Page Frames. Converting from 2.6 Please Help.

[dale3972]

Hello everyone. I am having to convert my 2.6 District Attorney software to VFP 9, due to the 64 bit computers. I have limited knowledge of vfp9 but I believe I can just rewrite the forms as my old program had the genscreen tabs. I am trying to get the hang of Page Frames. Anyways, here is my problem and then my questions.

Well, I tried to paste image. Please click the link for the picture.

Ok. I want to click on the warrant, defendant, merchant, and payment tab, each filling up the screen as if it were the only screen at that point. Then be able to click back and forth. Go to warrant (enter information) then switch to another tab and do something else etc.

Page 1 is actually Page 2, (On the off track form) the defendant tab screen, just forgot to name it to Defendant. See how it jumped off when I ran the screen. I actually want it to replace the warrant screen.

Also, I want page one to be included in the tab layout. Here I just got the warrant tab up there for show purposes. I would like four tabs, four pages.

I would great appreciate any help! I have been looking on the internet and everywhere. Most of the You tube videos are in different languages about Page Frames. Thanks in advance!! Sincerely, Dale.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Hi Dale,

Welcome to the forum.

It's difficult to answer your question without knowing exactly what you have done so far, and how much you already know. You appear to already have a page frame on your form, but you say you've just got the tabs "for display purposes". I don't understand what you mean by that.

Basically, what you need to do is to drop a page frame control onto the form (in the form designer). Resize it so that it more or less fills the form.

You can now visit each page in turn by ctrl-clicking each tab in turn. Alternatively, use the drop down list at the top of the properties window to select each page in turn.

Once you have a page selected, you should be able to drop controls onto it - just as you would drop them onto a form. Then, when you run the form, you should be able to click on a tab to reveal the corresponding controls.

I don't know if the above is of any help because, as I say, I don't know what you have done already. It would help if you could clarify that point.

If you are lacking a basic understanding of what a page frame is, and how it works, I would recommend that you start by reading the relevant topics in the VFP Help file. You'll find that much faster than searching for videos, which are unlikely to tell you what you need to know in any sort of concise way.

Mike

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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[dale3972]

Thanks Mike! That's more information then I got from days of searching. The visual help throws to many source code routines in there it seems, and does not explain it well.

What I did was create the main form. Then I added the buttons and things for that form. Then I added the page frame layout. Then I set the count to four. What I think I did wrong was --- On each of the frames init commands - I had it say DO FORM FRMpage2. On the Merchant TAb I had the init command say DO FORMpage3. etc.

From what you are saying, I am getting. Create a form. Drop a four tab page layout on it. Resize it to fit form. And insert the controls to each tab by ctrl-clicking. I just did not see it that way. Thanks for that!

 

[Mike Lewis]

From what you are saying, I am getting. Create a form. Drop a four tab page layout on it. Resize it to fit form. And insert the controls to each tab by ctrl-clicking.

Yes, that's more or less right. I think where you might have been going wrong before was assuming you need to launch a form for each of the pages. You don't.

By the way, the ctrl-click is only used to activate a page (in the form designer). Once you've done that, you can just drop the controls on it as normal. But do make sure the page is active, not the page frame. You should see a pale fuzzy green line around the outside of the page; and the drop down list at the top of the properties window should show the name of the page (e.g. Page1). If it's showing PageFrame1, then any controls that you drop will end up on the form, not on the individual page.

Mike




__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[dale3972]

Thanks Mike! I am doing that now and things are going smoothly. I did not even think to re-size the page frame to fit the form. And I did not think to make one form fits all four tabs. This stuff is new to me as I have been just maintaining the fpw26 code for twelve years. This rebuild is going to be much easier then I thought. I am sure I will have a few bugs, but the menus and basic code transfer over.

You have been very helpful. I appreciate you replying.