Viewing custom class properties at design time

[Markus_Winter]

@425965:@Jason Parsley

The code I posted previously and put in app.open is nearly identical to the code the IDE would generate to construct a window you design with very minor differences. But stylistically it is identical. That is very much what the IDE generates. So if that code won’t work then the code the IDE generates won’t work either for the exact same reasons.

Yes, the code the IDE generates. That is what I was getting at,

Secondly, the code in the constructor is in the CLASS - not the INSTANCE. Every instance would run the exact same constructor. So if we put code in the constructor it would be the same for every instance and so every instance would have the same values.

True. Bad choice on my part.

”Ah" you say "but what if

… you use the Open event instead? After all, instance specific settings override the class settings anyway, for example with public properties.

[Markus_Winter]

P.S. Jason, I appreciate the time you take in answering my questions. But come on, work with me. The question is “could it be made to work?” and not “how can it not possibly work?” For example by adding the code for private properties to app.open. If the IDE is adding the code for public properties to app.open, then I guess it could add the code for private properties set in the IDE to the instance open event? After all we can do that ourselves, and then the IDE takes it to generate the code for the compiler, so there is no reason the IDE can’t do it automatically- it would simply be a convenience and usability question.

[Greg_O_Lone]

@425972:@Markus Winter

P.S. Jason, I appreciate the time you take in answering my questions. But come on, work with me. The question is “could it be made to work?” and not “how can it not possibly work?” For example by adding the code for private properties to app.open. If the IDE is adding the code for public properties to app.open, then I guess it could add the code for private properties set in the IDE to the instance open event? After all we can do that ourselves, and then the IDE takes it to generate the code for the compiler, so there is no reason the IDE can’t do it automatically- it would simply be a convenience and usability question.

Respectfully, Jason has answered your question several times already, in increasing detail.

The answer to “Could it be made to work?” is “No”.

[Markus_Winter]

@425974:@Greg O'Lone

Respectfully, Jason has answered your question several times already, in increasing detail.

Thanks, but I figured it out. The correct answer is “private properties of a class can be accessed from within the class, but not from an instance of the class”.

Maybe that’s something that is obvious to you, but for me (and possibly others) an instance seems like a “member” of the class (a bit like a subclass) so it is not obvious that you can’t necessarily access it’s properties like you do with subclasses accessing properties of the superclass.

Learned something, so thank you to all.

[Greg_O_Lone]

@426004:@Markus Winter

Maybe that’s something that is obvious to you, but for me (and possibly others) an instance seems like a “member” of the class (a bit like a subclass) so it is not obvious that you can’t necessarily access it’s properties like you do with subclasses accessing properties of the superclass.

Keep in mind that if you have a class with a private property on it and subclass it, the subclass can’t access the private property either.