In IBO there is a totally different way of setting the display properties of fields. The properties that control this are actually at the dataset and connection level.
This is for the following properties: Alignment, CharCase, DisplayFormat, Displaylabel, DisplayWidth, EditMask, GridDisplayLabel, Index, ReadOnly, Trimming and Visible.
For each one of these properties there is a stringlist based property at the dataset and connection level. When a dataset is prepared and the column objects are created for both fields and params these string tables are referenced and the properties of the columns are set according to the stringlist entries.
From that point on the properties of the columns or the datasets can be changed and the dataset will replicate them to keep them in sync automatically. So, it is possible to store and retrieve stringlist contents to save and restore attributes of datasets.
The reason that these properties are also duplicated at the connection level is because it is typical for most applications to have the same settings for columns throughout an entire application. In this way, it is possible to make these same settings at a global level and then not have to set them anywhere else. It makes for very quick programming of applications!
It is also possible to use the DomainName for certain columns so that by making an entry in these properties at the connection level using a DomainName will apply to every column that is of that DomainName. This works great for having a telephone or zip code domain and then giving it an EditMask for use in the entire application.
Please refer to the components help file for the formats of all these properties.
