Overview

The Properties window is used to view/edit page, popup page and button properties, and to view/edit the states information associated with each element in your project. It is typically located on the right side of the screen (although you may move it anywhere you like).

Select View > Properties (or click the toolbar button) to display the Properties window (FIG. 346):

FIG. 346 Properties window (General tab shown)

The Properties window contains four tabs: General, Programming, States and Events. The properties presented in these tabs varies depending on the TPD5 element currently selected in either the Workspace window or the Design View. Note that the Events tab is empty when Standard Popup pages, Sub-page popups or Application windows are selected, since Events d not apply to these TPD5 element types.

The title bar of the Properties window indicates which element of the workspace is currently selected. If one or more buttons are selected in the Workspace, the title bar of the Properties window indicates the number of buttons selected.

Button names and types are displayed in the text box above the tabs (in the example below, the selected button is named "Home", and the button type is general. Click the down arrow next to this field to view a list of all buttons on the active page. Selecting a button from this list is the same as selecting it in a Design View window: the edit focus shifts to the selected button, and the Properties window reflects the properties of the newly selected button.

Apply To All

The Apply To All toggle button is located at the bottom of the Properties window. Use this option to edit properties on multiple buttons simultaneously.

    • If the Apply To All button is not depressed, and you select more than one button to act on, the Prev or Next buttons will activate on the Properties window. Also note that while you have multiple buttons selected, only one of them has the edit focus at any given time. Use the Prev and Next buttons to cycle through the selected buttons to view each button's properties in the Properties window. The button represented in the Properties window is the one with edit focus. All modifications are always on the button with the edit focus.
    • If the Apply To All button is depressed and you select more than one button to act on, the Prev or Next buttons are unavailable and every selected button has the edit focus. You may also notice that one or more (if not all) of the property values in the grid are blank. The only values that will display in the grid while the Apply To All button is depressed are those values that are common among all selected items. Typing in or changing a value in any property box will immediately affect all selected buttons, provided that the change can be applied to them all. In the event that a value is appropriate for one (or more) buttons but inappropriate for others, you will see a message that states that the value was only applied to those buttons for which it was valid.

NOTE: This Apply To All button works on multiple button selections, but not on multiple states for a single button. To make state- oriented changes across multiple states, select the states that you want to edit and they will appear listed in the States tab of the Properties window.

All States

To make changes that affect all states on a button at once, use the All States option in the States tab (located directly above the other listed states for the selected button).

Prev and Next

The Prev and Next buttons are activated only when more than one button is selected on a page, and the Apply To All button is not in its active state. These buttons allow you to quickly edit the selected buttons individually. Hold down the Shift key and click to select multiple buttons.

NOTE: When you have multiple buttons selected, only one of them has the edit focus at any given time. Use the Prev and Next buttons to cycle through the selected buttons to view each button's properties in the Properties window. The button represented in the Properties window is the one with edit focus. All modifications are always done on the button with the edit focus.

    • Properties can be dragged and dropped from the Properties window onto the Design View. The selected property or state is automatically applied to all states of the drop target. General and State properties can also be copied and pasted to a Design View using standard copy/paste menu and keyboard mechanisms.
    • Another feature of the Properties window (all tabs) is that you can click on any value in the right column, and drag it to another field. When you release the mouse button, the value is copied to the new location. With an item selected, the cursor will change to indicate any fields that cannot accept the selected value, and if the selected value is out of the acceptable range for a target field, TPD5 alerts you with an error dialog, and the original value is left unchanged.

Quick Input

Select Quick Input from the Edit menu or Design View context menu to access the Quick Input sub-menu.

The Quick Input setting determines how typing directly into a Design View or into the State Manager will be handled:

    • Current Property - This setting redirects keyboard input to the currently selected property on the currently visible tab of the Properties window (assuming one is selected).

For example, if you select the Name property (in the General tab of the Properties window), any time you select a button in the Design View, you can just type and press the Enter key to enter a new button name for the selected button. The result of the keystroke will depend on the property selected.

    • Text - This setting redirects keyboard input to the button Text property for all selected button states (in the States tab of the Properties window).

For example, if you select several states on a Multi-State button (in the State Manager window), you can type and press the Enter key to enter new button text for the selected states. If no states are selected, the text will be applied to all states of the button selected in the Design View.

    • Disabled - Disables the Quick Input option.

