SFDocuments.FormControl service

The FormControl service provides access to the controls that belong to a form, a subform or a table control of a FormDocument. Each instance of the FormControl service refers to a single control in the form. This service allows users to:

To use the FormControl service in a particular form, subform or table control, all controls must have unique names.

warning

Radio buttons that share the same group name must also have unique control names.


The main purpose of the FormControl service is setting and getting the properties and values displayed by the controls in a form.

All controls have a Value property. However, its contents will vary according to the control type. For more information, read The Value Property below.

It is also possible to format the controls via the XControlModel and XControlView properties.

tip

The SFDocuments.FormControl service is closely related to the SFDocuments.Form service.


Service invocation

Before using the FormControl service the ScriptForge library needs to be loaded or imported:

note

• Basic macros require to load ScriptForge library using the following statement:
GlobalScope.BasicLibraries.loadLibrary("ScriptForge")

• Python scripts require an import from scriptforge module:
from scriptforge import CreateScriptService


The FormControl service is invoked from an existing Form service instance through its Controls method.


      Dim oDoc as Object, myForm As Object, myControl As Object
      Set oDoc = CreateScriptService("SFDocuments.Document", ThisDataBaseDocument)
      Set myForm = oDoc.Forms("formDocumentName", "formName") ' SFDocuments.Form
      Set myControl = myForm.Controls("myTextBox") ' SFDocuments.FormControl
      myControl.Value = "Current time = " & Now()
   
In Python

      

from scriptforge import CreateScriptService

from time import localtime, strftime bas = CreateScriptService('ScriptForge.Basic')

doc = CreateScriptService('SFDocuments.Document', bas.ThisDatabaseDocument)

form = doc.Forms('formDocumentName', 'formName') # SFDocuments.Form

control = form.Controls('myTextBox') # SFDocuments.FormControl

control.Value = 'Current Time = ' + strftime("%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S", localtime())
tip

To learn more about how to open a FormDocument and get access to its forms, refer to the SFDocuments.Form service help page.


Alternatively a FormControl instance can be retrieved via the SFDocuments.FormEvent service, which returns the SFDocuments.FormControl class instance that triggered the event.


      Sub OnEvent(ByRef poEvent As Object)
          Dim oControl As Object
          Set oControl = CreateScriptService("SFDocuments.FormEvent", poEvent)
          ' oControl now represents the instance of the FormControl class that triggered the current event
          ' ...
      End Sub
   
In Python

      def onEvent(event: uno):
          control = CreateScriptService('SfDocuments.FormEvent', event)
   

Note that in previous examples, the prefix "SFDocuments." may be omitted.

note

The FormEvent service is used exclusively to create instances of the SFDocuments.Form and SFDocuments.FormControl services when a form or control event takes place.


Control types

The FormControl service is available for the following control types:

Properties

Name

Readonly

Type

Applicable to

Description

Action

No

String

Button

Specifies the action triggered when the button is clicked. Accepted values are: none, submitForm, resetForm, refreshForm, moveToFirst, moveToLast, moveToNext, moveToPrev, saveRecord, moveToNew, deleteRecord, undoRecord.

Caption

No

String

Button, CheckBox, FixedText, GroupBox, RadioButton

Specifies the text displayed by the control.

ControlSource

Yes

String

CheckBox, ComboBox, CurrencyField, DateField, FormattedField, ImageControl, ListBox, NumericField, PatternField, RadioButton, TextField, TimeField

Specifies the rowset field mapped onto the current control.

ControlType

Yes

String

All

One of the control types listed above.

Default

No

Boolean

Button

Specifies whether a command button is the default OK button.

DefaultValue

No

Variant

CheckBox, ComboBox, CurrencyField, DateField, FileControl, FormattedField, ListBox, NumericField, PatternField, RadioButton, SpinButton, TextField, TimeField

Specifies the default value used to initialize a control in a new record.

Enabled

No

Boolean

All (except HiddenControl)

Specifies if the control is accessible with the cursor.

Format

No

String

DateField, TimeField, FormattedField (read-only)

Specifies the format used to display dates and times. It must be one of following strings:

For dates: "Standard (short)", "Standard (short YY)", "Standard (short YYYY)", "Standard (long)", "DD/MM/YY", "MM/DD/YY", "YY/MM/DD", "DD/MM/YYYY", "MM/DD/YYYY" , "YYYY/MM/DD", "YY-MM-DD", "YYYY-MM-DD".

For times: "24h short", "24h long", "12h short", "12h long".

