Property Class & Visual Attributes (Difference)

A property class is a named object that contains a list of properties and their settings. Once you create a property class you can base other objects on it.  An object based on a property class can inherit the setting of any property in the class that makes sense for that object. Property class inheritance is an instance of subclassing. Conceptually, you can consider a property class as a universal subclassing parent. Property classes are separate objects, and, as such, can be copied between modules as needed. Perhaps more importantly, property classes can be subclassed in any number of modules. Property class inheritance is a powerful feature that allows you to quickly define objects that conform to your own interface and functionality standards. Property classes also allow you to make global changes to applications quickly.  By simply changing the definition of a property class, you can change the definition of all objects that inherit properties from that class.

Visual attributes are the font, color, and pattern properties that you set for form and menu objects that appear in your application's interface. Visual attributes can include the following properties: Font properties, Color and pattern properties. Every interface object has a Visual Attribute Group property that determines how the object's individual visual attribute settings (Font Size, Foreground Color, etc.) are derived

Named visual attributes define only font, color, and pattern attributes; property classes can contain these and any other properties.

You can change the appearance of objects at runtime by changing the named visual attribute programmatically; property class assignment cannot be changed programmatically.

When an object is inheriting from both a property class and a named visual attribute, the named visual attribute settings take precedence, and any visual attribute properties in the class are ignored.

Property Class has triggers and Visual Attributes don’t have same.