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Target Window

The Window Builder Target window displays as accurately as possible a representation of the target system display screen.

When you create objects within the target window, you are actually defining new instances of RTPEG-32 objects. These objects are dynamically constructed and added to the Target Window, and operate just as any normal RTPEG-32 objects; this is important to remember. As you create your windows and dialogs within Window Builder, you are creating a working RTPEG-32 program. You can at any time interact with the objects you have created, just as the end user of your system software will interact with the final system.

This also causes some confusion sometimes when you first begin working with Window Builder. For example, consider the case where you have created a new modal dialog window, and you set the dialog system status to be non-movable. Your intention, of course, is that the end-user will not be able to move the dialog window. However, you will not be able to reposition the dialog window from within Window Builder either! In order to move the dialog window, you will have to temporarily set the system status to be movable, move the dialog to the desired position, and then reset the system status to the desired value.

As you work within the Target window, the internal copy of the Window Builder project file is updated to reflect all of your changes. The source code files for your project are not updated until the Project | Update | Source command is invoked.

The target window becomes active when a source module is selected in the project window. If no source files are included in your project, you must first create a new source module before you will be able to perform any editing in the target window. When you create a new source module, a default object of the type defined in the new source module is generated and is the initial object displayed in the target window.

Selecting Objects in the Target Window

Almost all selection and editing of objects in the Target window is done using the mouse. When you click on an object in the Target window, a dark border is drawn around the object to indicate that the object has been selected. You can re-size any object by dragging the dark border with the left mouse button held down until the desired size is obtained.

You can move an object by either dragging a selected object with the mouse, or by using the keyboard arrow keys.

Multiple objects can be selected by holding the Ctrl key down while right-clicking on additional objects. When multiple objects are selected, the selection box expands to contain all selected objects.

The target window menu commands always operate on the currently selected object. You should select an object or group of objects before selecting one of the menu commands described below.

Add Menu

The Add Menu brings up sub-menus of various control and window objects. Selecting an object adds it to the selected current object. In this case, the currently selected object would usually be the top-level window or dialog, or possibly a PegGroup.

Note that adding a Vertical Scroll or Horizontal Scroll adds a client area scroll bar. This is a user-defined scroll bar rather than a scroll bar which acts to scroll the window client area. Normal non-client-area scroll bars are added by modifying the window properties.

Edit | Copy

Copies the selected object or objects, including all status and style flags. Only one object can be selected when the Edit | Copy command is issued; however, that object can have any number of children. When an object such as a PegGroup is copied, and the PegGroup has children, the Group and all of the group's children are copied.

When this command is selected, Window Builder automatically changes the selection box to contain the parent of the current object. This allows you to quickly copy and paste an object into the object's parent, which is the most common operation. You can select an object, copy it, and then select an entirely different object to paste the copy into.

Edit | Paste

This command pastes an exact copy of the copied objects into the center of the selected object. Window Builder automatically selects the parent of the copied object as the target for the paste command. You can override this behavior by selecting any other parent before selecting the paste command.

Layout Menu

This group of commands is used to evenly align any number of child controls. Before activating this command, one or more child controls should first be selected using the method described above.

View | Test Mode

This command places the target window in test mode. In test mode, all of the Window Builder windows are hidden, leaving only your newly created window or dialog on the screen. While in this mode, your new window or dialog will operate exactly as on the final target system, although any message processing code you have added to the window or dialog will not be operational from within Window Builder.

While in test mode, you will not be able to select and edit objects. You can exit edit mode by closing the window or dialog under test, or by pressing the Stop button placed in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

View | Maximize

The maximized view is similar to Test Mode, but it only hides the project and preview windows, enlarging the available view area for the target screen. The menu is still available, and the image can be edited.

Note that you can also maximize Window Builder itself to get more space for the Target window.

View | Product Image | Select Image

This command allows you to select a background image to wrap your target screen. This can give you a good representation of the "look and feel" of your final device. Any background image may be selected, however you must take care to insure that the background image is scaled correctly to fit the target screen. In other words, the background image should include a pixel-for-pixel screen area. You can adjust the actual position of the WindowBuilder screen display within this background image.

View | Product Image | Edit Hotspots

When a background product image has been defined, this command brings up the hotspot editor dialog. This dialog allows you to define areas on the product that will produce input messages into the PegMessageQueue. A common example would be a product that provides the end user with up/down/right/left and select type nagivation keys. You can use the hotspot editor to define the areas within the background image that are selected to produce each of these input message types.

Hotspots are utilized when you use the View | Test Mode command within Window Builder. In this mode, you can click on the product background image hotspots to navigate through your UI. This allows you to fully exercise each screen of your UI design without ever producing source code or compiling to produce your actual PEG executable program.

View|Product Image|Remove Background Image

This command is used to remove a previously assigned product background image.

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