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The [[check.htm|check box]] provides an attractive way to display a yes/no choice for a record field--the alternative might be an entire column that repeats "one," "yes," or even ".T." for each record.

{{notebox.jpg|NoteBox.jpg}}

The Property View presents you with two ways to viewing a control's properties.

At the top of the Property View, press the categorized button {{categorized.jpg|categorized.jpg}} to view a control's properties by category (the deafult).

Or press the alphabetical button {{alphabetical.jpg|alphabetical.jpg}} to view a control's properties in alphabetical order.

This help documents displays the properties in the categorical view.

**Color**

Enter a valid color equate in the **Text Color** or **Background** fields, or press the ellipsis (...) button to select a color from the **Color** dialog. The **Window Designer** adds the [[color  set color .htm|COLOR]] to your control declaration.

See ..\LIBSRC\EQUATES.CLW for a list of valid color equates. See //Windows Design Issues// in the //User's Guide// for a discussion on using color to enhance your application.

**Design**

| **Locked** | "Freezes" the control so that subsequent data dictionary changes are not applied. You can override the #Freeze attribute for all controls or for individual controls. See **[[application options dialog.htm|Application Options]]**. |
| **Tab Index** | Determines the index in the TAB order that this control will follow. The first tab in the order is index zero (0).To change the **TabIndex** property //immediately// while in the Designer, use the **Show tab order** interface (i.e. on the right-click menu).If you set the **TabIndex** property using the property page, the z-order is not updated until you save and exit the Window Designer. |

**Extra**

| **Drop ID** | To specify the type of Drag operations this control will accept, type up to 16 //signatures//, separated by commas. The **Window Designer** adds the **[[dropid  set drag and drop target signatures .htm|DROPID]]** attribute to the control, which indicates the control is a valid target for the drag and drop operations identified by the signatures. |
| **Icon** | In the **Icon **field, optionally select a standard icon or icon file. This displays a small bitmap next to the check box (clipping or centering the bitmap as necessary). |
|  | To select a standard icon, choose one of the named items in the drop-down list. To select an icon file (whose extension must be .ICO), choose **Select File **from the drop-down list, then pick the file using the standard file dialog. |

**General**

| **Justification** | **Left Justification** arranges the check box (or icon) to the left of the parameter text. **Right Justification** arranges the check box (or icon) to the right of the parameter text. **Default** arranges the check box according to any applicable settings in the data dictionary. |
| **Layout** | Indicates the orientation of the control. **Left to Right** maintains the original layout specified in the Window Designer. **Right to Left** essentially "flips" the controls' display as a mirror image of the layout specified in the Window Designer. Default field navigation moves from right to left. |
|  | The setting in the Application Frame will cascade its setting to all child windows and controls that have the **default** setting active. |
| **Text** | Specify a string constant to display by typing it in the **Text **box. |
| **TextFont** | Calls the **[[select font dialog.htm|Select Font]]** dialog which lets you select the font (typeface), size, style (such as bold or italic), color, and font effects (underline and strikeout) for the selected control or window. As you choose options, the dialog box displays a sample of the selected font. |
| **Use** | This defines the [[use  set field equate label or control update variable .htm|USE]] attribute for the control. Specify a numeric variable. The check box places a value of 1 in the numeric variable if the end user turns on the check box, zero if off. |
| **Value** | These values are also used to set the state of the check box (checked or cleared) when it is first displayed. |
| **True Value** | Type the value to assign when the box is checked. |
| **False Value** | Type the value to assign when the box is cleared. |
|  | **True Value **and **False Value **let you easily manage legacy data with a check box, or let you use character values such as "T" and "F" or "Yes" and "No" where appropriate. For example, if your legacy field contains "True" and "False" or "Y" and "N," rather than 1 and 0, then **True Value **and **False Value **can modify the check box's default behavior to be consistent with the legacy data. If you leave both fields blank, you get the default values and behavior, that is, 1 for checked and 0 or blank for cleared. |
| {{tipbox.jpg|TipBox.jpg}} | True Value and False Value are case sensitive, so "True" is not the same as "TRUE" and "T" is not the same as "t." Also, if you are using a STRING variable as the USE variable for your check box, you must explicitly set True and False Values (here, or in the dictionary's validity check for the target column). |

**Mode**

| **Disable** | Disables or 'grays-out' the control when your program initially displays it. The **Window Designer** places the [[disable  set control dimmed at open .htm|DISABLE]] attribute on the control. Use the [[enable  re activate dimmed control .htm|ENABLE]] statement to allow the user access to the control |
| **Hide** | Makes the control invisible at the time Windows would initially display it. Windows actually creates the control--it just doesn't display it on screen. The **Window Designer** places the [[hide  set control hidden .htm|HIDE]] attribute on the control. Use the [[unhide  show hidden control .htm|UNHIDE]] statement to display the control. |
| **Scroll** | Specifies whether the control should move with the window when the user scrolls the window. By default (False) the control does not move with the window. Set the **Scroll **property to False to create a control that stays fixed when the user scrolls the window. The **Window Designer** places the [[scroll  set scrolling control .htm|SCROLL]] attribute on the control when checked. |
| **Skip** | Instructs the **Window Designer** to omit the control from the Tab Order. When the user TABS from field to field in the dialog box, Windows will not give the control focus. This is useful for seldom-used data fields. The **Window Designer** will place the [[skip  set tab key skip or conditional print control .htm|SKIP]] attribute on the control. . |
| **Transparent** | Specify whether you wish the control background to be **Transparent**. This instructs Windows to suppress the rectangular region around the text--the background. Normally, Windows will paint this the same uniform color as the window below the control. This adds the [[trn  set transparent control .htm|TRN]] attribute. |

