Property Data Types
Registered properties must be of one of the data types listed in the following table.
Note
Properties of objects that are not registered (that is, properties that cannot appear in a property sheet) can be of any IDL data type.
|
Type Code
|
Type
|
Description
|
|---|---|---|
| 0 |
USERDEF |
User Defined properties can contain values of any IDL type, but must also include a string value that will be displayed in the property sheet. See the following discussion for additional information. |
| 1 |
BOOLEAN |
Boolean properties contain either the integer 0 or the integer 1. |
| 2 |
INTEGER |
Integer properties contain an integer value. If a property of integer data type has a VALID_RANGE attribute that includes an increment value, the property is displayed in a property sheet using a slider. If no increment value is supplied, the property sheet allows the user to edit values manually. |
| 3 |
FLOAT |
Float properties contain a double-precision floating-point value. If a property of float data type has a VALID_RANGE attribute that includes an increment value, the property is displayed in a property sheet using a slider. If no increment value is supplied, the property sheet allows the user to edit values manually. |
| 4 |
STRING |
String properties contain a scalar string value |
| 5 |
COLOR |
Color properties contain an RGB color triplet |
| 6 |
LINESTYLE |
Linestyle properties contain an integer value between 0 and 6, corresponding to the following IDL line styles: See Property Controls (iTool User's Guide) for a visual example of the available line styles. |
| 7 |
SYMBOL |
Symbol properties contain an integer value between 0 and 8, corresponding to the following IDL symbol types: See Property Controls (iTool User's Guide) for a visual example of the available symbols. |
| 8 |
THICKNESS |
Thickness properties contain an integer value between 1 and 10, corresponding to the thickness (in points) of the line. |
| 9 |
ENUMLIST |
Enumerated List properties contain an array of string values defined when the property is registered. The GetProperty method returns the zero-based index of the selected item. |
User Defined Property Types
The User Defined property type lets you create a custom interface that allow users of your iTool to select data of types other than the predefined iTool property types. Creating a user defined property type entails the following:
- Creating an EditUserDefProperty method for the iTool component (usually a visualization or operation) that uses the user defined property. See "IDLitComponent::EditUserDefProperty" (IDL Reference Guide) for details.
- Creating user interface code to allow users to select a value. In the initial release of the iTool system, this means writing an IDL widget interface, but in future releases other users interfaces may be available.
- Creating a user interface service to display the interface. See Creating a User Interface Service (iTool Developer's Guide) for details.