Component Selection and Manipulation
A component in your project can be selected by clicking on the component in the Workspace or on the component's name in the Project Tree. Multiple components can be selected by holding the Ctrl key while clicking on the components or by using the mouse to click and drag a box around the desired components. You can select all components on the current screen using the Select All item on the Edit menu.
The last component selected will be identified by the dark blue handles and by dark blue highlighting in the Project Tree. The other selected components have handles with blue outlines and are highlighted in light blue in the Project Tree. (The last component selected is important, because many of the component manipulation commands described below are in relation to the last component selected.)
Once a component selection has been made, the selected component(s) can be manipulated using items from the Component menu as described below. All of the functions available from the Component menu can also be accessed by right-clicking on one of the selected components. Those functions which involve how the components are placed on the Workspace can also be accessed from the Layout Toolbar. (Note that icons on the Layout Toolbar will only be enabled when their functions are currently applicable based on whether no components are currently selected, one component is currently selected, or multiple components are currently selected.)
Properties - Opens the Properties dialog box for the selected component.
Delete Selection - Removes the highlighted component(s) from the Workspace.
Lock Aspect Ratio - The aspect ratio of a component is the ratio of its width to its height. When this menu item is selected, the aspect ratio of the highlighted component is locked. If the width (or height) of the component is changed, the height (or width) will automatically be changed to keep the aspect ratio constant. The lock on the aspect ratio can be temporarily overridden by holding down the Ctrl key, while dragging the boundaries of a component to resize it.
Rename - Allows you to edit the name of the selected component.
Manual Resize - Allows you to set the size and position of the selected component. Use the X and Y spin boxes to set the position of the component on the screen. Use the W and H spin boxes to set the width and height of the component.
Cut - Removes the selected component(s) from the screen and places a copy on the Windows clipboard.
Copy - Places a copy of the selected component(s) on the Windows clipboard.
Align - Allows you to align two or more components on a screen. The last component selected will be the basis on which the other components are aligned.
Lefts - The left border of all selected components will be aligned.
Centers - All selected components are positioned vertically, with their centers aligned.
Rights - The right border of all selected components will be aligned.
Tops - The upper border of all selected components will be aligned.
Bottoms - The bottom border of all selected components will be aligned.
Middles - All selected components are positioned horizontally, with their centers aligned.
Space Evenly - Used to adjust the spacing of three or more components.
Across - Spaces the components horizontally across the page using the left-most and right-most components as the left and right boundaries for the spacing.
Down - Spaces the components vertically down the page, using the top-most and the bottom-most components as the top and bottom boundaries for the spacing.
Make Same Size - Allows you to set two or more components to the same height, width, or both. The last component selected will be the basis on which the other components are sized.
Center - Used to center one or more components on the page.
Vertical - Centers the component(s) vertically on the page.
Horizontal - Centers the component(s) horizontally on the page.
Order - Lets you choose the order in which the components appear on the display (often referred to as the Z order). Select a component and choose to send it to the back, send backward (one step), bring forward (one step), or bring it to the front of all other components. This order is important when layering transparent components.
Group Selection - Allows you to group two or more components together. They can then be moved, copied, ordered, etc. as a single object.
When a component group is selected, the Ungroup Selection menu item will be enabled. You can undo the component grouping by selecting this menu item.
When components are grouped, the properties for each of the components will show up as an item in the Component right-click menu. These menu items can be used to modify the properties for each component.