Displaying a Hierarchical List of Controls on a Form

You can display a hierarchical list of all controls painted on the currently active form; for example, if you want to inspect the controls painted on a complex form.

To access the Hierarchy for Form dialog for the current form, perform one of the following actions

Select the Show Control Hierarchy Dialog command from the Window menu
Press F5

The Hierarchy for Form dialog, similar to that shown in the following image, is then displayed.

If you do not want the control children ordered by name under their parent (the default value), click the Order by Top/Left option button. The control children are then ordered by the top position and then the left position when two controls have the same top position, providing a visual association with the form layout.

The list box displays a hierarchical list of parent‑child relationships of each control painted on the form. Each control is listed alphabetically by control name under its control parent entry by default. The description for each displayed form and control includes the top and left positions and the height and width sizes in pixels. Each entry is displayed as control‑name (T:top L:left H:height W:width) (control‑class‑name) 'caption'; for example:

lblWebSite (T:18 L:12 H:21 W:60) (Label) 'URL'

Click the Stay on top of Painter icon at the top left of the dialog or select the Control Hierarchy on Top command from the Options menu to keep the Hierarchy for Form dialog on top of (overlay) the Painter. Conversely, repeating these actions toggles the pinning of the dialog on top of the Painter and the check status of the menu command.

To save the current form when the Hierarchy for Form dialog has focus, press F2.

The caption value is displayed only if a caption property value has been defined for the control and it is not null.

Each entry that has children is displayed in blue text, while each leaf child entry is shown in black text

The Windows system font is used to display the entries so that any caption text in other languages can be displayed.

Each time you select a control in the painted form, that entry is selected in the Hierarchy for Form dialog. The hierarchy is expanded, if required, and the entry is centered in the list box, if possible.

The list is updated whenever a control is added to or deleted from the painted form, if the type of a control is changed, the parent of a control is changed, a caption is changed, or if another form being painted is activated.

Clicking on a control entry in the list box on the Hierarchy for Form dialog selects that entry in the Painter and the Painter is activated if it is not already active. In addition:

Pressing F4 when the Hierarchy for Form dialog has focus causes the Properties dialog to be displayed.
Double‑clicking a control name in the list box of the Hierarchy for Form dialog causes the Properties dialog to be displayed after the control is selected in the Painter.
Pressing F5 when the Properties dialog has focus displays the Hierarchy for Form dialog.

The Hierarchy for Form dialog is unloaded if the currently selected form being painted is unloaded or if the JADE Painter is closed.

The window state and size of the dialog and the checked status is saved when you close the dialog. When the dialog is next displayed, the state of the form that is displayed is determined by the last saved state.

2016.0.01 and higher

To change the parent of a control from the Hierarchy for Form dialog from version 2018.0.01 and higher

While holding the Shift key down, left‑click the name of the control to be re-parented in the list of control names.
While holding down the mouse button, drag the mouse to the new parent control in the Hierarchy for Form dialog and then release the mouse.

A message box is then displayed with the following message, prompting you to confirm the parent change.

Make 'control-name'  ('control-class-name') a child of 'new‑parent‑name' ('parent-class‑name') and preserve left and top?

The message box contains three buttons. Click:

Yes, if you want to change the parent and retain the current top and left position within the new parent.
No, if you want to change the parent and retain the same screen position within the new parent.
Cancel, if you want to abort the parent change process.

Note that while dragging a control, moving the mouse:

Above the list box entries containing the control and form names scrolls the list up.
Below the list box entries containing the control and form names scrolls the list down.
Over the expanded node image causes the list item to be expanded one level.
Over an item that cannot have control children displays a no-drop allowed style cursor image.
Over an item that can host the control being dragged as a child displays a hand with pointed finger cursor image, indicating that you can drop the dragged control.

The status text of the completed drag and drop process is displayed at the bottom of the Hierarchy for Form dialog when you release the mouse over an entry in the list box.