[Lantica Software Support Center] Recently Changed Articles

Placing A Static Image On A Form

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:24:11 GMT

A Static Image is an image that is the same on every record. Sesame can use image files of type jpg, bmp or png.

2. Click on your Form where you want the image to appear.

3. On the Layout Element Adder is a dropdown called Select Element Type. Select Static Picture.

4. In the Label field, enter the full path to the picture you want to display.

5. Click the Add Element To Form button. Your image will appear on your Form where you originally clicked.

6. Use the sizing handle to make your picture the desired size. Sesame will scale the picture smaller than actual size, but not larger. Position your picture where you want it to appear on your Form.

Don't forget to Save your layout!

Reserved Words

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:44:32 GMT

The following words are reserved by Sesame. You cannot use them as the name of something else. Sesame is case-insensitive, so 'clear', 'CLEAR' and 'Clear' are all the same reserved word.

@	@Ab	@Abs
@Ad	@Add	@As
@Asc	@Askuser	@Av
@Avg	@Beenhere	@Cgr
@Ch	@Chr	@Closecommandarea
@Color	@Currentelement	@D
@Da	@Date	@De
@Decimals	@Del	@Di
@Ditto	@Dm	@Dom
@Dow	@Dow$	@Dw
@Dw$	@Error	@Ex
@Exit	@Exp	@Fedit
@Field	@Filename	@Fn
@Formfieldvalue	@Formresultsetcurrentposition	@Formresultsettotal
@Frac	@Fv	@Globalvalue
@Group	@Height	@Help
@Hgt	@Hp	@In
@Insert	@Instr	@Int
@Ir	@It	@Label
@Layout	@Left	@Len
@Loadcopyspec	@Loadexportspec	@Loadimportspec
@Loadmassupdatespec	@Loadretrievespec	@Loadsortspec
@Lookup	@Lookupr	@Lt
@Lu	@Lur	@Macro
@Max	@Md	@Mid
@Min	@Mn	@Mod
@Modified	@Month	@Month$
@Msg	@Msgbox	@Mt
@Mt$	@Mx	@Newline
@Nl	@Nmb	@Notifyform
@Num	@Number	@Pageextentx
@Pageextenty	@Platform	@Play
@Pmt	@Popupmenu	@Pv
@Readonly	@Recordmodifieddate	@Recordmodifiedtime
@Replace	@Replfir	@Repllas
@Rest	@Resultsetcurrentposition	@Resultsettotal
@Right	@Rnd	@Round
@Rt	@Save	@Select
@Selecttreeitem	@Sendmail	@Sgn
@Shell	@Sq	@Sqrt
@Std	@Str	@Sum
@T	@TD	@Text
@Time	@TM	@Tme
@TN	@Todate	@Tomoney
@Tonumber	@Totime	@Toyesno
@TT	@Txt	@TY
@Ud	@Update	@Us
@Userid	@Userselect	@Usl
@Var	@Visibility	@Width
@Wth	@Xlookup	@Xlookupr
@Xlr	@Xlu	@Xpos
@Xus	@Xuserselect	@Xuserselectr
@Xusr	@Year	@Ypos
@Yr	And	Array
As	Beenhere	Begin
Boolean	Booleanelement	Char
Charelement	Clear	Closecommandarea
Cls	Createnewrecord	Date
Dateelement	Dimlimit	Dims
Double	Doubleelement	Downto
Elementtype	Else	End
Eq	Exit	False
Fileclose	Filedelete	Fileexists
Filegeterrormsg	Filegetlasterror	Fileopen
Filepos	Filereadchar	Filereadln
Fileseek	Filesize	Filewrite
Filewriteln	Finishpage	For
Forceredraw	Formfieldvalue	Formresultsetcurrentposition
Function	Ge	Globalvalue
Gosub	Goto	Gt
Height	Hgt	If
Int	Intelement	Label
Le	Loiter	Lookup
Lookupr	Lt	Lu
Lur	Navigate	Ne
Newpage	Next	No
Not	Notifyform	Of
On	Or	Printstring
Random	Readchar	Readln
Readonly	Rem	Removerecordfromresultset
Resultsetcurrentposition	Return	Set
Setbooleanelement	Setcharelement	Setdateelement
Setdoubleelement	Setintelement	Setstringelement
Settimeelement	Step	Stop
String	Stringelement	Subroutine
Tab	Then	Time
Timeelement	To	Tolower
Toupper	True	Us
Userselect	Usl	Var
Visibility	While	Width
Write	Writeln	Wth
Xlookup	Xlookupr	Xlr
Xlu	Xor	Xpos
Xpost	Xpostr	Xus
Xuserselect	Xuserselectr	Xusr
Yes	Yesno	Ypos

