Creating New Buttons

In the Workspace window (Pages tab), double-click the Page or Popup Page to which the button will be added. This opens the target Page or Popup Page in a Design View window for editing. There are two ways to create new buttons:

Drawing a Button

Draw a button using the Button Draw Tool - click and drag on the active Design View window (FIG. 72).

FIG. 72 Button Draw Tool

The Button Draw Tool is used to create all button types (FIG. 73):

Selection handles indicate that this button is selected for editing

FIG. 73 Drawing a Button

• • Upon the creation of a button, note the selection handles displayed on the outsides of the button - these indicate that the button is currently selected for editing.
  • The minimum button size is 4 pixels in height or width.

NOTE: When the Button Draw tool is selected, the Drawing toolbar becomes activated. By default, the options in the Drawing toolbar retain their most recent settings. That is, once you set these options (button type, border, font type/size, border/fill/text colors), the same settings will automatically apply to all consequent new buttons, until they are explicitly changed.

Copying and Pasting Buttons

1. Cut or Copy one or more Buttons to clipboard memory:
   • Shift+click to select multiple Buttons in a Design View window.
   • To cut a Button to the clipboard, select a Button in the Workspace Window (Pages tab) and select Cut.
   • To copy a Button to the clipboard, select a Button in the Workspace Window (Pages tab) and select Copy.
2. With one or more Buttons either cut or copied to clipboard memory, select a target Page, Popup Page or Sub-Page in the Design View.

NOTE: To copy buttons across Projects, open the Page, Popup Page or Sub-Page in the target Project in a Design View Window.

1. Select Paste to paste the Button(s) into the selected Project/Page, Popup Page or Sub-Page.
   • If a set of copied (or cut) buttons is pasted into a smaller area (for example a Popup Page), the buttons will automatically be resized and re-positioned to fit.
   • The attributes of the copied (or cut) buttons are retained, according to the selections made in the Paste Controls dialog (FIG. 74 on page 67).
   • If buttons are copied from one project into another project that is using a different palette, the pasted button will use the palette in the target project. Depending on the differences between the palettes, this can cause color shifting on the button.

Paste Controls dialog

Select Button > Paste Controls to open the Paste Controls dialog (FIG. 74). Use the options in this dialog to specify exactly which elements of copied buttons you want to retain when they are pasted into a project. You can also select to overwrite image function codes, event options, images/sounds and (in the case of Listview buttons) dynamic data sources, in case you are pasting over existing buttons that have their own image and sound associations. By default, all "overwrite" options are disabled.

FIG. 74 Paste Controls dialog

• Retain Address Codes

  | Select to retain all Address codes when pasting the button (default = enabled) | |

• Retain Channel Codes

  | Select to retain all Channel codes when pasting the button (default = enabled) | |

• Retain Level Codes

  | Select to retain all Level codes when pasting the button (default = enabled) | | Event options: Select which aspects of Event options (Page Flips, and Application window references) will be retained when the button is pasted from clipboard memory (default = enabled). | |

• Retain Page Flip and App Window References

  | Select to retain Page Flip and Application Window references when pasting the button (default = | | Images and sounds: Select which collateral information (Image references and Sound references) will be retained when the button is pasted. By default, all collateral information is retained, but the "overwrite" options are disabled: | |

• Retain Image References

  | Select to retain all image file references when pasting the button (default = enabled) | |

• Overwrite Utilized Image Names

  | Select to overwrite image names, in case you are pasting over existing buttons that have their own image associations (default = disabled) | |

• Retain Sound References

  | Select to retain all sound file references when pasting the button (default = enabled) | |

• Overwrite Utilized Sound Names

  | Select to overwrite sound names, in case you are pasting over existing buttons that have their own sound associations (default = disabled) | | Dynamic Data Sources: Select which collateral information (dynamic data source references) will be retained when the Listview button is pasted. By default, all collateral information is retained, but the "overwrite" options are disabled: | |

• Retain Dynamic Data References

  | Select to retain the dynamic data source assigned to the selected Listview button when pasting (default = | |

• Overwrite Utilized Dynamic Data

  | Select to overwrite dynamic data source assignments, in case you are pasting over existing Listview buttons that have their own sound associations (default = disabled). |