DIM is used to dim buttons in dialogs and screens, or to dim command lines in pulldown menus. Dimming a button deactivates it, that is, a dimmed button performs no operation when pressed. UNDIM reactivates objects that have been dimmed.
Notes:
DIM and UNDIM must address named objects
. So any button or menu command line must have been assigned an object name (see the properties box for these objects) prior to being addressed by DIM or UNDIM.
Objects addressed by a DIM or UNDIM must be in existance when they are addressed, that is, they must be instantiated in order to be addressed.
Qualified Names
So what happens if you have a Dialog and three Screens all instantiated at the same time and they all have a button named MARY? The answer is that all names can be qualified by the definintion name in which they appear, and further qualified by the definintion type. A fully qualified name consists of:
deftype.defname.objectname
The values for deftype are one of: DIALOG for dialogs
MENU for switchboard menus
MENUBAR for pulldown menus
SCREEN for data entry screens
So, for example, if you had a button named MARY in a screen definition named CUSTOMERS you could refer to it via its fully qualified name:
DIM SCREEN.CUSTOMERS.MARY
and the procedure that contained this line can be associated with any button or field or record in the CUSTOMERS screen or any of the other screens ordialogsthat are in existence at the same time the CUSTOMERS screen is in existence.
