Using Specialized ToolStrip Buttons

MM .NET contains several Windows Forms ToolStrip buttons that possess specialized behavior and work in conjunction with associated business objects.

mmToolStripButtonCancel
This button class cancels all pending changes in the associated business object.

mmToolStripButtonDelete

This button class deletes the current record in the associated business object. The result of the Delete operation is stored in the button's Result property which is of type Boolean. If the delete was successful, Result is set to true, otherwise it's set to false.

mmToolStripButtonNew

This button class adds a new row to the associated business object. The result of the New operation is stored in the button's Result property which is of type Boolean. If the New operation was successful, Result is set to true, otherwise, it's set to false.

mmToolStripButtonNewMaint

This button class is a subclass of mmToolStripButtonNew designed for use with subclasses of mmMaintenanceForm that does everything specified in the description for mmToolStripButtonNew, plus, it calls the parent form's NavigateNew() method. The result of the New operation is stored in the button's Result property which is of type Boolean. If the New operation was successful, Result is set to true, otherwise, it's set to false.

mmToolStripButtonSave

This button class saves pending changes in the associated business object. The result of the Save operation is stored in the button's Result property which is of enumeration type mmSaveDataResult. Possible values in this enumeration are:

RulesBroken
RulesPassed
RuleWarnings
SaveCanceled
Exception

Associating a Business Object with the Specialized Buttons

When you associate a business object with a specialized button at design time, it causes the button to call methods of the business object at run time. In reality, the button passes the business object reference to a form-level method that in turn calls the appropriate method on the business object.

For example, if you associate an Orders business object with an instance of the mmTooStripButtonSave class, when the button is clicked at run time, the button passes a reference to the Orders business object to the form-level Save method which in turn calls the Save method on the business object.

Usually, all behavior buttons on a single ToolStrip should reference the same business object. The mmToolStrip class has a BindingSource property that allows you to specify a business object that is used by all ToolStrip behavior buttons. If you do not specify a business object in the ToolStrip's BindingSource property, the associated form's primary business object is used.

If you want to associate a particular business object for a specific button, do the following:

Select the ToolStrip in design mode
Go to the Properties Window, select the Items property, and click the associated ellipses button [...].
Select the button, and then select its BindingSource property.
Select the ellipses button next to the property which displays the Binding Source Selection dialog:
Select the business object you want to associate with the button and click OK. This sets the BindingSource property to the specified business object.

Note: If the ToolStrip is not on a form, the Binding Source Selection dialog is empty. If this is the case, you can manually enter the name of the business object in the BindingSource property.
If you want the specialized button to work with the business object's default table, you can skip this step. However, if you want to the button to work with a different table or data view of the business object, enter the name of the table or data view in the BindingSourceMember property.
If you want to bind to a different table, just enter the table name. For example: CustomerOrders.
If you want to bind to a data view, enter the name of the table the data view is associated with, a period, and the name of the data view. For example: Orders.dvOrdersByEmployeeID.

Note: This binding is different than the normal data binding for Windows Forms controls. This type of binding does not change any properties of the specialized button as is usually the case with regular data binding. Rather, the data binding specifies which business object, and table or view should be affected when the button is clicked at run time.