CHARTrunner 2.0 Software Developer's Kit

API Changes

Date: 21-December-2005
 Copyright © 1999-2005 PQ Systems, Inc.

Introduction

This document applies only to changes made to the CHARTrunner 2.0 SDK API (Application Programming Interface).  These changes will primarily be of interest to someone who is upgrading a CHARTrunner SDK application that was created in a prior version of CHARTrunner.

These API changes were made in order to clean up the programming interface.  During the evolution of the SDK from CHARTrunner 1.1 to 2.0 some inconsistencies and poor naming choices had accumulated, and it was felt that this was a good time to fix these issues.

One general change affecting many classes is that names that referred to a definition being associated with a file were changed to drop the file from the name. CHARTrunner definitions do not necessarily have to be stored in a file, they could be stored in a database at some future time.

Another general change affecting many classes is that Enum definition names that used to have the naming form eSomeThing now have the form SomeThingEnum to better distinguish Enum definition names from Enum values that have the form eSomeValue.

Miscellaneous Changes

Renamed class PQCrFileDesc to PQCrDefDesc.

Renamed obj.eFileType to obj.eDefType in all classes that had the eFileType property.

Changes to the CHARTrunner20.Application Class

Method Changes:

Renamed method BrowseForCrFile() to BrowseForChartDefs().

Renamed method CreateClipChart() to SaveChartAsClipChart() and interactively prompt the user for the output clipCHART file if the optional output path is not specified.

Renamed method GenerateChartImageFile() to SaveChartAsImage().

Renamed method ReadOOCFile() to ReadOocDefinition().

Property Changes:

Renamed property sChartFolder to sChartRootFolder.

Removed the following properties that pointed to where various help files could be found: sHelpFileClipChart, sHelpFileFormulas, sHelpFileTutorial, sHelpFileAdvisor, sHelpFileChartRunner. Now it is assumed that any help file needed by CHARTrunner will be found in the folder specified by sAppPath.

Changes to the CHARTrunner20.AppEnv Class

Method Changes:

GetDefExt() is a new method to get the file extension that is used for a specific type of CHARTrunner definition file.

Enum Changes:

Renamed enum eCrObjType to CrObjTypeEnum.

Renamed enum eObjPQRsViewer to eObjCrRsViewer.

Renamed enum eObjPQCrFileDesc to eObjPQCrDefDesc.

Property Changes:

The .S_EXT_???? public strings have been deleted. These contained the file extensions used for various definition files. Use the GetDefExt() method instead to get the file extension that is used for a specific type of CHARTrunner definition file.

Renamed property sDefaultChartFile to sDefaultChartPath.

Changes to the PQCrColDef Class

Enum Changes:

Renamed enum eCrTreatColAs to CrTreatColAsEnum.

Changes to the PQCrDef Class

Method Changes:

The Edit() method had two parameters removed from its argument list. The bDidChartChange parameter was removed, use the bChangedDuringEdit property now. The bCanceled parameter was removed, use the bCanceledByUser property now.  The parameters changed from,

Public Function Edit(ByRef bDidChartChange As Variant, _
   Optional ByVal bNew As Boolean, _
   Optional ByVal bAllowNameChange As Boolean = True, _
   Optional bCanceled As Variant) _
   As Boolean

to,

Public Function Edit(Optional ByVal bNew As Boolean, _
   Optional ByVal bAllowNameChange As Boolean = True) _
   As Boolean

The SetFileName() method has been deleted.

The optional bNew and bDefault parameters to SaveChartDefinition() have been eliminated.  Now use SaveChartDefinitionAsDefault() to save a chart definition as the default chart. The parameters changed from,

Public Function SaveChartDefinition(Optional ByVal bNew As Boolean, _
   Optional ByVal bDefault As Boolean) _
   As Boolean

to,

Public Function SaveChartDefinition() As Boolean

Renamed method GenerateChartImageFile() to SaveChartAsImage().

