Abstract: A container independent method for editing a control, wherein changes may be viewed and evaluated prior to applying the changes to the control. The method comprises a user dropping a control onto a form of a container, such as Visual Basic. When the user drops the control, the container constructs the control. The control comprises a standard interface, preferably Active X, compliant portion and internal control object portions. When the container constructs the control it constructs the standard interface compliant control. Upon being constructed, the standard interface compliant control constructs a first internal control object referenced by an original pointer. The first internal control object comprises the data for the control. The standard interface compliant control provides a means of redirecting methods invoked upon the control through the standard interface to the internal control object referenced by the original pointer.

Abstract: A method for editing an OLE control comprises a user dragging an icon representation of the control and dropping the control onto a form of a container which contains OLE controls, such as Visual Basic. When the user drops the control, the container constructs the control and displays the control in the form. When a user selects the control for an editing transaction the control creates a property page dialog, creates a preview window and displays the control in the preview window. The user makes changes to the control via the property page dialog. The property page dialog invokes a method on the control to display the control with the changes reflected in the preview window so that the user can see the effect of the changes on the control. The display method is an alternate method to the standard display method defined by the interface between the container and the control. Preferably the alternate display method receives additional input parameters which contain information describing the changes.

Abstract: A method for editing an OLE control wherein changes may be made to the control in a direct graphically interactive manner. The user drags an icon representation of the control and drops the control onto a form of a container which supports OLE controls, such as Visual Basic. When the user drops the control, the container constructs the control. When the user selects the control for an editing transaction the control creates a property page dialog and displays the control in the property page dialog. The user makes changes directly to the control displayed in the property page dialog with an input device, such as a mouse. These changes are applied to the control's data and are thus reflected in the control displayed in the preview window and in the form window. The method is particularly useful for setting initial run-time values of controls.