About the Design Mode toolbar
The Design Mode toolbar provides tools that help you:
- Align form components with respect to other components and to the design grid
- Resize components uniformly
- Adjust space between components uniformly
- Arrange components vertically or horizontally
- Bring components to the front or send them to the back
- Set tab order
- Undo and redo changes
- Launch the wizards that facilitate the creation of SQL tables, IDOs, and forms
Most options on the toolbar require you to select more than one component. To select multiple components, hold down CTRL, and then click each component.
Alignment options align selected components with whichever component has solid black squares for handles. After selecting all components to be aligned, click the one you want the others to align with. The handles of this component should be solid black, and all others should be black-outlined handles. The procedure for selecting components to be resized or spaced uniformly is similar.
| Icon tooltip | Description |
|---|---|
| New Form Wizard | Launches the Form Wizard, which allows you to create forms, either new or as extensions of existing forms. |
| New Data Maintenance Wizard | Launches the Data Maintenance Wizard, which allows you to create SQL tables, IDOs, and forms in one integrated process. You can also create subcollections at the same time. |
| XML to IDO Wizard | Launches the XML to IDO Wizard, which allows you to create SQL tables and IDOs from data contained in XML documents. |
| Copy Form Definition | Opens the Copy Form Definition dialog box, which allows you to copy an existing form definition into a new form. |
| Delete Form Definition | Launches the Select Form dialog box, which allows you to select a form definition for deletion. |
| Align Left | Aligns all selected components so their left edges line up. |
| Align Center | Aligns all selected components so their horizontal centers line up. |
| Align Right | Aligns all selected components so their right edges line up. |
| Align Top | Aligns all selected components so their top edges line up. |
| Align Middle | Aligns all selected components so their vertical middles line up. |
| Align Bottom | Aligns all selected components so their bottom edges line up. |
| Make Same Width | Resizes all selected components so they are the same width. |
| Make Same Height | Resizes all selected components so they are the same height. |
| Make Same Size | Resizes all selected components so they are the same size. |
| Space Horizontally | Moves selected
components so they are evenly spaced within the horizontal boundaries. This
option uses the left edge of the leftmost component and the right edge of the
rightmost component as the horizontal boundaries. It moves only the inner
components, leaving the outer two components where they are.
This option works only when three or more components are selected. |
| Space Vertically | Moves selected
components so they are evenly spaced within the vertical boundaries. This
option uses the top edge of the topmost component and the bottom edge of the
bottommost component as the vertical boundaries. It moves only the inner
components, leaving the outer two components where they are.
This option works only when three or more components are selected. |
| Arrange in a Column | Arranges all selected components, stacking them vertically. |
| Arrange in a Row | Arranges all selected components in a horizontal row. |
| Bring to Front | Brings the selected components to the front, effectively placing them on top of other, overlapping components. This ensures that the selected components can be seen. |
| Send to Back | Sends the selected components to the back, effectively placing them under other, overlapping components. This means that all or part of the selected components may be hidden. |
| Tab Order | Allows you to set the tab order for the components on the form. This option resets all components, starting with number 0. |
| Tab Order At | Allows you to set the tab order for components starting from a specific component. This option resets only the components starting with the first one you select. The order of all components to that point does not change. |
| Undo | Undoes the
previous design action.
To undo multiple actions, click this button repeatedly. |
| Redo | Repeats a design
action that has been undone.
To redo multiple actions, click this button repeatedly. |