Control Properties

Description

Every control that you place on a layout has a set of properties that you can set to modify its appearance and/or behavior. Properties for an control can always be set by using its Properties dialog box, which is displayed by right-clicking on the object and choosing Properties... from the right-click menu, or by pressing F12. In addition, some object properties can be set through the use of one or more Toolbars.

For example, the Font Toolbar can be used to set the font, size, and color of text. The text may be contained in a text object, a button, a field, or any other object that has text properties. To access the Font Toolbar, click the Font Toolbar button on the Edit Toolbar. If you set a form to modal data entry, all objects on the form are locked (i.e. cannot be changed) until the form is placed into enter or change mode. This includes two-state buttons, multi-state buttons, and variables. In many cases, it is desirable to be able to click two and multi-state buttons and to set variable values even if the form is modal. If this is what you want to do, open the object's Properties dialog, display its Setup tab, and select "Always Modeless" in Field Properties to specify that the object is always modeless.

Setting Properties for the Entire Layout

Layouts also have properties which you can set. For example, depending on the type of layout, you might be able to specify its physical size, its background color, and the title that appears in its window title bar. To set these properties, use the Properties dialog box. The manner in which you access the Properties dialog box varies depending on the type of layout you are editing. You can either right-click on the background of the layout and select Properties, or you select Properties from the Form, Browse, Report, Letter, or Label menu, or by clicking F12. For a list of object properties, refer to the following topics:

Active X Properties

Bitmap Properties

Browse Properties

Button Properties

Column Properties

Embedded Browse Properties

Field Properties

Form Properties

Frame Properties

Line Properties

Memo Properties

Page Break Properties

Region Properties

Rich Text Properties

Stylesheet Properties

Sub-Form Properties

Tabbed Control Properties

Text Properties

For additional information, refer to:

  • Properties

  • Using the Xbasic Explorer to View Object Properties