Precise Positioning on Controls on a web page
Hi,
I'm looking into available options to convert a VB App to a web based app.
I think ASP and HTML (maybe Javascript) can control database access,
business logic
etc. I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out if it's possible to
put "controls" at
precise positions on a web page.
With "controls" I mean text boxes, labels, check boxes, frames, radio
buttons and list boxes.
From my limited understanding the best way to control the layout of
"controls" on web pages
is by using tables. The problem I have with that is that we will need to
re-design all our
screens to fit into the "web" table technique.
Is it possible to put controls at specific "twip" or "pixel" positoins on a
web page?
(Note: I posted this same basic question on another news server without a
response)
Thanks
Ray Smith
Re: Precise Positioning on Controls on a web page
For starters it's not exactly a basic question.
Yes you can specify exactly where an element will be placed using DHTML and
CSS positioning.
ASP will connect to your database for you.
I'm unsure as to what you mean by having to convert stuff is you have to use
tables. Surely if you're converting a VB App to HTML then there wouldn't be
a pre-existing page that you would need to modify.
Ray Smith <Ray.Smith@fujitsu.com.au> wrote in message
news:3b731d1c@news.devx.com...
Hi,
I'm looking into available options to convert a VB App to a web based app.
I think ASP and HTML (maybe Javascript) can control database access,
business logic
etc. I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out if it's possible to
put "controls" at
precise positions on a web page.
With "controls" I mean text boxes, labels, check boxes, frames, radio
buttons and list boxes.
From my limited understanding the best way to control the layout of
"controls" on web pages
is by using tables. The problem I have with that is that we will need to
re-design all our
screens to fit into the "web" table technique.
Is it possible to put controls at specific "twip" or "pixel" positoins on a
web page?
(Note: I posted this same basic question on another news server without a
response)
Thanks
Ray Smith
Re: Precise Positioning on Controls on a web page
Hi,
Thanks for the info.
> For starters it's not exactly a basic question.
Opps ... what I meant was that the question was "basically" the same type of
question that
I posted on another news server ... not that it was a " basic" (or simple)
question to answer :)
> Yes you can specify exactly where an element will be placed using DHTML
and
> CSS positioning.
Excellent ... this was the hint I have been looking for!!! Thanks.
Does DTHML need any special client side features (IE 4.0 and over, VB
runtime files etc?)
> I'm unsure as to what you mean by having to convert stuff is you have to
use
> tables. Surely if you're converting a VB App to HTML then there wouldn't
be
> a pre-existing page that you would need to modify.
I didn't explain myself well here because it is a complex system we use ....
We use an n-tier architecture, with datadriven dynamic forms created in VB
for a UI.
Our dynamic "forms" are created from data held in an access database. I was
hoping I could
write a web client that dynamically created web pages from the same access
database that the
VB client uses.
This way we could use exactly our current screen information for the VB
client and the web client!
The access database has information like top, left, height, width (all in
twips), control type etc.
So ... in the perfect world we develop our screens the same way that we
always have (with data
saved in the access database) and the web client can use this information in
the same way the VB
client does.
There will obviously be lots of hurdles in the user interface design with
regards to navigation and MDI
etc but as long as the basic structure will work that will be enough to get
us started.
Thanks for repsonding
Ray Smith
>
> Ray Smith <Ray.Smith@fujitsu.com.au> wrote in message
> news:3b731d1c@news.devx.com...
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking into available options to convert a VB App to a web based app.
>
> I think ASP and HTML (maybe Javascript) can control database access,
> business logic
> etc. I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out if it's possible to
> put "controls" at
> precise positions on a web page.
>
> With "controls" I mean text boxes, labels, check boxes, frames, radio
> buttons and list boxes.
>
> From my limited understanding the best way to control the layout of
> "controls" on web pages
> is by using tables. The problem I have with that is that we will need to
> re-design all our
> screens to fit into the "web" table technique.
>
> Is it possible to put controls at specific "twip" or "pixel" positoins on
a
> web page?
>
> (Note: I posted this same basic question on another news server without a
> response)
>
> Thanks
>
> Ray Smith
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Re: Precise Positioning on Controls on a web page
It requires a Version 4.0+ browser
Ray Smith <Ray.Smith@fujitsu.com.au> wrote in message
news:3b73443e@news.devx.com...
Hi,
Thanks for the info.
> For starters it's not exactly a basic question.
Opps ... what I meant was that the question was "basically" the same type of
question that
I posted on another news server ... not that it was a " basic" (or simple)
question to answer :)
> Yes you can specify exactly where an element will be placed using DHTML
and
> CSS positioning.
Excellent ... this was the hint I have been looking for!!! Thanks.
Does DTHML need any special client side features (IE 4.0 and over, VB
runtime files etc?)
> I'm unsure as to what you mean by having to convert stuff is you have to
use
> tables. Surely if you're converting a VB App to HTML then there wouldn't
be
> a pre-existing page that you would need to modify.
I didn't explain myself well here because it is a complex system we use ....
We use an n-tier architecture, with datadriven dynamic forms created in VB
for a UI.
