4GL Access: RW

The RequireRealField attribute indicates whether a field is associated with a toolkit control or widget rather than taking advantage of performance and size enhancements that OpenROAD provides for some fields.

If you set this attribute to FALSE for a single-line entry field, free trim (except one whose bias is Changeable or Landable), or a nondefault button field, OpenROAD creates the field, simulating the appearance and behavior of an equivalent form object created by your toolkit. Form fields created in this manner by OpenROAD enhance screen performance significantly and use fewer resources.

The primary disadvantage of using a field without the toolkit control or widget is that such fields appear below fields created by the toolkit (real fields). Therefore, attempts to overlap real fields with those simulated by OpenROAD fail.

Layering with nonreal fields can be complex. They are actually drawn on the surface of their parent's window, just like shape fields, but they are drawn after (on top of) all shape fields. They are obscured, however, by any real field (one based on a control or widget) that impinges on their screen real estate, regardless of the LayerSequence value assigned to them.

If layering is very important and the speed improvements achieved by using nonreal fields, consider grouping sets of fields inside of subforms or flexible forms.