Properties

These properties are designed to be set from calls in your applications code. None can be set using the standard property page.

This section is separated into standard properties, item properties, other properties.

This control's non-standard properties are:

Chiral indicates whether a chemical is chiral;
DoubleDistance specifies the relative distance between lines in double (and triple) bonds;
ItemColour specifies the colour used to draw a particular item;
ItemDrawn specifies whether an item is drawn (or not);
ItemFont specifies the font used to draw a particular piece of text;
ItemLabel specifies the text associated with a particular item;
ItemMinimum specifies the minimum size of the font used;
ItemOffset specifies the relative offset of an item;
ItemPosition specifies the relative position of an item;
ItemSize specifies the relative size of an item;
ItemThickness specifies the relative thickness of an item;
Whitespace specifies the relative size of the margin;
Zoom zooms the window.

Standard Properties

The standard properties supported by this control are Appearance, BackColor, BorderStyle, ForeColor and hWnd . Developers should note the use of the American spelling of these names.

Item Properties

This section discusses the various item properties, which allow an application detailed control on the appearance of a chemical drawn in the control.

All these properties require an item number, which can be one of the following:

ITEM_ISOTOPE refers to isotope numbers;
ITEM_SYMBOL refers to the atom symbol - note Carbon and Hydrogen are specified separately;
ITEM_CHARGE refers to the charge;
ITEM_MULTIPLIER refers to the multiplier;
ITEM_STRUCTURE refers to the structure text;
ITEM_COMPOUND refers to the compound text
ITEM_BOND refers to bonds;
ITEM_CARBON refers to Carbon atoms only;
ITEM_HYDROGEN refers to Hydrogen atoms only;
ITEM_CHIRAL refers to the chiral text;
ITEM_PLUS refers to the plus text used when displaying reactions;
ITEM_ARROW refers to the arrow used when displaying reactions;
ITEM_SUPERATOM refers to superatoms;
ITEM_BRACKET refers to brackets used when grouping checmicals;
ITEM_RTF refers to Rich Text documentation;
ITEM_LINE refers to lines used when displaying superatoms etc.;
ITEM_FORMULA refers to the molecular formula;
ITEM_WEIGHT refers to the molecular weight;
ITEM_TITLE refers to the chemical title;
ITEM_SUBTITLE refers to the chemical subtitle;
ITEM_VERSION refers to the file version;
ITEM_DESCRIPTION refers to a description;
ITEM_COMMENT refers to a comment;
ITEM_CREATOR refers to the file/chemical creator;
ITEM_CREATEDATE refers to the file/chemical creation date;
ITEM_MODIFIER refers to the latest modifier;
ITEM_MODIFYDATE refers to the latest modification date;
ITEM_COPYRIGHT refers to them file/chemical copyright;
ITEM_CHEMSHOW refers to the control's version information;
ITEM_FIELDNAME refers to the name of a field in an .SD file;
ITEM_FIELDVALUE refers to the value of a field in an .SD file.

These item numbers are currently defined as follows:



#define ITEM_ISOTOPE        1

#define ITEM_SYMBOL        2

#define ITEM_CHARGE        3

#define ITEM_MULTIPLIER        4

#define ITEM_STRUCTURE        5

#define ITEM_COMPOUND        6

#define ITEM_BOND        7

#define ITEM_CARBON        8

#define ITEM_HYDROGEN        9

#define ITEM_CHIRAL        10

#define ITEM_PLUS        11

#define ITEM_ARROW        12

#define ITEM_SUPERATOM  13

#define ITEM_BRACKET    14

#define ITEM_RTF        15

#define ITEM_LINE       16


#define ITEM_FORMULA        17

#define ITEM_WEIGHT        18

#define ITEM_TITLE        19

#define ITEM_SUBTITLE   20

#define ITEM_VERSION    21

#define ITEM_DESCRIPT   22

#define ITEM_COMMENT        23

#define ITEM_CREATOR        24

#define ITEM_CDATE        25

#define ITEM_MODIFIER   26

#define ITEM_MDATE      27

#define ITEM_COPYRIGHT  28

#define ITEM_CHEMSHOW        29


#define ITEM_FIELDNAME        30

#define ITEM_FIELDVALUE        31

A number of items are included purely for documentary purposes.

ItemColour

The ItemColour property specifies the colour used to draw the item.



OLE_COLOUR ItemColour (short nItem);

See item properties for details of the possible value of nItem.

See item properties, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

ItemDrawn

The ItemDrawn property determines whether an item is drawn or not.



short Drawn (short nItem);

If this property is non-zero, the item is drawn. The ItemPosition property can also be used to prevent an item appearing.

The Chiral text is only drawn when both this property for the Chiral item and the Chiral property are set.

See the Chiral and ItemPosition properties, item properties, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

ItemFont

The ItemFont property specifies the name of the font used to display a text item.



BSTR ItemFont (short nItem)

See item properties for details of the possible value of nItem. Text items include ITEM_CARBON ITEM_CHARGE, ITEM_CHIRAL, ITEM_COMPOUND, ITEM_HYDROGEN. ITEM_MULTIPLIER, ITEM_ISOTOPE, ITEM_STRUCTURE, ITEM_ARROW, ITEM_SYMBOL, ITEM_PLUS, ITEM_FORMULA and all subsequent properties. What happens when the font is not available on the user's system is undefined.

See the Minimum and Label properties, item properties, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

ItemLabel

The ItemLabel property specifies the text, if any, associated with an item.



