Objects

PLBCMP GUI Only

The major feature of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) is the addition of graphical objects to the user interface. A new set of graphical object data definitions is required for PL/B to change from a text based interactive I/O system to a graphical interactive I/O system. All of these objects have the same basic properties: Existence, Name, Position, Visibility, Activity, Value, and Contents. Not all of these properties may exist at the same time and not all may be changed.

In order to support these graphical objects, a group of object variables has been added to PL/B. Each object described by an object variable may be created, activated, deactivated, and destroyed. Each object may contain one or more specific items. Most of the objects are dynamic in nature in that the PL/B program may modify the information contained in them.

An item is a member of an object and may be manipulated once the object has been created. Items may be disabled, enabled, deleted, inserted, or have a check mark set or cleared beside them. Items may have their value and name retrieved or set. An item is referenced by a sequential number starting at one. The item number zero is reserved to indicate the entire object.

The following objects may be defined:

AIOBJECT	Provides server side access to the OpenAI and Gemini AI models.
ANIMATE	Silently display an audio video interleaved (AVI) clip.
AUTOMATION	Provides an ActiveX Automation Client interface.
BUTTON	Provides a clickable button.
CHECKBOX	Provides a standard toggleable square box.
CHECKGRP	Provides a group of standard toggleable square boxes.
CLIENT	Allows obtaining information about the client environment.
COLLECTION	Groups other objects into a set.
COLOR	Defines a twenty-four bit color.
COMBOBOX	Provides a text box with a dropdown list.
CONTAINER	Provides an OLE container interface.
CONTROL	Provides an ActiveX control interface.
DATALIST	Provides a scrollable list of items.
DATASET	Provides a key-value store that is a simple NoSQL in memory database.
DATATABLE	Provides an interface into a table of data, for manipluation and display purposes.
DATETIME	Allows manipulating date/time values.
EDITDATETIME	Provies a date/time picker.
EDITNUMBER	Allows input of numeric values in decimal format.
EDITTEXT	Allows input of text.
ERROR	Allows capturing expanded information about an error.
FLOATMENU	Provides a menu that floats over a window.
FONT	Defines a font for displaying or printing text.
FTP	Provides a FTP ( File Transfer Protocol ) client.
GROUPBOX	Displays a frame around a group of controls with or without a caption.
HSCROLLBAR	Provides a free-standing horizontal scrollbar.
HTMLCONTROL	Embeds a HTML document.
ICON	Displays a standard GUI 32 by 32 pixel icon.
IMAGELIST	Manage and store a collection of identically sized images or icons.
JSONDATA	Generate, retrieve, modify, and delete fields within a JSON object.
LABELTEXT	Displays a string of static text.
LINE	Displays a line.
LISTVIEW	Displays a collection of items in different layouts.
MAINWINDOW	Provides access to properties and events for the main window.
MENU	Defines a drop-down menu.
MENUITEM	Defines an element of a FLOATMENU, MENU, or SUBMENU.
MODULE	Provides access to the current program module.
MOVIE	Display a standard AVI (Windows) movie.
MREGION	Defines a mouse region on the screen.
NETCONTROL	Provides a .NET control interface.
NETOBJECT	Provides a .NET object interface.
OBJECT	A generic object pointer.
PANEL	Provides a generic block-level container used to group objects together for layout and styling purposes.
PICT	Displays a picture from a URL, file, or resource.
PLBOBJECT	Provides access to a PL/B CLASSMODULE code object.
POPUPMENU	Provides a text box with a dropdown list.
PROGRESS	Displays an indicator showing the completion progress of a task.
RADIO	Select exactly one option from a predefined set of choices.
RADIOGRP	Provides a group of radio buttons.
REGEX	Provides support for Regular Expression processing for text find and replace.
RICHEDITTEXT	Enables the user to enter, edit, print, and save text.
RUNTIME	Provides access to set and retrieve information about the runtime environment.
SHAPE	Displays an oval or rectangular shape.
SLIDER	Provides a a numeric selection tool.
SPLITTER	Allows the user to resize docked controls.
STATTEXT	Displays a string of static text.
STATUSBAR	Displays various kinds of status information.
STATUSPANEL	Represents a single panel in a STATUSBAR.
SUBMENU	Defines a menu attached to an item in another menu.
TABCONTROL	Provides multiple pages for the same area of a window.
TIMER	Generates events at prescribed time intervals.
TOOLBAR	Defines a menu of buttons for user selection.
TOOLBUTTON	Defines a button for a TOOLBAR.
TREEVIEW	Provides a display of a hierarchical list of items.
VARIANT	Provides a COM (Component Object Model) data structure.
VSCROLLBAR	Provides a free-standing vertical scrollbar.
WINDOW	Provides access to properties and events for a window.
XDATA	Allows generation and parsing of XML and JSON data.

See Also: Object Activates, Object Properites