Customising your

Fourth Shift™ client environment     

Changing fonts

     Within the Fourth Shift™ client application(FSGUIAPP.EXE) you can alter the current font settings. Fourth Shift™ uses two different fonts to display screens and other information: a primary font and a fixed-width font.  Most screens are displayed using the primary font selected for your workstation. Some windows, however, such as the help windows and browse windows, must use a fixed width font to display information.

Screen positioning

     The Fourth Shift™ application screen can be moved by pressing the left click button and dragging the screen to the required position. The Fourth Shift™ system saves the co-ordinates of the screen on closure of the application into the Fourth Shift™ client configuration file.

Transport buttons

     The transport buttons are useful for navigating around the Fourth Shift™ system. On a Fourth Shift™ screen the transport buttons will provide options to navigate to screens related to the current screen.

Fourth Shift™ client configuration file

     The Fourth Shift™ client configuration file contains environmental variables which effect the look and feel of the current client Fourth Shift™ application (FSGUIAPP.EXE).

     I suspect you are starting to recognise some of the environmental variables:

• Edit3dBorders: enables or disables a ident arount the border of the Fourth Shift™ application
• MainWindow: the current co-ordinates of the Fourth Shift™ client application screen
• TransportButtons: enable or disable the Fourth Shift™ transport buttons
• PrimaryAnsiFont: the font selected for the Fourth Shift™ client application

Customising the Toolbar

     You can customize the toolbar by adding, deleting or rearranging buttons. You can create buttons to access a menu option, run a program or execute a sequence of keystrokes. It's often useful to create Transport toolbar buttons that automatically go to the screens or changing the icon or tooltip of any toolbar button, or organize buttons onto multiple toolbars and rearrange them on your screen. There are four different types of toolbar buttons available:

• Predefined
• Transport
• Run Program

Predefined buttons (internal)

     A Predefined button type is used for toolbar buttons that invoke a standard Fourth Shift™ menu option.The customise toolbar option is under options on the Fourth Shift™ toolbar. Two special kinds of Predefined buttons are separators and new toolbars.

Transport buttons

     A Transport button type is used for toolbar buttons that go to a Fourth Shift™ screen or task.To create a Transport button, select the Transport option and enter a Function Code. 

Run Program Buttons

     A Run Program button type is used for executing external applications. It acts like a shortcut to another Windows application or document.To create a Run Program button, select the Run Program option and enter a Command line. The command must run an executable (*.EXE) program. Parameters may be included in the command line.

Keystroke Buttons

     A Keystrokes button type is used for toolbar buttons that execute a predefined sequence of keystrokes.To create a Keystrokes button, select the Keystrokes option and enter an Input value. The input value you enter is automatically processed when you click the button. Enter the keystrokes as you would on a keyboard, including tabs between fields.The keystroke sequence can include literal keyboard characters such as a function code, or special keys such as the TAB key. Special keys are entered in braces. For example, to transport to the BILL screen and display the item 19-FRAME, enter the following as the keystroke input: {Home}{Home}BILL{ESC}19-FRAME{CR}. A few of the most special keys:

• DELETE {Del}
• END {End}
• ESC {ESC} or {Escape}
• ENTER {CR}
• Function keys {F1}, {F2}, {F3}, etc.
• HOME {Home}
• INSERT {Ins}
• SPACEBAR {Sp} or {Space}
• TAB {Tab}

Customising Fourth Shift™ advance topics

Managing Flexible report writer

Fourth Shift™ screen customisation

Developing external applications with the look and feel of Fourth Shift™ 

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