BSTR Label (short nItem);

Various items have text which cannot be drawn. Certain items have text which can be set by particular mechanisms:

The chiral property is preset to the word "Chiral";
The Compound property may be set by loading or interpreting a file;
The Formula property is set using the Calculate MF method;
The Weight property is set using the Calculate Weight method;
The Chemshow property is preset to the name and version of the control, and cannot be changed;
The FieldName and FieldValue properties are set when an .SDF is loaded or interpreted.

See the Chiral, Font and Minimum properties, item properties, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

ItemMinimum

The ItemMinimum property specifies the minimu font size used to display text, if any, associated with an item.



short Minimum (short nItem);

The default value of this property is always zero, indicating no minimum size.

See the ItemLabel and ItemFont properties, item properties, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

ItemSize

The ItemSize property determines the relative size of an item.



double ItemSize (short nItem);

See item properties for details of the possible value of nItem. The relationship used to determine the size depends on the item, as follows:

ITEM_CARBON is drawn relative to the size of the atomic symbol - default 0.5;
ITEM_CHARGE is drawn relative to the size of the atomic symbol - default 0.5;
ITEM_CHIRAL is drawn relative to the size of the control's client area - default 0.1;
ITEM_COMPOUND is drawn relative to the size of the control's client area - default 0.1;
ITEM_HYDROGEN is drawn relative to the size of the atomic symbol - default 0.5;
ITEM_ISOTOPE is drawn relative to the size of the atomic symbol - default 0.5;
ITEM_MULTIPLIER is drawn relative to the size of the atomic symbol - default 0.5;
ITEM_STRUCTURE is drawn relative to the size of the control's client area - default 0.1;
ITEM_SYMBOL is drawn relative to the average bond length - default 0.2;
ITEM_PLUS is drawn relative to the size of the control's client area - default 0.1;
ITEM_ARROW is drawn relative to the size of the control's client area - default 0.05;
ITEM_BRACKET is drawn relative to the size of the control's client area - default 0.05;
ITEM_SUPERATOM is drawn relative to the size of the atomic symbol - default 0.2;
ITEM_RTF is drawn relative to the size of the atomic symbol - default 0.75;

All other properties are drawn relative to the control's client area, with a default value of 0.05.

See item properties, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

ItemOffset

The ItemOffset property determines the relative offset of certain items.



double ItemOffset (short nItem);

See item properties for details of the possible value of nItem. The relationship used to determine the size depends on the item, as follows:

ITEM_CHARGE is drawn relative to the top of the atomic symbol - default -0.5;
ITEM_CHIRAL is drawn relative to the margin - default 0.02;
ITEM_COMPOUND is drawn relative to the margin - default 0.02;
ITEM_ISOTOPE is drawn relative to the top of the atomic symbol - default -0.5;
ITEM_MULTIPLIER is drawn relative to the top of the atomic symbol - default 0.5 (so is actually drawn below it);

All properties from ITEM_FORMULA upwards are drawn relative to the margin - default 0.02.

See item properties, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

ItemPosition

The ItemPosition property determines the relative position of certain items.



short ItemPosition (short nItem);

See item properties for details of the possible value of nItem. The relationship used to determine the size depends on the item.

For the text items ITEM_CHIRAL, ITEM_COMPOUND, ITEM_STRUCTURE, ITEM_FORMULA and properties above nItem has the following possible values:

0 - do not draw;
1 - Top Left of window;
2 - Middle Left of window;
3 - Bottom Left of window;
4 - Top Centre of window;
5 - Middle Centre of window;
6 - Bottom Centre of window;
7 - Top Right of window;
8 - Middle Right of window;
9 - Bottom Right of window

For the items ITEM_SYMBOL, ITEM_CARBON and ITEM_HYDROGEN, nItem has the following possible values:

0 - do not draw;
1 - draw only when terminating;
2 - draw when not attached to a carbon (ITEM_HYDROGEN only);
2 - draw when complex (not ITEM_HYDROGEN);
3 - draw always;

For ITEM_SUPERATOM, it controls the relative distance from the superatom to any containing brackets. The default is 8.

See the ItemDrawn property, item properties, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

ItemThickness

The ItemThickness property determines the thickness of lines used to draw certain items.



short ItemThickness (short nItem);

See item properties for details of the possible value of nItem.

ITEM_ARROW, ITEM_BOND, ITEM_BRACKET and ITEM_LINE all use this property to control the thickness of lines drawn. A value of zero means the narrowest line possible. Be warned that on high density screens, small lines may not be visible.

See the ItemDrawn property, item properties, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

Other Properties

This section discusses the remaining properties found in the control.

Chiral

The Chiral property specifies whether the chemical currently on display is marked as chiral.



BOOL Chiral;

Some appropriate text can be displayed according to Item Label property using ITEM_LABEL.

Note that this property only affects the way the chemical is displayed in the control; it does not affect the chiral flag.

Return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

DoubleDistance

The DoubleDistance property specifies the relative space between lines in double and triple bonds.



double DoubleDistance;

This value is calculated relative to the average bond length of bonds drawn in the compound. Thus a double distance of 1.0 implies the lines are separated by the average bond length, which is probably a little excessive. The default distance is 0.15.

See the BondThickness property, return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

Whitespace

The Whitespace property specifies the relative quantity of white space between the chemical being drawn and the edge of the control.



double Whitespace();

The value is a percentage, with 100 representing nothing but white space, and zero representing no margin. You should always ensure you have some margin when drawing a chemical, because coordinates of atoms are specify the centre of the atom. The default value of both margins is 80.0.

Return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

Zoom

The Zoom indicates by how much the displayed has been zoomed in.



double Zoom;

If Zoom is set to 1.0, no zooming is occuring. Numbers larger than 1.0 show the display is zoomed in. Numbers less than 1.0 are invalid.

Return to Properties, the Developer's Reference, or the top of this document.

Version 1.0.2, 8th May 2001