How to Tutorials Introduction

How To Tutorials

The How To Tutorials section consists of a list of tutorials (in alphabetical order) with step-by-step instructions on how to use some of the development tools provided in PxPlus.

Use these links to access a particular tutorial.

"How To" Topic

Description

Add Color to Menu Definitions

How to add color to Menu definitions to easily update the appearance of a PxPlus application for both NOMADS and non-NOMADS environments.

(Additional options for defining menu colors were added in PxPlus 2024.)

Copy a Theme

How to use the Copy Theme utility to copy and create Themes.

(The Copy Theme utility was added in PxPlus 2024.)

Create a Custom Title Bar

How to create and apply a custom title bar that can be used to replace or work in conjunction with the Windows title bar.

Customize the PxPlus Progress Bar

How to Customize the Progress Bar appearance. Includes examples on how to set the five progress bar global variables to further customize the appearance.

(The ability to customize the progress bar appearance was added in PxPlus 2025.)

Default to INSERT Mode in *IT Program Editor

How to default to Insert mode (rather than Override mode) in the *IT Program Editor.

Include Bar Charts in List Boxes

How to include Bar Charts within formatted List Boxes to present a more visual representation of the data.

JSON Object

Several How To Tutorials are available:

	Convert JSON to XML Using the XML Object	How to convert JSON data to XML using the XML object.
	Convert XML to JSON	How to set up XML data and then convert the XML data to JSON.
	Work with the PxPlus JSON Object	How to use some of the functions that come with the PxPlus JSON object.

(The JSON object *OBJ/JSON was added in PxPlus 2025.)

.NET Interface

Several How To Tutorials are available:

	Create a .NET Button (NOMADS)	How to create a .NET button control in NOMADS.
	Create a .NET Button (Program)	How to create a .NET button control in a program.
	Create a .NET Calendar Control (NOMADS)	How to create a .NET calendar control in NOMADS.
	Create a .NET Calendar Control (Program)	How to create a .NET calendar control in a program.
	Display a Date in PxPlus Multi-Line from NOMADS .NET Calendar	How to select and display a date in a PxPlus multi-line from a NOMADS .NET calendar query button.

(The .NET Interface was added in PxPlus 2025.)

Projects

Several How To Tutorials are available:

	Copy a Project	How to copy an existing project to a new project.
	Create and Edit a Project	How to create and edit a Project, which is useful for organizing and managing the tasks and settings used in application development.
	Delete a Project	How to delete a project.
	Use Projects from the NOMADS Session Manager	How to use project-related tasks (i.e. set a project, create and edit a project, etc.) from the NOMADS Session Manager (invoked from PxPlus Command line).

(The Projects menu in NOMADS Session Manager was added in PxPlus 2025.)

Set a Toolkit Theme

How to set and apply a Toolkit Theme to the development toolkit.

(The Toolkit Theme option was added in PxPlus 2024.)

Set Up and Use the PxPlus Visual Studio Code Extension

How to set up the PxPlus Extension in Visual Studio Code, as well as edit a PxPlus program and create a new program using this extension.

(The PxPlus Visual Studio Code Extension was added in PxPlus 2024.)

Speed Up Grid Loading and Processing

How to speed up grid loading and processing. Includes different ways to load data into a grid, retrieve grid contents, and how to get/set various grid properties.

Use Dynamic Control Properties

How to use dynamic control properties as an effective way to apply changes to existing panels and controls and speed up development when application changes are required.

Use Extended Class Validation and Display

How to use the Extended Class Validation and Display functionality when designing NOMADS panels to validate against a data file and display selected data.

Use PxPlus Query Definitions in Non-NOMADS Environments

How to use PxPlus query definitions in non-NOMADS (and NOMADS) environments to:

Display a Lookup Table

Read a Query Dataset

Load List Box and Grid Controls

Create Charts

Generate Spreadsheet Data

Print a Simple Report

Supply Data to the PxPlus Report Writer

Display Information in a Browser

Display Data in Webster+

Use the Enhanced Layout in File Maintenance Generator

How to use the Enhanced Layout in the File Maintenance Generator to create new NOMADS panels and/or Webster+ HTML pages.

(The Enhanced Layout was added in PxPlus 2024.)

Use the Library Bulk Edit and Search Utility

How to use the Library Bulk Edit and Search Utility to find controls with specific characteristics, bulk edit the filtered controls and use the Search Library functionality to view records.

Use the NOMADS Environment Maintenance Utility

How to use the NOMADS Environment Maintenance Utility to set %NOMADS properties for your application.

Use the PxPlus IDE Launcher

How to use the PxPlus IDE Main Launcher (Windows) and the four main sections of the enhanced view: Project, Tasks, Ribbon Toolbar and Web Page Folder Tabs.

See Also