Programmatically Changing the Default ViewDef

One of the Newton 2.x OS Q&As
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This document was exported on 7/23/97.

Programmatically Changing the Default ViewDef (1/3/97)

Q: I want to be able to programmatically change which viewDef is shown when I tap the "New" button in my newtApp-based application. How can I do this?

A: By default, the viewDef which is shown when you create a new entry is the one with the value 'default in its symbol slot. To change this behavior at run-time, you will need to override the StatScript method of your newtNewStationeryButton.

In the StatScript method, you will set two slots in your application. The first slot is the preferredViewDef slot in your application's base view. The second is the viewDef slot of the current layout. Both of these slots should be set to the symbol of the viewDef that you want displayed. For instance, you might have the following StatScript:

StatScript := func( theStat )
begin
    preferredViewDef := 'myNewDefaultStationery;
    layout.viewDef:= 'myNewDefaultStationery;
    
    // Make sure we call the inherited method
    inherited:?StatScript( theStat );

end;

Note: you must not modify either the application's preferredViewDef slot or the layout's viewDef slot at any other time. Doing so could cause your application to not work on future versions of the Newton OS.