X | X/X | X |
Close Event (may be suppressed), Size Event, (may be suppressed).