Palm OS Programming With Satellite Forms
By Clayton E. Crooks II
Satellite Forms from PumaTech is a commercial Database / Forms Designer with enough functionality to be an absolute replacement to C development, particularly for database types of applications. In fact, the database tools are so good that they are often mentioned in reviews for Palm database programs like JFile. Make no mistakes however, this is a complete Software Developers Kit (SDK) and comes with a PC based Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which will help you create the tables and forms that the application will use.
The App Designer (IDE)
The Satellite Forms IDE, or App Designer as it is referred to by Puma Technologies, is similar to the majority of developer tools IDE and is very easy to navigate. It is a PC based application that is used to create the forms and tables for Satellite Forms applications and has 5 basic elements: the Menu Bar, Toolbars, Contents Window, Status Bar and Workspace.
Figure 1 - App Designer With A Form
When you first open the App Designer, a blank desktop is displayed with a simple menu bar that has four main choices: File, View, Handheld and Help. The toolbars at the top of the App Designer display icons which will allow you to access most functions including the ability to begin creating a new application. The App Designer then displays the Contents window on the left, the workspace to the right of the Contents window, and the application name in the title bar.
The Contents window displays the contents of the current application using a tree view which makes navigating between all the forms, form controls, tables, and extensions in your application very intuitive.
Next: Application Properties
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