Reference: Screen Designer Properties

You can modify the appearance and behavior of a screen by setting the value of properties in the Properties window. The following tables describe each property.

General Properties

Name

Description

Data Binding

The source of data for the control.

Use Read-only Controls

Indicates whether the sub controls that are contained within the control can be edited by the user. For example, if you select Use Read-only Controls for a data grid control, users will not be able to edit the fields that appear in the data grid.

Description

The text that appears as a tooltip when users point to the control by using the mouse.

Display Name

The name that appears in the screen.

Query Source

Applies to collections on a screen only. The data source of a collection on the screen.

Is Visible

Indicates whether the control appears in the screen.

Name

The name used by LightSwitch, and that you use to refer to this control in custom code.

Control Type

The type of control that you want to use. For more information about each control type, see the following sections:

  • Control Types for a Group

  • Control Types for a Field

Property Type

The type of data that appears in the control.

Auto Execute Query

Applies to collections on a screen only. Indicates whether the query that populates the collection runs when the screen that contains the collection is opened.

Support Paging

Indicates whether the data in a collection appears as pages of information. If you select this property, set the number of items that appear in a page by setting the No. of items to display per page property.

No. of items to display per page

Applies to collections on a screen only. The number of items you want a page of information to contain.

Support Sorting

Applies to collections on a screen only. Indicates whether you want users to be able to sort information in a collection by clicking column headings in the control that displays the collection.

Support Search

Applies to collections on a screen only. Indicates whether you want the search box to appear above a collection in a screen.

Appearance Properties

Name

Description

Label Position

The location of the label of the control relative to the control. For more information about each label position setting, see Label Position Settings.

Rows

The number of rows that appears in the control.

Text Alignment

The position of the text within a control.

Use Small Button

Indicates whether to use small buttons for screen commands (For example: the Save button).

Show as Link

Indicates whether to make a label a hyperlink. Users can click the link to open a page.

Target Screen

The screen that opens when the user clicks a label that is formatted as a hyperlink.

Font Style

The font style of a label.

Disable Export to Excel

Indicates whether to enable users to export the data that appears in a collection. If you select this property, the Export to Excel button will not appear above the collection in the running application.

Horizontal Scroll Enabled

Specifies whether horizontal scrollbars can appear for the selected group.

Vertical Scroll Enabled

Specifies whether vertical scrollbars can appear for the selected group.

Maximum Label Width

Specifies the maximum width.

Image

Specifies a .png or .jpg file to display as a static image.

Stretch

Specifies how an image should be stretched to fit in the available space.

Show Border

Specifies whether a border should appear around an image.

Text

Specifies the text to appear in a Static Label.

Border Mode

Specifies how borders will appear in a Group Box.

Show Display Name

Specifies whether the Display Name appears in a Group Box.

Control Types for a Group

Name

Description

Summary

Displays the data that you specify in rows. Only one field of data is displayed in each row. You can specify which field appears by setting the Summary Property property of the entity or table in the data designer. For more information, see Reference: Data Designer Properties.

Modal Window

Adds a button to the screen that opens a modal window when clicked.

Rows Layout

Displays the data you specify in rows.

Columns Layout

Displays the data you specify in columns.

Table Layout

Displays the data that you specify in a table. Apply the TableColumn Layout to groups in a Table Layout.

TableColumn Layout

Displays data in a group within a Table Layout.

Tabs Layout

Displays the data you specify in tabs.

Picture and Text

Displays a picture on the left, and a title, subtitle, and description to the right of the picture.

Text and Picture

Displays a title, subtitle, and description on the left, and a picture to the right of the text.

Address Viewer

Displays a street address.

Address Editor

Displays a street address that is editable.

Group Box

Displays a frame around a group of controls with an optional caption.

Control Types for a Field

Name

Description

Text Box

A rectangular box in which the user can type text. If the box already contains text, the user can select that default text or delete it and type new text.

Label

Text that the user cannot edit.

Static Label

Displays text that isn’t bound to a data source.

Custom Control

A control created outside of the LightSwitch development environment. For more information, see How to: Add a Custom Control to a Silverlight Screen.

Date Time Picker

Enables the user to select a date and time.

Date Picker

Enables the user to select a date

Date Time Viewer

Provides a read-only control that displays the date and time.

Date Viewer

Provides a read-only control that displays the date.

Image Editor

Enables the user to remove an image or select a new image.

Image Viewer

Provides a read-only control that displays an image.

Static Image

Displays an image that isn’t bound to a data source.

Label Position Settings

Label position

Description

Left-aligned

The label appears to the left of the control.

Right-aligned

The label appears to the right of the control.

Top

The label appears above the control.

Bottom

The label appears below the control.

None

No label appears for the selected data field.

Collapsed

The label appears as collapsed.

Sizing Settings

Content size

Description

Horizontal Alignment

The position of the control within the horizontal space that is allocated for the control.

Note

When Alignment is set to Stretch, Width settings are ignored. You can still specify a maximum and minimum size.

Vertical Alignment

The position of the control within the vertical space that is allocated for the control.

Note

When Alignment is set to Stretch, Height settings are ignored. You can still specify a maximum and minimum size.

Width

The width of the control. You can specify the width in terms of the number of pixels or the number of characters. You can also enable LightSwitch to use an optimal size by selecting Auto. If you select Auto, you can provide a maximum and minimum size.

Height

The height of the control. You can specify the height in terms of the number of pixels or the number of lines. You can also enable LightSwitch to use an optimal size by selecting Auto. If you select Auto, you can provide a maximum and minimum size.

See Also

Concepts

Reference: Data Designer Properties

Reference: Query Designer Properties

Other Resources

Screens: The User Interface of Your LightSwitch Application