Dynamically displaying interface objects

Oftentimes, we will create interface objects and only have them appear on the screen when appropriate. For example, you might have a graphic indicator that the user has unread system messages. If the value is 1 or higher, then you might have the graphic visible; otherwise, you might hide it. This recipe shows you how to accomplish this task.

How to do it...

Perform the following steps to dynamically display interface objects:

1. Create a new main stack.
2. Drag a button to the stack's card.
3. Change the name of the new button to testButton.
4. To make an object, such as a button, visible, use the following syntax:

     set the visible of <object type> <"object name"> to true

   So, for example, if you have a button named testButton, your code will be as follows:

     set the visible of btn "testButton" to true

5. To hide the example button from step 4, enter the following code:

     set the visible of btn "testButton" to false

6. To toggle a button's visibility, add the following code to the button:

     if the visible of me is true then
       set the visible of me to false
     else 
       set the visible of me to true
     end if

How it works...

We can use an object's visible property to dynamically display or hide the object by setting visible to true or false.