Adding Screen Templates

When you create a new screen in AcuBench, you have the option to choose between several default templates (such as the blank graphical screen and blank character screen). In addition to these defaults, you have the option to create your own screen templates. Using custom screen templates can help you maintain a consistent look and feel across an application or application suite, and is an important part of consistency management.

The process of creating a screen template, described in Working with Screens, is very simple. Once you have the template file (.stf), you can use the Tools > Options interface to add the template to the list that appears in the New Screen dialog.

To add a template to the New Screen dialog:

  1. Open the Tools > Options interface, expand the Environment tree, and select Template.

    More information about the Tools > Options > Environment > Template dialog box can be found in section Template Options.

  2. In the Customize template section of the interface, select Screen from the Template for drop-down box.
  3. Click Add to open the Add New Template File dialog.
  4. Enter a short, descriptive title in the Template title entry field, then click the browse (...) button next to the Template file entry field.
  5. Navigate to the directory containing your .stf, select the file, and click Open.
  6. Add a more verbose description of the template file in the Description field.
  7. Click OK to save your changes, then click OK again to close the Tools > Options interface.

    The next time you create a new screen, your template appears in the New Screen dialog, along with your description.

Tip: When you add templates to the New Screen interface, a pointer is placed in the INI file, used to locate the .stf file on disk. If you move the STF, AcuBench will no longer be able to locate the template and you will receive an error message. This means that if you are sharing a template among a team of developers, the STF should reside in a shared folder or be made part of your version control project.