ListCount

Yes

Long

ComboBox, ListBox

Returns the number of rows in a ListBox or a ComboBox.

ListIndex

No

Long

ComboBox, ListBox

Specifies which item is selected in a ListBox or ComboBox. In case of multiple selection, the index of the first item is returned or only one item is set.

ListSource

No

Variant

ComboBox, ListBox

Specifies the data contained in a ComboBox or a ListBox as a zero-based array of string values.

Combined with ListSourceType, may also contain the name of a table, a query or a complete SQL statement.

ListSourceType

No

Integer

ComboBox, ListBox

Specifies the type of data contained in a combobox or a listbox.

It must be one of the com.sun.star.form.ListSourceType.* constants.

Locked

No

Boolean

ComboBox, CurrencyField, DateField, FileControl, FileControl, FormattedField, ImageControl, ListBox, NumericField, PatternField, TextField, TimeField

Specifies if the control is read-only.

MultiSelect

No

Boolean

ListBox

Specifies whether the user can select multiple items in a listbox.

Name

Yes

String

All

The name of the control.

Parent

Yes

Object

All

Depending on the parent type, a form, a subform or a tablecontrol, returns the parent SFDocuments.Form or SFDocuments.FormControl class object instance.

Picture

No

String

Button, ImageButton, ImageControl

Specifies the file name containing a bitmap or other type of graphic to be displayed on the control. The filename must comply with the FileNaming attribute of the ScriptForge.FileSystem service.

Required

No

Boolean

CheckBox, ComboBox, CurrencyField, DateField, ListBox, NumericField, PatternField, RadioButton, SpinButton, TextField, TimeField

A control is said required when the underlying data must not contain a null value.

Text

Yes

String

ComboBox, DateField, FileControl, FormattedField, PatternField, TextField, TimeField

Gives access to the text being displayed by the control.

TipText

No

String

All (except HiddenControl)

Specifies the text that appears as a tooltip when you hover the mouse pointer over the control.

TripleState

No

Boolean

CheckBox

Specifies if the checkbox control may appear dimmed (grayed) or not.

Value

No

Variant

This property depends on the current control type. Refer to The Value property for more information.

Visible

No

Boolean

All (except HiddenControl)

Specifies if the control is hidden or visible.

XControlModel

Yes

UNO
object

All

The UNO object representing the control model. Refer to XControlModel and UnoControlModel in the API documentation for more information.

XControlView

Yes

UNO
object

All

The UNO object representing the control view. Refer to XControl and UnoControl in the API documentation for more information.


The Value property

Control type

Type

Description

Button

Boolean

Applicable to toggle buttons only.

CheckBox

Boolean or Integer

0, False: not checked
1, True: checked
2: grayed out, don't know (applicable if TripleState is True)

ComboBox

String

The selected value, as a String. The ListIndex property is an alternate option to access the index of the selected value.

CurrencyField

Numeric

DateField

Date

FileControl

String

A file name formatted in accordance with the FileNaming property of the ScriptForge.FileSystem service

FormattedField

String or Numeric

HiddenControl

String

ListBox

String or array of strings

The selected row(s) as a single string or an array of strings. Only a single value can be set. If the box is linked to a database, this property gets or sets the underlying data. Otherwise it gets or sets the data being displayed.

NumericField

Numeric

PatternField

String

RadioButton

Boolean

Each button has its own name. Multiple RadioButton controls are linked together when they share the same group name. If a RadioButton is set to True, the other related buttons are automatically set to False

ScrollBar

Numeric

Must be within the predefined bounds

SpinButton

Numeric

Must be within the predefined bounds

TextField

String

The text appearing in the field

TimeField

Date


Event properties

The properties below return or set URI strings that define the script triggered by the event.

Name

ReadOnly

Description as labeled in the Basic IDE

OnActionPerformed

No

Execute action

OnAdjustmentValueChanged

No

While adjusting

OnApproveAction

No

Approve action

OnApproveReset

No

Prior to reset

OnApproveUpdate

No

Before updating

OnChanged

No

Changed

OnErrorOccurred

No

Error occurred

OnFocusGained

No

When receiving focus

OnFocusLost

No

When losing focus

OnItemStateChanged

No

Item status changed

OnKeyPressed

No

Key pressed

OnKeyReleased

No

Key released

OnMouseDragged

No

Mouse moved while key presses

OnMouseEntered

No

Mouse inside

OnMouseExited

No

Mouse outside

OnMouseMoved

No

Mouse moved

OnMousePressed

No

Mouse button pressed

OnMouseReleased

No

Mouse button released

OnResetted

No

After resetting

OnTextChanged

No

Text modified

OnUpdated

No

After updating


tip

To learn more about URI strings, refer to the Scripting Framework URI Specification.


