Creating and Editing Standard Data Modules

To create a standard data module for a project, choose FileNewOtherDelphi ProjectsDelphi FilesData Module. The IDE opens a data module container on the desktop, displays the unit file for the new module in the Code editor, and adds the module to the current project.

At design time, a data module looks like a standard form with a white background and no alignment grid. As with forms, you can place nonvisual components from the Tool palette onto a module, and edit their properties in the Object Inspector. You can resize a data module to accommodate the components you add to it.

You can also right-click a module to display a context menu for it. The following table summarizes the context menu options for a data module.

Context menu options for data modules

Menu item	Purpose
Edit	Displays a context menu with which you can cut, copy, paste, delete, and select the components in the data module.
Position	Aligns nonvisual components to the module's invisible grid (Align To Grid) or according to criteria you supply in the Alignment dialog box (Align).
Tab Order	Enables you to change the order that the focus jumps from component to component when you press the tab key.
Creation Order	Enables you to change the order that data access components are created at start-up.
Revert to Inherited	Discards changes made to a module inherited from another module in the Object Repository, and reverts to the originally inherited module.
Add to Repository	Stores a link to the data module in the Object Repository.
View as Text	Displays the text representation of the data module's properties.
Text DFM	Toggles between the formats (binary or text) in which this particular form file is saved.