- Your First Application
- Create a Project
- Decks, Cards, and Links
- Wizards
- Create the First Deck
- Save the Project
- Changing the Look of the Application Map
- Create the Second Deck
- Run the Application
- Same Application, Different Browser
- Q&A
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Changing the Look of the Application Map
As mentioned in Chapter 2, you can customize the font, size, and other display properties of the objects in the Application Map. You can either make these changes for individual objects or you can change the default settings. Here you'll learn how to do both.
First, change the default settings:
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Choose Tools, Settings, and click the Application Map tab to display the Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 3.11.
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Double-click the icon for the object you want to change (or click it once and then click Edit). For example, double-click the Deck icon to display the Deck Default Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 3.12.
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If the MobileDev Default Text Settings option is checked, uncheck it. When this option is checked, MobileDev applies its "factory" settings; that is, the settings it was shipped with.
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Select an alignment of Center Top and then change the font name to Arial by clicking the Browse button (the three dots). While you're in the Font dialog box that you can see in Figure 3.13, make sure the font style is set to Regular and the size to 10.
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Click OK to return to the Deck Default Properties dialog box.
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Click Close and then click Yes to apply your changes and return to the Settings dialog box.
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Repeat the procedure to modify the default text properties for a card. For example, you could use the same font but change the alignment to Center Middle.
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Figure
3.11
The Settings dialog box changes the default settings for all objects in the
project.
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Figure
3.12
The Deck Default Properties dialog box changes the default look of all decks.
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Actually, you can change the alignment and the font to anything you like (maybe you have a favorite font); these are just suggestions.
Figure
3.13
Choose your favorite font for the deck name.
After you finish making your changes, you'll notice that the Welcome deck has not changed. Why not? Well, what you've changed are the defaults; these settings will apply to any new decks you make. But you can also apply them to your existing decks (or deck, in this case).
Retrofitting
Changing the properties of already existing objects is easy. Do the following to change the properties of the Welcome deck to the defaults you've just set:
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Make your changes to the default properties, as described previously.
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Click the Welcome deck to select it. (By the way, it's possible to select one or more objects of the same type using the Ctrl key and the mouse).
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Right-click and choose Properties, and then click the Application Map tab in the Properties dialog box; it will look something like Figure 3.14.
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Check the Default Text Settings option, click Close, and then answer Yes to apply your changes.
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Figure
3.14
You can apply your new defaults to individual objects using the Properties dialog
box.