If you select more than one visual part on the free-form surface, then only Delete and Layout appear in the pop-up menu.

Select Open Settings to display the settings for the selected parts. The Settings view displays the attributes and their initial values for the part. If multiple parts are selected when you select Open Settings, a settings notebook for each selected part opens in a different window.

You can use the Settings view to change the values of the attributes that set up the initial appearance or behavior you need for the part.

Select Edit part to open the editing view that is appropriate for the selected parts or the part whose pop-up menu you displayed:

Select Promote Part Feature to make the private data about the part publicly accessible to other parts.

Promoting part features, or adding attributes, actions, or events to the interface, enables data to be shared between two parts.

Select Change Name to change the name of a part placed on the free-form surface.

You can give parts descriptive names to more easily identify them. For example, you can change the default name, Pushbutton1, to Exit.

When you change the name of any part, you are changing the internal name of the part. This internal name appears in the Status area at the bottom of the Composition Editor window when you select the part. For a nonvisual part, the name also appears as a label beneath the icon for the part on the free-form surface. This menu option does not change the class name of a part.

Select Delete to remove the selected parts.

Select Layout to help you in placing parts in your views.

Select Become Primary Part to specify the primary part for your composite part. The primary part is the subpart with which most interaction will take place. It is the part whose interface is transparently exposed through the interface of the composite part.

By default, the primary part of a composite part is the part that was added to the free-form surface first. For a visual composite part, this is always the Window part that VA Smalltalk provides by default.

If the pop-up menu for a part does not include Become Primary Part, then the part is already the primary part.

Select Create Deferred Update Part to add a part that holds changes to data. You must add this part to the free-form surface. You cannot place it within a window.

When you place the part on the free-form surface, VA Smalltalk creates a connection between the self attribute of the part for which you displayed the pop-up menu and the new deferred update part. Rather than making connections to the attributes of the actual part, make connections to the deferred update part instead.

The Create Deferred Update Part part holds changes to data until you indicate, through its apply action, that the changes are to be saved.

After selecting Create Deferred Update Part, do the following:

To make a connection between two parts, select Connect from the pop-up menu for the part or for the free-form surface.

The connect menu displays. The connect menu contains the attributes, events, and actions associated with the part or the application.

You select the source of the connection from the connect menu and once you select the target part for the connection another connect menu displays for you to select the target feature.

The features in the connect menu choice vary depending on the part selected. If you have promoted part features, or added attributes, actions, or events to the interface, the values in the connect menu choice for the free-form surface vary.

Select Browse Connections to show or hide connection to or from the part.

Select Reorder Connections From to order the connections.

Connections fire in the order in which they are made. However, this is not always the correct order for the connections to occur for a valid GUI application. Reorder Connections From enables you to order the connections in the way that works best.

Select Quick Form to create a view for displaying an attribute of a part. Quick Form is available for most attributes of both visual and nonvisual parts.

Quick Form creates a visual part that is appropriate for displaying the value of an attribute. VA Smalltalk automatically provides an attribute-to-attribute connection between the visual part and the attribute that you select.

When you select a complex attribute such as self, a composite visual is created.

For example, if a part has an attribute of type String, then the default view for the attribute is a Text part with a Label part that is the attribute name.

After selecting Quick Form, do the following:

VA Smalltalk automatically makes an attribute-to-attribute connection between the new part and the part from which you requested Quick Form.

Open the Settings view for the quick form to determine what other defaults were also set for you.

Select Quick Report to generate a Report Form or Report Iterator for a part.

Select Tear-Off Attribute to work with an attribute as if it were a standalone part. The tear-off attribute is not actually a separate part. It is a variable representing the attribute.

When you select Tear-Off Attribute, VA Smalltalk displays the list of attributes for the part you are tearing from. After you select an attribute from the list, you can drop the tear-off attribute on the free-form surface. VA Smalltalk creates a connection (represented by a blue double-headed arrow) between the original part and the tear-off attribute. You can then form other connections to or from the tear-off attribute.

Tearing off is useful when attributes are nested. It allows direct access to an attribute nested inside another attribute. It also allows direct access to an attribute's events and actions.