ENABLED Phrase

ENABLED {IS} {TRUE         }
        {= } {FALSE        }
             {enabled-state}

The ENABLED phrase determines whether or not the control can be used. When a control is enabled, it can be used normally. When it is disabled, it can be seen on the screen (if it is also visible), but the user cannot interact with it. If the TRUE phrase is used, then the control is enabled. The FALSE phrase makes the control disabled. If enabled-state is used instead, then its value determines whether the control is enabled. Any non-zero value enables the control; a value of zero (0) disables it. If the ENABLED phrase is omitted, the control is initially created enabled.

Disabled controls are displayed differently than enabled controls. For example, under Windows, disabled controls usually have dimmed text. See the configuration variable DISABLED_CONTROL_COLOR in Appendix H for information on how to configure the appearance of a disabled control when running on a character-based system.

Note: Under Microsoft Windows, the appearance of disabled controls can change depending on whether the program is running under the 16- or 32-bit runtime. The differences are intrinsic to the Windows API and cannot be worked around.