Object Properties

Objects (as well as the view and frame) have properties to make them programmable. Properties are accessed by right-clicking on the object (or view) in edit mode.

All objects have a number of fundamental properties:

Table 1. Object Properties
Property	Description
(ObjectCode)	Identifies the object for convenient access.
Bottom	Bottom position of containing rectangle.
CursorPointer	Cursor pointer displayed while mouse pointer is over object.
Enable	Enable the object's hotspots and event handling, and, additionally, for a control, its state.
HelpContextID	Help context ID used if the Frame Object’s WhatsThisHelp property is set to Yes.
Left	Left position of containing rectangle.
Right	Right position of containing rectangle.
Tag	(VARIANT) stores user defined data.
ToolTipText	Tooltip text displayed while mouse pointer is over object.
Top	Top position of containing rectangle.
Visible	Determine whether an object or control is visible.

Tip

A color of "Nil" represents the default Windows color. For example, setting a Button Object’s BackColor to "Nil" implies COLOR_BTNFACE and setting TextColor to "Nil" implies COLOR_BTNTEXT.

Tip

A font with height 0 (nil) implies that the font should be adopted from the view object.

There are also a number of common properties that most objects implement. (draw-only) indicates that the properties are used with drawing objects only, and not controls.

Table 2. Draw-only Object Properties
Property	Description
BackColor	Background color. Nil represents transparent.
ForeColor	Foreground or Text color.
Font	Font: Name, Style & Size.
Layer	Layer where the object or control resides. Layers are defined in the Layers Sheet and may individually have their enabled or visibility state set.
AnchorSnaps	If the object has anchor points, then this property allows them to be added, deleted or edited. See Line Snapping.
RotateAngle	(draw-only) If the object can be rotated, this is its angle of rotation (between –180 and 180 degrees). See Rotation.

Table 3. Object Events
Events	Description
EventClick (or EventChange)	VBScript action callback procedure run when a user clicks over the object (or for a Windows control, when it changes value).
EventInitialize	VBScript action callback procedure run when view is opened to allow the object to further initialize itself.
EventPumpData	VBScript action callback procedure run when new data is pumped to the view.

There are also a number of optional events that may be linked in:

Table 4. Optional Object Events
Property	Description
EventDblClick	VBScript action callback procedure run when a user double-clicks over an object.
EventMouseDown	VBScript action callback procedure run when a user clicks the Left mouse button down over an object.
EventMouseMove	VBScript action callback procedure run when a user moves the mouse pointer over an object.
EventMouseUp	VBScript action callback procedure run when a user releases the Left mouse button up over an object.
EventDragOver	VBScript action callback procedure run when a user drags (text) over an object during drag & drop. You must set "Effect = 1" to enable EventDragDrop.
EventDragDrop	VBScript action callback procedure run when a user drops (text) over an object during drag & drop.

For example, here is a property sheet for the Window's push button control:

Figure 1. Push Button Property Sheet

The push button's properties are described in a following section. In general, you can edit properties values in line. Here are the actions tied to the property sheet's shortcut menu:

Table 5. Property Sheet Shortcuts
Item	Description
OK	Save the new property values.
Cancel	Abort (don't save) new property values.
Drill-Multi	multi-select only: if objects within the selection have different values for the same property, this action "drills" the dominant object's property values to be the universal value for that particular property for all of the object's in the selection.
Save As Default	Set current property configuration as default when creating as a new object. The allows you to default appearance of the object when it is created from the Object Bar palette.
Delete	Delete the object.
Sort	Sort the property list in ascending order?

The topics that follow describe the properties defined for default objects. Note that the programmer (but not the user) can add new objects, with new, custom properties.