Accessing the properties of a DataWindow object

DataWindow object properties store the information that controls the behavior of a DataWindow object. They are not properties of the DataWindow control, but of the DataWindow object displayed in the control. The DataWindow object is itself made up of individual controls—column, text, graph, and drawing controls—that have DataWindow object properties.

You establish initial values for DataWindow object properties in the DataWindow painter. You can also get and set property values during execution in your code.

You can access the properties of a DataWindow object by using the Describe and Modify methods or DataWindow property expressions. Which you use depends on the type of error checking you want to provide and on whether you know the names of the controls within the DataWindow object and properties you want to access when the script is compiled.

Note that in the Web ActiveX, only the Describe and Modify methods (not property expressions) are supported.

For guidelines on deciding which method to use and for lists and descriptions of DataWindow object properties, see the DataWindow Reference.

You can use the following methods to work with the properties of a DataWindow object:

• Describe—Reports the values of properties of a DataWindow object and controls within the DataWindow object

• Modify—Modifies a DataWindow object by specifying a list of instructions that change the DataWindow object’s definition

string ls_border

ls_border = dw_1.Describe("empname.Border")

The following statement changes the value of the Border property for the empname column to 1:

dw_emp.Modify("empname.Border=1")

string ls_border

ls_border = dw_1.Describe("empname.Border");

The following statement changes the value of the Border property for the empname column to 1:

dw_emp.Modify("empname.Border=1");

DataWindow property expressions provide access to properties with fewer nested strings. In PowerBuilder, you can handle problems with incorrect object and property names in the Error event:

integer li_border

li_border = Integer(dw_1.Object.empname.Border)

dw_1.Object.empname.Border = 1

For reference material on the available variations for property expressions, see the DataWindow Reference.