Designing Containers

By default, you normally design an entire form in the Form Editor window. You can also use the entire Form Editor window to work on only one subcontainer of the form at a time.

This is similar to using the zoom function found in many applications. You can focus your view to one container, leaving other unnecessary (at the time) components out of sight. This can be particularly useful when you are working with a large form containing a complex nested hierarchy of containers and components.

When you use the Form Editor window to design one container, your view in the Form Editor window changes but the entire form hierarchy is still available in the Component Inspector.

To use the entire Form Editor window to design a container:

  1. In the Form Editor window or Component Inspector, select the container component you want to design.
  2. Right-click and choose Design This Container from the contextual menu.

    Alternatively, double-click the container you want to design.

To display the entire form after designing a container:

  1. Right-click in the Form Editor window and choose Design Whole Form from the contextual menu.

    If the Design Whole Form menu item is dimmed, you are already designing the entire form.

    Alternatively, hold down the Alt key and double-click anywhere inside the container except on a subcomponent. If the container being designed is nested within another subcontainer, Alt-double-click designs the parent container instead of the whole form.

To quickly see if the Form Editor window is displaying the entire form or only a subcontainer of the form, look at the Form Editor window title. If the name in brackets is a single name, the entire form is being displayed. If the form name in brackets is followed by the slash character (/) and one or more container names, the container named last in the title is the only container displayed.
See also
Form Editor

Moving or Copying a Component

Reordering Components Within the Same Container

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