Teach Yourself Borland C++ in 14 Days - portal

Getting Your Feet Wet
are divided into groups. Did you notice the tabs along the top of the Component Palette? Go
ahead and click on the tabs to explore the different components available to you. To place
a component on your form, you simply click the component’s button in the Component
Palette and then click on your form where you want the component to appear. Don’t worry
about the fact that you don’t yet know how to use components. We’ll get to that in due time.
When you are done exploring, click on the tab labeled Standard, because you’ll need it in a
moment.
Figure 1.1.
The C++Builder
IDE and the initial
blank form.
NEW TERM
A component is a self-contained piece of binary software that performs some specific
predefined task, such as a text label, an edit control, or a list box.
Below the speedbar and Component Palette and glued to the left side of the screen is the
Object Inspector. It is through the Object Inspector that you modify a component’s
properties and events. You will use the Object Inspector constantly as you work with
C++Builder. The Object Inspector has one or two tabs, depending on the component
currently selected. It always has a Properties tab. A component’s properties control how the
component operates. For example, changing the Color property of a component will change
the background color of that component. The list of available properties varies from
component to component, although components usually have several common elements
(Width and Height properties, for instance).
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