Copyright (c) Prolog Developemnt Center SPb

AppFrame CookBook

Built-in functions

Application language

AppFrame includes a user interface language selection mechanism.
The choice of the working language from the ribbon is made using a dynamically generated menu.
The menu is activated by calling the predicate of the languageList_Menu () command of the fe_Command object .
To create a list of supported languages ​​in the xml configuration of the application, the language node must contain a list as shown below

      <language ...>
        <support flag="ru" id="rus" title="Russian" />
        <support flag="us" id="eng" title="English" />
        <support flag="dk" id="dk" title="Danish" />
      </language>

The attribute flag defines the flag of which country should be associated with this language.
The attribute is selected based on the suffix of the flag icon name from the Bin\febeAppData\pdcVipIcons\flags directory.
For example, the name of the flag of the Azores state is represented as flag_azores.ico, respectively, the flag name in the configuration file should be indicated as
flag = "azores" .
The title attribute determines which line the language will be displayed on the menu if the dictionary is not used.
The id attribute defines the identifier by which the final choice of language will be determined.
The actual language activation command identifier has a string structure of the form  
"ribbon.menu.language.cmd.<id>" , where <id> means the id specified in the list of languages ​​of the configuration file.
Accordingly, the identifier for tooltip will look like  "ribbon.menu.language.cmd.<id>.tooltip" , and the identifier for menuLabel will look like
"ribbon.menu.language.cmd. <id>. menulabel" .

The definition of the command in the xml-panel file should look, for example, as follows (required attributes are highlighted)

          <menu
            cmdstyle="image-and-text-vertical"
            enabled="true"
            function="language-list"
            id="ribbon.menu.language-list"
            label="Language"
            layout="render"
            style="popupmenu">
          <icon file="$(pdc-external)\_license-cc\categories\applications-education-language.ico" />
          <tooltip text="Change UI Language (Render)" />

When defining the context for invoking the command defined in the xml panel, it should be indicated
    ...       
    ContextObj:setMenuRender("language-list",fe_Command():languageList_Menu),
    ...

Which connects the xml panel with activating the menu in the fe_Command object.
If you intend to use a dictionary for the menu of the language selection command, then the dictionary defined in the file
bin\febeAppData\R ibbonLanguage_Dictionary.xml with namespace = "language" must be activated . The bin\<applicaionName>AppData directory contains the xml-panel file ribbonLanguageRender.xml , which can be used.   

All the necessary data exchange operations between FrontEnd and BackEnd, renaming of the applicaion core user interface elements are carried out automatically.
For user interface elements that are active at the time of changing the language, text name replacement operations should be initiated after the dictionary loading operation in the fe_CoreTasks

clauses
    setNewLanguage ( NewLanguageID ) object : -
        request ( methodChain , fe_UpdateUILanguage_C ,  s ( NewLanguageID )),
        fe_Dictionary (): currentLanguage_P : = NewLanguageID ,
    % change here text titles for user-defined active elements of the UI success ().

or in the fe_Command object

    defaultHandler(CommandID,_NameSpace,_RibbonCmdID):-
        string::hasPrefixIgnoreCase(CommandID,"ribbon.menu.language.cmd.",Language),
        fe_CoreTasks():setNewLanguage(Language),
    % change here text titles for user-defined active elements of the UI
        success().

For the language change mechanism to work, in the configuration file the language node must have an attribute use-dictionary = "yes".

Dictionary generation for xml ribbon

The core AppFrame includes a tool for creating and modifying a dictionary file for an xml panel.
This function is performed by the fe_CreateOrModifyRbnDictionary class, which creates a dialog in FrontEnd that is responsible for executing the task.
By calling a dialogue from an object of class fe_CoreTasks

    fe_CreateOrModifyRbnDictionary :: new ( frontEnd_P ): onCreateOrModifyRbnDictionary ( ).

FrontEnd calls BackEnd and gets a list of xml-panel files and a dictionary associated with each of them. A dialog appears as shown below in the Ribbon Script FileName drop-down list.



a set of xml panels is presented, stored in the bin\<projectName> AppData directory in the BackEnd context , and using the Browse ... button you can select a file from any directory in the FrontEnd context.
The Dictionary NameSpace field represents the NameSpace associated with the xml panel file (empty if not installed).
Field Dictionary FileName defines the relative name of the dictionary file (relative to the Bin directory , empty if not installed).
The Modify Source Script flag sets whether to correct the file name in the dictionary and nameSpace in the xml-panel file. If the flag is set, then the contents of the panel file are adjusted.

To construct the initial values ​​of text phrases, the identifiers of commands and menus and the corresponding text phrases are used, which are presented in the xml-panel file.
Phrases are generated for all languages ​​supported in the configuration file. For all languages, the phrase that is specified in the xml-panel file (in the base language of the application) is generated. The user must then manually translate the phrases for the corresponding language.

At the same time, phrases for manuLabel and tooltip are generated in the dictionary .
If the text of the xml-panel is changed, then when creating-modifying the dictionary, text phrases of only new elements are created. Existing phrases do not change.

Control panel extension

The AppFrame core includes a control panel extension tool.

To expand the panel, a predicate addExtension() of an object of the class fe_CoreTasks is called..
The addExtension () predicate calls the messaging process between FrontEnd and BackEnd. As a result, FrontEnd receives a list of xml-panel files and brings up the dialog below.



After selecting the name of the xml-panel file, a new fragment of the panel is added to the panel at right.
Removing panel fragments in the current version is not provided and can be performed by deleting the <ext> subnodes in the application configuration file.

Panel configuration

The panel configuration is changed by calling the panel configuration editor.
The editor is called by the predicate designRibbonLayout() of the fe_Comamnd class.
The panel configuration editor allows you to move and delete commands, create new and delete sections of the panel.
After closing the editor, the new panel configuration is saved in the application configuration file.
When the application starts, the panel configuration is restored to the closed position.
Restoring the configuration of a panel that includes all extensions is performed by the predicate   reloadRibbon() of an object of class fe_Command .