The UNIFACE Desktop serves as more than just an entry point to the various UNIFACE environments. Shortcuts can be created on the Desktop to allow quick access to commonly used Objects.

For example, shortcuts can be created for:

	Global Procedures		Menus
	Components (& Component Templates)		Global Messages
	Entities		Fields

Creating Shortcuts

To create a shortcut, open or highlight the required object (e.g., Global Proc) and choose "Create Shortcut" from the "File" menu.

For example:

Once created, the shortcuts appear on the main UNIFACE Desktop:

Double clicking on a shortcut will return the user to the object at the point at which the shortcut was created. For example, if the user created a shortcut whilst working in the trigger editor of entity "Customer" on form "CUST001", double-clicking would return the user to the trigger editor, and position the structure tree on the Customer entity.

Deleting Shortcuts

To delete a shortcut, single click on a shortcut and choose "Delete Shortcut" from the "Edit" menu. All shortcuts can be deleted together by choosing "Select All" followed by "Delete Shortcut" from the "Edit" menu. It is not possible to delete specific groups of shortcuts together.

Manipulating Shortcuts

Shortcuts can be moved around the UNIFACE Desktop, however this behaviour is not pixel-based. Each shortcut can only be moved to a pre-defined area on the desktop, identified by the large rectangular shape which appears when the shortcut is being dragged.

If the user runs out of space on the Desktop, more room can be made available by selecting "Preferences-->Presentation" from the "Utilities" menu, and selecting the required desktop size. This screen (shown on the next page) allows for 3 sizes of the desktop;

The three sizes (Small, Medium & Large) produce the following results;

Although the size of the UNIFACE icons increases in relation to the physical desktop size, the size of the shortcut icon does not, so more space becomes available.

Shortcut Actions

The "File" menu available on the UNIFACE desktop is context sensitive if a shortcut is currently highlighted (i.e., it has been "single-clicked"). This allows various actions to be performed without having to actually open the target object. These appear as follows;

• All shortcuts have the "Properties" option, allowing the shortcut (but not the target object) to be renamed.
• All shortcuts except Entities and Entity Fields have the "compile" option. If a shortcut refers to an Entity or Field, the option "Analyze Model" appears instead.
• Components and Menus have the "Test" option. Although this option appears for Drop-down Menus as well as Menu Bars, it should not be used since it can produce unexpected results.
• Components and Component Template shortcuts have the "Clean Up" option.

For example:

Component Objects:

Entity/Field Objects:

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