- Introduction
- What Is Satellite Forms?
- Satellite Forms' Programming Model
- Database Access Capabilities
- Other Capabilities
- Conclusion
- Additional Resources
Satellite Forms' Programming Model
If you're one of the millions of people familiar with Microsoft Visual Basic, you'll be able to pick up Satellite Forms very quickly. In fact, the languages are so similar that I won't bother to go into details on the syntax specifics. (Satellite Forms' own documentation points the new programmer to "any good bookstore" for programming books on Visual Basic!) Suffice it to say that the constructs you've grown to know and love (well not many love VB but you get the point) are alive and well with Satellite Forms. Variables are declared using the dim keyword, lines of code have no terminating character (such as the semicolon used in Java and C), and methods of objects are called using the dot (.) notation, as in Object.method().
Programming in Satellite Forms is event-driven, meaning that all code is run based on some event triggered by the user, the application, or the underlying operating system. Sample events that are often handled include Form.AfterLoad(), called after a form is first loaded, and Control.OnClick(), called when a control is selected with a user's stylus. Related properties and methods can be contained within an object, and a basic object model is included. This model includes the App object, the Control object, the Extension object, the Field object, the Form object, and the Table object. Just like Visual Basic, multiple objects can be grouped together into a collection. The object model includes the Controls, Extensions, Fields, Forms, and Tables collections.