MSM-Workstation
Create the First Set of Windows

Go back to the previous page in this sequence
Go back to the start of this chapter
Go back to the first page of this tutorial

Change the mouse cursor while the program is busy

When the Drop Down List receives "focus", i.e. the end-user moves the mouse cursor to this field, the action logic for the "gotFocus" event is executed. This action logic checks whether the value in the Text Box has changed. If that value has changed, the choice-list for the Drop Down List is re-populated.

With a database as small as the one used for this demonstration, this is fast enough that no special features are necessary, but with a "real" database, this might be a little more time-consuming. When an action is undertaken that is potentially time-consuming, it is customary in windows-based software to change the mouse cursor to an icon that represents a "please wait" status.

The following code could be added to the "gotFocus" action logic to make this happen.

(Click here to cut and paste this code.)

The first of the inserted lines will turn the cursor into an icon that designates the "please wait" status. The second one is inserted temporarily to ensure that enough time passes to make the new cursor-icon visible on the display. This line should be removed before any practical use of the program, of course.

The line that is inserted just before the quit command at the end restores the cursor to its original "pointer" shape.

Possible values that may be assigned to the property PTYPE (pointer type) are:

At this point, a quick test will show that the cursor will change indeed when the "gotFocus" action logic decides that the choice-list has to be rebuilt.

(Now that these points have been made, the pop-up window can be removed from the create action logic of the Text Box, and the Hang 10 can be removed from the gotFocus action logic of the Drop Down List.)

Go on to the next page in this sequence.