Generic Calculator Template

Introduction

Installation

Usage
 
 
 
 
Generic Calculator Template for Clarion 5-10... Legacy/ABC. This is a White box Procedure Template to add Calculator functionality to your application. In a matter of seconds you can add the Calculator procedure to your application and customize it visually, just like any normal Clarion window. You would normally use it as a stand alone calculator, but it can also be used as a lookup procedure or as part of a complex window. Download the demo. No template settings - no learning!

 

  
The Generic Calculator Template is a twin brother to our Calendar template
So the Calculator is a white box as well - you get a template which does the job.
No foreign DLLs to ship whatsoever. It means that this Calculator can be made
absolutely indistinguishable from all other windows.
To do this you don't need to learn a template language nor read our boring instructions.
Just generate a Calculator procedure and it is yours. You can open the Calculator 
window in the window editor and you are free to do absolutely everything.
Change font size to make your Calculator microscopically small or enlarge it to fit the screen.
Play with different fonts, colours, images etc. In a matter of seconds change button layout
Just by stretching - shrinking the button browse box
Download the demo program to see the Generic Calculator template in action
Main advantages:
  • This is a white box tool, so you have full control over it
  • It does not use any black box DLLs nor data files
  • It does not make any changes to either Clarion native
    or 3d party templates. It's taboo!
  • You can customize it just like a normal Clarion window
  • No learning is involved because the template has no settings 
  • You don't need to change standard Clarion templates (no matter Legacy
    or ABC) 
  • Rarely used button Pi replaced with much more useful
    in simple calculators' button %
Installation
Run the installation wizard. It will guide you through a few simple steps. That is it.
IMPORTANT: If you are using Clarion 5-6, after selecting Clarion5-Clarion6 directory wizard
will offer to install it into C:\Clarion5(6)\Clarion8 or C:\C55\Clarion8 directory respectively.
So don't forget to remove the last \Clarion8. But even if you do forget - no problem.
Just uninstall template and re-run the installation.
To start using the template you'll need to manually register it.
If you don't know how, just - VIEW ANIMATED HELP
IMPORTANT: This help was developed with another product of ours - Online
Animated Help Builder. To run it you need a JAVA enabled browser. Both MS Internet
and Netscape Navigator support JAVA, but in earlier versions of IE and in the 6th version
of NS you need to explicitly say during installation that you need MS virtual machine or
Java support. If you have it installed without this support it still
does not hurt to run the installation again and install the required components. 
This will allow you not only to watch our help,  but will help you to discover the
amazing world of Java on the Net. So all of a sudden you will be
able to see millions of wonderful effects instead of ugly rectangles. 
 Try it and you will not be disappointed...
Just in case you could not get your browser to be Java enabled, or you just don't
wish to bother, here is the verbal instruction: Open Clarion (no application must be open). 
Go to menu Tools (Setup) -> (Edit) Template Registry -> Register. 
Select new templates abcalc.tpl and  legcalc.tpl and then hit Open button
You can find it in Clarion7(8,9,10...)\accessory\template\win
for Clarion >= 7 and in Clarion*\Template - for all others.
Using Template
The tree Generic Calculator Template  is a Procedure template 
So simply use it as you would any other procedure template, say, Browse one.
If you don't like our default Calculator style you have two options:
First, you can generate our Calculator in your main DLL where you define all dictionary files,
customize it how you wish to and then name it as an external procedure in all other DLLs/EXE
You can go even further and open your customized Calculator window definition (property ->
Window -> ... button). Copy and paste it on top of the template window definition
You will easily find it in either abcalc.tpl or  legcalc.tpl  at the beginning of those files
In this case the template will generate your window instead of ours every time you use the template
To get started, just open an application and ADD Calculator TEMPLATE PROCEDURE
We've installed an example into your Clarion*\Examples\VHCalcul directory 
Or Clarion7(8,9,10...)\Lessons\VHCalcul in Clarion 7-10....
So to get some ideas on how to use the template you can investigate the source.
By default Calculator template generates 4-column button layout. You can easily change
it to 3-, 6-, and 8-column predefined layouts just by stretching-shrinking the browse control.
You can see all of them on the top of this page
Percent Calculations
The new present button (%) has very much the same functionality as the respective button
in Windows standard calculator. See picture below for details:
 
You should read the rest of these instructions only if you are not happy with any of the
predefined layouts
To change order of buttons,
  1. Open  the only source embed to customize: embed.txt
  2. Select all file content and copy it
  3. Open template generated Calculator source
  4. Search for $$$$$$$ (for your convenience we have marked required embed with those $ signs)
  5. Paste content of the embed.txt file
  6. Put those code triplets in any order you wish. Just keep in mind that the order completely defines the order of the buttons in the Calculator. So if you've shrunk browse to fit just 2 buttons in a row then first and the second triplets will appear in the first row, third and forth - in the second row etc.
To change text of buttons,
  1. Follow steps 1 to 5 above to create embed
  2. Edit the second row of those triplets to replace default text with anything you want
It goes without saying that you can combine those 2 routines to change both the order of buttons
and their text. Investigate the example code  for further details. You can find it
in your Clarion Examples\VHCalcul directory
 

 

Copyright © 2025 Vivid Help Systems Pty Ltd