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X-Hacker.org- FiveWin 1.9.2 - January 97 - <b>1.1 the business-application point of view</b> http://www.X-Hacker.org [<<Previous Entry] [^^Up^^] [Next Entry>>] [Menu] [About The Guide]
 1.1 The business-application point of view
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   Though Windows offers a lot of new and powerful capabilities, we
   insist in the idea that business-application components are still the
   same. We keep this idea very much in mind in order to be highly
   productive as xBase programmers.

   In other words, we mean that you may try to cover the main parts
   of your application as you normally do, and later you will enhance
   your application with all the new fancy and powerful Windows new
   features.

   What are the basic parts of a business application ?

   Of course, the heart of a business applications is the DataBase
   design and implementation, and here CA-Clipper is, with no doubt,
   the king. In FiveWin you may keep all your existing DataBase
   strategies and programming systems you normally use (though we
   will show how to get much more DataBase development power then
   what you have, through FiveWin DataBase objects and Windows Non-Modal
   designs).

   Lets focus now on the user interface, and in all of the different
   parts of a Windows application. The more Windows applications you
   start developing, you will discover you always go through the same
   steps:

    1. The main Window: In Windows, an application is always associated
       with a Window. We will see all the different kind of Windows you
       may build and how to build them.

    2. The PullDown Menu: From the main Window the user may select
       through a PullDown menu all the different options of your
       application.

    3. The Main Window ButtonBar and MessageBar are two components that
       you will find in many Windows applications. FiveWin provides all
       the necessary ingredients for building great looking and
       performing ButtonBars and Messagebar. The ButtonBar usually
       executes actions that you also provide through the PullDown menu.

    4. From the main Window you will open DialogBoxes to interact with
       the user. Coming from Dos, now you are used to work with 'Modal'
       execution which means: Do just one thing at a time. But in
       Windows you may also take advantage of the Non-Modal execution.
       This means you may have several DialogBoxes at the same time.
       You will learn how easily this can be done in FiveWin.

    5. In some of these DialogBoxes you will use Browses. Normally a
       business application uses Browses extensively. You will learn
       to use FiveWin's powerful browses, which let you design any
       kind of browse you may need.

    6. To have a complete business application you need printing. All
       kind of reports, listings and printouts. FiveWin offers you a
       powerful built-in report engine to design any kind of business
       report in just few minutes.


    A typical Windows business-application structure

                   DataBase design and implementation

                                -plus-

                                         Multi Document interface MDI design
      +-------------------------------+          +---------------+
      |--PullDownMenu-----------------|          | MDIChild      |--+
      |------------------ButtonBar----|   +------| Windows       |  |--+
      |                               |   |      | Preferred     |  |  |
      |                           <---+---+      | for Non-Modal |  |  |
      |         Main Window           |          | designs       |--+--++
      |                               |          +---------------+  |  ||
      |             |   |   |         |            +----------------+  ||
      |             |   |   |         |               +----------------+|
      |-MessageBar--+---+---+---------|                                 |
      +-------------+---+---+---------+                                 |
                    |   |   +----------------------+                    |
               +----+   +------+                   |                    |
      +-----------------+  +----------------+  +------------------+     |
      |  User           |  | User           |  | User interaction |     |
      |  interaction    |  | interaction    |  | DialogBox with   |     |
      |  DialogBox      |  | DialogBox      |  |    Browse/s      |     |
      |     -Modal-     |  |    -NonModal-  |  | Modal / NonModal |     |
      +-----------------+  +----------------+  +------------------+     |
           |      User interaction through DialogBoxes design  |        |
           |                        |                          |        |
           |                                                   |        |
           +-------------> +------------------+    <-----------+        |
                           | Printer          |-+                       |
                           | Reports          | | <---------------------+
                           | generation       | |
                           |                  | |
                           |                  | |
                           |                  | |
                           |                  | |
                           +------------------+ |
                             +------------------+

    It is very important that you focus now on these parts, to quickly
    start building business applications. As you go on from here, you
    will start learning many new things that you will surely be
    adapting to your applications.



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