Renamed method GetDefPgTitleFontStr() to GetDefaultTitleFont().

Method RelPathFix() has been deleted, use oStorage.RelativePathFixup() in its place.

The IsAttributesControlChart(), IsVariablesControlChart() and IsControlChart() methods have been deleted. Use the IsChartInCategory() method in their place.

Renamed method CreateClipChart() to SaveChartAsClipChart(), and prompt for file if not specified.

Renamed method ReadChartStyleFile() to ReadStyleDefinition(). The second parameter no longer optional.

Renamed method SaveChartStyleFile() to SaveStyleDefinition().

The OpenFile() method has been deleted. Use ReadChartDefinition() in its place.

The second parameter to the PrintChart() method has changed from,

Public Function PrintChart(Optional ByVal bPrnMCSep As Boolean, _
   Optional ByVal bPrintWithDialog As Boolean = True, _
   Optional ByVal sPrinterName As String) As Boolean

to,

Public Function PrintChart(Optional ByVal bPrnMCSep As Boolean, _
   Optional ByVal bPrinterDialog As Boolean = True, _
   Optional ByVal sPrinterName As String) As Boolean

The Validate2() method has been deleted, and now Validate() mimics the behavior of the prior Validate2() method.

Enum Changes:

Renamed enum ePqCrFileType to CrDefTypeEnum.  All the enum values changed from ePqCrFileType????? to eCrDefType?????.

Renamed enum ePqCrPathType to CrPathTypeEnum.

Renamed enum eCrDefInvalid to CrDefValidateErrorEnum. Most of the enum values have been renamed.

Renamed enum eCrChartType to CrChartTypeEnum.

Renamed enum eCrRecSelectType to CrRecSelectTypeEnum.

Renamed enum eCrDataSourceType to CrDataSourceTypeEnum.

Renamed enum eCrRowSelectOption to CrAdvRowSelectEnum.

Renamed enum eCrRowsToUse to CrAdvRowsToUseEnum.

Renamed enum eCrDateGroupingUnit to CrDateGroupingUnitEnum.

Renamed enum eCrParBarLimitBy to CrParBarLimitByEnum.

Renamed enum eMultiLinePlotType to CrMultiLinePlotEnum.

Renamed enum eCrImageType to CrImageTypeEnum.

Renamed enum value eCrRowSelectEveryNRows to eCrArsSelectEveryNRows.

Renamed enum value eCrRowSelectEveryNRowsWhenColChanges to eCrArsSelectRowsOnColChange.

Property Changes:

These changes are all related to standardizing the properties dealing with Advanced Row Selection.

bCanceledByUser is a new property that is set True if the user cancels during an interactive operation, such as during the printer setup dialog.

bChangedDuringEdit is a new property that is set True when the chart definition is changed during the Edit() method.  If no change is made during Edit() this will be False.

bChanged is a new property. It is set False by ReadChartDefinition() and is set True by Edit() if the chart definition is modified during that edit session.

Property bIsChanged has been deleted.

Renamed property eCrFileType to eDefType.

Renamed property sFileName to sChartDefPath.

Renamed property sFileVersion to sChartDefVersion.

Renamed property sParentChartFile to sParentChartDef.

New property oChartStyle returns a reference to the chart style object that is used by the chart definition.

Changes to the CHARTrunner Charting Control (OCX)

The PqCrChart20.PqCrChart ActiveX charting control has undergone a major cleanup in order to make it more compatible with being used in Internet Explorer and via interop with Visual Studio .NET.  Most of the support code that was used in frmChartDisplay.frm (from the CHARTrunner 1.7 SDK) to enable the OCX to work properly has been eliminated. Now frmChartDisplay.frm (from the CHARTrunner 2.0 SDK) is much simpler and it is possible to use the CHARTrunner 2.0 Charting Control with only a few lines of support code.

21-December-2005 - The following changes were made to the charting control for version 2.0.95 (and higher):