Presentation Server Object Types
There are two classes of objects exposed by the Presentation Server: Intrinsic types and User types.
Intrinsic Types
These types are created and managed by the Presentation Server itself. They cannot be destroyed by using a Basic+ function with the sole exception of the SYSTEM object (destroying this will close the application).
• CLIPBOARD
• FILESYSTEM
• SYSTEM
• SYSTEMMONITOR
Some of the User types listed also maintain their own intrinsic "sub-objects", to expose items such as background images, rebar bands and tabcontrol tabs. These types are described along with their respective "owners" rather than in their own section.
User Types
These types are the objects that can be created at design-time in the IDE, or at runtime in Basic+. They can be further divided into two groups, GUI and non-GUI depending on whether or not they are visible at runtime.
The GUI objects are:
| ANIMATE | IPADDRESS | TOOLBAR |
| BITMAP | LISTBOX | TRACKBAR |
| CHECKBOX | OLECONTROL | TREELIST |
| COLORDROPDOWNPANEL | TREEVIEW | |
| COMBOBOX | PROGRESSBAR | UPDOWN |
| DATETIME | PROPERTYGRIDWINCONTROL | |
| EDITBOX | PUSHBUTTON | WINDOW |
| EDITFIELD | RADIOGROUP | |
| EDITTABLE | RADIOBUTTON | |
| GROUPBOX | REBAR | |
| HSCROLLBAR | RICHEDIT | |
| HSPLITBAR | STATIC | |
| HYPERLINK | TABCONTROL |
The following sections describes the properties and methods that both Intrinsic and User types support.
Property Types - Real and Synthetic
There are two types of properties supported by the Presentation Server: “Real” and “Synthetic”.
“Real” properties are those that are handled and processed exclusively inside the Presentation Server executable itself: these are mainly properties that represent OS information, or essential form and control information such as HANDLE, BACKCOLOR and SIZE etc. Most OpenInsight properties are of this type.
“Synthetic” properties are those that are implemented solely in Basic+. These are mainly properties that involve data-binding and validation, such as the COLUMN and VALID properties.
Under most circumstances the type of property, Real or Synthetic, has no impact on how you use the Presentation Server property API. However, if you are using the “Property Concatenation” technique as described in Appendix XXX, this is something you may need to be aware of as it may lead to some subtle bugs if you aren’t careful. Please see the aforementioned Appendix for more information.
All properties are noted as to their type in this manual in their respective “Property Traits” table.