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You have learned about variable scoping in the previous section. Remember that we painted m_popup_menu menu in the Menu Painter session's exercises. We can use that menu as the popup menu for the DataWindow dw_product. Whenever the user clicks with the right mouse button on the DataWindow, invoke the popup menu at the place where the mouse pointer was.
To achieve this functionality, declare an instance variable at the w_product_master window. Open w_product_master and select Declare option from the left DDLB in the script painter and select 'Instance Variables' option from the second DDLB. Type the following declaration:
m_popup_menu i_popup_menu
The above statement declares an instant variable i_popup_menu of type m_popup_menu. This declaration is similar to declaring any traditional datatype variables. For ex: Int I declares a variable I, of Integer datatype. Close the dialog box by clicking on the OK CommandButton.
Now, if you try to use the variable i_popup_menu, you will get "Null Point Reference" error. That is because, we haven't created any instance of the popup menu. Using an object variable is little different from using a traditional datatype variable. When we declare an integer variable, we can start using that variable immediately, i.e., you can assign a value to the variable. In case of object variables, you have one more step to complete before you actually start using the variable. That is, creating that variable by using the CREATE statement. Append the following statement to the Open event for the w_product_master window.
// Object: w_product_master window
// Event: Open
i_popup_menu = CREATE m_popup_menu
CREATE statement creates an instance of a specified object and assigns it to the variable specified on the left-hand side. With this step, you have declared and created a menu instance variable. Now, let's display the popup menu. Type the following command:
// Object: dw_product in w_product_master window
// Event: rButtonDown
i_popup_menu.PopMenu( PointerX( Parent), &
PointerY( Parent))
The above statement displays i_popup_menu by calling PopMenu() function. PopMenu() function takes two parameters: X and Y co-ordinates of the screen where the popup menu is to be displayed. PointerX() and PointerY() functions return the mouse's X and Y co-ordinates for the specified object.
Now, run the application, retrieve the data and click with the right mouse button on dw_product DataWindow. You will see the popup menu. You may find it different compared to the popup menu you see in the PowerBuilder's development environment. The difference is being the display of DataWindow menu bar. We don't want to display it in the popup menu. Right? Yes, we can do so with a simple change. Change the above code as follows:
// Object: dw_product in w_product_master window
// Event: rButtonDown
i_popup_menu.m_datawindow.PopMenu( PointerX( Parent), &
PointerY( Parent))
In the first example, we are calling the PopMenu() function at the menu level, so, PowerBuilder displays the whole menu. To display menu items under a specific menu bar item, you need to invoke the PopMenu() at that level. In the second example, we are calling the PopMenu() function at m_datawindow, which is the name for DataWindow menu bar item. Now, run the application and see how it works.
Now, we need to write the code for the menu options. We already have code for sorting, filtering, etc� So, why not use that code.
ParentWindow.TriggerEvent("ue_sort")
Write the above code to the Sort menu option in the m_popup_menu menu and as for the rest, find what to write from the table below.
|
Menu Option |
Replace ue_sort with the following: |
|
Filter |
ue_filter |
|
Save |
ue_save |
|
Save As |
ue_export |
|
|
ue_print |
|
Print Preview |
ue_print_preview |
|
Print in Black & White Records |
No code now. Let's write in the next session. |
We don't need to write code for "Cancel this Popup Menu" menu option, because, when user select that option, we do nothing. Remember the popup menu's behavior, once the menu option is selected, the menu disappears and executes the script for the appropriate event. If there is no code, as expected, the menu will disappear and does nothing.
Do you see the difference between SDI (Single Document Interface) and MDI (Multiple Document Interface)? A great interface, isn't it?
We forgot one thing. We didn't write script to exit from the application. Write the following code for the Exit menu option in m_sheet_menu and m_mdi_menu menus.
Halt Close
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