Amazing Effects possible in v13 (If you're used to MacOS 6)

Peter Jakobsson (3/23/14 1:31 AM)

Just a brief weekend tip for those who hadn't already discovered this.
(I hadn't !)

For those that can't be bothered reading through the steps, this lets
you create a translucent object layer on top of 4D active objects.

How to make:

IN PHOTOSHOP...

[1] - create a yellow filled square

[2] - give a drop shadow and add a grey "Stroke" layer effect (just
for tidiness - not essential to demonstrate the principle)

[3] Ź=A0- reduce the opacity on the yellow square to 50%

[4] - clear the background layer so the background layer is transparent

[5] - Command-Option-Shift-S it ("Save for the Web") and save as a
PNG-24

[6] - copy it into 4D's resources folder

IN 4D

[7] - create a form with a listbox or hierarchical list

[8] - drag the translucent "sticky" background out of the resources
folder and right on top of a hierarchical list or listbox, but so that
the underlying listbox is wider than the "sticky"

[9] - place a 4D variable (e.g. vSTICKY) on top of the yellow box

[10] - object-name the yellow box and 4D variable "objSTICKY_1" and
"objSTICKY_2" respectively

[11] - create a checkbox on your form and in the object method write:

If (Form event=On Clicked)
vSTICKY:="Here are som esticky notes"
OBJECT SET VISIBLE(*;"objSTICKY@";(Self->=1))
End if

[12] - run the form with the hierarchical list or listbox populated
with data

********* What you should see *********

You should now see something which I think is quite incredible (at
least for 4D). The yellow sticky appears floating over the listbox
with the data from the listbox showing through the semi-transparent
yellow box that was made in Photoshop. The shadow effect also blends
with the 4D form background.

Additionally, 4D perfectly articulates the mouse clicks so that even
if you click to the side of the floating "sticky" and hit a list row,
it highlights, whereas if you click on the same row on top of the
"sticky", the click registers on the variable instead.

Sorry if this is old news - I'm usually so busy writing code that I
hadn't noticed that things had gone on in the aesthetics department
without me knowing and was quite blown away by this. Hope it helps
someone else ! :)

Regards

Peter

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Summary created 3/22/14 at 11:22PM by Intellex Corporation

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