Re: OPO: How to get form to be "active"...

In article <DoHI8I.6rB_at_watdragon.uwaterloo.ca>, Peter Yamamoto <pjyamamo_at_daisy.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>On OPO Mac, when I use form.OpenWindow() the form appears to be active
>but it is not. The title bar is "selected", the Windows menu has a check
>beside the form, the first field in the form is highlighted, BUT...
>
>the form is not "active".
>
>One of the tell-tale signs is that the scollbar and resize icons are
>not drawn.
>
>One of many things can make the form/window truly active...
>(re)selecting the form through the window,
>switching to the finder and switching back to OPO,
>moving the window,
>clicking in/on the window...
>
>I figure this is a bug, but what I am looking for is a work-around.
>How can I make the window become "fully" active via OPO Basic?
>(eg I want the user to be able to click on a button to open the
>form and then be able to start typing right away without having to
>fool around getting the window "active").

Apparently this may be standard Macintosh behaviour. I showed it to a Mac user (eg simply showed him the behaviour first, and then my complaint after) and he said "So?".

In other words... Even though a form/dialog is opened by an application for user input, it is not unusual that the form first needs to be clicked on before it accepts keyboard input.

IMO, it's repugnant that the GUI gives all the visual clues as being ready to accept input, but doesn't.

The risk of taking yourself as a point-and-click platform too far?

So bug or not, the question still is, via code how would one make this form ready for keyboard input?

Peter

P.S. You can use the Moonlight demo/Products push button/Products Form to test this out. It illustrates this behaviour (the product description field is highlighted and appears ready for input but you must click on the form, reselect the form, etc, before it accepts keyboard input).

-- 
Peter Yamamoto                     CS   Phone: +1 519-888-4567 x3299
University of Waterloo             MFCF Phone: +1 519-888-4567 x6488
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1  Home Phone: +1 519-747-5318
Email: PJYamamoto_at_UWaterloo.CA     URL: http://daisy.uwaterloo.ca/~pjyamamo/