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Version: 5.x

NAVIGATOR statement

The NAVIGATOR instruction - managing and configuring the navigator.

Syntax

The syntax consists of nested blocks of navigator statements. The outer statement block is described after the keyword NAVIGATOR:

NAVIGATOR {
navigatorStatement1
...
navigatorStatementN
}

Each navigatorStatement describes a single navigator statement, and at the end it may contain a nested block of navigator statements. There are three types of navigator statements:

NEW elementDescription [options] [{ ... }];
MOVE name [caption] [options] [{ ... }];
name [caption] [options] [{ ... }];

where elementDescription in the NEW statement describes the type of element to be created, and can be in one of three types:

FOLDER name [caption] 
FORM [[name] [caption] =] formName
ACTION [[name] [caption] =] actionName
[[name] [caption] =] formElseActionName

A navigator statement must end with a semicolon if it does not contain a nested block of additional statements.

Navigator element options (options) can be listed one after the other in arbitrary order. The following set of options is supported:

WINDOW windowName
insertPosition
IMAGE fileName

Description

The NAVIGATOR statement allows to modify the navigator. Each navigator statement block enclosed in braces allows to change the descendants of a particular navigator element, which we will call the current element. In the outer block that follows the NAVIGATOR keyword, the current element is the root system folder System.root. There are three types of navigator statements:

  • The create statement (NEW) allows to create a new navigator element, making it a child of the current element. The created navigator elements can be of three types: folder, form element, and action element. The type of element to be created is specified by the keywords FOLDER, FORM, and ACTION. If the type is not specified, a form with the given name is searched first. If no form is found, the action is searched. The navigator statement block contained in this statement (if any) describes the descendants of the element being created.
  • The move statement (MOVE) allows to move an existing element to the current navigator element, making it a child element. Prior to this, the navigator element being moved is deleted from its previous location. The navigator statement block contained in this statement describes the descendants of the element being added.
  • The modify statement allows to change the specified navigator element, which must be a descendant (not necessarily a child) of the current element. The navigator statement block contained in this statement describes the descendants of the specified element.

The move and modify statements allow to change the caption and options of a navigator item.

The hierarchy described within a single NAVIGATOR statement can have an arbitrary nesting level and describe any number of elements at each level.

Parameters

  • name

    Navigator element name. In the create statement, it is a simple ID and must be unique within the current namespace, while in the rest of the statements it is a composite ID. The name does not have to be specified when creating a form element or action element. Here the form name or action name is used as the element name.

  • caption

    Navigator element caption. String literal. In the create statement, if the caption is not specified, the caption will be the name of the created element. In the rest of the statements it modifies the existing caption.

  • actionName

    The action ID for which the navigator element will be created. The action must not take any parameters.

  • formName

    The form name for which the navigator element will be created. Composite ID.

  • formElseActionName

    The form name or action ID for which the navigator element will be created. The platform will first attempt to find a form with that name, and if that fails, it will search for an action with that ID. The action must not take any parameters.

Options

  • WINDOW windowName

    Specifying the window in which the descendants of this navigator element will be displayed (unless another window is specified for them).

    info

    Note that this option sets the window not for the current element itself, but for its descendants.

    • windowName

      Window name. Composite ID.

  • insertPosition

    Specifying the insertion position of the navigator element. It can be specified in one of the following ways:

    • BEFORE elementName

    • AFTER elementName

      Specifying that the element must be added or moved just before (keyword BEFORE) or after (keyword AFTER) the specified navigator element. The specified element must be a child of the current element.

      • elementName

        Navigator element name. Composite ID.

    • FIRST

      Keyword indicating that the navigator element should be added or moved to the beginning of the list of child elements of the current element.

    • LAST

      Keyword indicating that the navigator element should be added or moved to the end of the list of child elements of the current element. Unlike default addition, elements inserted using LAST will always be positioned after all elements added in the order of insertion.

    • DEFAULT

      Keyword indicating that the navigator element should be added or moved in the order of insertion to the list of child elements of the current element. This is the default value.

    If the option is specified in the modify statement, then the element itself must also be a direct child of the current element. Otherwise, the MOVE statement should be used.

  • IMAGE fileName

    Specifying the relative path to the file with the image to be displayed as the icon for the navigator element.

    • fileName

      Path to the file. String literal. The path is relative to the images directory.

Examples

FORM items;
FORM stocks;
FORM legalEntities;
FORM shipments;
hello() { MESSAGE 'Hello world'; }
hi() { MESSAGE 'Hi'; }

NAVIGATOR {
// creating a new navigator folder and making all its descendants appear in a window with a vertical toolbar
NEW FOLDER catalogs 'Directories' WINDOW toolbar {
// creating a form element for the items form in the folder, the default element name is the form name
NEW items;
}
catalogs { // navigator element editing statement
// creating a stocksNavigator form element for the stocks form and adding the last element
// to the catalogs folder
NEW FORM stocksNavigator 'Warehouses' = stocks;
// creating a form element named legalEntities in the catalogs folder right after the items element
NEW legalEntities AFTER items;
NEW shipments;
}
// creating another folder, the elements of which will also be displayed in a window with a vertical toolbar
NEW FOLDER documents 'Documents' WINDOW toolbar {
// the folders themselves will be displayed in the root window, and when the user selects one of them
// in a window with a vertical toolbar the descendants of this particular folder will be shown
NEW ACTION hi; // creating an action element
NEW ACTION h=hello; // creating an action element
// the statement to move the shipments element from the catalogs folder to the document folder
// before the hello element
MOVE shipments BEFORE h;
}
}