Transporting Guidelines to Follow When Creating Screens

ID: Q100558

2.50 3.00 | 2.50

WINDOWS   | MS-DOS

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0
• Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, version 2.5
• Microsoft FoxPro for MS-DOS, version 2.5

SUMMARY

When you are creating screens for multiple platforms and different screen resolutions, the following guidelines may be helpful.

MORE INFORMATION

• Design the screen on the MS-DOS platform; you can make it "pretty" on the Windows platform. If the screen is going to be used with different resolutions, be sure to use the lowest resolution (that is, 640 x 480). For example, design the screen in FoxPro for MS-DOS if the screen will be used on the MS-DOS and Windows platforms; use VGA if the screen will be used with a variety of resolutions on the Windows platform.
• Use a monospace font (for example, Courier New) when transporting the screen from MS-DOS to Windows. Once the screen has been transported, the GETs should remain in the monospace font. The use of fonts other than a monospace font should be reserved for the SAYs.
• Footers do not exist on the Windows platform. When you transport a screen with a footer from MS-DOS, the footer will be removed on the Windows side. NOTE: If this screen is then transported back to MS-DOS, the footer will not exist on the MS-DOS screen either.
• Moving objects on either platform does not affect their placement on the other platform.
• Adding objects or changing an object's properties will cause the changes to be reflected in the other platform. Adding objects or changing object properties will trigger the transporter when the screen is opened on a different platform, and the transporter will give you the option of carrying the changes over to this new platform.
• When you are working with different resolutions on the Windows platform, be careful about using the 1024 large font mode. FoxPro bases the row and column coordinates of objects on a screen (and therefore much of the placement and sizing) on the current font. Choosing large fonts causes Windows to automatically scale the selected font size up. However, how Windows does this varies according to the particular font selected. For example, FoxFont will probably not be scaled because FoxPro provides only two fixed sizes. If you have used a variety of fonts in different objects and windows, some items may be distorted when the screen is moved between different resolutions. To avoid this problem, use only one font; if you need to use more fonts, use all TrueType fonts. If you use FoxFont, use it exclusively because of its limited point sizes.

Keywords          : FxprgGeneral 
Version           : 2.50 3.00 | 2.50
Platform          : MS-DOS WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: April 30, 1996