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A-Shell Reference

Navigation: Development Topics > GUI Development > GUI Tools

Text Attribute Manipulator

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At the opposite extreme from LEO is a very simple-minded tool built in to A-Shell which allows you to change the default text attributes as a way of experimenting with design changes to existing legacy screens. To access the tool, first issue the SET AUTOTPRINT command (see Adjust the Font) to convert plain text PRINT statements into static text control objects. Then, use Control+Shift+DoubleRightClick to bring up the A-Shell Developer Control Operations popup dialog:

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Select the Change Text Attributes button to bring up this dialog:

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Changes here will affect the attributes of subsequently output text, without changing the attributes of text objects already on the screen. As an example of how you might use this in conjunction with a legacy text file maintenance program, just before displaying the main screen, you could set up some text attributes. Then, cause your program to actually output the background labels, which will now be in the color/font/style selected. Now, try changing the attributes again, perhaps using a different color and maybe DPRINT instead of TPRINT, and then cause the program to display data fields. If you end up with something pleasing, you can capture and record all the field data, with the attributes you applied, by generating and saving the control dump.