Why do Data Control and LazControl tabs disappear when I create a datamodule lazarus / 16-Databases ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lawlerp · 2015-04-27 14:09 When  I open lazarus I get a completre set of tab controls like so (startup.png) But when I go File|New|DataModule the dbcontrols and laz control tabs disappear like so (after_new_dm.png) If I then go File|New|form the missing controls reappear and will stay visible until I create a new datamodule at which point they disappear again. The work around is to create a new form and then discard it, but this is annoying. I have noticed this behaviour on Lazarus 1.2.6 and 1.4 on both WINXP and Win7 professional. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- taazz · 2015-04-27 14:46 I don't see any differences between the 2 screenshots. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lawlerp · 2015-04-27 15:17 Startup shows the following tabs Standard - Additional - Common Controls-Dialogs - Data  Controls - System - Misc - Data Access - LazControls- Pascal Script - RTTI - SQLdb - SyncEdit - Chart - IPro While  after_new_dm has Standard - Additional - Common Controls-Dialogs - System - Misc - Data Access -  Pascal Script - RTTI - SQLdb - SyncEdit - Chart - IPro Data Controls and LazControls are missing from after_new_dm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bylaardt · 2015-04-27 15:21 @taazz: the 5th tab. @lawlerp: you can't drop a TWinControl on a datamodule. Look at another tabs and see: Twincontrol derivates object are not avaliable to drop on datamodules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- taazz · 2015-04-27 16:19 True! What bylaardt said. When focusing a datamodule all twincontronl descendants are not available for use. You do not need to create a new form just open an existing in the designer and the tabs will return. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lawlerp · 2015-04-27 16:55 Quote from: taazz on April 27, 2015, 06:19:52 pmTrue! What bylaardt said. When focusing a datamodule all twincontronl descendants are not available for use. You do not need to create a new form just open an existing in the designer and the tabs will return. This is the problem. The db controls do not reappear automatically when I go back to the forms designer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- taazz · 2015-04-27 17:14 Quote from: lawlerp on April 27, 2015, 06:55:53 pmQuote from: taazz on April 27, 2015, 06:19:52 pmTrue! What bylaardt said. When focusing a datamodule all twincontronl descendants are not available for use. You do not need to create a new form just open an existing in the designer and the tabs will return. This is the problem. The db controls do not reappear automatically when I go back to the forms designer Go back as in focus a form and its control in the designer? post information about your development environment,  OS, widget set 32bit or 64bit version of lazarus and fpc. So people with similar configurations can test it to. On my installation everything seems to work OK I just created a new application with one datamodule and one form open them side by side and start clicking once in the datamodule once in the form and everything appears/disappears correctly. I'm on windows 7 64bit with lazarus 1.4 32bit and fpc 1.6.4 that comes with the release installed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bylaardt · 2015-05-06 18:26 I'm on Linux (Kubuntu) 64bit with lazarus 1.4 , and i had the same result as taazz. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JuhaManninen · 2015-05-06 20:33 This feature is not very intuitive and has caused many questions. As noted by somebody earlier, a normal GUI behavior is to disable, not hide, the GUI elements that cannot be used at a moment. I think the current palette behavior is a design mistake from Borland made long time ago. Maybe we should not follow it and use Enabled:=False instead for WinControl component icons.