The Front Panel is built by assembling definitions for its components. Each of these components has required syntax that defines where the component is placed in the Front Panel, what the component looks like, and how it behaves.
The Front Panel is assembled from the outside inward:
The PANEL is the top-level container, or parent, for the entire Front Panel.
The PANEL is a container for one or more BOXes.
A BOX is a container for one or more CONTROLs.
There are two special types of containers:
A SUBPANEL is associated with a particular control (the control is the container for the subpanel). Subpanels "slide up" from the control with which they are associated.
Each component in the Front Panel is defined separately using the syntax:
COMPONENT name { KEYWORD value KEYWORD value ... }
Some keywords are required, others are optional. For more information, see the dtfpfile(4X) man page.
The PANEL is the top-level component. Its definition includes:
The Front Panel name
Fields describing the general appearance and behavior of the entire Front Panel
PANEL front_panel_name { KEYWORD value KEYWORD value ... }
The front_panel_name is a unique name for the Front Panel. The default name is "FrontPanel."
A BOX definition describes:
The BOX name
The position of the box in the PANEL (POSITION_HINTS)
Fields describing appearance and behavior that apply to the entire box
BOX box_name { CONTAINER_NAME front_panel_name POSITION_HINTS position KEYWORD value KEYWORD value ... }
A CONTROL definition describes:
The CONTROL name
Whether the control is in a box, subpanel, or switch (CONTAINER_TYPE)
Which box, subpanel, or switch the control is in (CONTAINER_NAME)
The position of the CONTROL in the BOX (POSITION_HINTS).
Fields describing appearance and behavior of the control
CONTROL control_name { CONTAINER_TYPE BOX or SUBPANEL or SWITCH CONTAINER_NAME box_name or subpanel_name or switch_name TYPE control_type POSITION_HINTS position KEYWORD value KEYWORD value ... }
A SUBPANEL definition describes:
The SUBPANEL name
The name of the control to which the subpanel is attached (CONTAINER_NAME)
Fields describing appearance and behavior specific to the subpanel
SUBPANEL subpanel_name { CONTAINER_NAME control_name KEYWORD value KEYWORD value ... }
The SWITCH definition describes: