The power of script is enhanced by the ability to display ActiveX controls on
the desktop instead of using images or text. You can then manipulate these using
scripts.
For example, imagine an Excel spreadsheet, Windows Media Player, Combo box, Web
Browser all embedded on your desktop. All are possible and very easy to create.
In the DesktopX Script Editor, the first option on the script menu is 'ActiveX
Control' from which there is a 'Select Control' option.
We'll look at how to create one of these controls now.
From the list that appears when you click 'Select Control', choose a control and
then click OK. In our examples below we will use the 'Microsoft Web Browser'
control.
As you will see below, the Script Editor immediately changes to reflect your
choice. On the right of the editor you will see a preview of the object, and
below that you will see the properties of that object.
Note that the ActiveX Control menu item now has a 'Properties' option where you
can toggle to display of this extra information.
If you close the editor via the close button top right or via 'File ... Exit'
you will now see a control on your desktop.
You will see that as you move your mouse over the object the cursor changes. You
can move the control or resize it using the black handles at the edge.
If you right click the object, you will notice a new item, 'Script Enabled' at
the bottom of the list. This is the place where you can toggle the script
between a 'running' and 'not running' state. At the moment it is not running
which is why the resize handles are visible. Click 'Script Enabled' to toggle
the running state and you will see these disappear.
OK, so at the moment it's a dull white box, not very exciting, but nevertheless
it's a control and we're about to ramp up the excitement. Let's go back to the
editor.
If you right click the control you will note that nothing happens. This is
because you are effectively right clicking the Web Browser control, not a
DesktopX object. Hold down CTRL so the resize edges appear and right click. You
will see that the script is enabled because of the check mark next to that item.
Click the Edit Script item and the dialogue will reappear.
OK, try changing the script you see to the one below:
Sub Object_OnScriptEnter
Control.Navigate2 "www.wincustomize.com"
End Sub
OK, so exit out of here and enabled the script. Caboom - all of a sudden you
have a genuine webpage on your desktop!
You will note from this that scripting is basically the same for Controls as it
is for regular objects. The only real difference is that when referring to the
ActiveX control you use the Control prefix. Note that you can also use Object
methods and properties in the script but these refer to the host object. For
example Object.Visible in an object containing an ActiveX control would hide
that object and hence that control.
Each ActiveX control will expose it's own properties and these are displayed in
the autocomplete feature. This makes it really easy to start coding for a
control.
In addition to this it is useful to know which events are associated with a
control. With this, we are able to react to events occurring in the control.
DesktopX provides a tool to do just this. In the Script Editor, go to the Script
Menu and select 'Event Wizard'.
Select the event you want to add and click OK to add it to your script. Click
'Done' when you have added all the events you want to.
You can now add script to that event. For example:
Sub Control_DocumentComplete(pDisp, URL)
Msgbox "Finished downloading the page " & URL
End Sub
Now, you will be advised when the page is completely loaded.
One final thing you should know is that DesktopX installs three controls by
default. There is an Edit control (to allow you to accept and react to user
input), a Push Button control (which acts just like a regular button), and a
Check Box control (to give you an on/off switch).
Each of these controls have specific events and properties associated with them.
PushButton Control
The PushButton control allows you to use a regular push button for
interaction with your scripts.
Properties
Caption: The text caption of the button.
Enabled: Whether or not the button is disabled.
Events
OnClick: Fired when the button is clicked
CheckBox Control
The CheckBox control allows you to use a regular checkbox for interaction
with your scripts.
Properties
Caption: The text caption of the checkbox.
Enabled: Whether or not the checkbox is disabled.
Checked: Whether or not the checkbox is checked.
Events
OnCheck(variant checked): Fired when the checkbox is checked or unchecked
Edit Control
The Edit control allows you to support text-based user input without
dependency on 3rd party controls.
Properties
Text: The text of the control
MultiLine: Whether the control is single line or multi, with scrollbars
ClientEdge: Whether the control has a client edge
Border: Whether the control has a border
BGColor: The background color of the box
TextColor: The color of text in the control
Events
OnKeyPress(key): Fired when a key is entered, returns the ASCII value of the
key.
Methods
ScrollToEnd(): Scrolls to the bottom of the text.
ComboBox Control
The ComboBox control allows you to create a drop-down list of options from
which the user can select.
Properties
BackColor: Sets or queries the color of the control background (as OLE_COLOR)
ForeColor: Sets or queries the color of the control text color (as OLE_COLOR)
SelectionBackColor: Sets or queries the background color of the selected item in
the control (as OLE_COLOR)
SelectionForeColor: Sets or queries the text color of the selected item in the
Control (as OLE_COLOR)
BorderVisible: Sets or queries whether or not the border of the control is
visible (as Boolean)
Enabled: Sets of queries whether an object can respond to user-generated events
(as Boolean)
Item(Item As Long): Sets of queries the text of a specific item in the control
(as String)
ItemCount: Queries the number of items in the control (as Long)
ListIndex: Sets or queries the currently selected item in the control (as Long)
Text: Queries the text of the currently selected item in the control (as String)
ListVisible: Sets or queries whether the control’s drop-down list is visible (as
Boolean)
Events
OnSelect(Item As Long, string As String): Fired when an item in the list is
selected
OnCloseUp(): Fired when the drop down menu is closed
OnDropDown(): Fired when the drop down menu is opened
Methods
AddItem (bstrItem As String): Inserts an item into the Control
ResetList(): Clears the Control
ListBox Control
The ListBox control allows you to display a box containing a list of options
from which the user can select.
Properties
BackColor: Sets or queries the color of the control background (as OLE_COLOR)
ForeColor: Sets or queries the color of the control text color (as OLE_COLOR)
SelectionBackColor: Sets or queries the background color of the selected item in
the control (as OLE_COLOR)
SelectionForeColor: Sets or queries the text color of the selected item in the
Control (as OLE_COLOR)
BorderVisible: Sets or queries whether or not the border of the control is
visible (as Boolean)
Enabled: Sets of queries whether an object can respond to user-generated events
(as Boolean)
Item(Item As Long): Sets of queries the text of a specific item in the control
(as String)
ItemCount: Queries the number of items in the control (as Long)
ItemHeight: Sets of queries the height of individual items in the ListBox (as
Long)
ListIndex: Sets or queries the currently selected item in the control (as Long)
Text: Queries the text of the currently selected item in the control (as String)
Events
OnSelect(Item As Long, string As String): Fired when an item in the list is
selected
Methods
AddItem (bstrItem As String): Inserts an item into the Control
ResetList(): Clears the Control
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