October 01, 2007

Forms Startup (part 1)

This is the first article of a serial. Different methods of enhancing the Forms Startup-Phase are discussed here. In most projects I saw techniques, where the Browser-HTML were changed, so that the user cannot easily close the browser for example.

My first example is from Francois Degrelle. He gave me the tip with a self-hiding Internet Explorer on Forms Startup. The only parameter which has to be changed is the HTMLbodyAttrs in the formsweb.cfg:


HTMLbodyAttrs=onLoad='javascript:self.moveTo(2000,2000)'

After the forms-application-startup the browser-window moves to the x,y-position 2000, 2000. This is far behind the normal range of the visible screen. And so the user thinks, that the Browser closed hisself. The icon in the taskbar is still available, but the Browser didn't went visible, when the user clicks on the task-symbol.

pro:
- the user thinks, that the browser hides hisself
- only the forms-runtime window is visible (in separateFrame=True - mode)

contra:
- the active task of the browser is visible and can't be activated, only closed

this is actually my favorite technique