Working with the central DataWindow controls

The DataWindow controls with special names are the heart of a form. It is in these controls that users manipulate the data in the form.

You need to understand:

• How the freeform DataWindow is sized in the form

• How to retrieve data into the control in the form

All form styles you build contain a freeform DataWindow (as do all the built-in styles). Regardless of what size you specify for the freeform DataWindow control in the Window painter in PowerBuilder, the freeform DataWindow fills the entire form in the Form painter in InfoMaker. InfoMaker enlarges the freeform DataWindow so that users can place data (such as computed fields) anywhere in the form.

This means that a window background color that you specify in PowerBuilder is ignored in the form.

When an InfoMaker user runs a form, InfoMaker automatically populates the SQLCA Transaction object with the correct values, so you do not have to do that in a script. To retrieve rows into the central DataWindow control, all you have to do is set the Transaction object for the control and then retrieve rows.

For example, to retrieve data into the control named dw_freeform, code:

dw_freeform.SetTransObject(SQLCA)

dw_freeform.Retrieve()

You would code this in the window’s Open event to present the data to the user when the form opens.