Creating a Form

Here are the steps to create and load a sample form:

Step 1. Create the form.

(Use the Insert Below button to insert a new form into the list of forms in the left-hand Explorer pane of the ATEasy window.)

You will see the new form displayed in the ATEasy IDE:

Step 2. Name the form SimpleForm in the Name box on the form property sheet.

Note the difference between the Name and the Caption properties. The Name property gives the name by which the form will be referred to as a type of form variable; as an identifier, it is a single word, inter-capitalized. The Caption property gives the "human-readable" name the form will display in the title bar; as such, it can contain spaces.

Step 3. Add controls and/or menus.

Select the AButton control from the Controls toolbar. Click and drag in the form's client area to place and size the AButton control on the form.

Step 4. Add form variables and procedures for events. Here, the OnClick() event is getting a procedure.

Step 5. Create a variable named frmSimple of type SimpleForm.

(Select the Variables icon in the left-hand Explorer pane of the ATEasy window. Use the Insert Below button to insert a new variable into the list. Type 'simpleForm' as the type of the variable, with a lowercase initial letter. If you have correctly created the form, ATEasy will locate it and correctly reference it as 'SimpleForm." This auto-correction of capitalization is a good way to check your form. )

Step 6. In the Task window of the project, write a procedure that loads frmSimple.

Select the Tests icon in the left-hand Explorer pane of the ATEasy window. Use the Insert Below button to insert a new task into the list. In the right-hand pane of the ATEasy window, examine the Task and Test windows. Select the new test ("Untitled Test") and rename it Example.

In the lowest blank text area under the Task and Test windows, enter the procedure that loads frmSimple.

load frmSimple

Step 7. Wait until teh user closes the form. When the form gets destroyed the window handle hWnd property will set to 0, causing teh while loop to end. In addition to avoid consuming a lot of CPU cycles we call WaitForEvent() this function will return any time the user interact with the form (i.e., close the form, click on a button or even move the mouse over the form:

while frmSimple.hwnd
   WaitForEvent()

endwhile

Step 8. In that procedure, write code that unloads the form once it is closed.

unload frmSimple

frmSimple=Nothing

Now, you have entered a complete sequence to load the form and unload it once it is closed.

The program's steps really constitute the runtime life of a form:

A. Load and show the form (load frmSimple).

B. Close the form (unload frmSimple).

C. Destroy the form object (frmSimple=nothing).

Step 8. Run the form using the DoIt! icon.

The DoIt! icon should be visible and active in the top row of icons. In order for it to be active, the form must be in a project and the project must be Active; otherwise, the icon will be grayed out. See Set the Active Project. If you click on it, the form will load and will be shown.