The 'Open' method

Argument: None
Result: None

Valid for: Any object except the System object

The Open method explicitly opens an object, which normally makes it appear on the screen (provided its visible property is not zero, and also its parent is open and visible). For most ordinary visual controls, you do not normally need to use the Open method when an object is created, because New automatically opens it for you. The Open method is most useful for re-opening an object which has been closed, or for making a top-level object appear immediately after creation if your program has further processing to do (see the description of the New method). If the object is already open, this method does nothing.

For certain objects, the Open method has a special meaning:

For a Printer object, it starts a new print job, and printing commands (such as the Print method) will be appended to the open print job until the Close or Abort method is called.

For an APL (child task) object, the Open method allocates memory for the workspace and starts the task running.

For the networking objects GetMail, SendMail and Socket, the Open method establishes the connection to the remote host. See the descriptions of these objects for more details.

Note: Although you can use the Open method for the pre-defined dialogs such as ChooseColor and OpenFile, it has no useful effect for these object types.