User Defined Browse Views

User defined and saved browse views may be dynamically selected at any time via drop list controls, selection dialogs or programmatically as needed.

The familiar Wizard interface provides extra configuration for changing the column header, sort orders up to four fields deep, and a simple way to organize the browse field display.  Depending on how the developer configured the templates, the user interface on the browse can go from minimally transparent or access all of the Wizard driven functionality.

In addition to the Wizard interface, all of the functionality of browse column customization can be achieved with drag and drop plus popup menus off the browse columns and browse headers.

Column Freeze

If your browse has an active horizontal scroll bar, then the Column Freeze feature will allow the end user to freeze columns that will lock into place on the left side as the user scrolls horizontally to the right.  The difference with View Wizard versus the standard Clarion column freeze is that View Wizard freezing is column independent.  The standard Clarion column locking locks all fields to the left of the column that is locked  View Wizard column freeze provides a much better user experience so that your browses that contain a large number of columns can finally be manageable and a pleasure to use.

Column Sorting

Depending on the developer configuration, the end user can access single click column header sorting, Wizard driven sort selection, or popup sort menu in any combination desired.  For the Legacy template developer, View Wizard may be the only choice for column header sorting out there since Clarion templates only support that feature in ABC.

Custom Sort Locator

View Wizard comes with a unique column sort locator that works with the current custom sort, the locator also picks up the picture format of the sort so that the entry field will be formatted properly.

Green bar and Styles

As an added bonus, View Wizard has a simple green bar effect and supports the saving of styles so the end user can customize the view even more to their liking or in the context of the data being viewed.

Access Levels

With the optional Access Levels feature activated, your users can keep their saved queries separate from their coworkers in a shared environment.  There are features to allow for private, group, developer, and protected management of saved definitions.  The access feature easily ties in with any user login system.

Clarion Support

All versions of Clarion are supported from C55 through the latest C11 releases for both the Legacy and ABC template chains.  Multi-dll, standard .dll, and Single EXE targets are all supported directly and automatically based on your project settings.

Templates

To add the View Wizard features to an application you simply add a new global extension to your app. Then for each browse that will use the View Wizard features, you add the local extension and populate controls to access the end user features.  At that point you can customize the View Wizard interface by answering the prompts in the template.

Template Options

There are quite a few template options for View Wizard that allow you to fine tune the features that you would like to present to the end user.  Here are some of the major options:

• Column sort configuration
• Locator activation control template
• SQL Sorting support
• Runtime column header setting
• Sorting on custom tab
• Green bar and style support
• Drag and Drop column management
• Show hide column
• Drop list control template
• Column Freeze

Of special note here is that the Clarion ListBox format string has a 8096 byte size limitation.  Even more interesting is that the ListBox tool has a limitation of 4028 bytes.  View Wizard allows you to take advantage of the extra space outside of the ListBox tool by setting all your column headings to blank and then checking the template option to set the heading at runtime.  If you have a large number of columns you will know what this means and will manifest itself in a garbled browse and you will note that the ListBox tool will simply truncate fields when it reaches its limit.

Translation Support

With a few template switches the Wizards will speak your language.  To use the builtin translation capabilities that come with Query Wizard, you must own a license to Query Wizard and have it installed in your application.  In that case, you can access the predefined translation strings for the included languages.

• Croatian
• Dutch
• English
• French
• German
• Greek
• Norwegian
• Polish
• Spanish

If you don’t have Query Wizard, each product has simple embeds where you can add your translation pairs.  This is also convenient if you just want to change the wording on just a few select strings.

Dictionary Options

Using dictionary options can save time by allowing you to selectively include and/or exclude fields to Wizard field selection.  You can also customize override and expressions directly in the dictionary.  Careful usage of the dictionary option can speed up development if you have many procedures that use the same tables.

Access Control

If you need it, the Access Levels features of the Wizards will allow you to setup user and/or group access control for all the saved definitions.  You can also use this feature to create developer definitions that the user can have customized access to.  It is easy to interface with your own home grown security or any of the third-party security solutions out there.

Interface Graphics

The interface graphics can all be replaced with images of your choice and ship with 5 different color schemes that you can select to differentiate the different Wizard products.  This is useful when you add all the Wizard products to your application or when you just want the interface to more closely match your application look and feel.

The images are all stored in a simple .LIB file so are easily replaced with your own custom images.

Database Storage Addins

Each of the Wizard products by default use TPS files to store their saved definitions that the user can organize and recall as needed.  Sometimes TPS files are not a good fit for your application deployment environment. 

With an additional purchase you can direct the Wizards to store your end user’s saved definitions in MSSQL, ODBC, or Btrieve databases.  You must have a license or purchase the base product in addition to the Driver Addin.  The latest releases can be purchased in the Shop, and there are upgrades available at a discount as well for owners of previous versions.

• MSSQL
• ODBC
• Btrieve

Thin@ Addin

By purchasing the additional Thin@ Addin, you can easily enable your SAAS solution using Thin@.  The Wizards work as you would expect from the desktop release and there is no additional setup require by you except for installing the Thin@ Addin for each product you require.  The latest releases can be purchased in the Shop, and there are upgrades available at a discount as well for owners of previous versions.

• Thin@ Support