Border property editor

Use the Border property editor to change a component's border. You can create etched borders, raised or lowered borders, borders with colors or icons, all with or without a Title and insets. You may also make compound borders from the borders that your create.

To display this property editor, choose the border property in the Inspector when a component is selected. Click the ellipsis button. The property editor tries to initialize its values to match the value of the current border

Property Setting Style

Determines the way the border property setting will be generated. Choose one of the following settings:

Modify class instance variable
Replaces the initializer for the existing border variable.

Create a class instance variable
Creates a new Border as a class instance variable. The property setting will be set to this new variable. Any existing variable that the property setting used to point to remains undisturbed (but unused). You need to select this option if you will be creating a border for use as an InnerBorder of a CompoundBorder.

Do not generate a class instance variable
Does not create the border property as a class instance variable, but instead uses the border expression directly as the parameter to the border property setting.

Border Type

Sets the border type. The Border Type setting determines what Bevel Style and Options settings are available.

Choose one of the following types:

Empty
An EmptyBorder is created. The Bevel Style setting is not available. The following Options are available.
Title Color - The foreground color is used in the title if it is specified.
Etched
Creates an etched border. The default Bevel Style is Raised. The following default Options values are available:
Highlight
Shadow
Matte (Color)
Creates a border with color. The Bevel Style is not available. The width of the border is determined by the Insets setting. The following default Options value is available:
Color - The color of the border
Line
Creates a line for the border. The Bevel Style is not available. The following default Options are available:
Line Color - The color of the border
Line Width - The width of the border in pixels
Bevel
Creates a beveled border. The default Bevel Style is Raised. The following default Options are available:
Highlight Inner
Highlight Outer
Shadow Inner
Shadow Outer
Matte (Icon)
Creates a border that contains an icon. The Icon is tiled as necessary in order to fill the border. No Bevel Style or Options settings are available. The width of the border is determined by the Insets setting.
You choose the icon for the border from the Icon drop-down list.

Insets

The width of the border. This setting applies to Border Types of Empty, Matte (Color) or Matte (Icon). When other Border Types are specified, a CompoundBorder is generated consisting of the specified Border as the OuterBorder and an EmptyBorder as the InnerBorder. The insets are applied to the inner EmptyBorder. The exception to this is when a title is also specified. When a title and insets are specified for a Border Type that does not use insets, a CompoundBorder consisting of a TitledBorder that uses the specified border as the OuterBorder and an EmptyBorder that utilizes the insets as the InnerBorder is created.

Enter the width, in pixels, for the border"s top, bottom, left and right sides.

Bevel Style

Selects the style of the border. This options is only available for Border Types of Etched or Bevel.

Choose one of the following options:

Lowered
The border appears to be sunk into the design surface.

Raised
The border appears to be raised away from the design surface.

Options

Options for the selected Border Type. The following table indicates what Options are available for each Border Type.

To change Options settings, click in the right of the value field and choose a setting from the drop-down list. If you choose <custom> when the Option is a color value, the Color property editor is displayed.

Border Type Available Options
Empty Title Color
Etched Highlight, Shadow
Matte (Color) Color
Line Line Color, Line Width
Bevel Highlight Inner, Highlight Outer, Shadow Inner, Shadow Outer
Matte (Icon) None

Title

The title of the Border. When a title is specified, a TitledBorder will be generated. A TitledBorder consists of a title overlaying the specified Border. The other fields of the property editor describe this Border.

Icon

The name of the icon to display in the border. This field is only available when the Border Type is Matte (Icon).

The Icon drop-down list displays variables of type Icon and all image files that are in the current project.

Inner Border

The customized border to display along the border's inner edge, allowing you to create CompoundBorders. Customized borders are borders you have previously created using the Border property editor. All of the other information supplied to the property editor is used to create the OuterBorder object of the CompoundBorder.

Click to Preview

Shows what the border will look like on a sample Panel when you click on it. The background color of the Panel is toggled with each mouse click so you can see the real estate occupied by EmptyBorders if desired.