This section describes the DCL syntax for specifying tiles, tile attributes, and attribute values.
New tiles are created by tile definitions. If a tile definition appears outside a dialog box definition, it is a prototype or a subassembly. Prototypes and subassemblies can be used in dialog box definitions by tile references. Each reference to a definition inherits the attributes of the original tile. When referring to prototypes, you can change the values of the inherited attributes or add new attributes. When referring to subassemblies, you cannot change or add attributes.
If you need multiple instances of a tile with some attributes in common, it is easiest to define and name a prototype that contains only the common attributes. Then, in each reference to the prototype, you can change attributes or add new ones, but you do not have to list all the common attributes each time you reference the tile. Because attributes are inherited, you will more often need to create tile references—especially references to the predefined tiles—than to define new tiles.
