Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Show Action Buttons

Action buttons are displayed both above and below the form by default, such as in the picture below.

Products edit form with action buttons both above and below the form.

Using the “Show Action Buttons” property on the data view, you can change the action buttons to only display at the top, the bottom, or hide them altogether.

Start the Project Designer.  In the Project Explorer, double-click on Categories / Products / container1 / view1 view node.

'View1' for Products on the Products page in Code On Time Project Explorer

Change the following property:

Property New Value
Show Action Buttons Top

Press OK to save your changes. On the tool bar, click on Browse to generate the application.

When the web app opens in your default browser, navigate to the Products page and select a record. The action buttons will only be displayed at the top of the form, making the page more compact.

Products edit form with action buttons only above the form.

Go back to the generator, and make the following change:

Property New Value
Show Action Buttons Bottom

Press OK to save, and click Browse to generate.

This time the action buttons will be presented at the bottom of the form.

Products edit form with action buttons only below the form.

Go back and make the following change:

Property New Value
Show Action Buttons None

Press OK, then click Browse.

The products form will now not have any action buttons.

Products edit form with no action buttons.

Actions with a scope of “Form” are no longer displayed. Let’s change the scope of the hidden “Form” actions to a scope of “Action Bar”.

Switch back to the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, double-click on Categories / Products / container1 / view1 / Actions / ag2 action group node.

Action Group of scope of 'Form' for view1 of Products controller.

Change the following properties:

Property New Value
Scope Action Bar
Header Text Data

Press OK to save the action group, and click on Browse on the tool bar. Navigate to the Products page.

Action Group with scope of 'Form' changed to scope of 'Action Bar'.