This section describes how to design and interact with static browse objects and the queries they represent. In Create and Use Dynamic Temp-Tables and Browses you learn how to create a dynamic browse at run time.

Like most other ABL (Advanced Business Language) graphical objects, the browse is also supported on character terminals, though with somewhat reduced functionality. Although this book concentrates on graphical interfaces, this section includes notes, along with topics at the end, that describe some of the differences between using the browse in a Windows GUI and in character mode.

A browse is a visual representation of a query. You already know from Use Queries, that one of the principal uses of a query in ABL is to define a set of rows that you can navigate visually using a browse. The browse displays data from the query in rows and columns. A row represents the data of a single row in the query’s result list. A column represents the value of a particular field for each row. A row and column intersection, called a cell, represents the value of the field (column name) in that particular row. A user can scroll up and down the rows, and left and right through the columns.

You already learned how to use the AppBuilder to generate a browse definition for you, and also how to define a browse on your own. In this section, you learn about some of the many features that make the browse the most flexible and powerful visual object ABL supports. Even an entire section is not sufficient to cover every aspect of using the browse. For a description of all browse functionality, including attributes and methods not covered here, see the DEFINE BROWSE statement and the Browse widget reference entry, in the ABL Reference.