Creating and Maintaining Tools

From CometWiki

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Revision as of 22:11, 28 May 2009

Overview Running CTMAINT Toolbar Items Accelerator Items Popup Items View Sample Tools Export Bitmaps Version Number Control Generate Tool File

SuperNova tools are created and maintained with the CTMAINT utility program. Each tool context has a unique name (6 characters maximum), and contains three types of tools:

toolbars accelerators pop-up items A toolbar contains icons. These icons are bitmap images that represent a specific event (e.g., a picture of a comet represents the launching of a Comet session).

The icons are BMP files. Comet98 supports two sizes:

Small icons are 15 pixels wide by 16 pixels high (CTMAINT will accept images that are 16x16 pixels, but will truncate the bottom line of the image).

Large icons are 32 pixels wide by 32 pixels high. For the sake of convenience, we recommend that you store the BMP files in a separate directory such as C:\BMP.

Accelerators consist of keyboard shortcuts. For example, the default tool context (the "initial tools") offers two accelerators:

Ctrl+N launches a new Comet session Ctrl+P prints the current screen A pop-up menu consists of menu headings plus one level of menu items. Each menu item represents a specific action. You can add separators between the menu items to visually separate sections of a menu.

SuperNova Actions Each tool is associated with a specific action. For example, when you click the mouse on the comet icon, a new Comet session is launched. SuperNova provides a rich colletion of actions for each tool, including:

launching the Comet Help System (help messages, lookup programs, lookup tables) executing a Comet subprogram replaying a text string into a data entry field launching a Windows document/application performing a system action (launching a new Comet session, exiting from Comet, etc.) intercepting the tool by the current MTB program Some of the above actions are the same as the actions performed the by Nova function keys. In fact, the NOVA program processes the following SuperNova actions: launching the Comet Help System, executing a Comet subprogram, and replaying a text string.

The "system" actions consist of the following system-level operations:

  1    Launch a new Comet session
  2    Print the current screen (Windows dialog box)
  3    Print setup (Windows dialog box)
  4    Change font (Windows dialog box)
  5    Change color (Windows dialog box)
  6    About (Windows dialog box)
  7    Exit from Comet
  8    Toolbar display -- on/off toggle
  9    Status bar display -- on/off toggle
 10    Copy clipboard
 11    Paste clipboard
 12    Cut clipboard
 13    Display Comet release notes (RELNOTES.TXT text file)
 14    Tool button size -- toggle between small/large icons

SuperNova also offers the ability for an MTB program to intercept and process a tool, leaving the NOVA program out of the picture altogether. For example, clicking the mouse on a particular icon could result in the current program branching to a specific statement label. Likewise, selecting a menu item or using an accelerator key could result in an action by the current MTB program, not the NOVA program. For this reason, this type of tool is given a "no action" value, indicating that no Nova action is being taken. In general, this feature extends the capability for creating "event-driven" MTB applications.