Maintaining Properties for Your Form or Control
To maintain the properties associated with your form or control, use the Show Properties Dialog command from the Window menu. Alternatively, click the Properties toolbar button.
The display of the Properties dialog varies, depending on whether you selected a form or control, or on the type of control. In general, there are five pages, or list types, covering the various properties.
Click the Stay on top of Painter icon at the top left of the dialog or select the Properties on Top command from the Options menu to keep the Properties dialog on top of the Painter, or click the Help icon (?) to access online help for the dialog.
To save the current form when the Properties dialog has focus, press F2.
Most of the properties have default settings and many property values are set automatically when you manipulate your form or controls in Painter or you use some of the menu commands; for example, the Layout or the Options command.
In the Properties dialog:
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The value of a property in the right column is displayed with blue text when the selected control is inherited from a superclass, indicating that you cannot change the value.
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When you click a text value in the right column and the selected control is inherited from a superclass, the content of that text box is read‑only, so that you can select and copy text.
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Combo boxes in the right column are disabled for inherited control values.
For details about form and control properties, see
To access the Properties dialog for the current form or control
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Select the Show Properties Dialog command from the Window menu
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Click the Properties toolbar button
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Press F4
The Properties dialog, similar to that shown in the following image, is then displayed.
The Common page is displayed by default when the Properties dialog is first opened.
You can resize the first column of the Properties dialog, by dragging the vertical grid line to the required position. This may be useful, for example, when viewing ActiveX control property names that can be very long.
The Properties dialog is also displayed when you:
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Press F4 when the Hierarchy for Form dialog has focus.
Conversely, the Hierarchy for Form dialog is displayed when you press F5 when the Properties dialog has focus.
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Double‑click a control name in the list box of the Hierarchy for Form dialog. (The Properties dialog is then displayed after the control is selected in the Painter.)
Double‑clicking a property in the Properties dialog marks the form as having been modified when:
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You toggle a boolean value.
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The value is part of a list in which case the value of the listIndex property is incremented.
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A Property Pages dialog is displayed and the showPropertyPage method returns that a value has been changed.
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A common dialog is displayed and is not cancelled.
Double‑clicking an entry calls the Property Pages dialog only if the getPropertyDisplay method that is called returns true and the hasPropertyPage method also returns true. If the getPropertyDisplay method does not return true, the Property Pages dialog must be opened by using the Change entry in the combo box associated with the property in the column on the right of the Specific page of the Properties dialog.
To change the properties of your form or control, click one of the icons listed in the following table
| To change the … | Icon | For details, see… |
|---|---|---|
| Common properties of your form or control | 
|
Maintaining Common Properties |
| Properties specific to your form or control | 
|
Maintaining Specific Control Properties |
| Size and position of the window of your form or control | 
|
Maintaining Size and Position Properties |
| Color or font of your form or control | 
|
Maintaining Font and Color Properties |
Each change that you make to a property is applied immediately the focus is changed from that property or when you press Enter.