See Rules For Naming Layout Elements elsewhere in this section for more information.

Rules For Naming Layout Elements

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:38:57 GMT

Layout Element (LE) names can be any length, but it is advisable to keep them short

You can use any capitalization

LE names cannot be a number, or start with a number

LE names can include spaces, but you may encounter problems if you use an LE name that includes spaces AND a Reserved Word. Examples of such names are "Date of Birth", "Not Entered", or "Next Step". Unless you are certain that you will never need to refer to such an element in programming, you should avoid spaces in its name by running the words together (e.g. DateOfBirth), or by using an underscore (e.g. Date_Entered), or using an alternative name (e.g. DOB). It is also more convenient to work in the program editor with LE names which are concise and do not have spaces. (This applies to the layout element NAME only. There is no reason why you should not use a safe LE Name and set the LABEL to whatever you like. If you have differing LE names and labels then you need to take care that you use the layout NAME in programming, not the label on the form; when programming you can refer to the drop-down list in the programming editor, which shows the LE names.)

Designer will not allow you to create an LE with a name that is a Reserved Word. These include the names of programming functions, data types, etc. For a list of these Reserved Words, see the Reserved Words article in this Knowledge Base, or Appendix 3 of the Sesame Programming Guide

If you type a name that is a Reserved Word, Designer will retain that as the label for the element (and show it on the form), but will change the name of the underlying field to one in the LE sequence (LE0, LE1, LE2, etc.) so that it is both legal and unique. To see this, show the Property Viewer / Other tab as you work.

Translating a Q&A v.3 database to Sesame

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:27:04 GMT

I have Q&A v.3.0 and would like to translate my database to Sesame. The "Q&A Translation Guide" documentation that comes with Sesame is only good for Q&A v.4 and up. How do I get started?

Contact Customer Service: customer_service@lantica.com (215-598-8419 or 1-800-410-6315). You can also submit your files using This Form . They will help you to upgrade your Q&A and get started with the translation process.

Hide & Unhide Tab Labels Using Programming

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:54:39 GMT

You can hide and show the Tab labels by changing the label alignment of the tab group itself by using the Attribute() function in SBasic.

	Example of Hiding the Tab Labels:
	
                #include "sbasic_include.sbas"
		Attribute(LE2, ATTR_ID_LABEL_ALIGNMENT, 13)
		ForceRedraw()
          
	Example of Showing the Tab Labels:
	
                #include "sbasic_include.sbas"
		//Show labels at the bottom
		Attribute(LE2, ATTR_ID_LABEL_ALIGNMENT, 4)
          
		//Show labels at the top
		Attribute(LE2, ATTR_ID_LABEL_ALIGNMENT, 1)

		ForceRedraw()

Note: you will need to use the Tab group's name itself, which is found by following the steps below:

Click on the Tab group in Sesame Designer
Go to the Other tab of the Property Editor
Click on the Name Field
Press F5

The name it gives you is the name of the Tab group itself, probably something like "LE5".

Using the Sbasic Include File, #include "sbas_include.sbas" in Programming

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:50:36 GMT

If you look in the file being included (found in your Sesame folder), you will see that it contains a number of defines. These defines can make your code more readable. It is never necessary, but using it will help you write more readable and maintainable code.