Our dynamic "forms" are created from data held in an access database. I was
hoping I could
write a web client that dynamically created web pages from the same access
database that the
VB client uses.
This way we could use exactly our current screen information for the VB
client and the web client!
The access database has information like top, left, height, width (all in
twips), control type etc.
So ... in the perfect world we develop our screens the same way that we
always have (with data
saved in the access database) and the web client can use this information in
the same way the VB
client does.
There will obviously be lots of hurdles in the user interface design with
regards to navigation and MDI
etc but as long as the basic structure will work that will be enough to get
us started.
Thanks for repsonding
Ray Smith
>
> Ray Smith <Ray.Smith@fujitsu.com.au> wrote in message
> news:3b731d1c@news.devx.com...
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking into available options to convert a VB App to a web based app.
>
> I think ASP and HTML (maybe Javascript) can control database access,
> business logic
> etc. I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out if it's possible to
> put "controls" at
> precise positions on a web page.
>
> With "controls" I mean text boxes, labels, check boxes, frames, radio
> buttons and list boxes.
>
> From my limited understanding the best way to control the layout of
> "controls" on web pages
> is by using tables. The problem I have with that is that we will need to
> re-design all our
> screens to fit into the "web" table technique.
>
> Is it possible to put controls at specific "twip" or "pixel" positoins on
a
> web page?
>
> (Note: I posted this same basic question on another news server without a
> response)
>
> Thanks
>
> Ray Smith
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Re: Precise Positioning on Controls on a web page
Here's a little more information. It's true that the *minimum* requirement
for CSS absolute positioning is a version 4x browser, but you'll find that
to write an interactive application (as opposed to a static Web page that
renders using fixed positioning) generally requires client-side script--and
not only do the various browsers use different object models to refer to the
controls, but the controls and the scripting language features themselves
differ (sometimes subtly) between browsers. So if you support multiple
browsers you should plan on testing your application carefully in every
browser you plan to support.
There's a great deal of information about cross-browser programming
available, and you should find and read at least some of that before you
decide which browser(s) you want to support. Doing so will considerably
increase the complexity of the code you must write and test. In fact,
supporting more than one browser of *any* make or version may cause you to
have to write multiple code versions to provide identical features.
Obviously, this depends on the complexity of your application, and how
closely you need the application's look and behavior to match the original
VB application you're translating.
HTH
Russell Jones
Sr. Web Development Editor,
DevX.com
"Bronwyn Streeter" <bronwyn@digitalzoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:3b7352be@news.devx.com...
> It requires a Version 4.0+ browser
>
> Ray Smith <Ray.Smith@fujitsu.com.au> wrote in message
> news:3b73443e@news.devx.com...
> Hi,
>
> Thanks for the info.
>
> > For starters it's not exactly a basic question.
>
> Opps ... what I meant was that the question was "basically" the same type
of
> question that
> I posted on another news server ... not that it was a " basic" (or simple)
> question to answer :)
>
>
> > Yes you can specify exactly where an element will be placed using DHTML
> and
> > CSS positioning.
>
> Excellent ... this was the hint I have been looking for!!! Thanks.
> Does DTHML need any special client side features (IE 4.0 and over, VB
> runtime files etc?)
>
>
> > I'm unsure as to what you mean by having to convert stuff is you have to
> use
> > tables. Surely if you're converting a VB App to HTML then there
wouldn't
> be
> > a pre-existing page that you would need to modify.
>
> I didn't explain myself well here because it is a complex system we use
.....
> We use an n-tier architecture, with datadriven dynamic forms created in VB
> for a UI.
> Our dynamic "forms" are created from data held in an access database. I
was
> hoping I could
> write a web client that dynamically created web pages from the same access
> database that the
> VB client uses.
> This way we could use exactly our current screen information for the VB
> client and the web client!
> The access database has information like top, left, height, width (all in
> twips), control type etc.
> So ... in the perfect world we develop our screens the same way that we
> always have (with data
> saved in the access database) and the web client can use this information
in
> the same way the VB
> client does.
> There will obviously be lots of hurdles in the user interface design with
> regards to navigation and MDI
> etc but as long as the basic structure will work that will be enough to
get
> us started.
>
> Thanks for repsonding
>
> Ray Smith
>
>
> >
> > Ray Smith <Ray.Smith@fujitsu.com.au> wrote in message
> > news:3b731d1c@news.devx.com...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm looking into available options to convert a VB App to a web based
app.
> >
> > I think ASP and HTML (maybe Javascript) can control database access,
> > business logic
> > etc. I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out if it's possible
to
> > put "controls" at
> > precise positions on a web page.
> >
> > With "controls" I mean text boxes, labels, check boxes, frames, radio
> > buttons and list boxes.
> >
> > From my limited understanding the best way to control the layout of
> > "controls" on web pages
> > is by using tables. The problem I have with that is that we will need
to
> > re-design all our
> > screens to fit into the "web" table technique.
> >
> > Is it possible to put controls at specific "twip" or "pixel" positoins
on
> a
> > web page?
> >
> > (Note: I posted this same basic question on another news server without
a
> > response)
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Ray Smith
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
