To Create a New Control

This section describes the general steps for defining a control and describes how to create various types of controls.

1. If the control will have a PUSH_ACTION and/or DROP_ACTION, create the action definitions. These are the actions that run when the user clicks the control or drops a file on it.

2. Create the icon image files for the control.

   For information about icon sizes, names, and locations, see "Icon Image Files".

3. Create a new Front Panel configuration file in:

   • System-wide: /etc/dt/appconfig/types/language/*.fp

   • Personal: HomeDirectory/.dt/types/*.fp

4. Add the control definition to the file.

5. Save the file.

6. Choose Restart Workspace Manager from the Workspace menu.

Creating a Control that Runs an Action When Clicked

Use these fields to define the control's behavior:

• TYPE: Set to icon

• PUSH_ACTION: Specifies the name of the action to be run

  For example, the following control, which will be put in the Personal Applications subpanel, runs a game the user has acquired:

  CONTROL Ball { TYPE icon CONTAINER_NAME PersAppsSubpanel CONTAINER_TYPE SUBPANEL ICON ball PUSH_ACTION RunBallGame HELP_STRING "Choose this control to play Ball." }

  The following control will be located in the upper left corner of the switch. It starts an action named CutDisp.

  CONTROL StartCutDisp { TYPE icon CONTAINER_NAME Switch CONTAINER_TYPE SWITCH POSITION_HINTS first ICON cutdisp HELP_STRING "Choose this control to run cutdisp." PUSH_ACTION CutDisp }

Creating a Control that Opens a File

Use these fields to define the control's behavior:

• TYPE: Set to file

• FILE_NAME: Specifies the path of the file to be opened

• PUSH_ACTION: Set to Open

  There must be an Open action defined for the data type of the file.

  For example, the following control will be located on the far right side of the Main Panel. It starts Text Editor with the data file /users/ellen/PhoneList.txt. The Open action for *.txt files is part of the default action database.

  CONTROL EditPhoneList { TYPE file FILE_NAME /users/ellen/PhoneList.txt CONTAINER_NAME Top CONTAINER_TYPE BOX POSITION_HINTS last ICON PhoneBook HELP_STRING "This control displays Ellen's phone list." PUSH_ACTION Open }

Creating a Control that Behaves as a Drop Zone

Use the DROP_ACTION field to specify the action that runs when the user drops a file on the control. The action must be capable of accepting a file argument.

Frequently, a control definition includes both a PUSH_ACTION and DROP_ACTION field. You can use the same action for the push and drop action.

For example, the following control, located in the Personal Applications subpanel, runs the X client xwud, which takes a file argument.

CONTROL Run_xwud
 {
 	CONTAINER_NAME				PerAppsSubpanel
 	CONTAINER_TYPE				SUBPANEL
 	POSITION_HINTS				2
 	ICON							XwudImage
 	PUSH_ACTION					RunXwud
 	DROP_ACTION					RunXwud
 }

Creating a Control that Monitors a File

Use these fields to define the control's behavior:

• TYPE: Specify one of the following values:

  icon--use this type if you want to specify a PUSH_ACTION and/or DROP_ACTION for the control.

  file--use this type if you want the control, when chosen, to behave like the file when the file's icon is double-clicked in File Manager.

• ICON and ALTERNATE_ICON: Describe the images used to indicate the non-changed and changed state of the monitored file.

• MONITOR_TYPE: Describes the conditions causing the image to change. Use one of the following values:

  mail--the control will change appearance when information is added to the file.

  file--the control will change when the specified file becomes non-empty.