WString appExt = ".exe";
WULong strEnd;
WRegistryKey  regKey;
WString fileType, appPath, filePath = "http://www.yahoo.com";
int process_id;
WBool  opened;
opened = regKey.Open( WRKeyClassesRoot, ".html" );
if( opened ) {
    fileType = regKey.GetStringValue( NULL );
    regKey.Close();
    fileType += "\\shell\\open\\command";
    opened = regKey.Open( WRKeyClassesRoot, fileType );
    if( opened ) {
        appPath = regKey.GetStringValue( NULL );
        WString tempLeft = appPath.Left( 1 );
        if( tempLeft == "\"" )
            appPath.Chop( 1L );
        WString tempRight = appPath.Right( 4 );
        if( (tempRight != ".EXE") || (tempRight != ".exe") ) {
            strEnd = appPath.Position( appExt, 0, true );
            strEnd += 4;
            appPath = appPath.Substring( 0, strEnd-0 );
        }    
        process_id = spawnl( P_NOWAIT, appPath, "child",
                             filePath.GetText(), NULL );
        regKey.Close();
    }
}

Note that of course you would switch Yahoo's web site with the site of your choice. The code is basically just going into the registry and trying to find out the command line of the browser associated with .html files. Then it simply spawns a session of that browser with the desired site as a parameter. If you wanted to get really fancy, you could make a label with the site address (make sure it is blue so that the user instinctively knows it is clickable), and have a nice little hand mouse pointer associated with it... Just to give the user some clicking feedback, it would be nice if the text turned red as the mouse button is clicked down on it (and then back to blue as it's released)... This sounds like the perfect project for those of you want to get started with component building... So get cracking! :)

If you have ever used the masked text box to enter a date, you have probably noticed the FDX will not work properly. Having the masked textbox initialise to the current date can be a great time saver for the user. All the user would have to do is TAB into and out of the masked textbox to have it display the current date. Yes that is great unless you are trying to use FDX. Following the FDXUpdateControls back to the source reveals the masked text box uses the inherited FDXIn() from WTextBox. This structure uses GetText() which will not return the current date if nothing was typed. This must be changed to GetText(0) for the single line version of masked text box. To correct this, create a new class that inherits from WMaskedTextBox and add the following public methods for FDXIn and FDXOut. These will allow the FDX to fill your structure without errors. Note that I set these up to fill the FDX structure without the literals and expect the same if you fill the structure manually. After you have added a masked textbox on your form use the Object Inspector to set Advanced Class property to refer to the new class you previously created.

WBool MyMaskedTB::FDXOut( void )
{
    if( _fdxDataSource != NULL ) {
        WString outputFormat = GetOutputFormat();
        SetOutputFormat( "D:yyyymmdd" );  // Change this to your desired format
        WString newValue = GetText( 0 );  // This works
        SetOutputFormat( outputFormat );
        if( *_fdxDataSource != newValue ) {
            SetFDXModified( true );
        }
        *_fdxDataSource = newValue;
    }
    return true;
}

WBool MyMaskedTB::FDXIn( void )
{
    WBool                           acceptLiterals;
    if( _fdxDataSource != NULL ) {
        acceptLiterals = GetAcceptLiterals();
        SetAcceptLiterals( false );
        SetText( *_fdxDataSource );
        return SetAcceptLiterals( acceptLiterals );
    } else {
        return true;
    }
}

The Wizard component has predefined event-handlers for moving from one page to the next. However, if you choose to select your own sequence of pages based upon conditions established on previous pages, a few notes are in order. The safe way to set the page is with the GetWizard()->SetSelected() function - but not from the Next or Back cbClickEventHandlers. If you try to call SetSelected from any of the standard event handlers, the value of the current page may change after you read it. When the click event for the next or back buttons are clicked, the PageDeactivated event occurs. Using the methods described below require that the page to be skipped must have true returned in this event. I accomplished this by adding a SwitchAllowed method to each page and returning true if the conditions are met. For example: if( !Path1 ) return true;

It is necessary to use PostUserEvent( this, 0L ) in the next and back button click event-handlers. In the UserEventHandler the GetWizard()->SetSelected() can be used more reliably. The easiest way I found to manage the page selection (if you have a multiple page paths) is to set up WIntArrays to contain the page lists and define them in the Create event for the form. If you do not wish to skip the current page, return the current page. If you want the sequence of a path to be pages 0, 1, 3, 5, 9, 12, the return values must be as follows for the forward direction:

• Page 0 return 0
• Page 1 return 1
• Page 2 return 3
• Page 3 return 3
• Page 4 return 5
• Page 5 return 5
• Page 6 return 9
• Page 9 return 9
• Page 10 return 12
• Page 12 return 12

For back the following returns must be allowed

• Page 11 return 10
• Page 8 return 5
• Page 4 return 3 // this is why the same list
• Page 2 return 1 // can't always be used.

