Push Button

This article describes the push button component and its properties.

The push button is used to capture mouse clicks from the user. Use it to trigger actions such as hiding or showing other components, moving data, making a selection and so on.

Select Push Button from the controls category of the component library. Move the mouse over the canvas and click to add a push button to your project:

Push Button Properties

The push button properties consist of DATA INSERTION, BUTTON STYLING, INTERACTIVITY and a DYNAMIC VISIBILITY drawers. This guide will describe the data insertion, button styling and interactivity properties only; the dynamic visibility properties are generic to each component and a separate guide and tutorial on dynamic visibility can be found here.

DATA INSERTION:

Data insertion is triggered when the push button is clicked by the user. Data insertion is one of the core concepts within Squirrel, if you aren’t sure what it is, take a look at the Getting Started: Data Insertion tutorial for more information.

Bind the Source Data property to the cell in the spreadsheet that contains the data to be copied, then bind the Destination property to a different cell that the data is to be pasted into.

BUTTON STYLING:

The appearance of the button can be altered to suit a theme or particular style by using the BUTTON STYLING properties:

DEFAULT TEXT

The DEFAULT TEXT property is checked by default. Uncheck the checkbox adjacent to the DEFAULT TEXT section title to hide the default push button label.

• Button Text – This property contains the text that will be shown in the push button label.
• Font – Choose a font style from the dropdown list.
• Size – Change the font size of the push button label.
• B I U – Use these toggle buttons (bold, italic, underline) to change the format of the button label. When any of these is toggled to on, the button is blue:

• Default Text Color – The button label will be shown in the colour that matches the value entered in the property field.
• Opacity – This determines the transparency of the button label.

FORMAT

These formatting properties apply to the default push button label.

• Text alignment – Choose to align the button label to the left, right, or centre. The current selection is indicated by the blue button:

• Content alignment – Choose to vertically align the button label to the top, centre or bottom of the push button component. The current selection is indicated by the blue button:

• Padding – This property defines the space between the push button label and the push button border.

DEFAULT STYLE

In this section you can set the colour, border and drop shadow properties of the button.

• Fill – When checked, the background of the push button will be filled with a colour that matches the value entered in the property field.

• Opacity – This determines the transparency of the background of the text label. This is only available when the Fill checkbox is checked.

• Border – This property is unchecked by default. Check to add a border to the push button and set the border colour and opacity properties as desired.

• Weight – This property determines the line thickness of the push button border in pixels.

• Line style – Select a border line style from the dropdown box. The options are solid and dashed:

• Corners – This property determines the corner radius of the push button border. Use the slider to amend this property, or type a numerical value into the property field.

• Effects – Choose between None and Drop Shadow from the dropdown box. If Drop Shadow is selected, further drop shadow properties are shown.

• Color – This determines the colour of the drop shadow.

• Opacity – This determines the transparency of the drop shadow.

• X Position – This property determines the size of the drop shadow. Both positive and negative integers can be used to place the drop shadow to the left or right of the push button.

• Y Position – This property determines the size of the drop shadow. Both positive and negative integers can be used to place the drop shadow at the top or bottom of the push button.

• Blur – This softens the drop shadow effect.

HOVER STATE

The HOVER STATE property is checked by default. Uncheck this if you wish to disable the hover state properties.

• Hover Text Color – As the mouse moves over the button, the button label text will change to the colour value entered in this property field.
  • Opacity – As the mouse moves over the button, the opacity of the button label text will change to the value entered in this property field.
• Hover Fill – As the mouse moves over the button, the button background colour will change to the colour value entered in this property field.
  • Opacity – As the mouse moves over the button, the opacity of the button will change to the value entered in this property field.

PRESSED STATE

The PRESSED STATE property is checked by default. Uncheck this if you wish to disable the pressed state properties.

• Pressed Text Color – As the button is clicked, its label text will change to the colour value entered in this property field.
  • Opacity – As the button is clicked, the opacity of its label text will change to the value entered in this property field.
• Hover Fill – As the button is clicked, its background colour will change to the colour value entered in this property field.
  • Opacity – As the button is clicked, its opacity will change to the value entered in this property field.

INTERACTIVITY:

It is possible to disable the push button:

Bind the Status property to a cell in the spreadsheet, and either add a value to the Value property or bind it to a cell containing a value in the spreadsheet. When the status property and the value property are equal, the push button will be disabled. Leaving these two properties empty will ensure that the push button is always enabled.