Opening an invisible database form

#1

Is there a way to open a hidden form with out using a separate database and opensecret?

#2

What does “open a hidden form” mean?

#3

It would be the same behavior as opening a database with opensecret. It would allow using a form to do some graphic creation stuff but keep it hidden from the user.

#4

Sorry, no, there is no way to do graphics stuff without a visible window. This is actually something I would like to do, but have not been able to figure out how to make it happen. Not a high priority at the moment.

#5

Can’t this be done with the objects outside the dimensions of the window? Then move the objects back into view? Or having the window outside the boundaries of the screen? (Just imagining.)

#6

Hi Jim,

Do you think it would work if I created all the elements in a variable then saved that to a blueprint, then used a database that was opened with “opensecret” to create a new form from that blueprint file?

#7

I am only guessing as to the exact use you are looking to implement but here is an option if you want to have a form that is not listed in the View menu at all and only appears when needed. First create and name the form you want and then open the blueprint sheet for that form, Select All and copy the contents to the clipboard. Now create a new procedure called .SecretForm and paste the clipboard contents into it. At the very top of this procedure you can add a line like windowbox "120 70 280 440" (using the dimensions and position you want the form to open at). You can then delete the original form.

When you want that form to appear all you have to do is call .SecretForm and it will magically open the original form where you want it just as if it always existed. When finished use the setformoptions with the DELETE option to remove it. You could also go further and copy the contents of that procedure, set a permanent variable like mySecretForm to the clipboard() contents and then remove the procedure and save the file. In the future to open the secret form you would use execute mySecretForm.

On the other hand if you only need a form to open but be invisible you could do as Robert suggested and open it off screen or on screen but too small to be visible using windowbox "1 1 1 1" which opens it in a one pixel window in the upper left corner of your screen.

#8

Basically what I want to do is to programmatically generate the elements for a form used for printing. I know the parameters to determine the size of the datatile and the other elements, but the user will input the values of those parameters, click a button and the new report will be printed. Ideally I would want to do this so the user just sees the printed results. I was thinking that making a form from blueprints might be a way to do this. When I have a few moments I can test this, but, I thought I would ask if using newformusingblueprint can work invisibly.

#9

Sorry, but no. If you take a look at a form blueprint, you’ll see it is just code with the same sort of statements you would use to set up objects in a program. There is no additional magic involved in blueprints.