Custom Instrument - Design Tab

The Design tab of the Custom Instrument Configuration dialog is where you design the look and feel of the instrument's panel – the customized GUI that you access to interact with the instrument at run-time. Initially, you will be presented with a 'shell' instrument form with which to build the GUI (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Design tab - providing the canvas with which to create the customized GUI for the instrument.

The Design tab is analogous to the Form tab in a DelphiScript Form.

There are three tabbed panels associated to the form:

• Palette – this panel (Figure 2) provides a range of standard scripting components and instrument-specific controls for use on the form.
   
  
  Figure 2. Palette panel.
   
  The panel is analagous to the Tool Palette panel used in scripting, but only contains those components and controls supported for use with a Custom Instrument. For more information on the components and controls available, see Available Standard Components and Available Instrument Controls, respectively.

• Properties – this panel (Figure 3) displays all attributes of the currently selected component or control on the form. Use these properties to fine-tune the presentation and/or functionality of each object, further enhancing the look and feel of your customized instrument GUI.
   
  
  Figure 3. Example of the Properties panel.

• Events – this panel (Figure 4) lists the applicable events for the currently selected component or control on the form. These are the events that the object can 'react' to. This panel is used to hook-up a script procedure or function to a control, which will be called when the specified event occurs.
   
  
  Figure 4. Example of the Events panel.

The initially selected object in the blank form, named DesignedAreaPanel, represents the bounds of form design. Objects can only be placed within this area. While the width of the panel design area is fixed, you can freely adjust the height of the panel, making it larger or smaller in accordance with the number of controls being used and presentation requirements.

The height of the panel can be changed in two ways:

• By entering a new value for the Height property, in the Properties panel

• Clicking and dragging the editing handle at the bottom-center of the design boundary. As you drag, the value for the Height property will change accordingly.