Searching For Properties

Use the Find dialog to search for any button property value either within the currently open Page, or across the entire project. You can specify to search for any General or State button property. For example, you can perform a search based on button type, name, border style, and state count (among many others), or any combination of search criteria.

To search for button properties:

  1. Select Edit > Find (or click the toolbar button) to open the Find dialog (FIG. 347):

FIG. 347 Find dialog

  1. In the Search Criteria table, select the button properties to use as the search criteria. You can include any General, Programming, State or Action button property as search criteria. Properties are separated into four sections (FIG. 348):

FIG. 348 Find dialog - Search Criteria headings

    • Scroll down to view all of the available button properties that can be used as search criteria.
    • Click the minus symbol (-) next to the General and States headings to collapse the sections. Click the plus symbol (+) to expand the views.
    • To select all button properties under any heading, click in the checkbox next to the heading: (FIG. 349):

FIG. 349 Find dialog - Search Criteria headings (All General and States properties selected)

  1. In the Search Scope area, select either Entire Panel or Current Page.
    • If the scope of the search is set to Entire Panel, the Select All button is disabled, in which case you can use the Find Next button to cycle through the pages that contain buttons whose values match the search criteria.
    • If the scope of the search is set to Current Page, use the Find Next button to search the current page only, based on the specified criteria and scope.
  2. When the first instance of the criteria is found, the Find In Page dialog is compressed to only show the buttons that satisfy the search criteria, and the first button found that satisfies the search criteria is selected in the Design View.
    • Select Find Next to continue the search.
    • Select Select All to close the Find dialog and select every button that meets the criteria.
    • The program will inform you if no buttons are found that match the search criteria.

Finding and Replacing Properties

Use the Find and Replace dialog to find (and optionally replace) any property value with another value of your choosing. You can specify the scope of the search to either the currently open Page only, or across the entire project.

To search and replace button properties:

  1. Select Edit > Find & Replace (or click the toolbar button) to open the Find & Replace dialog (FIG. 350):

FIG. 350 Find & Replace dialog

  1. In the Search Criteria table, select the button properties to use as the search criteria. You can include any property as search criteria.
  2. In the Search Scope area, select either Entire Panel or Current Page.
  3. In the Replace Values table, select the button properties to use as the replace values. The Replace Values do not necessarily have to match the Search Criteria (although they may). It is also possible to replace multiple values or establish multiple search criteria.

For example, to change the Border Style on one or more buttons, select Border Style in the Search Criteria table, then select the particular border style to search for from the drop-down list. Then, select Border Style in the Replace Values table, and select the desired replacement border style from the drop-down list. Repeat this process for as many other button properties as needed.

  1. When the first instance of the criteria is found, the Find In Page dialog is displayed, listing the buttons that satisfy the search criteria, and the first button found that satisfies the search criteria is selected in the Design View.
    • Select Find Next to continue the search.
    • Select Replace All to close the Find dialog select every button that meets the criteria. The program informs you of the number of buttons affected by this change.
    • All replace actions support full Undo / Redo capabilities.
    • The program will inform you if no buttons are found that match the search criteria.

NOTE: When you select a General as well as a State-oriented search criteria, only buttons that match the General criteria, and within that set, the states that match the State criteria will be candidates for the replace operation. For example, if you set the search criteria to include both the Hard Drop Shadow border style (a General property) and yellow as the Fill Color (a State property), only those buttons with a Border Style of Hard Drop Shadow are candidates, and within that set of candidates, only those states whose Fill Color is set to yellow satisfy the search criteria.

Cut, Copy and Paste - Properties

TPD5 allows you to cut, copy and paste Properties across TPD5 elements, either within the project, or across Projects. The Cut, Copy and Paste functions always work on the element which has the current edit focus.

Note that the last thing selected (not necessarily a button displayed in the Design View windows) has the edit focus.

For example, if you have selected an item in the Properties window (for example, "Channel Port"), and you perform a "Copy", then you will have copied only the Channel Port entry in the Properties window, and not the associated button (even though it is selected in the Design View window).

You can then paste the Channel Port number anywhere else in the Properties window (where the copied data is considered to be a valid entry).

If for example you had copied the value "410" from the Left (position) field in the Properties window, you are not allowed to paste it to the Address Port field, since it is not a valid Address Port number - these errors are indicated by an error dialog.

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