Builders Overview

Builders are tools that aid in setting properties of controls on a form. Unlike wizards, builders are reentrant so that you can reopen a builder on a particular control over and over again.

Visual FoxPro includes a number of generic builders for many of the common form controls including grids, list boxes, combo boxes, check boxes, command groups, and option groups. To invoke a builder, simply right-click on the selected object in the form or class designer and choose the Builder menu item.

For example, you can bring up the Builder on a grid to set a visual style and data source for that grid.

Visual FoxPro also contains a number of builders that are unique to some of the foundation classes included in the Component Gallery. If you drag-and-drop a class from the Component Gallery to a form, any associated Builder is automatically launched.

For example, if you drag-and-drop the HyperLink Label class from the Component Gallery, a builder opens and prompts you to enter a label caption and target URL. When you run this form and click on the label, your Web browser is launched and goes to the target URL you entered in the builder. You can later reenter the builder to change this URL if you like.