The XResultSet example looks like this:

vRSHandle = @XResultSetSearch("customers.db", "Customers", SEARCH_MODE_AND, SEARCH_SYNTAX_QA, "")

In the line above, SEARCH_MODE_AND and SEARCH_SYNTAX_QA are defines provided by sbasic_include.sbas. If you remove the include, this line would not compile. The relevant defines in sbasic_include.sbas look like this:

#define		SEARCH_MODE_AND	0
#define		SEARCH_SYNTAX_QA	2

You can write the same line of code without needing the include file as follows:

vRSHandle = @XResultSetSearch("Customers.db, "Customers, 0, 2 "")

This will compile without the include but, as you can see, it is less clear. For more information on Precompilation Constructs, see page 85 of the Sesame Programming Guide

Change the background color of an individual cell in a form/subform

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:47:13 GMT

To conditionally set the background color for a cell based on values, put something like the following in the On Draw event for the cell:

If(population > 1000000)
{
	RGBColor(City, 0, 0, 0, 255, 0, 0)
}
Else
{
	RGBColor(City, 0, 0, 0, 255, 255, 255)
}

Printing images in Word Merge Documents

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:45:48 GMT

Try an INCLUDEPICTURE field. Here is a tutorial. Note the instruction that a bug in Word will prevent this from working if you save as docx instead of doc. Or you may need to put some VBA in the document that runs after the merge executes and forces an update on all the fields. INCLUDETEXT and INCLUDEPICTURE fields are not good about auto-refreshing. Something like:

Sub UpdateFields()
Dim oFld as Field
For Each oFld in ActiveDocument.Fields
	oFld.Update
	oFld.Unlink
Next
End Sub

Or you can refresh manually with Ctrl-A, then F9

Finding and Removing Orphan Subrecords

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:37:42 GMT

Assuming that your records are naturally linked:

Open the subform in Search/Update mode
Look in the Command Area under Special Search Options for the Find Orphaned Records button. Click it to retrieve all the orphaned subrecord
Once you have them, you can mass delete them

How can I easily stop users from modifying my application?

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:32:59 GMT

The minimum steps required to protect your application design are as follows: 1. For safety, first make a backup of your application 2. Open your application in Designer, using or creating a Designer (DSR) file 3. Select Application / Security Manager 4. Create a Group - for example: "OWNER" 5. Create a User - for example: "Boss". User "Boss" should be an administrator 6. Create another Group - for example: "USERS" 7. Create another User - for example: "User". User "User" can be an administrator or a manager 8. In Security Manager, make the group "OWNER" the only group that can design 9. Close Security Manager 10. Reconcile or Save as new application. (All users must be out of the application to reconcile) 11. Users log in as "User" There must be at least one Group with Design Rights or you will be locked out of your application in SDesigner!

How can I easily apply a password to my application?

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:32:35 GMT

The minimum steps to require a password to use your application are as follows: 1. For safety, first make a backup of your application 2. Open your application in Designer, using or creating a Designer (DSR) file 3. Select Application / Security Manager 4. Create a Group - for example: "SECURE" 5. Create a User - for example: "Boss". User "Boss" should be an administrator 6. Close Security Manager 7. Reconcile or Save as new application. (All users must be out of the application to reconcile) 8. Everyone logs in as "Boss"

Summarize all of the Layout Elements and their properties in an application

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:02:45 GMT

From the design menu in Sesame Designer, choose "Document Application" under the "Application" folder. Enter or select a filename and click Accept. This will produce an HTML file summarizing all of the elements of your design and their properties. This is a quick way to produce an overall view and is useful when writing X-Commands, for example, as a means to reference the elements in your application.

The resulting summary is organized into sections. Each section contains information about a different portion of your application.

Application Values - shows application settings such as Name, Unique Number, Image Path and Application Filename
Start Up Programming & Form - Shows startup form. Indicates whether this application has programming in On Application Open event
Global Values - Lists Global Values and their current values
Groups - Lists Security Groups, User IDs in the groups, and if they have passwords
Databases - Lists databases in your application. Each database shows a list of fields in that database and includes its properties, such as name and data type
Forms Summary - Lists Forms in your application. Each Form shows its name and database to which it's bound.
Reports Summary - Lists Reports in your application. Each Report shows its name and database to which it's bound.
Forms Detail - Detailed documentation for each Report including sections, section properties, elements, element properties, programmed events, attached specs, and security settings.
Reports Detail - Detailed documentation for each Report including sections, section properties, elements, element properties, programmed events, attached specs, and security settings.

