With the Edit Backgrounds window you can view and change information about backgrounds, the second level of the four-level hierarchy of MoStacks. You find more about backgrounds in general in the chapter Backgrounds.
The window uses the Edit Modes system to handle the possibly many backgrounds of a stack, with a list on the right to select a background to view or modify, a Modify button to save changes, a New button to create a new background, etc.
The lower of the two lists on the left shows all the cards of the currently selected background. Double-clicking an entry in this list opens the Edit Cards window.
The window has the following frames to display and/or edit various aspects of the currently selected background, or a new one:
Name: The name of a background is used to identify it. As explained in chapter Names, you can choose any name of reasonable length, but not an empty name. Best use unique names for all backgrounds within a stack.
Description: Here you can enter any description that will later help you to identify the purpose of the background. You can view this as a kind of notepad for the background.
Flags: There are the following flags to configure certain aspects of the background in a yes/no manner:
Card name in list?: With flag set, card names are shown in a first column in the card list window/view, if only cards of that background are shown. With flag reset, there will be no such column, and therefore more room for the field values themselves. Reset e.g. if you see from field values alone which card is on which line in the list.
Keep cards sorted?: With flag set, you also specify a sort key, and all the cards of the background will be sorted according to that key (and kept sorted). You can't set this flag without having defined at least 1 sort key for the background. As a side effect of setting this flag all cards of the background will form a single block, and you can't insert cards of other backgrounds between cards of this background.
By using this flag, the behaviour of MoStacks gets much nearer to that of "traditional" databases.
With flag reset, the "natural" and free card sort order applies for the cards of the background.
Read more about sorting in general in chapter Sorting.
Show wallpaper?: With this flag set, you can specify a picture that will be used as "wallpaper", i.e. will be displayed in the background area of the card that is visible between the cards. There is no effect other than making cards look "prettier".
Tile wallpaper?: With this flag set the wallpaper will be "tiled" i.e. shown multiple times to completely fill the whole background. You can set this flag only together with the Show wallpaper? flag. With this flag reset the wallpaper (if any) is displayed only once, in the geometrical middle of the card.
Show cardname?: With this flag set, every card of the background show something like a little header with the card name on top and the navigation bar below it. With this flag reset, there is no such header, and the display starts with the first field/control at the top of the card.
Loosing access to the navigation bar might be inconvenient, so it's probably best only to reset the flag if as much room as possible for the fields and controls is important. You might also consider to leave the flag set and make the background scrolling instead.
Scrollable?: With this flag set cards of the background get a scrollbar and you will have access to fields even if all together need more room than the display offers. However, because of technical problems with UIQ3, card switching is not smooth anymore if the background has this flag set. Also, with a scrolling background it does not make sense (or not yet) to set the flag Arrange from bottom edge of card? for any field or control.
With this flag reset, there is no possibility to scroll, and if fields should occupy more room than is available, they will get visually truncated or will be insible outright.
Dense layout?: With this flag set, the spacing between the fields/controls and between them and the screen borders will be minimized to a single pixel. This may look somewhat ugly and a little confusing, but enables more room for displaying fields and their values. With this flag reset, a spacing of 5 pixels will be used, which is more or less what UIQ3 also uses for standard dialogs.
Font: Specify the font for the background, the second-level font in the four-level hierarchy and thus rather "influential". If no field in the background has a font configured, you can change the font of all fields together by just switching this font here. The button leads to the Select Font window. Read about fonts on UIQ3 in general in the chapter UIQ3 Fonts.
Wallpaper: Here you can import a picture that will be used as wallpaper, in conjunction with the flags Show wallpaper? and Tile wallpaper?. Read more about the use of pictures in MoStacks and supported formats in the chapter Pictures.
Sort key: Here you can select one of the sort keys that are defined for the background to use it for sorting the cards, in conjunction with the flag Keep cards sorted?. You can define sort keys in the Edit Sort Keys window./p>
Color: The color selected at the background level will become the color of the background (i.e. the empty space not covered by fields and controls) of every card that does not yet have a color specified. The button opens the standard Windows color selection dialog.
The window has the following buttons:
Show Card: Shows the card that is currently selected in the list in the Cards of background frame in the Card window.
Edit card: Opens the Edit Cards window and selects the card that is currently selected in the list in the Cards of background frame. Double-clicking a card in said frame has the same effect as clicking this button.
Delete cards: After confirmation, deletes all cards of the current background.
Script: Open the Edit Script window to edit background scripts.
Fields: Opens the Edit Fields and Controls window and shows the fields of the current background.
Help: Display this help page.
Delete: After confirmation, delete the current background and all its cards. Deleting a background is therefore a rather drastic and possible far-reaching operation.
New: Switch the mode to "create", as a preparation to create a new background.
Create: Create a new background, based on the info that you specified.
Modify: Save the modifications. Just changing anything in this window but not clicking the Modify button has no effect; to discard changes, just close the window and re-open it.