Modifying a control

The MODIFY Statement can be used to change a single property or to set or reset a style. Generally, the best way to interact with a control is to change only the properties that need to be changed.

The syntax of the MODIFY Statement is:

Format 1

MODIFY {control-item } [ ( {index-1} ... ) ] {CONTROL AT location}   { property-name } [IS ] { property-option [GIVING result-1] } ... { PROPERTY property-type } [ARE] [= ] { [NOT] style-name } ...   { event-procedure }

location is defined as follows:

{ screen-loc [CELL ] [CELLS ] [PIXEL ] [PIXELS]     LINE NUMBER line-num [CELL ] [CELLS ] [PIXEL ] [PIXELS]   {COLUMN } NUMBER col-num [CELL ] {COL } [CELLS ] {POSITION} [PIXEL ] {POS } [PIXELS] }

property-option can be one of the following:

{ property-value [LENGTH {IS} length-1 ] } {= } { ( {property-value} ... ) } { [MULTIPLE] property-table } { [TABLE ] {= } }

Format 2

MODIFY {window-handle } {WINDOW [generic-handle] }   { property-name [IS ] property-value } { [= ] } ...   { [NOT] style-name } ...   [ ON EXCEPTION statement-1]   [ NOT ON EXCEPTION statement-2 ]   { event-procedure } [END-MODIFY]

When more than one property or style are changed with the same MODIFY Statement, the changes occur in the exact order they are written. The statement

MODIFY MyEntryField, ENABLED = 1, VALUE = "New value"

produces the same effect than the following distinct statements:

MODIFY MyEntryField, ENABLED = 1 MODIFY MyEntryField, VALUE = "New value"

Generally speaking, we recommend the use of the MODIFY Statement, unless a lot of controls are to be changed at the same time. If your program uses a number of controls to display the content of a record and you load a new record, you should update the screen displaying the whole Screen Section that defines all the controls. Modifying every single control may be slower.