All of the settings for the summary page's look-and-feel use CSS (cascading style sheets), therefore you can easily change things such as font and color by creating a CSS file and placing it in your current working directory. (See a Create a CSS file to change the look-and-feel of "Document Application" summary elsewhere in this section of the Knowledge Base)

Also, see @StringArrayElementList in the Sesame Programming Guide - this function returns a list of all the elements on your Form. If you need to loop through all of your elements for reasons such as printing your values, or setting all the form elements to be read only, this function gives you everything you need.

Example:

Var vMyStringArray as String
	// vMyStringArray will equal a semicolon separated list
	// of Element names. Ex: "Last;First;Company;Address"
	vMyStringArray = @StringArrayElementList()

I've translated my Q&A for Windows database, but the form that's translated is an old plain form, not my nice one.

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:28:12 GMT

Only the Q&A for Windows Master Form is translated into Sesame. Sesame can only 'see' what Q&A DOS can see.

How do I make special characters, accented characters and diacritics?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:19:26 GMT

You can make these characters in Sesame by composing them. On keyboards which do not have a dead-key, the compose key is F12. For example, to make an accented a (à) you type:

F12(or dead-key) ' a

The keys are pressed in sequence, as opposed to holding one down while typing others. The table below shows the compose sequence for other special characters. (See page 503 of the Sesame Programming Guide for the Standard ASCII Character Set.)

Keys	Char	Keys	Char	Keys	Char	Keys	Char
sp	nbsp	*	°	` A	À	D -	Ð
` a	à	d -	ð	!	¡	+ -	±
' A	Á	~ N	Ñ	' a	á	~ n	ñ
%	¢	2	²	A ^	Â	` O	Ò
^ a	â	` o	ò	#	£	3	³
~ A	Ã	' O	Ó	~ a	ã	' o	ó
$	¤	'	´	: A	Ä	^ O	Ô
: a	ä	^ o	ô	y =	¥	u	µ
* A	Å	~ O	Õ	* a	å	~ o	õ
\|	¦	p	¶	A E	Æ	: O	Ö
a e	æ	: o	ö	&	§	.	·
, C	Ç	x	×	, c	ç	- :	÷
:	¨	,	¸	E `	È	O /	Ø
` e	è	o /	ø	c	©	1	¹
' E	É	` U	Ù	' e	é	` u	ù
a	ª	o	º	^ E	Ê	' U	Ú
^ e	ê	' u	ú	< <	«	> >	»
: E	Ë	^ U	Û	: e	ë	^ u	û
~	¬	1 4	¼	` I	Ì	: U	Ü
` i	ì	: u	ü	-		1 2	½
' I	Í	' Y	Ý	' i	í	' y	ý
r	®	3 4	¾	^ I	Î	T H	Þ
^ i	î	t h	þ	_	¯	?	¿
: I	Ï	s s	ß	: i	ï	: y	ÿ

Is Sesame version 1 compatible with Windows 7?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:50:45 GMT

While it may compatible, it is not recommended. Version 1 is no longer supported by Lantica Technical Support, there have been countless improvements, fixes, and additions made to Sesame since its first release. Upgrading is simple, contact Sales & Customer Service

Create a CSS file to change the look-and-feel of "Document Application" summary

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:39:58 GMT

The summary page defaults to a particular look-and-feel, however all of these settings use CSS (cascading style sheets). Changing things such colors and fonts can be easily done by creating a CSS file and placing it in your current working directory:

* Run the Application Documenter and create a summary (see Summarize all of the Layout Elements and their properties in an application" elsewhere in this section of the Knowledge Base)

* Use the View Source function of your browser or a text editor to look at the source of the underlying page

* Near the top is a section that begins with . Copy everything between those style tags and paste it into Notepad or the text editor of your choice.