This is an example of the code required. In the Create event:

{// page lists
    WIntArray First_F_PageList;
    WIntArray First_B_PageList;
     ...
    First_F_PageList.SetCount(12);
    First_F_PageList[ 0] = 0;
    First_F_PageList[ 1] = 1;
    First_F_PageList[ 2] = 3;
    First_F_PageList[ 3] = 3;
    First_F_PageList[ 4] = 5;
    First_F_PageList[ 6] = 9;
    First_F_PageList[ 9] = 9;
    First_F_PageList[10] = 12 ;
    First_F_PageList[12] = 12 ;

    First_B_PageList=First_F_PageList;
    First_B_PageList[11]  =   10;
    First_B_PageList[ 8]  =   5;
    First_B_PageList[ 4]  =   3;
    First_B_PageList[ 2]  =   1;
     ...
}// end create event

WBool FormName::cb_Next_Click( WObject * source, WEventData * event )
{
    // Direction is defined as public WBool in the FormName class
    Direction = Forward;      // Foward is #defined as true
    PostUserEvent( this, 0L );
    return( FALSE );
}

WBool FormName::FormName_User( WObject * source, WUserEventData * event )
{
    GetWizard()->SetSelected( GetNextPage(GetCurrentIndex()) );
    return FALSE;
}

WInt FormName::GetNextPage( WInt CurrentPg )
{
    FDXStruct  * ThisFDX = FDXGetTarget();
    WIntArray  BPageList, FPageList; //backward and forward pagelists
  
    switch (ThisFDX->PathType)
    { case 1:   FPageList =  First_F_PageList;
                BPageList =  First _B_PageList;  // for reverse direction
                break;

      case 2:   FPageList =  Second_F_PageList;
                BPageList =  Second_B_PageList;
                break;

      case ETC: FPageList =  Etc_F_PageList;
                BPageList =  Etc_F_PageList;
                break;

  // default to all pages
      default:  FPageList =  F_OTHER_PageList;
                BPageList =  F_OTHER_PageList;
    }
    return ( (Direction==Forward) ? FPageList[CurrentPg]:BPageList[CurrentPg] );
}

If you like to keep your programs' style according to the Windows standard like I do, you have probably noticed that the default behaviour of tab controls in Power++ (from from version 1.0 to 2.0) is not quite right. Here I list the steps you need to take to mimic the proper behaviour. (If you want to test these out on a sample program, place a tab control on a form with two tabs, two text boxes on each tab form, one command button underneath the tab control, and all the forms Auto Ordered using the tab stop editor.)

1. If your tab control is placed on a WDialog, you will find that it is impossible to tab between the different controls on the tab control - you will only be able to tab between the tab controls, and other controls on its parent form. The solution to this is to go to the property sheet of each tab form on your tab control, and check their Control style (on the Dialog Style page). You will now be able to tab between controls residing on the tab forms.

2. The second problem can be seen just by running the sample and tabbing through the different controls. The focus starts on the first text box and then shifts to the second (as it should). You might expect the text shift to bring the focus to the command button, but instead it is sent to the tab of the tab control and then to the command button. It should really be the other way around because although the focus starts off on the text box, the tab control itself (or, rather, its tab), should be before the text box in the tab-order. An easy solution to this problem is simply to open the form's Tab Editor, and place the tab control last in the tab order. Now everything works as expected, although you will run into similar problems if you want the tab control to be in the middle of the tab order (surrounded by other controls).

3. You will notice that if you are on a tab page, and then you click on a tab of another page to switch, that tab that you click on will get the focus. This is not the desired behaviour. A tab should only ever get the focus if you use the TAB key to move to it in the tab order, or if you click on a tab whose page is already visible. To enable this behaviour, go to the property sheet of the tab control, and on the Advanced Style page, turn off (uncheck) the FocusOnButtonDown style. This will seem to give you the desired effect, but read on...

4. Although the focus does not go to the tab of the tab control, it actually stays on the control it was previously on, even if that control is now on a tab page no longer visible. Using our example program, with the focus starting on the first text box on the first tab page, try this at your own risk: click on the tab of the second tab page; because of our last point, the focus stays on the previous tab page. Now press the TAB key. You can't see where the focus is, but it is on the second text box on the first tab page. If you hit TAB again, the focus comes back to the command button, and you can then tab until you get to the controls on the new tab form. But if you instead hit Shift-TAB (to send the focus back one), your program will (for some reason) go into an infinite loop, and you will have to close it using Ctrl-Alt-Del. Clearly this is not standard Windows behaviour (although knowing Microsoft...). The solution is to send the focus to the first control on the tab page that the user switches to. This can be accomplished by adding the following code to the Select event of the tab control:

       if( !tabctrl->GetFocus() ) {
           WModelessDialog * newTabForm =
               (WModelessDialog*)tabctrl->GetWindow( event->newID );
           WASSERT( newTabForm != NULL );

           WControl * firstControl = newTabForm->GetControl( 0 );
           if( firstControl != NULL ) firstControl->SetFocus();
       }

   The first if statement is needed because if a tab already does have focus, it is proper for the new tab to get focus as soon as the user clicks on it. Note that you might not want the first control on the tab page to get the focus (GetControl( 0 )). For example, if the first control is a group box, or a disabled control, you would want to send the focus to the next control.

After looking at some MFC docs, I found a solution to adding a textbox (or any other type of control) to a toolbar. I haven't tested this with a floating toolbar, but it seems to work with a static toolbar.

1. Drag a toolbar component onto the form
2. Drag a textbox component onto the form
3. Add the regular buttons to the toolbar using the editor or coding it
4. The following code was placed in the form's create event handler:

WToolbarItemHandle itemHandle;
WToolbarItemInfo buttonInfo;
WRect buttonRect;

// specifies the separator style
buttonInfo.style = WTBBSeparator;

// the bitmapIndex is used to specify the width of the separator
// if it is not the standard width. This is used to create space
// for the foreign control
buttonInfo.bitmapIndex = 50;

// Insert the button defined above to the right of the 2nd button
// in the toolbar
itemHandle = toolbar->Add( buttonInfo, 2 );

// set the toolbar as the parent of the control
textbox->SetParent( toolbar );

// get the bounding rectangle of the separator button and assign
// it to the textbox
buttonRect = toolbar->GetRectangle( itemHandle );
textbox->SetRectangle( buttonRect );