Forms are the graphical representations of database tables and their fields. They contain components (fields) and controls, typically including buttons such as OK and Cancel, and serve as high-level abstractions of standard or custom widgets. These widgets simplify interaction with the application’s interface compared to directly handling the underlying GUI API.
During design time, both visual controls (e.g., buttons, text boxes) and non-visual components (e.g., database connections, layout helpers) are added to forms. These elements can be positioned and resized interactively, with their properties and event handlers configured through the form editor.
At runtime, automatically generated code creates instances of these controls and components, applying the defined properties to render a functional interface.