Basic Features
Introduction
This section discusses the basic features provided by EditTable and its related
widgets. Advanced features are covered later in this manual.
Figure 1: Understanding the Basic Features
Margins and Table Dimensions
You can control all aspects of table size, margins, and dimensions. EditTable
lets you dynamically:
- Add columns or rows.
- Resize column width or row height.
- Set precise margins for titles, annotation areas, or cells.
Margins can be sized automatically or based on resources provided by either the
XmManager widget or the INT Scroll widget (XintScroll). Total table size is
limited only by the size of available memory.
Text Alignment, Size, Font, Type
EditTable gives you complete control over the positioning, size, color and font
of all text components, including:
- Table title
- Cells
- Row/column annotation.
For instance, the title can be at any location on the table
(top/bottom/left/right). Annotations can be on either side or both sides of the
table, with any desired justification inside the annotation area.
Text Editing
The EditTable widget supports a large number of editing operations that can
either be controlled by the application using INT functions or performed by the
end user via action routines. Users of applications built on EditTable can edit
cells or row/column annotations directly in a full text editing mode (i.e.,
click, shade, backspace, retype). The widget supports the following features:
- Insert/delete rows or columns.
- Undelete previously deleted rows or columns.
- Reverse row/column sequence.
- Cut, paste, or copy rows, columns, or ranges of cells.
- Change all selected cells to a specified value.
Any deleted or copied rows or columns are stored on a clipboard that can
simultaneously hold both columns and rows. When another copy or delete
operation occurs, the data copied or deleted replaces the same type of data
(row or column) currently on the clipboard. Data on the clipboard can be pasted
into the table using convenience functions and action routines.
Column/Row Formatting
A column can be modified by changing any of the following:
- Format of data in the column
- Width of the column
- Number of rows
- Text font
- Foreground/background colors.
EditTable allows format changes by the application or the user. For example,
the user may want prices to be displayed using dollar signs, commas, and
decimals, even though the price data is stored without these elements.
Cursor Movement
Users can traverse a table using the keyboard (Tab, cursor keys, etc.) or by
using the mouse to click directly on a cell. The application can control
keyboard traversal through a callback so that the cursor skips over certain
parts of the table that are irrelevant to the current operation. You can also
build dialogs that let end users "go to" a specific row/column in the table or
to a specified percent of the width/height of the table.