Pseudo selectors

Pseudo selectors can be used to apply style only when some conditions are fulfilled.

Pseudo selectors are preceded by a colon and can be combined:

<Style name="Table:even:input" >
<Style name="Edit:focus" >
<Style name="Edit.important:focus" >

When combining several pseudo selectors, the style will be applied if all pseudo selector conditions are fulfilled.

Note: Depending on the type of the front-end, some pseudo selectors are meaningless, or unsupported. See the table below to check which pseudo selectors are supported on your front-end platform.

Pseudo selectors have different priorities; the style with the most important pseudo selector will be used when several styles match.

Table 1. Pseudo selectors for presentation styles
Priority Pseudo selectors Condition GDC GBC GMA GMI
1 focus The widget has the focus Yes Yes Yes Yes
2 query The widget is in construct mode Yes Yes Yes Yes
3 display The widget is in a display array Yes Yes Yes Yes
4 input The widget is in an input array, input or construct Yes Yes Yes Yes
5 even This widget is on an even row if in a list (Table or Tree) Yes Yes No No
6 odd This widget is on an odd row if in a list (Table or Tree) Yes Yes No No
7 inactive The widget is inactive Yes Yes Yes Yes
8 active The widget is active Yes Yes Yes Yes
9 message Applies only to text displayed with the MESSAGE instruction Yes Yes Yes Yes
10 error Applies only to text displayed with the ERROR instruction Yes Yes Yes Yes
11 summaryLine Applies only to text displayed in AGGREGATE fields of tables Yes Yes No No

Pseudo selectors also define the priority of your styles. A more generic style will be used when the pseudo-selector has a higher priority.

For instance: you want all important edits to have red text, but you want the current field to be displayed in blue: 
<Style name="Edit.important" >
<Style name=":focus" >

The style ":focus" is more generic than "Edit.important"; therefore, it will be used for the focused item, as the pseudo selector is more precise.