When you create a Visual LANSA application, your focus is on the interface. You can choose from many controls with different functionality, and you have a lot of freedom in how you arrange and organize information.
Creating the interface is easy because you do it by dragging and dropping fields and controls to a form with the mouse. The form corresponds to a window in the application when it is running, so you can see instantly what your application will look like. Because creating a window is very quick, you probably try out several alternatives.
When you create an interface for a LANSA function, you do it programmatically using commands such as REQUEST and DISPLAY. You do, of course, use the screen painter to check the interface, but your choices are limited and they concern more the layout than the functionality.
To create effective graphical interfaces, you need to know the functionality and purpose of the different controls. See the descriptions of the individual controls.
To see an example of a graphical user interface, execute the VL_DEM20 demo application. (To do this, go to the Fields/Components list, locate and select VL_DEM20 and then choose the Execute command from the ribbon.)
