Object Inheritance

In ELMA, you can create child objects of parent objects. All the parent object (base class) properties are copied to the child object, and you can add new properties, property blocks, forms and so on.

Base class – is an ELMA object, from which other objects are inherited.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example of objects inheritance. The base class (parent object) is blue and the child objects are light blue. In the child objects, inherited properties have a black font and new properties have a blue font.

Fig. 1. Object inheritance in ELMA

The list of all the base classes is in the Base Class drop down list on the Additional tab of the object page (fig. 2). By default, <No> is selected in this field. The list of base classes is hierarchical.

Fig. 2. Object page. "Additional" tab. "Base Class" field

To add a user object to the list of base classes, select Allow to create heirs on the Additional tab of the object page.

Creating a child object

To create a child object, go to the Additional tab of the object page and select the parent object in the Base Class field. The current object will be the child object of the selected base class.

You can select the base class only when creating the object (before publishing it for the first time and restarting the server). To apply changes, save and publish the object and restart the server.

Creating a base class

To create a base class, go to the Additional tab of the required object page and select Allow to create heirs. After saving and publishing the object and restarting the server, you can use this object as a parent object. This base class will be added to the Base Class field of the Additional tab.