Common Properties

The set of check box common properties includes:

TITLE

Check boxes may have titles. The title typically appears to the right of the check box. The TITLE phrase is used to specify the title. A key letter may be specified in the title. See Common Screen Options for more information.

VALUE

Check boxes have numeric values. A value of 0 indicates the absence of a check mark. A value of 1 indicates the presence of a check mark.

SIZE

The LINES and SIZE values describe the size of the check box's title area. The LINES value specifies the number of lines tall the title area will be. The SIZE value specifies the width of the title area, using the width of the 0 (zero) character as the base unit. Added to the title area is overhead needed for the actual check box. This usually adds several character positions to the width, and may affect the height if the check box is taller than the title's font.

When the program executes on a non-graphical system, the values specified in the CLINES and CSIZE phrases, if present, replace the values specified by the LINES and SIZE phrases.

LINES has a default value of 1. The default value of SIZE is computed by measuring the length of the title using the check box's font and dividing by the width of the 0 (zero) character. Thus, the default width of a check box exactly occupies the space its text takes up on the screen.

When the BITMAP style is used, the LINES and SIZE values have a different meaning. The values are the number of pixels in the height and width of the bitmap image. If omitted, the default values depend on the host system. Under Microsoft Windows, the default LINES value is 15 and the default SIZE value is 16. These correspond to the size of buttons typically found on a toolbar. See Creating a Paged List Box for more information.

COLOR

Check boxes use both the foreground and background colors specified. If either is omitted, the corresponding color of the check box's owning subwindow is used.

Bitmap check boxes do not use the specified colors. Instead, the colors are derived from the bitmap and the system defaults for push buttons

TEXT-ONLY

Check box controls can appear and behave similar to toggle push buttons. Use the TEXT-ONLY property to have the check box behave similar to a push button. Setting this style will override the bitmap property if set.

EVENT-LIST, EXCLUDE-EVENT-LIST

EVENT-LIST is an exclusive list of events that are either sent to or withheld (blocked) from the program depending on the value of EXCLUDE-EVENT-LIST. See Common Screen Options for more information.

STYLES

BITMAP Causes the check box to be drawn with a bitmap instead of its normal appearance. See Paged List Boxes for a complete description.
FRAMED Used only with bitmap buttons, it requests that a thin frame be drawn around the button. Typically this appears as a thin black line. Not all systems support frames, in which case the request is ignored. By default, buttons are framed under Windows NT/Windows 2000.
UNFRAMED Used only with bitmap buttons, it requests that the button be drawn without a frame. Not all systems support unframed buttons, in which case the request is ignored. By default, buttons are not framed under Windows 98.
SQUARE Used only with framed bitmap buttons, it forces the button to have square corners. Without this style, the button will have slightly rounded corners.
SELF-ACT Creates a self-activating check box. A SELF-ACT check box behaves in the same way as a SELF-ACT push button. Self-activating check boxes return control to the previously active control or window when they are clicked. Typically, you will want to use the NOTIFY style (below) in conjunction with SELF-ACT, so that your program is informed whenever the check box is clicked.
NOTIFY Tells the run-time to generate a CMD-CLICKED event whenever the value of the check box is changed by the user. This allows your program to respond immediately to the change. In essence, the check box acts like a combination check box and push button. Without the NOTIFY style, the check box remains active after it has been changed (exception: see SELF-ACT above.)
LEFT-TEXT Check boxes with this style display their text to the left of the box instead of to the right. Note that if you use this style and try to vertically align several check boxes, the boxes may not align vertically. This is because the default behavior of the run-time is to place the right edge of the check box at the minimum distance needed from its left edge to accommodate the control's text. This results in the boxes being placed in different columns depending on the text of each control. Supplying a uniform width using the SIZE property overrides this behavior.
FLAT On Windows systems, creates a check box without visible borders. On non-Windows systems, this style has no effect.
MULTILINE Causes the check box to have a multi-line title. When the MULTILINE style is applied, the check box's title text is automatically word wrapped to fit the check box's size. You can force a line break in the text by embedding an ASCII line feed character (h"0A"). The MULTILINE style is ignored in character-based environments.
VTOP Causes the title text to be vertically aligned with the top of the control's area. By default, the title text is vertically aligned to the center of the control's area.