Tailor Template

Introduction
Tailor Template  for Clarion 5-10... ABC/Legacy. This template 
extends Clarion Window Editor functionality and allows you to tailor arbitrary 
non-rectangular windows right in Clarion IDE. Besides this it can make 
them behave just like MS Media Player. Download Demo.
Move cursor on top of the picture!
The standard way of making non-rectangular windows these days is to design a Window
shape outside of IDE as a BMP image and then import it into an application.
As it is an external image, it can take a lot of time to align it with other window controls.
And even after this, for instance, if you decide to change a window font you need 
to start those alignments all over again.
That is why the Tailor template implements a different approach.
With this tool you just draw your non-rectangular window on top of an
ordinary one with standard Clarion controls - Ellipse, Rectangle, Round rectangle 
and Line. All this is right in the Clarion Window Editor.
So you can use all the power of Clarion to align these, center them, distribute them and so on.
Besides you can exploit another Windows APIs feature - different merging modes for
those controls. So in a matter of minutes you can develop absolutely amazing
windows similar to the one pictured above. You can find a few other examples in template demo.
As soon as you've finished with this non-rectangular window, Clarion IDE
will take care of those controls. So if you change a window font, Clarion will automatically
resize both the window and all controls including those used by the tailor template.
So there is no extra work to be done - all your window controls
will always fit perfectly into the window shape you have designed.
Main advantages of using template:
  • Allows you to use Clarion IDE to design non-rectangular
    windows instead of developing them outside of Clarion
  • Dead easy to use - all you need to do is to draw your window  
    with a few standard Clarion controls and the template will do the rest
  • Lets you exploit very powerful features of Windows APIs -
    different merging modes (AND, XOR etc.) for those controls.
    (The image above is an example of using XOR to get target shape.
    Put the cursor over it to see how this window looks in IDE).
  • Provides all the routines required to explode/implode the window to
    make it to behave like MS Media Player 
  • The template does not make any changes to either Clarion native
    or 3rd party templates. It's a rule of thumb for us!
  • Compatible with Clarion 5-10... ABC/Legacy
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 you 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 the template and re-run the installation.
To start using the template, you'll need to manually register it.
Open Clarion (no application must be opened). 
Go to menu Tools (Setup) -> (Edit) Template Registry -> Register. 
Select the new template tailor.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.
View our animated reminder on how to do this - Registering Template
(built with our JAVA Animated Help Builder).
Using Template
Global Extension Template
First you need to insert the Global Tailor extension into your application and then repeat this
routine for each window to be tailored and then insert the respective local extension. 
To find them quickly in the list of templates locate them by word "tailor".
Unhide All Tailor Controls checkbox is just a development tool.
By default the template hides all of them, but you may wish to disable it
to ensure that what you've designed matches the final window shape.
The template employs a number of API functions so it defines all prototypes for you.
If you hit the respective button you can see full list of these prototypes.
You will hardly need to touch this area but sometimes you won't be able to
compile your application if some other 3rd party template provides one of these 
prototypes. You will see compile error: "Indistinguishable new prototype: APIname()".
So in this case, and in this case only, you should un-tick the respective checkbox
to ensure the Tailor template uses another prototype. If the other 3rd party template
provides similar functionality, you can do everything other way around.
Local Extension Template
As soon as you insert thr Local Tailor extension into your Window you can go directly 
to Window Editor and tailor your window. You will see a number of tailor controls
when you hit Populate -> Control template... menu item or use respective button on 
the Tool box. Again it is easy to locate them in control list by word "tailor".
There are no restrictions on the number of those controls so use as many as you wish.
The template takes care of almost all position alignments so you will need those 2 Shift
prompts only in exceptional situations. For instance, when you have an ordinary
window with menu or toolbar. In this case you can either put numbers there
(negative or positive) or define some numeric variables and use them (no exclamation 
mark is needed in front of it!). It will shift the final window shape by this value.
All those controls are just ordinary Clarion controls. So only few comments are needed.
There is absolutely no difference between Ellipse and EllipseBorder and between 
Box and BoxBorder or between BoxRound and BoxRoundBorder in terms of functionality.
So it depends on your preferences. If you use default merging mode (OR)
that is, you want to combine all those controls in one shape, you will probably be happy
with those controls having no borders. If you use any other mode, bordered versions of the
same controls will suit you better. But if you have already placed some control
you can change its property, colour, borders etc. So you can make bordered versions of
any control to look like non-bordered and vice versa. 
See example application for details (Clarion*\Examples\Tailor\Demo\).
Or Clarion7(8,9,10...)\Lessons\Tailor in Clarion 7-10....
The tailor template has 2 types of lines. LineRound is just an ordinary Clarion line. So you can
use it as a normal Clarion line, change thickness, rotate it etc. Control Template Line is some
sort of abstraction (it is slightly darker, so you can tell it from Rounded line). 
When the template uses this, it removes the round ends. Unfortunately, this
is the only way we could find to draw falling rectangles in Clarion Window editor.
It is important to stress that the Line control is the only exception! All other tailor 
controls look exactly the same in Window editor as they do in the final window.
The picture below demonstrates how the Line template works:
In each window procedure the template generates a number of useful routines to
manipulate those non-rectangular windows. So you can easily implement windows 
similar to MS Media Player as well as many others.
So here is a short summary of what each of them does:

DO ExplodeWindow !  will make window to return to its original [rectangular] shape.

DO ImplodeWindow !  will convert rectangular window into non-rectangular one.

SleepFor = 100 !  timer units (hundredths of a second)
DO Sleeping !  will make this thread to sleep for 1 second.       

DO IfCursorInside
IF locCursorInside
  !  do whatever you like when users have their cursor inside
  !  of non-rectangular window.
ELSE
  !  do something else when cursor is outside.
END  
See template example for more details. You can find it in 
Clarion*\Examples\Tailor\Demo\ directory.
Some Tips
Showing window caption bar
Sometimes you will want to show the window caption bar (part or whole). 
You may need it to provide your users with some of its functionality.
For instance, this Globe window pictured above shows part of it to allow
users to drag and drop this window just as an ordinary one.
Clarion window editor will not allow you to drag any control on top of it.
So you can use 3 techniques. First, you select this control and use keyboard
arrows to move part of it outside of the window. Second, you go to tailor control 
property/position and set the latter to move the control where you want it. You will 
see only part of this control, but Tailor Template still can "see" the whole control.
Alternatively, you can use local control prompts Shift All Right and Shift All Up
to achieve the same result.
Working with Frames
The only place where you can put controls in an application frame template is the
Toolbar. So you need to do this to tailor the window. You might want
to enlarge this toolbar first to allow more room for your drawing.
Then, when you have finished the design, you can set it back to its original size.
And if you want to show either window caption or status bar you can employ
any of the 3 techniques described in the tip above.
Handling Windows XP Themes
When those are enabled, you will notice that the tailored window gets shifted down.
To cure this problem (works in C6 only), you should put this code anywhere
in the beginning of your window being tailored:

IF SYSTEM{PROP:ThemeActive} = TRUE
    LOC:ShifAllUp = 5
END

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