**Help**

| **Alert** | Press the ellipsis to open a dialog that lets you add the [[alrt  set window  hot  keys .htm|ALRT]] attribute to a window or control. When the attribute is set, the window generates an EVENT:AlertKey if the user presses the key(s) you specify in this dialog, while the window has the focus. |
| **Cursor** | The //Cursor// field (the [[cursor  set mouse cursor type .htm|CURSOR]] attribute) lets you specify an alternate shape for the cursor when the user passes the cursor over the control. The drop-down list provides standard cursor choices such as I-Beam and Crosshair. To select an external cursor file (whose extension must be .CUR), choose **Select File **from the drop-down list, then pick the file using the standard file dialog. |
| **Help ID** | The **Help ID **field (the [[hlp  set on line help identifier .htm|HLP]] attribute) takes a string constant specifying the key for accessing a specific topic in the Help document. This may be either a Help keyword or a context string. |
|  | A Help keyword is a word or phrase indexed so that the user may search for it in the //Help //**Search **dialog. When you fill in the HLP attribute for a button, if the entry box has focus, when the user presses F1, the help file opens to the referenced topic. If more than one topic matches a keyword, the search dialog appears. |
|  | When referencing a context string in the **Help ID****// //**field, you must identify it with a leading tilde (~). |
| **Key** | Press the desired key or key combination (for example, CTRL+H). The keys you pressed will appear in the **Key** field, and will be supplied as parameters to the KEY or ALRT attribute for this control. |
| **Message** | The **Message** field (the [[msg  set status bar message .htm|MSG]] attribute) lets you specify text to display in the first zone of the status bar when the control has focus. |
| **Tip** | The **[[tip  set  balloon help  text .htm|TIP]]** attribute on a control specifies the text to display in a "balloon help" box when the mouse cursor pauses over the control. Although there is no specific limit on the number of characters, the //string// should not be longer than can be displayed on the screen. |

**Options**

| **Flat** | The FLAT attribute (PROP:FLAT) specifies the BUTTON, CHECK, or RADIO with an ICON attribute appears flat until the mouse cursor passes over it. With check boxes, this creates a "latched" button effect. |

**Position**

Lets you set the location and size of the control.

The **Position **category lets you specify the [[at  set position and size .htm|AT]] attribute. Filling in the attribute manually is optional--you may set the position and size visually by dragging with the mouse in the **Window Designer**.

To set the location of the control's** Top Left Corner**, set an **X** (horizontal) and **Y** (vertical) coordinate in [[what is a dialog unit.htm|Dialog units]]. The coordinate is relative to the top left corner of the structure containing it, that is, the window or the report band.

To set the control's size, choose from the following options for **Width** and **Height**.

| **Default** | The Clarion runtime library determines the size of the control based on the applicable font and picture token. |
| **Full** | The control is the full height or width of the window or report. |
| **Fixed** | Lets you set a precise width or height in [[what is a dialog unit.htm|Dialog units]] on a window, or in thousandths of inch, points, or millimeters on a report. |

**Actions**

The Check Box **Actions** category leads to other dialogs allowing you to name variables and change their values when the end user checks or unchecks the box. Additionally, you can HIDE or UNHIDE other controls in the window.

Two group boxes with two pairs of buttons appear on the **Actions** tab. These buttons set the behavior for **When the Check Box is Checked**, and **When the Check Box is Unchecked**.

| **Assign Values** | Opens the **[[check box control properties.htm#f9w5yo|Assign Values]]** dialog where you can assign values to variables based on the checked or unchecked state of the check box. |
| **Hide/Unhide Controls** | Opens the **[[check box control properties.htm#bogxd4r|Hide/Unhide Controls]]** dialog where you can specify window controls to hide or unhide based on the checked or unchecked state of the check box. |
|  |  |
| **Embeds** | Accesses the **[[gen72.htm|Embedded Source]]** dialog for points surrounding the event handling for this control only. |

**Assign Values Dialog**

Lets you assign values to variables based on the checked or unchecked state of a check box. You may specify multiple assignments. Press the **Insert** button to add a new assignment.

| **Variable to Assign** | In the entry box, type a variable name, or press the ellipsis (...) button to choose or create a data dictionary field or a memory variable with the **Select Field** dialog. |
| **Value to Assign** | In the entry box, type the value to assign to the variable. You can then add code to your program to take appropriate action based on the run time value of the variable(s). Press the **E **button to call the Expression Editor. This dialog is used to help you construct syntactically correct expressions to use in the appropriate prompt. |

**Hide/Unhide Controls Dialog**

Lets you specify window controls to hide or unhide based on the checked or unchecked state of a check box. You may specify multiple controls to hide/unhide. Press the **Insert** button to add a new hide/unhide action to the list.

| **Control to hide/unhide** | From the drop down list, choose the control to HIDE or UNHIDE. |
| **Hide or unhide control** | From the drop down list, choose **Hide** or **Unhide**. |