How to Design Controls

Controls are often standard controls such as native text boxes or imported ActiveX controls. Development work on controls consists of inserting and manipulating them within the info box or dialog class they appear in.

However, you can also:

·	Change the properties of existing control classes.

·	Design new control classes based on existing control classes.

If you change properties for a control class, this will change all info boxes and dialogs where the controls of that class were inserted.

If you design new control classes, you can then insert controls of the new class into any number of info boxes and dialogs.

To change properties of an existing control class:

·	Select the control class in the Windows Designer catalog or window.

·	Right-mouse click on the class and choose Open.

A design view and object tree is opened for the control class.

·	Right-mouse click in the design view and choose Property Inspector, or from the menu bar, choose View, Property Inspector, or click the Property Inspector icon on the toolbar.

The Property Inspector is opened for the control class.

To design a new control class:

·	In the Windows Designer catalog, select the class you want to base the new control on.

The new control will be a subclass of this class and inherit its properties, both at create time and in the future.

·	Right-mouse click on the class and choose New Class.

A new control class named "Subclass of <control class>" is added to the catalog.

You can now give the new class a meaningful name and customize it by setting properties. The new control can be inserted into in any number of info box classes, dialog classes, or other control classes.