Application Shells for Desktop Applications

An application shell is the first object that is executed when a Windows or character mode application is started. It determines how the application is initialized and the first form component that is displayed.

The application shell runs the form components, and the menus, toolbars, and panels that may be associated with the application and its forms. It invokes the ProcScript in the apStart trigger and displays the initial form and a message line in which application messages are displayed.

Application shell triggers can be used to define behavior for setting up the application environment, authenticating users, executing components, and cleanup operations. An application shell can have an associated library containing messages, global ProcScripts, menus, and other applicable global objects.

Uniface has two types of shell for desktop applications:

• For Windows applications, the shell properties control the appearance of the application window, such as background color or image, title bar text, and so on. For more information, see Define a Windows Application Shell .
• For character mode applications, the shell enables you to define the layout and behavior. The appearance is determined by text colors and video attributes, which can be set in configuration files. For more information, see Define a Character Mode Application Shell .

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