Card
The Card () is a special form object that is a child to a card stack. When you edit a local card object, it appears in a new form window where you add form objects (such as images or text) that show up on the card. If you edit a card that uses an existing form, that form window opens. The card has a condition. When the condition is true, the card stack shows that card. A true condition stops the search for cards to show, so all other cards with a true condition do not show. For a local card, enter the name of the card object in the Name field. To move to the card stack that the card belongs to, click the Go to Card Stack button ().
The settings window for a local card contains the following sections.
Card Activation
Enter the value to activate the card in the Activating value field. The card becomes visible when this value matches the value of the data source selected in the parent Card Stack node (where you can also edit the activating value; this value becomes the default in the Activating value field).
Margins
In this section, you can adjust the card’s Horizontal and Vertical margins if desired (default: 20 pixels).
Sketch Grid
The Sketch Grid section is only available when you have selected the sketch mode for the form.
In this section, you find settings for the grid that you can display in the sketch mode (see Showing Grid Lines and Snapping to the Grid) and for the snapping of form objects to that grid.
Specify the grid size by entering values in the Column width (default: 100 pixels) and Row height (default: 20 pixels) fields.
Select the Align grid to margin check box to make the grid lines align with the left and top margins.
The Snap zone slider controls how exact you need to be when resizing a form object to make it snap to the grid. By default, the snap zone is set to its maximum value so that the object quickly resizes to snap to the grid. Move the slider from Large to Small to make the snap zone smaller, if desired.
Select the Snap only to grid check box to make the resizing of form objects snap only to the grid and not to the borders of other form objects, for example.
Grid Layout for Contained Form Objects
The Grid Layout for Contained Form Objects section is only available when you have selected the grid mode for the form.
There are two tables in this section: one for the columns and one for the rows in the grid. In the Column and Row columns, you find the column and row numbers, respectively, each starting at 1 from the left top. You can control how each row and column fills up the space in the form. Each table has a Width (columns) or Height (rows) column with lists that contain the following options: Fit (the default), Grow, and Fixed.
The Grow option makes it possible for the column or row in the grid to expand, taking up space in the form when the user increases the size of the form. No columns or rows with the settings Fit or Fixed grow. The Fixed option specifies that the grid layout has a certain width or height for its column or row, specified in the tables’ third Size column. For the other options, the third column is ignored. The added width or height in pixels appears in the column or row header.
From the Inherit columns list, select a form object from which to inherit column settings. The default is None; that is, the column settings are not inherited.
Appearance
In this section, you can control the color of the text and the background color and image for the card.
From the Text color list, select a color to use for the text: Inherit (the default; the form object then uses the setting from the Form it is located in), any of the predefined basic colors, or Custom, which makes it possible to select a custom color from a color palette.
From the Background color list, select a color to use as the background in the card: Transparent (the default), any of the predefined basic colors, or Custom, which makes it possible to select a custom color from a color palette.
From the Background image list, choose a background image if you want to use such an image in the card. The default is None; that is, no background image is used. To add an image to the image library and use it as a background image, click the Add Image to Library and Use Here button (). Click the Export button () to save the background image to a PNG file.
Under State, you can control the initial state of the card when users run the application. By default, the card is visible and enabled. Clear the Visible or Enabled check box if you want to make the initial state so that the card is hidden or unavailable. You can then make it visible or enable it using a method. In the Form Editor, the state of the form object is indicated by a change in its appearance. Objects that are hidden become visible when selected in the Form Editor.