List of Methods in the FormControl Service

Controls

SetFocus


Controls

This method is applicable only to controls of the TableControl type. The returned value depends on the arguments provided.

If the optional argument controlname is absent, then a zero-based Array containing the names of all controls is returned.

On the other hand, if a controlname is provided, the method returns a FormControl class instance corresponding to the specified control.

Syntax:

svc.Controls(): str[0..*]

svc.Controls(controlname: str): svc

Parameters:

controlname: A valid control name as a case-sensitive string. If absent, the list of control names is returned as a zero-based array.

Example:


      Dim myGrid As Object, myList As Variant, myControl As Object
      Set myGrid = myForm.Controls("myTableControl") ' SFDocuments.FormControl
      ' Returns an Array with the names of all controls in "myTableControl"
      myList = myGrid.Controls()
      

' Returns a FormControl class instance corresponding to "myCheckBox"

Set myControl = myGrid.Controls("myCheckBox")

Using Python:


      grid = form.Controls('myTableControl')  # SFDocuments.FormControl
      control_names = form.Controls()
      control = grid.Controls('myCheckBox')  # SFDocuments.FormControl
   

SetFocus

Sets the focus on the control. Returns True if focusing was successful.

This method is often called from a form or control event.

Syntax:

svc.SetFocus(): bool

Example:


      Dim oDoc As Object, oForm As Object, oControl As Object
      Set oDoc = CreateScriptService("SFDocuments.Document", ThisComponent)
      Set oForm = oDoc.Forms(0)
      Set oControl = oForm.Controls("thisControl") ' SFDocuments.FormControl
      oControl.SetFocus()
   
In Python

     bas = CreateScriptService('ScriptForge.Basic')
     doc = CreateScriptService('SFDocuments.Document', bas.ThisComponent)
     form = doc.Forms(0)
     control = form.Controls('thisControl')  # SFDocuments.FormControl
     control.SetFocus()
   

Additional examples

Below are two examples that illustrate the use of the FormControl service.

The first example reads the current value in a ComboBox containing city names and writes it to a FixedTest control in a Form:


     Dim oDoc as Object, myForm as Object, myControl as Object
     Set oDoc = CreateScriptService("SFDocuments.Document", ThisDataBaseDocument)
     myForm = oDoc.Forms("formDocumentName", "formName")
     Dim lbCity : lbCity = myForm.Controls("labelCity")
     Dim cbCity : cbCity = myForm.Controls("comboboxCity")
     lbCity.Caption = "Selected City: " & cbCity.Value
   
In Python

     bas = CreateScriptService('ScriptForge.Basic')  # Basic-like methods
     doc = CreateScriptService('SFDocuments.Document', bas.ThisDatabaseDocument)
     form = doc.Forms('formDocumentName', 'formName')
     lbl_city = form.Controls('labelCity')
     combo_city = form.Controls('comboboxCity')
     lbl_city.Caption = "Selected city: " + combo_city.Value
   

The following code snippet can be used to process RadioButton controls that share the same group name. In this example, suppose there are three radio buttons with names optA, optB and optC and we wish to display the caption of the selected control.


     Dim oDoc as Object, myForm as Object
     Set oDoc = CreateScriptService("SFDocuments.Document", ThisDataBaseDocument)
     myForm = oDoc.Forms("formDocumentName", "formName")
     Dim optNames As Object : optNames = Array("optA", "optB", "optC")
     Dim optControl as Object, opt as Variant
     For Each opt In optNames
         optControl = myForm.Controls(opt)
         If optControl.Value = True Then
             MsgBox "Selected option: " & optControl.Caption
             Exit For
         End If
     Next opt
   
In Python

     bas = CreateScriptService('ScriptForge.Basic')  # Basic-like methods
     doc = CreateScriptService('SFDocuments.Document', bas.ThisDatabaseDocument)
     form = doc.Forms('formDocumentName', 'formName')
     radio_buttons = ['optA', 'optB', 'optC']
     for name in radio_buttons:
        control = form.controls(name)
        if control.Value == True:
           bas.MsgBox('Selected option: ' + control.Caption)
           break
   
warning

All ScriptForge Basic routines or identifiers that are prefixed with an underscore character "_" are reserved for internal use. They are not meant be used in Basic macros or Python scripts.


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