Working with Parts
Now that you are familiar with the components of the Composition Editor, let’s look into the basics of constructing an application from parts.
When working with parts in VA Smalltalk, you will use the following fundamental techniques: dragging objects, selecting multiple items, and displaying pop-up menus.
You can
•add parts to the free form surface or to other parts
•change a part’s attribute by eeither directly editing it, or by changing its settings
•you can single out an attribute of a part by tearing it off and placing it on the free form surface
•you can connect parts
Adding parts
To add a part from the parts palette to the layout surface of the Composition Editor, follow these steps:
1. Select the category from the left column of the parts palette, then select the part from the right column of the parts palette.
The information area at the bottom of the Composition Editor displays the name of the category and the name of the part that you selected. For example, Category: Data Entry Part: Text.
2. Move the mouse pointer over the free-form surface.
The pointer changes to a crosshair, indicating that it is now loaded with the part.
If you accidentally pick the wrong part, select the correct part or select the Selection tool 
from the tool bar to unload the mouse pointer.
from the tool bar to unload the mouse pointer. 
You can also press the Esc key to unload the mouse pointer.
3. Click mouse button 1 to add the part at the appropriate location.
To add several of the same part, select Sticky on the parts palette. While Sticky is selected, the mouse pointer remains loaded with the part you last selected. When you are done, unload the mouse pointer by deselecting Sticky.
Last modified date: 03/26/2020