4Th Dimension Design Reference Windows®/Mac™OS
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4th Dimension Design Reference Windows®/Mac™OS 4th Dimension® © 1985 - 2003 4D SA / 4D, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 4th Dimension Design Reference For Mac™OS and Windows® Copyright© 1985 - 2003 4D SA / 4D, Inc. All rights reserved. The software described in this manual is governed by the grant of license provided in this package. The soft- ware and the manual are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in whole or in part except for the personal licensee’s use and solely in accordance with the contractual terms. This includes copying the electronic media, archiving, or using the software in any manner other than that provided for in the Software license Agreement. 4D, 4D Draw, 4D Write, 4D View, 4D Insider, 4th Dimension®, 4D Server, 4D Compiler, 4D Backup and the 4th Dimension and 4D logos are registered trademarks of 4D SA. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Apple, Macintosh, Power Macintosh, Laser Writer, Image Writer, and QuickTime are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Mac2Win Software Copyright © 1990-2003 is a product of Altura Software, Inc. ACROBAT © Copyright 1987-2003, Secret Commercial Adobe Systems Inc. All rights reserved. ACROBAT is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Inc. This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/). 4th Dimension includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young ([email protected]) 4th Dimension includes software written by Tim Hudson ([email protected]). Oracle is a registered Trademark of Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, California. Oracle Corporation and 4D are independent companies. Use of the Trademark “Oracle” authorized by Oracle Corporation autho- rized to highlight interoperability only. All other referenced trade names are trademarks, registered trademarks, or copyrights of their respective holders. IMPORTANT LICENSE INFORMATION Use of this software is subject to its license agreement included with the software. Please read the License Agreement carefully before using the software. Contents Preface . .17 About the Manuals . 18 About This Manual . 19 Cross-Platform. 19 Chapter Descriptions . 19 Conventions. 21 Chapter 1 4th Dimension Basics . 23 Starting 4th Dimension . 24 Creating a New Database . 24 Opening an Existing Database . 29 4th Dimension Desktop Files . 32 Selecting a different data file . 35 Linking a Data File to a Structure File. 36 Making Backups . 36 The Environments . 37 The Design Environment . 37 The User Environment . 39 The Custom Menus Environment . 40 Design Environment Editors . 41 The Structure Editor . 42 The Form Editor . 43 The Method Editor . 44 The Menu Bar Editor . 45 The Password Access Editor . 46 The List Editor . 47 Picture Library . 48 Compiler and application builder. 50 Compiler. 50 Application builder . 51 Web Services Wizard. 52 4th Dimension Design Reference 3 Contents The Design Environment Interface . 53 The Design Environment Menus . 53 Contextual menus . 60 Basics for Using Editor Windows . 60 The Toolbar . 62 The Explorer . 63 Working with the Explorer . 63 Tables Page . 67 Forms Page . 69 Methods Page . 72 Constants Page . 76 Commands Page . 77 Lists Page . 82 Components and Plug-ins Page . 83 Using Comments. 84 Runtime Explorer. 90 Displaying the Window . 90 Watch Page. 91 Process Page . 93 Break and Catch Pages . 93 Searching in the Database . 94 Find window . 94 String Types and Scope of the Search . 96 Searching Options . 97 Platform Interface . 98 Where to set the platform . 98 Platform Interface Settings. 99 4D Server Considerations . 105 Chapter 2 Setting Preferences . 107 Access to the Preferences . 107 Interface Theme . 109 Look Page. 110 Formatting Page . 113 Style sheet Page . 114 Application Theme . 114 System Resources Page . 115 Client/Server Page . 118 Design Mode Theme . 120 Fonts Page . 120 Method Editor Page . 121 Structure Editor Page . 125 4 4th Dimension Design Reference Contents Options Page . 127 Documentation Page . 129 Comments Page . 131 Database Theme . 132 Access Management Page . 132 Data Control Page . 134 Compilation Theme . 137 Setting Page . 137 Web Theme . 141 Publishing Page . 141 Configuration Page . 145 4D WebSTAR Page. 149 Web Services Page . 150 Chapter 3 Designing a Database Structure . 153 Database Basics . 154 Tables . 155 Creating a Database Structure . 159 Using the Structure Editor . 160 Selecting a Table Image . 161 Scrolling the Field List. 161 Resizing a Table Image . 162 Moving a Table Image. 163 Creating a New Table . 164 Setting Table Properties . 165 Creating Fields and Setting Field Properties. 172 Creating New Fields . 172 Field Types. 176 Field Attributes . 182 Choices and Help . 188 Setting the Color of the Field . 189 Modifying Fields and Field Properties. 190 Renaming a Field . 191 Changing a Field’s Type . 191 Changing a Field’s Attributes . 191 Indexing or Reindexing a Field . 191 Relating Tables. 193 Related Fields . 195 The One Table and the Many Table. 197 Setting Relation Properties . 200 Related Fields . 201 Many to One Properties . 201 One to Many Properties . 203 Wildcard Choice. 204 4th Dimension Design Reference 5 Contents Deletion Control . 205 Color . 206 Creating a Relation Between Tables . 207 Configuring relations . 208 Removing Relations . 209 Reestablishing Relations . 210 Modifying Relation Properties . 210 Automatic and Manual Relations . 210 Entering Data in Related Tables . 211 Using Wildcard Choice Lists . 212 Relation Types . 214 One to One Relations . 214 Many to Many Relations . 215 Analyzing Database Relations . 220 Circular Relations . 221 Multiple Links to the Same Table . 222 Relations from Multiple Records. 223 Chapter 4 Creating Forms . 225 About Forms . 226 The Form Wizard. ..