About the Object Inspector

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The Object Inspector displays the names and current values of the properties and events associated with the selected object.

The Object Inspector is the connection between the visual appearance of your application, and the code that makes your application run.

The Object Inspector enables you to:

  • Set design-time properties for components you have placed on a form (or for the form itself).
  • Create and navigate through event handlers.
  • Filter visible properties and events.
  • Direct access to some actions on the object using the Quick Action Panel.

Sections on the Object Inspector

Instance List

The Instance List at the top of the Object Inspector is a drop-down list that displays the names of all the components on the active form and (in gray text) the object type, or class, of each component. This information lets you quickly display properties and events for the different components on the current form.

The Instance List displays the class name for each object in the list which can be very helpful when there are many components, and the names do not give much information.

The instance list box displays a tooltip for the selected component, which is useful if a component name is wider than the Instance List. You can also hide the instance list box or customize its colors by changing the options on the Object Inspector page of the Environment Options dialog box, or selecting Properties on the context menu.

Filter Box

The Filter Box allows filtering properties or events. The filter shows all the properties or events which name contains any match with the searching pattern.

Click Esc or the cross icon Cross Filter icon.png on the right to clean the filter.

Columns

You can resize the columns of the Object Inspector by dragging the separator line to a new position.

Properties and Events Pages

The Object Inspector has two pages:

To change pages, click the tab of the page that is not displayed (Properties or Events).

You can group the properties and the events by their category. Grouping the properties reduce the number of visible items in the Object Inspector and helps you to easily see the different categories.

Use the command View from the context menu to hide one or more categories. This is really useful to help you focus on those properties that are of interest at the time. For example, when localizing your application for other countries, you can display only properties that need to be localized by unchecking all categories except Localizable. See How the Object Inspector Displays Properties.

The Object Inspector also includes expanded inline component references that display the properties and events of a referenced component (or a subcomponent) without having to actually select that component.

You can control the colors in which the items appear in the Object Inspector, and change the options that allow you to display the different parts that conform the Object Inspector such as the instance list or the status bar. To change these settings for the Object Inspector, choose Tools > Environment Options, and click Object Inspector, or right-click the Object Inspector and choose Properties.

Quick Action Panel

The Quick Action Panel lists direct actions that can be performed on the selected object on the form. For example, open the Items Editor window for a TListBox.

Additional Menus

The Object Inspector also provides some additional menus, located just below the Quick Action Panel. The Description Panel and the Status Bar.

See Also