TIniPropStorage and Ancestors - why and how?

[lt.col.blair]

Hi,
I've been programming in Delphi the past 14 Years, but now I'm new to Lazarus.

Today I tripped over the component "TIniPropStorage".
Immediately I looked into it's ancestry:

TIniPropStorage <- TCustomIniPropStorage <- TFormPropertyStorage <- TControlPropertyStorage <- TCustomPropertyStorage <- TCustomPropertyStorage
... wow.
I wonder, when and how to use this component and why it has such a long ancestry.
Especially the names of the ancestors (FormPropertyStorage and ControlPropertyStorage) seem to imply, that some other components use this one to save their properties?
Could anyon enlighten me, when or how to use this component most effectively?
Thanks

[Leledumbo]

I wonder, when and how to use this component

When you want to store your form's properties (or the controls in it), the damn easy way. Just use SessionProperties property of the form and you have it

why it has such a long ancestry. Especially the names of the ancestors (FormPropertyStorage and ControlPropertyStorage) seem to imply, that some other components use this one to save their properties?

The long ancestry IMHO is to allow things like you said. First, there are at least two FormPropertyStorage descendants (skipping the custom version), the one you're talking about, TIniPropStorage, and XML based one, TXMLPropStorage. Second, property storage might be required by a non-form controls, such as TWebModule.