Long canvas with scroll bar

Question

Hi. I have a form with a very long canvas containing more items than fit on the screen at a time - meaning some items are far down on the canvas and do not appear unless the user physically uses the mouse and scrolls down. This causes a problem for me because as the user tabs through the various fields the cursor will eventually "appear" to disappear. It has not actually disappeared of course, but it has simply navigated to an item that is further down on the canvas out-of-sight. Thus the user must recognize that this has happened and then use the mouse to scroll down and find the cursor again.
Is there a way to automatically coordinate this scrolling so that the cursor always stays in view for the user - meaning that the user will never have to manually scroll down to find the cursor? Or worst case, can I programatically scroll down for the user so that the cursor always remains visible?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you have any sample code please send it to: [email protected]
Thanks in advance.
Edited by: Buechler on Jun 30, 2009 12:20 PM

Answer 1

-> 3) Changed the default Window width to 5 and it's height to 12
Don't do that. That apparently guarantees the problem you have.
The Window size should be no larger than will fit on the user's screen, and the user running the lowest screen resolution should be your target. We create forms no larger than will fit on the 800x600 layout. Our forms always use the Real,Pixel coordinate system, and I create forms with the window size set to a maximum of 784x442. Those reduced numbers allow the form to fit within a browser window in web forms. Our forms run under both 6i Client/Server AND Web, and there is a pre-form that adjusts the web form window size a little larger, but that is all.
Also, when you run your form, that scrollbar you see is there because your window is not maximized. Our forms always maximize the window, and even have a when-window-resized trigger with this:
<pre><font face = "Lucida Console, Courier New, Courier, Fixed" size = "1" color = "navy">DECLARE
W0 Window := Find_Window('WINDOW0');
BEGIN
If Get_Window_Property(W0,Window_State)<>'MAXIMIZE' then
Set_Window_Property(W0,Window_State,Maximize);
End if;
END;</font></pre>
The wwr trigger ensures the user never sees the Window0 border -- it is useless unless you are running a form with multiple windows, which we never do.
So.... Maximize your Window0, and then you will see the behavior I have been describing. Create a stacked canvas with a vertical scrollbar, and it will behave even better.