Designing the Graphical User Interface › Guidelines for Window and Dialog Box Design › Embed OLE Areas in Windows and Dialog Boxes

Embed OLE Areas in Windows and Dialog Boxes

Note: This information pertains to Microsoft Win32 only.

You can embed an OLE (object linking and embedding) area on a CA Gen window or dialog box to allow communication from the CA Gen application to another desktop application. The desktop application is embedded in the CA Gen application.

The CA Gen application acts as an OLE automation controller. Presentation of the desktop application data appears within the CA Gen window or dialog box.

The following list shows guidelines for OLE areas:

• A single window can contain multiple OLE areas.
• The number of areas is limited by space. More than four will start to become difficult to read without a rather large monitor.
• Only one OLE area can be active at any one time.
• When you design the OLE area you, keep in mind the size of the area needed by the desktop application. For example, if the OLE area is being designated to run a word processor, you will want to place the area with the maximum width and as much length as possible for reading the material.
• Which main window menu bar items you would like to have merged with the OLE application. For more information, see Set Merge for OLE Menu Items.
• The tool bar will be replaced by the OLE objects tool bar.
• When you bring the OLE object into place, there are no scroll bars for the area, unless the object brought the scroll bars with it.
• You can insert to OLE object for the user during design time, or allow the user to insert the object during application runtime (see Special Actions for Menu Items and Push Buttons). You can make the OLE object either read only or update.
• If you insert the OLE object during design, make the object read only. The reason for this is that each time the application is executed the object will start at its designed state. Allowing the user to update the object will give the false impression that work on that object is being accomplished.
• If you allow the user to insert the object (which will leave the OLE area unfilled during design), and the user needs the capability to update the object, allow the object to be updated.

More information:

Designing the Procedure Logic