Component methods are procedures and functions built into the structure of a class. Although there are essentially no restrictions on what you can do with the methods of a component, Delphi does use some standards you should follow. These guidelines include:

• Avoiding dependencies
• Naming methods
• Protecting methods
• Making methods virtual
• Declaring methods

In general, components should not contain many methods and you should minimize the number of methods that an application needs to call. The features you might be inclined to implement as methods are often better encapsulated into properties. Properties provide an interface that suits the Delphi and are accessible at design time.