* Save the file as application_docs.css

You can now edit the styles in application_doc.css to suit your color and font preferences. If the Application Documenter finds a file called application_doc.css in the current working directory, it will use the styles defined in that file.

What is a "Report Break"?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:47:37 GMT

Report Breaks are set on specific elements within a Report. They allow the Report to group data and perform operations based on that grouping. Clicking on Group Headers in your Report brings up a "Report Section Properties" dialog window. From here you can select the element on which to break, the Break Value, or to add additional Groups. A Group indicates a group of records. If you group by State, for example, you are telling Sesame to do something whenever the State value changes. If you set a group in a Table report to Break on Keyword element, Sesame produces a Keyword Report; sorting and breaking the records by the values in that keyword field. Calculations such as totals and subtotals can be easily incorporated into your Report if divided by Salary Groups, for example. You can create multiple Groups as well as multiple breaks in a single group by right-clicking the header and using the arrows in the top section of the Report Section Properties dialogue to cycle through and set different elements for break. Using the multiple breaks feature, you can break on an element and click on the "No repeat" box to tell Sesame to only print the break value for the first record in the group.

Can I change the order of the Control Panels in the Command Area in Sesame Designer?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:27:42 GMT

Using the arrows in the top right corner of each Control Panel in the Command Area allows you to move the individual panels either above or below the adjoining Control Panels. The far right arrow in each panel moves it to the very bottom, below all other individual Control Panels. The placement and order of the Control Panels can be permanently set using the sesame.ini file: DESIGN PANEL ORDER: Specifies the Designer Control Panel order and whether a particular panel appears or is hidden. 1 = Commands 2 = Element Adder 3 = Properties Editor 4 = Properties Viewer 5 = Advanced Selection 6 = Message Log 7 = Undoer For example, the entry: DESIGN PANEL ORDER: 236 would show the Layout Element Adder, Properties Editor, and the Message Log - in that order.

Difference between "Line", "Newline", and "Page Break" in a Report

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:22:35 GMT

Newline is similar to pressing Enter when using a word processor program. It inserts the appropriate line break for your operating system. The information following a Newline will thus appear on a new line, below the existing information. If you choose to have a blank line in between lines of data, simply add two Newlines. "Page Break" is also comparable to that which is used in word processor programs. This tells the Report that the data below the Page Break should appear on a new page. When using HTML preview, Page Break will appear as a horizontal line, indicating where the Page Break will be once printed. If the Report is printed directly from your browser, these horizontal lines will print as well; they will not turn into actual page breaks. Use the HTML Immediate option to print these page breaks.

Using @XLookUpR to search for data within the current database

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:52:44 GMT

The parameters for @XLookUpR (or @XLR) are as follows: (filename, key, [FormName!]ext key, source). Instead of using the filename (the first parameter) of an external database, use @FileName (or @FN). (See pg. 233 of the Sesame Programming Guide) This will search in the current file. @FN is typically used when programming an "external" lookup (XLookup) in the same database file. (In addition, by using @FN instead of specifying the path, the programming will continue to work even if the filename is changed or the file is moved.)

What data can I expect to lose when translating from Q&A 3.0?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:47:58 GMT

As long as your data is valid for the stated field type (dates are dates, number are numbers, etc) you shouldn't lose any data. More information on what does and does not translate from Q&A is available from our Q&A Translation Guide. You can also look at the Q&A section of this Knowledge Base.

If you have additional questions you can contact Customer Service using our Online Form, or by phone/email.

You can also request a free live demo of Q&A Translation with one of our customer service representatives.

Is there a maximum number of records allowed per file?

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:45:11 GMT

There is no hard limit. The only real limit is determined by the amount of memory on your computer and the version of your operating system.

If I download the trial version, will I need to download the full version, or given a key to unlock after purchase?

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:43:57 GMT

You will need to download or be shipped the full version.

The trial download is 17Mb. How large is the full version?

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:42:55 GMT

The same size. The trial version and the full version are almost identical.

Can Sesame run on a Mac?

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:40:58 GMT

Sesame only currently runs on Windows and Linux