Common public .NET form properties

The following table lists common public .NET form properties,

Table 1. Common public .NET form properties
Property Description
AcceptButton Gets or sets the object reference to the button control on the form whose Click event is published when the user presses the ENTER key.
Bounds Gets or sets a System.Drawing.Rectangle structure that specifies the location and size of the form within the client area of the screen.
CancelButton Gets or sets an object reference to the button control on the form whose Click event is published when the user presses the ESC key.
ClientSize Gets or sets a System.Drawing.Size structure that specifies the client area of the form. The client area is everything within the form except non-client elements, such as the title bar of a form.
ControlBox Gets or sets an ABL LOGICAL value that indicates if the control box icon is displayed in the caption (title) bar of the form. The control box is a system control that provides access to the system menu for the form. The icon used to represent it is specified by the Icon property.
Controls Gets the object reference to the System.Windows.Forms.ControlCollection class instance for the form. Every .NET form has a control collection where you can add or remove all the application controls that the form contains, such as button, text, grid, and menu controls that you create and initialize for the form.
DialogResult Gets or sets a System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult enumeration value that indicates the result of a form displayed as a dialog box.
Enabled Gets or sets a value indicating whether the control can respond to user interaction.
FormBorderStyle Gets or sets a System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle enumeration value that indicates whether the form can be resized by the user and how the graphics of the frame border appear and function.
HelpButton Gets or sets a value indicating whether a Help button should be displayed in the caption box of the form.
Icon Gets or sets the object reference to a System.Drawing.Icon class instance that represents the icon displayed for the form on the taskbar and also the icon for the control box enabled by the ControlBox property.
Location Gets or sets a System.Drawing.Point structure that specifies the pixel screen coordinates of the upper-left-hand corner of a form. You can also use the Top and Left properties to get or set the location of the form.
MainMenuStrip Gets or sets the object reference to a System.Windows.Forms.MenuStrip class instance that represents the primary menu container for the form.
MaximizeBox Gets or sets an ABL LOGICAL value indicating whether the Maximize button is displayed in the title bar of the form.
MdiParent Gets or sets the current multiple-document interface (MDI) parent form of this (MDI child) form.
MinimizeBox Gets or sets an ABL LOGICAL value indicating whether the Minimize button is displayed in the title bar of the form.
Modal Gets an ABL LOGICAL value indicating if the form is displayed modally (as a dialog box).
Owner Gets or sets the form that owns this form. OpenEdge also allows .NET forms to own ABL windows and for ABL windows to own .NET forms using the ABL PARENT attribute. For more information, see the chapter on .NET forms in Use .NET Classes in ABL Applications.
Size Gets or sets a System.Drawing.Size structure that specifies the width and height of the form in pixels. You can also use the Height and Width properties to get or set the size of the form.
StartPosition Gets or sets the starting position of the form at run time. This is a FormStartPosition enumeration value.
Text Gets or sets an ABL CHARACTER value that represents the title displayed in the title (caption) bar of the form.
TopMost Gets or sets a value indicating whether the form should be displayed as a topmost form.
Visible Gets or sets an ABL LOGICAL value that indicates whether the form is visible or can be displayed on the screen. The form Show( ) method also sets this property to TRUE. You do not always need to initialize this property to TRUE in order to initially display the form, depending on how you block for input on the form.
WindowState Gets or sets the form's window state. This is a FormWindowState enumeration value that indicates the form is maximized, minimized, or displayed normally.