How to change the order of the fields?

[3d-swiss]

Hello,
I have an interface with five fields like this:
field 1
field 2
field 3
field 4
field 5
When I use the browser tool, I can go using the tab key from field 1 to 2 and so on.

Now I need to put an new field in my interface:
field 1
field 6
field 2
field 3
field 4
field 5
How can I change the order for the tab key, so that it goes 1 - 6 - 2 - ... - 5?

Thanks for help.

[Klaus]

Grüezi,

the LAYER number defines the order of TABbing through the fields!
So you need to re-layer your fields to the order you need.


Best

Klaus

[3d-swiss]

Re-Order my fields means to change every name of the fields.
In my example it's possible.
But if I have a complex interface like in the image (it's from 4th dimension, where I have a tool to connect the fields in the order I need them to be ).


Is there no trick by a script like "tab-order(field 1, field 6, field 2, field 3, field 4, field 5)" ?

[3d-swiss]

BTW
When I copy three fields 1001, 1002, 1003 by selecting them all, copy, paste. The three new fields will not have the ids 1004, 1005 and 1006, but a random order like 1005, 1006, 1004.
Very bad!!

[Klaus]

Why do you need to rename your fields? The LAYER is independent from the NAMEs!
Just re-layer the new field in the Application Browser.

An no, there is not magic script like "tab_order(xxxx)"


Best

Klaus

[3d-swiss]

Hello Klaus,

I get the idea of re-layer in the application browser. But HOW ?
I can't dopple-click on a field, I can't move a field up or down with the mouse. Is it a Mac problem?

[3d-swiss]

I got it! Thanks for help.

First: the field does not be part of a group.
Second: in the inspector are arrows to move up and down.

[Klaus]

Hi

yep, copy/pasting objects will change their IDs since these are NEW controls!
In the menu "Object" you can move objects, sorry, I thought the APPLICATION BROWSER would supply this finctionality, too, but doesn't.

BIG Hint:
Do not address objects by their IDs, use a meaningful name instead!
Or you run into troubles if you want to replace them later!


Best

Klaus

[3d-swiss]

Hi Klaus,
thanks for the tips. I do use only names like

Code: Select all

put it into field "fGebDatum"

Thanks,
best regards from switzerland.

[westerw]

Just figured out that you can set up your tabbing order by choosing a large number and then change your objects in order. LC will choose an available LAYER number and continue to reorder their sequence. It made re-ordering my tabs "real easy".

EXAMPLE:
Field1 Layer 2700
Field2 Layer 12
Field3 Layer 42
Field4 Layer 2600

Change the Layer numbers:
Field1 Layer 4000 -- will get set to the next available number by LC (eg. 2904)
Field2 Layer 4000 goes to 2904; Field1 goes to 2903
Field3 Layer 4000 goes to 2904; Field1 goes to 2902; Field2 goes to 2903
Field4 Layer 4000 goes to 2904; Field1 goes to 2901; Field2 goes to 2902; Field3 goes to 2903

Hope this helps out.
It appears that the best time to set your Tab Order is after your screen/form is basically complete.
bill

[jacque]

Or:

With the edit tool, select the fields in the order you want them, lowest layer first. Open the property inspector to the Align tab. At the very bottom are two arrow icons, click the one pointing toward you on the left. The selected objects are relayered in order.

[Mag]

Or:

With the edit tool, select the fields in the order you want them, lowest layer first. Open the property inspector to the Align tab. At the very bottom are two arrow icons, click the one pointing toward you on the left. The selected objects are relayered in order.

Hi jacque,

This does't work for grouped objects right? I also tried in Edit Group but without luck...

EDIT: Ok, worked in Edit Group by selectin one field at time. Unfortunately I have 4 fields but I need 8 tab pressing to return to the first one. How can I discover where the tab goes when the focus is not visible?

[jacque]

Yes, something seems to have broken since I wrote the response a year ago, so now we need to layer the objects one at a time.

Any object with traversalOn will be included when you tab through the objects, so try turning off traversalOn for other objects. If you have other fields that are editable, they won't work with traversalOn false so you may need to handle that situation depending on how your stack works.

[Mag]

Yes, something seems to have broken since I wrote the response a year ago, so now we need to layer the objects one at a time.

Any object with traversalOn will be included when you tab through the objects, so try turning off traversalOn for other objects. If you have other fields that are editable, they won't work with traversalOn false so you may need to handle that situation depending on how your stack works.

Thank you so much jacque!

(it was a button and 3 scrollbars)

[marksmithhfx]

Yes, something seems to have broken since I wrote the response a year ago, so now we need to layer the objects one at a time.

8 years on and I think it still doesn't work. I had a vertical stack of 7 fields with the layer values (top to bottom) of 8-23-9-10-11-14-12. Selecting those in order from top to bottom (with shift down ie. multi-field selection) and then using the Relayer down arrow on the Align tab resulted in 7-22-8-9-10-13-11 (ie. everything moved down by one) but no re-ordering. Actually, in my tests it did not matter which arrow you selected (up or down) the only thing that mattered was the order you selected them. So if you select bottom to top and then press either arrow it moved everything up by one. Again, no reordering.

I was about to file a bug report when I thought I would try something really off the wall. First I selected the fields in the order I wanted them re-layered (top to bottom, lowest to highest) and then in the position tab next to the field where you normally see the layer value I pressed one of the up/down arrows. They re-layered in the direction opposite to the one I was expecting ie 7-6-5-4-3-2-1. So I tried selecting bottom to top and pressed one of the arrows again. Ah-ha, this time they re-layered in the direction I was looking for (top to bottom 1-2-3-4-5-6-7). Again, on multiple tests it did not appear to matter which arrow I pressed, just the order in which they were selected. Don't have time to do more testing but this: select the fields in order and press one of the arrows beside the layer field. They will be re-layered. Experiment to get the effect you want.

Don't know if this is documented anywhere, or if I should send it to someone.

Mark